The latest details on the tax bill, now that it's passed the Senate and House. The debate surrounding fires and rebuilding. The damage to CA's avocado farms.
Here's what the final GOP tax plan means for California
California's GOP lawmakers could face political backlash for their tax bill votes
The House gave the Republican tax bill the green light Wednesday, securing a sweeping change to the nation's tax laws for the first time in three decades. The bill now heads to the desk of President Trump for his signature.
In the initial vote by the House, it's safe to say that the bill got by with a little help from California Republicans; 12 of the state's GOP lawmakers voted for the bill. Might the 12 who voted for the bill expect a political backlash in 2018?
Politico's Carla Marinucci says backlash is all but guaranteed for the unpopular bill.
'Unpopular' may be too kind of a word when you talk about only 20 percent of Californians in the latest polls. It's one of the most historically unpopular bills passed on taxes in the last few decades.
Yes, it's already been pointed out by the Democrats, and they seized on it the minute this legislation passed yesterday, and they're going to be at it again this morning. [They will] remind voters who those 12 Republicans are and try to hold them to account.
Why do homeowners keep rebuilding their homes in fire areas?
The Thomas Fire has been burning for 16 days and is now the second largest wildfire in California history. As of this morning, it's burned 272,000 acres and is 60 percent contained.
The fire in Ventura County is just the most recent in a catastrophic wildfire season that's reignited a longstanding debate: How many times should a homeowner be allowed to rebuild in the same place after a fire?
To discuss the pros and cons - and history - of rebuilding after a wildfire Take Two's Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Char Miller. He's director of the Environmental Analysis Program at Pomona College.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
When did the arguments for and against rebuilding after fires first start?
MILLER: My research takes this debate back to the 1920s. It reemerged in the 1940s and since World War II has been in the dialogues every fire season. Now that we have essentially a 12-month fire season, this is a debate that is escalating in importance, and crying out for resolutions.
What policies are in place now in terms of rebuilding homes multiple times after fires strike?
MILLER:There really is no policy. Insurance companies will support you if you wish to do it. Planning and zoning commissions do not step in and say, "Not a good idea. Place burned three times, maybe fourth time is not a charm." So there's really little local or state or investment block to this process continuing time after time.
Are there current guidelines to designate certain areas as "high risk?"
MILLER: The state has a mapping of fire zones [because] they have enacted a low-cost tax that goes into fire safety programs. That helps Cal Fire initiatives when they're not fighting fires. That is to say, really to educate us about the dangers of fires and the need for defensible space within these zones. All of that's good, until fires like the Thomas fire which totally overruns any educational mission or defensible space.
From your research, what can you tell us about why people continue to live in areas prone to wildfire?
MILLER: It's really beautiful. Let's be honest, these are incredible landscapes... You can see why people would do it, and we incentivize it. We bring water and electricity and build roads up there to make living possible. You're being told it's O.K.
Interview has been edited for clarity
California avocado crop is in recovery after Thomas fire
California is known for its avocados. But with the Thomas fire burning through the state's agricultural areas, many orchards have been charred. Ventura County is home to a third of California's avocado farms--the largest in the state.
To find out how Ventura County's avocado farms have been affected by the fires, and whether avocado toast will be getting more expensive, Meghan McCarty Carino spoke to John Krist, CEO of the Farm Bureau of Ventura County.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
What do you know so far about how many avocado farms have been affected?
KRIST: We have about 18,000 acres of avocados in Ventura County, and about 4,500 of those acres were directly within the fire perimeter.
Are avocado orchards more susceptible to fire damage than other crops in the area?
KRIST: They're more susceptible for a couple of reasons. They're up in the hills and are the first thing fires in the hills hit. The nature of a grove, the cultural practices, they tend to shed a lot of leaves over the course of the season and growers leave those leaves on the orchard because it provides a great natural mulch to hold moisture in the soil. The downside of that is they burn.
How long will it take for avocado farms to recover?
KRIST: The expert advice to the growers is to wait a few weeks and see how the trees respond. They look terrible now, but the trees may recover fully... If you have to replace the entire tree, you're not going to see commercial fruit for three to five years at best. If the root system or the trunk is OK, you can graft on to them and get it a little faster.
Is financial assistance available?
KRIST: There's crop insurance that many growers have. Avocados are a squirrel fruit anyway. They bear very heavily one year and light the next, susceptible to freezes and, of course, fire and wind. There's a lot of assistance and aid for growers administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
There's a lot of competition coming in from Mexico. How will this affect California growers while they wait to recover?
KRIST: We've reached an accommodation with the import of avocados from Mexico. Everyone benefits from increasing consumer demand. One way to do that is to have avocados available in the market all year. California has a long season, but not 12 months long, so we like having fruit there all the time. California avocados compete very well with Mexico because of their quality. We grow the best avocados in the world. Because it was such a small percentage of the overall crop that was burned, we'll see a slight reduction, which will more than be made up for by production for other areas. Consumers won't see a big change in the price or availability of avocados.
Interview has been edited for clarity
Why Kobe Bryant is the only Lakers player to have 2 jersey numbers retired
Kobe Bryant wore two jersey numbers during his career with the Lakers -- 8 and 24. And on Monday, the Lakers decided to retire both numbers.
The
unveil #8 and #24 at the Kobe Bryant Jersey Retirement Ceremony!
— NBA (@NBA)
The @Lakers unveil #8 and #24 at the Kobe Bryant Jersey Retirement Ceremony!#LakeShow #Ko8e24 https://t.co/Tiev9ESRnl
— NBA (@NBA) December 19, 2017
How rare it is to have two jersey numbers retired
"It is singularly unique," Andy Kamenetzky told Take Two's Meghan McCarty Carino. "The list currently begins and ends with Kobe Bryant. If you look at the contextual factors creating the situation where Kobe ended up with two numbers retired, it's a safe bet that the list will live and die with Kobe's career. Most players are neither good enough nor have enough of a sentimental connection to a franchise to merit jersey retirement to begin with. In Kobe's case, he won five titles with the Lakers and he's a future first ballot hall of famer."
Rural homeless vets: Hidden from view and often ignored
There are 4,800 homeless veterans in L.A. County, but not all of them live close to city centers.
Homelessness can look different for veterans living in rural communities. Shelters are few and far between, and people aren't living on the street like they do in cities.
They might be couch surfing, sleeping in their cars, or camping in the woods. And that can make it difficult to identify homeless veterans and connect them to the services they need.
One example of what that looks like is in downtown Ballston Spa, New York.
It's full of charming old Victorian houses. But there's one that's different from its neighbors: the Vet House.
Fourteen formerly homeless veterans live there. It has a comfy frat house vibe. Guitars are propped up in the corners, military flags and posters hang on the walls, the kitchen is overflowing with food.
"It's cozy," said Dave, who moved in a couple weeks ago. "All the guys get along. We all cook, clean, look out for each other."
Dave is a Navy veteran and doesn't want his last name used because of the stigma around homelessness and addiction.
"I started to have a drinking problem when I was in the military," he explained. "About a year ago I got kicked out of my house."
Then he bounced around. He lived at a detox center, a rehab facility, a group home, and for a while, his brother's couch.
"The only thing I had was a vehicle that my ex-roommate had signed for, and I had to get rid of that," Dave said. "I wasn't homeless homeless, but I didn't have a job, didn't have anything else going for me."
Dave's problems were compounded by the fact that he wasn't living near a major city. Transitional housing for veterans is rare in rural areas, leaving most rural homeless veterans with few options.
'The bottom line is that a lot of them at times are couch surfing, and they don't have a permanent place to sleep at night," said Leigha Rosenberger, the Executive Director of the Veteran and Community Housing Coalition, the organization that runs the Vet House.
"A lot times we'll find that the last materialistic item they have is a vehicle, so they'll often be sleeping in those," she said. "Or there are some encampments throughout the community where individuals are staying together in tents."
Those makeshift campsites can be found throughout the rural parts of upstate New York. They're hidden in plain sight: behind the grocery store, near the train station. You have to look closely to spot the tarps and mattresses through the bare trees.
Some of the campsites are piled with stuff -- hats, bottles, a bicycle.
Those types of living situations make it hard to know just how many rural homeless vets are out there.
"Because it's such a challenge to count people in rural areas, and services are so spread out, I don't know that the numbers that are even out there for rural veterans are accurate," said Kathryn Monet, the Executive Director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.
Monet said low-income rural veterans often face more obstacles than their more urban counterparts. Affordable housing may be hard to find in small communities, getting to VA clinics can require a long trip, and jobs may be more scarce.
That means, for many veterans, homelessness could be just one step away.
Army Reservist Stephanie Maxwell, who works with the Veteran and Community Housing Coalition, has seen that many times with the former service members she encounters. And she had a taste of homelessness herself when she moved back to upstate New York a couple years ago. She had trouble finding an apartment she could afford, and she ended up couch surfing with her two kids.
"I started to realize, 'Wait, this is my life! I don't have a home, I don't have a house,'" Maxwell recalled. "I get how easy it could have been for me to have been on the street."
Ultimately, Maxwell got out of that cycle of couch surfing. She's found an apartment and steady work.
Her advice to rural veterans who are facing homelessness: Find an organization in your community. It might be a social service agency or church. Then pick up the phone. And don't be afraid to ask for help.
Dining out with family this holiday? Here's the chain restaurant for you
Many people will be traveling to see family this holiday or hosting guests of their own, but at some point, the dreaded question might come up: where should we all go out to eat? A chain restaurant may be the only place picky eaters and family foodies can find something they'll both like. But which one? Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema has ranked the nation's top ten.
Your best bet: Cracker Barrel
"I liked the way I was welcomed. I liked the little general store that you walk through," he says, "and the food sort of called to me. I'm a Midwesterner, and I could get roast beef and mashed potatoes."
There isn't an outlet in Southern California just yet, but one is on its way to Victorville in the coming months. Sietsema says it might be worth the road trip after the holidays when it opens.
"Out of the ten restaurants that I went to, it's the only one where I brought home leftovers," he says. "It's the only one whose pork chops reminded me of my grandmother's cooking."
Your worst bet: Buffalo Wild Wings
"You expect a place whose name includes 'wings' to serve good wings," says Sietsema, "but this was not the case there."
Don't expect to get a great salad there either, he adds, and the ambience was shattered by the cacophony of TV screens blasting sports games.
In his review, the chain got an F.
"Better to miss a meal than to find yourself in this loud, garish and thoroughly soulless restaurant-in-name-only," he writes.
Bottom line: avoid fries everywhere
"Mashed potatoes are almost always a better bet than french fries at any of these places," says Sietsema, "and none of the kitchens know how to cook broccoli."
Plus, try not to think about calories too much. Most chains' lighter menus are so bland that you could make the case to break your diet.
"If it says 'lite' on a menu – L-I-T-E – that should be a stop sign," he says.