In the News
When President Donald Trump delivers his first address before a joint session of Congress today — where he will lay out his priorities for the year — a handful of firefighters from the greater Los Angeles area will be in attendance to remind the nation of Southern California’s continued need for recovery aid following the January wildfires that swept through L.A. County.
Days before they return to Washington to cast votes on the GOP-crafted budget, two California House members toured the Innovative Genomics Institute research lab at UC Berkeley Friday morning, in order to get a look at the real-life impacts of Republicans’ goal to whack $4 billion from the National Health Institute.
UC Berkeley receives $169 million in NIH funding.
A Southern California Democrat blasted President Trump on Thursday for ordering a release of water in the state’s Central Valley, describing the move as both wasteful and destructive to the region.
Mary Fox wasn’t expecting a fight when she drove to the Los Angeles Passport Agency on Wilshire Boulevard last month to get a new passport. As a trans woman, she worried about President Donald Trump’s recent executive order that it would be “the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female,” but in the blue state of California—where the Gender Recognition Act, in effect since 2019, created a nonbinary gender category on state birth certificates and allowed residents to change their gender markers—she assumed it would be some time before the order was enforced.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) beamed Wednesday morning that a “golden age” had arrived amid excitement about what Republicans could now deliver.
He brushed away questions about President Donald Trump’s sweeping pardons for Jan. 6 rioters, saying “we’re not looking backwards, we’re looking forward.”
Less than four hours later Johnson announced a special committee that would reinvestigate events “preceding and following” the assault on the Capitol four years ago.
California leaders are working overtime to address the many impacts from devastating fires and some gathered in a virtual town hall last week to talk about what locals can do to recover after the Palisades Fire, as well as the government’s response to the blaze.
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – Leaders in Washington continue to deal with the federal response to the wildfires, as well as continuing talks about how much cost the federal government should bear.
Some in Congress are questioning the president’s commitment to cover 100% of the cost for the time being, saying some responsibility should fall on California.
According to FEMA the federal government typically covers up to 75% of hazard mitigation costs when a federal disaster is declared, but some Republicans are questioning why the Biden White House chose to cover 100% for California.
Democrats are rejecting a tentative pitch by House Republicans to attach wildfire aid to a federal debt limit increase.
A deadly combination of drier-than-average conditions and extreme Santa Ana wind gusts has caused at least three life-threatening wildfires across the Los Angeles area as of press time on Jan. 8. Firefighters in Pacific Palisades, Altadena and Sylmar are continuing efforts to control the fires that have forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate their homes and have killed at least five people.
U.S. Rep. Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) was reelected on Nov. 19 as vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, the No. 4 position in House Democratic leadership. Lieu is the highest-ranking Asian American serving in Congress.