$8 million in federal housing funds can be used to help fire victims

• January 24, 2025

In the wake of the Palisades and Eaton fires, more than $8 million in federal funding will be coming to the Los Angeles region to bolster emergency shelter operations, provide rental assistance, and other services, officials announced Friday.

The funding is coming from the U.S. Department of Housing through its Rapid Unsheltered Survivor Housing program, according to Sen. Adam Schiff and Sen. Alex Padilla, both California Democrats. The funding can be used to support L.A. County residents displaced by the recent wildfires.

RELATED: Why California’s US senators won’t join President Trump on his trip to fire-ravaged LA

“This funding will provide much-needed relief for residents who are struggling to get back on their feet after the recent wildfires across Los Angeles, as well as those who have been experiencing homelessness,” Schiff said in a statement. “These resources will ensure our local governments can help families and individuals without housing move forward as our communities begin to rebuild.”

Of the $8 million, the state will receive $3 million. Los Angeles County and the cities of Los Angeles, Pasadena, Pomona and Long Beach will each receive $1 million. The city of Glendale is set to receive $409,957.

“This initial federal funding provides urgent support to help address housing insecurity for those affected by the fires,” Padilla said in a statement. “The road to recovery will be long, but I will keep fighting for additional resources to support at-risk families and provide safe, stable housing as we rebuild.”

​ Orange County Register 

Man rushed Buena Park officer with pointed object before fatal shooting, video shows

• January 24, 2025

A 27-year-old Compton man armed with a long, pointed wooden object last month rushed a Buena Park police officer who fatally shot him, according to dashcam video released by Buena Park police on Friday, Jan. 24.

The shooting occurred about 1 p.m. on Dec. 10, on Artesia Boulevard at the 5 Freeway, police said, with Chaz Mackabee dying at a hospital.

Buena Park police responded to a request for assistance from the California Highway Patrol, which had received calls that a man armed with a knife was walking in the southbound lanes of the 5 and attempting to stop passing vehicles, Buena Park police Sgt. Jon Shaddow said.

The suspect then walked to the southbound offramp to Artesia Boulevard.

“I feel like if a car gets close, he’s going to attack someone,” a truck driver tells a dispatcher, according to audio released by the department.

An arriving officer spots Mackabee walking along Artesia, stops his black-and-white SUV and gets out, dashcam video shows.

“It looks like a knife or a small little bat in his left hand,” the officer radios just before stopping the vehicle.

He tells Mackabee to “sit down” six times as Mackabee walks on the sidewalk toward him. Then as Mackabee begins a sprint into the street toward the officer, the officer yells, “Don’t do it!” twice, dashcam video shows.

Mackabee has the object in his left hand, video shows. The wood was perhaps six inches to a foot long.

The officer fires three shots, causing Mackabee to fall forward out of the camera’s view.

“Don’t do it, man! I told you not to do it,” the officer says before radioing a shots-fired dispatch and requesting paramedics. “Dude I told you not to do it, dude. C’mon, man.”

Another officer with a less-lethal beanbag shotgun was running toward Mackabee and the officer when the shooting occurred, according to the second officer’s body-worn camera.

Officers attempted to help Mackabee before paramedics took him to a hospital.

The shooting was not captured on the involved officer’s body-worn camera, as it was knocked off while the officer got out of the vehicle, Shaddow said.

Buena Park police and the Department of Justice were conducting investigations into the shooting.

​ Orange County Register 

Ducks wrap up homestand thankful for Zegras’ return

• January 24, 2025

Fresh off a convincing victory over a veteran team, the Ducks will next compete in the rubber match of their three-game homestand, which will pit them against the Nashville Predators.

In a 5-1 conquest of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday, it was Mason McTavish and Alex Killorn leading the way with a pair of goals apiece. Yet Killorn credited the recently recovered Trevor Zegras with helping open the ice for him and linemate Leo Carlsson, who also flashed some sparks Thursday.

While Killorn credited Zegras with being able to hang onto the puck and make creative plays, it was a simple touch pass by the charismatic forward that cleared the way for Killorn’s first goal.

“That play he makes is a play that not a lot of guys can make. It’s a play that may not get talked about, but it’s a huge play and it kind of creates the whole goal,” Killorn said. “Little plays like that, even though they’re small, create a lot of space out there.”

Zegras has been hindered significantly the past two seasons by injury: a groin malady to start last season, a torn meniscus he sustained in early December and, in between, a broken ankle last year in Nashville against these same Predators.

In that very game he made a similarly savvy play, ducking under two defenders and making an escape pass so slick that it was difficult to appreciate in real time. Then, Ducks coach Greg Cronin estimated there were only a handful of forwards in the league with the skill and instincts to break the Ducks out of trouble with Zegras’ mix of effectiveness and nonchalance.

Before his latest injury, Zegras had a spurt of six points in four games and was growing more assertive on the power play, as Killorn remarked during his absence.

“The big thing that I think he’s done, and we saw more and more of it right before he got hurt, is that he’s picked the pace and the intensity of his game up on both sides of the puck,” said Cronin, adding that Zegras was also getting used to the rigors of making plays along the wall given that he’d been spending more time at wing than center of late.

On a team that’s not only been pressed for finishing ability but also touch and creativity in the passing game, Zegras was welcomed back with open arms in the Ducks’ past two outings.

“His IQ, offensively, can transfer over defensively and on those plays [exiting the defensive zone],” Cronin said. “He made several plays throughout the game where some guys might just panic and chop (the puck). He’s got the poise to take it and find the open stick blade.”

Zegras is one of several players who has forged a strong individual relationship with Cronin, though Cronin’s rapport with the club came into question a couple times this season after comments by former Ducks defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin, now with the Dallas Stars, and, more recently, longtime Ducks winger Jakob Silfverberg, who returned to his native Sweden this season.

Cronin said that while he “could be called intense,” he was surprised at the comments from both players, and that Lyubushkin reached out to him and told him he had been misquoted. He also had contact with Silfverberg – who also mentioned in the interview the time when Bruce Boudreau scratched him for the Dodger Stadium game in 2014 – to help clear the air, since the two developed a strong relationship in Cronin’s first season with the team.

Next up will be Nashville, which beat out the Ducks in the summer’s free-agent frenzy by landing at least two players they coveted, Stanley Cup winners Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault.

Since Dec. 10, Marchessault has 25 points in 19 games, good for 12th in the NHL during that span, and Stamkos has 20 points in the same period. That placed them behind team-leading scorer Filip Forsberg (30 points, fourth in the league since Dec. 10) after the two free-agent additions stumbled out of the starting blocks.

All that, plus the continued excellence of Roman Josi, hasn’t gotten the Predators much in the standings: they have the third-lowest points percentage in the NHL and sit six points behind the Ducks.

Nashville at Ducks

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Honda Center

TV/radio: KTTV (Ch. 11), Victory+

​ Orange County Register 

On trip to LA County, Trump says fire recovery aid should be tied to voter ID requirement

• January 24, 2025

President Donald Trump on Friday, Jan. 24, said future federal aid for the recovery of California’s most devastating wildfires will come — only if the state establishes a voter ID law and changes its water management strategies.

“I want to see two things in Los Angeles. Voter ID, so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and throughout the state,” Trump told reporters in North Carolina, where he was touring hurricane recovery efforts ahead of his trip out west.

As of Friday morning, the 14,021-acre Eaton fire was 95% contained, and the 23,448-acre Palisades fire 77%, according to Cal Fire.

But together, they’ve claimed 28 lives — 11 in the Palisades fire area and 17 in the Eaton fire area, according to the county medical examiner.

And they’ve destroyed thousands of homes, churches and schools.

But as the toll mounted, Trump and state leaders have been involved in a back-and-forth over the extent of federal aid that would extend past the support former President Joe Biden signed off on.

That support, through FEMA, extends into the early Trump administration.

But going forward, there’s no guarantee, in what will be a multibillion-dollar recovery.

The question of tying a condition to federal recovery aid for California has divided Republicans in recent weeks. While Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, have said they support imposing certain conditions on wildfire aid, Southern California’s lawmakers, by and large and on either side of the aisle, have said no.

“Under no circumstances should there be conditions on disaster aid,” said Rep. Judy Chu, who represents Altadena, an area decimated by the Eaton fire.

Rep. Young Kim, a Republican who was set to join a roundtable briefing with the president later Friday in the Pacific Palisades, said setting conditions on federal aid would set a “bad precedent” for future disaster relief requests.

Trump has long slammed states that don’t have voter ID, a requirement or request during voting that one proves their identity with specific forms of identification. Several states have the requirement. While California does not require such identification, some first-time voters may be asked to show a form of ID when at the polls.

In the new Congress, Republicans plan to move quickly in their effort to overhaul the nation’s voting procedures, seeing an opportunity with control of the White House and both the House and Senate to push through long-sought changes that include voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements.

In the meantime, Trump has castigated California’s water management.

In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity this week — Trump’s first television interview since his inauguration for his second term — he accused Newsom of refusing to “release the water that comes from the north.”

“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” Trump said.

But local leaders have urged Trump to pull back from setting conditions on federal support in the area, buffered by an argument that urban hydrant systems were never designed to stop fierce wildfires that burn through towns.

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, at an event at a Pasadena church on Thursday, seemed hopeful that Trump would back federal support, especially after seeing the scope of the damage.

“My hope is he will see and experience what he needs to,” she said, “to understand the importance of being a partner with us to rebuild. I, for one, don’t care if he talks to me. I want him to talk to the people. Because when you talk to the families that were devastated, I would defy anybody to turn their back.”

That has followed a chorus of similar comments from local leaders, urging Trump to refrain from putting conditions on aid.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Disneyland set to launch Star Wars Nite ticket sales

• January 24, 2025

Disneyland will celebrate the unofficial “May the Fourth” Star Wars holiday with a legion of stormtroopers marching into Tomorrowland and lightsaber training sessions for eager padawans during an after-hours party themed to a galaxy far, far away.

Tickets for the Star Wars Nite 2025 event will go on sale for Inspire Magic Keyholders on Tuesday, Jan. 28, all Disneyland passholders on Wednesday, Jan. 29 and the general public on Thursday, Jan. 30. The online sales window will open no earlier than 9 a.m. each day.

ALSO SEE: 4 Disneyland After Dark events coming in 2025 and how to get tickets

Star Wars Nite will run on select dates April 8 through May 6 and feature photo ops with Star Wars characters and specialty themed food. Ticket prices range from $169 to $189.

In past years, Star Wars Nite has included a March of the First Order led by Captain Phasma in Tomorrowland, appearances by Tusken Raiders and Jawas and galactic churros.

The 2025 dates for Star Wars Nite include April 8, 10, 22, 24 and 29 and May 1, 4 and 6.

ALSO SEE: Every Disneyland event, parade and firework show coming in 2025

Disneyland After Dark events typically feature specialty-themed entertainment, character meet-and-greets, photo op backdrops, food and drinks, collectible merchandise, commemorative keepsakes and unlimited PhotoPass digital downloads along with select rides and shows.

Pre-party mix-in typically starts at 6 p.m. each night with the private event running from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. each evening. No theme park reservations are required to attend the separate-admission events. Parking is not included.

​ Orange County Register 

How LA’s Skylight Books is teaming with Altadena Seed Library after the Eaton Fire

• January 24, 2025

On Jan. 6, Beatriz Quiroz García started graduate school for library science. “The day before the fires broke out. So it’s been a whirlwind,” she says.

Along with her education, Quiroz García works as a bookseller and subscription coordinator at Skylight Books. Even with a full schedule, she’s committed to volunteering and supporting causes in the community, including spearheading a recent donation drive that teamed Skylight and SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition to aid the local unhoused community affected by the wildfires.

Somehow, Quiroz García also made time to read James Joyce’s “Ulysses.” “I can see how he changed the literary game – essentially how the novel changed from that point on,” she says, laughing as she adds that her sisters weren’t impressed. “‘You finished the big book? OK.’ I was like, You guys, you don’t get it!”

A San Gabriel Valley resident, Quiroz García spent a recent day volunteering at the Pasadena Community Job Center to help those affected by the Eaton Fire and returned home exhausted.

“My friend and I were so tired from volunteering that we were like, We’re doing a double feature of ‘Paddington,’ because she’s never seen it,” says Quiroz García. “And then ‘Paddington 2,’ because neither of us had seen it. Phenomenal movie, I love it so much.”

As she was watching the film, her Skylight coworker Elizabeth McKenzie texted that the Altadena Seed Library needed donations – and Quiroz García got to work again.

She messaged Nina Raj, founder of the Altadena Seed Library, with an offer to help the group’s drive to reseed Altadena yards and greenspaces that were lost in the fire. “I literally reached out while I was on the sofa being catatonic because I had gone to go volunteer at the Pasadena Job Center that day.

“I was like, ‘I would love to collaborate with you and do a donation drive since a lot of people who live in the area are very passionate about the environment, about hiking, about the local ecology. So she reached out and was like, I would love that.”

Raj, says Quiroz García, was already familiar with the bookstore.

“She mentioned that she was a huge patron of the store. She bought a lot of gardening books and art books from the arts annex.”

After working up a flyer in between her classwork, Quiroz García got started. “We launched it and people started dropping off seeds that same day. We got a bunch of donations” – including a large sack of soil – “and we’re going to keep this going for as long as we can, as long as Nina needs us to.”

“Some people went out and bought a bunch,” she says. “They even wrote notes to her, which is so beautiful and lovely to see. It’s like our community showing up and just trying to communicate how grateful they are for the work that she’s doing.”

Raj told Pasadena Star-News reporter David Wilson that she’s encouraging people to spread seeds within the developed area of Altadena – not its wildlands. She said she anticipated that it would take a year to determine which areas were naturally rebounding and which might need help.

“We really won’t know anything until we can just wait and observe how the Earth is responding to this crisis,” Raj told Wilson.

As the situation is changeable, those interested in donating should consult the Instagram handles for Skylight Books and Altadena Seed Library for updates. There is also a GoFundMe campaign connected to the effort.

And for those in need of a little self-care? You might try spending some time with a certain marmalade-loving bear from Peru, Paddington.

“I would do anything for that bear,” says Quiroz García.

For more information, explore the Altadena Seed Library and Skylight Books websites.

More bookstore relief efforts

Black Cat Fables: The Monrovia bookstore is teaming with author Veronica Bane for a book fair open to those affected or displaced by the fires in the greater L.A. area. The event will be today, Jan. 24, from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. and tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 25 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Underdog Bookstore: Go to its Wildfire Relief page for information about the shop’s distribution center, available supplies and upcoming charity auction.

Vroman’s: The store has been partnering with Children’s Books for Altadena to provide new or gently-used books for communities impacted by the fire.

Zibby’s Bookshop: The store is giving books to families who have lost homes in the LA fires, and also providing clothes from 30+ brands. (more details here, and signup required).

Check in with your nearest local independent bookstore with our Southern California Independent Bookstore map.

Backing a bookseller

A Pasadena bookstore owner lost his Altadena home in the Eaton fire. His staff responded. READ MORE

The week’s bestsellers

The top-selling books at your local independent bookstores. READ MORE

Butler’s vision

Octavia Butler imagined an LA ravaged by fires. Her Altadena cemetery survived. READ MORE

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Next on ‘Bookish’

The next virtual event, which was rescheduled from last week, will be today, Jan. 24, with Abigail Thomas and Amy Wilson.

Sign up for free now.

Want to watch previous Bookish shows? Catch up on virtual events and more! 

​ Orange County Register 

Rams open to potential Kyren Williams extension

• January 24, 2025

The Rams have many decisions to sort through this offseason, including the fates of some longtime cornerstones of their offense. And, in the case of Kyren Williams, a relatively new one.

Williams just completed his third season, and second as the Rams’ primary starting at running back. He’s rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of those seasons, including a 316-carry, 1,299-yard, 14-touchdown performance in 2024 in which he stayed injury-free for the first time in his career.

Now, entering the final year of his rookie contract, the former fifth-round pick is eligible for a contract extension. Speaking with reporters Friday, Rams general manager Les Snead indicated that is something the team would be open to.

“I think that’s something that’s going to be on the plate,” Snead said. “He would be someone that after three years you could begin discussing, let’s call it, renegotiating, starting anew. Because I do think Kyren is someone who is a Ram and has a very impactful role for us.”

Snead’s comments echoed those of head coach Sean McVay a day earlier, who said, “I’m really proud of the body of work that Kyren has put together, what he represents, and all the different things that we really want to be about as a football team. He’s checking a lot of those boxes. I think that’s certainly something that will be discussed as well.”

Running back has not been a position in which the Rams have heavily invested financially since giving Todd Gurley a four-year, $60 million contract extension ahead of the 2018 season. Since Gurley’s release following the 2019 season, the Rams’ leading rushers each year have all been players on rookie contracts.

And the Rams did spend third-round draft capital on running back Blake Corum in last year’s draft. Corum rushed 58 times for 207 yards as a rookie in limited work behind Williams.

Snead said Corum’s presence would not prevent a potential Williams extension.

“I think we would probably take the philosophy that you’re going to need more than one running back, so we’ll always try to keep that room somewhat healthy in terms of depth,” Snead said. “Even with Kyren. He’s had two great years, but there is a possibility, right, where he needs a partner to take some load off of him. He’s probably played more than any running back over the last two years. So that’s something to think about.”

The Rams typically do not come to terms on rookie extensions following a player’s third season. The last time they did was with receiver Cooper Kupp prior to the 2020 season.

“Sometimes it is tougher to sign someone who’s not in, let’s call it, their final year,” Snead said. “Could be a difference in numbers, but a lot of times there’s no real deadline so it can drag on.”

Beyond Williams’ status when asked about specific players’ futures, Snead, like McVay a day before, said the Rams’ leadership group still needs to meet next week to chart out the organization’s path.

That group will consist of Snead, McVay, president Kevin Demoff and VP of football and business administration Tony Pastoors, as well as contributions from the coaching staff, the personnel staff and the athletic performance staff. They will decide how the organization wants to move forward, including with Kupp and quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Kupp has already said he wants to play football next year, but he’s not sure if he’s in the team’s future plans. Stafford, 36, said he needs to think through his future, but he indicated he thinks he still has football left in his body. Last offseason, Stafford and the Rams engaged in prolonged contract restructuring negotiations that reportedly would make it easy for the sides to part ways if they so decided.

When the Rams were going into their salary cap reset following the 2022 season, Snead referred to Stafford, Kupp and the since-retired Aaron Donald as the Rams’ “weight-bearing walls” when explaining their place with the organization moving forward.

Asked Friday is he still views Stafford and Kupp as “weight-bearing walls,” Snead said, “They’ve definitely been weight-bearing walls. I know where you’re going with that, kind of what’s next for them. … There’s that subset of players that we’ll talk about that are on the back nine of their career and how many more years are they going to play NFL football and how many more years will we work together as a Ram? That’s always the puzzle that we have to put together. We haven’t done that yet. We’ll figure it out.”

Snead continued, “I can say that, if you’re speaking to Cooper and Matthew, I don’t even know if I can put into words what they’ve meant to this organization. I probably have a picture behind me somewhere where it’s Cooper Kupp catching a ball at SoFi on the last weekend of the NFL season, a ball thrown by Matthew Stafford that changed the course of this franchise and there’s a banner hanging in that stadium that only one team gets a year. I’ll say that. What can I say about that? That moment’s in a lot of memories and a lot of pictures. That’s what they mean to us.”

​ Orange County Register 

Letter: Newsom likes spending money more than he likes governing

• January 24, 2025

Government officials, and most notably Gavin Newsom, love to start designating funds to disasters before there is even a plan to address what is actually needed.

Throw many at it and hope people don’t take advantage of our generosity.  When will they ever learn?  They have not learned any lessons of the recent disasters of bilking taxpayers out of billions of dollars!

COVID money going to scoundrels, homeless money going to agencies with no accountability, social services going to non-citizens, social security going to dead people.

What are the chances that the Hairdo’s allocation of our money is going to go directly to the victims of the latest tragedy in Southern California?

Not even slim to none. None to none. We have no leadership in this state.

Shawn Ferguson, Westminster

​ Orange County Register