UN agencies raise alarm over Pakistan’s move to deport thousands of Afghans waiting to go to the US

• February 5, 2025

By MUNIR AHMED

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The U.N. refugees and migration agencies on Wednesday expressed their concern over Pakistan’s decision to deport thousands of Afghan refugees awaiting relocation to the United States and elsewhere.

The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, and the International Organization for Migration in a statement said they were seeking clarification from Pakistan, which said last week it would deport the refugees back to Afghanistan unless their cases were processed quickly by the countries that had agreed to take them in.

About 20,000 Afghans were approved for resettlement in the U.S. under a program that helps people at risk because of their work with the American government, media, aid agencies and rights groups. They were among tens of thousands of Afghans who fled to neighboring Pakistan after their country fell to the Taliban in 2021.

However, they were left in limbo after President Donald Trump paused U.S. refugee programs last month.

“A UNHCR-issued non-return advisory has been in place since 2021, calling for a suspension of forced returns of Afghan nationals from any country regardless of their status,” the joint UNHCR-IOM statement said.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last week gave the green light to evict Afghans without papers from the cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi before March 31, in preparation for deportation if they were not relocated to their host countries.

UNHCR and IOM said they are especially concerned for Afghan nationals who face a risk of harm upon return, such as ethnic and religious minorities, women and girls, journalists, human rights activists, and members of artistic professions like musicians and others.

It said since Jan. 1, 2025, an uptick in arrests of Afghan nationals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi has caused significant distress, with reports of Afghan nationals of various documentation statuses being rounded up.

The Trump administration also announced the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program would be suspended from Jan. 27 for at least three months. It has shocked Afghans who were hoping to travel to the United States soon.

Afghans in Pakistan have been virtually living in hiding since 2023 when a crackdown began on foreigners who are in the country without proper documentation. An estimated 800,000 Afghans have either gone back voluntarily or been deported since despite criticism from U.N. agencies, rights groups and the Taliban.

Besides thousands of Afghans who are living in Pakistan and awaiting travel to host countries, there are around 1.45 million Afghan nationals registered with UNHCR as refugees in Pakistan as well but their stay has been extended until June.

In the statement, UNHCR and IOM urged “Pakistan to implement any relocation measures with due consideration for human rights standards, including due process, and the legal status of Proof of Registration (POR) and Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders, who have resided in Pakistan for an extended period of time”.

“Pakistan has a proud tradition of hosting refugees, saving millions of lives. This generosity is greatly appreciated,” UNHCR representative in Pakistan Philippa Candler said.

“IOM is committed to work with the Government of Pakistan and UNHCR to develop a mechanism to register, manage and screen Afghan nationals in Pakistan,” said IOM Chief of Mission, Mio Sato.

She said “This will open the door to tailored solutions including international protection to those in need and pathways for Afghan nationals, with long-standing socioeconomic and family ties in the country.”

​ Orange County Register 

Pam Bondi is sworn in as attorney general as the Justice Department braces for major shakeup

• February 5, 2025

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pam Bondi was sworn in Wednesday as attorney general, taking charge of the Justice Department as it braces for upheaval with President Donald Trump aiming to exert his will over an agency that has long provoked his ire.

The ceremony took place in the Oval Office and it was the first time that the Republican president had participated in a second-term swearing-in of a Cabinet member. It was further evidence of Trump’s intense personal interest in the operations of the department that investigated him during his first term and then brought two since-abandoned indictments after he left office in 2021.

Bondi is expected to radically reshape the department, which in recent days has seen the firing of career prosecutors and FBI officials as well as the undoing of the massive prosecution into the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot with Trump’s sweeping day one pardons.

The former Florida attorney general enters as the department is embroiled in a dispute with the FBI over an effort to identify thousands of agents involved the sprawling Jan. 6 investigation.

FBI agents this week sued over the Justice Department’s demand to turn over the names, which agents believe may be a precursor to mass firings. And on Wednesday, the acting deputy attorney general in a memo sent to the workforce accused the acting FBI director of “insubordination.”

Bondi is likely to be one of the most closely scrutinized members of Trump’s Cabinet, given her close relationship Trump, who during his 2024 campaign suggested that he try to exact revenge on his perceived enemies.

Bondi has said that politics will play no role in her decision-making, but she also refused at her confirmation hearing last month to rule potential investigations into Trump’s adversaries. She also has repeated Trump’s claims that the prosecutions against him amounted to political persecution, telling senators that the Justice Department “had been weaponized for years and years and years, and it’s got to stop.”

Before Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas administered the oath of office, Trump praised Bondi’s record as a prosecutor and said she will “end the weaponization of federal law enforcement.”

Bondi, who was Florida’s first female attorney general before becoming a lobbyist, told the president that she would not let him down.

“I will make you proud and I will make this country proud,” she said. “I will restore integrity to the Justice Department and I will fight violent crime throughout this country and throughout this world, and make America safe again,” Bondi said.

The Senate confirmed Bondi in a 54-46 vote Tuesday that was almost entirely along party lines. The lone Democrat to join Republicans was Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman.

Republicans have highlighted Bondi’s record in Florida in taking on human traffickers and opioids. GOP lawmakers she will bring much-needed change to a department they believe unfairly pursued Trump through investigations and mistreated his supporters charged in the Jan. 6 riot.

As attorney general Bondi will oversee the FBI, which is in turmoil over the scrutiny of agents involved in Trump-related investigations. On Tuesday, FBI employees filed two lawsuits to halt the collection and potential dissemination of names of investigators after the acting deputy attorney general demanded the names on Friday to determine whether additional personnel decisions were merited.

Bove later said in a memo to the workforce Wednesday that FBI agents “who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner” are not at risk of being fired. The only employees who should be concerned, Bove wrote, “are those who aced with corrupt or partisan intent.”

​ Orange County Register 

Callers swamp Senate offices in Trump’s first weeks, only to get busy signals and full voicemail

• February 5, 2025

By JULIE CARR SMYTH

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Callers are getting busy signals and voicemail inboxes are full at many U.S. Senate offices as people try to reach out and voice their opinions on President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, executive orders and moves to dismantle various federal programs.

A memo distributed to Senate staff on Tuesday said there was a higher number of calls than usual and that some callers were having trouble getting through.

“The Senate is experiencing an unusually high volume of inbound calls. External callers may receive a temporary busy signal when phoning a Senate office,” according to the memo obtained by The Associated Press.

The influx of phone calls comes as Trump and ally Elon Musk are working to shrink the federal government during the president’s first weeks in office. They are shuttering agencies, temporarily freezing funding and pushing workers to resign, all while staffers with Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency infiltrate departments in a stated effort to root out fraud and abuse.

One popular post making the rounds on social media urged opponents of those actions to call their lawmakers six times a day, every day — two calls each to their two senators and two to their House member. “You should NOT be bothering with online petitions or emailing,” it said. The post urged use of a smartphone app that would make the task of making multiple calls per day easier.

Caitlin Christman, an institutional support contractor in Wisconsin furloughed last week from the U.S. Agency for International Development, said it took her four attempts over five days to successfully leave a message for her senator, Republican Ron Johnson, after dealing with an overloaded voicemail box, grainy recorded greetings and a busy signal.

“I wanted to express my concern with dismantling USAID without any sort of review, and to relay my experience with its work, which I believe has been in our country’s best interest,” she said, noting that she expects to be fired later this week.

Meryl Neiman of Ohio Progressive Action Leaders and others within her network sought to draw attention to the fact that they were having trouble reaching both her state’s senators — Republicans Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted — by phone or in person at their field offices before Wednesday’s nationwide protests against Trump and Project 2025, a hard-right playbook for American government and society.

Both senators are close with Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, and were with him as recently as Monday, during a tour of the 2023 derailment site in East Palestine.

Those frustrated by Trump’s actions shared similar stories with the AP of being unable to reach their lawmakers. They seemed to be experiencing particular barriers to connecting with the Senate offices of Trump’s fellow Republicans, who may be more inundated than Democrats because Republicans hold the chamber’s majority and are more likely to have the president’s ear.

Lawmakers were frustrated, too, as they seek to maintain operations amid the barrage. Senate voicemail boxes only hold about 1,000 messages before becoming full and needing to be catalogued and emptied.

Moreno’s spokesperson, Reagan McCarthy, said helping Ohioans in need is his top priority.

“While the Senate has been dealing with an exceptionally high volume of calls, our office is committed to responding to each and every Ohioan in need of assistance and working through all requests as quickly as possible,” she said in a statement.

​ Orange County Register 

Meet the woman keeping the adorable pups happy at this year’s ‘Puppy Bowl’

• February 5, 2025

By MARK KENNEDY, Associated Press Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — If you tune into the “Puppy Bowl” on Sunday, you’ll likely see a key person’s influence — even if you don’t actually see her.

Victoria Schade is a dog trainer and novelist who’s the show’s lead puppy trainer and wrangler. She’s the one making sure the shelter pups have a conflict-free contest and that they’re captured at their most adorable — all from off-camera.

It is Schade who gets the puppies to look up during the “The Star-Spangled Banner” or run through a tunnel to get to the field for the starting lineups. She’s on the lookout for possible conflicts or nervous dogs.

“My responsibilities include ensuring puppy happiness and safety during gameplay,” she says. “So if there’s any moment where a puppy looks like they’re overwhelmed or they just need a break, I’ll step out and give them a little break on the sideline.”

Schade has been working with the doggies on the Animal Planet show for 19 years and is believed to be the longest serving member of the “Puppy Bowl” crew. She also works the kitten halftime show and calls filming both her favorite week of the year.

“I think she is one of the most dedicated, hardest working people out there in the business,” says “Puppy Bowl” referee Dan Schachner, now in his 14th year. “She doesn’t ever seem to run out of energy. She never says no to a request and there’s always brightness and sunshine from her with every step.”

Schade has coached hundreds of dogs over the years but never adopted one from the show — until now. She took home Boris — known on the show as Mr. Pickles — from Dallas Dog rescue. “I saw star quality. So this was the year,” she says.

Treats and funny noises

Early on, Schade was responsible for recruiting and selecting the puppies, a task now that leans on animal rescue groups and shelters throughout the country. These days, she’s the lead trainer.

“If you’re seeing the puppy looking up at the camera, I’m typically right there with the treat,” she says. “It’s a lot of treats and funny noises. And that does the trick.”

This year, Schade is stepping out from the sidelines and joining Schachner on camera for an hour-long pre-game kickoff show, which features a doggie combine and a draft. Other show highlights include segments with Dan Smyers, from superstar country duo Dan + Shay, and Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi.

Schade has developed some very special animal-related skills over the years, including anticipating when one of the players needs to relieve itself.

“One of my ‘Puppy Bowl’ skills is reading butts. So I know when a puppy is going to go to the bathroom and I’ll typically say like, ‘Watch out in the 20-yard-line, we’re going to have a deposit’ and everyone’s ready to go with that cleanup.”

The “Puppy Bowl” made its debut as counter-programming to the Super Bowl in 2005. Dogs score touchdowns on a gridiron carpet when they cross the goal line — any goal line — with a toy in their mouth.

The show is really just an excuse to spend time watching adorable, clumsy pups play with chew toys, wag their tails furiously and lick the camera. A deeper reason is to encourage animal adoption.

According to the ASPCA, approximately 390,000 shelter dogs are euthanized each year and 2 million shelter dogs are adopted.

Most of the puppies are usually adopted by airtime, since the show was filmed in the fall. But the point is to show that animals just like the ones on the show can be found at any shelter at any time.

This year’s three-hour television event this year will feature 142 rescue puppies from 80 shelters across 40 states — and one from Nicaragua, a Chihuahua-German shepherd. There will be 11 special needs dogs.

“That’s the most amount we’ve ever had,” says Schachner. “Look out for Jolene, who is a pitbull mix that’s in a wheelchair. Look out for a three-legged Boston terrier from New York City. And my personal favorite, is Sprinkle, who is a blind and deaf Aussie. So it’s just incredible to watch them play.”

The inaugural “Puppy Bowl” was watched by nearly 6 million viewers. Last year, 12.6 million viewers tuned in. In comparison, this year’s Golden Globes attracted 9.3 million.

It airs Sunday, Feb. 9 at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT and will be simulcast across Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, truTV, Max and discovery+. The show repeats throughout the day.

Practical advice for raising puppies

Schade, whose first book was “ Bonding With Your Dog ” and who then pivoted to writing pet-oriented novels, like “Life on the Leash” and “Dog Friendly,” is a wealth of information about our four-legged friends.

She advises dog owners to learn to read the body language of their pet, to try to understand what they’re trying to say. Like tail-wagging — how tight? And where is the tail positioned?

Schade is a big advocate for positive reinforcement and science-based training, not the so-called alpha dog approach, which uses intimidation or force.

“There’s no need to be the alpha, which has been debunked anyway. You are your dog’s ally. You’re their friend. You’re their No. 1. And it’s a relationship based in compassion and understanding.”

That means load up on treats. She advocates keeping them in your pocket and consistently using them as rewards for good behavior, especially when potty training.

“I cannot stress it enough: When you think you’re treating enough, treat more because, especially during puppyhood, it is such a critical learning period and every interaction is a chance to teach something.”

​ Orange County Register 

AB 253 would streamline building

• February 5, 2025

This one should be a no-brainer. Introduced by Assemblymembers Chris Ward, D-San Diego, and Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton, Assembly Bill 253 is the California Residential Private Permitting Review Act. It would speed the approval process for developments of 10 or fewer units, including single-family homes and duplexes. If a city takes longer than 30 days to review building plans, in the bill’s words the developer could “employ a private professional provider … to perform the plan check.”

Speaking on Kitty O’Neal’s KFBK radio show in Sacramento, Ward explained his bill addresses both the wildfires that have burned much of the state as well as the ongoing housing crisis. Permits themselves would not be cut back, but a timeframe imposed. If permitting lasted too long, he said, “There’s a lot of great professionals out there who know your city’s code” and could check the building plan. “They build the things, they do the electrical work, they do the structural engineering work.”

A city still would issue the final occupancy permit and the bill would apply to the whole state, not just those hit by wildfires. He rightly pointed out that reduced permitting times would cut developer costs, encouraging more development. After all, time is money and permitting delays can mean major financial impacts.

The bill follows actions by Gov. Newsom, including a Jan. 12 executive order suspending permitting and review requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Commission. And a Jan. 27 EO suspended for wildfire survivors any rules limiting stays in motels or hotels to 30 days.

AB 253 was introduced Jan. 15. Ward said hearings should begin in early March. After that, “we have many steps ahead of us” before it’s approved by the Senate and Assembly, then signed by Newsom.

We heartily support this bill. But it and other bills advancing post-wildfire reconstruction ought to be approved more quickly than the current timeline. Assuming AB 253 goes into effect in April, add 30 days for the local review process that takes too long, then another 30 days for a private assessment. That pushes rebuilding to June or later.

We can do better, faster.

​ Orange County Register 

Researchers say China’s DeepSeek chatbot is linked to state telecom, raising data privacy concerns

• February 5, 2025

By BYRON TAU, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The website of the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek, whose chatbot became the most downloaded app in the United States, has computer code that could send some user login information to a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company that has been barred from operating in the United States, security researchers say.

The web login page of DeepSeek’s chatbot contains heavily obfuscated computer script that when deciphered shows connections to computer infrastructure owned by China Mobile, a state-owned telecommunications company. The code appears to be part of the account creation and user login process for DeepSeek.

In its privacy policy, DeepSeek acknowledged storing data on servers inside the People’s Republic of China. But its chatbot appears more directly tied to the Chinese state than previously known through the link revealed by researchers to China Mobile. The U.S. has claimed there are close ties between China Mobile and the Chinese military as justification for placing limited sanctions on the company. DeepSeek and China Mobile did not respond to emails seeking comment.

The growth of Chinese-controlled digital services has become a major topic of concern for U.S. national security officials. Lawmakers in Congress last year on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis voted to force the Chinese parent company of the popular video-sharing app TikTok to divest or face a nationwide ban though the app has since received a 75-day reprieve from President Donald Trump, who is hoping to work out a sale.

The code linking DeepSeek to one of China’s leading mobile phone providers was first discovered by Feroot Security, a Canadian cybersecurity company, which shared its findings with The Associated Press. The AP took Feroot’s findings to a second set of computer experts, who independently confirmed that China Mobile code is present. Neither Feroot nor the other researchers observed data transferred to China Mobile when testing logins in North America, but they could not rule out that data for some users was being transferred to the Chinese telecom.

The analysis only applies to the web version of DeepSeek. They did not analyze the mobile version, which remains one of the most downloaded pieces of software on both the Apple and the Google app stores.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission unanimously denied China Mobile authority to operate in the United States in 2019, citing “substantial” national security concerns about links between the company and the Chinese state. In 2021, the Biden administration also issued sanctions limiting the ability of Americans to invest in China Mobile after the Pentagon linked it to the Chinese military.

“It’s mindboggling that we are unknowingly allowing China to survey Americans and we’re doing nothing about it,” said Ivan Tsarynny, CEO of Feroot.

“It’s hard to believe that something like this was accidental. There are so many unusual things to this. You know that saying ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire’? In this instance, there’s a lot of smoke,” Tsarynny said.

Stewart Baker, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer and consultant who has previously served as a top official at the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency, said DeepSeek “raises all of the TikTok concerns plus you’re talking about information that is highly likely to be of more national security and personal significance than anything people do on TikTok,” one of the world’s most popular social media platforms.

Users are increasingly putting sensitive data into generative AI systems — everything from confidential business information to highly personal details about themselves. People are using generative AI systems for spell-checking, research and even highly personal queries and conversations. The data security risks of such technology are magnified when the platform is owned by a geopolitical adversary and could represent an intelligence goldmine for a country, experts warn.

“The implications of this are significantly larger because personal and proprietary information could be exposed. It’s like TikTok but at a much grander scale and with more precision. It’s not just sharing entertainment videos. It’s sharing queries and information that could include highly personal and sensitive business information,” said Tsarynny, of Feroot.

Feroot, which specializes in identifying threats on the web, identified computer code that is downloaded and triggered when a user logs into DeepSeek. According to the company’s analysis, the code appears to capture detailed information about the device a user logs in from — a process called fingerprinting. Such techniques are widely used by tech companies around the world for security, verification and ad targeting.

The company’s analysis of the code determined that there were links in that code pointing to China Mobile authentication and identity management computer systems, meaning it could be part of the login process for some users accessing DeepSeek.

The AP asked two academic cybersecurity experts — Joel Reardon of the University of Calgary and Serge Egelman of the University of California, Berkeley — to verify Feroot’s findings. In their independent analysis of the DeepSeek code, they confirmed there were links between the chatbot’s login system and China Mobile.

“It’s clear that China Mobile is somehow involved in registering for DeepSeek,” said Reardon. He didn’t see data being transferred in his testing but concluded that it is likely being activated for some users or in some login methods.

Contact the AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/.

​ Orange County Register 

Frumpy Mom: I’ll do most anything for food, even use my legs

• February 5, 2025

I am highly motivated by food. This is something you may have already guessed if you’ve met me in person. Whereas online I’ve been known to spend 10 minutes trying to take a selfie of myself that looks skinny, in order to create a false impression on social media.

Anyway, back to food. In my family, my son is highly motivated by money and my daughter by anything that will get on my nerves, like the insistence that she get to pick the same sushi restaurant 97 times in a row, even though I’m paying.

I was thinking about this yesterday, because my young adult son, Cheetah Boy, who’s a certified personal trainer, was telling me proudly how he’s been able to put weight on his bodybuilding clients, who apparently don’t like to eat.

“So-and-so has gained 12 pounds since I started training him,” the son bragged. “He said he only eats one meal a day, but I taught him that he had to eat healthy food more often to have the body he wants. So now he eats three meals a day.”

Even though I’m old and know a lot of stuff, I’m really unable to grasp the concept of voluntarily eating only one meal a day. I wish this were not the case, especially when I’m walking past a store window and I see an irresistibly cute dress in the window that I will never be able to wear.

It always reminds me of a friend that my son had when they were together in Boy Scouts. This kid would eat almost nothing. His helicopter mom was always lamenting to me about what torture it was to get him to eat, which I found interesting because the kid was actually slightly pudgy.

Just before the boys were going away for a weeklong camping trip, this mom was beside herself with worry, apparently that her son would starve to death during the week, since they wouldn’t have the only kind of rice he liked or some such. She was literally wringing her hands, which I thought was something people only did in books.

“Don’t worry,” I told her. “After hiking all day, it’s my experience that kids will eat dog poop if they’re hungry enough.”

She just looked at me as if I was incapable of understanding how delicate and special her son was.

Fast forward to a week later. The boys all came home, filthy and with unbrushed teeth. When we picked them up, I saw my friend’s son. He looked exactly the same. Somehow he managed to survive the week without emaciation.

I would like to care less about food, but it does have its benefits. A few years ago, I took the family to Paros, an island in Greece. To save money, I booked us into Marisa Rooms, an adorable little guesthouse that was half the price of a hotel. I was still extremely gimpy at the time from chemotherapy and immunotherapy and so forth, and mostly staggered instead of walked. (But I’m obsessed so I still travel anyway.)

Our hostess, Marisa, picked us up at the airport because it was August and apparently there were no taxis to be had, since they were all shuttling French windsurfers back and forth to windy beaches.

We got set up in our cute, tiny rooms, took a nap and then I was ready for dinner. Now, I had assumed that my difficulty walking would be solved by the arrival of a taxi or Uber to magically transport us to the main part of town. Um, no. There were none available. The French people had all of them. I realized I was going to have to walk into town if I wanted food. (See above.) Walking was hard for me, but hunger was even harder.

I took my son’s arm and leaned on my cane, as we walked several blocks over cobblestones to find a good restaurant. I was gasping and perspiring by the time we saw one that looked popular (did I mention it was August?) but it was worth the effort, because the Greek food was as delicious as Greek food should be. We also drank some extremely cheap Greek wine, which made it even better.

I hobbled back home, leaning even harder on my son, and collapsed into bed. My legs hurt all night long from the unfamiliar exercise. The next morning, my legs were still throbbing but guess what? My stomach was growling and I needed breakfast. Despite the pain involved, I once again shuffled into town for a hearty meal. This went on for the four days we spent in Paros and, amazingly, my legs mostly stopped hurting.

Thus I learned the advantage of being food-motivated, which is that I will walk for food. Today, years later, I still have cancer and I’m still gimpy, but I’m much stronger, because of the whole carrot-and-stick equation. Though nowadays I try to find hotels that have restaurants — but sometimes you have to climb stairs to get to them, which is how I learned to climb stairs again.

​ Orange County Register 

L.A. County wildfire losses seen as high as $164 billion, UCLA Says

• February 5, 2025

By John Gittelsohn | Bloomberg

Economic losses from the fires that tore through Los Angeles County in January range from $95 billion to $164 billion, according to a new report, potentially making the blazes the second-costliest natural disaster in US history.

The Eaton and Palisades fires, which both erupted Jan. 7, killed at least 29 people, charred more than 37,000 acres and destroyed 16,000 structures, including 11,000 single-family homes. Insured losses are estimated at $75 billion, according to the report released Tuesday by University of California at Los Angeles economists Zhiyun Li and William Yu.

Also see: State Farm seeks 22% rate hike for California homeowners to cover Los Angeles wildfire losses

They estimate that the disaster will reduce LA’s gross domestic product by $4.6 billion, or about 0.5%, in 2025.

“In terms of economic magnitude, it’s very big,” Li said in an interview. “It takes time for the local economy to recover from it, and whether it recovers remains to be seen.”

The costs from the blazes are exacerbating an insurance crisis in California after many large companies had dropped coverage, leaving some homeowners without enough funds to rebuild. The state, meanwhile, is working to secure more federal aid. Gov. Gavin Newsom is traveling to Washington on Tuesday for meetings, including one with President Donald Trump, according to an official briefed on the plans. Newsom will also meet members of Congress to lobby for disaster funds, according to his office.

See also: Southern California wildfires add to growing worries about homeowner insurance

Trump promised federal aid to help wildfire victims when he visited last month to tour the damage, though he has said funds would depend on California changing its water management policies and approving voter identification laws. Some Congressional Republicans have also said any assistance may come with strings attached.

More on fires: Eaton fire lawsuit against Edison uses 3D model to claim blaze started below transmission lines

The UCLA economists’ highest estimate — equivalent to more than three times LA County’s annual budget — would rank the wildfire toll second only to Hurricane Katrina, which swept through New Orleans in 2005. That storm caused $200 billion in losses, adjusted for inflation, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. The most expensive California wildfire was the 2018 Camp Fire, which cost an estimated $30 billion.

Estimates and methodologies of calculating costs from the blazes vary widely. The UCLA estimate includes direct property losses as well as cleanup costs and damages to infrastructure such as roads, bridges and sewer systems. CoreLogic, a real estate information service, last month forecast $35 billion to $45 billion in initial property losses.

Wealth Decimation

Insured losses may cover only a fraction of the costs for fire victims, the UCLA economists said. Many property owners seeking to rebuild were underinsured, while those without mortgages may have had no policies or were dropped by private insurers.

Other homeowners were covered by California’s FAIR plan, a bare-bones fire insurance that limits repayments to $3 million, far less than the costs of replacing structures and possessions in high-end neighborhoods such as Malibu and the Pacific Palisades. The median home price in the stricken areas before the fires was $2 million, according to the report.

Also see: Rent gouging in Los Angeles County will soon carry a maximum $50,000 penalty

“The house is a large portion of wealth of a family,” Li said. “That means they have to pay out of pocket to rebuild. It means a disaster for their wealth.”

The fires will likely drive up the cost of insurance, renting and other expenses of living in Los Angeles, which was increasingly unaffordable before the disasters, the report said. State Farm, the largest insurer in California, on Monday said it is seeking an emergency rate hike to help cover losses.

The fires also bring costs such as the health impact of pollution and toxic waste generated by the burns, a decline in business activity and a population exodus, the UCLA economists said. Preventing more disasters may require additional expenses, such as spending on improved firefighting technology, better forest and water management, upgrading utility infrastructure and subsidizing home hardening, the report concluded.

“All mitigation investments will be justified, considering the astronomical costs associated with wildfires,” the economists said.

–With assistance from Eliyahu Kamisher and Skylar Woodhouse.

​ Orange County Register