Southern Californians out on Saturday night for Valentine’s Day took a break from staring longingly into each other’s eyes to gaze at something else: a SpaceX rocket blazing across the early evening Southland sky.
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday night from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The rocket carried 24 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit, according to the company.
Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet provider, has launched about 11,000 Starlink broadband satellites into space since 2019, using its workhorse Falcon 9.
At 7:03 p.m., SpaceX posted to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that the 24 Starlink satellites had successfully been deployed.
SpaceX said on its launch page that residents in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties might experience one or more sonic booms during the launch, a phenomenon that has long upset residents and raised concerns about the booms’ effect on nearby endangered species.
SpaceX has three more launches scheduled from Vandenberg this month, the next expected to take place Wednesday, according to the company’s site.
This was the fourth SpaceX Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg this month.
The Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket. After its stage separation process Saturday night, the rocket’s first stage will land on the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean, according to the company.
“Love is in the air,” one X user quipped, “and so is Falcon 9.”
Times staff writer Laurence Darmiento contributed to this report.
Old Dixie Highway has been shut down between Interstate 95 and U.S. Highway 1 due to an active brush fire on Wednesday.Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputies are currently assisting with evacuations in the area of residences on both sides of Old Dixie Highway.Residents between East Ave and Bayberry Village Rd as well as Old Dixie Hwy and Deer Hunter Rd, are being asked to evacuate at this time due to the fire’s progress.A shelter is being opened at Fire Station 16 (3935 Old Dixie Hwy), near the Publix.Affected residents should receive notice via Reverse 911. Flagler County Fire Rescue and FireFlight are actively supporting the Florida Forest Service to contain the blaze.According to the FFS, the fire has grown to 100 acres and is 40% contained as of 5:30 p.m.>> This is a developing news story and will be updated as more information is released.
FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. —
Old Dixie Highway has been shut down between Interstate 95 and U.S. Highway 1 due to an active brush fire on Wednesday.
Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputies are currently assisting with evacuations in the area of residences on both sides of Old Dixie Highway.
Residents between East Ave and Bayberry Village Rd as well as Old Dixie Hwy and Deer Hunter Rd, are being asked to evacuate at this time due to the fire’s progress.
A shelter is being opened at Fire Station 16 (3935 Old Dixie Hwy), near the Publix.
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You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Affected residents should receive notice via Reverse 911.
Flagler County Fire Rescue
Flagler County Fire Rescue and FireFlight are actively supporting the Florida Forest Service to contain the blaze.
This content is imported from Facebook.
You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
According to the FFS, the fire has grown to 100 acres and is 40% contained as of 5:30 p.m.
>> This is a developing news story and will be updated as more information is released.
Journalist Don Lemon was released from custody Friday after he was arrested and hit with federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.Lemon was arrested Thursday while across the country in Los Angeles, while another independent journalist and two protest participants were arrested in Minnesota.The arrests brought sharp criticism from news media advocates and civil rights activists including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said the Trump administration is taking a “sledgehammer” to “the knees of the First Amendment.”The four were indicted on charges of conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.In federal court in Los Angeles, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Robbins argued for a $100,000 bond, telling a judge that Lemon “knowingly joined a mob that stormed into a church.” He was released, however, without having to post money and was granted permission to travel to France in June while the case is pending.Defense attorney Marilyn Bednarski said Lemon plans to plead not guilty and fight the charges.Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, has said he has no affiliation with the organization that went into the church, and he was there as a solo journalist chronicling protesters.“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”Attorney General Pam Bondi promoted the arrests on social media.“Make no mistake. Under President Trump’s leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely,” Bondi said in a video posted online. “And if I haven’t been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.”‘Keep trying’Since he left CNN, Lemon has joined the legion of journalists who have gone into business for themselves, posting regularly on YouTube. He hasn’t hidden his disdain for President Donald Trump. Yet during his online show from the church, he said repeatedly: “I’m not here as an activist. I’m here as a journalist.” He described the scene before him and interviewed churchgoers and demonstrators.A magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors’ initial bid to charge the veteran journalist. Shortly after, he predicted on his show that the administration would try again.“And guess what,” he said. “Here I am. Keep trying. That’s not going to stop me from being a journalist. That’s not going to diminish my voice. Go ahead, make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel, if you want. Just do it. Because I’m not going anywhere.”Georgia Fort livestreamed the moments before her arrest, telling viewers that agents were at her door and her First Amendment right as a journalist was being diminished.A judge released Fort, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy on bond, rejecting the Justice Department’s attempt to keep them in custody. Not guilty pleas were entered. Fort’s supporters in the courtroom clapped and whooped.“It’s a sinister turn of events in this country,” Fort’s attorney, Kevin Riach, said in court.Discouraging scrutinyJane Kirtley, a media law and ethics expert at the University of Minnesota, said the federal laws cited by the government were not intended to apply to reporters gathering news.The charges against Lemon and Fort, she said, are “pure intimidation and government overreach.”Some experts and activists said the charges were not only an attack on press freedoms but also a strike against Black Americans who count on Black journalists to bear witness to injustice and oppression.The National Association of Black Journalists said it was “outraged and deeply alarmed” by Lemon’s arrest. The group called it an effort to “criminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement.”Crews is a leader of Black Lives Matter Minnesota who has led many protests and actions for racial justice, particularly following George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis in 2020.“All the greats have been to jail, MLK, Malcom X — people who stood up for justice get attacked,” Crews told The Associated Press. “We were just practicing our First Amendment rights.”Protesters charged previouslyA prominent civil rights attorney and two other people involved in the protest were arrested last week. Prosecutors have accused them of civil rights violations for disrupting the Cities Church service.The Justice Department launched an investigation after the group interrupted services by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.Lundy, a candidate for state Senate, works for the office of Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and is married to a St. Paul City Council member. Lemon briefly interviewed him as they gathered with protesters preparing to drive to the church on Jan. 18.“I feel like it’s important that if you’re going to be representing people in office that you are out here with the people,” Lundy told Lemon, adding he believed in “direct action, certainly within the lines of the law.”Church leaders praise arrests in protestCities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and lists one of its pastors as David Easterwood, who leads ICE’s St. Paul field office.“We are grateful that the Department of Justice acted swiftly to protect Cities Church so that we can continue to faithfully live out the church’s mission to worship Jesus and make him known,” lead pastor Jonathan Parnell said.___Richer and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Dave Bauder and Aaron Morrison in New York; Giovanna Dell’Orto, Tim Sullivan, Steve Karnowski and Jack Brook in Minneapolis; and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed.
LOS ANGELES —
Journalist Don Lemon was released from custody Friday after he was arrested and hit with federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.
Lemon was arrested Thursday while across the country in Los Angeles, while another independent journalist and two protest participants were arrested in Minnesota. He struck a confident, defiant tone while speaking to reporters after a court appearance in California.
“I have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now,” Lemon declared.
The arrests brought sharp criticism from news media advocates and civil rights activists including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said the Trump administration is taking a “sledgehammer” to “the knees of the First Amendment.”
Lemon and others were indicted on charges of conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.
In federal court in Los Angeles, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Robbins argued for a $100,000 bond, telling a judge that Lemon “knowingly joined a mob that stormed into a church.” He was released, however, without having to post money and was granted permission to travel to France in June while the case is pending.
Defense attorney Marilyn Bednarski said Lemon plans to plead not guilty and fight the charges.
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, has said he has no affiliation to the organization that went into the church and he was there as a solo journalist chronicling protesters.
“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi promoted the arrests on social media.
“Make no mistake. Under President Trump’s leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely,” Bondi said in a video posted online. “And if I haven’t been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.”
‘Keep trying’
Since he left CNN, Lemon has joined the legion of journalists who have gone into business for themselves, posting regularly on YouTube. He hasn’t hidden his disdain for President Donald Trump. Yet during his online show from the church, he said repeatedly: “I’m not here as an activist. I’m here as a journalist.” He described the scene before him and interviewed churchgoers and demonstrators.
A magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors’ initial bid to charge the veteran journalist. Shortly after, he predicted on his show that the administration would try again.
“And guess what,” he said. “Here I am. Keep trying. That’s not going to stop me from being a journalist. That’s not going to diminish my voice. Go ahead, make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel, if you want. Just do it. Because I’m not going anywhere.”
Georgia Fort livestreamed the moments before her arrest, telling viewers that agents were at her door and her First Amendment right as a journalist was being diminished.
A judge released Fort, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy on bond, rejecting the Justice Department’s attempt to keep them in custody. Not guilty pleas were entered. Fort’s supporters in the courtroom clapped and whooped.
“It’s a sinister turn of events in this country,” Fort’s attorney, Kevin Riach, said in court.
Discouraging scrutiny
Jane Kirtley, a media law and ethics expert at the University of Minnesota, said the federal laws cited by the government were not intended to apply to reporters gathering news.
The charges against Lemon and Fort, she said, are “pure intimidation and government overreach.”
Some experts and activists said the charges were not only an attack on press freedoms but also a strike against Black Americans who count on Black journalists to bear witness to injustice and oppression.
The National Association of Black Journalists said it was “outraged and deeply alarmed” by Lemon’s arrest. The group called it an effort to “criminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement.”
Crews is a leader of Black Lives Matter Minnesota who has led many protests and actions for racial justice, particularly following George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis in 2020.
“All the greats have been to jail, MLK, Malcom X — people who stood up for justice get attacked,” Crews told The Associated Press. “We were just practicing our First Amendment rights.”
Protesters charged previously
A prominent civil rights attorney and two other people involved in the protest were arrested last week. Prosecutors have accused them of civil rights violations for disrupting the Cities Church service.
The Justice Department launched an investigation after the group interrupted services by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
Lundy, a candidate for state Senate, works for the office of Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and is married to a St. Paul City Council member. Lemon briefly interviewed him as they gathered with protesters preparing to drive to the church on Jan. 18.
“I feel like it’s important that if you’re going to be representing people in office that you are out here with the people,” Lundy told Lemon, adding he believed in “direct action, certainly within the lines of the law.”
Church leaders praise arrests in protest
Cities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and lists one of its pastors as David Easterwood, who leads ICE’s St. Paul field office.
“We are grateful that the Department of Justice acted swiftly to protect Cities Church so that we can continue to faithfully live out the church’s mission to worship Jesus and make him known,” lead pastor Jonathan Parnell said.
___
Richer and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Dave Bauder and Aaron Morrison in New York; Giovanna Dell’Orto, Tim Sullivan, Steve Karnowski and Jack Brook in Minneapolis; and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed.
With all the snow and ice still on the streets after Sunday’s storm, one mayor in Maryland asked for volunteers to help clear sidewalks.For middle and high school students in Baltimore, it’s a chance to get credit for volunteer hours. For adults, it’s just the satisfaction of being a neighbor helping a neighbor.Volunteers come armed with shovels and clear walkways within minutes. They’re part of the Baltimore City Snow Corps, and their job is to break the ice and clear the snow — free of charge for homeowners.”I’m not going to lie. It’s very tedious. I (have fun) doing it,” said Joel Rodgers-Turner, a Snow Corps volunteer.”A mess. It’s just a mess. You have to really dig it up and take your time, though,” said Martrell Marshall, another volunteer.The program started with a call from Mayor Brandon Scott.”We are asking for people to help their neighbor. We want volunteers to help shovel out their neighbors across the city of Baltimore,” Scott said in a video posted to Instagram.”Mayor Brandon Scott. Big encouragement to come outside to help Baltimore City,” said Jordan Carter.Volunteers sign up and go to those in need — older adults, people with disabilities and others who may not be able to pick up a shovel and clear snow and ice from sidewalks.”The trucks are doing what they have to do on the streets, so we have to do what we have to do,” Carter said. “When you bring people help, they may help someone else. It’s better when we all come together and get it done. It’s going to get done a lot faster.”The group of volunteers said it has removed snow outside of 60 houses and off 80 cars throughout 12-hour shifts.”We do it quick, like 15 minutes. We’ll be in and out,” said Donta Crosby. “It’s really fun. It’s a fun job. I encourage everybody to volunteer and do it, too.”When volunteers aren’t working, they’re singing about the volunteer job they do.
With all the snow and ice still on the streets after Sunday’s storm, one mayor in Maryland asked for volunteers to help clear sidewalks.
For middle and high school students in Baltimore, it’s a chance to get credit for volunteer hours. For adults, it’s just the satisfaction of being a neighbor helping a neighbor.
Volunteers come armed with shovels and clear walkways within minutes. They’re part of the Baltimore City Snow Corps, and their job is to break the ice and clear the snow — free of charge for homeowners.
“I’m not going to lie. It’s very tedious. I (have fun) doing it,” said Joel Rodgers-Turner, a Snow Corps volunteer.
“A mess. It’s just a mess. You have to really dig it up and take your time, though,” said Martrell Marshall, another volunteer.
The program started with a call from Mayor Brandon Scott.
“We are asking for people to help their neighbor. We want volunteers to help shovel out their neighbors across the city of Baltimore,” Scott said in a video posted to Instagram.
“Mayor Brandon Scott. Big encouragement to come outside to help Baltimore City,” said Jordan Carter.
Volunteers sign up and go to those in need — older adults, people with disabilities and others who may not be able to pick up a shovel and clear snow and ice from sidewalks.
“The trucks are doing what they have to do on the streets, so we have to do what we have to do,” Carter said. “When you bring people help, they may help someone else. It’s better when we all come together and get it done. It’s going to get done a lot faster.”
The group of volunteers said it has removed snow outside of 60 houses and off 80 cars throughout 12-hour shifts.
“We do it quick, like 15 minutes. We’ll be in and out,” said Donta Crosby. “It’s really fun. It’s a fun job. I encourage everybody to volunteer and do it, too.”
When volunteers aren’t working, they’re singing about the volunteer job they do.
A gas explosion sent fire racing through the top floors of a high-rise apartment building in New York City early Saturday, killing one person and injuring 14 others as temperatures plunged into the single digits overnight, authorities said.Firefighters responded shortly before 12:30 a.m. to the 17-story building in the Bronx, where people were seen leaning out of windows calling for help as flames engulfed parts of the top floors, officials said.Chief John Esposito said firefighters were investigating reports of a gas odor on the 15th and 16th floors when the explosion occurred. He said there was major structural damage to about a dozen apartments and fires in 10 apartments on the 16th and 17th floors.Authorities did not immediately release information on the person who died. Another person was critically injured, five had serious injuries and eight had minor injuries, officials said.Officials said the building had been undergoing renovations, and work on the natural gas system had been completed and inspected. The cause of the explosion was under investigation. The building was formerly run by the New York City Housing Authority, but it has been under private management since 2024, city officials said.”It’s an incredible tragedy. We’re sending all our thoughts to the families involved,” Leila Bozorg, deputy mayor for housing and planning, said at a morning news conference.Mayor Zohran Mamdani said all utilities in the building were shut down, and all 148 apartments vacated. Officials set up a reception center for the displaced residents at a nearby school, and the American Red Cross was there to help provide housing and other needs.”As you can imagine, this has been a deeply frightening and devastating morning for them,” Mamdani said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. “They are not alone. Our city will stand by them and do everything in our power to help them get back on their feet.”The Red Cross said it had registered more than 100 households and 305 people, including 89 children, for emergency aid by early Saturday afternoon.More than 200 fire and emergency crews worked the scene, according to the fire department. When the explosion occurred, some firefighters were trapped briefly in an elevator, officials said.”There were injuries. It was a very, very difficult night on a very cold night, which caused even more difficulty,” Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said.Around half a million New Yorkers live in aging buildings run by the city’s housing authority, known as NYCHA, which is the largest in the nation.Many of the properties date back to the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. In 2019, a federal monitor was appointed to address chronic problems like lead paint, mold and lack of heat. When he wrapped his five-year term in 2024, the monitor, Bart Schwartz, noted that the overarching issue for residents remained the “poor physical state of NYCHA’s buildings.”In October, a massive brick chimney running 20 stories up the side of a housing authority apartment building in the Bronx collapsed after an explosion, sending tons of debris plummeting to the ground but amazingly not injuring anyone. Officials linked it to a natural gas boiler.
A gas explosion sent fire racing through the top floors of a high-rise apartment building in New York City early Saturday, killing one person and injuring 14 others as temperatures plunged into the single digits overnight, authorities said.
Firefighters responded shortly before 12:30 a.m. to the 17-story building in the Bronx, where people were seen leaning out of windows calling for help as flames engulfed parts of the top floors, officials said.
Chief John Esposito said firefighters were investigating reports of a gas odor on the 15th and 16th floors when the explosion occurred. He said there was major structural damage to about a dozen apartments and fires in 10 apartments on the 16th and 17th floors.
Authorities did not immediately release information on the person who died. Another person was critically injured, five had serious injuries and eight had minor injuries, officials said.
Officials said the building had been undergoing renovations, and work on the natural gas system had been completed and inspected. The cause of the explosion was under investigation. The building was formerly run by the New York City Housing Authority, but it has been under private management since 2024, city officials said.
FDNY via AP
This image provided by FDNY shows FDNY members operating at a fire on the top two floors of a high-rise apartment in the Bronx, New York City, early Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026.
“It’s an incredible tragedy. We’re sending all our thoughts to the families involved,” Leila Bozorg, deputy mayor for housing and planning, said at a morning news conference.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said all utilities in the building were shut down, and all 148 apartments vacated. Officials set up a reception center for the displaced residents at a nearby school, and the American Red Cross was there to help provide housing and other needs.
“As you can imagine, this has been a deeply frightening and devastating morning for them,” Mamdani said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. “They are not alone. Our city will stand by them and do everything in our power to help them get back on their feet.”
The Red Cross said it had registered more than 100 households and 305 people, including 89 children, for emergency aid by early Saturday afternoon.
More than 200 fire and emergency crews worked the scene, according to the fire department. When the explosion occurred, some firefighters were trapped briefly in an elevator, officials said.
“There were injuries. It was a very, very difficult night on a very cold night, which caused even more difficulty,” Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said.
Around half a million New Yorkers live in aging buildings run by the city’s housing authority, known as NYCHA, which is the largest in the nation.
Many of the properties date back to the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. In 2019, a federal monitor was appointed to address chronic problems like lead paint, mold and lack of heat. When he wrapped his five-year term in 2024, the monitor, Bart Schwartz, noted that the overarching issue for residents remained the “poor physical state of NYCHA’s buildings.”
In October, a massive brick chimney running 20 stories up the side of a housing authority apartment building in the Bronx collapsed after an explosion, sending tons of debris plummeting to the ground but amazingly not injuring anyone. Officials linked it to a natural gas boiler.
Snow in Florida and another cold blast on the way | What to expect
WILL TAKE EFFECT THIS OCTOBER. TURNING BACK TO OUR FORECAST. TONY. IT’S ALL EVERYONE CAN TALK ABOUT. WE HAVE SOME COLD WEATHER ADVISORIES THAT ARE IN EFFECT RIGHT NOW. YEAH. YOU KNOW, BECAUSE THE WINDS ARE SO LIGHT, EVEN LIGHTER THAN EXPECTED. IT’S DROPPING PRETTY GOOD OFF TOWARDS THE WEST. AND THAT’S WHY WE’VE UPGRADED THOSE FROST ADVISORIES UP THERE IN MARION TO A FREEZE WARNING. SO I’VE GOT SOME UPDATED NUMBERS I WANT TO TAKE YOU THROUGH. WE’RE GOING TO DO THAT HERE IN A SECOND. LET ME TAKE YOU BACK OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW. THERE IT IS RIGHT THERE. YOU’VE GOT YOUR FREEZE WARNING. ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF THAT WE ARE LOOKING AT SOME FROST TONIGHT, EVEN THOUGH THERE’S NOT A FROST ADVISORY FOR SUMTER, LAKE, VOLUSIA AND THE INTERIOR THERE OF FLAGLER COUNTY, TREATED AS THOUGH THERE IS GOING TO BE FROST AND UP TOWARDS THE SQUARE TONIGHT YOU CAN SEE IT IS CHILLY, 36 DEGREES ALREADY 38. IN THE VILLAGES, 35 WILDWOOD. LOOK AT PALM COAST 35 DAYTONA BEACH 42 DEGREES. SO AS THAT HIGH CONTINUES TO PULL TO THE EAST, WE’LL GET A LITTLE BIT OF A LIGHT ONSHORE FLOW DEVELOPING LATER ON TONIGHT. AND WE’RE GOING TO DROP YOU TO 31 WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR A 1 TO 2 HOUR FREEZE. OCALA LYNN REDDICK UPWARDS OF AN HOUR, MAYBE AN HOUR AND A HALF FREEZE FOR YOU BELLEVIEW. YOU’RE ON THE FRINGE. WILDWOOD FROST AT 34 LEESBURG 39. EUSTIS FROST ON THE ROOFTOPS. UMATILLA. PAISLEY. YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE SOME FROST AS WELL. METRO AREAS. WE’RE GOOD. WE’RE GOING TO BE IN THE 40S BACK TOWARDS COCO, COCOA BEACH ON INTO ROCKLEDGE AND VIERA. YOU’RE GOING TO BE RUNNING ANYWHERE FROM ABOUT 43 TO ABOUT 49. TITUSVILLE, SCOTTSMOOR 40 TO 43. ZELLWOOD 3940. APOPKA 40. WE’LL GET INTO SOME FROST THERE, MAYBE ORANGE CITY, DELAND, NORTH AND WEST UP TOWARDS ASTOR, PALM COAST, EAST SIDE. YOU’RE GOOD. WEST SIDE OVER TOWARDS BUNNELL. LOOKING AT THE POTENTIAL FOR SOME PATCHY FROST. NOW LET’S PUT FUTURECAST INTO MOTION HERE. NOTICE THE WIND ARROWS COMING UP FROM THE SOUTH SO THE TEMPERATURES WILL BE FLYING NORTHWARD, PROBABLY PRE-DAWN. AND THEN BY SATURDAY MORNING HERE COMES ANOTHER ROUND OF RAIN OUT AHEAD OF OUR NEXT STRONG COLD FRONT. THERE’S A LOOK NOW AT 1130 ON SUNDAY MORNING. NICE LITTLE BATCH OF RAIN. THE NORTHERN FRINGES HAS A LITTLE BIT OF SNOW ON THE NORTHERN SIDE OF THAT. SO WE’LL WATCH THE TRENDS ON THE MODELS OVERNIGHT TONIGHT. THERE’S A LOOK NOW AT THE FUTURECAST WINDS COMING IN OUT OF THE NORTH. BLUSTERY AND COLDER SUNDAY AFTERNOON SUNDAY NIGHT SETTING UP FOR A VERY CHILLY MONDAY MORNING. NOW RAINFALL WISE HERE YOU GO. YOU CAN SEE THE AMOUNTS A LITTLE BIT HEAVIER UP TO THE NORTH, A LITTLE BIT LIGHTER TO THE SOUTH. LISTEN, ANY RAIN WE CAN GET WILL TAKE. SO TOMORROW WE WILL BE BRIEFLY WARMER, 70 TO ABOUT 73 DEGREES. METRO AREAS MORE OF THE SAME WILL BE IN THE LOW 70S. A TAD COOLER FROM PALM COAST, MARYLAND UP TOWARDS. WE’LL CALL IT NEW SMYRNA BEACH. AND IF YOU ARE HEADED TO THE ATTRACTIONS TOMORROW, YOU’RE GOING TO BE IN GREAT SHAPE. A LITTLE COOL IN THE MORNING, BUT NICE AND COZY AND COMFORTABLE. BY THE TIME WE GET TO THE AFTERNOON. NOW LET’S GET BACK TO THAT COLD WEATHER STRETCH. THIS IS UP IN OCALA, 28, 31, AND 33. MONDAY’S HIGH 57. TUESDAY 59 WEDNESDAY. COMING IN AT ABOUT 67 DEGREES. LOOK AT MELBOURNE 38, 61, 45, 66 WEDNESDAY GETTING BACK TO NORMAL. SO ONE MORE TIME. THIS IS THE EUROPEAN COMPUTER MODEL. THERE’S THE FRONT DROPPING TO THE SOUTH A LITTLE SHIELD OF SNOW POTENTIALLY NOW ON THE NORTHERN FRINGES OF THIS NEXT WEATHER PLAYER HERE. RAIN STARTS TO GET INTO THE METRO AREAS RIGHT AROUND 10:00 ON SUNDAY MORNING. BEHIND THAT FRONT LOOK AT THE DROP OFF OCALA 28, DELAND 31. THE VILLAGES, LEESBURG, WILDWOOD 30 TO 32. AND WE GET YOU INTO THE METRO AREAS. MIDDLE, MIDDLE, UPPER 30S. LOOK TO BE THE RIGHT CALL FOR NOW. SO BEHIND THE FRONT MONDAY AFTERNOON, CHILLY TUESDAY. STILL A CHILL IN THE AIR. DRY FRONT WORKING ON IT LATE WEDNESDAY. THIS HIGH WILL BEGIN TO BUILD TO THE EAST. THINGS SHOULD BEGIN TO MODERATE SHORTLY THEREAFTER. LET’S PUT IT ALL TOGETHER NOW AND TAKE A LOOK AT CENTRAL FLORIDA’S MOST ACCURATE COASTAL SEVEN-DAY FORECAST UP SATURDAY, DOWN SUNDAY DOWN EVEN FURTHER ON MONDAY TO REBOUND TO ABOUT 72
Snow in Florida and another cold blast on the way | What to expect
Another strong cold front will bring snow up along the Florida-Georgia line. Residents and travelers in the area could start to see snowflakes as early as dawn on Sunday.The eastern edge of the snow may make it to Tallahassee, but the farther west you go the better the chances are to see snow in the Florida panhandle.North Florida and Georgia could see anywhere from a trace to 3 inches of snow if our current models don’t change. >> Will it snow in Florida this weekend? Where, how muchThe last time we had measurable snowfall in Central Florida you have to go back to Dec. 1989 when snow fell along the I-4 corridor. While snow isn’t in the forecast for Central Florida this year, another blast of cold winter air is expected to flow through late Sunday, early Monday. When was the last snowfall in Florida?This isn’t the first time Florida has seen snow flurries. There have been more than 80 instances of snowfall in Florida documented since 1886. The last time it snowed in Florida was around this time last year, in Jan 2025 when 8 to 10 inches of snow fell across Northern Florida, breaking the state’s 1954 record of 4 inches. First Warning Weather Stay with WESH 2 online and on-air for the most accurate Central Florida weather forecast.RadarSevere Weather AlertsDownload the WESH 2 News app to get the most up-to-date weather alerts. The First Warning Weather team includes First Warning Chief Meteorologist Tony Mainolfi, Eric Burris, Marquise Meda and Cam Tran.What is Impact Weather?Impact Weather suggests weather conditions could be disruptive or a nuisance for travel and day-to-day activities.
Another strong cold front will bring snow up along the Florida-Georgia line. Residents and travelers in the area could start to see snowflakes as early as dawn on Sunday.
The eastern edge of the snow may make it to Tallahassee, but the farther west you go the better the chances are to see snow in the Florida panhandle.
North Florida and Georgia could see anywhere from a trace to 3 inches of snow if our current models don’t change.
The last time we had measurable snowfall in Central Florida you have to go back to Dec. 1989 when snow fell along the I-4 corridor.
While snow isn’t in the forecast for Central Florida this year, another blast of cold winter air is expected to flow through late Sunday, early Monday.
When was the last snowfall in Florida?
This isn’t the first time Florida has seen snow flurries. There have been more than 80 instances of snowfall in Florida documented since 1886.
The last time it snowed in Florida was around this time last year, in Jan 2025 when 8 to 10 inches of snow fell across Northern Florida, breaking the state’s 1954 record of 4 inches.
First Warning Weather
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AND FIRST RESPONDERS. OUR JENNIFER FRANCIOTTI WAS THERE TO SEE THE REACTION. THEIR ANIMALS YOU’D EXPECT TO SEE ON A FARM. BUT ON THIS DAY. HAVE YOU BEEN HERE WHEN WE’VE HAD THE HORSES HERE BEFORE? MANY HORSES. AWESOME AND AMAZING, ALONG WITH MANY AND BELLE ARE MAKING A HOME VISIT TO RESIDENTS OF BRIGHTVIEW AVONDALE IN BEL AIR. WE BRING THEM IN BECAUSE WE WANT PEOPLE TO CONNECT WITH THEM. THERE’S SO MUCH INVOLVED. IT’S A FEEL GOOD, BUT IT’S ALSO A WONDERFUL WAY TO WORK ON TACTILE AND MOBILITY. THE MENAGERIE IS FROM WELLSPRING OF LIFE FARM IN MONKTON. THEIR MASH UNIT, WHICH STANDS FOR MOBILE ANIMAL SERVICES FOR HEROES, IS PROVIDED TO ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY VETERANS AND FIRST RESPONDERS THROUGH ITS HEROES, HORSES, HOUNDS AND HARRY GOATS PROGRAM. FOR SOME, IT’S THEIR FIRST TIME EVER BEING ABLE TO TOUCH A HORSE. FOR OTHERS, IT’S THEIR FIRST TIME INTERACTING WITH A CRAZY GOAT. AND SO IT’S A FUN TIME. BUT THERE’S ALSO A LOT OF MEANING BEHIND IT. WITH EVERY BRUSH AND SMILE FROM BOTH HUMAN AND CANINE, IT’S A WELCOME VISIT FOR RESIDENTS. I THINK IT’S REALLY COOL. THEY DIDN’T GET UPSET. THEY DIDN’T DO ANYTHING, AND I GOT TO PET IT AND I LOVE IT. IT’S LIKE BEING AT HOME. SO YEAH, SHE’S A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE GIRL. BUT ONE RESIDENT IN PARTICULAR IS TO THANK FOR THIS VISIT FOR HIS SERVICE TO THE COUNTRY. ARMY VETERAN RAY COLUMBO. AND RAY SAYS THE PROGRAM IS PARTICULARLY HELPFUL TO VETERANS SUFFERING FROM PTSD. MOST ANYTHING THAT WILL HELP GIVE THEM A SENSE OF CALM, PEACE, CONNECTION. OFTENTIMES, HUMANS CAN’T PROVIDE THAT, AND ANIMALS WHO DON’T TALK BACK DO PROVIDE THAT SENSE OF CALMNESS AND PEACE. IT’S A PEACE THAT YOU TOO CAN HELP PROVIDE. WELLSPRING OF LIFE IS LOOKING FOR MORE VOLUNTEERS. IT’S JUST A LOT OF FUN, BUT IT’S ALSO A WONDERFUL WAY TO GET HEALING BECAUSE YOU’RE YOU’RE GIVING BACK TO OTHERS. THESE GUYS CAN GO ANYWHERE. THEY CAN EVEN GO INSIDE HOSPITALS. SO IF YOU WOULD LIKE THE MASH UNIT TO COME TO YOU, JUST LOG ON TO O
News We Love: Farm matches furry friends with older adults, veterans, first responders
Residents at an older adult living facility in met some special visitors Thursday.Residents at Brightview Avondell in Bel Air, Maryland, got up close and personal to see farm animals, like mini horses named Minnie and Belle.The menagerie of animals came from Wellspring of Life Farm. The farm’s Mobile Animal Services for Heroes unit provides animal visits to active-duty military, veterans and first responders through its Heroes, Horses, Hounds and Hairy Goats program.”We bring them in because we want people to connect with them. It’s a good feeling, but it’s also a wonderful way to work on tactile mobility,” said Dawn Leung, the farm’s executive director and program coordinator. “For some, it’s their first time ever touching a horse. For others, it’s their first time interacting with the crazy goat. So, it’s a fun time, but there’s also a lot of meaning behind it.”With every brush and smile from everyone involved, it’s a welcome visit for residents.”I think it’s really cool. They didn’t get upset, they didn’t do anything. I got to pet them,” said Kathy Deane, a resident.Video below: Fluffy bunnies draw a crowd at farm show”I love it,” said Doris Lockwood, a resident. “It’s like being at home. She’s a beautiful little girl.”The residents have one neighbor in particular to thank for the animals’ visit: Army veteran Ray Columbo, who said the program is particularly helpful to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.”(The animals) help give them a sense of calm, peace, connection. Oftentimes, humans can’t provide that. Animals don’t talk back and they do provide that sense of calm and peace,” Columbo said.It’s a peace that anyone can help provide as Wellspring of Life seeks more volunteers.”It’s a lot of fun, but it’s a wonderful way to get healing and get back to others,” Leung said.The animals can go anywhere, even inside hospitals. So anyone who would like the MASH unit to visit can get more information at the following website.
Residents at an older adult living facility in met some special visitors Thursday.
Residents at Brightview Avondell in Bel Air, Maryland, got up close and personal to see farm animals, like mini horses named Minnie and Belle.
The menagerie of animals came from Wellspring of Life Farm. The farm’s Mobile Animal Services for Heroes unit provides animal visits to active-duty military, veterans and first responders through its Heroes, Horses, Hounds and Hairy Goats program.
“We bring them in because we want people to connect with them. It’s a good feeling, but it’s also a wonderful way to work on tactile mobility,” said Dawn Leung, the farm’s executive director and program coordinator. “For some, it’s their first time ever touching a horse. For others, it’s their first time interacting with the crazy goat. So, it’s a fun time, but there’s also a lot of meaning behind it.”
With every brush and smile from everyone involved, it’s a welcome visit for residents.
“I think it’s really cool. They didn’t get upset, they didn’t do anything. I got to pet them,” said Kathy Deane, a resident.
Video below: Fluffy bunnies draw a crowd at farm show
“I love it,” said Doris Lockwood, a resident. “It’s like being at home. She’s a beautiful little girl.”
The residents have one neighbor in particular to thank for the animals’ visit: Army veteran Ray Columbo, who said the program is particularly helpful to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
“(The animals) help give them a sense of calm, peace, connection. Oftentimes, humans can’t provide that. Animals don’t talk back and they do provide that sense of calm and peace,” Columbo said.
It’s a peace that anyone can help provide as Wellspring of Life seeks more volunteers.
“It’s a lot of fun, but it’s a wonderful way to get healing and get back to others,” Leung said.
The animals can go anywhere, even inside hospitals. So anyone who would like the MASH unit to visit can get more information at the following website.
The fiery debate about a proposed ballot measure to tax California’s billionaires has sparked some soul-searching across the state.
While the idea of a one-time tax on more than 200 people has a long way to go before getting onto the ballot and would need to be passed by voters in November, the tempest around it captures the zeitgeist of angst and anger at the core of California. Silicon Valley is minting new millionaires while millions of the state’s residents face the loss of healthcare coverage and struggle with inflation.
Supporters of the proposed billionaire tax say it is one of the few ways the state can provide healthcare for its most vulnerable. Opponents warn it would squash the innovation that has made the state rich and prompt an exodus of wealthy entrepreneurs from the state.
The controversial measure is already creating fractures among powerful Democrats who enjoy tremendous sway in California. Progressive icon Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) quickly endorsed the billionaire tax, while Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced it .
The Golden State’s rich residents say they are tired of feeling targeted. Their success has not only created unimaginable wealth but also jobs and better lives for Californians, they say, yet they feel they are being punished.
“California politics forces together some of the richest areas of America with some of the poorest, often separated by just a freeway,” said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego. “The impulse to force those with extreme wealth to share their riches is only natural, but often runs into the reality of our anti-tax traditions as well as modern concerns about stifling entrepreneurship or driving job creation out of the state.”
The state budget in California is already largely dependent on income taxes paid by its highest earners. Because of that, revenues are prone to volatility, hinging on capital gains from investments, bonuses to executives and windfalls from new stock offerings, and are notoriously difficult for the state to predict.
The tax proposal would cost the state’s richest residents about $100 billion if a majority of voters support it on the November ballot.
Supporters say the revenue is needed to backfill the massive federal funding cuts to healthcare that President Trump signed this summer. The California Budget & Policy Center estimates that as many as 3.4 million Californians could lose Medi-Cal coverage, rural hospitals could shutter and other healthcare services would be slashed unless a new funding source is found.
On social media, some wealthy Californians who oppose the wealth tax faced off against Democratic politicians and labor unions.
An increasing number of companies and investors have decided it isn’t worth the hassle to be in the state and are taking their companies and their homes to other states with lower taxes and less regulation.
“I promise you this will be the final straw,” Jessie Powell, co-founder of the Bay Area-based crypto exchange platform Kraken, wrote on X. “Billionaires will take with them all of their spending, hobbies, philanthropy and jobs.”
Proponents of the proposed tax were granted permission to start gathering signatures Dec. 26 by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber.
The proposal would impose a one-time tax of up to 5% on taxpayers and trusts with assets, such as businesses, art and intellectual property, valued at more than $1 billion. There are some exclusions, including property.
They could pay the levy over five years. Ninety percent of the revenue would fund healthcare programs and the remaining 10% would be spent on food assistance and education programs.
To qualify for the November ballot, proponents of the proposal, led by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, must gather the signatures of nearly 875,000 registered voters and submit them to county elections officials by June 24.
The union, which represents more than 120,000 healthcare workers, patients and healthcare consumers, has committed to spending $14 million on the measure so far and plans to start collecting signatures soon, said Suzanne Jimenez, the labor group’s chief of staff.
Without new funding, the state is facing “a collapse of our healthcare system here in California,” she said.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) spoke out in support of the tax.
“It’s a matter of values,” he said on X. “We believe billionaires can pay a modest wealth tax so working-class Californians have the Medicaid.”
The Trump administration did not respond to requests for comment.
The debate has become a lightning rod for national thought leaders looking to target California’s policies or the ultra-rich.
On Tuesday, Sanders endorsed the billionaire tax proposal and said he plans to call for a nationwide version.
“This is a model that should be emulated throughout the country, which is why I will soon be introducing a national wealth tax on billionaires,” Sanders said on X. “We can and should respect innovation, entrepreneurship and risk-taking, but we cannot respect the extraordinary level of greed, arrogance and irresponsibility that is currently being displayed by much of the billionaire class.”
But there isn’t unanimous support for the proposal among Democrats.
Notably, Newsom has consistently opposed state-based wealth taxes. He reiterated his opposition when asked about the proposed billionaires’ tax in early December.
“You can’t isolate yourself from the 49 others,” Newsom said at the New York Times DealBook Summit. “We’re in a competitive environment. People have this simple luxury, particularly people of that status, they already have two or three homes outside the state. It’s a simple issue. You’ve got to be pragmatic about it.”
Newsom has opposed state-based wealth taxes throughout his tenure.
In 2022, he opposed a ballot measure that would have subsidized the electric vehicle market by raising taxes on Californians who earn more than $2 million annually. The measure failed at the ballot box, with strategists on both sides of the issue saying Newsom’s vocal opposition to the effort was a critical factor.
The following year, he opposed legislation by a fellow Democrat to tax assets exceeding $50 million at 1% annually and taxpayers with a net worth greater than $1 billion at 1.5% annually. The bill was shelved before the legislature could vote on it.
The latest effort is also being opposed by a political action committee called “Stop the Squeeze,” which was seeded by a $100,000 donation from venture capitalist and longtime Newsom ally Ron Conway. Conservative taxpayer rights groups such as the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. and state Republicans are expected to campaign against the proposal.
The chances of the ballot measure passing in November are uncertain, given the potential for enormous spending on the campaign — unlike statewide and other candidate races, there is no limit on the amount of money donors can contribute to support or oppose a ballot measure.
“The backers of this proposed initiative to tax California billionaires would have their work cut out for them,” said Kousser at UC San Diego. “Despite the state’s national reputation as ‘Scandinavia by the Sea,’ there remains a strong anti-tax impulse among voters who often reject tax increases and are loath to kill the state’s golden goose of tech entrepreneurship.”
Additionally, as Newsom eyes a presidential bid in 2028, political experts question how the governor will position himself — opposing raising taxes but also not wanting to be viewed as responsible for large-scale healthcare cuts that would harm the most vulnerable Californians.
“It wouldn’t be surprising if they qualify the initiative. There’s enough money and enough pent-up anger on the left to get this on the ballot,” said Dan Schnur, a political communications professor who teaches at USC, Pepperdine and UC Berkeley.
“What happens once it qualifies is anybody’s guess,” he said.
Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, called Newsom’s position “an Achilles heel” that could irk primary voters in places like the Midwest who are focused on economic inequality, inflation, affordability and the growing wealth gap.
“I think it’s going to be really hard for him to take a position that we shouldn’t tax the billionaires,” said Gonzalez, whose labor umbrella group will consider whether to endorse the proposed tax next year.
California billionaires who are residents of the state as of Jan. 1 would be impacted by the ballot measure if it passes . Prominent business leaders announced moves that appeared to be a strategy to avoid the levy at the end of 2025. On Dec. 31, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel announced that his firm had opened a new office in Miami, the same day venture capitalist David Sacks said he was opening an office in Austin.
Wealth taxes are not unprecedented in the U.S. and versions exist in Switzerland and Spain, said Brian Galle, a taxation expert and law professor at UC Berkeley.
In California, the tax offers an efficient and practical way to pay for healthcare services without disrupting the economy, he said.
“A 1% annual tax on billionaires for five years would have essentially no meaningful impact on their economic behavior,” Galle said. “We’re funding a way of avoiding a real economic disaster with something that has very tiny impact.”
Palo Alto-based venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya disagrees. Billionaires whose wealth is often locked in company stakes and not liquid could go bankrupt, Palihapitiya wrote on X.
The tax, he posted, “will kill entrepreneurship in California.”
VICKSBURG, Ariz. — Lush green fields of alfalfa spread across thousands of acres in a desert valley in western Arizona, where a dairy company from Saudi Arabia grows the thirsty crop by pulling up groundwater from dozens of wells.
The company, Fondomonte, is the largest water user in the Ranegras Plain groundwater basin, shipping hay overseas to feed its cows in the Middle East. Like other landowners in the area, it has been allowed to pump unlimited amounts from the aquifer, even as water levels have declined.
That soon could change, as Arizona officials are considering a plan to start regulating groundwater pumping in the rural area 100 miles west of Phoenix.
Misha Melehes, who lives near the rural town of Bouse, Ariz., speaks during a hearing held by the Arizona Department of Water Resources at an RV park in the community of Brenda.
At a meeting in mid-December, more than 150 residents of La Paz County sat listening in folding chairs as state officials underlined the severity of the declines in groundwater levels by showing graphs with lines sloping steeply downward.
“This is where the heaviest pumping is. This is where we’re seeing the most decline,” said Ryan Mitchell, chief hydrologist for the Arizona Department of Water Resources, as he showed charts of the plummeting aquifer levels.
The data from wells told the story: In one, water levels dropped a staggering 242 feet since the early 1980s. Another declined 136 feet.
Structures storing alfalfa at Fondomonte’s farm in Vicksburg, Ariz.
Mitchell said current pumping in the Ranegras basin isn’t sustainable, and that in places it’s causing the land surface to sink as much as 2 inches per year.
“That is a trend that is alarming,” he said. “The water budget for the basin is out of balance, significantly out of balance.”
As he read the numbers, murmurs arose in the crowded hall.
In recent years some residents’ household wells have gone dry, forcing them to scramble for solutions.
The problem of declining groundwater is widespread in many rural areas of Arizona. Gov. Katie Hobbs has said Arizona needs to address unrestricted overpumping by “out-of-state corporations. ” She also said the declines in the Ranegras basin are especially severe, with water being depleted nearly 10 times faster than it is naturally replenished in the desert.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources proposed a new “active management area” to preserve groundwater in this part of La Paz County, which would prohibit the irrigation of additional farmland in the area and require landowners with high-capacity wells to start measuring and reporting how much water they use. It also would bring other measures, including forming a local advisory council and developing a plan to reduce water use.
Some residents say this kind of regulation is overdue.
“What it is now is a free-for-all,” said Denise Beasley, a resident of the town of Bouse. “It’s just the Wild West of water.”
Denise Beasley stands outside her home in Bouse, Ariz.
She believes the change will bring much-needed controls and help ensure that her well, and those of others in her community of about 1,100, will be protected.
A lawyer for the company said it owns 3,600 acres in Vicksburg. The company also rents 3,088 acres of state farmland and 3,163 acres of state grazing land in the Ranegras basin under leases that expire in 2031.
Grant Greatorex fills jugs with purified drinking water at a water filling station at Bouse RV Park in Bouse, Ariz. He says this water tastes better than the water from his well at home.
The State Land Department is charging the company about $83,000 annually under those leases, said Lynn Cordova, a spokesperson for the agency.
Some residents who spoke at the hearing think it’s wrong that Fondomonte gets to use the water to grow hay and export it across the world. Others don’t see any problem with having a foreign company as their neighbor but believe the area must switch to less water-intensive crops.
“This is a desert, and our water is drying up,” said Misha Melehes, who lives near Bouse. “We’re bleeding out. We need a tourniquet while we wait in the emergency room.”
Others fear that state-imposed rules could lead to downsizing farms and even shipping water away to Arizona’s fast-growing cities.
An alfalfa field owned by the company Fondomonte, in Vicksburg, Ariz.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Kelly James, a resident who lives nearby, called the proposal a “water grab.” He urged the state to delay the decision and let locals develop their own plan.
He and others pointed out that Arizona has a history of cities finding ways to buy water that farms previously depended on, and that under state law three groundwater basins adjacent to Ranegras already are set aside as reserves to support urban growth.
The state proposal says nothing about transporting water out of the Ranegras basin. In fact doing so would be illegal under the existing law. But that doesn’t quell the misgivings of some people in the area.
“I have a lot of suspicion,” said Robert Favela, who uses his well to water a stand of bamboo on his 5-acre property in Vicksburg. “Trust me, they’re going to take our water.”
Larry Housley pumping water into buckets for horses at his farm near Bouse, Ariz.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Jennie Housley, who owns a 40-acre horse ranch near Bouse with her husband, Larry, fears the area could lose its agriculture industry and eventually lose its water to growing subdivisions and swimming pools.
“I believe that to sustain our country, we have to have agriculture in places like La Paz County,” she said.
Larry Hancock, a farmer who grows crops in neighboring McMullen Valley, wrote a letter to the state making a similar argument. He said growers already are “conserving water because it’s in our best interest,” and imposing regulation would bring economic harm.
Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke is scheduled to announce his decision on whether to start regulating groundwater in the area by Jan. 17.
No representative of Fondomonte spoke at the meeting. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
Efforts to curb the depletion of groundwater present complex challenges for communities and state agencies throughout much of Arizona, California and other Western states.
Large farming operations expanded in Arizona in recent years, while global warming has put growing strains on the region’s scarce water. Scientists using satellite data estimated that since 2003 the amount of groundwater depleted in the Colorado River Basin is comparable to the total capacity of Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir.
Arizona has limited pumping in Phoenix, Tucson and other urban areas since the state adopted a groundwater law in 1980.
Since Hobbs took office in 2023, she has supported efforts to curb overpumping where aquifers are in severe decline. In January her administration established a new regulated area in the Willcox groundwater basin in southeastern Arizona, and Hobbs this month appointed five local leaders to serve on an advisory council that will help develop a plan for reducing water use.
“We feel like it has given us hope for a sustainable future,” said Ed Curry, a farmer who is a member of the Willcox council. “It gave us power.”
Luis Machado dismantles a pipe after testing a water well in Butler Valley, Ariz. Workers recently removed pumps from wells in the area after Arizona ended leases of state-owned farmland to the Saudi company Fondomonte.
Several months ago Hobbs toured La Paz County and spoke with residents about ways to protect the area’s water. The Democratic governor has taken other steps to rein in water use, terminating Fondomonte’s leases of 3,520 acres of state-owned farmland in Butler Valley in western Arizona. The decision followed an Arizona Republic investigation that revealed the state was charging discounted, below-market rates.
Now those former hay fields sit dry, with weeds poking through the parched soil. Workers have been removing pumps from the leased land, and power lines that once supplied the wells stand unused in the desert.
An alfalfa farm in Butler Valley sits parched after Arizona ended leases of state-owned farmland that had been granted to the company Fondomonte.
While Fondomonte continues farming nearby, the company also faces a lawsuit by Arizona Atty. Gen. Kris Mayes alleging that its excessive pumping violates the law by causing declines in groundwater, land subsidence and worsening water quality.
The lawsuit says the company uses at least 36 wells and accounts for more than 80% of all pumping in the Ranegras basin.
Fondomonte’s lawyers argued in court documents that the attorney general doesn’t have the authority to regulate groundwater pumping and that the suit is an attempt to have the court “wade into a political question.”
The Department of Water Resources’ proposal is a way to finally protect water for the area’s residents, said Holly Irwin, a La Paz County supervisor who for years has pushed to address the problem.
“You’re starting to see more and more wells get depleted. If we don’t try to slow this thing down, where are we going to be in 20 years?” Irwin said.
Nancy Blevins, who lives near the Fondomonte farm, agrees.
In 2019 she and her family watched their well run dry. She spent months driving back and forth to a friend’s house, filling up plastic bottles and bringing the water home.
Nancy Blevins outside her home in Arizona’s La Paz County.
Eventually, they bought a new pump and installed it at a lower level in their well, restoring their tap water. She still stores bottled water in a shed next to her mobile home in case the well dries up again.
“They should start regulating,” Blevins said. “People’s water levels are dropping around here.”
If something doesn’t change, the water eventually will run out, she said, and “future generations are going to be in trouble.”
In Volusia County, scammers are impersonating law enforcement officers, threatening residents with jail time if they do not pay money, prompting a warning from Sheriff Mike Chitwood.”The scammers are good, they catch you on your heels,” said Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, expressing his frustration over the situation. He emphasized that the sheriff’s office does not operate in the manner the scammers suggest. “We do not come to your house and arrest you if you miss jury duty; we do not come to your house and tell you we can reduce your charges if you can give us x number of dollars. That is not how it works,” Chitwood said.Currently, one scammer is impersonating Chief Deputy Brian Henderson, the sheriff’s second in command. A recorded message falsely claims to be from Henderson, saying, “Yes, ugh, this is Chief Deputy Brian Henderson, Volusia County Sheriff’s Department. I need you to give me a call back.”Chitwood explained that using real names gives the scammers a sense of legitimacy. “It gives them validity because they check, do a cursory search, Google, and those names are going to come up. Think about this logically, why would the Chief of an organization call you up and ask for $5,000 and $10,000. Why?” he said.To protect themselves, Chitwood advised residents to simply hang up the phone. “Take ten seconds to hang up the phone, even if they are telling you not to, that’s all you got to do to protect yourself,” he said.Chitwood also had a message for the scammers: “Do you have a message for these guys? Yeah, if we track you down, we’re going to get your “Ironically, the very place scammers threaten to send their victims—jail—could be where the scammers themselves end up. Sheriff Chitwood noted that many of these scam calls originate from a prison in Georgia, where inmates use the money to buy snacks and clothes. Despite his pleas to government officials in Georgia to stop the calls, they continue.
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. —
In Volusia County, scammers are impersonating law enforcement officers, threatening residents with jail time if they do not pay money, prompting a warning from Sheriff Mike Chitwood.
“The scammers are good, they catch you on your heels,” said Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, expressing his frustration over the situation.
He emphasized that the sheriff’s office does not operate in the manner the scammers suggest.
“We do not come to your house and arrest you if you miss jury duty; we do not come to your house and tell you we can reduce your charges if you can give us x number of dollars. That is not how it works,” Chitwood said.
Currently, one scammer is impersonating Chief Deputy Brian Henderson, the sheriff’s second in command.
A recorded message falsely claims to be from Henderson, saying, “Yes, ugh, this is Chief Deputy Brian Henderson, Volusia County Sheriff’s Department. I need you to give me a call back.”
Chitwood explained that using real names gives the scammers a sense of legitimacy.
“It gives them validity because they check, do a cursory search, Google, and those names are going to come up. Think about this logically, why would the Chief of an organization call you up and ask for $5,000 and $10,000. Why?” he said.
To protect themselves, Chitwood advised residents to simply hang up the phone.
“Take ten seconds to hang up the phone, even if they are telling you not to, that’s all you got to do to protect yourself,” he said.
Chitwood also had a message for the scammers: “Do you have a message for these guys? Yeah, if we track you down, we’re going to get your [expletive.]”
Ironically, the very place scammers threaten to send their victims—jail—could be where the scammers themselves end up.
Sheriff Chitwood noted that many of these scam calls originate from a prison in Georgia, where inmates use the money to buy snacks and clothes.
Despite his pleas to government officials in Georgia to stop the calls, they continue.
Given Monday’s extreme low temperatures, the city of Gloucester has established warming centers for those unable to get out of the cold.
Action Inc., 180 Main St., provides overnight sheltering for those who are unhoused, operating from 4:30 p.m. to 8 a.m. daily, with a capacity of 16 beds and an extreme weather overflow policy. It also offers assistance with heating costs and potential system repairs for income-qualified households (978-282-1000).
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Central Florida shoppers kicked off Small Business Saturday with the sights, sounds and smells of the Winter Park Farmers’ Market.It’s where local vendors say the day offers a critical boost heading into the holiday season.The annual shopping event encourages residents to spend their dollars locally.It is something business owners say directly supports the families and entrepreneurs who give Orlando’s neighborhoods their character.”It’s all about the local community,” said Chris Rivera, who owns Thirsty Husky Coffee with her husband, Eddie.Vendors at the market said shoppers can find items that stand out from big-box shelves.”We all have wonderful, unique items to offer the public that they can’t find in the supermarket or anywhere,” said Anna Marie Mele, owner of Pesto Diva.Small Business Saturday, founded by American Express in 2010 and co-sponsored nationally by the U.S. Small Business Administration since 2011, has become one of the busiest shopping days of the season for independent retailers. The SBA says more than 36 million small businesses operate nationwide.Rivera said customers should know their purchases matter.”The money that you are spending on local businesses is going back to the community, really,” she said.For many vendors, the day’s foot traffic can help set the tone and the revenue for the rest of the holidays.”We are all here for you, rain or shine, and we are happy to be able to offer you our services and our products,” Mele said.Just a few blocks away, Park Avenue was buzzing as shoppers browsed boutiques and cafés that are part of the city’s long-standing small business ecosystem.”This is the best street to shop and it has a lot of little boutiques,” said shopper Karen Miles-Miller. “If we want them to survive, we have to support them. It’s pure economics.”Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer encouraged residents to keep that mindset going beyond the weekend.”Let’s make an effort to frequent our city’s small businesses during the entire holiday season,” Dyer said in a statement. “By shopping and eating small, we support entrepreneurs and their employees who play a big role in making Orlando more vibrant.”Dyer highlighted several events in the city’s 12 Main Street Districts, including:Ship, Shop & Score — Curry Ford WestWe Sell — Small Business Saturday — Thornton Park DistrictShop Small Sip and Stroll — Audubon Park Garden DistrictResidents can follow @orlandomainstreets and @dwntwn_orlando on Instagram for updated deals and promotions heading into Small Business Saturday on Nov. 30.For shoppers looking to participate nationally, the SBA offers a Small Business Saturday directory and marketing materials for business owners.Whether at a farmers’ market stand or a longtime storefront, small business owners say the support they receive this weekend means everything and for the community they help shape.
WINTER PARK, Fla. —
Central Florida shoppers kicked off Small Business Saturday with the sights, sounds and smells of the Winter Park Farmers’ Market.
It’s where local vendors say the day offers a critical boost heading into the holiday season.
The annual shopping event encourages residents to spend their dollars locally.
It is something business owners say directly supports the families and entrepreneurs who give Orlando’s neighborhoods their character.
“It’s all about the local community,” said Chris Rivera, who owns Thirsty Husky Coffee with her husband, Eddie.
Vendors at the market said shoppers can find items that stand out from big-box shelves.
“We all have wonderful, unique items to offer the public that they can’t find in the supermarket or anywhere,” said Anna Marie Mele, owner of Pesto Diva.
Small Business Saturday, founded by American Express in 2010 and co-sponsored nationally by the U.S. Small Business Administration since 2011, has become one of the busiest shopping days of the season for independent retailers. The SBA says more than 36 million small businesses operate nationwide.
Rivera said customers should know their purchases matter.
“The money that you are spending on local businesses is going back to the community, really,” she said.
For many vendors, the day’s foot traffic can help set the tone and the revenue for the rest of the holidays.
“We are all here for you, rain or shine, and we are happy to be able to offer you our services and our products,” Mele said.
Just a few blocks away, Park Avenue was buzzing as shoppers browsed boutiques and cafés that are part of the city’s long-standing small business ecosystem.
“This is the best street to shop and it has a lot of little boutiques,” said shopper Karen Miles-Miller. “If we want them to survive, we have to support them. It’s pure economics.”
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer encouraged residents to keep that mindset going beyond the weekend.
“Let’s make an effort to frequent our city’s small businesses during the entire holiday season,” Dyer said in a statement. “By shopping and eating small, we support entrepreneurs and their employees who play a big role in making Orlando more vibrant.”
Residents can follow @orlandomainstreets and @dwntwn_orlando on Instagram for updated deals and promotions heading into Small Business Saturday on Nov. 30.
For shoppers looking to participate nationally, the SBA offers a Small Business Saturday directory and marketing materials for business owners.
Whether at a farmers’ market stand or a longtime storefront, small business owners say the support they receive this weekend means everything and for the community they help shape.
WEBSITE. BACK TO YOU. ALL RIGHT. SPENCER. THANK YOU. IN LAKE COUNTY, PEOPLE IN PARTS OF TAVARES ARE HAVING TO MAKE SOME ALTERNATE PLANS FOR TOMORROW’S THANKSGIVING FEAST. HOMES ON MULTIPLE STREETS ARE UNDER A BOIL WATER NOTICE AFTER A WATER MAIN BREAK ON TUESDAY. WESH 2’S HAYLEY CROMBLEHOLME IS LIVE IN TAVARES TONIGHT. AND HAYLEY, YOU SPOKE WITH ONE RESIDENT WHO ACTUALLY CHANGED UP HIS DINNER PLANS BECAUSE OF ALL THIS. YEAH THAT’S RIGHT. HE’S MOSTLY BEEN RELYING ON BOTTLED WATER AND EATING OUT RATHER THAN GOING THROUGH THE HASSLE OF HAVING TO BOIL IT. HE HAD BEEN PLANNING ON MAKING A FEW THINGS AT HOME, AND EVEN THOUGH THEY MIGHT GET THE RESULTS OF SOME OF THAT WATER TESTING ON THE HOLIDAY, HE STILL FELT LIKE HE NEEDED AN ALTERNATE PLANS. THE TIMING COULDN’T HAVE BEEN WORSE. DOUG EVANS SAID HE GOT THIS NOTICE ON HIS DOOR TUESDAY FROM THE CITY OF TAVARES, LETTING HIM KNOW THERE WAS A PRECAUTIONARY BOIL WATER NOTICE IN HIS AREA FOR ANY WATER USED FOR THINGS LIKE DRINKING, COOKING, WASHING DISHES AND MAKING ICE. THE SIMPLE STUFF WE STILL USE BOTTLED WATER. IT’S NOT THAT BAD, BUT DOING DISHES, LAUNDRY NOT HAPPENING. IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. IT’S JUST TOO MUCH OF A HASSLE. EVANS NOW HAS LARGE WATER BOTTLES PLACED THROUGHOUT THE HOME AND HAND SANITIZER SITTING NEXT TO THE SINK. THE CITY SAID THE ADVISORY CAME TUESDAY AFTER A BROKEN SIX-INCH MAIN LED TO A WATER SHUT OFF. NOW WATER SAMPLES HAVE TO BE TESTED BEFORE RESIDENTS ON PARTS OF WEST BURLEIGH BOULEVARD, NORTH AVE AND CLIFFORD STREET CAN BE GIVEN THE ALL CLEAR. ALL AS PEOPLE ARE PREPARING FOR THANKSGIVING, WE HAVE OUR GRANDKIDS. WE WERE GOING TO HAVE THEM HERE AND DO A FEW THINGS, ENJOY US JUST HAVING THE HOLIDAYS AND HAVING THEM HERE FROM OUT OF STATE. BUT NOW NOT SO MUCH. EVANS SAID THEIR INITIAL THANKSGIVING PLANS HAVE HAD TO CHANGE. ABSOLUTELY NO COOKING? NO, NOT AT ALL. WE HAD PLANNED TO COOK A FEW THINGS, BUT NO, THAT’S THAT’S NO LONGER GOING TO HAPPEN. THE CITY SAID TYPICALLY, THE RESULTS OF WATER TESTING CAN BE BACK WITHIN 48 HOURS, WHICH WOULD BE THANKSGIVING DAY. BUT THEY CAN’T SAY IF THE RESULTS WILL BE BACK OR WHAT THOSE RESULTS WILL BE. BUT IF THE WATER GETS THE ALL CLEAR, THE CITY SAID STAFF WILL BE KNOCKING ON DOORS AND LEAVING NOTICES, LETTING PEOPLE KNOW. EVEN ON THE HOLIDAY. IT’S ALL GOOD. BUT IN CASE THE RESULTS DON’T GO THE WAY THEY’D LIKE, EVANS HOPES FOLKS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN. I HOPE SO, I HOPE SO, BECAUSE IT’S NOT GUARANTEED. BUT AGAIN, THOSE RESULTS COULD COME BACK ON THANKSGIVING DAY. THE CITY WILL BE GETTING THE WORD OUT, AND YOU CAN USE THE WATER IN YOUR HOME IF YOU LIVE ON THOSE PARTS OF THOSE STREETS AFFECTED, YOU SHOULD JUST BOIL IT FIRST. COVERING LAKE COUNTY. LIVE I
Boil water notice issued for parts of Tavares ahead of Thanksgiving
The City of Tavares announced a boil water notice for parts of several streets Tuesday. The city said it came after a broken six-inch main led to a water shutoff. Now residents at 105 W. Burleigh Blvd. through 201 W. Burleigh Blvd., 802 N. Joanna Ave. through 1102 N. Joanna Ave., and 120 W. Clifford St. are being told to boil any water needed for things like drinking, cooking, brushing teeth and washing dishes. “The timing couldn’t have been worse,” said Doug Evans, who lives in one of the impacted areas. Evans said he got a notice on his door Tuesday from the city of Tavares, letting him know there was a precautionary boil water notice in his area. “The simple stuff, we still use bottled water, it’s not that bad, but doing dishes, laundry, not happening. It’s not gonna happen. It’s just too much of a hassle,” Evans said. The city said water samples have to be tested before residents can be given the all-clear. All as people are preparing for Thanksgiving. “We have our grandkids, and we were going to have them here, do a few things, enjoy just having the holidays and having them here from out of state. Now not so much,” Evans said. Their initial Thanksgiving plans have had to change. “Oh, absolutely no cooking. No. Not at all,” he said. “We had planned to cook a few things, but that’s no longer going to happen.”The city said typically the results of the water testing can be back within 48 hours, which would be Thanksgiving Day. But they can’t say if the results will be back, or what those results will be. But if the water gets the all clear, the city said staff will be knocking on doors and leaving notices letting people know, even on the holiday.
TAVARES, Fla. —
The City of Tavares announced a boil water notice for parts of several streets Tuesday.
The city said it came after a broken six-inch main led to a water shutoff. Now residents at 105 W. Burleigh Blvd. through 201 W. Burleigh Blvd., 802 N. Joanna Ave. through 1102 N. Joanna Ave., and 120 W. Clifford St. are being told to boil any water needed for things like drinking, cooking, brushing teeth and washing dishes.
“The timing couldn’t have been worse,” said Doug Evans, who lives in one of the impacted areas.
Evans said he got a notice on his door Tuesday from the city of Tavares, letting him know there was a precautionary boil water notice in his area.
“The simple stuff, we still use bottled water, it’s not that bad, but doing dishes, laundry, not happening. It’s not gonna happen. It’s just too much of a hassle,” Evans said.
The city said water samples have to be tested before residents can be given the all-clear. All as people are preparing for Thanksgiving.
“We have our grandkids, and we were going to have them here, do a few things, enjoy just having the holidays and having them here from out of state. Now not so much,” Evans said. Their initial Thanksgiving plans have had to change.
“Oh, absolutely no cooking. No. Not at all,” he said. “We had planned to cook a few things, but that’s no longer going to happen.”
The city said typically the results of the water testing can be back within 48 hours, which would be Thanksgiving Day. But they can’t say if the results will be back, or what those results will be.
But if the water gets the all clear, the city said staff will be knocking on doors and leaving notices letting people know, even on the holiday.
A video of a gang of teenage e-bikers beating up a man near the Hermosa Beach Pier until one of them yells “he’s dead, he’s dead” sent waves of outrage through the tight-knit coastal community this week.
On Wednesday, the Hermosa Beach Police Department said it had identified five juveniles involved in the attack. Their ages range from 13 to 15. Two who are accused of being the primary aggressors are under arrest.
The two teens were booked on suspicion of felony assault at the city jail and will be transported to Juvenile Hall. Their case will be presented to the L.A. County district attorney’s office’s juvenile division for filing consideration, police said.
The group assaulted a 56-year-old resident about 8 p.m. Friday near 11th Court and Beach Drive, police said. The resident had walked past his intended destination to initiate contact with the youths and did not appear to have been targeted, authorities said.
Surveillance camera recordings show the teens surrounding the man, knocking him to the ground and then repeatedly punching and kicking him.
Officers responded to a 911 call for the assault and took the victim to hospital. He was discharged and interviewed by officers Monday. No information has been shared on his condition or injuries.
In the days after the assault, police spoke with the parents of the teens involved and fielded numerous phone calls, e-mails and videos from the scene submitted by the community as calls for accountability intensified.
“We know the videos circulating are disturbing,” the department said in a Wednesday statement. “As with all cases, we take this seriously and appreciate the community’s patience while we continue to work on this case. We sincerely thank those who have trusted the process and allowed our team to remain focused on the facts and evidence.”
The city of Hermosa Beach enacted an emergency ordinance in June 2024 intended to curb dangerous behavior on the motorized bikes. The ordinance requires minors to wear helmets on e-bikes, forbids riding an e-bike under the influence of drugs or alcohol and bans e-bikes on the Greenbelt trail. Juveniles who violate the ordinance can have their e-bikes impounded.
The Police Department issued 40 e-bike citations this year as of Nov. 13 and has impounded 19 e-bikes since the ordinance was adopted.
Anyone with additional information regarding the recent assault is asked to contact the Hermosa Beach Police Department at (310) 318-0360.
Development of the massive One Beverly Hills residential and hotel complex reached a milestone over the weekend as construction started going vertical.
The work to erect the two tallest towers in Beverly Hills started Friday with an overnight continuous pour of 3,800 cubic yards of concrete, the equivalent of 41,000 wheelbarrows-full. It was the first of multiple foundation pours that will take place over the next 12 months, developer Cain said.
The project near the intersection of Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards broke ground early last year and has so far included demolition, drilling geothermal wells, installing utility lines and digging a deep hole to house underground parking.
One Beverly Hills will be anchored by the Aman Beverly Hills, a 78-room, all-suite hotel that will be the brand’s first West Coast property.
One Beverly Hills Gardens
(Foster + Partners)
The tower residences will also be branded and serviced by Aman, a Swiss company owned by Russian-born real estate developer Vlad Doronin, which Forbes describes as “the world’s most preeminent resort brand,” and attracts affluent guests such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and George and Amal Clooney.
The two towers — 28 and 31 stories — will have a total of fewer than 200 condos.
Interspersed among the property will be as many as 45 stores and restaurants, including a Dolce & Gabbana boutique, Los Mochis restaurant and Casa Tua Cucina restaurant and marketplace.
“Over the next few months, you will start to see the buildings emerge from the ground,” said Jonathan Goldstein, chief executive of London-based Cain. “Reaching vertical construction is a powerful moment for everyone involved.”
One Beverly Hills is one of the biggest real estate developments by cost under construction in North America, Goldstein said. He valued it at $10 billion upon completion.
One Beverly Hills aerial rendering.
(Kerry Hill Architects)
It was conceived by London-based architect Foster + Partners. The firm is led by Norman Foster, an English lord perhaps best known for designing a landmark lipstick-like skyscraper in London known as the Gherkin and the hoop-shaped Apple Inc. headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.
Set for phased completion beginning in 2027, the development connects the Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills hotels in a unified, landscaped compound.
City officials agreed to let Cain build by far the two tallest towers in Beverly Hills with the understanding that stacking the condominiums high would leave open space for 8.5 acres of gardens on the 17.5-acre site.
The most public aspect of One Beverly Hills will be the gardens designed by Los Angeles architecture firm Rios, which also designed the 12-acre Gloria Molina Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles and created a new master plan for Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge.
One Beverly Hills will feature botanical gardens that reflect the diverse landscape of Southern California, with drought-resistant native plants fed solely on recycled water, including rainfall and the runoff from residents’ sinks and showers. The gardens are designed to have more than 200 species of plants and trees, including palms, oaks, sycamores, succulents and olives.
Set within the historic grounds of the former Beverly Hills Nurseries, which later became the Robinsons-May department store, the gardens will feature two miles of walkways, trails, sitting areas and water features.
“We’re entering an exciting new chapter with the One Beverly Hills project, and I’m delighted to see it moving closer to becoming a reality,” said Beverly Hills Mayor Sharona Nazarian. “This is an important addition to Beverly Hills, and I’m proud of the progress we’re making.”
JENIN, West Bank — After 15 months in an Israeli jail, Mustafa Sheta drove home with his brothers to Jenin. A lot changed while he was in prison, they said.
The fighters that once had daily run-and-gun battles with Israeli soldiers? Gone. The bustling population of the refugee camp that gave Jenin its reputation as the martyrs’ capital? Gone. The theater Sheta ran in the camp, which he nurtured into an internationally known lodestar of Palestinian cultural resistance? Gone.
It appeared that Jenin, known as the city that never surrendered, had surrendered.
“I was shocked. The concept of resilience in Jenin, it’s really important to people. Where are the fighters, the Palestinian Authority, grassroots organization, the local leaders?” Sheta said.
“It felt like we lost the war, like we are losing this battle.”
A view in May of Palestinian houses destroyed by the Israeli army in Nour Shams, one of three refugee camps in the northern West Bank targeted by Israel’s military.
(Wahaj Bani Moufleh / AFP / Getty)
Jenin has become the quintessential model of how Israel — in a long-running campaign dubbed Operation Iron Wall — has largely subdued the northern West Bank.
Over more than 300 days, Israel has deployed soldiers, tanks, helicopter gunships and even airstrikes in Jenin and other cities, leaving a trail of destruction that has triggered what aid groups call the most severe bout of Palestinian displacement in the West Bank — more than 40,000 people initially, now down to about 32,000 — since Israel occupied the region in 1967. In a report released Nov. 20, Human Rights Watch alleged Israeli forces’ actions amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Coming under particular Israeli ire are the refugee camps in the area, set up as tent encampments for Palestinians displaced by Israel’s creation in 1948 but which hardened over the decades into slum neighborhoods Israel considers nodes of militancy.
Three of them — Jenin, Tulkarm and Nour Shams camps — have been depopulated and all but occupied by the Israeli military for roughly nine months, with soldiers systemically demolishing homes.
Of those, the Jenin camp, which holds legendary status among Palestinians for a 10-day battle between militants and Israeli forces in 2002, has fared the worst, incurring destruction many people here compare to Gaza.
For Palestinians who saw the camp and surrounding city of Jenin as a symbol for resistance against occupation, it has come to exemplify a sense of despair, and weariness with a fight that has never seemed so fruitless in bringing about a Palestinian state.
Sheta, the theater general manager, had staged works with political themes until he was detained — without charge, he says — from December 2023 to March this year. The Freedom Theater became famous staging adaptations of works such as George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani’s “Men in the Sun,” a tragic novel about three men fleeing refugee camps.
Though the theater has regrouped elsewhere, it’s not the same. “We consider the theater arrested by the Israel army, because we can’t be in the camp,” he said. “Our soul is there.”
Using satellite data from October, the United Nations estimates that more than half of the camp’s buildings — almost 700 structures — are destroyed or damaged, with entire residential blocks razed or blown up. Several streets have been ripped apart or blocked by the 29 berms erected by Israeli forces; many other streets were widened with bulldozers to create corridors aimed at facilitating future military operations.
A Palestinian woman walks past a wall pockmarked with bullet holes in the Jenin camp in February. The camp has been depopulated in the months since.
(John Wessels / AFP / Getty Images)
The Israeli military says its operation in the camps is meant to dismantle militant infrastructure, including explosives factories, weapons caches and tunnels. It also aims to root out groups such as the Jenin Battalion, a loose alliance of fighters from different factions, including Fatah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The Jenin Battalion primarily fought Israeli forces but also clashed with the Palestinian Authority, which oversees the West Bank and collaborates with Israel on security matters; many Palestinians view the authority as corrupt and impotent.
But whatever resistance existed in the camp was crushed shortly after the operation launched in January, residents and Palestinian officials say, leaving Israel’s continued occupation a mystery for the roughly 14,000 people who were expelled and who have no idea when, or if, they’ll be permitted to return.
“There’s no Jenin Battalion anymore. Not a single one is alive. They picked them off one by one,” said Shadi Dabaya, 54, who was sitting among a group of men by the main entrance of the Jenin camp. They fell silent as an Israeli armored vehicle rumbled past, its antenna swinging above the berm blocking the street.
Israeli soldiers walk behind a tank in the Jenin camp for Palestinian refugees in February. In the months since, the Israeli military has cut off entry to the camp.
(John Wessels / AFP / Getty Images)
“We just hear them shooting all the time,” Dabaya said, nodding toward the Israelis. “They’ve turned the camp into a training ground.”
No residents have been allowed to visit, Dabaya added. In September, Israeli soldiers shot and killed two 14-year-old boys trying to enter the camp to retrieve some of their belongings. The Israeli military told the media that the boys had approached soldiers — “posed a threat to them” — and did not obey commands to stay away; it said the shooting was under review.
“With all the destruction, even if the Israelis withdrew from the camp tonight, we would need months to be able to live there — all the infrastructure is destroyed,” said Mohammed Al-Sabbagh, who heads the camp’s Popular Services Committee.
For now, he said, families are crowded into a block of 20 buildings with one-room student dormitories roughly six miles away from the camp. But months after they moved there, the Palestinian Authority — from which Israel has withheld tax revenue, along with taking other measures that strangled its finances — is unable to pay the $63,000 monthly rent.
“Those who accepted these awful conditions — crammed with their families in a tiny room meant for one student — even they will find themselves on the street,” Al-Sabbagh said.
The worst part, he added, was having no idea whether his home was still standing.
“If we knew what the Israelis are doing, we could at least figure out what to do ourselves.”
The operation in Jenin has spread its footprint well beyond the camp. Israeli soldiers who once traveled the surrounding city streets in armored vehicles for fear of attacks now conduct near-daily patrols unhindered, raiding shops and homes at will, residents charged.
Areas adjacent to the camp have been emptied, too. So far, said one Palestinian Authority official who refused to be named for safety reasons, 1,500 residents from those areas have been forced to leave.
“These people have nothing to do with the camp, but they’ve been forced out,” he said.
One of the affected neighborhoods is Jabriyat, a wealthy area overlooking the camp that has the feel of a ghost town, where villas bear the dusty patina of abandonment.
“All of us living around the camp are paying the price,” said Hiba Jarrar, one of the last remaining residents on her street in Jabriyat. From her balcony, she pointed to a building Israeli soldiers recently commandeered.
“There’s no resistance, zero. Not a single bullet is being fired by Palestinians. A soldier can raid any home on his own because he feels safe,” she said, adding that when she heard shooting in the past, she assumed Palestinians and Israelis were fighting; now she knows it comes from only the Israeli soldiers.
“You know what’s sad?” she said. “If anyone fought the Israelis now, people here would tell them to stop. They just want to live. They’re desperate.”
A Palestinian man carries a child down a road destroyed by Israeli forces during a large-scale military operation in east Jenin city, which lies near the Jenin refugee camp.
(John Wessels / AFP / Getty Images)
Palestinian officials say despite repeated requests, Israeli authorities have given no indication when they will leave the camp, and all attempts at facilitating visits there have been rejected.
“What’s happening in the camp is not a necessary security prerogative. There’s nothing requiring the Israelis to do what they’re doing,” said Palestinian Authority Security Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Anwar Rajab, adding that his forces could handle security and that Israel was undermining their authority with its actions.
Rajab echoed the thoughts of residents, analysts and aid workers who see in Israel’s assault a larger plan to recast the camps as ordinary city neighborhoods, not refugee havens. Such rebranding would essentially erase the notion of Palestinians as refugees.
“It’s targeting a community by changing the topography on the ground,” said Roland Friedrich, director of affairs in the West Bank for UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. He added that Israeli officials in local media have said that once Operation Iron Wall is complete, there will be “no more geographic expression of the refugee issue.”
Another measure in the same vein, according to a Palestinian Authority official who requested anonymity for safety reasons, is Israel’s refusal to allow UNRWA back in the camp.
Among those hoping to return someday is Sheta, who after his release from custody went to the berm at the camp’s entrance — the closest he could get to his theater, which was founded in 2006 by a former Palestinian fighter from Jenin named Zakaria Zubeidi, along with a leftist Israeli actor and a Swedish activist.
His imprisonment, he said, was a time of routine beatings and humiliations, with soldiers strip-searching detainees, recording them with their phones and mocking them. The Israelis viewed Palestinians as “not even human. Or animals. Less than nothing,” he said.
He has since “returned to use the same tools” he had used before his arrest to resist Israel’s occupation, but he acknowledged people in Jenin had changed. “Their priorities are different. Some have lost trust in the Palestinian cause,” he said.
Some in the community thought he was “crazy” for bothering with nonviolent methods. But “if you lose your cultural front, you lose your identity, your heritage, your roots with this land,” he said. Besides, he added with a tired smile, if his methods weren’t effective, why did the Israelis arrest him?
“That at least proves to me my work annoys them, no?”
Fall is the time of year when bears really begin to think with their stomachs.
Some will double their weight to prepare for wintertime hibernation, often scavenging for calories for up to 20 hours per day. This feeding frenzy, called hyperphagia, drives them farther from their usual range and into neighborhood dumpsters in search of easy meals.
That instinct led one hungry black bear to a South Lake Tahoe home across the Nevada border, surprising an 87-year-old man who had stepped into his garage for firewood before dawn Wednesday.
“The man retreated back into his house, and as he did that, the bear swiped at him and scratched his hand. Then the bear followed him into the home,” said Ashley Zeme, a spokesperson for the Nevada Department of Wildlife.
Moments later, the confused bear scratched the homeowner’s wife before bolting back outside after the couple’s granddaughter opened doors and windows to create an exit. Both residents were treated and released from the hospital with minor injuries.
Zeme said the incident was a rare escalation but one that nonetheless illustrated how fall hyperphagia reshapes bear behavior in the region.
“During hyperphagia, a bear entering a home would be more likely,” she said, noting that bears are seeking a staggering 20,000 to 25,000 calories a day as winter approaches. “Out in the wild, they’re trying to build up their calories through berries and insects. But when they come across garbage in a neighborhood, that’s all the calories they need in one spot.”
The best way to prevent bear encounters, she said, is by securing garbage and removing attractants such as bird feeders, pet food, coolers and barbecue grills.
Hyperphagia typically runs from August through November. During this period, bears dramatically expand their search radius, often pushing deeper into residential areas. Once a bear finds an easy reward, it tends to return and becomes progressively bolder, according to wildlife officials. In the Tahoe Basin, where bears have long learned that residents and vacationers bring dense, reliable calories, hyperphagia coincides with a surge in reports of trash raids, break-ins and, more infrequently, incidents like the one that occurred Wednesday.
“Once they get a food reward every time they go into a neighborhood, they’ll keep coming back for more,” Zeme said. “They have good memories and they’re smart.”
Zeme emphasized that the bear in this case appeared confused and startled, not predatory.
“This isn’t usual territory for a bear,” she said. “They’re not used to being in homes or garages. The bear was probably confused, spooked. Who knows what it was. But this wasn’t normal.”
Wildlife officials said roughly 90% of bear-related incidents originate with unsecured garbage, which is why it’s recommended that residents in bear-prone areas lock up trash and food in wildlife-resistant containers and avoid leaving bags outside. They also advise that locals keep vehicles free of food, lock doors and windows, and use electric fencing to protect beehives and chicken coops.
“We always see more bear activity this time of year,” Zeme said. “Securing attractants is the best way to keep them away.”
Police in Pennsylvania are warning residents about a viral TikTok challenge where kids record themselves kicking in the front doors of people’s homes. Similar instances of door-kicking have been reported in other states.In Pennsylvania, Multiple police departments in the Susquehanna Valley have reported these incidents. The Lower Swatara Township Police Department said officers responded to a report of disorderly juveniles just before 3 a.m. on Sunday. Police reviewed video camera footage, which showed one juvenile kicking in a front door while recording on her phone before running off with two other juveniles. Watch: Ring camera footage of the incident Officers walked through the neighborhood and spoke to several residents who said the same incident had happened to them. Anyone who recognizes the individuals in this video is asked to contact Lower Swatara Township police. Police said this incident is likely related to a viral TikTok trend where kids are kicking in the front doors of people’s homes, warning that this challenge is very dangerous. Adams County Crime Stoppers reported a similar “door-kicking” incident where a male kicked the front door of a home in McSherrystown Borough, Pennsylvania, multiple times the night of Halloween, Oct. 31. Authorities said the male fled with two other individuals after causing damage to the door. Police released a photo of the male suspect. KCRA reports that police in the Sacramento, California, area have warned residents of an uptick in cases of kids kicking the front doors of strangers’ homes. In Baltimore, WBAL reported that two teenagers were arrested while carrying out the trend in July.In September, a “ding-dong ditch” prank in Houston, Texas, resulted in the death of an 11-year-old boy when the homeowner exited the house and shot him.Anyone who experiences similar activity at their home is advised to call the police immediately.
Police in Pennsylvania are warning residents about a viral TikTok challenge where kids record themselves kicking in the front doors of people’s homes.
Similar instances of door-kicking have been reported in other states.
In Pennsylvania, Multiple police departments in the Susquehanna Valley have reported these incidents.
The Lower Swatara Township Police Department said officers responded to a report of disorderly juveniles just before 3 a.m. on Sunday.
Police reviewed video camera footage, which showed one juvenile kicking in a front door while recording on her phone before running off with two other juveniles.
Watch: Ring camera footage of the incident
Officers walked through the neighborhood and spoke to several residents who said the same incident had happened to them. Anyone who recognizes the individuals in this video is asked to contact Lower Swatara Township police.
Police said this incident is likely related to a viral TikTok trend where kids are kicking in the front doors of people’s homes, warning that this challenge is very dangerous.
Adams County Crime Stoppers reported a similar “door-kicking” incident where a male kicked the front door of a home in McSherrystown Borough, Pennsylvania, multiple times the night of Halloween, Oct. 31.
Authorities said the male fled with two other individuals after causing damage to the door. Police released a photo of the male suspect.
KCRA reports that police in the Sacramento, California, area have warned residents of an uptick in cases of kids kicking the front doors of strangers’ homes.
Koreatown resident Scott Lyness was well aware that the city of Los Angeles was looking to tackle its food waste problem.
While bicycling to work, he saw the growing number of green trash bins popping up on curbs. He read the notice sent to his home instructing residents to expect green bins to be delivered at some point.
Still, Lyness was not prepared for what came next: 13 green bins deposited earlier this month outside the apartment building he manages on New Hampshire Avenue.
That’s on top of the three bins that the city delivered the previous week at a smaller building he also manages next door, and the two green bins that those properties were already using.
Lyness, 69, who works as a project manager at USC, said the two buildings don’t have anywhere near the room to store so many full-size cans — and don’t generate enough organic waste to fill them. He’s tried to have his tenants contact city offices to say they don’t need them. He said he’s even thought about throwing them into the street.
“Our neighborhoods are being inundated with green waste bins,” he said.
City officials are working furiously to get Angelenos to separate more of their food waste — eggshells, coffee grounds, meat bones, unfinished vegetables, orange peels, greasy napkins — to comply with SB 1383, a state composting law passed in 2016. They’ve even implemented Professor Green, an online chatbot that can help residents decide what can and can’t go in the green bin.
SB 1383 requires that 75% of organic waste be diverted away from landfills by the end of the year and instead turned into compost. Food and other organic waste sent to landfills is a significant source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Methane has a global warming potential about 80 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.
To reach that goal, crews from L.A.’s Bureau of Sanitation have deposited huge numbers of 90-gallon green bins in front of some apartment buildings, including duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and larger buildings that have been grandfathered into the city’s curbside trash collection program.
Scott Lyness, 69, stands near green waste bins outside the apartment building he manages in Koreatown.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Residents are already familiar with the green bins, which were long reserved for lawn clippings and other yard waste but now are the destination for food scraps as well.
Most large apartment buildings in L.A. have been spared from the recent round of green bin deliveries, since they participate in recycLA, the city trash franchise program that relies on private waste haulers.
Sanitation officials say that Angelenos who prefer smaller, more manageable containers should fill out a form to get a 30- or 60-gallon replacement. They point out that the bins are part of a much larger effort by the city to reach its zero-waste goals and “lead on sustainability.”
Most of the green bins’ contents are taken to a facility in Bakersfield, where the resulting compost can be used by farmers, said Heather Johnson, a sanitation spokesperson.
“While some may find [the bins] inconvenient at the moment, in the short term they will result in more diverted waste and cleaner air,” Johnson said in an email.
Despite those serious intentions, Angelenos have been poking fun at the “Great Green Bin Apocalypse of 2025,” as journalist and podcaster Alissa Walker framed the situation on Bluesky. Walker recently shared a photo showing what appeared to be 20 green bins in front of one property, right next to a discarded sofa.
“This one is probably my favorite,” she wrote. “I like how they lined them all up neatly in a row and then left the couch.”
Green organic waste bins outside an apartment building in Koreatown.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
After Walker urged others to send in pictures, Silver Lake resident Tommy Newman posted a photo on Bluesky showing eight bins outside an eight-unit building, just south of Sunset Boulevard.
“Unless they are running a juice bar in there, how could they possibly create this much organic waste on a weekly basis?” wrote Newman, who works at a county housing agency.
Over on X, another observer summed up the absurdity in a different way. “LA gave every multi family unit a green bin due to a bureaucratic fever dream about composting,” the person wrote. “I have 5 personally.”
In recent months, L.A.’s sanitation agency has sent teams of “ambassadors” into neighborhoods to educate residents about the need to throw food in the green bins.
That means keeping food out of the 60-gallon black bins where residents have been accustomed to dumping most of their garbage, which ultimately winds up in landfills. Recyclable items, including glass and aluminum, will continue to go into blue bins.
The changes were also spelled out on fliers sent out by the city last summer, with a clear warning in all capital letters: “Unless we hear from you immediately, we will deliver a 90-gallon green container to your residence.”
Lyness saw those alerts and knew about the change. But he contends that most people would have missed the news or thrown the fliers away. Depositing an inordinate amount of bins around town is just not the way to encourage people to properly dispose of their organic waste, he said.
The city’s new food-waste program, which is projected to cost $66 million a year, is one reason the City Council approved a huge increase in trash fees earlier this year, in some cases doubling them. Each 90-gallon green bin costs the city $58.61, tax included, though residents are not being directly charged for the recent deliveries.
Sanitation officials say they have delivered more than 65,000 green bins across the city, with 4,000 to go. For residents waiting for them to be removed or replaced with a smaller bin, only 1,000 orders can be carried out in a regular workday, those officials said.
Around the corner on North Berendo Street, Lyness’ neighbor Lucy Alvidrez agreed that the green bins were troublesome while dragging in her black bin Thursday afternoon.
“They sure got carried away with it,” she said, pointing across the street to an apartment building with about two dozen green bins on its front curb.
Alvidrez, 69, who has lived in the neighborhood for two decades, never had an issue with trash collection until the city dropped off four green bins, one for each unit in her building. She was more fortunate than Lyness: sanitation workers took two of the bins back, upon request.
Alvidrez said she would prefer that the city “spend our money feeding the homeless” instead of purchasing bins that no one needs, she said.
A dozen green organic waste bins occupy a street in Koreatown..
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Nearby, Lyness opened a neighbor’s green bin, which was filled to the brim with trash that wasn’t compostable and should have gone in a black bin. If no one knows what to put in the green bins, nothing is going to improve, he said.
ALL RIGHT. WE’LL CHECK BACK. THANKS, HEATHER. WE HAVE SOME MORE BREAKING NEWS COMING OUT OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY RIGHT NOW, WHERE CREWS HAD TO WORK TO QUICKLY CONTAIN A HOUSE FIRE. THIS FIRE STARTED AROUND 930 IN RIO LINDA. THIS WAS NEAR BUCKBOARD DRIVE AND G STREET. WE’RE TOLD THE FIRE STARTED IN A GARAGE AND THEN SPREAD INTO THE KITCHEN AREA. NO ONE WAS HOME AT THE TIME AND NO INJURIES WERE REPORTED.
Fire damages Rio Linda home while residents away, officials say
A fire damaged a Rio Linda home on Friday night, according to the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District. Crews responded to the home on De Anza Court for the report of a fire around 9:30 p.m.Video shared by the fire department showed flames ripping through the home’s roof.Officials said a garage fire had extended into the home’s kitchen, but firefighters were able to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading further. Sac Metro Fire said no one was inside when the fire began. It’s not clear what sparked the fire, and the cause is under investigation. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
RIO LINDA, Calif. —
A fire damaged a Rio Linda home on Friday night, according to the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.
Crews responded to the home on De Anza Court for the report of a fire around 9:30 p.m.
Video shared by the fire department showed flames ripping through the home’s roof.
Officials said a garage fire had extended into the home’s kitchen, but firefighters were able to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading further.
Sac Metro Fire said no one was inside when the fire began. It’s not clear what sparked the fire, and the cause is under investigation.
