Everyone aboard an American Airlines jet that collided with an Army helicopter is feared dead (LAT)
AP, STAFF: "All 64 people aboard an American Airlines jet that collided with an Army helicopter were feared dead in what was likely to be the worst U.S. aviation disaster in almost a quarter century, officials said Thursday.
At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the midair collision Wednesday night when the helicopter apparently flew in the path of the jet as it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, officials said."
READ MORE -- Here are some of the deadliest plane crashes in U.S. history -- AP
Trump is getting support from some unexpected allies: California Dems in swing districts
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "President Donald Trump has found some surprising allies as he works to enact his anti-immigrant, anti-trans agenda: California Democrats who represent swing districts.
Their support is an illustration of how Democrats remain cowed by Trump after November’s election — particularly on immigration issues — and don’t have a coherent response or strategy to counter him."
State senator retains key role over fire insurance laws despite cannabis corruption probe
LAT, ANABEL SOSA: "State Sen. Susan Rubio, a Democrat from Baldwin Park, was reappointed last week as chair of the committee that oversees insurance-related legislation, a powerful position that went unoccupied for weeks while swaths of Los Angeles burned.
While the fires created an unprecedented insurance crisis that has left thousands scrambling to cover their losses, Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire (D-North Coast) kept the chairperson position vacant despite announcing all other leadership positions earlier in the month."
What — or who— started the Palisades fire? Two leading theories emerge as investigation intensifies
LAT, RICHARD WINTON, HANNAH FRY: "For the last few weeks, a team of investigators from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has worked out of a command post in the Highlands neighborhood of Pacific Palisades.
It’s here, near a popular hiking trail, where officials believe the Palisades fire began around 10:30 a.m. Jan. 7. The remnants of thousands of burned-out homes line the path the flames took down from the hillside as it charged all the way to the ocean."
The L.A. wildfires left neighborhoods choking in ash and toxic air. Residents demand answers
LAT, TONY BRISCOE, IAN JAMES: "Nearly two weeks after the Eaton fire forced Claire Robinson to flee her Altadena home, she returned, donning a white hazmat suit, a respirator and goggles.
The brick chimneys were among the few recognizable features of the quaint three-bedroom 1940 house neighboring Farnsworth Park. Nearly everything else was reduced to ashes."
Trump signs law making it easier to deport undocumented immigrants. Is California affected?
Sac Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Despite its sanctuary policies, California’s undocumented immigrant population faces more questions and possible detention by federal authorities under new legislation signed into law Wednesday by President Donald Trump.
“The law will have an impact on California,” said Kevin Johnson, dean of the UC Davis School of Law."
Trump’s orders have upended U.S. immigration. What legal routes remain?
LAT, JESSICA GARRISON/REBECCA PLEVIN: "Promising the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, President Trump, in his first days in office, has released a dramatic series of executive orders and other policy changes that will reshape the country’s immigration system — and the experience of what it means to live in the U.S. as an immigrant, particularly one who is undocumented.
There are an estimated 13 million to 15 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., including more than 2.5 million in California."
Trump pauses updates from CDC, FDA & more. Here’s where Californians can find health info
Sac Bee, KENDRICK MARSHALL/MEREDITH HOWARD: "President Donald Trump has ordered federal health agencies to pause some external communications through Saturday, Feb. 1.
However, California residents still have access to some information about respiratory virus transmission as the illnesses spread throughout the state."
CSU, reeling from budget cuts to classes and faculty, decry more proposed state reductions
LAT, TERESA WATANABE: "Leaders of California State University voiced alarm Wednesday that proposed state funding cuts would be “catastrophic” and cripple the nation’s largest four-year public higher education system’s ability to serve as a powerful engine of progress for low-income and underserved students.
Under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed 2025-26 budget, CSU faces a $375 million funding cut — a 7.95% reduction, the equivalent of 20% of its entire full-time faculty — university officials told the Board of Trustees. The shortfall would leave no new funds for student support, mental health, basic needs, employee pay, infrastructure and other needs, they said."
Artificial intelligence is bringing nuclear power back from the dead — maybe even in California
CALMatters, ALEX SHULTZ: "If you’ve used ChatGPT to write a breakup text or figure out how to not burn the Christmas roast, you might’ve actually helped create jobs and profits in California, where the artificial intelligence tool was born.
Unfortunately you’ve probably also contributed to climate change. Artificial intelligence is an energy hog, and every query to ChatGPT is like running a lightbulb for 20 minutes, a research scientist recently told NPR."
Two atmospheric river-charged storms to bring rain and snow to Northern California
The Chronicle, GREG PORTER: "Fresh weather model data points to a wet weekend ahead for Northern California and the Bay Area. Forecasts are calling for significantly higher rainfall totals than previously predicted along with several feet of snow piling up in the Sierra by Sunday.
There are also signs that another, stronger atmospheric river will hit the state early next week. Here’s what we know about the wet weather systems so far."
Another casualty of a bone-dry winter: LA won’t take less water from Mono Lake
CALMatters, ALASTAIR BLAND: "Los Angeles will take most or all of its allotment of water from Mono Lake through March, disappointing local environmentalists and conservation experts after raising hopes that more water would be left in the iconic alpine lake.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power had indicated last spring that it might, in a rare move, substantially reduce the amount taken from Mono Lake. The Eastern Sierra lake has provided water to Los Angeles since 1941, when DWP began diverting its tributaries to city taps."
Massive Salton Sea lithium project gets judge’s go-ahead, ending advocates’ lawsuit
CALMatters, DEBORAH BRENNAN: "An Imperial County judge cleared the way for the Hell’s Kitchen project, one of the world’s largest lithium mines, when he recently dismissed a lawsuit filed by civic and environmental groups.
Hell’s Kitchen, in the Salton Sea, promises to unearth a motherlode of lithium, a mineral essential to electric car batteries, cellphones and other electronics. While the court decision is expected to open a floodgate for U.S. lithium production, it has disappointed community organizers who worry the mine will endanger nearby residents."
Head of Yosemite National Park calls it quits after 40 years of service
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "Yosemite National Park Superintendent Cicely Muldoon has announced that she is stepping down at the end of next month, leaving a hole in the management at one of the nation’s top parks.
Muldoon’s retirement follows a four-decade career at the National Park Service, which includes the past five years at Yosemite and, before that, 10 years as the head of Point Reyes National Seashore."
SFPD officer details surreal moment he ID’d CEO murder suspect Luigi Mangione
The Chronicle, MEGAN CASSIDY: "San Francisco police Sgt. Michael Horan had just cracked open a new missing persons case when updates from a crime 2,500 miles away began flooding the country’s news feeds.
It was the morning of Dec. 5, and New York officials had released the first photos of an unidentified suspect wanted in the brazen, fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson a day earlier."