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The deranged firebug accused of igniting the devastating Palisades Fire had become “fixated” on Luigi Mangione in the lead-up to the deadly blaze — and then allegedly suggested the inferno was started out of “resentment of the rich,” prosecutors said. Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, was obsessed with the accused health care CEO killer and had routinely searched “free Luigi Mangione” and “lets take down all the billionaires” online, court documents show. In the weeks and hours before allegedly sparking the blaze that triggered the catastrophic Palisades Fire, Rinderknecht — who worked as an Uber driver — ranted to customers about Mangione’s...

The deranged firebug accused of igniting the devastating Palisades Fire had become “fixated” with Luigi Mangione in the lead up to the deadly blaze — and then allegedly suggested the inferno was started out of “resentment of the rich,” prosecutors said. Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, was obsessed with the accused healthcare CEO killer and had routinely searched “free Luigi Mangione” and “lets take down all the billionaires” online, court documents show. In the weeks and hours before allegedly sparking the blaze that triggered the catastrophic Palisades fire, Rinderknecht — who worked as an Uber driver — ranted to customers about Mangione’s...

President Trump’s executive order to fast-track the rebuilding of Los Angeles after the wildfires has resulted in almost 2,000 permits approved since it was signed in January, The Post can exclusively reveal. Trump’s order let state and local rules be preempted when it came to obtaining permits and allowed builders to “self-certify” that they have complied with “substantive health, safety and building standards.” The result of the administration’s take over was the approval of thousands of permits for people to begin the rebuilding process of homes and businesses ravaged by the January 2025 Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires, two of...

The city of Malibu slapped Los Angeles and the state of California with a lawsuit over the devastating Palisades fire — saying officials didn’t do enough to stop the deadly blaze that “hollowed out” the oceanside community. Malibu said the city’s “entire character changed” when the wildfire swept through and that it is “still reeling from the destruction it left in its wake,” according to the suit. The 66-page complaint seeks to “recover significant financial losses” resulting from the devastating fire. “This decision was not made lightly,” Malibu Mayor Bruce Silverstein said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “The City...

The full extent of the Palisades Fire report cover-up has been revealed. The California Post has obtained the first draft of the Palisades After-Action Fire Report — before it was quietly altered and released to the public. Newly uncovered edits show sweeping changes to the 92-page document that was meant to deliver a warts-and-all account of the disaster, putting more pressure on Mayor Karen Bass to explain whether her office played a role in softening the language to blunt criticism of the city’s response to a fire that killed at least 31 people and destroyed more than 16,000 structures. Mayor...

Embattled Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass secretly altered the official Palisades Fire response report to downplay the failures made by the city and fire department when the deadly blaze erupted, a new report said. Bass, after seeing an early draft of the after-action report, wanted key findings of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s shortcomings scrubbed or watered down — and even warned then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva the unedited conclusions could expose the city to legal liability, sources close to the Democrat’s staff told the Los Angeles Times. Bass was cautioned that the self-serving tweaks in with the report was...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to expedite rebuilding in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon after wildfires ravaged the Los Angeles communities in January 2025. According to a White House fact sheet, the order directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Karen Evans and the Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler to establish regulations preempting procedural permitting requirements at the state and local levels.

"I got more water coming outta my eyes than DWP had in both of our reservoirs" -@spencerpratt Television personality Spencer Pratt, who lost his home in the Palisades Fire and has been a vocal critic in the months since of the city's and state's preparation for and response to the conflagration, announced Wednesday that he is running for mayor of Los Angeles. Speaking at a "They Let Us Burn" rally held by the Palisades Fire Residents Coalition to mark the one-year anniversary of the fire's start, the 42-year-old Pratt again repeated his complaints about authorities' handling of the blaze, then...

MALIBU, Calif. (KABC) -- The road to recovery after the Palisades Fire has been anything but smooth for a group of historical business owners on the eastern edge of Malibu. For years, the Reel Inn was a staple along Pacific Coast Highway at Topanga Canyon Boulevard. The famous seafood shack fed surfers and tourists for nearly 40 years. Its sign is now in a pile of rubble, and because of a yearslong dispute over land use, the Reel Inn may never reopen. Other businesses are facing the same roadblocks when it comes to rebuilding -- The Topanga Ranch Motel, Wiley's...

Yesterday, we told you that the FireAid scandal hit President Trump's radar. As it should: tens of millions of dollars raised with the explicit promise that those monies would go directly to victims of the L.A. wildfires. Instead, the money went to Leftist nonprofit organizations, and not a dime went to people who lost everything.

Los Angeles was devastated by wildfires back in January, and the area is still feeling the impacts of the disaster. So when $100 million was raised by two FireAid concerts at the Intuit Dome and Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, featuring acts such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Billie Elish, and Jelly Roll, you'd have thought the money would make its way to fire victims. Well, it's not that simple. Sue Pascoe, editor-in-chief at Circling The News, has the story of how this money ended up not going to fire victims, but instead making its way to...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Sunday that ongoing unrest, which she blamed partly on President Donald Trump’s “federal escalation,” meant that Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers would no longer operate checkpoints to protect homes in the burn zone of the Palisades Fire. On Saturday, police checkpoints that had protected local properties from looting sine the January 7 fire, were removed, and Pacific Palisades was reopened to non-residents. The Westside Current, citing the Los Angeles Times, reported that LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell had said the “No Kings” protests that had been planned for Saturday — and which descended into...

A woman wearing a t-shirt in support of Palisades Fire victims was arrested Friday on suspicion of looting the destroyed homes of one of those same victims. According to the California Highway Patrol, a looting report came in at about 1 p.m. Friday at a burned-down home in the Pacific Palisades, but upon arrival, officers were unable to find a suspect but the victim was able to provide a detailed description of a woman and her vehicle. The investigation traced the registration of that vehicle to a home in Valencia. Officers responded to the home and made contact with a...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed trapped residents of the Pacific Palisades for failing to evacuate from the advancing fire on January 7 — apparently not realizing that they were stuck due to government incompetence. The Los Angeles Times has produced a video documenting the chaotic response to the Palisades Fire, including the haphazard evacuation, which was the result of poor planning and communication by local emergency services. At 14:14 in the video, corresponding to five hours and twelve minutes after the start of the fire, the narrator notes: “Governor Gavin Newsom is unhappy with what he’s seen on a tour...

A Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) source told Breitbart News on Tuesday that there were not enough officers available to direct traffic and assist the evacuation from the Palisades Fire because they were guarding President Joe Biden. Biden was in Los Angeles from January 6 through 8, largely for family reasons, as his first great-grandchild was born. But because LAPD officers had been detailed to help protect him and his family, officers struggled to reach the Pacific Palisades as the Palisades Fire began to burn, and frightened residents became stuck in a traffic on Sunset Boulevard. “We tried to get...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has decided that fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades will be built by an “outside consultant.” The decision was made without any consultation with local residents or any process of input from those affected. Bass appeared in Pacific Palisades on Monday on an unannounced visit together with “chief recovery officer Steve Soboroff,” whom Bass appointed earlier this month — also without local consultation — and who had been absent. The Los Angeles Times reported that Bass announced her intention to hire a consultant to handle the rebuilding: The city of Los Angeles is planning to hire an outside...

A Malibu resident is telling his story about how he captured a now-viral photo of a Volkswagen Bus that survived the deadly Palisades Fire. “Get out of the house, now! There’s a massive fireball heading your way,” Pacific Palisades resident Matt Baker said of a friend calling him to give him this urgent warning as the fire started. “I stayed in the danger zone far longer than I should have. I was determined to make sure all my neighbors safely evacuated,” Baker said about staying to fight the flames.

This is from the New York Times:Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/us/palisades-fire-cause-ignition-point-site.htmlArchive: https://archive.ph/Fv8d4This Is Where the Palisades Fire StartedIn the hills above Pacific Palisades, there is crime scene tape and scattered debris, clues to what may have caused the initial fire that eventually raged through thousands of structures.By Thomas Fuller, Mike Baker, Blacki Migliozzi, K.K. Rebecca Lai, and Jonathan WolfeJanuary 13, 2025Along the trail near where the Palisades fire began, The Times found bits of power-line debris, including what appeared to be part of a lightning arrester device. But the nearest overhead power line was about a third of a mile to the north....

California’s eco-bureaucrats halted a wildfire prevention project near the Pacific Palisades to protect an endangered shrub. It’s just the latest clash between fire safety and conservation in California that is coming under scrutiny following the devastating outbreak of the Palisades Fire — the most devastating blaze in Los Angeles history, which has consumed the very same area. In 2019, the LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP) began replacing nearly 100-year-old power line poles cutting through Topanga State Park, when the project was halted within days by conservationists outraged that federally endangered Braunton’s milkvetch plants had been trampled during the...

One of the Southern California wildfires damaged an iconic Los Angeles high school with A-list alums that was used as a set for films including "Freaky Friday" and "Carrie."