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The power was out and the air-conditioning off when Dustin Kaleiopu woke up on Tuesday morning in Lahaina. “The wind was noisy,” said Mr. Kaleiopu, 26. When the fire reached his neighbor’s yard, Mr. Kaleiopu said he loaded his grandfather into a car and began preparing to leave. Mr. Kaleiopu has spent recent days with family in another part of Maui, a comfort that others do not have. Still, Mr. Kaleiopu said, there was no question that he would return to Lahaina, that he would carve out a new life in a rebuilt town.

Persons: Dustin Kaleiopu, ”, Kaleiopu, “, Mr, it’s, grandpa, ‘ He’ll, we’ve, ’ Organizations: Longtime, Investors Locations: Lahaina ., Lahaina, Maui, Honolulu

Persons: Dustin Kaleiopu, ”, Kaleiopu, “, Mr, it’s, grandpa, ‘ He’ll, we’ve, ’ Organizations: Longtime, Investors Locations: Lahaina ., Lahaina, Maui, Honolulu

The wildfires that leveled the town of Lahaina on Maui wiped out shops, restaurants and a hotel built more than century ago, burning across some of the most spectacular and wealthiest enclaves of the state. High-profile billionaires including Oprah Winfrey, Peter Thiel and Jeff Bezos all have homes on Maui. But the deadly blaze also destroyed something less visible yet vital to this island’s economic survival: modest houses and apartments where many workers running Maui’s booming tourism industry lived. The destruction in Lahaina has highlighted Maui’s longstanding challenge with housing for the people who work in its hotels and on its golf courses, without whom the island could not function as a beloved destination for visitors from around the world. “We already had a housing crisis,’’ said Leslie Wilkins, president of the Maui Economic Development Board.

Persons: Oprah Winfrey, Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos, ’ ’, Leslie Wilkins, ” Organizations: Maui Economic Development Board Locations: Lahaina, Maui

The losses in Lahaina from the fire now include the historic Baldwin Home, which houses the restoration foundation’s main office and was considered the oldest house still standing on the island of Maui. It was built between 1834-35 by the Rev. Ephraim Spaulding, a missionary from Massachusetts who prized its proximity to the waters where whaling ships once anchored. The home contained the wooden rocking chairs that the family of the Rev. Unlike others in Lahaina whose families in the area stretch back generations, Ms. Morrison, 75, from Berkeley, Calif., happened upon the town while sailing around the Hawaiian islands in 1975.

Persons: Baldwin, Ephraim Spaulding, Dwight Baldwin, Morrison, Mark Twain, ”, “, — Organizations: East Coast Locations: Lahaina, Maui, Massachusetts, East, Berkeley, Calif, ”

Devastating wildfires linked to climate change have lately become somewhat normal in the American West and beyond. In that sense, the Maui fires are nothing new. The ones on Maui this week are destructive in part because of the island’s isolation, fragile supply chains and dependence on tourism. The winds driving the fires, driven themselves in part by a hurricane passing hundreds of miles away in the Pacific Ocean, were expected to ease on Thursday. Phone service was down in some parts of the island’s west coast, including Hawaii’s former royal capital, Lahaina, where fire has been ripping through weathered wooden storefronts.

Persons: ”, Burgess Harrison, “ Organizations: Fire, U.S . Coast Guard, Hawaii Department of Health Locations: Maui, American, Maui and Minnesota, Minnesota, Hawaii, Lahaina

Two Navy sailors in Southern California were arrested and accused of providing military secrets and sensitive information to Chinese intelligence officers, according to a pair of federal indictments unsealed on Thursday. Jinchao Wei, known as Patrick Wei, 22, was charged with spying for the Chinese under the Espionage Act. As a machinist’s mate, investigators said, he had clearance that gave him access to sensitive national security information. Already, the extent of Chinese spying, including cyberbreaches, has prompted top national security officials to sound the alarm. director, Christopher A. Wray, warned, “There’s no country that presents a more significant threat to our innovation, our ideas our economic security, our national security than the Chinese government.”

Persons: Jinchao Wei, Patrick Wei, Wei, Wenheng Zhao, Thomas, Zhao, Christopher A, Wray, “, ” Organizations: Naval Base San, Pacific Fleet, Naval Base Locations: Southern California, Essex, Naval Base San Diego, Naval Base Ventura County, Port Hueneme, Pacific, China

☆ They Checked Out Pride Books in Protest. It Backfired.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Jill Cowan | More About Jill Cowan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Conservative groups nationwide have pushed to ban books that discuss L.G.B.T.Q. issues from libraries and schools, saying that parents should be able to control what their children are being taught. The group has promoted a “Hide the Pride” campaign that encourages supporters to check out or move books that depict L.G.B.T.Q. Organizers have described such material as pornographic and obscene and said it should not be available to young library patrons. Both were checked out by the protesters in San Diego.

Persons: Amy M, Vance, Martha Martin, ”, Brian Burch, “ Morris Micklewhite Organizations: Rancho Peñasquitos Library, Catholic Locations: San Diego, Indiana, Coney

☆ Los Angeles Hotel Employees Return to Work but Warn of Additional Strikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Jill Cowan | More About Jill Cowan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Business groups say that asking employers to shoulder the burdens of California’s housing crisis, particularly acute in places like Los Angeles, is unfair. Background: Hotel workers want multiple raises over three years. Members of Unite Here Local 11, the union representing some 15,000 hotel workers in Southern California, authorized a strike last month, as their contract was expiring. Union leaders say workers need such increases to afford living costs in Los Angeles, where housing is scarce and expensive. The union has also asked that hotels impose a 7 percent fee on guests to help fund worker housing.

Persons: Kurt Petersen, picketers, “, ”, “ They’re Organizations: Union Locations: Los Angeles, Southern California, ”

☆ Your Room Is Ready. Don’t Mind the Picket Line.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Jill Cowan | Seth Gilbert | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Oscar Orellana, 30, paused in the shade of the InterContinental and waved back at one of the drivers who honked while passing by. For six years, Mr. Orellana has worked in the housekeeping department at the hotel, where he ensures that linens are stocked on each floor. His parents, too, long worked in hotel housekeeping; his father was picketing at a nearby Ritz-Carlton, he said. “I used to see my parents, and they loved their job, which made me want to go into the hotel world, and I love my job,” he said. They also felt caught in an awkward social position during a time when they just wanted to relax.

Persons: Oscar Orellana, Orellana, “, ”, they’re, John Smith Organizations: InterContinental, Ritz, Carlton Locations: Long Beach, Santa Monica, San Bernardino

☆ Los Angeles Hotel Workers Go on Strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( Jill Cowan | Kurtis Lee | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Dockworkers disrupted operations for weeks at the colossal ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach until they reached a tentative deal in June. “I think people are understanding those issues in a much more palpable way.”The hotel workers’ strike comes just as the summer tourism season ramps up, and labor leaders say they are hoping to capitalize on that momentum. Last year, tourism in the city reached its highest levels since the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board. But for many workers like Diana Rios-Sanchez, who works as a housekeeping supervisor at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, the pay has not helped to keep up with inflation. On Thursday, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, a large hotel in downtown Los Angeles, announced that it had staved off a walkout of its workers with a contract deal.

Persons: Hugo Soto, Martinez, ”, “, Diana Rios, Sanchez, Ms, Rios, Grossman, Petersen, Anna Betts Organizations: Workers, Los Angeles City Council, Los Angeles Tourism, InterContinental, Downtown, housekeepers, Westin Bonaventure Hotel, Hotel Association of Los Locations: Southern California, Los Angeles, Long, Hollywood, InterContinental Los, El Sereno, California, Beverly Hills, Hotel Association of Los Angeles

At the behemoth ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, operations were disrupted for weeks until West Coast dockworkers reached a tentative contract deal in mid-June. Across the city, schools shut down for three days this spring when bus drivers, cafeteria workers and teachers walked out. Now, the union representing some 15,000 hotel workers in Los Angeles is threatening to strike this Fourth of July weekend, just as the summer tourism season ramps up. And more than 160,000 actors are poised to shut down Hollywood productions if they cannot reach a new contract deal later this month. “We’re calling it the ‘hot labor summer,’” said Lorena Gonzalez, the chief officer of the California Labor Federation, which represents more than 2.1 million union members statewide.

Persons: dockworkers, ’ ”, Lorena Gonzalez, we’re Organizations: West, Unions, California Labor Federation Locations: Southern California, America, Los Angeles, Long, California

☆ The Number of Homeless People in Los Angeles Increases by 9%
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Jill Cowan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

The increase in Los Angeles mirrors trends playing out in cities across the country, including Phoenix, as a housing shortage has led to rising costs, squeezing families. In Los Angeles, volunteers fan out over a couple of nights each January to visually count people who appear to be living outdoors or in vehicles. Washington, D.C., has already reported an increase of 11 percent, while the Phoenix area said its homeless population was up 7 percent. Los Angeles is hardly the only American city to struggle with homelessness, but its homeless population is disproportionately large, and about 30 percent of the nation’s homeless population lives in California. As a result, Los Angeles is a kind of large-scale test case for which solutions work and which don’t.

Persons: Karen Bass, ”, Adams, Bass, ” Ms Organizations: University of California, Homeless, Washington , D.C Locations: Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco, California, Washington ,, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles County

☆ After a Winter Deluge, California Rivers Are Too Dangerous to Enjoy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Jill Cowan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Gwyny Pett has been visiting the Kern River for decades, camping there as a girl and then taking her own children, now grown, to splash in shallows so calm they felt like a private pool. She has also seen the destructive power of the river during high-water years. “I mean, this is dangerous,” she said, gesturing at the water speeding past. After a parade of epic winter storms, the Kern River and other major waterways fed by melting Sierra Nevada snow have become wild torrents — a transformation so dangerous that several counties in Central California have prohibited people from entering the water. On Wednesday, a kayaker died on the Kern River, about 20 miles upstream from the campground from where Ms. Pett was sitting.

Persons: Gwyny Pett, Pett, gesturing, kayaker Organizations: The Mercury Locations: Kern, “, Central California, Fresno County

☆ Los Angeles Councilman Faces Corruption Charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Jill Cowan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Los Angeles City Council member was charged on Tuesday with embezzlement, perjury and conflict of interest, becoming the latest in a procession of elected city leaders to have been accused of corruption. Prosecutors said that Curren Price, 72, a former state legislator who has represented South Los Angeles on the City Council for a decade, voted on projects that benefited developers who paid his wife’s consulting business a total of more than $150,000 between 2019 and 2021. The allegations were tied to three counts of perjury and two counts of conflict of interest. “This alleged conduct undermines the integrity of our government and trust in our elected officials,” George Gascón, the Los Angeles County district attorney, said in a statement. “We will continue to work tirelessly to root out corruption at all levels.”

Persons: Curren Price, Price, “, ” George Gascón Organizations: Los Angeles City Council, Prosecutors, South, City Council, Los Locations: South Los Angeles, Los Angeles County

The climate crisis is becoming a financial crisis. This month, the largest homeowner insurance company in California, State Farm, announced that it would stop selling coverage to homeowners. That’s not just in wildfire zones, but everywhere in the state. “We’re just now seeing it.”In parts of eastern Kentucky ravaged by storms last summer, the price of flood insurance is set to quadruple. In Louisiana, the top insurance official says the market is in crisis, and is offering millions of dollars in subsidies to try to draw insurers to the state.

Persons: That’s, ”, Roy Wright, “ We’re Organizations: State Farm, . Insurance, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Insurance Institute, Business, Home Locations: California, Kentucky, Louisiana

☆ She’s Out to Save Rare Wildflowers, but First She Has to Find Them
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Jill Cowan | Daniel Dorsa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The white Toyota Tacoma bumped along the dirt path, up and down hills, brush scratching the sides of the truck with a high-pitched whine. Naomi Fraga, her hair in pigtail braids under a ball cap, drove like a slightly more cautious Indiana Jones guided by an ancient map. She stopped the vehicle on a perch overlooking an expanse of boulders and Joshua trees in eastern Kern County, about 170 miles northeast of Los Angeles. “This is right where they’re supposed to be,” she said. Dr. Fraga, 43, was on a treasure hunt, but not for gold or jewels.

☆ Phoenix to Start Clearing Sprawling Downtown Homeless Encampment
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Jill Cowan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It’s an existence,” Shina Sepulveda, who is homeless and lives in the Zone, told The New York Times recently. City leaders across the West have grappled with how to handle homeless camps when they do not have enough space at shelters or in supportive housing. Patience has worn thin in some communities with significant homeless populations, and residents and business owners have asked their city officials to do more to move people off the streets. BackgroundThe number of unsheltered Phoenix residents has risen dramatically, from 771 in 2014 to 3,096 in 2022, according to the city. The city contended that it had discretion over how to address homelessness, including how best to move people out of camps.

☆ Los Angeles Can’t Forget P-22, the Mountain Lion Who Made the A-List
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Jill Cowan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He was believed to have been born roughly 12 years ago in the Santa Monica Mountains that bisect Los Angeles. P-22’s father was P-1, the first mountain lion collared under a National Park Service program aimed at helping scientists understand the threats to wild animals in the region. Like his father, P-22 was known only by his tracking identifier even as his fame grew (the “P” stands for puma, the scientific name for the animal that is often called a mountain lion or cougar). Wildlife officials trapped and examined P-22, then determined that he should be euthanized because he was suffering trauma likely from being struck by a vehicle. They loved that the cougar was a reminder that wilderness persists, against seemingly insurmountable odds, amid the dizzying chaos of Los Angeles.

☆ California Reconsiders Its Boycotts of States Over Their L.G.B.T.Q. Laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Jill Cowan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Seven years later, Republican-led states have moved well beyond bathrooms. States also have been battling hard over access to abortion ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. With tensions rarely higher, it may seem counterintuitive for Democratic leaders in California to repeal their boycotts of Republican-led states. But San Francisco supervisors did just that on Tuesday, and state lawmakers are considering a similar move later this year. They say the bans are having little impact — as shown by the flurry of transgender legislation being passed — and have mostly hurt their own government operations in California.

☆ Winter Showers (and Showers and Showers) Bring a Bounty of Wildflowers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Jill Cowan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. — Torrential downpours this winter sent California residents fleeing from floods and mudslides. Blizzards dumped snow in the mountains, trapping locals in their homes for weeks. Hulking trees crashed into homes and severed power lines. After such a disastrous start to the year, it may be a while before nature can fully recompense Californians for their struggles. But the succession of atmospheric rivers did deliver relief from a prolonged drought.

☆ Pandemic or Not, Proms Are Back
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-05 | by ( Jill Cowan | Maggie Shannon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Pandemic or Not, Proms Are BackFour California high schools. Four Covid-influenced proms. Some strapped themselves into rhinestone-encrusted heels while others, planning for a night on their feet, stuck with Vans or Air Force 1s. Their dates wore white tuxedos, three-piece suits, corsages. In Petaluma, dinner was prepacked sandwiches eaten picnic-style on the football field before the dancing started on the painted lines.

Persons: Fowler Organizations: Vans, Air Force Locations: California, Fresno, Petaluma

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