Extreme fire conditions expected in L.A. area through Wednesday
The strengthening Santa Ana winds pose a challenge for firefighters as the battle against wildfires enveloping neighborhoods in Los Angeles County entered its sixth day.
The wildfires have killed at least 16 people, and as of Sunday morning, officials said, at least 16 others have been reported missing.
A red flag warning has been issued for parts of Southern California, where strong winds are expected to blow Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. “If fire ignition occurs, conditions are favorable for very rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior,” the agency said.
The city of Malibu has lost about a third of its eastern edge to the Palisades Fire, Mayor Doug Stewart said.
“The beautiful homes that were along the area … they’re gone. For the most part, they’re gone,” Stewart said at a community meeting.
Follow along with NBC News’ live coverage here.
More coverage:
- NBC News spoke to nearly a dozen people who witnessed the early stages of the Palisades Fire, before it grew into one of the most destructive natural disasters in Los Angeles history.
- Small-business owners across the area are just beginning to reckon with the devastating wildfires, which have turned decades of history and years of hard work into ashes.
- Are arsonists responsible for the raging fires? Investigators are working to determine what caused the blazes.
- Former Australian child star Rory Sykes died last week in the fires after, his mother said, she was unable to save him from their home.
- Residents facing losses from the fires are beginning to confront their next challenge: filing insurance claims.
Meet the Press
California Gov. Gavin Newsom told NBC News’ Jacob Soboroff in a wide-ranging “Meet the Press” interview that the wildfires will be one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history.
“I think it will be in terms of just the costs associated with it, in terms of the scale and scope,” he said.
Newsom also responded to criticism from President-elect Donald Trump, saying, “Mis- and disinformation I don’t think advantages or aids any of us.”
Trump has repeatedly blasted Newsom, blaming him in part for the scale of the disaster. In one post, he baselessly claimed Newsom had blocked a measure that would have allowed water to flow from Northern California to Southern California.
“Responding to Donald Trump’s insults, we would spend another month,” Newsom said. “I’m very familiar with them. Every elected official that he disagrees with is very familiar with them.”
You can watch the full interview here.
Jack Smith resigns from DOJ
Special counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the Justice Department, officials said in a court filing Saturday. The move was expected ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Smith’s report on Trump’s alleged involvement in 2020 election interference is expected to be released soon. The second volume of his report regarding the classified documents case won’t be released, as charges against Trump’s co-defendants are pending.
Politics in brief
A new ‘normal’: Across American society, leaders who once shunned Trump or battled him now seek to bolster their ties or extend olive branches.
Greenland threats: On “Meet the Press,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said the U.S. won’t invade Greenland, downplaying Trump’s threat to acquire it by military force.
Immigration in the classroom: Educators find themselves in the uncomfortable position of fielding students’ questions about potential mass deportations during the Trump administration.
Honoring the pope: President Joe Biden awarded Pope Francis the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction.
Limiting Jan. 6 pardons: Vice President-elect JD Vance said Sunday that violent Jan. 6 rioters shouldn’t receive pardons.
Wild-card weekend
The NFL playoffs kicked off Saturday with six wild-card games to decide who will move on to the divisional round.
On Saturday the Houston Texans defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 32-12, while the Baltimore Ravens, the AFC’s No. 3 seed, put up a dominant 28-14 performance to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Sunday games began with the Buffalo Bills defeating the Denver Broncos 31-7. The Green Bay Packers taking on the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Commanders faced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers later Sunday.
Follow along with NBC News’ live coverage here.
A director’s dual wins
Oscar winner Barry Jenkins kicked off the new year with two films in the top 10 at the box office: “Mufasa: The Lion King” and “The Fire Inside.”
On paper, the two films couldn’t be more different. One is a Disney blockbuster with a huge cultural imprint, while the other is a decidedly smaller picture, a biopic about Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, the first American woman to earn a gold medal in boxing.
In an interview, Jenkins spoke about the common themes in his work.
What “grabbed” him about Mufasa was that the character was known in the original “Lion King” as “this great leader, this perfect father, the perfect king, and we assume that he is that way because of the character traits he inherited. I think decontextualizing that and showing that, just like Claressa Shields or just like the character in ‘Moonlight,’ that he came from this other place and through learning from his community, through really wonderful nurturing by a woman who is essentially his foster mother.”
In case you missed it
- Millions of people from the Southwest to the Southeast have been under freeze alerts this weekend.
- Ukraine captured two injured North Korean soldiers from the battlefield in Russia and transferred them to Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday.
- The U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, told NBC News about his time managing the tensions of what’s considered the world’s most important bilateral relationship.
- Young Asian Americans are 40% more likely to develop food allergies compared with the general population. A new study sheds light on why.
- Many people are still refreshing their Covid-era closets, particularly because of employers’ mandating personnel return to the office.
- President Joe Biden spoke Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as U.S. officials race to reach a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal before Biden leaves office.
- The New England Patriots have hired former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel as their head coach, the team announced Sunday.
- Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are officially divorced. Lopez, who filed for a dissolution of their marriage in August, gets to keep her green diamond engagement ring.
