More than 100K forced to evacuate as deadly LA fires burn out of control | The Excerpt
On Thursday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Paste BN National Correspondent Elizabeth Weise explains why fires in Southern California have gotten so dangerous so quickly this week. It's a national day of mourning for the late President Jimmy Carter. You can watch the funeral service here. Paste BN Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen breaks down a decision by Attorney General Merrick Garland to release a Trump report on election charges, but not classified records. Affordable Care Act signups reach record levels.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Thursday, January 9th, 2025. This is the Excerpt. Today, the latest from California as more people are forced to flee their homes. Plus it's a national day of mourning for the late president, Jimmy Carter. And we discuss a decision by the Attorney General on a special counsel report into Trump election interference charges.
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More than a hundred thousand people have been forced to evacuate as wildfires rapidly spread through the greater Los Angeles area. A new brush fire dubbed the Sunset Fire ignited in Hollywood Hills yesterday evening, spurring mandatory evacuation orders. Meanwhile, the Palisades fire grew to more than 17,000 acres late yesterday. The governor's office said nearly 5,000 first responders were on the ground, including crews from out of state.
And President Joe Biden announced that the Defense Department is providing additional resources to battle the blazes, including firefighting personnel and navy helicopters with water delivery buckets. I spoke with USA Today national correspondent, Elizabeth Weise, for more on how fires started this week and what it's been like for residents fleeing their burning neighborhoods. Beth, thank you so much for hopping on, on this story.
Beth Weise:
Happy to be here.
Taylor Wilson:
Let's just go back to the origins this week if we could at the top, how did this fire spark and why did this particular fire thinking the Palisades fire get so dangerous so fast?
Beth Weise:
The Palisades fire, which is the biggest so far, broke out at about 10:30 in the morning on Tuesday, but things were very prime. Southern California is in the midst of the Santa Ana winds, which are the really hot fast winds. And two things were happening. The winds were really high. I've talked to people who in their neighborhoods, they were up to a hundred miles per hour. Whole trees were falling over.
So you've got these incredibly strong winds and it's really dry and usually, more in January. Now usually by January they would've had rains, things would've greened up a bit. We had rains in Northern California, but Southern California didn't get the drenching rains that Northern California did around Christmas time. So you had this combination of, three things really. It's tinder-dry, huge winds, and then ever more people living in these woodland areas, which are gorgeous and beautiful, but also burned.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, in terms of the folks there, Beth, how have evacuations gone this week? Has everything gone according to plan there and just what are you hearing from some of the folks who have had to flee their homes, their possessions, their everything this week?
Beth Weise:
It's horrible. I've been talking to people for two days now who have gotten out about what it's like and a couple of things. These fires are so fast moving that when I talked to a woman, she and her husband knew that there were fires in the area, but they weren't that close to them. But out of an abundance of caution, they decided that they would start to pack up and get out. As they were packing up their area and they were up near Pasadena, as they were packing, their neighborhood went into a voluntary evacuation, and as they were leaving, it became a mandatory evacuation.
And she said, "This is over the course of 30 minutes." And then she said, "As we're driving out, the winds had been so strong that there were branches and whole trees across the roadways. Just getting out was hard." She said, "I was afraid to turn around because I could see the flames in the rear view mirror." And she's just saying to her husband, "Drive, drive, drive." And she said it was just eerie. There was smoke, ash, falling down upon them, this red glow behind them.
And then as they got out of their neighborhood, they realized the electricity was down everywhere. So they came out into this dark landscape. You're in a city, but it's night and there's no lights, there's no nothing, and they're just driving. She said, "We basically just kept going until we got to the hotel." They had made a reservation at a motel 10, 15 miles from where they live. And she said, "And we got there and it was dark. They had no power." And she said, "We just kept going." And they had to keep going until they found someplace that even had electricity.
Taylor Wilson:
It's just horrifying, Beth. I'm just curious, you touched on this a bit at the top, but how normal this is for this time of year and do these fires tell us anything about broader climate issues?
Beth Weise:
Fire is a normal, natural part of California's ecosystem. It's been that way since the ice age. So in a way, fires are perfectly normal, and in fact, the vegetation is set up to burn and that keeps it healthy and it keeps the fires from becoming too intense. What's changed is the climate is getting hotter, it's getting drier. Rains are coming in more erratic patterns. We're getting more heavy rain all at once, which means you don't get more gentle rain over a longer period of time, which really allows things to green up. That's making things more fire prone.
And then you've got people who, these are gorgeous, beautiful spaces. I couldn't afford them, but I totally understand why somebody would want to live in one of these beautiful canyons or with views of the ocean. But if you talk to wildland people, they talk about the WUI, the wildland-urban interface, and these we're building up places in the WUI, and these are places that have burned and they're burning hotter and faster and stronger than they ever have before, and people are living there.
So it's a bunch of things happening all at once. Everybody knew that the winds were coming. You never know if there's going to be a fire. And the problem with fire is you never know where it's going to be. And as much as we try and predict where it will go, fire does what fire wants to do.
Taylor Wilson:
Devastating week for Southern California. Elizabeth Weise is a national correspondent with USA Today. Thank you, Beth.
Beth Weise:
Thanks for having me.
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Taylor Wilson:
The late former president Jimmy Carter will be honored with a national day of mourning today on the same day as his state funeral in Washington. Carter has been lying in state at the U.S. ahead of funeral services. Federal employees will have a paid day off as part of the national day of mourning. And President Joe Biden, who will deliver a eulogy at the funeral also ordered for U.S. flags to fly at half staff for Carter for 30 days following his death.
The Honor is one granted to all sitting or former presidents under a 1954 proclamation signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Jimmy Carter died last month at the age of 100. USA Today will stream the national funeral service starting at 10 AM Eastern time, and we have a link in today's show notes.
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Attorney General Merrick Garland intends to release part of special counsel Jack Smith's report about election interference charges against President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office, even though the charges were dismissed. But the government will withhold part of the report about classified documents, according to an announcement yesterday. I caught up with Paste BN Justice Department correspondent, Bart Janssen for the latest. Bart, thanks for having on today.
Bart Jansen:
Thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So Bart, what is this report actually, and what did Attorney General Merrick Garland decide here?
Bart Jansen:
Well, when you have a special counsel like Jack Smith as the Justice Department investigating Donald Trump, the special counsel usually at the end of the investigation writes a final report to explain all the evidence that they found along the way, and then also to explain the decisions about why some charges were brought and maybe some other charges were not brought.
You may recall that when Special Counsel Robert Mueller produced a report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, it was a lengthy report about Russians and about whether Trump may have obstructed justice. He never even got to the question about whether Trump obstructed justice in that case, but he explained why he decided not to make that decision, and he explained everything that he had found along the way.
So the report by Jack Smith, it would be about the Washington investigation into Trump's alleged election interference trying to overturn the 2020 election, and then also the investigation in Florida about whether Trump mishandled classified documents after leaving the White House.
Taylor Wilson:
Maybe I'm asking the obvious here, Bart, but why has Trump pushed so hard to block this report's full release? Why is its release or lack thereof such a big deal?
Bart Jansen:
Well, the threatens to produce a lengthy description of all the evidence gathered along the way, and it might very well have a bunch of evidence that we have not yet seen now. Jack Smith, the prosecutor and his team were able to interview witnesses that perhaps haven't spoken before at the house investigation of the January 6th riot. Pence is one of the potential witnesses that people will be reading through the report to see whether there's anything more from him about his dealings with Trump late in their joint administration.
Taylor Wilson:
Meanwhile, I know Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court for an emergency order blocking the sentencing in his New York hush money case. What's the latest here, Bart?
Bart Jansen:
Yes, the judge in New York scheduled sentencing after Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records, scheduled the sentencing for Friday at 9:30 AM in New York. Trump has been trying to block or delay every aspect of this case along the way, and he is now trying to postpone that sentencing until after he exhausts all the appeals that he wants to mount in that case. He wants to challenge the conviction before you find out what sentence he might get for that conviction.
But Judge Juan Merchan decided that despite Trump's opposition, that the best way to bring finality to the case would be to hold a sentencing. He said that he would hold it under a provision in New York law, in which basically Trump would not be punished. There would not be a prison term or a fine or probation, but that it would close the case and then that would allow Trump to appeal it and try to overturn the conviction and the sentence.
Taylor Wilson:
Bart, on that point, it is curious. He won't face tangible punishments here. Why has he been so adamant then to block sentencing? What's at stake here for him?
Bart Jansen:
Well, one aspect of the conviction, it is right now a jury conviction on the 34 counts, and one aspect of that is once he is sentenced, he would no longer be able to own a gun in New York State, serve on a jury in New York State. There are things that go along with a felony conviction, not associated with punishment like a jail term or a fine, but the sentencing would bring a finality to the case that he's trying to oppose at this point.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Bart Jansen covers the Justice Department for USA Today, always with a great breakdown for us. Thank you, Bart.
Bart Jansen:
Thanks for having me.
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Taylor Wilson:
Nearly 24 million consumers have picked an Affordable Care Act health insurance plan for 2025, breaking last year's record enrollment, even though consumers have another week to sign up for coverage this year. According to Biden administration officials yesterday, the record signups have been buoyed by the generous subsidies Congress passed during the COVID pandemic, but outgoing Biden administration officials warned there's no guarantee there'll be extended beyond the end of this year.
The Affordable Care Act often called Obamacare has always given taxpayers subsidized credits to consumers based on their income levels to offset the cost of monthly health insurance premiums. Those subsidies became more generous under the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 to ensure more Americans were covered during the COVID Pandemic.
In 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act extended those subsidies through 2025. While it's unclear how President-elect Donald Trump will approach the Affordable Care Act when he takes office later this month, he pushed unsuccessful efforts to repeal and replace the 2010 healthcare law during his first time in office.
The Trump administration also expanded the use of short-term health insurance plans, which offered limited benefits and less expensive monthly premiums, but denied coverage for existing medical conditions. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.
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The history of incarceration in America is complex, making the practice of profiting from prison labor both inside of prisons and outside for private industries, even more fraught. Is the practice constitutional, and importantly is it ethical? Darrick Hamilton, the Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy at the New School and Chief Economist of the AFL-CIO joins my colleague Dana Taylor, to explain the way some of these programs work and to share what both proponents and detractors say about the practice. You can find that episode right here on this feed today after 4:00 PM Eastern Time.
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Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from Paste BN.