Joel B. Pollak - Page 7

Los Angeles County will test the soil for contaminants after the debris of burned homes and structures is removed, stepping in where federal and state authorities have not, according to a report Wednesday by the Pasadena Star-News.

Israelis are mourning Thursday as the bodies of four hostages — including an elderly man and two small children — were returned in locked coffins, following a gruesome handover ceremony by Palestinian Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

The iconic Bibas children — Ariel, 5, and Kfir, 2 — and their mother, Shiri, have been confirmed as being among the four dead hostages to be returned Thursday to Israel under the ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Their father, Yarden, was released alive several weeks ago, and did not know the fate of his wife or their two children.

Developer Rick Caruso’s non-profit organization, Steadfast L.A., is introducing free prefabricated homes for people to live in on their property in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Altadena, and Pasadena if they cannot yet afford to rebuild.

A senior prosecutor at the Department of Justice quit rather than force a major bank to stop disbursing $20 billion in “climate change” funding to an array of left-wing groups flagged by new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin.

A new academic study of New York Times coverage of the war in Israel launched by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, published by a professor at Yale University has concluded that the newspaper is guilty of pro-Hamas bias.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Tuesday that she “wasn’t aware” of warnings about the extreme winds that led to the devastating Palisades Fire on January 7, but she posted those warnings on her official X account on January 6.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that Hamas has agreed to release the six remaining live hostages on Saturday from the first phase of the ceasefire agreement — and four dead hostages on Thursday.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara says that he is tired of being “white mansplained on how to do my job,” after facing criticism from elected representatives, including Democrats, over his recent job performance.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) redeployed Tuesday in accord with the ceasefire deal that ended the war with Hezbollah — though Lebanon is formally objecting to Israel retaining a “buffer zone.”

South Africa has responded to President Donald Trump’s criticism of its expropriation legislation and its foreign policy by suggesting that it is prepared to work with Iran and Russia in developing domestic nuclear power plants.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will hold five strategic posts inside southern Lebanon to maintain security and surveillance even after withdrawing from the region on Tuesday in accordance with the ceasefire with Hezbollah.

A former high school classmate of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has written to the L.A. Times to defend the mayor’s conduct during the Palisades Fire — which broke out when Bass was abroad at Ghana’s presidential inauguration.

California appears unlikely to follow Tennessee’s example of refunding the property taxes of victims of natural disasters — even though the failure of state and local services, including water and firefighting, caused their suffering.

The African Union (AU), which unites countries across the African continent, declared its theme for 2025 to be the “Year of Reparations” at its conference this weekend in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

President Donald Trump has often been compared to Andrew Jackson, the first populist president who upended the elites and placed national interest at the center of foreign policy. But one historian says that Trump, at least in his second term, bears a closer resemblance to William McKinley.

A gay imam who led LGBTQ-friendly services and performed same-sex marriages has been gunned down in what local Muslim leaders are calling a homophobic hate crime in Gqeberha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth.

Residents of the Pacific Palisades are increasingly concerned that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) continues to refuse to test soil for contaminants after the removal of debris following the Palisades Fire.

The heavy precision-guided bombs that then-President Joe Biden withheld from Israel last year arrived in Israel on Saturday night after being released by President Donald Trump.

Gas prices are soaring in California — again — thanks to a refinery fire that has choked supply, sending average prices to $5 per gallon, and even higher in the northern regions of the state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel would “finish the job” of ending the threat of a nuclear Iran, as he stood next to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on his first visit to the Middle East in his new role.

A group of about 1,500 Afrikaners gathered outside the U.S. embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, on Saturday to present a petition supporting U.S. President Donald Trump and thanking him for his support in his recent executive order.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel late Saturday night for his first trip to the Middle East in his new role.

The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) could have pre-deployed ten engines to the Pacific Palisades ahead of the deadly Palisades Fire on January 7, but chose not to, according to former fire chiefs quoted by the Los Angeles Times.

California, which failed to prevent the spread of wildfires in Los Angeles last month and is struggling to repair the damage, is set to spend nearly $10 billion on health care for illegal aliens, according to a nonpartisan state analyst.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has hired a top law firm to defend itself against lawsuits by residents who blame it for the spread of the Palisades Fire — especially as the Santa Ynez Reservoir was almost empty.

Mudflows in Malibu washed a firefighter, in his vehicle, from the Pacific Coast Highway and into the ocean on Thursday, as intense rains swept sheets of water over the hillsides and mountains scorched by the Palisades Fire last month.

Keith Siegel, 65, an American and Israeli citizen who was released from Hamas captivity in Gaza two weeks ago, released a video on Friday thanking President Donald Trump and urging him to bring other hostages home.

Stop treating Trump with contempt and make the necessary changes to satisfy American demands — and make life better for all South Africans.

The Eaton Fire, which burned through parts of Altadena and Pasadena, east of Los Angeles, last month, also saw fire hydrants lose water pressure — even though, unlike Pacific Palisades, there was no empty reservoir to blame.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Thursday that he had canceled a Biden-era contract awarded to the Climate Justice Alliance, a group that claimed it was working toward a “Free Palestine.”

The controversial Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California’s Mojave desert is going to close 14 years early despite $1.6 billion in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy under President Barack Obama.

The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) has suspended two “Students for Justice in Palestine” (SJP) groups after they threatened a pro-Israel member of the University of California Board of Regents at his family residence.

Los Angeles residents are furious at an announcement by the Army Corps of Engineers that there will be no testing of local soil for toxins after the first six inches of topsoil are taken away during debris removal that began this week.

Israel reiterated Thursday that it would end the current ceasefire and return to war in Gaza if Hamas did not release  “hostages” by noon on Saturday — but it appeared to back away from a threat to act if “all” hostages are not released.

California is finally enjoying an abundance of rain, making this the third wet winter in a row — but the rainfall comes too late to save Southern California from the fires that burned large parts of Pacific Palisades, Altadena, and Malibu.