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Jan 24, 2025 | 
yahoo.com | Christopher Cadelago |Melanie Mason
LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump began his day of disaster tours with raging threats that sent California officials into a tailspin. He ended it with a hug and a promise to help the Golden State rebuild.
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Jan 18, 2025 | 
yahoo.com | Melanie Mason |Christopher Cadelago
LOS ANGELES — The most acute danger from the Los Angeles wildfires has finally let up — only to be replaced by a sense the nation has reached a turning point in responding to major disasters. Even the most jaded political veterans profess shock at how fast the California blazes became fodder for partisan warfare and fevered conspiracy theories.
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Jan 15, 2025 | 
news.yahoo.com | Melanie Mason
LOS ANGELES — If you listen to Elon Musk or Megyn Kelly, Los Angeles was doomed in its fight against historically-devastating wildfires because of one thing: DEI.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
yahoo.com | Melanie Mason
LOS ANGELES — Karen Bass may have been born and raised in Los Angeles, but her fire-ravaged hometown has become newly hostile territory. Never in her decades-long political career has the Los Angeles mayor been the subject of such intense public scrutiny, from her anxious and grieving constituents all the way up to the incoming president.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
flipboard.com | Melanie Mason
The Mayor of L.A.: Hobbling Help from the MarketplaceSay what you will about the (current) mayor of Los Angeles, she has a gift for making things worse for people living in that city. Say what you will …
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Jan 9, 2025 | 
yahoo.com | Melanie Mason
President Joe Biden boosted disaster assistance to California on Thursday, announcing the federal government will cover “100 percent of all the costs” to fight the fires ravaging the Los Angeles area. But he was less certain that President-elect Trump would be similarly generous with assistance for the series of fires, which are poised to be the most expensive in U.S. history.
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Jan 8, 2025 | 
yahoo.com | Melanie Mason |Alex Nieves
Melanie Mason and Alex NievesThu, January 9, 2025 at 2:53 AM UTC6 min readLOS ANGELES — Karen Bass probably has second thoughts about that trip to Ghana. The Los Angeles mayor’s ill-timed international travel — which coincided with historically destructive wildfires sweeping through her city — threatens to spiral into a political crisis for an elected official who has so far enjoyed a remarkably durable honeymoon in the nation’s second-largest city.
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Jan 8, 2025 | 
yahoo.com | Melanie Mason
Melanie MasonWed, January 8, 2025 at 8:44 PM UTC2 min readLOS ANGELES — President Joe Biden approved a sweeping disaster declaration for the Southern California fires, committing a wide range of federal assistance to the region amid fears that President-elect Donald Trump would balk at helping out the Democratic bastion. Appearing with California Gov.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
yahoo.com | Melanie Mason |Mia McCarthy |Emily Ngo
LOS ANGELES — Leave it to the Golden State to provide a rare ray of sunshine for national Democrats this election cycle. Nearly a month after Election Day, Democrats clinched their final House win of the cycle this week, a capstone to winning four of the six most competitive California congressional races.
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Nov 27, 2024 | 
yahoo.com | Melanie Mason
Derek Tran, a first-time Democratic candidate, has flipped a toss-up California House seat, narrowly defeating GOP Rep. Michelle Steel, who conceded on Wednesday after a protracted vote count. Tran had declared victory early this week, and currently leads by roughly 600 votes. Steel, a two-term congressmember, had been an elusive target for Democrats, occupying an Orange County district that had backed President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
