Stuart Palley

1 month ago | vanityfair.com | Stuart Palley

I was at my cabin in Joshua Tree right before the wind started up. The air was totally still, the sky was clear, the stars were sparkling. My gut was telling me this was the calm before the storm. In this case, it was a firestorm. Over the years, I have photographed what the Santa Ana winds can do. The gales that regularly blast through Los Angeles are legendary, and—with barely a drop of rain in Southern California in eight months—the land was tinderbox dry and primed for an inferno.

Jan 24, 2025 | wsj.com | Stuart Palley

President Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are talking fish and faucets—again. This week ahead of his Friday visit to California, Trump suggested the state “created an inferno” that devastated Los Angeles by diverting too much water away from the city’s fires to protect a silvery fish called the Delta smelt.

Jan 24, 2025 | wsj.com | Stuart Palley

President Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are talking fish and faucets—again. This week ahead of his Friday visit to California, Trump suggested the state “created an inferno” that devastated Los Angeles by diverting too much water away from the city’s fires to protect a silvery fish called the Delta smelt. Trump also once again described California as having a giant spigot that just needs to be turned on and all of California’s problems will magically disappear.

Jan 20, 2025 | wsj.com | Stuart Palley

MALIBU—With no legal way to go home in a disaster zone, tens of thousands of evacuated residents are hanging on a thread as they wait to find out if their houses survived. Many are furiously refreshing a county website that is, slowly but surely, detailing the damage lot-by-lot.

Jan 18, 2025 | wsj.com | Dan Frosch |Stuart Palley

Your browser does not support the audio tag. 00:00 / 01:27This article is in your queue. LOS ANGELES—Barry Josephson enjoyed a peaceful life in his hilltop home in the Pacific Palisades, save for one constant worry: the highly flammable brush that clogged the surrounding government-owned land. “We all take a risk living here,” the producer of films including “Enchanted” said.