Los Angeles residents face cost of devastating wildfires: ‘I’m in shock’
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(LOS ANGELES) — Los Angeles residents who fled devastating wildfires are facing a huge recovery and rebuilding effort, as they gather what they can from ruins that were once their homes.
As firefighters continue a massive effort to contain and subdue the historic infernos, Angelenos are grappling with unthinkable loss.
Mike Geller and his 18-year-old son spoke with ABC News among the rubble of Palisades Village, where their family’s 50-year-old jewelry business once stood.
“My family has been doing jewelry servicing of the community for almost three generations,” Geller explained as he pointed to the school next door. “My mother ran this business prior to me, when I was going to elementary school here.”
Now 48, Geller said he’s facing the reality of being forced to start over completely. His business — Jaimie Geller Jewelry — his home, car, truck, motorcycle and the personal belongings of his family of five all burned in the Palisades Fire.
“Thank God I was able to retrieve my birth certificate,” he said. “But every possession my children have accumulated… gone, decimated.”
“I’m in shock,” Geller added. “I’m not even sure how I’m talking to you. I’m absolutely in shock. I’m just going through the motions. It hasn’t really set in yet.”
Geller filed personal insurance claims, though he said he has no clue when any of them will be processed.
Geller said he and many of the older people in the Palisades don’t have the means to wait months — if not years — and rebuild.
“There are people on the Alphabet Streets who bought their homes for $75,000, $50,000,” Geller said. “Those people will not be able to come back. And if they do and they have insurance, will they rebuild? Look, if I’m 75, 80 years old… how much time do I have?”
“It’s about quality of life,” he continued. “If it takes me three years to rebuild, how much more time do I actually have left at that point?”
The Palisades Fire that consumed Geller’s home and business is still burning. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the blaze was at 23,713 acres with only 14% containment as of Monday morning.
The Eaton Fire north of Pasadena — at 14,117 acres and 33% containment — is also still raging, as is the Hurst Fire near San Fernando, which is now 799 acres in size though 89% contained.
More than 12,000 structures are believed to have been damaged or destroyed, with at least 24 people killed. About 105,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders and another 87,000 are under evacuation warnings as of Monday morning.
A preliminary damage estimate by AccuWeather put the economic losses so far between $135 billion and $150 billion, which would put the fires among the costliest natural disasters in American history. High winds forecast through Wednesday threaten to spread the fires further.
Geller’s family and many others are now trying to piece together a plan, even as the smoke from the wildfires hangs heavy over their ravaged neighborhood.
“My wife and I are even considering whether or not we rebuild, really, but at this point with the insurance companies, it’s a smoother transaction,” Geller said. “It’s a smoother road if you rebuild.”
In the meantime, he’s staying in a hotel. Fire victims here are in desperate need of affordable housing, according to Geller. He’s found shelter but said it’s not sustainable.
“It’s insanity,” he said. “Hotels are packed to the gills. Shelters are packed to the gills.”
“Hopefully a lot of these elderly have children,” Geller said. “I pray that they have some means of finding a place to stay, you know — get in and be a home base and just somewhere where they can just recuperate their mindset.”
(LOS ANGELES) — Lyle and Erik Menendez may become free men after spending decades behind bars for killing their parents.
Here’s a look at life in prison for the notorious brothers and three paths to potential freedom:
The case
Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted to buying shotguns and firing 16 rounds at Jose and Kitty Menendez inside the family’s Beverly Hills home in 1989.
Prosecutors alleged they killed their wealthy parents for money, but the defense argued they acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father.
The first trial, which had separate juries for each brother, ended in mistrials. In 1996, after the second trial — during which the judge barred much of the sex abuse evidence — Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted and both sentenced to two consecutive terms of life without parole.
Life in prison
Nery Ynclan, an ABC News freelance producer and an executive producer of “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” has visited Lyle Menendez multiple times at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
She stressed that Lyle and Erik Menendez have spent their decades in prison rehabilitating themselves, as well as helping other inmates.
“[Lyle] and his brother spent their whole adult lives trying to counsel other victims of sexual abuse and start programs at the prison,” she said. “Even though they had no chance of parole, they really felt that the prison system could be improved.”
Erik Menendez has provided hospice care to inmates, their attorney said, while for the last 20 years, Lyle Menendez’s fellow inmates have elected him as their representative with the prison administration, Ynclan said.
“He’s like a soft-spoken CEO who is very busy with multiple projects,” Ynclan said of Lyle.
“He wants to talk about prison reform,” Ynclan said. “He would talk to me about the college courses he was taking. … I was really impressed that someone in their early 50s, in prison without any chance of parole … would want to take calculus and statistics to continue bettering themselves.”
With freedom now a possibility, Ynclan described this as an “emotional and tense time” for Lyle Menendez.
“For the first time in decades, he actually feels like there’s a glimmer of hope that the two of them might get home to their families one day,” Ynclan said.
Path 1: Habeas corpus petition
One track to freedom is the brothers’ habeas corpus petition, which was filed last year for a review of new evidence not presented at trial.
One piece of evidence is allegations from Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, who revealed in the 2023 docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed” that he was raped by music executive Jose Menendez.
The second piece of evidence is a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse. The cousin testified about the alleged abuse at trial, but the letter — which would have corroborated the cousin’s testimony — wasn’t unearthed until several years ago, according to the brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos.
Through this petition, the court could change their convictions. The next hearing is set for Nov. 25.
Path 2: Resentencing recommendation goes before judge, parole board
A second path is through resentencing.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced in an Oct. 25 court filing that he was recommending the brothers’ sentence of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life.
Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, with the new sentence, they would be eligible for parole immediately, Gascón said.
The DA’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account factors including the defendants’ ages, psychological trauma or physical abuse that contributed to carrying out the crime and their rehabilitation in prison.
“We appreciate what they did while they were in prison,” Gascón said at a news conference. “While I disapprove of the way they handled their abuse, we hope that they not only have learned — which appears that they have — but that if they get reintegrated into our community, that they continue to do public good.”
Gascón’s recommendation next goes in front of a Los Angeles Superior Court judge who will weigh factors including the crime, the brothers’ records while incarcerated and the positive impact they’ve had in prison, ABC News legal contributor Brian Buckmire said.
The judge will also review facts that were not available at the time of the brothers’ 1996 conviction, Buckmire said.
The judge might also consider “the science of young boys and young men being sexually assaulted,” Buckmire said. “How they respond, how they react to that abuse, and how that might not have been information that was readily available at the time of sentencing that could’ve changed the sentence.”
A hearing is set for December. If the judge agrees to resentencing, the case next goes to the parole board.
Even though the judge would have already evaluated the facts and factors, “the parole board is going to do their own investigation,” Buckmire said.
The brothers and their relatives will also get the opportunity to address the parole board, Buckmire said. In this case, the relatives are not just the family of the perpetrators, but also the family of the victims, “so they have their own rights based on both capacities,” Buckmire said.
One relative, their uncle, Milton Andersen, wants the brothers to stay behind bars, stating that he doesn’t believe they were abused and instead killed their parents out of greed.
“They are survivors and deserve a chance to rebuild their lives,” their cousin, Brian Andersen Jr., told reporters in October. “They’re no longer a threat to society.”
“If they were to come to my house, knock on my door, I would answer that door, I would welcome them in with huge hugs, my wife would make them a dinner and I’d give them a pillow and a place to sleep,” Andersen said.
A hearing before the parole board would likely take at least six months to schedule, according to the California Department of Corrections.
If the parole board recommends release, the final decision then goes to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Buckmire said.
If released on parole, the brothers would be subjected to monitoring and check-ins, Buckmire said. Parole often comes with conditions like maintaining a job and avoiding drugs, he said.
The district attorney announced days later that he supports the brothers’ bid for clemency, which would commute their sentence or grant a pardon.
Newsom is first eligible to weigh in on the clemency application on Nov. 7. The governor’s office said this is a confidential process, Newsom is not required to review the application and there is no timeline for the review.
If the governor approves clemency, the case would still likely go before the parole board.
The governor’s office intends to treat this application “like any other case,” an official at the office said. “Nobody is getting special treatment.”
ABC News’ Matt Gutman and Ashley Riegle contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump this week voiced support for tens of thousands of unionized dockworkers in a dispute with major shipping companies.
Negotiations between workers and management are deadlocked over the companies’ plan for further automation of ports, which the union said would eliminate jobs.
“I’ve studied automation, and know just about everything there is to know about it,” Trump said Thursday in a post on Truth Social. “The amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt, and harm it causes for American Workers, in this case, our Longshoremen.”
The vow of support for dockworkers aligns with Trump’s campaign promise to safeguard blue-collar workers threatened by global capitalism, depicting automation as an unwelcome change foisted on workers by foreign-owned shipping firms, some experts said.
Trump’s rejection of automation highlights a tension found in his economic policy, however, some experts added.
Like tariffs, the policy aims to protect a narrow set of workers at the possible expense of importers and consumers, who could suffer higher costs as a result of a missed opportunity to improve the supply chain, some experts said. While others defended Trump’s attempt to protect dockworkers from technological change.
The Trump transition team did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Here’s what to know about the labor dispute over automation at East and Gulf Coast docks, and what it says about how Trump may approach the economy in his second term.
Dockworkers and freight companies feud over automation
A strike in October at docks across the East and Gulf coasts threatened to upend the economy and drive up prices, but workers and management ended the stoppage with a tentative agreement after three days.
The deal includes a 62% wage increase over the life of the six-year contract, but the two sides have yet to finalize it due to a disagreement over plans for further automation.
The standoff centers on the potential installation of cranes that would facilitate the retrieval and storage of freight containers, said John McCown, a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for Maritime Strategy who closely tracks the shipping industry.
Cranes already help remove containers from a ship and place it in a nearby port terminal, but shipping companies have sought the use of additional automated cranes once goods have reached land, McCown said.
The cranes work like an old-fashioned juke box, he added. “You hit a number and it goes to pick a record and play a record,” McCown said, noting the cranes would similarly mechanize sorting and transport of containers.
The U.S. Maritime Alliance, or USMX, the organization representing shipping firms in negotiations, said on Thursday that such automation would improve efficiency and increase capacity. Those enhancements would benefit U.S. companies and consumers that depend on goods from abroad, the group added.
“We need modern technology that is proven to improve worker safety, boost port efficiency, increase port capacity, and strengthen our supply chains,” USMX said in a statement.
The USMX did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The plans have drawn rebuke from the International Longshoremen’s Association, or ILA, the union representing dockworkers. The union has pointed to massive profits enjoyed by the shipping firms during the pandemic, saying further automation would invest those gains in job-cutting machinery rather than increased compensation. Workers have also disputed the supposed productivity benefits of the technology.
“This isn’t about safety or productivity — it’s about job elimination,” ILA President Dennis Daggett, said in a statement earlier this month. The union has proven that the automated cranes at issue “are not more productive than traditional equipment operated by human workers,” Daggett added.
In response to ABC News’ request for comment, the ILA shared a statement from Daggett praising Trump.
“Throughout my career, I’ve never seen a politician — let alone the President of the United States — truly understand the importance of the work our members do every single day,” Daggett said.
What could Trump’s approach to the standoff mean for his 2nd term?
In his social media post backing the workers and opposing port automation, Trump criticized foreign-owned shipping firms for what he described as penny pinching.
“For the great privilege of accessing our markets, these foreign companies should hire our incredible American Workers, instead of laying them off, and sending those profits back to foreign countries,” Trump said. “It is time to put AMERICA FIRST!”
The framework presents U.S. workers as victims of foreign companies, which he says aim to make use of America’s economic resources at the expense of its citizens. As such, Trump’s intervention in this case favors the ILA in its longstanding fight against automation, Peter Cole, a professor at Western Illinois University who studies the history of dockworkers, told ABC News.
“The ILA will really benefit if in fact Trump pushes employers to back off automation,” Cole said, noting that the explanation offered up by Trump reflects a larger political shift in the U.S. against unrestricted global trade.
“Presidents in both main parties have supported more manufacturing domestically,” Cole said.
However, Trump’s opposition to automation risks imposing higher costs on consumers and even some domestic manufacturers, since advances in productivity would help lower supply costs otherwise passed along to buyers at the end of the chain, some experts said.
Trump mistakenly claims that foreign shipping companies would bear the cost of forgone automation, just as he inaccurately says that foreign countries would pay the cost of tariffs, David Autor, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who specializes in technological change and the labor force, told ABC News.
“The assertion that raising tariffs at our ports will force foreigners to cover these costs is beyond naive,” Autor said. “It’s simply false.
Autor said the hardship that dockworkers would face if automation were to advance and put many of them out of work. “It will not be good for the livelihoods of longshoremen and we should not pretend otherwise,” Autor said, adding that the workers should receive compensation or other protections under such circumstances.
(WASHINGTON) — The family of Austin Tice, the American freelance journalist and Marine Corps veteran who was kidnapped while reporting in Syria in 2012, said it has been in contact with a “significant source” that confirmed he is alive and well.
“We have from a significant source that has already been vetted all over our government that Austin Tice is alive, Austin Tice is treated well, and there is no doubt about that,” said Tice’s mother, Debra.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan met with the family of Tice, who has been missing for more than 12 years after he was abducted on Aug. 13, 2012, at the White House on Friday.
“Jake Sullivan has regularly met with the families of wrongfully detained Americans,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said following the meeting. “We’re going to continue to make sure that we get Americans who are wrongfully detained, Americans home to their families.”
The Biden administration has successfully brought 75 unjustly detained Americans back to the United States.
Although reporters asked for more information about the source, the Tice family said it could not share more, claiming the U.S. government is restricting it from doing so for reasons the family does not understand. ABC News reached out to the family.
However, Tice’s father, Marc, said the family is “working toward” making more information public and that the source is “very different” from others who had given the family false hope in the past.
“We are confident in that this information is fresh,” he said. “It indicates as late as earlier this year that Austin is alive and being cared for.”
The U.S. government has continuously operated under the assumption that, despite his lengthy captivity and limited intelligence about his whereabouts, Tice is still alive. But its belief is primarily founded on a lack of evidence to suggest he is dead rather than evidence proving he is alive, according to multiple sources.
Questions about who exactly is holding Tice have cropped up over the past few years. The Biden administration has been careful with its wording on this, issuing statements saying that “we know with certainty that he has been held by the Government of Syria” because officials believe it is possible Tice is now in the custody of another group. However, the administration still believes the Syrian government has the power to bring about his release.
If the new source does have legitimate insight into Tice’s conditions, it stands to reason the source would likely also have information about whatever entity is holding him in custody, which could provide clues to his exact location.
The Syrian government has never publicly acknowledged playing any part in Tice’s disappearance, but during talks under the Trump administration, Syrian officials said they would provide proof of life in exchange for the United States fulfilling sweeping demands, according to officials familiar with the private negotiations. The Trump administration did not comply, and the Syrian government did not hand over any information about Tice.
The FBI has offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the safe location, recovery and return of Tice.
