Firefighter swept into ocean in debris flow as heavy rain pounds Los Angeles
Agustin Paullier/AFP via Getty Images
(LOS ANGELES) — One of the strongest storms of the season slammed fire-ravaged Los Angeles with heavy rain on Thursday, sending streams of mud and debris across roadways and sweeping a fire department vehicle off a Malibu road into the ocean, authorities said.
A member of the Los Angeles Fire Department was inside the vehicle when it was swept off the road by a large debris flow and into the ocean, according to the department.
“Fortunately, the member was able to exit his vehicle and reach safety with minor injuries. He was transported to a local hospital as a precaution,” spokesperson Erik Scott said.
The atmospheric river dumped 6.34 inches of rain in Los Angeles County, prompting mudslides in the burn scar areas from last month’s devastating Palisades Fire, Los Angeles ABC station KABC reported.
Videos captured by KABC showed bulldozers pushing streams of muddy sludge out of the roads and firefighters trudging through nearly waist-deep swamps of water and mud.
The storm also brought a line of severe thunderstorms with 70 mph wind gusts to Los Angeles County, and a possible tornado hit a mobile home park near Oxnard, California, about 60 miles from LA.
LA Mayor Karen Bass said the city prepared for the storm by clearing catch basins of fire debris, offering residents over 6,500 sandbags, setting up over 7,500 feet of concrete barriers, and having systems in place to capture polluted runoff.
Sheriff’s deputies helped residents prepare with sandbags and passed out mud and debris safety tips, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a news conference Wednesday. “Our homeless outreach teams … are actively notifying individuals living in flood-prone areas like the LA River, Coyote Creek and other key waterways, urging them to relocate.”
Evacuation warnings were announced for parts of fire burn zones, including areas impacted by the Palisades Fire, and an evacuation order was issued for parts of Sierra Madre affected by the Eaton Fire, according to KABC.
All Malibu schools were closed Thursday and Friday, according to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.
The sheriff urged residents to prepare in the event they needed to evacuate.
“Unfortunately, we’ve witnessed numerous, numerous instances in the past of swift-water rescues where people were caught in dangerous, fast-moving water, and obviously, we want to prevent that,” he said.
“Nothing that you have back home is worth your life. If you decide to stay in your property in an evacuated area, debris from the burn scar areas and storm may impede roads, and we may not be able to reach you,” he warned.
Before pummeling LA, the storm first hit Northern California, bringing rain and flash flooding to the San Francisco Bay area.
Further north, the same storm system brought whiteout conditions and car crashes to Interstate 84 in Oregon.
(WASHINGTON) — In the weeks since President Donald Trump has assumed office, more than 200,000 federal workers at more than a dozen agencies have had their roles eliminated.
The mass culling stems in large part from efforts by Elon Musk and the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, which has sought to dismantle large swaths of the federal government.
Many of those fired have been classified as probationary employees, a status unrelated to job performance. While probationary employees can be recent hires — typically having served in their roles for under one or two years — the status can also apply to long-serving government employees who’ve changed roles or agencies.
In addition to those who’ve been fired, 75,000 federal workers have accepted buyouts.
Here are the agencies where workers are facing termination:
Department of Education
Dozens of “probationary employees” were let go from the Department of Education on Feb. 12, according to two sources familiar with the firings.
Dismantling the Department of Education was one of Trump’s key campaign promises. He has slammed the department as a “con job” that should be “closed immediately,” and has directed Musk to investigate the agency.
The Department of Education is the smallest cabinet-level agency with 4,400 employees. Another 1,400 employees work in the agency’s office of Federal Student Aid.
Department of Homeland Security
More than 400 employees at the Department of Homeland Security have had their positions eliminated, officials said. About half of the cuts were in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which saw over 200 dismissed.
The firings at FEMA came after Musk slammed federal spending on what he misleadingly called “luxury hotels” for undocumented immigrants.
In addition to the cuts at FEMA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) lost 130 staffers, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and DHS Science and Technology had smaller degrees of cuts.
Additionally, 12 Coast Guard members who work on diversity, equity and inclusion were affected by the reduction in force, with an offer to support border security efforts at the southwestern border.
Department of Energy
Roughly 2,000 people have been fired from the Department of Energy, including at the National Nuclear Security Administration.
One of the terminated employees, Krzan Matta, told ABC News the firings were conducted in a “haphazard” and “arbitrary” manner.
“There’s no consideration for the mission. There’s no consideration for whether or not this position is critical,” he said.
United States Agency for International Development
As part of Trump and Musk’s stated objective of shuttering the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), more than 10,000 staffers have been placed on leave, multiple sources told ABC News.
Roughly 600 USAID workers remain in their roles.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has also been targeted by Trump and Musk, who have said they plan to gut the 1,700-employee consumer watchdog agency.
On Feb. 14, government lawyers representing the agency’s acting director reached an agreement to temporarily hold off on firing CFPB workers while a lawsuit challenging the dismantling of the agency makes its way through court.
Department of Veterans Affairs
More than 1,000 Department of Veterans Affairs employees have been dismissed from their roles, the agency said on Feb. 13.
In a statement, the department said the cuts were part of the “government-wide Trump Administration effort to make agencies more efficient, effective and responsive to the American People.”
Department of Agriculture
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has also faced significant cuts — including to the U.S. Forest Service, which manages wildfire response and prevention.
Among those who lost their jobs was Carly Arata, who told ABC News she had been a probationary employee at the Natural Resources Conservation Service since September, but worked as a contractor in the role for a year before that.
Arata developed conservation plans for farmers in Georgia and helped them get federal funding.
“These poor farmers. … It’s like I abandoned them, and that’s not the case at all,” Arata said. “They were amazing and cared so much about their land, and I wanted to help them preserve that.”
Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has fired 388 probationary employees, the agency confirmed on Feb. 20.
Another 171 staffers are now on administrative leave from the EPA teams responsible for diversity, equity and inclusion and environmental justice.
Department of Health and Human Services
The Department of Health and Human Services has also lost thousands of employees, including at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to the Associated Press.
About 700 workers were fired from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), multiple sources told ABC News.
At least 16 of the CDC cuts were to members of the World Trade Center Health Program, which critics said could put the health of 9/11 first responders at risk.
Department of the Interior
About 2,300 people have been fired from the Department of the Interior, according to Reuters.
Approximately 800 of those terminations were reportedly from the Bureau of Land Management.
Another 1,000 workers were fired from the National Park Service, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
Office of Personnel Management
The Office of Personnel Management — which serves as the federal government’s HR agency, and has been overseeing the mass reductions process — has also faced cuts of its own staff.
About 200 probationary employees were told they were being fired in a prerecorded message that instructed them to “gather your personal belongings and exit the premises,” according to an audio recording of the call obtained by ABC News.
General Services Administration
The General Services Administration has also had its staff reduced, with Reuters reporting more than 100 people were laid off.
Small Business Administration
About 720 employees at the Small Business Administration have lost their jobs, Politico reported, reducing its headcount by about 20%.
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service began laying off more than 6,000 new and newly-promoted employees across the country on Feb. 20, sources familiar with the planning told ABC News.
These layoffs, impacting roughly 6-7% of the agency’s 100,000-person workforce, began midday on Feb. 20 primarily outside the DC area, with thousands of employees facing layoffs at offices in Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Tennessee, New York and other states, sources told ABC News.
Department of Defense
The Pentagon announced on Feb. 21 that it will “release” some 5,400 civilian probationary workers beginning the following week and freeze hiring in the first wave of what could amount to more than 70,000 fired.
“We expect approximately 5,400 probationary workers will be released beginning next week as part of this initial effort, after which we will implement a hiring freeze while we conduct a further analysis of our personnel needs, complying as always with all applicable laws,” Darin Selnick, acting secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in a statement on Feb. 21.
The statement said 5-8% of the Department of Defense’s civilian workforce will be cut in total, which would amount to 43,900 to 70,240 individuals removed. This upper bound is higher than the total number of the department’s probationary employees, which is roughly 55,000 worldwide, implying the cuts could reach deeper than the probationary workforce.
Lori Van Buren/Albany Times Union via Getty Images
(HEMPSTEAD, N.Y.) — A New York state trooper who claimed to have been shot in the line of duty in October is now facing criminal charges for having allegedly “staged” the shooting, according to officials.
Thomas Mascia, 27, surrendered to police Monday morning, a spokesperson for the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office told ABC News. He faces charges of official misconduct, falsely reporting a crime and tampering with evidence.
Mascia’s parents, Dorothy and Thomas, also surrendered to police on charges of criminal possession of a firearm, according to the district attorney’s office. All three have been released on their own recognizance.
Mascia was on duty Oct. 30 in Hempstead when he “initiated a radio transmission for shots fired,” according to a felony complaint obtained by ABC News.
He then “claimed he was shot by the driver of a black Dodger Charger described as either a Black or dark-skinned Hispanic male.”
The complaint alleges Mascia actually “staged the scene of the shooting,” placing shell casings on the ground hours earlier.
He then allegedly “shot himself in the leg in another location before returning to the staged location” on the Southern State Parkway.
State police temporarily shut down the section of the parkway where Mascia claimed the incident occurred “in an effort to locate the non-existent shooters, causing alarm and inconvenience to the public,” the complaint states.
The complaint accuses Mascia of staging the shooting “for the benefit of gaining attention or sympathy for himself.”
An attorney representing Mascia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He is expected to make his next court appearance Feb. 5.
Female giant panda Qing Bao eats bamboo in her enclosure at the National Zoo on January 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Giant pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao made their long-awaited public debut at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C., ahead of Lunar New Year next week.
Bao Li and Qing Bao, both 3, are emerging from quarantine and are featured in the newly relaunched giant panda cam, which consists of 40 cameras that will be operated live between the hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET.
The superstar pandas traveled from China and arrived in the U.S. on Oct. 15, 2024. National Zoo members had the opportunity to see the pandas in a special preview held between Jan. 10 and Jan. 19, a period that gave the giant pandas time to acclimate to their new home.
“Bao Li and Qing Bao have already won the hearts of our staff and volunteers, and we are excited to welcome panda fans back to the Zoo — the only place in the nation where you can see giant pandas for free — and celebrate the newest chapter of our giant panda breeding and conservation program,” Brandie Smith, the John and Adrienne Mars Director of the National Zoo, said in a news release.
“They’re very active and they’re just a lot of fun and obviously super cute,” zookeeper Mariel Lally told ABC News previously about the two pandas.
The National Zoo will host a series of public events and programs celebrating the giant pandas between Jan. 25 and Feb. 9, including a Lunar New Year event. Some Washington, D.C., hotels are even offering panda-themed packages with amenities such as stuffed toy pandas, roundtrip transportation to the zoo and panda-themed beverages.
Panda enthusiasts can see the giant pandas for free at the National Zoo, the only zoo in the U.S. where visitors can see the animals free of charge.
