Essential Politics: California's Hottest Congressional Races, Ranked

It was a week of fire and ice. It began with millions of people across the U. S. shivering amid blizzard conditions and frigid air that lasted for days, thanks to a jet stream that slips out of its usual path more often these days. Then, catastrophe in California, with wind-whipped flames taking off in a landscape parched by months of drought to become Los Angeles’ worst-ever wildfires. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] To cap it off, major weather monitoring agencies confirmed 2024 as the hottest year in global history.

As fires continue to blaze across Los Angeles, more than 12,000 personnel have been deployed to support the ongoing firefight. Among those attempting to quell these fires are incarcerated persons working in a three-way partnership between the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), CAL FIRE, and the Los Angeles County Fire Department LACFD. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The current state of the fires is that at least 11 people are thought to have died, according to the Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s Office.

Flames were already attacking the campus of Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center when the cantor, Ruth Berman Harris, and three companions rushed in to rescue its sacred Torah scrolls. Physically, that’s now all that is left of the 80-year-old synagogue, destroyed by wildfires that also destroyed a mosque, a Catholic parish and a half-dozen Protestant churches.

Neighborhood retail center Edgewater Public Market has been acquired for $25.5 million by Denver-based commercial real estate investment firm CentrePoint Properties. Colorado-based property management firm LCP Management made the deal with CentrePoint. Its sister company, LCP Development,  opened Edgewater Public Market in a former King Soopers grocery store in November 2019.

A young Hayden Pike thought he had hockey figured out. Having just attained the strength to consistently lift the puck and aim for the top corners of the net, Pike was primed for roller-hockey glory in his Lakewood neighborhood. That was until 9-year-old Nicole Hensley, whom Pike recruited to play with him and other boys in games in the neighborhood cul-de-sac, put on her goalie gear and started snuffing out his top-level attempts with her left-handed glove. “I remember thinking I was supposed to be able to score now with those shots,” Pike recalled.

The pundits aren’t pulling any punches. The wise guys at FanDuel put the Rockies’ win total for 2025 at 59 1/2. In ESPN’s “Way-too-early 2025 rankings,” the Rockies are 29th out of 30 major league teams. “Colorado is coming off consecutive 100-loss seasons and, given the strength of the rest of the division, might be hard-pressed to avoid a third straight such season,” ESPN opines. Ouch.