A Scramble for Power in Los Angeles as It Begins to Rebuild
The New York Times
Civic leaders in the region believe that side efforts are necessary to rebuild after the wildfires. They just can’t settle on which one.
Los Angeles was still burning two weeks ago when Mayor Karen Bass turned to one of this city’s most prominent developers and asked him to serve as her rebuilding czar after vast parts of the region were leveled by wildfires.
Steve Soboroff, a longtime civic leader and onetime resident of the Pacific Palisades, the coastal enclave that was particularly hard hit, would unite residents of the affluent community and the sprawling Los Angeles metropolis behind a common and urgent purpose, the mayor said. In a news conference, he was anointed the “chief recovery officer.”
But since his appointment, it has become clear that Mr. Soboroff, 76, will not be the only chief in the Los Angeles recovery effort. The latest sign came this week as Rick Caruso, a billionaire developer, announced his own commission of civic leaders to help spur the rebuilding.
“I hope that, like many crises do, this will bring people together to work together,” said Mr. Caruso, who ran against Ms. Bass for mayor in 2022 and has told associates he is considering a challenge to her again in 2026.
With Mr. Caruso’s entry onto the field, there are now four separate independent rebuilding committees and one mayoral rebuilding czar claiming leadership roles in what will be one of the costliest reconstruction projects in the history of the state. The early skirmishing, featuring some of the most powerful and wealthy people in Los Angeles, as well as a president and a governor, marks the beginning of what is shaping up as a long battle in which billions of dollars, and the future of Los Angeles itself, is at stake.
Nearly all of the work was scheduled to stop on Friday unless federal officials agreed to restore funding that had been halted last year or a court ordered them to.
The monitoring of law enforcement has a long history, dating back to the 1960s, when leftist groups like the Black Panthers began police patrols.
The monitoring of law enforcement has a long history, dating back to the 1960s, when leftist groups like the Black Panthers began police patrols.
The Trump administration announced that its deployment of immigration agents in the Twin Cities was diminishing, but many agents remain.
Zohran Mamdani’s ascension to mayor has given Muslim organizers and faith leaders the impetus to insert themselves into more formal political alliances and networks.
A 34-year-old Staten Island woman has been arrested and charged with hate crimes in connection with attacks that happened in a span of 11 minutes.
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York has warded off most challenges to her re-election, but still faces one from her own deputy, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado.
A year into President Trump’s second term, his threats, retreats, twists and turns appear to be wearing on allies and adversaries.
The state’s Republican Party had asked the justices to step in and block the new congressional maps, which give an advantage to Democrats, before the midterms.
City health authorities are joining a network that counters new pathogens and emerging outbreaks.
Federal prosecutors told the judge that Ryan Routh had “plotted painstakingly” to ambush Donald J. Trump in 2024 at his golf course near West Palm Beach.
In a Bronx courtroom, detectives and other witnesses have described how an undercover drug operation in 2023 led to a death and the criminal trial of a sergeant. A verdict is expected later this week.
Mr. Dunn, who rose to prominence for defending the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, will run for a hotly contested Southern Maryland seat.