The State of California

California's Fuel Supply Crisis: El Segundo Fire Exposes Critical Vulnerabilities in West Coast Energy Infrastructure Refinery Disaster Threatens Aviation Fuel Networks and Military Readiness as State's Energy Transition Collides with Reality SAN DIEGO — A massive explosion and fire at Chevron's El Segundo refinery on October 2, 2025, has laid bare California's increasingly precarious fuel supply situation, threatening not only the state's motorists but also its aviation infrastructure and the U.S. military's Pacific operations at a critical moment in the nation's strategic pivot to the Indo-Pacific region. The conflagration, which sent a towering fireball into the night sky visible for miles across the South Bay, occurred at California's second-largest refinery—a facility that produces approximately 20% of the state's gasoline and 40% of Southern California's jet fuel. While no injuries were reported and the fire was contained by early morni...

Layoffs coming to Pasadena’s JPL: Here’s what we know – Orange County Register JPL Braces for New Layoffs as Scientists Face "Double Hit" After Wildfire Devastation PASADENA, CA — NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory confirmed Monday it will proceed with another round of layoffs in October, compounding the misery for scientists still reeling from wildfire losses and marking the latest blow to the celebrated research institution amid sweeping federal budget cuts. The announcement comes at a particularly devastating time: at least 200 JPL employees lost their homes in January's Eaton fire, and now face potential job loss as the laboratory grapples with funding cuts driven by the Trump administration's proposed 24% reduction to NASA's budget. "This is a double hit for them," Rep. Judy Chu (D-Pasadena) said Monday. "They are clearly suffering from the chaos of losing their homes, dealing with difficult financial issues. To have this heaped on them o...

When Your Home Becomes a Financial Trap: Inside America's $278 Billion HOA Crisis As Florida's building collapse exposes deadly deferred maintenance and California faces wildfires, coastal erosion, and insurance market collapse, 77 million Americans discover their homes may be financial time bombs The numbers seemed manageable at first: a $278 monthly homeowners association fee, the California median. But for tens of thousands of condo owners across the country, those predictable payments have exploded into financial nightmares—$1,200 per month, $140,000 special assessments, properties losing 22% of their value, buildings literally crumbling into the Pacific Ocean, and in the worst case, 98 deaths when Champlain Towers South collapsed at 1:22 a.m. on June 24, 2021. For the first time, the U.S. Census Bureau has broken out homeowners association fees as a distinct housing expense, revealing stark geographic inequalities and a system under unprecedented stress. The data arrive...