Photo of PG&E employee replacing power poles damaged by a wildfire

How Much Could PG&E’s Rates Rise? What You Need to Know.

Pacific Gas and Electric’s customers were warned about the cost of massive wildfires that it may have sparked. Even before California’s largest utility filed bankruptcy proceedings at the start of the year, lawyers, policymakers and consumer advocates all caut...
Photo of Bill Arsenault of Idaho Falls Fire Department

Agencies Try Hard to Stop Suicides of Wildland Firefighters

BOISE, Idaho — Shane Del Grosso spent some 30 summers crossing smoke-shrouded mountains and forests to fight increasingly devastating wildfires in the U.S. West. Toward the end, his skills and experience propelled him to lead a federal multi-agency team tha...
Photo of downtown Los Angeles

Health Impact From Smoke Rises With More Intense Wildfires

BILLINGS, Mont. — Climate change in the Western U.S. means more intense and frequent wildfires churning out waves of smoke that scientists say will sweep across the continent to affect tens of millions of people and cause a spike in premature deaths. "There...
Photo of Gavin Newsom

Governor Newsom Proposes $213B State Spending Plan

SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a $213 billion state budget Thursday that boosts spending on K-12 education, wildfires and homelessness while putting more money toward state reserves and debt. The revised budget is up $4.5 billion from hi...