Rebuild:LA Episode 076: State Farm Fined “A Drop in the Bucket” for Illegal Actions in the Palisades and Eaton Fire Recovery with Joy Chen from Every Fire Survivors’ Network

Rebuild:LA Episode 076: State Farm Fined “A Drop in the Bucket” for Illegal Actions in the Palisades and Eaton Fire Recovery with Joy Chen from Every Fire Survivors’ Network

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2441905/fan_mail/new] $2 million dollars. That’s what the California Board of Insurance (CBI) fined State Farm after spending 11 months looking into its illegal practices after the Eaton and Palisades Fires. They only had to investigate a fraction of the complaints against the insurance giant to see a clear practice of illegal delay and denial of claims made by fire survivors. And while $2 million dollars might seem like a lot to someone trying to recover from a wildfire, it’s what State Farm makes EVERY HOUR from its massive investment portfolio. On this week’s show, Joy Chen, the founder of the Every Fire Survivors’ Network, and a champion for insurance reform in our state, joins host Cameron Barrett and lays out the work she and her fellow advocates have done in the last year. Resources: * Every Fire Survivors’ Network [https://www.efsurvivors.net/about-us] * Rally for Recovery [https://www.efsurvivors.net/rally-for-recovery] * Support EFSN's Insurance Reform Bills [https://www.efsurvivors.net/fix-insurance] Support the show [https://4agc.com/donate/la-fires]

Rebuild:LA Episode 075: The Next Few Months Will Tell Us If The Palisades and Altadena Will Come Back with POLITICO’s Liam Dillon

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2441905/fan_mail/new] The second part of our two-part series with investigative reporter Liam Dillon has us looking forward. Dillon’s stories in the Los Angeles Times and POLITICO have examined the devastation left by the last 8 years of mega-fires in California. Dillon has looked at the Tubbs Fire that laid waste to Santa Rosa, and the Camp Fire that destroyed the town of Paradise, among many others. He’s found that only 38% of the Californians who were burned out in the fires have rebuilt their homes. Now, he’s studying the twin disasters of the Palisades and Eaton Fires. And those numbers aren’t great…yet. Dillon outlines what his investigation has discovered, and whether the rebuilding of Pacific Palisades and Altadena will follow the fires before them, or break the pattern and be the robust recovery we all hope for. Resources: * California leaders promised fire recovery in record time. Los Angeles isn’t seeing it. [https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/13/california-leaders-los-angeles-fire-recovery-delays-00867498]POLITICO * 22,500 homes lost. Over five years later, only 38% rebuilt: What California fire survivors face [https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2025-09-30/rebuilding-california-after-major-wildfires] - Los Angeles Times Support the show [https://4agc.com/donate/la-fires]

Rebuild:LA Episode 074: Why Are The Palisades and Altadena So Slow to Recover with Politico’s Liam Dillon

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2441905/fan_mail/new] 38%. That’s the surprisingly small percentage of residents who have rebuilt after wildfires in California since 2017. Recent building permit requests and housing starts in Pacific Palisades and Altadena are even smaller in number. What many elected officials promised would be the fastest recovery on record after the January 2025 Firestorm has not materialized. Why? That’s what host Cameron Barrett asked journalist Liam Dillon this week on Rebuild:LA. He’s been writing on politics and policy in Los Angeles for the last 15 years. It was his article last fall in the Los Angeles Times that uncovered the 38% statistic, and another, more recent article of his in POLITICO specifically looks at the recovery in Palisades and Altadena. Why aren’t California wildfire victims rebuilding? Liam Dillon lays out his findings in this, the first episode in a two-part series. Resources: * California leaders promised fire recovery in record time. Los Angeles isn’t seeing it. [https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/13/california-leaders-los-angeles-fire-recovery-delays-00867498] POLITICO * 22,500 homes lost. Over five years later, only 38% rebuilt: What California fire survivors face [https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2025-09-30/rebuilding-california-after-major-wildfires] - Los Angeles Times Support the show [https://4agc.com/donate/la-fires]

Rebuild:LA Episode 073: Is LA’s Recovery On Track to Survive Another Climate Disaster? With LA Deputy Mayor Randall Winston (Part II)

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2441905/fan_mail/new] Last week on Rebuild:LA, host Cameron Barrett welcomed LA’s Deputy Mayor of Infrastructure and Climate Resilience, Randall Winston, to the show. The conversation was mostly about the first part of his title - infrastructure. What was LA doing to repair the Palisades and ensure it could withstand the ongoing threat from wildfires? This week, it’s about the second half of his title - Climate Resilience. Mayor Bass recently released her Climate Action Plan, and the Palisades Fire figures heavily in it. Winston lays out the mayor’s plan for not only a greener, more carbon-neutral city, but also a place tens of thousands of international visitors will want to flock to by summer 2028, when LA hosts the Olympic Games. Resources: * Mayor Bass Climate Roadmap [https://plan.mayor.lacity.gov/] * Mayor Bass Climate Action Plan [https://plan.mayor.lacity.gov/sites/g/files/wph2176/files/2026-04/MayorBassClimateActionPlanforLosAngeles_2026_1.pdf] * Mayor Bass and Supervisor Barger with Trump [https://pasadenanow.com/main/supervisor-barger-touts-positive-talks-with-president-trump-to-hold-insurers-accountable] Support the show [https://4agc.com/donate/la-fires]

Rebuild:LA Episode 072: Will Los Angeles Finally See the Federal Disaster Relief Dollars Promised to Us? With LA Deputy Mayor Randall Winston (Part I)

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2441905/fan_mail/new] On April 22, 2026, LA Mayor Karen Bass and LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Their purpose? To find out when long-promised federal disaster recovery funds would arrive to help Los Angeles rebuild. Without those dollars, LA can’t repair the roads in the Palisades, underground electrical power lines, fix infrastructure destroyed in the firefight, or continue to help Palisadians return to their homes. While both sides came away from the meeting saying the talks were “very positive,” were they productive? That’s what we asked the city’s Deputy Mayor of Infrastructure and Climate Resilience. Randall Winston came into the job with a clear path forward. But that path changed dramatically on January 6, 2025, with the Palisades Fire. In the first of two episodes with the Deputy Mayor, host Cameron Barrett finds out if those federal dollars are on the way, and what they’ll be used for if they arrive. Resources: * Mayor Bass Climate Roadmap [https://plan.mayor.lacity.gov/] * Mayor Bass Climate Action Plan [https://plan.mayor.lacity.gov/sites/g/files/wph2176/files/2026-04/MayorBassClimateActionPlanforLosAngeles_2026_1.pdf] * Bass and Barger Meet with Trump [https://pasadenanow.com/main/supervisor-barger-touts-positive-talks-with-president-trump-to-hold-insurers-accountable] Support the show [https://4agc.com/donate/la-fires]