Strong Santa Ana style winds are going to hit Malibu today and tomorrow.

Cold ones. 

Wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour are possible at mountaintops.

On the beaches … below wind-prone canyons … expect gusts to 40 miles an hour today … maybe 50 miles an hour tonight.

Given the six inches of rain we just got … the fire danger is zero … but the danger of trees blowing over is real. 

Malibu Officials Grieve In Public At Remembrance

It was an overflow crowd at Malibu city hall last night … as the city and county officials commemorated the loss of four people in the city to fire. 

Mayor Marianne Riggins.

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“Rebuilding has not been easy and it has not been fast.

“And we still continue to push forward.

“Community members have navigated insurance paperwork and incredibly difficult personal decisions.”

A sip of water and the mayor continued.

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“Some have decided to move on to start over elsewhere.

“Recovery is not about replacing structures as much as it is about restoring lives, stability, and a sense of hope. 

“It is also about honoring those who will not return and about facing grief that will not fade with time.”

Other people also got emotional yesterday at City Hall.

Supervisor Lindsey Horvath stepped to the microphones last night … and said nothing.

Silence for nearly 15 seconds. 

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[SILENCE 15 SECS] 

“I think that silence is important. 

“It holds space for the things that we’ve lost. 

“It reminds us the pain that we feel. 

“It doesn’t allow data or the media or all of the other noise that is around us to take away what is so significant about today … about the memories that we hold … and the space that we create for each other.”

The county supervisor ticked off some financial figures … details about how the county has been trying to rebuild Malibu.

But she emphasized the other losses that cannot be made up by government assistance. 

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“These are data points of the action items that we have done, and the work that we have undertaken.

“But they had no way encapsulate the memories of each of you now hold the experiences that you had from the connections that you have had with your community members; for the ways that you fought to protect what is so special about Malibu ;and to fight to bring back what you know and hold your heart dear in your hearts. 

“From Woolsey to Franklin to Palisades and so many more … the Malibu community has exhibited tremendous resiliency. 

“I don’t know about you, but but I’ve sort of been an emotional roller coaster and some days I don’t wanna be called resilient. I wanna be a little bit softer. I want it to be OK to cry. I want there to be people. We can turn to a shoulder to lean on someone I can turn to my community.”

Horvath said people who want to talk … should call her office.

They have a staff of mental health workers … with open lines.

Seven people were killed in the Malibu area one year ago.

Yesterday … Sheriff Robert Luna reminded us that people were also killed in the mountains above Topanga Canyon. 

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“The tribute that I give up here reason I’m up here is a seven lives … the seven neighbors that we lost.

“That’s not lost on any of us. Because I am the sheriff of Los Angeles County.,Our neighbors about 50 miles away in Altadena, which is also ours we lost 19 lives there not to mention the five in the palisades.

“So that’s not lost on on any of us and that’s a tribute to all of them.

“Whether it’s a fire flooding or what I keep on trying to prepare all of us or is that big earthquake – we need to be prepared.

“We need to watch each other’s back.

“And I am preaching to the choir because I’ve seen this from Malibu over and over.

Notably … all of six the speakers last night were government employees or elected officials.

The only civilian was the city’s poet laureate … Charlotte Ward.

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“On the longest nights of the year, ravenous brushfires spread, consuming ridge after ridge.

“Fearful, stunned, helpless, we fled the ominous sight as our very existence quavered in question.

“During the dry hibernal season, high pressure aggression, fueled ferocious flames.

“Vast swaths of tindered spark wasted irreparable chaparral.

“Even when choppers sliced the dark wildscape, dependent on dousing, winds wrested control of Stygian vortexes, evaporating sea water.

“Whole neighborhoods burned to oblivion.

“Protean time dawns another year.

“Remembrance through this window – translucent under opportune skies, brings a healing balm of flow fringing the mountains green.

“During reassuring daylight, calmed by cascading spindrift and waveforms of tenderest night, dreams evolve ever so slowly.

“Rekindled hope glimmers, possibilities improve perception.

“Emotive existence shimmers with onshore aromas of aliveness.

“Dilemmas that seemed Sisyphean resolve to meaning in the fluted surf.

“Now, promise evokes a new meridian.

“Let it be.”

Republicans Release Audit Of Fire Aid Money And Only Find Political Theater

Republicans in Congress have released their audit of Fire Aid … the charity that raised 100 million dollars in donations for victims of last years fires.

Representative Kevin Kiley … a northern California congressman … claims Fire Aid money “highlights where the funds were not used in the way that the donors would likely have wanted them to be used.”

Democrats have fired back … saying the Republican probe proves what the Fire Aid audits showed…. no improperieties … just partisan bickering. 

The House Judiciary Committee stated Fire Aid money went to “left-leaning pet projects, illegal aliens, and the administrative costs related to running non-profit organizations.”

The cite examples of money going political advocacy groups … voter registration drives … and other causes that are disagreeable on the right wing.

But the congressman also said “I do want to be clear, there were many organizations that got funds, nonprofits that are certainly very worthy nonprofits.”

FireAid organizers denied the claims made in the report. 

All money raised during the Firer Aid concert went to well-known, vetted nonprofits serving residents of Altadena, Pasadena, Pacific Palisades and Malibu.

The Los Angeles Times also published a breakdown of funding distribution and reached a similar conclusion last year. 

Congressman Brad Sherman represents Malibu and the alisades. 

He said the Republicans seem to hate the Fire Aid organization because maybe some of the money, a small portion, went to undocumented immigrants.”

House Republicans also criticized FireAid for allowing donated funds to be used for payroll expenses at some nonprofits, including the Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, which provided free legal aid to fire victims.

“The attack in this report is that money was spent for salaries,” Sherman said. 

“If you’re going to be a legal aid center, you’re going to have to hire attorneys.”

Mother Apparently Kills Baby In SM Apartment

A 15-month-old baby girl was apparently murdered by her mother …. inside an apartment in Santa Monica … police there say.

At noon Monday … a woman walked into the UCLA Hospital at Westwood … where she told workers she had harmed her child. 

UCLA police called Santa Monica police … who rushed to her house … an apartment building at 20th Street at Broadway.

The injured child died at a nearby hospital. 

The mother was arrested.  

She has not been publicly named.

SpaceX Asking For 15 Thousand More Orbiting Relay Stations

SpaceX … Malibu’s neighbor up the Pacific Coast … has now applied for permission to launch and an additional 15 thousand satellites for its Starlink cellular system.

The FCC has just opened a public comment period on the proposed constellation.

Right now …  SpaceX has FCC clearance to orbit about 12,000 satellites.

But PC Magazine reports that the cellular Starlink service uses approximately 650 satellites.

But there is not enough bandwidth support its worldwide goal to beam 5G connectivity directly to phones worldwide.

One vocal opponent is DarkSky International, an anti-light pollution group.

The group is particularly concerned about how the satellites will eventually reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up, releasing chemicals that are harmful to the ozone layer.

DarkSky International alleges that “SpaceX’s proposed satellites will dump millions of pounds of pollution into the atmosphere, causing significant environmental impacts both in space and on the ground,”

The question of the impact of thousands of rocket launches … from Vandenberg Space Force Base and elsewhere … has not been examined.

The California Coastal Commission has raised significant questions about the huge expansion of space launches at Vandenbergh ,.. 100 miles uop the coast from Malibu. 

The FCC is already movingto exempt large satellite constellations from environmental review.

SpaceX hasn’t responded to the opposition yet. 

But the company has argued that its cellular Starlink service is already delivering essential service to cellular dead zones. 

SpaceX also claims it has been making an effort to ensure its Starlink satellites orbit safely around the planet and burn up in the atmosphere without causing harm.

This news was reported by PC Magazine.