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Firefighters held the Hughes fire in check overnight, keeping the blaze at 10,176 acres with 14% containment as crews prepared for another day of critical fire weather, authorities said.The fire, burning near Castaic in the Antelope Valley, was first reported around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22, and exploded in size thanks to strong Santa Ana winds, prompting evacuation orders and warnings and, at one point, a short shutdown of the 5 Freeway.More than 4,000 personnel were assigned to the fire and about a dozen aircraft were sent up to the Santa Clarita area to help ground crews, authorities said.Hughes fire…

By ZEKE MILLER, JOSH BOAK and JAMEY KEATEN, Associated PressWASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump used an address Thursday to the World Economic Forum to promise global elites lower taxes if they bring manufacturing to the U.S. and threatened to impose tariffs if they don’t.Speaking by video from the White House to the annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, on his third full day in office, Trump ran through his flurry of executive actions since his swearing-in and claimed that he had a “massive mandate” from the American people to bring change. He laid out a carrot-and-stick approach for private investment…

LOS ANGELES — These can be the dog days of the NHL season.Everybody’s past the halfway point of the 82-game schedule, but the playoffs are still three months away. The games pile up, the midseason break – this time for the Four Nations international tournament Feb. 12-20, rather than an All-Star weekend – isn’t for another couple of weeks and you’ve just had three days at home sandwiched around back-to-back five-game road trips.And if you get into a rough patch it can be tough to get out of it.Then again, sometimes a simple play or a good bounce can do…

Studies need to be done — deep ones — on why of the 17 known deaths from the Eaton fire, all of them so far were in west Altadena, not in the homes, businesses and institutions in east Altadena, close to the Eaton Canyon ignition point of the blaze.Warning systems failed. The very concept of how emergency evacuation warnings and then orders from authorities are given will certainly have to be updated and probably radically changed and expanded. Now that the threat of worse wildfires coming into the suburbs adjacent to fire-prone mountains and canyons is clearly higher all over…

When wielded responsibly, the presidential power to pardon and commute sentences is essential to right injustices. Controversy rightly arose after President Joe Biden, in his last minutes in office, pardoned family members. Then new President Donald Trump pardoned more than 1,000 defendants from the Jan. 6 riot four years ago.But largely unnoticed amid the events of the transition of power were two unquestionably commendable actions by each man. Joe Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 2,500 nonviolent drug offenders. That was a major reversal from his record as one of the top drug warriors during his long career in the…

Here’s the California home insurance debacle made simple: No more bargains. Property owners are keenly aware of the state’s numerous risks to their property, most notably wildfires. But they might be surprised to learn that California home insurance policies are among the nation’s cheapest. How often do we say “low” regarding any Golden State housing cost? Such thriftiness translated to California essentially asking insurers to take a high-risk gamble with low rewards. Would you make this bet? Insurers knew it was a losing gamble, so they increased their odds of success by removing the highest-risk customers. That’s why so many…

MELBOURNE, Australia — When Madison Keys finally finished off her 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8) upset of No. 2 Iga Swiatek in a high-intensity, high-quality Australian Open semifinal Thursday night, saving a match point along the way, the 29-year-old American crouched on the court and placed a hand on her white hat.She had a hard time believing it all. The comeback. What Keys called an “extra dramatic finish.” The victory over five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek, who’d been on the most dominant run at Melbourne Park in a dozen years. And now the chance to play in her second Grand Slam…

Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki poses with Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes, far left, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, second from left, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, far right, as he is introduced as the newest Dodger during a press conference on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/SCNG) Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki tries on his jersey with help from Andrew Friedman,left, president of baseball operations for the Dodgers and manager Dave Roberts as he is introduced as the newest Dodger during a press conference at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Jan. 22,…

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers aren’t ruining baseball. No one is ruining baseball. But if you want to be mad at a ball club for eroding parity in the game, if you’re peeved about the super-duper team that’s not your team, then go yell at the … Angels.Maybe you’ve already forgotten – sometimes it feels like people have – but once upon a time, Shohei Ohtani turned down the Dodgers. And that worked out how?Like Roki Sasaki, the Dodgers’ newest acquisition, Ohtani too was a 23-year-old Japanese rookie phenom. And back then, in 2017, his choices came down to the…

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Well, that escalated quickly.Freshman Avery Howell scored a season-high 18 points, JuJu Watkins added 16 points and seven rebounds and the fourth-ranked USC women’s basketball team nearly pitched a second-quarter shutout as it routed Purdue, 79-37, on Wednesday. Kennedy Smith added 12 points, while Rayah Marshall grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.The Trojans (18-1 overall, 8-0 Big Ten) allowed just two points in the second quarter en route to their 14th consecutive win. Half of their conference victories have come by 20 points or more.Kendall Puryear led Purdue (7-12, 0-8) with 10 points as the Boilermakers lost…