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“If Santa Ynez would have been in service, you probably would have had some help in keeping the pressures up. It wouldn’t have been a panacea. It probably would not have lasted forever,” Adams said.  The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News. A department official told the …

Butler’s and Fuentes’ stories were two of many in a city where destructive wildfires, fueled by fierce Santa Ana winds and tinder-dry conditions, have been burning since Tuesday, forcing more than 180,000 people from their homes. So far, there have been 10 reported deaths, but authorities fear that number is likely to rise as the fires continue to devour entire …

After lawyers for TikTok appeared before the Supreme Court on Friday and received a skeptical reception, it seems only a few pathways remain for the platform’s future in the U.S.  If the Supreme Court votes to uphold the law that President Joe Biden signed in April, TikTok will shut down on Jan. 19, the day before Donald Trump takes office. …

President-elect Donald Trump has used the devastating Los Angeles wildfires to revisit a policy disagreement with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, pushing a series of complaints that experts say are false or misleading. Trump this week blamed Newsom for the fires, which have killed at least 10 people, forced 180,000 to evacuate and burned more than 10,000 structures. “I will demand …

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. In today’s edition, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker digs into how political leaders from both parties are handling the California wildfires. Plus, senior White House …

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will deliver a farewell address to the country next Wednesday, the White House announced on Friday. His speech will be delivered from the Oval Office, a location typically reserved for momentous occasions and major news. The White House did not release additional details about what the president would discuss. Biden’s speech will come less than …

Meta on Friday told employees that its plans to end a number of internal programs designed to increase the company’s hiring of diverse candidates, the latest dramatic change ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s second White House term. Janelle Gale, Meta’s vice president of people, made the announcement on the company’s Workplace internal communications forum. Among the changes, Meta is ending the …

WASHINGTON — A federal judge was hearing arguments Friday in Rudy Giuliani’s second contempt of court hearing this week in the defamation case against him involving former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss. “We don’t want to be here today,” an attorney for the women, Michael Gottlieb, told U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell. “The main thing the …

Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman has scored a historical first.  Freeman, whose Fighting Irish won their Orange Bowl college football semifinal game on Thursday, will be the first Black and first Asian American coach to compete in the national championship game.   Freeman, who’s Korean American, reflected on his trailblazing status after the win.  “It is an honor, and I …

Anita Bryant, a Grammy-nominated singer and former beauty queen who became known for her advocacy against gay rights in the 1970s, died Dec. 16. She was 84. Bryant died surrounded by family and loved ones at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma, according to an obituary posted Thursday in The Oklahoman, a newspaper in Oklahoma City. She started her promising music …