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Billionaire hedge fund founder Tom Steyer announced Wednesday that he is running for governor of California, arguing that he is not beholden to special interests and can take on corporations that are making life unaffordable in the state.

“The richest people in America think that they earned everything themselves. Bulls—, man. That’s so ridiculous,” Steyer said in an online video announcing his campaign. “We have a broken government. It’s been bought by corporations and my question is: Who do you think is going to change that? Sacramento politicians are afraid to change up this system. I’m not. They’re going to hate this. Bring it on.”

Protesters hold placards and banners during a rally against Whitehaven Coal in Sydney in 2014. Dozens of protesters and activists gathered downtown to protest against the controversial massive Maules Creek coal mine project in northern New South Wales.

(Saeed Khan / AFP/Getty Images)

Steyer, 68, founded Farallon Capital Management, one of the nation’s largest hedge funds, and left it in 2012 after 26 years. Since his departure, he has become a global environmental activist and a major donor to Democratic candidates and causes.

But the hedge firm’s investments — notably a giant coal mine in Australia that cleared 3,700 acres of koala habitat and a company that runs migrant detention centers on the U.S.-Mexico border for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — will make him susceptible to political attack by his gubernatorial rivals.

Steyer has expressed regret for his involvement in such projects, saying it was why he left Farallon and started focusing his energy on fighting climate change.

Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer addresses a crowd during a presidential primary election-night party in Columbia, S.C.

(Sean Rayford / Getty Images)

Steyer previously flirted with running for governor and the U.S. Senate but decided against it, instead opting to run for president in 2020. He dropped out after spending nearly $342 million on his campaign, which gained little traction before he ended his run after the South Carolina primary.

Next year’s gubernatorial race is in flux, after former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla decided not to run and Proposition 50, the successful Democratic effort to redraw congressional districts, consumed all of the political oxygen during an off-year election.

Most voters are undecided about who they would like to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, who cannot run for reelection because of term limits, according to a poll released this month by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times. Steyer had the support of 1% of voters in the survey.

In recent years, Steyer has been a longtime benefactor of progressive causes, most recently spending $12 million to support the redistricting ballot measure. But when he was the focus of one of the ads, rumors spiraled that he was considering a run for governor.

In prior California ballot initiatives, Steyer successfully supported efforts to close a corporate tax loophole and to raise tobacco taxes, and fought oil-industry-backed efforts to roll back environmental law.

His campaign platform is to build 1 million homes in four years, lower energy costs by ending monopolies, make preschool and community college free and ban corporate contributions to political action committees in California elections.

Steyer’s brother Jim, the leader of Common Sense Media, and former Biden administration U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy are aiming to put an initiative on next year’s ballot to protect children from social media, specifically the chatbots that have been accused of prompting young people to kill themselves. Newsom recently vetoed a bill aimed at addressing this artificial intelligence issue.

Diane Ladd’s cause of death has come to light, weeks after the three-time Oscar-nominated “Rambling Rose” and “Wild at Heart” star died at age 89.

The actor died of “acute on chronic hypoxic respiratory failure,” according to her death certificate obtained by People. The Cleveland Clinic says the condition is a result of insufficient oxygen in a person’s blood and is commonly caused by heart and lung conditions.

The death certificate reportedly notes that Ladd had the latter. Two years before her death, Ladd was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a disease wherein “lung tissue becomes damaged and scarred,” according to the Mayo Clinic. Esophageal dysmotility —disorders that affect the esophagus’ ability to move food and liquid to a person’s stomach — also contributed to Ladd’s death, People reported.

Ladd was cremated on Nov. 10, a week after her death, the death certificate reportedly said.

Laura Dern, Ladd’s daughter with prolific Oscar-nominated actor Bruce Dern, announced her mother’s death Nov. 3: “My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai.”

“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” Dern, Oscar-winning star of “Marriage Story,” said in her statement. “We were blessed to have her.”

Bruce Dern, the first of Ladd’s three husbands, praised his ex-wife for her work on- and off-screen, including her longtime tenure as a Screen Actors Guild board member.

“She was a great teammate to her fellow actors. She was funny, clever, gracious,” he said. “But most importantly to me, she was a wonderful mother to our incredible wunderkind daughter. And for that I will be forever grateful to her.”

Mississippi native Ladd was an enduring talent whose screen career included more than 200 movie and TV credits from the 1960s to the 2020s, and multiple Emmy and Oscar nominations. Famously, she appeared in director Martin Scorsese and writer Robert Getchell’s 1974 feature “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” originating the role of snarky roadside-diner waitress Florence Jean “Flo” Castleberry.

When Ladd was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2023, she was told she might have only six months to live. This inspired Laura Dern to take her mother out for strolls along Santa Monica, sparking intimate conversations that would become fodder for their joint book, “Honey, Baby, Mine,” released in April 2023.

“All the deep listening filled us with love,” Ladd told People amid the book’s release. “And it was very healing.”

Edison International Chief Executive Pedro Pizarro said Wednesday that the utility expects the first Eaton fire victims who have agreed not to sue the utility to get their settlement offers later this month.

In an interview, Pizarro said that the utility decided to create the program to pay victims before the fire investigation was complete to get money to them more quickly and because it has become more apparent that the company’s equipment ignited the inferno that killed 19 people.

“There is no other clear probable cause at this point,” he said.

More than 6,000 homes and other properties were destroyed in the Jan. 7 fire that started under an Edison transmission tower in Eaton Canyon. The flames damaged an additional 700 to 800 homes, according to Edison.

Those homes, as well as more than 11,000 others that were damaged by smoke and ash, are eligible for compensation under Edison’s plan. To receive the money, the victims must agree not to sue Edison for the fire.

So far 580 people have applied for compensation, Pizarro said.

He said that if the person accepts the company’s offer, they would be paid within 30 days. “We’ve staffed it to move very quickly.” he said.

Pizarro said the utility is expecting to swiftly be reimbursed for the amounts it pays to victims by a state wildfire fund that Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers created to keep utilities from bankruptcy if their equipment sparks a catastrophic fire.

The first $1 billion in damage costs will be covered by an insurance policy paid for by the utility’s electric customers.

In April, Pizarro said that a leading theory of the fire’s cause was that a century-old transmission line, not used since 1971, reenergized through a process called induction and sparked the fire.

Induction is when magnetic fields created by a nearby live line cause a dormant line to electrify. The unused line runs parallel to other energized high-voltage transmission wires running through Eaton Canyon.

Asked why Edison did not turn off those transmission lines on Jan. 7, Pizarro said in the interview that the company’s protocol at the time, which analyzes wind speed and other risk factors, did not call for a preventive shutoff.

He said the Los Angeles County Fire department and Cal Fire are continuing their investigation into the official cause of the fire.

“We’ve given them everything they’ve asked for,” he said.

At the same time, he said, Edison and lawyers for victims who have filed lawsuits are working jointly on a separate investigation that is gathering detailed information on the fire’s cause.

Pizarro said that he and the company have pledged to be transparent about details of the fire’s cause.

“As significant material things come out we will make that known,” he said.

“I need to go to the supermarket in Pasadena or Altadena and be able to look people in the eye,” Pizarro said. “We want to do the right thing for our community.”

The official cause of death for Ace Frehley, the guitarist who was a founding member of hard-rock band Kiss, has been released, confirming details his family shared in October.

The medical examiner for New Jersey’s Morris County said in a report, published by TMZ, that Frehley died of “blunt trauma injuries” to his head suffered during a fall. His death was ruled an accident. The report listed injuries including a brain bleed and fractures to his skull.

Frehley’s death on Oct. 16 was announced by his family, which said he had recently suffered a fall. “In his last moments, we were fortunate enough to have been able to surround him with loving, caring, peaceful words, thoughts, prayers and intentions as he left this earth,” the family said in a statement at the time. Frehley was 74.

“We cherish all of his finest memories, his laughter, and celebrate his strengths and kindness that he bestowed upon others,” the statement continued. “The magnitude of his passing is of epic proportions, and beyond comprehension.”

Frehley, known also for his Spaceman alter ego, died less than two weeks after canceling the remainder of his 2025 live performances due to undisclosed “onging medical issues.” He was also hospitalized in late September after suffering a “minor fall” in his studio, his tour manager John Ostrosky announced. Though the rocker was “fine,” doctors urged him to take time from the road to recover, prompting him to cancel his appearance at the Antelope Valley Fair.

The musician was among the original members of Kiss, playing with the band for about a decade, from 1973 — when he formed the group in New York with Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss — until 1982, when he quit not long after Criss left.

The band, which had its final show in 2023, was known for flamboyant performances, and costumes and heavy makeup. Despite his relatively short tenure, Frehley proved instrumental in creating the band’s stomping and glittery sound, as heard in songs like “Detroit Rock City,” “Rock and Roll All Nite,” “Strutter” and “I Was Made for Lovin’ You.” He was part of a reunion tour with the band from 1996 to 2002.

“He was an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its history,” the band said of Frehley following news of his death. “He is and will always be a part of KISS’s legacy. Our thoughts are with Jeanette, Monique and all those who loved him, including our fans around the world.”

The 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is survived by his wife, Jeanette; his daughter, Monique; his brother, Charles; his sister, Nancy; and several nieces and nephews.

Times pop music critic Mikael Wood contributed to this report.