The Metropolitan Police said it is “actively” looking into media reports that Prince Andrew tried to obtain personal information about his accuser Virginia Giuffre through his police protection.
“We are aware of media reporting and are actively looking into the claims made,” the force said on Sunday.
It comes after Ms Giuffre’s brother called on King Charles III to strip Andrew of his “prince” title, following the announcement he would stop using his other titles.
Prince Andrew has not commented on the reports, but consistently denies all allegations against him. Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.
Ms Giuffre, who took her own life earlier this year, said she was among the girls and young women sexually exploited by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his wealthy circle.
She also claimed that she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three occasions, including when she was 17.
According to the Mail on Sunday, Andrew asked his police protection officer to investigate her just before the newspaper published a photo of Ms Giuffre’s first meeting with the prince in February 2011.
The paper alleged that he gave the officer her date of birth and confidential social security number.
On Friday, Andrew announced that he was voluntarily handing back his titles and giving up membership of the Order of the Garter – the oldest and most senior order of chivalry in Britain.
He will also cease to be the Duke of York, a title received from his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Jerardyn sat quietly on the bus, her mood relaxed as her eyes scanned the fleeting horizon of Southern California one August afternoon.
But as the U.S.-Mexico border wall, a towering barrier of steel pillars, came into view, she began taking big, deep breaths. Her heart began to race as she clutched her immigration documents and tried to hide her anxiety from her two youngest children traveling with her. She caught what she believed would be her last glimpse of the United States for now.
A refugee from Venezuela, Jerardyn, 40, entered the United States last year with her family, hoping to obtain asylum. But this was before President Trump took office and launched immigration raids across Southern California, shattering her sense of safety. She lived in fear that immigration agents would detain her or, worse, send her family back to Venezuela, where they risked facing retribution from the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
Jerardyn bathes Milagro in the basement of a church in South Los Angeles, where she found refuge with her four children, daughter-in-law and the family’s dog.
So after eight months of living in the basement of an L.A. church, she made a painful decision. She would migrate again. This time she’d voluntarily move back to Mexico with her two youngest kids, leaving behind her two eldest, who are applying for asylum.
She planned meticulously. She withdrew her asylum application from immigration court. She found an apartment outside Mexico City. She filled two boxes with toys, clothes and shoes to ship to Mexico ahead of her departure. She bought bus tickets to Tijuana and plane tickets to Mexico City.
The bus ride from Los Angeles to Tijuana had been smooth, but as they pulled into the National Institute of Migration, Mexico’s border immigration office, she felt a sense of dread.
Milagro plays with Pelusa, the family’s dog, in the church basement.
Jerardyn, right, prepares for their move to Mexico as her daughter-in-law styles Milagro’s hair.
Jerardyn and son David, 10, say goodbye to his brother Jahir, 18, at the bus station in Huntington Park on Aug. 16, 2025.
Milagro holds onto her eldest brother, Jesus, at the bus station as she prepares to move to Mexico in August.
“I’m panicking,” she said.
She hadn’t expected to face Mexican immigration officials so soon. She tried to self-soothe by telling herself that no matter what, she would figure it out.
“I’m going to make it in any country because I’m the one doing it.”
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Gathering her bags and suitcase, she shepherded Milagro, 7, and David, 10, into the empty line and handed her Venezuelan passport to an immigration officer. He gave her a stern look and pulled Jerardyn and her children away from the counter and into another room.
Would Mexico deport her to Venezuela? Or grant her some mercy? All she knew was that the doors leading to Mexico were, for now, closed.
Jerardyn grew up in a comfortable, middle-class family in a seaport city, the youngest of eight, and was doted upon by her father. She had aspirations of becoming a social worker, but at 15, she became pregnant. Her parents initially disapproved, but her father, a former police officer, came around after she told him she would name her firstborn after him.
Jerardyn asked that her last name not be published, for fear of retribution for fleeing Venezuela, an act viewed as treason by the government. Her children are being identified by their middle names.
With help from her parents, she earned a certification to become a medical technician. But after her second son, Jahir, was born, her father died, upending her life.
When she was 22, Jerardyn said, she was assaulted by a man who had hired her to do some office cleaning, an ordeal that left her scarred. Violence became rife in Venezuela, as family members got caught up in illegal activity. A nephew she helped raise since he was young was shot by a police officer in front of her, she said.
Jerardyn comforts Milagro on the bus bound for the border with Mexico, after they said their goodbyes to family members.
Conditions in Venezuela continued to worsen. The economy collapsed, bankrupting an auto parts shop she had been running with her husband. By the time Milagro was born in 2018, their relationship had become strained, and they were no longer a couple.
As corruption ran rampant in Venezuela, Jerardyn learned that government officials were kidnapping teens. It wasn’t long before her oldest son, Jesus, then 17, became a target.
During a nationwide power outage in 2019, Jesus went out to buy gasoline around 10 a.m. but never returned. Panicked, she went looking for him, but no one knew where he was.
Frantic, she prayed to God for his safe return. At midnight, government officials released him.
Jerardyn and her children David and Milagro wait at Tijuana International Airport for their flight to Mexico City on Aug. 17, 2025.
Jerardyn, who lovingly refers to her children as her pollitos — baby chicks — concluded they were no longer safe in their homeland. So without notifying her family, she fled with the children to neighboring Colombia. Milagro was 4 months old.
“No one knows what you live through in your country,” she said of her decision to escape Venezuela. “If I had stayed there, my kids could have died from hunger, suffered psychological torture, kidnappings, so many things…. I’m just trying to save them.”
Aid workers in Colombia helped the family relocate to Lima, Peru, where Jerardyn worked as a server and in clothing stores.
Jerardyn, center, sleeps on the flight to Mexico City with her two youngest children, David and Milagro.
David and Milagro bundle up while Jerardyn waits for the landlord to let them into their new apartment in Texcoco de Mora, a town northeast of Mexico City
She made one foray back to Venezuela during that time — attempting to obtain passports for her children. But that effort backfired. Government officials detained her and her children in a white room and forced her to pay the equivalent of $3,000 to be released, with no passports for David and Milagro.
Peru did not prove to be a refuge either. The country was growing increasingly hostile to Venezuelan immigrants, and her sons faced bullying in school. So after four years of living abroad, she began researching what it would take to travel through the Darien Gap, the dangerous strip of jungle linking Central and South America.
She made a list of what they needed to pack to survive.
Altogether, there were six on the journey through the Darien Gap — Jerardyn, her four children, her daughter-in-law, and Pelusa, a dog they had found in Peru. She was especially worried about David, who was 8, and Milagro, then 5.
The jungle was “a living hell,” she recalled, a place where people lost their humanity. Migrants robbed other migrants. Travelers were left injured and abandoned by their families. Jerardyn and her kids had to hike past decomposing bodies, an image she cannot shake. They could hear snakes slithering past their tent when it was not raining, which it often did.
It took the family five days to cross the jungle. She was certain that if one of them died, she would have stayed behind too.
After a month traveling through Mexico, they arrived in the capital covered in dirt, their sandals worn down from the miles behind them. Jesus’ feet were bloody. A taxi driver recommended they visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. They arrived at 6 a.m., exhausted and penniless.
After the morning Mass, Jerardyn kneeled and prayed for her family’s safety and a pathway to a life in Mexico, while they waited to enter the U.S.
A pathway soon emerged. A friend helped her settle in Texcoco de Mora, a town northeast of Mexico City. Jerardyn began working at a salon and enrolled Milagro and David in school. Jesus and Jahir hawked vegetables at street markets, and her daughter-in-law worked at a restaurant. Every day, they tried to land a CBP One appointment, which would allow them to enter the U.S. legally to seek asylum.
By a stroke of luck and persistence, the family secured a coveted appointment on Dec. 11, 2024. They continued north to Nogales, Mexico, and suddenly Jerardyn was seeing the U.S. southern border for the first time.
Moments later, she heard a U.S. immigration official voice the words she had long awaited: “Welcome to the United States.”
Immigration raids had been roiling Los Angeles for more than a month when Jerardyn went to Mass one Sunday in July. Having just finished her overnight shift cleaning up a stadium after a concert, she smiled tiredly as she joined her children in the front pew at the church in South L.A. She hugged them as Pastor Ivan began preaching about immigrants and how they shape communities.
Before the raids, the pews would be filled with dozens of families. Now, only a handful of people sat scattered around.
Pastor Ivan’s voice boomed as he urged the congregation to pray for families torn apart by the raids. After a prayer, Jerardyn stood, picked up the collection basket and began gathering donations for the church. She had given Milagro and David a few dollars, which they dropped into the basket.
Milagro walks down the aisle at the South L.A. church.
The church became their haven in January after Jerardyn spent a night homeless. Along with her kids, she had originally been staying with the father of her children, who arrived in the U.S. from Venezuela on his own years ago. But after an argument, he kicked her out of the apartment, forcing her to find a new refuge for herself and her kids.
Pastor Ivan, whose church The Times is not naming because Jerardyn’s family members still reside there, said the church has a history of sheltering immigrants, including Afghans, Haitians, Mexicans and Venezuelans. The pastor said he lived in the U.S. for a decade without documents and knows firsthand the plight of migrants.
“They feel that everything is closing up around them,” he said. But the church’s role is to not stay silent, he said, and instead, to offer help and compassion.
That is why Jerardyn and her family began to slowly build a semblance of a normal life in the church’s basement. David and Milagro attended school nearby, where Milagro was praised for picking up English quickly.
But the family found everyday life stifling. In the basement, Jerardyn felt like they were hiding from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Once, when the school notified her that immigration agents were nearby, she panicked, she said, wondering whether they would seize her children.
David sits at the kitchen table as Jerardyn cleans up in the church basement.
In the eight months they lived there, she had taken her children on public transit only six times. Once, on the metro, a homeless woman pulled her pants down in front of them and urinated. Another time, on a bus, a man became visibly irritated while she spoke Spanish to another passenger.
In the most jarring incident, Jerardyn and David watched from a bus window as immigration agents detained a woman. Suffering panic attacks, the boy would wake up crying from nightmares in which Jerardyn was the one arrested. She shed tears thinking of the stress she was placing on her children.
In the church, she spent several nights mulling over whether to leave the U.S. She would lie on the carpet, alone, in tears, and ask God for answers. But the choice became clear, she said, when David told her he wanted to return to Mexico.
In her request to close her asylum case at immigration court, she carefully wrote out a translated version of a plea to the judge.
“I am requesting voluntary departure because my children and I are experiencing a very stressful situation,” she wrote, recounting how she and David watched a woman get detained. Milagro loved going to school but suffered from anxiety too. “For me it is difficult to make that decision, but it is preferable to leave voluntarily and avoid many problems and even so in the future I can get my documents in the best way and return to this country legally. Thank you very much.”
The judge approved her request. Jesus, 23, and Jahir, 18, would continue to seek asylum and live at the church, with support from Pastor Ivan, who assured Jerardyn they would be safe.
When it came time to say goodbye as they boarded the bus for Tijuana, Jerardyn told Jesus to look out for Jahir. She hugged Jahir, caressed his head, and told him to listen to his older brother. Milagro pressed her small face into Jesus’ stomach and held him tightly until it was time to board. She then sobbed quietly in her mother’s arms as the bus pulled away.
There are no clear numbers yet on how many migrants have opted to self-deport this year. In a statement, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that “tens of thousands of illegal aliens have utilized the CBP Home app.” The app offers to pay for one-way tickets out of the U.S., along with a $1,000 “exit bonus.”
Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, said the Trump administration has pushed hard to get people to leave on their own, as the White House appears to be falling short of its goal of 1 million deportations a year. The raids, courthouse arrests and threat of third-country removals are compounding a climate of fear.
“Some of the high-profile moves that this administration has taken [have] been aimed at trying to scare people into self-deporting,” she said.
At the immigration office in Tijuana, Jerardyn, Milagro and David were placed in a white room with one window and told they would be deported because Jerardyn did not have a visa to stay in Mexico.
As they waited, Jerardyn started to pace the small room, which was reminiscent of the one Venezuelan officials had placed her in when they extorted money from her. She had no luggage or phone. Mexican officials had taken them.
As the officials questioned her, she said, she maintained that she had committed no crimes and that she knew she had rights to travel into the country. Somehow, Milagro and David remained calm, eating tuna and crackers provided by the officials.
Jerardyn and her children were released by Mexican immigration authorities after being fingerprinted at the Tijuana-San Ysidro border in August.
The family waited for more than three hours before the officials returned with news: They could stay. All were granted temporary status for a month while Jerardyn sought legal status. Officials fingerprinted them, staining their fingers green, took their pictures for documents that would allow them to travel freely and — 12 hours after leaving Los Angeles — let them leave for their flight to Mexico City.
Because of her preparations, Jerardyn had a job lined up at the hair salon where she previously worked. But a big question mark was Gonzalo. She had met him in Texcoco and they had become close. He showered her children with adoration and care. He asked to marry her, and she had said yes. But when she departed for the U.S. just days later, the distance became too difficult, and they broke off their engagement.
When she and the kids returned, Gonzalo met them at the airport in Mexico City, and the children hugged him in greeting.
Now that she was back, Jerardyn hoped that she and Gonzalo would rekindle their romance. At first they did, easily falling back together, holding hands while strolling through the streets.
Jerardyn, Gonzalo, Milagro and David, center, walk through the town after dinner in Texcoco, Mexico, on Aug. 17, 2025.
Jerardyn, left, chats with a neighbor at her family’s new apartment in Texcoco, Mexico.
Jerardyn shares a laugh with Gonzalo during a family dinner in Texcoco, Mexico.
Jerardyn and Gonzalo walk through town after dinner in Texcoco, Mexico.
At her new two-bedroom apartment, Jerardyn unloaded air mattresses that would serve as beds until she could afford real ones. She made a note of what she would need to buy. A fridge. A trash can and bath mat. A couch for the kids to relax on after school.
One Sunday, the family walked through Texcoco’s crowded central plaza, the air warm and scented with cooking meats and sweets. They navigated around the vendors and chatting families sitting on benches and enjoying snacks. Her children were smiling, and Jerardyn was at peace, something she hardly ever felt in the U.S.
She was finally back in “mi Texcoco,” she said. This feeling of tranquility reminded her of the first time she left Venezuela, when she no longer feared that the government would take her children from her.
“I feel free, complete peace of mind, knowing I’m not doing anything wrong, and I won’t be pursued,” she said.
Jerardyn stares out of the bedroom at her new apartment.
During her first week back, Jerardyn and the children made the trek into Mexico City, where she found herself nearly asking for directions in English, only to remember that everyone spoke her language too.
She returned to the Basilica, her family’s first stop in Mexico City, and gave thanks to the Virgin Mary for guiding her safe journey. The three bowed their heads and knelt in prayer. David prayed for the well-being of his brothers.
That first week, she signed her children up for online English classes at a nearby academy. She worked on a client’s hair, her first gig. She also started therapy to begin sorting through everything she has lived through.
Milagro roller-skates outside her family’s new home in Texcoco, Mexico.
One crisp August morning, Jerardyn helped Milagro slip into the in-line skates Jesus had given her as a parting gift. The little girl had carried them in her pink backpack all the way from L.A., and she wanted to show them off.
In the safe, enclosed space of the apartment complex, where the buildings were painted vibrant shades of red, yellow and blue, Milagro went slowly at first, using a pillar to make turns and the wall as a stop. But as she settled into a flow, she began to speed up, making the turns smoothly on her own.
Milagro cuddles up to a new stuffed toy, a gift from her cousin, right, inside her family’s new apartment in Texcoco, Mexico.
A few times, she fell with a huff. But with her mother looking on, she’d pick herself back up and keep going.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
The United Kingdom is seeking a new battlefield ballistic missile, a class of weapon that it last fielded back in the Cold War. The Nightfall program reflects expanding interest in long-range precision strike systems, not just in the United Kingdom, but in Europe more broadly, spurred by Russian aggression and its own expanding missile arsenal.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense yesterday published a request for information (RFI) for the missile, providing details of what is required. At this stage, the Nightfall program is in the “open early engagement” phase, with the ministry judging interest from potential suppliers, ahead of a firm procurement decision.
The MOD launches NIGHTFALL, a quest for a very low cost ballistic missile. At least 2 such weapons, with a 300 kg payload, are to be fired from a single vehicle (M270?) and reach 600 km. The rocket (excluding the warhead, curiously) should cost no more than half a million. pic.twitter.com/rJuNa2fy16
The key performance parameter of having a range of greater than 600 kilometers (373 miles) puts it in the category of a short-range ballistic missile, a class of weapon that can reach out to between 300 and 1,000 kilometers (186 and 621 miles). There is a stated requirement for each launcher to deliver at least two “effectors,” each of which should weigh around 300 kilograms (661 pounds), based on a high-explosive payload. There is no mention of any other types of warheads being required. The wording makes it clear that the two or more effectors requirement relates to each launcher, rather than each missile. It should be noted that, while the RFI uses the broad term “effectors,” it also specifically refers to the requirement for a ballistic missile.
Interesting set of requirements. 300 kg to 600 km would place Nightfall between ATACMS and Iskander-M for throw weight.
The AUR cost is ambitious and the timeline even more so. Designing, fabricating, and testing a >0.5 meter diameter SRM in 9-12 months will be a challenge. https://t.co/3g3TsQJwaLpic.twitter.com/qJRN8lMDHi
The range figure puts the missile well beyond the reach of the U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), for example, a short-range ballistic missile which has a stated maximum range of 300 kilometers (186 miles). While ATACMS has been exported, the United Kingdom is not an operator.
ATACMS being launched by an M270 MLRS. U.S. Army
For its new Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), another short-range ballistic missile, the U.S. Army has outlined plans for incremental development that will increase its range from 500 kilometers (311 miles) to 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), with plans to extend this even further in the future.
A Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) during an early test launch. Lockheed Martin
As well as its basic ballistic trajectory, there is a demand for “some basic maneuverability,” suggesting that the United Kingdom might favor a weapon capable of being used on a depressed quasi-ballistic trajectory. This mode of launch renders a ballistic missile more capable of significant maneuvering in flight, presenting major challenges even for opponents with more robust missile defense capabilities.
As for the launcher, this is required to be a mobile platform, capable of operating in “a high threat tactical environment,” suggesting that a good degree of mobility and at least some armored protection are required. It also specifies that the launcher has a low multispectral signature, making it harder for enemy sensors to detect. All missiles are required to be fired from the launcher within 15 minutes of stopping at a launch location. After launch, the launcher must be able to rapidly leave the area, ideally within five minutes.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense wants the missile to be able to navigate in a GPS-denied environment and strike within five meters (16 feet) of a provided GPS coordinate 50 percent of the time. The missile is required to have a fast flight time, able to strike targets within 10 minutes of launch.
The ministry’s document provides relatively extensive information on resistance to jamming and other types of interference, likely reflecting lessons from the war in Ukraine. Here, Russian forces have reportedly been using electronic warfare systems to good effect against GPS-assisted guidance packages used on a variety of air and ground-launched munitions that Ukraine has received from the United States and other Western partners. Similarly, the ability of standoff precision-guided weapons to still operate effectively in the face of heavy electronic warfare jamming is also an area of considerable interest to the U.S. military.
This time with numbers on likelyhood. We just need a statistician to tell us how sure we are. Surely over 9000.@PajalaJussi computed how many radio horizons of first jammed plane intersect. Here, heatmapped. pic.twitter.com/9zMYvwtxQP
With this in mind, the U.K. Ministry of Defense states that it wants a missile that is “resilient in a complex electromagnetic environment (EME), including within a GNSS [Global Navigation Satellite System] denied and degraded environment, and resistant against targeted electronic warfare attack and spoofing.”
Another area of great interest right now, as regards precision standoff munitions, is the ability to procure effectors of this kind at relatively low cost and to scale up production, when required, to meet the demands of high-end contingencies.
These factors are also reflected in the U.K. requirement, which calls for a minimum production output of 10 missiles per month, if required, with the option to further scale this up. A remarkably low price of £500,000 ($675,000) for each missile is presented as the goal, although this excludes the warhead, launcher, and any development costs. This contrasts with a reported cost of between $1 million and $1.5 million for each ATACMS missile, depending on the variant (although this includes the warhead).
The U.K. Ministry of Defense wants these capabilities to be packaged and ready for at least five all-up units to be delivered for trials within nine to 12 months.
At this stage, it appears that a sovereign solution is also preferred, with the system required to be “ideally […] free from foreign government trade and usage restrictions, such as export control.” There is also a requirement for further growth potential to be available from the start, including the option to increase the range, accuracy, in-flight maneuverability, and more. The combination of a sovereign weapon and a notably low cost point, per unit, would also point to the potential to export this weapon.
It is significant that the U.K. Armed Forces are looking for a new ballistic missile at this stage, having last fielded the U.S.-made Lance, a mobile field artillery tactical missile during the Cold War. With a range of less than 100 miles, this was primarily a nuclear-delivery system for the Central Front battlefield.
Now, driven primarily by concerns about the Russian threat, the United Kingdom is looking at the potential of various new missile systems and has even decided to reinstate an air-launched nuclear capability, albeit using U.S.-owned weapons.
Earlier this year, the United Kingdom and Germany announced they would jointly produce a “deep precision strike” weapon with a range of over 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles, considerably more than specified in the Nightfall program. At this point, it’s unclear whether a ballistic or cruise missile — or perhaps both types — will be the preferred solution for the longer-range requirement.
However, the project reflects growing ambitions among European NATO members to field long-range strike capabilities, faced by a growing Russian threat on the alliance’s eastern flank.
A Russian soldier observes the loading of an Iskander short-range ballistic missile. Russian Ministry of Defense
With Russia continuing to make extensive use of ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles against Ukraine, the United Kingdom and other European NATO members are increasingly concerned about a major gap in their inventories when it comes to standoff precision-guided munitions.
As TWZhas pointed out before, among European NATO members, only Turkey possesses a conventional ground-launched missile with a range of more than 300 kilometers (186 miles). This is the locally developed Bora short-range ballistic missile.
In contrast, Russia has fielded or is developing multiple ground-launched ballistic and cruise missile systems that match this kind of performance, and which are able to carry conventional or nuclear warheads. This is before taking into account Russia’s air-launched and maritime long-range strike capabilities, which also vastly outmatch their NATO counterparts in Europe.
As there was in the Cold War, there is a growing demand among NATO members in Europe to develop a deterrent to Russian tactical nuclear missiles, which are being fielded in increasingly advanced and long-reaching forms, including in Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea. However, at this stage, there is no indication that either of the aforementioned British missile programs envisages using a nuclear warhead, although this could conceivably be introduced, including on Nightfall, at a later stage.
Meanwhile, the United States has announced that it will deploy to Germany, on a rotational basis, starting next year, a range of advanced ground-launched weapons. These include the SM-6 multi-purpose missile and Tomahawk cruise missile, as well as “developmental hypersonic weapons.” The latter is a reference to the Dark Eagle and potentially others, like the Operational Fires (OpFires) ground-launched hypersonic missile system and the aforementioned PrSM short-range ballistic missile.
One of the first Dark Eagle launchers delivered to the U.S. Army, loaded with an inert missile canister. U.S. Army
Developing a new ballistic missile that fulfills the outlined requirements within the United Kingdom, and without recourse to licensed production, may be a challenge. After all, it’s been many decades since the country was developing and producing these kinds of weapons.
A head-on view of the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales. Crown Copyright
In the past, we suggested that the most likely option for the Royal Navy would involve launching a cruise missile from the carrier, perhaps even a hypersonic weapon. Nevertheless, a ballistic missile is also a possibility, albeit less likely.
It’s unclear at this point what sort of range requirement the Royal Navy is seeking, and what kinds of targets the missiles should prosecute.
As for the British Nightfall effort to develop a new ballistic missile, this points once more to a growing focus on long-range fire capabilities in Europe and, depending on its ultimate range and potential warhead options, it might ultimately have a significant effect on the military balance on the continent.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
The U.S. Navy, together with 11 of America’s allies, is working to develop a follow-on to the Block 2 version of the RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM). The ESSM is an air defense staple on a wide array of American and foreign naval vessels, but concerns about an increasingly complex aerial threat ecosystem are now driving interest in a missile with improved capabilities.
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) posted a notice online yesterday inviting prospective contractors to a meeting in October to discuss what is currently described as a “Next Significant Variant (NSV) missile system” to succeed the ESSM Block 2. NavalX, a technology incubator within ONR charged with fostering innovation for the Navy and Marine Corps, is currently partnered with the NATO SEASPARROW Project Office (NSPO) on this effort. The NSPO consortium, which dates back to 1968, currently includes the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey. Despite the name, Australia is not a member of NATO, but is one of America’s top allies. The U.S. arm of NSPO falls under Naval Sea Systems Command’s (NAVSEA) Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS).
A RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Block 2 missile. Canadian Department of National Defense
The ESSM is a short-to-medium range surface-to-air missile primarily designed to offer an additional layer of defense against anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM), but that is also capable of engaging other aerial threats. The baseline semi-active radar-guided Block 1 ESSM, which evolved from the earlier RIM-7 Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missile, itself based on the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile, was developed in the 1990s and entered service in the early 2000s. The Block 2 version, which began entering service in the early 2020s, features a much-improved seeker with semi-active and active modes, the latter of which does not require a radar on the launching ship to ‘illuminate’ the target. It also has a data link so the missile can receive targeting updates after launch, an especially useful capability for longer-range engagements.
“The NSPO is exploring technology to be incorporated into a Next Significant Variant (NSV) missile system,” yesterday’s notice says. “This successor to the ESSM Block 2 must be able to engage current and future threats while maintaining existing quad-pack sizing with a 10” missile diameter.”
The ESSM’s ability to be quad-packed into Mk 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) cells, giving ships valuable added magazine depth, is another one of the missile’s key features. Ships equipped with Mk 48, Mk 56, or Mk 57 VLS arrays, as well as deck-mounted Mk 29 box launchers, can also use them to fire ESSMs.
“To develop the NSV missile system, the NSPO will lean heavily on digital engineering and model-based systems engineering to communicate missile designs and requirements efficiently among consortium nations and industry partners in a shared development environment. These tools will be used to evaluate weapon systems and missile technologies through a design alternative evaluation process,” the ONR notice explains. “White papers are expected to include all aspects of the NSV missile including seeker technologies, autopilot, computing stack, internal communications, rocket motor alternatives, warhead design, missile to missile communications, data links, combat system integration, etc.”
No specific requirements are laid out in the notice. A multi-mode seeker that incorporates an imaging infrared (IIR) capability is one feature commonly discussed in the context of future anti-air missiles. An IIR mode would be immune to electronic warfare jamming and would not be impacted by a target’s radar-absorbing or deflecting stealth features. As a passive seeker mode, it would also not pump out signals that a threat could detect to alert them that they are being targeted. A new highly loaded grain rocket motor could also offer extended range without changing the missile’s form factor. These are just some of the possible features that could be included in a successor to the ESSM Block 2.
“The Next-Generation Highly Loaded Grain project team has matured the technology and seeded the development of future mission-modular propulsion systems that can increase weapon ranges by up to 1.5x while maintaining inner boundaries for short-range and time-critical… pic.twitter.com/gA7mlcSSi7
The notice about the NSV missile system does say that “potential industry partners,” as well as “existing” ones, are welcome at the upcoming meeting on the NSV missile system, which would seem to at least leave open the possibility of a follow-on to the ESSM Block 2 that has a substantially different design.
“Drivers for development include stressing simultaneous engagement scenarios, the need to develop fully releasable technologies using open architecture standards for all consortium partners to openly share, and the need to maintain capability with current consortium systems to the greatest extent possible while limiting ship support,” the notice also says, without further elaborating.
It is worth noting here that the Block 2 variant of the ESSM was itself developed in response to what the Navy described as a need for improved “capability against the most stressing ASCM threats in challenging environments.”
An old Navy briefing slide discussing the differences between the Block 1 and Block 2 ESSMs, as well as driving factors behind the Block 2’s development. USN
Navy warships, as well as those belonging to other members of the NSPO consortium, now face an aerial threat matrix that includes even more advanced supersonic, as well as hypersonic ASCMs. There is also the increasing likelihood that they could be layered in with anti-ship ballistic missiles and multiple tiers of drones, creating additional complexity for defenders. While an ESSM successor would not be tasked with ballistic missile defense, improved capability against other threats would give the crew of a ship greater flexibility to respond to an incoming complex attack. The Navy has been trying to accelerate work on high-power microwave directed energy weapons for the same general reasons.
The US Navy’s Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Carney fires a Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) against a Houthi threat while sailing in the Red Sea in October 2023. USN The US Navy’s Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Carney fires an SM-2 missile at Houthi aerial threats on October 19, 2023. USN
U.S. lessons learned from naval operations against the Houthis, as well as in the defense of Israel from Iran on multiple occasions since April 2024, have underscored the importance of magazine depth, even in the face of attacks involving relatively modest volumes of threats. Those experiences have also highlighted the vital need for at-sea reloading capabilities. Navy ships would be subjected to a wider array of threats in substantially larger volumes, and would burn through interceptors at a higher rate, in any future high-end fight, such as one against China in the Pacific.
Overall, much remains to be learned about the plans for a follow-on to the Block 2 ESSM, but there are clear threat drivers that would prompt a desire for a successor.
L.A. County prosecutors tried to force City Councilman Curren Price’s wife to testify before a grand jury and served subpoenas on several members of his City Hall staff earlier this year, three sources told The Times.
The grand jury was convened in March, according to three sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because grand jury proceedings are secret under California law. Price’s attorney, Michael Schafler, also confirmed the existence of a grand jury proceeding in a new court filing on Thursday.
The convening of a grand jury, coupled with news that prosecutors filed additional charges against Price earlier this week, marks a significant uptick in the district attorney’s office’s focus on the veteran councilman. Price was first charged in 2023 after voting in favor of multiple measures that prosecutors allege would financially benefit his wife, real estate consultant Del Richardson.
Documents made public Thursday also show the district attorney’s office considered Richardson a “suspect” in the criminal investigation into her husband as recently as 2022.
The councilman has denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
Richardson ultimately did not testify before the grand jury, though it was not clear why, according to two of the sources. No criminal charges were filed against Richardson. The district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to questions about that decision Thursday.
“I would not expect Del Richardson to be charged because she has done nothing wrong,” said Richardson’s attorney, Adam Kamenstein. “She is also completely confident that her husband, Councilman Price, will soon be fully vindicated, and she looks forward to being able to put this matter behind them.”
Price now faces 12 criminal counts in total accusing him of grand theft by embezzlement, perjury and violating state conflict of interest laws. Prosecutors allege Price repeatedly voted in favor of measures to sell buildings or support grants for developers or agencies that had previously contracted with his wife’s consulting firm, Del Richardson & Associates.
Price has also been accused of bilking the city out of $33,000 in medical premiums by listing his wife as a beneficiary of his city-issued healthcare plan between 2013 and 2017, before they were legally married.
In documents made public Thursday morning, a summary of the district attorney’s office’s investigation written in 2022 described Richardson as a “suspect” in the case.
An investigator wrote that Richardson committed perjury and aided and abetted in Price’s alleged embezzlement by seeking to recoup healthcare costs from the city of Inglewood, where Price formerly served as a councilman, between 2015 and 2017, according to the summary document. Price and Richardson were not legally married at the time as Price did not divorce his first wife until 2018, prosecutors allege.
Prosecutors served subpoenas on several members of Price’s City Hall staff and several former employees of Del Richardson & Associates, which Richardson sold to the Greenwood Seneca Foundation several years ago, the sources said.
The purpose of the grand jury was also unclear, as two of the sources said questions asked by prosecutors were not focused on the charges already filed against Price.
In a motion seeking to dismiss all charges filed Thursday morning, Schafler questioned the legality of the grand jury proceedings.
Schafler said the grand jury hearings “appear to impermissibly have been for the primary purpose of discovery and preparing for the preliminary hearing and trial in this action, which had already been pending since June 2023.”
Grand juries are held in secret and transcripts of such proceedings only become public if an indictment is returned against the target of the hearing. Price has not been indicted.
The district attorney’s office said it could not comment on grand jury proceedings without court authorization.
“The Grand Jury process involves two types of Grand Juries: Investigative and Indicting. An Investigative Grand Jury investigates and does not seek an Indictment,” the office said in a statement.
It was not clear which type of grand jury was convened in Price’s case. It is rare for prosecutors to fail to convince a grand jury to return an indictment.
In a motion seeking to dismiss charges in 2023, Price’s attorney argued prosecutors could not prove that past payments to Richardson’s company had any influence on the councilman’s voting record. Many of the votes that prosecutors zeroed in on passed easily, with Price’s vote making no difference to their success or failure.
Under California law, criminal cases can proceed from the filing of charges to a trial by two pathways. More often than not, defendants face a preliminary hearing where a judge must decide if prosecutors have enough evidence to prove there is probable cause for a defendant to stand trial.
Prosecutors can also seek an indictment before a grand jury, a move that limits what counterarguments defense attorneys can put forth and protects witnesses from cross-examination. In recent years, L.A. County prosecutors have convened grand juries to indict disgraced porn star Ron Jeremy on a litany of rape allegations and to review manslaughter charges against Torrance police officers.
Price appeared in court on Thursday morning to answer the two new charges filed against him earlier this week. On Tuesday, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said that between 2019 and 2021, Price voted in support of grants and funding for L.A. Metro and the city’s housing authority after Richardson’s firm was paid more than $800,000 combined by both agencies.
Joined by about two dozen supporters who sat in the back rows of the courtroom, Price pleaded not guilty to the new charges. His attorney said he would file a motion to dismiss those charges later on Thursday.
Prosecutors said the councilman’s staff “flagged the conflict of interest prior to the votes” that prompted the new charges.
Price’s spokeswoman, Angelina Valencia, did not respond directly to that allegation. But she said the councilman’s office has always “carried out a multi-layered process to identify and address potential conflicts of interests, work that is highly complex and requires thorough review.”
“Each month, our legislative team reviews hundreds of Council and Committee votes, cross-checking for potential conflicts,” she said.
Schafler has repeatedly argued that Price did not knowingly violate conflict of interest laws.
One of California’s largest agricultural employers plans to close a Central Valley grape nursery by the end of the year after laying off hundreds of employees, including many supportive of a United Farm Workers effort to unionize the workforce.
Wonderful Co., owned by billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, plans to shut down the majority of the nursery in Wasco, northwest of Bakersfield, and donate the farm to UC Davis, representatives for the company and the university confirmed this week.
The move comes as Wonderful Nurseries remains locked in a battle with the UFW after the union last year petitioned to represent workers growing grapevines, using a new state “card check” law that made it easier for organizers to sign up workers. Company officials said their decision was unrelated to that.
“The decision to wind down Wonderful Nurseries was purely a business decision and in no way, shape or form related to our ongoing litigation with the UFW or the fraud so many farm workers reported by the union,” Wonderful Co. spokesman Seth Oster said.
In February, Wonderful Nurseries President Rob C. Yraceburu said in an email to employees that the state’s agricultural industry has seen tens of thousands of orchard and vineyard acres abandoned or removed. The table and wine grape industry is in a major downturn, meaning nurseries such as theirs have seen “significantly decreased sales and record losses, with no expectation of a turnaround anytime soon.”
Yet some labor experts and Wonderful employees are questioning the timing of the layoffs, which started just five months after the UFW won a key legal victory in its effort to organize the workforce.
Victor Narro, a labor studies professor at UCLA, said the closure and donation to UC Davis should be scrutinized.
“The question is, what’s the reason they’re doing it?” he said. “Is it really, in the end, to avoid unionization of the workforce? Or is it really that they’re making a sound financial decision?”
The UFW has not directly accused the Resnicks of retaliating against workers supportive of the union by closing the farm. But it has raised questions about the timing of both the layoffs and this week’s confirmation the nursery would be closed.
The entrance to Wonderful Nurseries on March 25, 2024, in Wasco, Calif.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
At its seasonal peak, the 1,400-acre nursery employs about 600 workers who would have been part of the bargaining unit, but now only 20 still work at the facility, said Elizabeth Strater, director of strategic campaigns for the union. Overall, about 100 employees now work there, according to the company.
Yraceburu told employees there will be a phasedown in shutting the grape nursery. Workers, including those employed by farm labor contractors, will have an opportunity to apply for other Wonderful worksites, he said. A company spokesman said no other Wonderful farm is facing a similar reduction in workforce.
The nursery has been operating at a significant loss for several years, Oster said, but he did not say for how long or just how much it has lost.
It was not immediately clear whether UC Davis will recognize the farmworkers union once the university takes control of the nursery.
In a statement, UC Davis spokesperson Bill Kisliuk said the university is grateful for the gift, which includes the Wasco facility combined with a $5-million startup donation. The university will form an implementation committee to plan the use of the facility, Kisliuk said.
Although the university has a long history of respecting labor agreements, he said, the academic use of the site will be significantly different from the current commercial operation.
“This gift expands and builds upon one of the world’s leading agricultural research programs and will catalyze discovery and innovation,” he said. “We look forward to working with the Wonderful Company to successfully transfer the Wasco facilities and property to the University later this year.”
The Resnicks are big donors to state politicians and charities, but their philanthropy has been the target of recent union organizing efforts. In late July, UFW and other labor organizers gathered outside the Hammer Museum, the recipient of more than $30 million in donations from the Resnicks, who have a building named after them. The gathering came after the union released a video that appeared to show a Wonderful employee paying other workers to participate in an anti-union protest.
In the video, the worker, who has been a forefront anti-union advocate and has organized protests, is seen handing out $100 bills from the trunk of a car and encouraging workers to sign a sheet. In a separate video, she can be heard saying that she was directed to first feed everyone, hand out $100 and then they would receive an additional $50.
The unedited versions of the videos were shown during a hearing before an administrative law judge for the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board, where Wonderful Co. has challenged the UFW’s petition to represent the nursery employees. The board oversees collective bargaining for farmworkers in the state and also investigates charges of unfair labor practices.
Wonderful Nurseries in Wasco.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Now that Wonderful is closing its Wasco grape nursery, it is unclear what will happen in the proceedings, because there will soon be no workers to unionize. But the board could issue a ruling that would affect future disputes.
The UFW and Wonderful Co. have traded accusations over the last year: The company accused the union of using $600 in COVID-19 federal relief funds to trick farmworkers into signing the authorization cards. The company submitted nearly 150 signed declarations from nursery workers saying they had not understood that by signing the cards they were voting to unionize.
The UFW has rejected those accusations and, with the video, is suggesting that workers were paid to protest against the unionization effort at the height of the back-and-forth a year ago.
Rosa M. Silva, a Wonderful Nurseries worker for the last six years, said tensions have long been running high at the nursery, with some co-workers saying they don’t have a right to ask for raises or benefits. She said she believes that the company would rather shut down the nursery to avoid negotiating with them, a claim that Wonderful has forcefully rejected.
In July, Silva took a day off work and rallied outside the Hammer Museum. Protesters handed out fliers that read: “Tell Wonderful Company’s billionaire owners: Respect the farm workers. Stop spending money fighting the United Farm Workers.”
“This is my message to the Resnicks: if you can give millions to this art museum, which a majority of your workers will never visit, why can’t you also pay your workers something fair?” she said at the protest. “If you care so much about being respected by artists and lovers of art, why can’t you respect the people who plant, grow and harvest the products you sell?”
The UFW filed its petition with the labor board in February last year, asserting that a majority of the 600-plus farmworkers at Wonderful Nurseries in Wasco had signed the authorization cards and asking that the UFW be certified as their union representative.
At the time, it appeared to be the UFW’s third victorious unionization drive in a matter of months — following diminishing membership rates over the last several years.
Under the law, a union can organize farmworkers by inviting them to sign authorization cards at off-site meetings without notifying their employer. Under the old rules, farmworkers voted on union representation by secret ballot at a polling site designated by the state labor board, typically on employer property. The state law has since revitalized the union’s organizing efforts, and it has gone on to organize other farms.
Wonderful has sued the state to stop the card-check law. A ruling by a Kern County Superior Court judge that found the certification process under the card-check law as “likely unconstitutional” was superseded in October by an appellate court, which is still reviewing the case.
Ana Padilla, executive director of the UC Merced Community and Labor Center, said the Central Valley has been blanketed with anti-union messaging ever since the passage of the card-check law.
She also questioned the timing of shutting down the Wasco nursery. “Layoffs, store closures and offloading organized worksites are all part of the anti-unionism playbook,” she said.
This article is part of The Times’ equity reporting initiative,funded by the James Irvine Foundation, exploring the challenges facing low-income workers and the efforts being made to addressCalifornia’s economic divide.
Devil’s Den State Park in Washington County, Ark., was part of the Ozarks. Photo Arkansas State Parks/X
July 27 (UPI) — “All available resources are being used” to find the suspect in the deaths of a couple hiking on a trail at a northwest Arkansas state park, Col. Mike Hagar of the Arkansas State Police said Sunday.
Clinton David Brink, 43, and his wife, Cristenb Amanda Brinks, 41, were killed at Devil’s Den State Park near Fayetteville in Washington County on Saturday afternoon, state police said. The couple, who recently moved to Prairie Grove from another state, were hiking with their daughters, 7 and 9, who were not injured.
They are safe and in the custody of relatives, police said.
“I want to thank the public and our media partners for their support as we pursue the man responsible for this heinous crime,” Hagar said in a statement. “We are using all available resources to apprehend this suspect and bring him to justice.”
Assisting are local, state and federal law enforcement.
The 2,500-acre park is in a remote and rural area, including rugged terrain with thick vegetation and no cellphone service. The park includes several trails and 20 miles for horseback riding.
The park is in Lee Creek Valley of the Boston Mountains, which are part of the Ozarks. It was selected as a state park in the 1930s, and developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a work relief program established during the Great Depression.
Devil’s Den also includes caves, an 8-acre man-made lake for fishing and boating, as well as a swimming pool. Campsites and cabins are also available.
Police were dispatched at 2:40 p.m. local time Saturday.
Investigators have not released the circumstances of the situation but have launched a double homicide investigation.
They are asking for the public’ help in identifying the suspect.
“Investigators are asking those who visited the park on Saturday to check cellphone photos and videos or GoPro camera footage for images of the suspect,” according to the police statement.
Also, people nearby are asked to check their home security camera footage.
The state police believe he is a White man with a medium build who was carrying a backpack.
Police said he was driving toward a park exit in a black, four-door sedan, possibly a Mazda.
The vehicle may have been going on State Highway 170 to State Highway 220 near the park.
There is increased law enforcement in all of the state parks.
“We are praying for the family and friends of the victims, and know that law enforcement will not rest until the perpetrator is brought to justice,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders posted on X.
DENVER — Roger Hutson was never a huge fan of Donald Trump.
In 2016, he supported Marco Rubio for president, helping raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for his Republican primary bid.
In 2024, Hutson worked with “No Labels,” a group of Democrats, Republicans and independents, to forge a bipartisan ticket with the express purpose of keeping either Trump or Joe Biden from winning the White House.
Is this “really the best we can do in a country of 330 million people?” Hutson asked in a Denver Post opinion piece after the effort collapsed and another Trump-Biden matchup seemed inevitable. The failure, he suggested, was “a sad commentary on the status of leadership in America.”
But something unexpected happened over the last six months. Trump won Hutson over.
He’s not gone full-fledged MAGA. “No, no, no!” he insisted, scoffing at the notion of driving down the street, Trump flag waving. And he’s not about to jump on JD Vance’s political bandwagon, the likeliest vehicle for extending Trumpism in 2028 and beyond.
“I’m acknowledging the accomplishments of the man in the office,” Hutson said, with emphasis on the White House’s current occupant, whom he supported over Kamala Harris. “I’m very impressed.”
Views of the 47th president, from the ground up
It’s not, as one might suppose, because the Denver oil and gas executive is enamored of Trump’s exhortations to “Drill, baby, drill! (“No, baby, no!” is more like it, as Hutson believes oversupply would drive prices down.)
Rather, Hutson credits Trump with achieving a good deal of what he promised during the 2024 campaign.
But Hutson’s conversion shows that in a country deeply dug into oppositional camps, where political views appear cement-hardened into place, there are still those open to persuasion and even willing to change their minds.
As confounding as that might seem.
::
Hutson, 65, was a Republican his whole life, until leaving the party sometime in the 2010s. Or, more precisely, he felt “the party left me.”
A growing stridency around abortion and same-sex marriage was particularly off-putting to Hutson, who describes himself as a conservative on fiscal issues and a live-and-let-live type on social matters. “If you’re lucky enough in life to find somebody you love,” he said, “God bless.”
Hutson has long been active in civic and political affairs, serving on various boards and commissions under Democrats and Republicans alike. He recalled attending a meeting some years ago when GOP leaders gathered to discuss Colorado’s increasingly blue coloration.
“If winning means nominating an African American lesbian with antennae coming out of her head,” then Republicans should do so, Hutson suggested.
That didn’t go over well.
But it fit Hutson’s approach to politics.
He grew up an Army brat, moving around the world until his father completed his military career and settled in Golden, Colo., to take a job at a family lumber business. For all the impermanence — packing up and relocating just about every two years — Hutson said his upbringing was in many ways ideal, shaping his outlook to this day.
The military, he said, reflects the best of America: unity, shared purpose, teamwork. “I think it teaches you a lot of tolerance,” he said. “I think it teaches you a lot of acceptance.”
His GOP pedigree came from his father, the Army colonel. But it wasn’t the scorched-earth version of today’s Republican Party, in which Democrats and their philosophy are regarded as the root of all evil.
“I was catching such hell from people. ‘How dare you invite a Democrat to speak to this group?’ ” Hutson remembered being chastised. “And I said, ‘Well, he’s our governor, isn’t he? I think it’d be an honor.’ ”
After some initial puzzlement from the governor’s office — are you sure? — Romer came and spoke, holding just the kind of cross-party conversation that Hutson wishes occurred more often among politicians in worlds-apart Washington.
“I’d love for Trump to have a weekly meeting with [Democratic House leader] Hakeem Jeffries,” Hutson said as he sat high above downtown Denver, his office decor — dark leather, rugged mountain landscape, a display of amber liquids — suggesting a Western cigar bar theme.
“I would love for Trump to sit down weekly with [Chuck] Schumer” — the Democratic Senate leader — or bring Schumer and the GOP Senate leader, John Thune, together and say, “ ‘How do we work our way through this?’ ”
Could you imagine that, Hutson asked, before answering his own question.
Nope. Never gonna happen.
::
Nothing, and no individual, is perfect. But Hutson looks to the bottom line, and he’s willing to accept trade-offs.
Trump may be toying with tariffs — up, down, all around. But at least he’s addressing the country’s one-sided trade relationships in a way, Hutson said, no president has before.
He may be off base calling for a drastic ramp-up of domestic oil production. But in general, Hutson said, Trump’s welcoming message to business is, “What can we do to be more helpful?”
“We need to bring in the workers we need,” Hutson said. “I mean, if somebody’s coming here to work and be a meaningful part of society, God bless, man.”
Not perfect. But, all in all, a better and stronger presidential performance, Hutson suggested, than many with their blind hatred of Trump can see, or are willing to acknowledge.
“I’ve got to look at the results,” Hutson said, “and despite his caustic attitude and behavior, I think he’s done a really, really good job.”
When Barack Obama was elected president, Hutson recalled, one of his Democratic friends, a Black man, said to him, “ ‘Roger, you’ve got a Black president.’ And I said, ‘You know, Kevin, you’re right. And he’s my president, just like he’s your president.
“ ‘We don’t have to agree on everything but, by God, he’s the president of the United States and we respect that office.’ ”
Hutson paused. His eyes narrowed, disapprovingly. “We’ve lost that,” he said.
More than 800 homeowners in Pacific Palisades, Altadena and other areas affected by January’s wildfires have applied for rebuilding permits, according to a Times analysis of local government permitting data.
Of those, at least 145 have received approval to start construction on major repairs or replacement of their homes in the cities of Los Angeles, Malibu and Pasadena and in Altadena and other unincorporated areas of L.A. County, the analysis found.
At events this week commemorating the fires’ six-month mark, state and local leaders have celebrated the pace of cleanup efforts, touting their completion months ahead of schedule. Nearly 13,000 households were displaced by the Palisades and Eaton fires, which ripped through the communities Jan. 7 and 8.
“Now we turn the page to rebuilding, and we’re doing it with a clear plan, strong partnerships and the urgency this moment demands,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
Weekly data analyzed by The Times show an increasing pace of permit applications submitted to local authorities. Homeowners, architects and contractors working on approved projects praised the process as speedy and efficient. But some residents said that despite official promises of removing barriers and rapid turnarounds, they’ve been mired in delays.
At many sites, construction is already underway. Five years ago, while pregnant with her second child, Alexis Le Guier and her husband, Andrew, moved into a newly constructed five-bedroom home in the Palisades’ Alphabet Streets area. A lifelong Angeleno, Le Guier wanted to take advantage of the neighborhood‘s schools and walkability, as well as live closer to her parents in Brentwood. The day after the fire, they started making calls to rebuild their home.
“The thought of moving was unfathomable,” said Le Guier, 41. “Of course I’m coming back. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”
The Le Guiers, who were underinsured, benefited from having recent architectural plans, which saved them significant time and money. They made minor changes before submitting them to the city and received their permit 40 days later in early June. Their foundation was poured last week and lumber was delivered to the site soon after.
“The thought of moving was unfathomable,” said Alexis Le Guier, 41. “Of course I’m coming back. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Many of the homeowners who have secured permits similarly had recent plans to work from or other advantages, such as quick insurance payouts, according to several architects and contractors. State and local officials have attempted to streamline the permitting process, especially for those who want to build homes comparable to the ones destroyed, by waiving some development rules and fees and opening “one-stop” centers that centralize planning and building reviews.
Jason Somers, president of Crest Real Estate, a development firm, said the efforts have helped city plan checkers respond to applications with urgency.
“They are getting us permits quicker than we’ve ever seen before,” Somers said.
Somers’ firm is working on nearly 100 fire rebuilding projects, primarily in Pacific Palisades. Most of its clients, Somers said, aren’t ready to submit plans because they’re designing custom homes different from what they had previously. Somers said the city’s response so far encouraged him, but the test would come as the volume of applications increased.
“We shall see what the workflow looks like when we see 1,000 projects,” he said.
As of July 6, 389 homeowners had submitted applications to rebuild in the Palisades, roughly 8% of the 4,700 residential properties destroyed or majorly damaged by the fire, according to The Times’ analysis.
Property owners often need multiple permits. In addition to one for the main structure, the process might involve permits for demolition, electrical infrastructure, swimming pools, if included, and more. The Times’ analysis counts one application for each address no matter how many supplemental permits may be required. Additionally, the L.A. County data are limited to submissions that already have cleared an initial review by county planners.
Generally, applications at both the city and county level have been rising every week. The week of June 22 had the largest number for both the city and county with 36 and 34 submissions, respectively.
The city has approved nearly a quarter of those it’s received. L.A. County has issued permits for 15% of its 352 applications as of July 6, covering Altadena and unincorporated areas affected by the Palisades fire. In Pasadena, 20 property owners have submitted with two approved. For Malibu, 77 homeowners have submitted applications with none approved.
On average, it’s taken 55 days for the city of L.A. to issue a permit, including time it’s waited for applicants to respond to corrections, The Times’ analysis shows. The county process is slower. Once an application has been cleared by county planners, it’s been another 60 days on average for a building permit to be issued, according to the analysis.
Roberto Covarrubias, who has lived with his family in Altadena for a decade, said county officials haven’t delivered on their promises to make the process as fast as possible. His home was built in 2009 and he went to various offices seeking the original architectural plans — his paper copies burned in the fire — only to be told they didn’t exist. Weeks later, after Covarrubias hired a new architect, the county said it had located electronic plans for his old house.
Covarrubias wants to add a cellar to his new home to house the water heater and other machinery. County officials told him doing so would require additional soil testing, which he estimated would take a month and cost another $7,000. After three weeks of back-and-forth with his architect, Covarrubias said the county relented.
Any delay matters, he said. He wants to get ahead of the rush for workers and materials. And his insurance company will not release his payout until his rebuild permits are approved.
“It’s like a waterfall effect,” said Covarrubias, 50, an IT engineer.
His project remains in the permitting pipeline.
City and county officials have had to work through growing pains as they’ve attempted to implement the flurry of executive orders and programs designed to speed rebuilding.
Property owners had waited weeks in the spring, for instance, for guidelines on accessory dwelling unit construction. Last month, after sustained pressure from homeowners, the county agreed to waive permitting fees and refund those who already have paid. (The city waived its fees in April.) Both the city and the county continue testing ballyhooed artificial intelligence software to offer instant corrections to initial permit applications, with activation scheduled for this month.
The city has no immediate plans to hire additional staff or contractors to review permits because its staff is meeting its benchmarks for reviews, according to Gail Gaddi, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.
“However, we will continue to assess the needs of the department and will consider any adjustments as needed,” Gaddi said.
By contrast, County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents areas affected by the Eaton fire, believes the county will need to add to its workforce to meet the demand.
“There needs to be additional staffing whether it’s contractors or permanent staffing,” said Helen Chavez Garcia, a spokesperson for the supervisor.
One of the more promising ways to expedite permitting is through preapproved architectural designs. The idea is that property owners could pick a model home that local governments already have signed off on, meaning the only further review needed was for issues specific to individual sites. The process has been credited for helping rapid recovery in Santa Rosa after the 2017 Tubbs fire.
Here, Somers’ firm is developing a suite of 50 plans called Case Study 2.0, named after the mid-20th century showcase of Southern California architecture. A newly formed San Gabriel Valley nonprofit, the Foothill Catalog Foundation, separately is hoping to design 50 model homes by the end of the year, said Alex Athenson, an architect and co-founder of the initiative. The catalog has had one design, a three-bedroom bungalow called “The Lewis,” approved by L.A. County. Athenson expects to submit nine more by the end of the month.
If a homeowner chooses a preapproved home, Athenson said, the entire permitting process could take two weeks or less.
“It would be incredible if homeowners can have that ease of access to starting construction,” Athenson said.
WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Rep. Billy Long of Missouri was confirmed on Thursday to lead the Internal Revenue Service, giving the beleaguered agency he once sought to abolish a permanent commissioner after months of acting leaders and massive staffing cuts that have threatened to derail next year’s tax filing season.
The Senate confirmed Long on a 53-44 vote despite Democrats’ concerns about the Republican’s past work for a firm that pitched a fraud-ridden coronavirus pandemic-era tax break and about campaign contributions he received after President Trump nominated him to serve as IRS commissioner.
While in Congress, where he served from 2011 to 2023, Long sponsored legislation to get rid of the IRS, the agency he is now tasked with leading. A former auctioneer, Long has no background in tax administration.
Long will take over an IRS undergoing massive change, including layoffs and voluntary retirements of tens of thousands of workers and accusations that then-Trump advisor Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency mishandled sensitive taxpayer data. Unions and advocacy organizations have sued to block DOGE’s access to the information.
The IRS was one of the highest-profile agencies still without a Senate-confirmed leader. Before Long’s confirmation, the IRS shuffled through four acting leaders, including one who resigned over a deal between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security to share immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and another whose appointment led to a fight between Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
After leaving Congress to mount an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate, Long worked with a firm that distributed the pandemic-era employee retention tax credit. That tax credit program was eventually shut down after then-IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel determined that it was fraudulent.
Democrats called for a criminal investigation into Long’s connections to other alleged tax credit loopholes. The lawmakers allege that firms connected to Long duped investors into spending millions of dollars to purchase fake tax credits.
Long appeared before the Senate Finance Committee last month and denied any wrongdoing related to his involvement in the tax credit scheme.
Ahead of the confirmation vote, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles blasting the requisite FBI background check conducted on Long as a political appointee as inadequate.
“These issues were not adequately investigated,” Wyden wrote. “In fact, the FBI’s investigation, a process dictated by the White House, seemed designed to avoid substantively addressing any of these concerning public reports. It’s almost as if the FBI is unable to read the newspaper.”
Democratic lawmakers have also written to Long and his associated firms detailing concerns with what they call unusually timed contributions made to Long’s defunct 2022 Senate campaign committee shortly after Trump nominated him.
The IRS faces an uncertain future under Long. Tax experts have voiced concerns that the 2026 filing season could be hampered by the departure of so many tax collection workers. In April, the Associated Press reported that the IRS planned to cut as many as 20,000 staffers — up to 25% of the workforce. An IRS representative on Thursday confirmed the IRS had shed about that many workers but said the cuts amounted to approximately the same number of IRS jobs added under the Biden administration.
The fate of the Direct File program, the free electronic tax return filing system developed during President Biden’s Democratic administration, is also unclear. Republican lawmakers and commercial tax preparation companies had complained it was a waste of taxpayer money because free filing programs already exist, although they are hard to use. Long said during his confirmation hearing that it would be one of the first programs that come up for discussion if he were confirmed.
Long is not the only Trump appointee to support dismantling an agency he was assigned to manage.
Linda McMahon, the current education secretary, has repeatedly said she is trying to put herself out of a job by closing the federal department and transferring its work to the states. Rick Perry, Trump’s energy secretary during his first term, called for abolishing the Energy Department during his bid for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.
