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(NEW YORK) — More than 18 months after it ignited and became one of the most destructive wildfires in U.S. history, authorities announced the cause of the 2025 Eaton Fire in Southern California.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACFD) and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) on Tuesday released a report blaming the Eaton Fire on electrical arcing events that took place on an out-of-service Southern California Edison (SCE) tower.

The Eaton Fire, which started on Jan. 7, 2025, ravaged the community of Altadena near Los Angeles, killing 19 people and destroying more than 9,400 homes and businesses, authorities said.

“I recognize that no report or investigation into the Eaton Fire can ease the deep pain and tragedy our residents have endured,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone said in a statement. “While the cause has been determined, our focus remains on assisting our residents to rebuild their homes and livelihoods, and ensuring lessons learned drive meaningful and impactful change in memory of the 19 lives lost.”

SCE is the primary electric utility company for much of the Southern California, serving 15 million people.

Lawyers representing plaintiffs in numerous lawsuits against SCE released a joint statement, saying the report leaves the company “no place to hide,” and called it “an important step toward accountability.”

Besides the thousands of homes lost in the Eaton Fire, more than 1,000 other homes were damaged, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

The Eaton Fire caused an estimated $8 billion to $10 billion in damage, according to a 2025 report by Verisk, a global data analytics company serving the insurance sector.

“It’s time for Edison to stop fighting the victims it harmed and provide every Eaton Fire survivor with the full compensation they deserve,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers said.

The report by LACFD and Cal Fire found that the origin of the Eaton Fire was a hillside transmission tower above Eaton Canyon Wash, and sparks from the arching electrical lines set dry vegetation beneath the tower on fire. Gusting winds in the area rapidly spread the blaze into residential areas of Altadena, destroying block after block of homes and prompting thousands of evacuations.

It took about a month for firefighters to fully extinguish the Eaton conflagration, which burned about 22 square miles.

The Eaton Fire occurred the same week as the Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people and wiped out more than 6,800 homes in nearby Pacific Palisades and Malibu. The cause of the Palisades Fire was determined to be arson, and a 29-year-old Florida man was arrested in October of 2025 on charges of setting the fire, officials said.

Together, the Eaton and Palisades fires caused an estimated $28 billion in damage, according to Verisk.

David Eisenhauer, an SCE spokesperson, told ABC News on Tuesday afternoon that the utility giant is reviewing the report from the LA County Fire Department and Cal Fire.

“We have taken our potential role in the start of this fire seriously from the beginning,” Eisenhauer said. “As we’ve previously said, SCE believes that it is likely that its equipment was associated with the ignition of the Eaton Fire.”

Eisenhauer added, “Our hearts are with the Altadena community, and we continue to support them as they recover and rebuild through our Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program.”

ABC News reported on Jan. 13, 2025, as the Eaton and Palisades fires were still burning, that one possible theory for the cause of the Eaton blaze involved transmission lines or electric facilities.

At the time, witnesses shared with ABC News Ring camera and cellphone videos that appeared to show what they believe to be the start of the Eaton Fire at the base of a transmission tower in the Eaton Canyon area.

In their report, fire investigators said that pursuant to the California Public Utilities Code, “SCE is to maintain and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that would minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfire posed by them.”

SCE has claimed in lawsuits filed earlier this year that Los Angeles County emergency authorities failed to send timely evacuation warnings to residents in east and west Altadena. Most of the people who died in the fire lived in west Altadena.

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(NEW YORK) — The Trump administration is set to award a multimillion-dollar contract to a small Texas law firm without immigration expertise to provide legal representation for thousands of unaccompanied migrant children in government custody during immigration proceedings.

In a notice published in the Federal Register, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its intent to award the $150 million contract to Burke Law Group, a law firm headquartered in Houston, Texas.

The notice states the contract would “provide legal orientation, legal consultation, and attorney-of-record representation services for eligible unaccompanied alien children” during immigration proceedings and hearings before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services while the children remain in government custody.

The proposed award comes after legal service providers across the country have said that the administration has withheld $65 million in overdue fees from the previous contract, alleging it is an attempt to force them to turn over confidential information about the migrant children they represent.

Burke Law Group has 26 employees across eight offices, according to its website. None of the firm’s attorneys list immigration law as a practice area. Instead, their practices include administrative law, white-collar defense, commercial litigation, securities litigation and other areas.

ABC News reached out to the law firm for comment and did not immediately get a response.

In December 2023, the Acacia Center for Justice, an immigrant advocacy group, became the prime contract holder with HHS for the Unaccompanied Children Program, overseeing subcontracts with more than 100 service providers that provide legal representation to more than 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children.

A spokesperson with HHS previously told ABC News that its sub-agency, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), “offered Acacia the opportunity” to receive a new federal contract “based on requirements that include they provide the data on who they represent and that they bill [HHS] when they submit applications for immigration relief.” The HHS spokesperson said Acacia refused.

Legal services providers including Acacia have said that ORR was demanding “client-level data that is confidential and legally privileged.”

During the Trump administration, Acacia and many of its subcontracted groups have alleged that unaccompanied children and their sponsors are among those being targeted under the administration’s immigration crackdown.

In June, DHS agents visited the offices of several Washington-area nonprofit organizations that provide legal services to unaccompanied migrant children. Last year, ABC News reported that the administration was directing immigration agents to track down unaccompanied migrant children in the United States.

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(LOS ANGELES) – A man allegedly armed with a pistol was arrested after he was seen taking photos and videos of the Trump National Golf Club grounds in Los Angeles County over the weekend, authorities announced on Tuesday.

Following his arrest, detectives found more firearms and “multiple notebooks containing concerning statements” at the suspect’s residence, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The suspect was identified as 38-year-old Jeanine John Taele of Downey, California. Taele is being held on $250,000 bond and is expected to appear in court on Aug. 26.

Taele is charged in a federal criminal complaint with possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle, a felony carrying a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

“While we are still investigating the motives of this individual, we are thankful he was apprehended before the President’s visit,” Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney, said in a statement. “Federal and local law enforcement stepped in early and prevented what could have been a dangerous situation from occurring. This investigation remains ongoing.”

The golf club incident occurred on Sunday, the sheriff’s department said, a day before it was announced that President Donald Trump is set to visit the Rancho Palos Verdes property this week for a Republican National Committee dinner.

Deputies responded to the golf course Sunday afternoon after plainclothes federal agents reported a “suspicious individual” who was seen walking on the grounds, taking photos and videos and “appearing to monitor security-planning activities,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a release on Tuesday.

Deputies detained the suspect, later identified as Taele, and located his vehicle in the golf club’s parking lot, the sheriff’s department said.

Deputies recovered a 16-round magazine containing hollow-point ammunition from his pants pocket, as well as a loaded pistol with a round chambered and an additional loaded magazine containing hollow-point ammunition from his vehicle, authorities said.

Taele was arrested for carrying a concealed firearm and possession of armor-piercing/prohibited ammunition, the sheriff’s department said.

Detectives executed a search warrant at Taele’s residence Monday afternoon due to the “potential security implications surrounding the incident” and recovered more firearms and ammunition, as well as “multiple notebooks containing concerning statements,” body armor and two radio signal devices, the sheriff’s department said. It did not elaborate on what was allegedly found in the notebooks.

Taele remains in custody, authorities said. Investigators presented the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office earlier Tuesday for filing consideration.

The incident remains under investigation in coordination with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and the United States Secret Service, the sheriff’s department said. Authorities have “identified no credible threat to our communities,” it said.

Trump is planning to attend an RNC dinner at his Rancho Palos Verdes golf club Tuesday evening, where he is set to deliver an economics-focused speech, according to the White House.

Last year, a jury found a man guilty of trying to assassinate Trump at his Florida golf course. Prosecutors said Ryan Routh hid in the bushes of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach and pointed a military-grade SKS rifle towards Trump and a Secret Service agent. Routh was sentenced earlier this year to life in prison.

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(NEW YORK) — Hundreds of Haitian immigrants in Ohio who had Temporary Protected Status have been summoned by the Department of Homeland Security for in-person “check-ins” with the agency, where some have been fitted with ankle monitors, immigration advocates tell ABC News.

The move from the government comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the Trump administration could end TPS for about 350,000 Haitians, as part of the administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown.

Steve Foster, the immigration policy coordinator for the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, said “Haitians with TPS, regardless of whether they have a pending asylum claim, have gotten a ‘DHS Call-In Letter’ to appear at ICE offices in person.”

Some have been given ankle monitors and future court dates, Foster said.

Viles Dorsainvil, executive director of a Haitian support group in Springfield, Ohio, confirmed the government’s effort to call Haitians in Ohio with TPS into ICE offices and fit some of them with ankle monitors.

“We are just helping these folks to go to this appointment, and when they get there, they interview them and eventually put [an] ankle monitor on them,” Dorsainvil said.

TPS status, established by the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, provides work authorization and protection from deportation if a foreign country is deemed by the government to be unsafe because of armed conflict, natural disaster, or “extraordinary and temporary conditions.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said, “Temporary Protected Status is exactly that — temporary. For too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent.”

“What we would say now is it’s closing time, which means you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here,” the statement said.

Dorsainvil said that some TPS holders have lost their work permits, while others who have pending asylum cases still have valid work authorization.

“There is so much anxiety, and they are fearful, and they are uncertain when it comes to what they should do next,” he said.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday voted to advance acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination to permanently lead the Department of Justice.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) The first two deaths of the cyclosporiasis outbreak have been reported in Michigan, the state’s health department announced Monday.

Both people had “significant underlying health conditions that may have been impacted by cyclosporiasis and dehydration,” the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) added. No additional information will be provided, according to the department.

The deaths come as cases in the state have surpassed 11,000 for a total of 11,234, including 193 hospitalizations, MDHHS data shows.

MDHHS added that cyclosporiasis is typically not a life-threatening illness and that deaths are uncommon in the U.S.

Federal health officials have so far linked cases in Michigan and eight other states to shredded iceberg lettuce served at some Taco Bell restaurants. 

Taylor Farms, the supplier of the lettuce, issued a voluntary recall of all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico. Consumers are being advised to throw out or return any iceberg lettuce.

Taco Bell said last month that it is no longer using lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico at any of its restaurants. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wrote on its website that it “is aware of two cyclosporiasis-related deaths in people with underlying health conditions from Michigan as part of this outbreak. CDC will update its website to include laboratory confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths.”

The CDC has previously said it is investigating other outbreaks and illnesses of cyclosporiasis nationally that are unrelated to the nine-state outbreak.

Since May 1, cases of cyclosporiasis have topped 18,000 in 45 states, according to data updated by the CDC on Wednesday.

There are at least 6,707 laboratory-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis, including 423 hospitalizations, the data shows.

The agency is also aware of at least 11,500 additional cases that have not yet been laboratory confirmed or require further investigation and analysis.

The CDC said it can take up to six weeks to determine if a sick person should be counted in the agency’s tally, meaning nationally reported cases may be lower than state totals.

Meanwhile, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published data last week showing a “sharp rise” in cyclosporiasis infections among travelers returning from Mexico.

Between April 30 and July 15, 67 cases have been reported among returning travelers in England, Wales and Scotland. Comparatively, an annual average of 93 cases has been recorded between 2022 and 2025.

UKHSA said it is advising all travelers to take precautions when traveling abroad including “maintaining good food and water hygiene to reduce their risk of infection.”

Cyclospora, the parasite that causes infection, usually spreads through food or water contaminated with feces, according to the CDC.

Foodborne outbreaks of cyclosporiasis have been linked to various types of imported fresh produce, such as raspberries, basil, snow peas, mesclun lettuce and cilantro, the CDC says.

The most common symptom of cyclosporiasis is watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the CDC. Other symptoms nay include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain or bloating.

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