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Couple who survived Franklin and Woolsey fires have no plans to leave Malibu home

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Bruce and Mindy Silverstein fled their Malibu residence because the wind-driven Franklin fireplace encroached on their neighborhood and watched in worry from a close-by lodge because the blaze threatened to destroy their residence within the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains.

The couple had moved to California from the East Coast 13 years in the past to be nearer to their youngsters and had come to like their nook of paradise. They knew the hazards of wildfires and weren’t deterred after the devastating Woolsey fireplace ripped via the neighborhood in 2018, burning practically 97,000 acres throughout the area and destroying greater than 1,600 constructions.

As an alternative, Bruce, a lawyer, was motivated after the fireplace to get entangled in native authorities affairs to advocate for extra neighborhood sources. In 2020, he was elected to the Metropolis Council and final month gained reelection. He was sworn into workplace Dec. 9, the identical night the Franklin fireplace broke out, finally ballooning to 4,000 acres and destroying eight properties and quite a few different constructions.

As of Sunday, the fireplace was 42% contained, officers mentioned.

Bruce Silverstein and his wife, Mindy, stand in their living room that was damaged by the Franklin fire.

The Silverstein’s discovered this week that their home had caught fireplace however that firefighters managed to avoid wasting the two-story construction off Malibu Canyon Street. Nonetheless, the couple misplaced most of their heirlooms and possessions to smoke and water injury.

“We’re fortunate as a result of we weren’t there initially, and we had been secure,” Mindy mentioned. “We nonetheless have our memorabilia and our heirlooms and every little thing smoke broken as they’re, however we’ll get an opportunity to decide on what we wish to preserve.”

Since evacuating their residence, the Silversteins and their German shepard Rain Bu have stayed at a pal’s place for an evening and at motels as they waited to be taught concerning the situation of their residence.

The living room fireplace in Bruce Silverstein's home was damaged by the Franklin fire.

After a fireplace broke out in one of many residence’s partitions early Tuesday, the household was sure that their residence was “toasted,” Bruce mentioned. Safety cameras confirmed the bushes and grounds round their residence all ablaze.

After the fireplace had swept via the world, they discovered that firefighters managed to interrupt in and extinguish the fireplace.

“They gave us a tour of the home and confirmed us what had occurred. They’re very pleased with the work they did,” Bruce mentioned. “They saved the home.”

The couple are nonetheless attempting to determine what they’ll salvage from what stays. They’ve been moved by the outpouring of assist from family and friends, together with a girl who gave them a bag of canine toys for Rain Bu and pals who’ve provided them locations to remain.

“I believe individuals are largely in gratitude proper now,” mentioned Bruce, who has obtained calls and emails from constituents concerning the fireplace. “It was what it was, and it couldn’t have been any totally different. However I believe for probably the most half, I’m sensing the neighborhood sentiment is: ‘Thank God for the fireplace division.’ They saved every little thing. They saved lives. They saved properties. We had minimal properties that had been destroyed.”

After the Woolsey fireplace, he helped manage an effort to cut back authorized charges charged by legislation companies to residents who suffered losses within the fireplace. He additionally labored with a charity to herald psychologists to assist residents dealing with the trauma of the fireplace and provide free remedy periods.

He mentioned that have has ready him to assist residents and town get via the aftermath of the Franklin fireplace.

Bruce Silverstein and his wife, Mindy, walk past a pile of debris after their home was damaged by the Franklin fire.

In an electronic mail to residents, Bruce warned that contractors, legal professionals, non-public insurance coverage adjusters and different fire-related service suppliers are “flocking into Malibu [like] vultures to benefit from our susceptible place.”

“They declare to offer assist, however they’re in search of work and have their very own pursuits first,” he wrote. “We have to take our time, band collectively, and get the perfect service from the perfect service suppliers for the perfect costs for everybody.”

When requested whether or not they had been contemplating transferring out of Malibu, the Silversteins mentioned they don’t have any intentions of leaving. Different longtime residents who misplaced their properties to wildfires selected to remain and rebuild, Bruce mentioned.

“I don’t suppose twice about it,” he mentioned. “Simply so long as we are able to afford to dwell there after we restore our residence, I don’t have any want to go anyplace else.”

Instances employees author Matt Hamilton contributed to this report.

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Detained citizen says agents bragged after arresting dozens at Home Depot

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A 37-year-old U.S. citizen who was tackled to the bottom and arrested after filming federal agents at Home Depot on Thursday mentioned he was held for greater than an hour at Dodger Stadium, the place brokers boasted about what number of immigrants they arrested.

“What number of our bodies did you guys seize right now?” he mentioned one agent requested.

“Oh, we grabbed 31,“ the opposite replied.

“That was a superb day right now,” the primary agent responded.

The 2 high-fived, as Garcia sat on the asphalt below the solar, he mentioned.

Job Garcia was launched on Friday from a downtown federal detention heart. No obvious felony expenses have but to be filed. He’s considered one of a number of U.S residents arrested throughout enforcement operations in current days. Division of Homeland Safety officers say some have illegally interfered with brokers’ jobs.

In response to questions on why Garcia was arrested and if he’d been charged, a spokesperson for the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in L.A. beneficial a reporter contact the Division of Homeland Safety.

DHS and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol didn’t reply to a request for remark

Job Garcia in his apartment in Silver Lake Friday, June 20, 2025 in Los Angeles, CA.

Garcia mentioned he was shaken by what he heard whereas he was detained.

“They name them ‘our bodies,’ they cut back them to our bodies,” he mentioned. “My blood was boiling.”

Garcia, a photographer and doctoral pupil Claremont Graduate College had been selecting up a supply at Residence Depot, when somebody approached the client desk and mentioned one thing was unfolding outdoors.

“La migra, La migra,” he heard as he walked out. He rapidly grabbed his telephone and adopted brokers across the car parking zone, telling them they have been “f— ineffective” till he got here to a bunch of them forming a half-circle round a field truck.

A Border Patrol agent radioed somebody after which slammed his baton towards the passenger window, his video reveals. Glass shattered. He unlocked the door as individuals shouted.

Within the video, a shocked man might be seen texting behind the wheel. He had apparently refused to open his door.

It’s unclear from the footage what occurred subsequent, however Garcia mentioned an agent lunged towards him and pushed him.

“My first response was to love push his hand off,” he recalled. Then, he mentioned, the agent grabbed his left arm, twisted it behind his again and threw his telephone.

The agent introduced him to the bottom and three different brokers jumped in, Garcia mentioned

“Get the f— down sir” and “give me your f— hand. You need it, you bought it, sir, you f— bought it. You need to go to jail, high-quality. You bought it,” an agent might be heard saying within the video.

“You wished it, you bought it,” the person yelled.

An agent handcuffed him so exhausting “that there was no circulation working to my fingers,” Garcia mentioned.

Pinned down, Garcia had problem respiratory.

“That second, I assumed I might in all probability die right here,” he mentioned.

The agent put Garcia’s telephone again in his pocket. The recording saved working.

As Garcia was put right into a car, his video captured an agent twice saying: “I’ve bought one again right here.”

“You bought one what?” Garcia shot again. “You bought one what?”

He mentioned an agent informed him in damaged Spanish to “wait right here,’ although it couldn’t be heard on the video.

“I f— converse English, you f— dumbass,” he clearly shouts again.

No agent requested if he was an American citizen, he mentioned. No one requested for identification.

“They assumed that I used to be undocumented,” he mentioned later in an interview.

The video ends after about 4 minutes, whereas he’s ready within the van.

Garcia requested an agent to get his pockets from his automobile, so he might show he was a U.S. citizen. One other agent retrieved his ID, however he remained handcuffed.

They have been so tight, his arms started to swell.

The brokers switched him to handcuffs that appeared like shoelaces. They took off round a nook, stopped to shuffle him into one other van and sped off down the 101 Freeway.

“I smeared my blood of their seat,” he mentioned. And he thought, “They’re going to recollect me.”

With him within the van was a Mexican man, face downcast, who mentioned his spouse was six months pregnant.

“My spouse informed me to not go to work right now,” the person mentioned. “One thing doesn’t really feel proper,” he mentioned she informed him.

“It broke my coronary heart,” Garcia mentioned. “I want he was the one who bought away after they have been making an attempt to seize me.”

On what he described as a ramp going into Dodger stadium near Lot K, Garcia was taken out of the automobile and informed to take a seat on the asphalt as brokers shuffled detainees into totally different vans and processed them for about an hour. A lady ran his background for felony offenses.

It felt surreal and enraging.

“They have been making an attempt to construct some type of case,” Garcia mentioned. He informed The Occasions he was arrested at 17 for driving and not using a license.

After they transported him, brokers later fingerprinted him and tried to interrogate him.

The agent mentioned they wished to “take your aspect of the story.”

Garcia declined.

He mentioned he overheard an agent inform somebody, “Trump is basically working us.”

Whereas held at a downtown detention facility, he met Adrian Martinez.

Martinez, a 20-year-old Walmart employee and in addition a U.S. citizen, had been arrested on Tuesday whereas he tried to cease the arrest of a person who cleaned a shopping mall in Pico Rivera. The 2 spoke for about 10 minutes, as Martinez waited to go to court docket.

“You’re the Walmart child, proper?” he requested him.

Garcia informed him what had unfolded outdoors the Residence Depot.

“That’s precisely what occurred to me,” he mentioned Martinez informed him. “They have been bullying this older man. I didn’t like that so I went and confronted them they usually put their arms on me and I pushed their arms off.”

U.S. Atty. Invoice Essayli posted a photograph of Martinez on X and mentioned he “was arrested for an allegation of punching a border patrol agent within the face after he tried to impede their immigration enforcement operation.” Martinez was charged in a felony grievance with conspiracy to impede a federal officer.

The grievance makes no reference to a punch, however alleges that Martinez blocked brokers’ autos along with his automobile after which later a trash can.

“A grievance usually incorporates one cost and doesn’t embody the complete scope of a defendant’s conduct, or the proof that will probably be introduced at trial,” mentioned Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in L.A. “Contemplating that is an energetic case, we is not going to be offering additional feedback outdoors of court docket proceedings.”

Martinez was launched Friday on a $5,000 bond.

“U.S. Lawyer Essayli and U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino outrageously alleged that Adrian assaulted a federal agent,” Martinez’s attorneys mentioned in an announcement. “Nonetheless he has not been charged with an assault cost as a result of he didn’t assault anybody, and the proof of that’s clear.”

Garcia mentioned his cellmate was apprehensive about these protests. He requested, “Don’t you assume the protesters who’re on the market destroying property, rioters, is a nasty look?”

“Rioting is the language of the unheard,” he mentioned, riffing on a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

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Mahmoud Khalil Must Be Released on Bail, Federal Judge Orders

Mr. Khalil, a Columbia graduate and authorized everlasting resident, has been held in Louisiana for over three months. The decide discovered motive to consider it was retaliation for his pro-Palestinian speech.

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What is the price of gold today?

Stock market financial exchange and Trading graph — Understanding as we speak’s gold spot worth can preserve you knowledgeable and enable you make sound investing choices.

Busakorn Pongparnit/Getty Photographs

Gold has for hundreds of years been a gorgeous commodity. Not solely is the dear steel considered as a type of foreign money, but it surely’s thought of a gorgeous funding commodity as nicely. That is particularly the case when market or financial uncertainty hits. In reality, gold is typically viewed as a safe-haven asset and inflation hedge.

And, physical gold, like gold bars and coins, has traditionally held its worth, making it a wise wager for a lot of buyers. That mentioned, the price of gold can and can fluctuate within the brief time period, so it is essential to control these modifications if you wish to purchase gold on the proper time.

Able to get began? Find out how gold investing can benefit you here.

What’s the worth of gold as we speak?

As of June 18, 2025, the value of gold is $3,394.42 per ounce, in keeping with American Hartford Gold. Whereas that determine represents the market’s evaluation of the dear steel’s present worth, it is essential to notice that gold costs are topic to fixed fluctuations resulting from quite a lot of components.

Explore your gold investing options here.

Elements that affect the value of gold

Quite a few components can impression the spot worth of gold, together with:

Provide and demand: Like some other commodity, the value of gold is basically influenced by the fundamental financial precept of provide and demand. When demand for gold will increase, and the provision stays fixed or decreases, costs are likely to rise. Conversely, when demand drops or provide will increase, costs might fall.
Financial situations: The state of the worldwide economic system performs a major position in figuring out gold costs. Throughout times of economic uncertainty, akin to recessions or monetary crises, buyers usually flock to gold as a safe-haven asset, driving up its worth. In distinction, robust financial situations can result in lowered curiosity in gold and decrease costs.
Inflation: Gold is commonly seen as a hedge against inflation. When the buying energy of fiat currencies erodes resulting from inflation, buyers search refuge in property like gold that retain their worth over time. As inflation rises, gold costs usually observe go well with.
Rates of interest: The connection between gold costs and rates of interest is inversely proportional. When rates of interest are low, the chance value of holding gold (which does not present any yield) is minimal, making gold extra enticing. Conversely, when rates of interest rise, the chance value of holding gold will increase, doubtlessly resulting in decrease demand and decrease costs.
Geopolitical uncertainty: Political instability, conflicts and world occasions may considerably impression gold costs. Traders usually turn to gold throughout occasions of geopolitical turmoil, driving up its worth as a secure haven.
Foreign money actions: Since gold is priced in U.S. {dollars}, fluctuations within the power of the greenback can have an effect on gold costs. When the greenback weakens, gold turns into cheaper for overseas buyers, rising demand and costs.
Market sentiment: Investor sentiment and speculative buying and selling could cause sudden and substantial worth swings within the gold market. Optimistic sentiment can result in a rally, whereas damaging sentiment can set off sell-offs.
Central financial institution insurance policies: Central banks maintain important gold reserves, and their actions can affect the market. Massive purchases or gross sales of gold by central banks can impression costs.

The underside line

The worth of gold, like some other monetary asset, is influenced by a fancy interaction of provide and demand dynamics, financial situations, inflation, rates of interest, geopolitics, foreign money actions, sentiment and central financial institution insurance policies. On condition that gold’s spot worth can fluctuate, buyers and fans ought to preserve an in depth eye on these components to make knowledgeable choices concerning their gold investments. There are a lot of top gold investing companies that may assist. Whether or not you’re contemplating gold as a retailer of worth, a portfolio diversifier or a speculative funding, nevertheless, understanding the dynamics of the gold market is essential for making sound monetary decisions.

Angelica Leicht

Angelica Leicht is the senior editor for the Managing Your Cash part for CBSNews.com, the place she writes and edits articles on a variety of non-public finance matters. Angelica beforehand held modifying roles at The Easy Greenback, Curiosity, HousingWire and different monetary publications.