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One year after the devastating 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles, multiple events and volunteer opportunities happening throughout January will remember the losses, honor the survivors and provide chances to help with the ongoing recovery.
The band members of Dawes have been some of the most visible survivors and supporters of the Eaton Fire community since the 2025 wildfires. They are putting their notoriety to good use and planning A Concert for Altadena, featuring some major musical talent, including Jackson Browne, Mandy Moore, Ozomatli and Jenny Lewis. The UCLA Labor Center will host a panel discussion at the Lawson Worker Justice Center , focused on impacts on and protections for workers. Join local leaders for a candlelight vigil in Altadena. The community will “gather in solidarity as we look toward healing, rebuilding, and a brighter tomorrow."It’s been a tough year in these parts. Many communities affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires are still reeling, whether directly as homeowners continue to rebuild, relocate and remediate, or indirectly, as communities fight insurance logistics, navigate political processes and recover from mental health implications and job losses. Despite these challenges, the resilience of our city is astounding — and that is worth celebrating, even when it’s bittersweet. Across the region, events marking the one-year anniversary begin in early January and continue throughout the month. Many organizers have told LAist they would love to have volunteers to help out, so reach out directly to organizers if you are interested in doing more than just attending. All events are free unless otherwise noted.) Continuing to tell survivors’ stories is key to recovery. That’s the thinking behind the project With Us, an audio and visual storytelling installation focused on “remembrance and recovery.” The event, put on by, aims to bring the community together at City Market Social House on Jan. 4; the art will be available to check out through Jan. 7.Join local leaders for a candlelight vigil marking one year since the Eaton Fire. The community will “gather in solidarity as we look toward healing, rebuilding, and a brighter tomorrow.”Indie band Dawes has been one of the most visible survivors and supporters of the Eaton Fire community since the 2025 wildfires. They are putting their notoriety to good use and planning A Concert for Altadena, happening Jan. 7 and featuring some major musical talent, including Jackson Browne, Mandy Moore, Ozomatli, Jenny Lewis, Lord Huron, Rufus Wainwright and many more. Hosted by John C. Reilly, the show benefits theBest-selling Christian author and speaker Philip Yancey will speak at a special community memorial service led by Lake Avenue Church’s Chamber Orchestra and members of the Sanctuary Choir, featuring sacred hymns, choral anthems and classical works that invite reflection, comfort and renewed hope. “This will be a meaningful opportunity to come together and find something redemptive in the midst of tragedy,” said Yancey. “Ironically, it’s often tragedy that brings people together.”Artist Cynthia Lake, Side Street Projects and the John Muir High School Alumni Association will come together to make art and share stories on a day of remembrance honoring the first anniversary of the Eaton Fire. The afternoon includes art activities, music, resources, performances and more, plus Lake will launch her"Eaton Fire Bowl Series," giving away free handmade ceramic bowls to people affected by the fire — each piece a symbol of hope and comfort.View this post on Instagram Grammy-winning violinist Anne Akiko Meyers joins members of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, conducted by Grant Gershon, with music by Bach, Morten Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre. Each concert will be preceded by a prayer service at 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. Donations will benefit Chamber Music Palisades, Palisades Symphony and Chorale, St. Matthew’s Music Guild and Theatre Palisades.Dena United is hosting this all-day festival at Altadena’s historic Zorthian Ranch to celebrate the community’s diverse culture and commemorate one year since the devastating Eaton Fire. Expect to see a wide range of performances from acts including Bobby Bradford, Dwight Trible, Baba Onochie Chukwurah & the Rhythms of the Village Family Band, the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Earthseed Band and the Whispering Giants with MCs Medusa and Myka 9.L.A. Fires One-Year Reflection: Workers in ActionThe UCLA Labor Center will host a panel discussion at the Lawson Worker Justice Center , focused on impacts on and protections for workers. PleaseHosted by Mission Project CEO Erik Rock, the event features a performance from Grammy winner Andy Grammer. Expect other big-name speakers and guests to participate too.Is your dog a natural herder? Several ranches around Los Angeles will let your pup satisfy their instincts with actual livestock.that “share an instinctual ability to control the movement of other animals.” That doesn’t mean your pet will or won’t have that instinct. “The dog will tell us,” said longtime herder and trainer Jerry Stewart.Stewart has been training dogs for nearly 40 years, mostly on a patch of land next to the 710 Freeway in Long Beach. But in October, he was abruptly told he could no longer lease the land. Now, he’s trying to keep his business going at a new location in Moreno Valley.I knew it was a gamble taking my mutt, Ace, to herd sheep. He had a little Australian cattle dog in him, but that was it in terms of traditional herding breeds. Still, one of my neighbors had told me about this place that lets urban dogs test out their sheepherding instincts. I thought Ace’s habit of running at me full steam at the park, then swerving at the last minute, might stem from a deep-seeded urge to mind the flock. So I decided to give it a shot. Jerry Stewart of Easy’s Place herding greeted us as we pulled up next to the sheep corral on a ranch at the base of the Box Springs Mountains in Riverside. With his cowboy hat and shepherd staff, you’d never know this 76-year-old is a former surfer from Huntington Beach. Unless, of course, you recognize him from an episode of theStewart has been training dogs for 36 years, mostly on a patch of land next to the 710 Freeway in Long Beach. But in October, he was abruptly told he could no longer lease the land.Now, he’s trying to keep his business going in a new location that while much more peaceful, is not as convenient for him and most of his clients. “I’m retired so I don't need the money,” Stewart said. But he also doesn’t want to lose money training other people’s dogs.Stewart holds classes twice, sometimes three times a week. Many of the dogs and their owners are there to let loose behavior that can be destructive at home or annoying at the dog park. But Stewart also trains dogs and their owners for herding competitions, known as trials. that “share an instinctual ability to control the movement of other animals.” These include Australian and German shepherds, as the name suggests, as well as border collies and corgis. The main motivation for Stewart’s business, he told me, is to help city dogs with herding instincts live their best lives. “In the backyard, they have nothing to do but chase a bird’s shadow when it flies overhead,” he said. “They get a little neurotic.” Stewart has a well-worn answer for people wondering whether their pet would like herding: “The dog will tell us.”Ace was clearly nervous when I took him out of the car and headed toward the corral. He sniffed the air apprehensively. There were the nearby sheep, of course, but also horses and wild donkeys — all unfamiliar smells for my suburban, condo-bound dog. We let him loose in the corral and he immediately scoped out the perimeter, which Stewart said was normal. We then led him toward the sheep. He seemed mildly interested, and even caused the small herd to move to another corner of the corral. But Ace soon turned and headed straight for the exit. Round 1 was over. We tried again later with not much more luck. Ace seemed very relieved when I let him jump back in the car. “If it's not there, you ain't doing nothing,” Stewart said of a dog’s herding instinct, or lack thereof. “It ain't happening.”A couple of other dogs at the class couldn’t have seemed happier to be herding. Tir, a 16-year-old blind border collie, is so fragile that her owner Kimberly Schreyer had to lift her out of the car.But once in the corral, Tir raced around like a pup, keeping the flock in constant motion. “ She's just so happy,” Schreyer said of the dog’s weekly herding sessions. Kathleen Wang’s 7-year-old Australian cattle dog, Wally, had been off the herding scene for a few months. But he seemed to jump right back in, easily guiding the flock through a set of barriers, which gets you points at competitions.She doesn’t plan to compete with Wally, but Wang said herding gives him an outlet for behavior that is less welcome elsewhere. “At the dog park, he would herd the little white Maltese poodles, like push them into the corner,” Wang said. “And he would be reactive towards other dogs because he wants to control the movement. But coming here, this lets him get his instincts out.”An unidentified body was recovered from the bed of the Santa Ana River just before noon on Jan. 1, according to theOfficials said a witness called 911 to report a person in the riverbed near the intersection of Warner Avenue and Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana. The person traveled about two miles downstream before the search and rescue crew recovered their body in the city of Fountain Valley.About 60 firefighters from OCFA and the Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa fire departments contributed to the water rescue effort.With more rain in the forecast this weekend, keep in mind that just six inches of fast-moving water can knock down most people, while 12 inches can carry away most cars.limiting travel as much as possible during heavy rain and floods, including by car. If you see flooding in your path, remember the slogan, “Turn around, don’t drown.” LAist also hasIf you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.Manny Ruiz strikes alongside other workers with Teamsters 2785 at Amazon Warehouse DCK6 in the Bayview District in San Francisco on Dec. 19, 2024. Amazon workers at multiple facilities across the U.S. went on strike to fight for a union contract.Under a law taking effect Jan. 1, California seeks to uphold the labor and unionization rights of private-sector employees, as the federal agency that has held that power for decades is in limbo., which grants more powers to the California Public Employment Relations Board, is a response to the National Labor Relations Board lacking a quorum. President Donald Trump fired the NLRB’s chairperson, Gwynne Wilcox, days after he began his second term in January. His two nominees to the board have yet to be confirmed, so the federal board has been without the three members it needs for a quorum for months.California under a law taking effect today seeks to uphold the labor and unionization rights of private-sector employees, as the federal agency that has held that power for decades is in limbo., which grants more powers to the California Public Employment Relations Board, is a response to the National Labor Relations Board lacking a quorum. President Donald Trump fired the NLRB’s chairperson, Gwynne Wilcox, days after he began his second term in January. His two nominees to the board have yet to be confirmed, so the federal board has been without the three members it needs for a quorum for months. Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, the Inglewood Democrat who wrote the bill, said when the governor signed it in September that “California will not sit idly as its workers are systematically denied the right to organize due to employer intransigence or federal inaction.” The NLRB sued California over the law in October, saying in its lawsuit that the state is trying to assert authority over “areas explicitly reserved for federal oversight.” On the legal challenge to the law, Terry Schanz, McKinnor’s chief of staff, referred CalMatters to the state attorney general. Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office is responsible for defending the law in court. A spokesperson for Bonta said the office would have nothing to say about it. With the NLRB unable to fulfill its duties, states are trying to fill the gap in enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, which Congress passed in 1935. But labor experts contacted by CalMatters do not have high hopes for the California law, which is similar to a law passed in New York this year. They said courts, including the Supreme Court, have ruled that states cannot decide matters pertaining to federal labor law because of preemption, the doctrine that a higher authority of law overrides a lower authority. “It’s difficult to imagine a scenario where the courts do not overturn these laws,” said John Logan, professor and chairperson of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University. William Gould, a former chairperson of the National Labor Relations Board during the Clinton administration and a professor emeritus at Stanford University, agreed: “In the courts the matter is a dead letter unless shifts gears.” That’s what the California and U.S. chambers of commerce, along with other business groups, are hoping, according to their amicus brief in support of the Trump administration’s lawsuit against California: “Under California’s view, every state could have its own labor law for private-sector workers. Dozens of laws would overlap and collide.” The California Labor Federation, an umbrella organization for unions that represents about 2 million California workers, said in an amicus brief that even before Trump fired the NLRB chief, the federal agency’s backlog had been a problem, leading to companies being able to delay bargaining in good faith with their employees’ unions without consequences. If the California law is overturned, employees who have formed unions but have not succeeded in securing contracts with employers such as Amazon and Starbucks — which are among the companies— may continue to face delays, according to Logan. Or, he said, it’s not clear what would happen if other workers tried to organize and their companies simply fired them.Copyright 2026 NPR Reveler use their smartphones to film the falling balloons and confetti as they celebrate the start of 2026 during the New Year countdown event held at a shopping mall in Beijing, early Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026.Revellers watch a fireworks and light show for children on Museumplein as part of New Year's Eve celebrations in Amsterdam on December 31, 2025.Members of the public gather to celebrate the New Year during the annual bell-tolling ceremony at the Bosingak Pavilion on January 01, 2026 in Seoul, South Korea.People buy batons that read happy New Year 2026 on December 31, 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand. Thousands lined the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok as the country welcomed the new year.Fireworks explode from the Taipei 101 building during the New Year's celebrations in Taipei, Taiwan, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026.Revellers watch the New Year's Eve fireworks from the The Huc Bridge at Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi on Jan. 1, 2026.People attend the New Year countdown event to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025.Fireworks explode around the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, during New Year's Eve celebrations in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026.People strike a giant bell to celebrate the New Year at the Zojoji Buddhist temple, minutes after midnight Thursday Jan. 1, 2026, in Tokyo.A couple takes a selfie as the last sunset of 2025 is seen over the Mediterranean Sea in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025.People watch and take photos as the Ferris wheel displays "Happy New Year" in 16 different languages at Pacific Park on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025 in Santa Monica.
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