Will be paneling tomorrow at the LA Times Festival of Books on the USC campus! First up at noon: Fire Escape: Wildfires and the Changing Geography of Southern California -- a conversation with Jordan Thomas and D. J. Waldie.

à la une! yesterday in the L.A. Times my story about how community solar is taking off in other states while California can't get its program off the ground: www.latimes.com/environment/...

"The Trump administration really wants you to think it’s thawing the freeze on renewable energy projects. Whether this is a genuine face turn or a play to curry favor with the courts and Congress, however, is less clear." - @jael.bsky.social heatmap.news/plus/the-fig...

Trump’s Renewables Permitting Thaw Is Also a Legal Strategy

The administration has begun shuffling projects forward as court challenges against the freeze heat up.

heatmap.news

Monterey Park City Council voted to extend a data center moratorium and put the topic before voters in June. www.sfgate.com/tech/article...

Calif. residents dubbed ‘uninformed mob’ win triple victory in data center fight

The six-hour meeting was full of good news for data centers' ardent opponents.

sfgate.com

Excited to say that I’ve started this week as a climate and energy reporter @latimes.com ! Please share tips / goings on to blanca.begert@latimes.com. or, signal: bbegert.73

The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant has cleared a final permit hurdle to keep running through 2030, @blancabegert.bsky.social reports: www.latimes.com/environment/...

Diablo Canyon clears last California permit hurdle to keep running

On Thursday, the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant moved one step closer to full permission to keep running.

latimes.com

“In some cases, the cost of insurance has tripled. And a few years ago, people were underinsured because they didn’t know what they needed. But now people are purposely choosing to buy less insurance and taking that risk because it’s so expensive.”

Blame and Claim | Tyler Maroney

A public adjuster is part private detective, part lawyer, part psychologist.

thebaffler.com

Hello! I’m the reporter who has been tracking citizens detained by immigration agents. And last night, I noticed something: A lot of them were at the State of the Union, including a number of whom I’ve written about. Their stories should be known:

Last Friday was my last day @insideclimatenews.org. I’ll share what’s next for me soon, but first I want to say what a joy and a privilege it has been to work for this newsroom, a beacon of hope and integrity at a dark moment for journalism across the country.

Just like the first time around, the Trump administration is pushing to open nearly 2 million acres of California public land to oil drilling and fracking: insideclimatenews.org/news/1601202... via @blancabegert.bsky.social

Will Trump’s Push to Drill on California Public Lands be More Successful This Time Around? - Inside Climate News

The BLM has revived its effort to open more of California’s public lands to oil extraction. But its strategy has changed little since the agency’s earlier attempt in 2019 and drillers may not be inter...

insideclimatenews.org

Always fun to collaborate on a story. Check out @wyattmyskow.bsky.social, @blancabegert.bsky.social, and my coverage of the state of Colorado River negotiations.

Wyatt Myskow @wyattmyskow.bsky.social · 8mo ago

The Colorado River Basin is quite literally 50 feet from collapse. But a deal to save it isn’t any closer to happening. Our take on the deadlocked negotiations over the future of the river the West depends on: insideclimatenews.org/news/1912202...

A neutral arbiter agrees: @politico.com violated our contract and its own journalistic standards when it deployed AI. Our readers deserve news, not slop! wbng.org/2025/12/01/p...

Australian Company BHP Found Liable for Damages in One of Brazil’s Worst Mining Disasters Story by @blancabegert.bsky.social with comment by @edsonkrenak.bsky.social insideclimatenews.org/news/1411202...

Australian Company BHP Found Liable for Damages in One of Brazil’s Worst Mining Disasters - Inside Climate News

A High Court in the United Kingdom has ruled that BHP was responsible for the Mariana dam collapse, after the company was acquitted of criminal charges last year in a Brazilian court. Claimants are se...

insideclimatenews.org

This headline asks a question that makes investor-owned utilities squirm. Nice work from my colleague @blancabegert.bsky.social: insideclimatenews.org/news/0511202...

Why Are Rates Rising Faster at Investor-Owned Utilities Than at Public Utilities? - Inside Climate News

Case studies from California offer a look into the pros and cons of public and private utilities.

insideclimatenews.org

Then we'll talk about the big climate and energy bills that the California legislature just passed. @michaelwara.bsky.social & @blancabegert.bsky.social will help us unpack them. Finally: a musical about SF's "orange sky day" Join us @kalwradio.bsky.social 6-7pm PT! www.kalw.org/show/state-b...

Oakland Ballers Win! / Sweeping New Climate Bills / "The Day the Sky Turned Orange"

Oakland Ballers championships, Newsom signs sweeping climate bills, the new musical "The Day the Sky Turned Orange"

kalw.org

I’m thrilled to share that I’ve started a new job this week as a California environment reporter @insideclimatenews.org. If you have tips or just want to talk about water, fire, agriculture, energy, or air pollution, please reach out! I’d love to hear from you.

Honored to have won a Dateline Award from @spjdc.bsky.social for online business coverage with @chelseaeharvey.bsky.social and, in absentia, @blancabegert.bsky.social Our entry was a series of stories on "how billionaires, executives and operatives seek to shape U.S. climate policy"