The Headlines - 100,000 Flee Los Angeles Wildfires, and Trump’s Last-Minute Supreme Court Ask

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

Plus, don’t eat your Christmas tree.   On Today’s Episode:New Wildfires Strain L.A. as Others Burn Unchecked, by Corina Knoll, Soumya Karlamangla and Mike IvesTrump Asks Supreme Court to Halt His Sentencing in N.Y. Criminal Case, by Ben Protess and Adam LiptakAlito Spoke With Trump Shortly Before Supreme Court Filing, by Adam LiptakNation’s Leaders Will Gather to Honor Carter at Washington Cathedral, by Peter BakerHostage Is Found Dead in Gaza Tunnel, Israel Says, by Ephrat LivniPlease Don’t Eat Your Christmas Tree, Belgium Urges the Public, by Amelia Nierenberg Tune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Thursday, January 9th. Here's what we're covering. It's as bad as you can imagine. It's worse than what you can imagine. All of this. In Los Angeles, four major fires are now burning in and around the city.

At least five people have died, and more than 100,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders. The flames are right across the street. What is going to mean that it's dangerous enough for you to go? I have a one in 100 chance to put out one ember that might burn my house down. I'll take the risk on one in a hundred. Despite the orders, some homeowners have stayed behind, using garden hoses to spray down their houses.

Oh my god. Oh my god. Others have come back to their neighborhoods, where the fire's already swept through, to find whole blocks turned to ash. It's all gone. No. The Pacific Palisades Fire has destroyed over 1,000 buildings, making it the most destructive in Los Angeles history.

And a new fire broke out last night, the Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills. The evacuation zone for that now includes parts of Beverly Hills and some of the city's most iconic landmarks, the Hollywood Bowl and the theater where the Oscars are held. Last night, people were standing near the Walk of Fame looking up to watch helicopters drop water in the hills. But in some of the areas that have been hardest hit, firefighters faced water shortages. We saw four times the demands of water that we've ever seen in the system.

We opened every valve available to push as much water into the Palisades area. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power acknowledged that the system was not built for this level of disaster, which left some people standing by watching their homes burn while firefighters tried to draw from empty hydrants. Fire hydrants are not made to fight multiple houses, hundreds of houses at a time. They're made to fight one or two houses when they come in. So you're fighting a wildfire with a fire hydrant system. For more about the wildfires,

including what's made them so fast and so destructive, listen to today's episode of The Daily. Donald Trump's legal team has filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court asking the justices to shut down the New York hush money case. Trump's supposed to be sentenced in the case tomorrow. He was convicted on 34 felony counts for falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal. He's not expected to get jail time or even probation, but sentencing will formalize his status as a felon.

Trump's legal team is arguing that that could complicate his presidential duties, if there were to be any restrictions on travel, for example. They're also arguing that the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity should apply to this case, though lower courts have disagreed. After Trump's filing, the Supreme Court asked prosecutors to respond by this morning, signaling that the justices could act quickly before sentencing. Meanwhile, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito talked with Trump on the phone not long before Trump's lawyers filed the emergency application.

Alito, who is part of the court's conservative majority, said in a statement that it was a routine reference check call for one of his former law clerks, who Trump is considering hiring for a government position. It's not clear, however, why Trump would be doing reference check calls himself, generally a task for his aides. Alito said that he and Trump did not discuss the Hush Money case or any other matter related to the president-elect that might come in front of the court, but the call adds to ethics questions that have been swirling around the justices, including about undisclosed gifts and about a flag flown outside

of Alito's home that was the same design carried by rioters on January 6th. Today is officially a national day of mourning as Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, is laid to rest. The New York Stock Exchange and many federal offices are closed. So are post offices. There won't be any mail today. In Washington, D.C. this morning, Presidents Biden, Trump, Obama, Bush, and Clinton are all expected to attend Carter's funeral service at the National Cathedral. Biden will deliver a eulogy.

In the afternoon, Carter's casket will be flown to Plains, Georgia, his longtime home, for a private service and burial. It will mark the end of several days of ceremonies across multiple cities that have given Americans the chance to pay their respects to the former president. What is something that stood out to you about President Carter and what brought you here today? His faith. His faith and how that led him and guided him.

My colleague Maya Miller spoke with people as they filed through the U.S. Capitol building this week, where Carter was lying in state. From what I've read about him, you know, he was a peanut farmer from Georgia, which is just like me, you know, a regular man, regular person who did a lot of right things and put his country first. Just like just a kind man, very simple and just down to earth. Role model for us. Yeah, role model for us.

And we've tried to live our lives that way. When I went in the Navy at 18 years old, President Carter was at the end of his term and even then at a young age he inspired me to go into the service because I thought he was most decent public figure that I'd ever seen and to this day he remains the most decent person that I think many of us have ever known. The Israeli military announced yesterday that it's recovered the body of another hostage in Gaza. Officials say they found Yusuf Azeedna, a man in his 50s, dead in an underground

tunnel, along with what they believe are the bodies of his Hamas guards. They did not say how any of them were killed. Azeedna and three of his children were abducted during the October 7th attacks from a kibbutz where they'd been working. The youngest two, who were teenagers, were later released. But Azeedna and his son Hamza, who was in his early 20s, remained in captivity. The Israeli military said they have serious concerns

about Hamza's well-being too. Of the hostages who were originally taken, about 100 are still in Gaza, though a third are believed to be dead. A deal to return them and put a ceasefire in place has seemed imminent several times over the last few months, only to fall dead. A deal to return them and put a ceasefire in place has seemed imminent several times over the last few months, only to fall apart. In the latest talks, Israel demanded information from Hamas about which hostages are still alive, saying without that, there

can be no deal. And finally, in the days after Christmas, the town of Ghent in Belgium put a post on its website offering residents a tip for an eco-friendly way to get rid of their Christmas trees. Instead of just dragging them out to the curb, the city said people could turn their trees into a fragrant, festive snack. Delicious spruce needle butter was one suggestion, and they linked to a bunch of other spruce recipes. But the City's post prompted Belgian authorities to issue a clear, if unusual, warning. Please do not eat your Christmas tree. In a statement, authorities said the trees are often coated with pesticides and flame

retardants, a point the original post had acknowledged. They also reminded any amateur spruce chefs that if they were to misidentify their tree, they could end up eating a yew tree, which is poisonous. Some safer ideas for once the ornaments come down? Zoos in Europe have given old Christmas trees to animals to play with. New York City grinds them up for mulch to nourish other trees in the city's parks. Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford, we'll be back tomorrow.