The fires that tore through Los Angeles nine months ago didn’t destroy Karen Girard’s home. But the smokeleft her walls, floors and furniture infused with a toxic cocktail.Tests have found heavy metals like lead, arsenic, and zinc, as well as volatile organic compounds like cyanide and furfural that have left her home uninhabitable.When the flames razed neighboring houses in January during a terrifying firestorm in Altadena, Girard was astonished to learn her property was spared.”I thought I should go out and buy lottery tickets, because I never thought I would be this lucky again,” she told AFP.But even after only short visits Girard finds herself suffering from increasing asthma attacks.Tests revealed problems she couldn’t see — things she says mean the house is no longer safe.”I realized that even though the home was still standing, it might be lost to me,” the 58-year-old designer said.- Unseen disaster – The wildfires that ravaged the Los Angeles area in January killed 31 people directly, and razed more than 16,000 buildings, tearing a swathe through the working- and middle-class neighborhood of Altadena and the upmarket enclave of Pacific Palisades.Horrifying pictures of a burned out landscape were broadcast around the world, showing acres (hectares) of almost unimaginable devastation, in one of the most expensive natural disasters the world has ever seen.But among the embers smoldered another, less-visible disaster: the pollution released when homes, cars, televisions, household goods and batteries burned.Driven by gusts reaching 100 miles (160 kilometers) and hour, this poisonous soup seeped under neighbors’ doors and through vents. “The potential toxicity of the mixture that came off these fires is probably much greater than what we saw in other major fires we’ve experienced in the US, because those fires did not affect as many urban structures,” explained Michael Jerrett, a professor of environmental science at the University of California Los Angeles. His team tested the atmosphere in affected communities this spring and found abnormal levels of hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen.Nanoparticles could have been transported up to six miles, potentially affecting tens of thousands of people, he says.”They are so small that they’re capable of penetrating the indoor environment with high efficiency.””It’s really important that people trying to move back into their homes have them properly remediated.”But getting insurance companies to pay up has proven complicated.Girard says she is stuck in a battle between experts, with the damage restoration company she hired recommending replacing all her furniture, and even treating the frame of her house.The firm hired by her insurance company, however, insists that a vacuum cleaner equipped with a filter to capture fine particles will be enough to make the place habitable. – Insurers – To Girard it seems like the company is prioritizing profit over her wellbeing.”While it feels like business to them, it doesn’t feel like business to me,” she said.”This is my home. This is a place that I’ve lived for a couple of decades, and it is a place I desperately want to come home to.”Girard’s insurer, Farmers, told AFP: “We continue to work with our customer to resolve this claim and remain willing to review any additional information they may wish to provide.”The problem when dealing with insurance companies — a frequent topic of complaint in high-cost California, even without a major disaster — is that they appear to be a law unto themselves, says Jane Lawton, founder of the Eaton Fire Residents United association.”There are no clear standards on (smoke claims), so insurance companies can deny what they want,” she said.Her organization has mapped more than 200 tests conducted on homes in Altadena. All show varying degrees of contamination. “This is going to be like 9/11,” said Lawton, referencing the 2001 attack in New York where people in a wide area around the World Trade Center suffered from chronic respiratory illnesses and elevated rates of some cancers after the twin towers collapsed, releasing clouds of dust and debris. California’s largest insurer, State Farm, which has so far paid out $4.5 billion in relation to the fires, said it “evaluates each claim, including smoke claims, on a case-by-case basis.”But for Priscilla Munoz, they are dragging their feet.Munoz, who lives a mile from the disaster area, spent $10,000 on a study that found lead in her home and still doesn’t know if the insurer will pay to clean it up.”Lead… goes into things,” she says, worrying about her two young children and their plush toys. “I don’t want them snuggling up to a toxic stuffy.”

Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show will be back on the air in the United States Tuesday after a week-long hiatus following government pressure on broadcasters that critics said amounted to a chill on free speech.But two powerful companies that own dozens of ABC affiliates have said they will continue their boycott, giving viewers “other programming relevant to their respective markets.”All eyes will be on the show’s popular opening monologue, in which the comedian is expected to address his suspension, which came after comments he made in the wake of the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.”I don’t want him to apologize as soon as he comes in,” 18-year-old Paul Dorner told AFP as he waited for a seat in the show’s audience.”I would love for him to just put up a fight and stand up for what he thinks.”Rogelio Nunez, 38, said he had traveled from San Diego for the taping in the heart of Hollywood.”We need to make sure that we’re not being censored,” he said.”So besides just coming for entertainment, I think it’s important to protect our rights.”- ‘The MAGA gang’ -Kimmel, who frequently skewers President Donald Trump and his inner circle, raised the ire of conservatives last week when he said “the MAGA gang” was trying to exploit Kirk’s college campus murder for their own political gain.Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr appeared to threaten the licenses of ABC affiliates broadcasting the show unless they demanded Kimmel’s removal — something Trump himself has frequently called for.Two companies that own dozens of those affiliates — Nexstar and Sinclair — then announced they would be removing the show from their stations’ schedules, prompting Disney to suspend the show nationwide.Sinclair — which last week demanded Kimmel apologize to Kirk’s family and make a donation to his right-wing activist group Turning Point USA — said Monday its affiliates would not be broadcasting the show when it resumed.On Tuesday, Nexstar followed suit.”We made a decision last week to preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’… We stand by that decision pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve,” the company said.Kimmel’s abrupt disappearance from the airwaves sparked fury in liberal circles, with opponents saying he had been targeted because he is critical of Trump.Opponents saw it as the latest step in creeping government control of free speech, which is an article of faith for many Americans, as well as a right enshrined in the country’s constitution.Some on the political right were also uneasy, including those who regularly count themselves as Trump allies, like conservative senator Ted Cruz, and firebrand broadcaster Tucker Carlson.Trump often complains about negative coverage of him, going so far last week as to call it “illegal,” and has sued several media organizations.Disney’s ABC has already settled a lawsuit filed by the president, pledging a multi-million dollar sum in a move that observers said appeared to be an attempt to get the often-vengeful 79-year-old off its back.The company faced backlash after suspending Kimmel, with a rash of consumer cancellations and a wave of reproach from creators and Hollywood insiders over what many saw as a spineless response to government bullying.By Monday Disney had backtracked, saying the suspension had been an effort to “avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country” and calling Kimmel’s comments “ill-timed and thus insensitive.”But it said it was bringing the show back after days of “thoughtful conversations with Jimmy.”Actor Glen Powell and singer Sarah McLachlan were expected to appear on Tuesday night’s show.Kimmel has made no public comment about the episode, but on Tuesday posted a photo on Instagram of himself with late producer Norman Lear — who was known for his advocacy of free speech — with the caption: “Missing this guy today.”

YouTube is set to reinstate creators previously banned for promoting Covid-19 misinformation and false election-related content, according to a letter sent Tuesday by parent company Alphabet to a Republican lawmaker.The policy reversal marks a victory for the conservative allies of US President Donald Trump, who have long accused tech platforms and professional fact-checkers of a liberal bias and of using anti-misinformation policies as a pretext for censorship.”Reflecting the company’s commitment to free expression, YouTube will provide an opportunity for all creators to rejoin the platform if the company terminated their channels for repeated violations of Covid-19 and elections integrity policies that are no longer in effect,” Alphabet’s legal counsel said in the five-page letter to Jim Jordan, the Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee.”YouTube values conservative voices on its platform and recognizes that these creators have extensive reach and play an important role in civic discourse.”The full impact of the policy reversal was yet to be determined, and it was not immediately clear which creators would be reinstated and when.In recent years, figures such as FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, White House counterterrorism chief Sebastian Gorka and podcast host Steve Bannon were among those previously banned from the platform, according to US media.Alphabet accused former president Joe Biden’s administration of pressuring the company to impose the bans.”Senior Biden Administration officials, including White House officials, conducted repeated and sustained outreach to Alphabet and pressed the company regarding certain user-generated content related to the COVID-19 pandemic that did not violate its policies,” the letter said. “While the company continued to develop and enforce its policies independently, Biden administration officials continued to press the Company to remove non-violative user-generated content,” it added.- Policy rollback -After Biden took office in 2021, his administration urged platforms to purge what it identified as harmful misinformation –- including content that encouraged people to inject bleach and other disinfectants to cure Covid-19, a suggestion once echoed by Trump.Jordan, who has spent years probing what Republicans have blasted as a coordinated effort by Biden’s administration to suppress conservative voices online, celebrated Alphabet’s announcement as a “victory in the fight against censorship” and a “massive win” for the American people.”To make amends to the American people, and because of our work, YouTube is rolling back its censorship policies on political speech, including topics such as Covid and elections,” Jordan wrote on X.”No more telling Americans what to believe and not believe,” he added.Alphabet’s letter stressed that “YouTube has not and will not empower fact-checkers to take action on or label content across the company’s services.”Instead, it allows users to add notes of context to user content, adopting a community-driven approach to combating online misinformation that was popularized by Elon Musk’s platform, X.The decision to reinstate previously banned users also mirrors Musk’s move to welcome back prominent purveyors of misinformation on Twitter, which he rebranded as X after acquiring it in 2022.