The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Friday that the fatal, wind-fueled Palisades and Eaton fires, which started three weeks ago in Southern California, were completely contained. In Pacific Palisades, a suburb east of Malibu, the vast Palisades Fire began as a brush fire on the morning of January 7 and swiftly spread due to the dry weather in Southern California. The Eaton Fire broke out in the foothills of Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County later that night. Hurricane-force gusts carried it into Altadena communities, where it feasted on seven months of rain-free scrub. The amount of space created around a fire to prevent its spread is known as containment. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner reports that at least 29 individuals were murdered in th...

WashingtonOn Friday, federal agencies hurried to follow executive orders issued by President Donald Trump that sought to reduce diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The executive orders sparked a rush of emails and memos that NBC News was able to access, which changed the guidelines for employees in the military, intelligence agencies, and other civilian departments with regard to employee resource groups and the celebration of cultural awareness events. According to a memo obtained by NBC News, the Defense Intelligence Agency issued an executive order this week to halt all events and activities associated with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black History Month, Juneteenth, LGBTQ Pride Month, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and other "special observances" in order to comply with President...

Current and former FBI officials tell NBC News that the Trump administration has pushed away several leaders of FBI field offices nationwide as well as all six of the agency's top executives. Among them were federal prosecutors who looked into the Jan. 6 rioters and the well-known head of the Washington, D.C., field office, which was involved in President Donald Trump's prosecutions. There are perhaps two dozen prosecutors affected, according to a legislative aide. The dismissed prosecutors were informed in a letter that their removal was due to their involvement in the prosecutions on January 6. Trump just issued an executive order describing the Jan. 6 prosecutions as a serious national injustice that has been inflicted on the American people for the past four years. Acting Deputy Attorn...

In a surprising move following his meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, President Donald Trump senvoy Richard Grenell announced on Friday that he was returning to the United States with six American citizens. At a time when the Trump administration has been spearheading a deportation and anti-gang campaign in the US, Grenell's primary goal for the visit, according to Trump administration officials earlier on Friday, was to secure the release of Americans who were held in the nation. Grenell shared a picture of the six men with him on an airplane online, but he did not identify them. They wore light blue uniforms that were part of the Venezuelan penal system. Grenell wrote on X, "We are all set to go home with these six Americans." They couldn't stop thanking @realD...

Milo Ventimiglia and his wife, Jarah Mariano, had their first child a few weeks after losing their Malibu home in the fatal fires that ravaged the Los Angeles area. Mariano shared on Instagram on Friday that his daughter, Ke ala Coral Ventimiglia, was born on January 23. A close-up of the couple's hands, dog's paw, and newborn's foot were included in the post. Homeless yet never homeless, Mariano wrote a caption for the photo. My family and I left the Palisades Fire on January 7. She added, "We lost our house and everything we owned, as well as our house that was being built and that we were going to move into." In addition to being 38 weeks pregnant, I had also participated in an evacuation during the Franklin Fire a few weeks before. I consider it a blessing that I was able to undertak...

For the second time this week, a federal judge temporarily banned a federal aid money freeze ordered by the Trump administration on Friday, siding with a coalition of 22 states. The broad mandate in the Office of Management and Budget memo that generated chaos and confusion this week in Washington and around the nation seemed to be illegal, according to the opinion of U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell in Rhode Island. "The Executive s action unilaterally suspends the payment of federal funds to the States and others simply by choosing to do so," the judge stated. "The Executive cites no legal authority allowing it to do so; indeed, no federal law would authorize the Executive's unilateral action here," McConnell continued, approving the coalition's request for a temporary restraining o...

In remembrance of Capt. Jonathan J. Campos, the pilot of the aircraft involved in the fatal midair crash, friends and family are sharing tales of his humor, love of flying, and commitment. All 67 persons on board both planes were killed when Campos' American Eagle flight from Kansas collided with an Army helicopter over the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday. Hector Campos, his uncle, told NBC News in a quick phone interview on Thursday that his nephew "was a great kid". "That s all I want to say." In an interview with Telemundo Puerto Rico, NBC's sister station in the U.S. territory, Campos' stepmother, Sonia Carrasquillo, requested privacy on behalf of the family. Hector Campos said the family was traveling on Friday to Washington, D.C. Reporter Catherine Silver of O...

In testimony before the Senate this week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made it apparent that he would prioritize chronic illnesses over infectious ones if he were confirmed as secretary of health and human services. Kennedy told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Thursday that we have spent a lot of money on drug development and infectious disease research, but not much on chronic illness. Kennedy attributed the excessive expense of health care to the prevalence of chronic diseases in the US and said he was in a unique position to stop it. In his introductory remarks, he noted that the prevalence of chronic diseases in children should be given priority, along with the rising incidence of diabetes, cancer, obesity, and asthma. (The National Survey of Children's Healt...

Their plane struck an Army helicopter over the Potomac River only minutes before they were scheduled to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport, which is close to Washington, D.C. The deaths of the three troops on the Black Hawk chopper and all 60 passengers and four crew members on American Eagle Flight 5342 were sealed in a horrific moment that was caught on camera and broadcast around the globe. I don't think we will locate any survivors at this time. Following a desperate but fruitless search for survivors of the Wednesday night collision, Fire Chief John Donnelly declared Thursday that Washington, D.C. For real-time updates, click this link. The flight originated in Wichita, Kansas, and carried over a dozen passengers, including those returning from a training camp after the 2025 U.S....

What we know about the crash and investigation All 67 people aboard an American Eagle flight from Kansas and an Army helicopter were killed in a collision Wednesday night over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, officials said. The cause of the collision is unclear, and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. A source familiar with the investigation told NBC News a single air traffic controller was atypically handling both planes and helicopters in the area. Investigators last night recovered two flight data recorders black boxes from the American Eagle jet and recovery teams are preparing to return to the river this morning. President Donald Trump implied that diversity, equity and inclusi...