KBUU Newswire Wed Jan 9 – Day 62

This is KBUU News – Day 62 – the headlines:

• =   President Trump threatens to cut FEMA disaster dollars for California.
• =   This … as the deadline for signing up for FEMA assistance is extended to January 31st.
• =   90 percent of business that close for one week during an emergency … fail within a year.
• =  Signals are flashing red at Malibu Canyon at PCH … again.
• =   National Guard troops to prevent looters in Malibu were approved by the governor … but rejected by the sheriff …. the day after the fire.
• =   Drunk driving arrests … and crashes … are down significantly in Malibu.

Malibu’s Only Local Daily News … from Radio Malibu  …. F-M 99 point 1 K B U U.

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Signals flashing at sunrise at PCH / Malibu Canyon … again.

It was fixed yesterday … but malfunctioned again this morning.

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President Donald Trump this morning says he has … or will … order FEMA to cut off disaster money for California.

The grammar in the Tweet makes it unclear if the cut off has already happened … or if it is a threat.

The president tweets that “

“Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forrest fires that, with proper Forrest Management, would never happen.”

He continues: “Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money.

“It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!”

In the tweet … the president spells the word forest wrong.

Twice.

Someone with access to the Trump Twitter account later deleted the tweet and replaced it with one that spells forest correctly.

Twice.

The White House has not specified how California should manage its forests differently … other than his suggestion that we all buy rakes and get to work in the local mountains.

The Interior and Agriculture departments … under Trump … has failed to fund National Forest brush clearance projects in central California.

And forest management projects have ground to a halt because of the federal government shutdown that was invited by Trump.

And the shutdown may have been the impetus for the Trump threat against California this morning.

Or … it could be that California has filed 44 lawsuits against the Trump administration in the past 21 months, with major battles on health care, immigration and energy policy.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, has filed three suits against California. 

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The impact of this fire disaster on self employed … or gig workers … can be severe.

Susheel Kummar … an official at the Small Business Administration … has this alarming statistic.

NEWSCART SBA FAILURES QQQ I’M CONCERNED

“One on five businesses that closes for the first five days of a disaster … hads a 90 percent chance of failure in the next year.”

A ninety percent failure rate. That is something to worry about.

Kummar says the signup rate in Malibu is distressing.

SBA offers loans to businesses, homeowners and renters.

And in some cases … supposedly … FEMA offers grants for those unable to take out loans.

FEMA and the SBA have extended the deadline to sign up for disaster assistance …. the deadline has been pushed back to the end of January.

Statewide … more than 26 thousand applications have been filed by survivors of the Camp, Hill and Woolsey Fires have been received by FEMA to date.

There is a meeting this afternoon for for small business owners who have suffered impact, either physical or economic.

And don’t forget … gig workers are businesses … too.

SBA and other members of the Economic Development Collaborative are holding a meeting for small businesses this afternoon.

Representatives from local, state, and federal agencies will present opportunities on how to recover and rebuild after the Woolsey Fire.

The meeting is at Pepperdine University’s Calabasas Campus (26750 Agoura Road) from 3:00 PM- 5:00 PM.  

This is the Pepperdine University campus in Calabasas … (26750 Agoura Road)  … not the Malibu campus.

And again … the deadline for submitting applications for low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has also been extended to Jan. 31. 

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You are listening to the latest news from Radio Malibu … F-M 99 point 1 K B U U.  ((( time  ))))

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Storm after storm after storm.

That’s the long range forecast from the National Weather Service … for Malibu.

Sprinkles are possible today … this little storm will largely skip north of us.

But a stronger system will arrive Friday afternoon.

It could dump a significant amount of rain … more than an inch … and there could be very heavy rain.

Computer models are all over th place for next week … but it looks like stroms will arrive Monday … Wednesday and Thursday.

The Wednesday storm has the potential to be fairly significant.

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It started raining in Santa Barbara County one year ago … and it was a soaker.

Three inches of rain in just a few hours.

The Thomas Fire had torn thru the area a few months earlier.

Firefighters and emergency workers were at first unsure whether to evacuate the area.

Do you move tens of thousands of people out every time it rains???

Voluntary evacuations were requested.

Mandatory evacuations were too late.

Tree limbs … boulders … rocks and mud came down the hills.

23 deaths.

163 people hospitalized with various injuries, including four in critical condition.

The 1-0-1 closed for more than a week.

The conditions up in Montecito … one year ago today … not that much different than in western Malibu.

Some neighborhoods here are protected by drainage basins … but most are nOt.

Soil experts say Malibu is prone to similar danger … and will be … for at leaSt the next three winter storm cycles.

Something to think about … EVRY TIME IT one year after Montecito.

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Governor Jerry Brown approved sending National Guard troops to Malibu … the day after the fire … to prevent looters.

But the then-current L-A sheriff shot it down … and instead flooded malibu with 500 sheriff’s deputies from out of town.

And most of them were infamiliar with local conditions … including the need to allow residents to resupply.

All this … according to a lengthy report written by City Manager Reva Feldman … for the city Public Safety Commission.

In it … she says concerns about looting, security and safety on the day after the fire led her to ask the Governor’s office for California National Guard troops.

National Guard troops were deployed to protect the City of Santa Rosa after part of it was leveled by a fire last year.

And the City Manager believed the same protection was needed in Malibu.

The Governor’s Office and CalOES approved the request.

But the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department vetoed it.

Instead…. the Sheriff’s Department called approximately 500 deputies from across L A County to Malibu to secure the City.

These deputies were given strict orders … do not allow anyone into the mandatory evacuation area.

And this went over terribly.

Residents who had chosen to remain in the mandatory evacuation area … did not have the ability to go out ot get supplies.

People trying to get back to prevent damage to their property were threatened with arrest.

Boats were used to get drinking water and gasoline floated into Malibu.

A public relations nightmare.

These issues are now being investigated by a Blue Ribbon commission in the County of Los Angeles.

But that may be cold comfort to Malibu residents … who feel with some justification they were at first abandoned .. and then abused … by their local government.

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A 14 percent decrease in drunk driving in Malibu.

That’s according to sheriff’s department statistics.

Lieutenant Jim Royal says the significant reductions in total collisions, fatal and injury collisions, and DUI collisions.

He stated DUI checkpoints and the increased use of ridesharing services were part of the reason DUI crashes are going down.

During the month of October there were only 2 drunken driving arrests.

Motorcycle officers wrote 464 citations … 239 of those were for speeding.

In October … there were 26 car crashes in Malibu … 13 of them with injuries reported.

Two crashes involving pedestrians … and one involving a bicyclist.

One bicyclist was given a traffic ticket in November.

The amount of tickets and crashes for November was also released by the sheriffs office this week.

But those statistics are rather irrelevant … what with Malibu roads being closed for much of the month.

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Traffic … in 65 seconds … first …

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Weather for the Malibu ….

((((   Technically there is a 20 percent chance of rain … but it looks pretty sunny  )))) …

Highs  ((((    63   )))) beaches mountains and canyons.

Winds will be out of the south at about 10 miles per hour this afternoon.

Sunset tonight is at   ((((    5:02   )))).

After that … (((  tonight there remains a 20 percent chance of rain  )))) …

Low ((((  54   )))) beaches …  ((((   46  )))) mountains and canyons.

Tomorrow should be   ((((    sunny    )))).

Rain possible Friday night … Sunday night … Monday night … and a big wet rainmaker may arrive Wednesday.

The lifeguards say the waves today are   ((((  1 to 2  )))) feet high ….

Those are ((((   poor   )))) surfing conditions …. according to the lifeguards.

(((((   tide is at     ))))

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The KBUU Newswire is posted midmornings … at RadioMalibu.net and at the MalibuTimes.com websites.

Remember…  breaking news always  goes first to the radio …  on F-M 99 point 1 over all of Malibu….

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Navigate to Radio Malibu dot net . … and we’re streaming in your ear anywhere in the world.

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Malibu’s Only Local Daily News – On the radio: FM 99 point 1 in all of Malibu – Streaming at www.radiomalibu.net anywhere else