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Today β€” 12 January 2025Main stream

Tyler Perry Slams β€˜Pure Greed' of Insurance Companies Amid L.A. Wildfires

12 January 2025 at 15:39
The Critics Choice Association's 7th Annual Celebration Of Black Cinema & Television - Red Carpet
Tyler Perry (Photo by Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association)

Tyler Perry slammed insurance companies who implemented policy changes ahead of the wildfires that have devastated the greater Los Angeles area.

β€œWatching a daughter use a garden hose to try and protect her 90-year-old parents’ home because their insurance was canceled was just gut-wrenching to me,” Perry wrote via Instagram on Sunday, January 12.

β€œDoes anyone else find it appalling that insurance companies can take billions of dollars out of communities for years and then, all of a sudden, be allowed to cancel millions of policies for the very people they became rich on?” the filmmaker continued. β€œPeople who have paid premiums all of their lives are left with nothing because of pure greed.”

He concluded, β€œAs I am in the process of trying to figure out what steps to take to do all I can to help as many as I can, I am keeping everyone in my prayers.”

Celebrities Share Personal Photos of Heartbreaking Los Angeles Wildfires

According to the Los Angeles Times, State Farm General, the largest home insurer in California, announced in March 2024 it would not be renewing 30,000 home and condominium policies when they expired β€” 1,600 of which were located in the Pacific Palisades.

Per the Times, insurance company Chubb stopped writing new policies for high-value homes designated to be at high risk for wildfires, while Allstate also stopped writing new policies.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the wildfires that began a path of destruction through Los Angeles the morning of Tuesday, January 7, when high winds sparked fast-moving brush fires through the Pacific Palisades. The fires have since spread to surrounding neighborhoods, including Malibu and the Hollywood Hills.

According to local authorities, the death toll has reached at least 16 people and is expected to rise as search and rescue efforts continue. NBC News reports that the blaze has burned through 37,000 acres and destroyed over 12,000 structures.

Which Stars Have Been Affected by the Los Angeles Fires?

Over 150,000 people have been placed under mandatory evacuation orders, including stars like Mark Hamill, Jennie Garth and Mandy Moore. A number of celebrities, however, were not so lucky, as their homes were completely destroyed by the fires, including Paris Hilton, Anna Faris, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, Billy Crystal, Mel Gibson and Milo Ventimiglia.

According to AccuWeather, the wildfires could be the costliest in U.S. history, with the total economic loss currently estimated to be between $135 billion and $150 billion as of Thursday, January 9.

Check the LAFD website for local wildfire alerts and click here for resources on how to help those affected.

Erin Andrews Says Husband Jarret Stoll 'Would Rather We Not Be So Public'

12 January 2025 at 15:18
Erin Andrews Says Husband Jarret Stoll 'Would Rather We Not Be So Public'
Jarret Stoll and Erin Andrews Getty Images

Erin Andrews and her husband, Jarret Stoll, don’t always see eye-to-eye when it comes to sharing their personal lives with the public.

β€œMy husband would rather we not be so public β€” me not be so public,” Andrews, 46, told Success magazine in an interview published on Friday, January 10.

While the couple, who tied the knot in 2017, navigated their fertility journey, the idea of being private came up. β€œHe was just like, β€˜Why do we have to say this?’ And I said, β€˜Because these waiting rooms are packed,’” she explained.

Andrews has been candid through the years about her fertility journey, sharing in a 2021 essay for Bulletin that she had been undergoing β€œtime-consuming and emotionally draining” treatments since she was 35. In July 2023, the couple welcomed their first child, son Mack, via surrogate.

Erin Andrews Says She’s Considering Baby No. 2, Talks What Scares Her

Now, the couple is thinking about adding another little one to their family. β€œWe’re talking about trying it again,” Andrews told E! News in October 2024. β€œI was really, really honest with my doctor a couple weeks ago. I just said, β€˜We’ve had so much high with the birth of Mack and how great he’s doing that I don’t want to go back to that place of failure again, and I’m really, really afraid of it.’”

Before Mack’s birth, Andrews lost two of her embryos. β€œIt’s crazy, because once you get back on the phone with your fertility doctor and you start talking about the journey again, PTSD all comes back, of how crappy you felt, how numb your body gets, just the fear of loss,” she said.

Andrews noted that she and Stoll, 42, leaned on each other through the emotional process, helping each other by sharing their feelings.

Erin Andrews Details 'Emergency' in Delivery Room With Son's Surrogate

β€œSometimes men don’t want to talk about this stuff, but they’re also feeling the feels, too,” Andrews said. β€œMy husband was really, really great after we were going through more lows than highs, just being like, β€˜This sucks. This just isn’t great. I feel really crappy, and I feel like a failure,’ and that really helped a lot too.”

While navigating her job responsibilities and parenting duties, Andrews shared that she’s still figuring out a proper work-life balance. β€œI talked about it on a walk with my husband last night as we were walking our dog β€” we’ve got a lot going on,” she told Success magazine.

Andrews said the start of the NFL season is when her life gets β€œabsolutely crazy” with her work. β€œPlus it’s a Super Bowl year,” she said. β€œWe have Tom Brady on our broadcasting crew this year. So it’s going to be a lot.”

Cameron Diaz walked away from Hollywood 10 years ago – her return is worth celebrating

12 January 2025 at 22:00

A decade after leaving acting behind, the star of β€˜There’s Something About Mary’ and β€˜Charlie’s Angels’ has un-retired for a new Netflix film. Might she now be afforded some respect, asks Adam White

Β© Shutterstock/Netflix/Sky/iStock

Why one of Europe's largest pensions sold its entire $585 million stake in Tesla

12 January 2025 at 21:27
Tesla vehicles at a dealership
A Dutch pension fund completely divested its stake in Tesla over several concerns.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

  • Dutch pension fund ABP sold its Tesla stake over Musk's pay and working conditions at the company.
  • ABP disagreed with Musk's compensation package and voted against it in June.
  • The fund called the pay package "controversial and exceptionally high."

A Dutch civil service pension fund sold its entire stake in Tesla over disapproval of CEO Elon Musk's pay package and working conditions at the company.

Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, one of Europe's largest pension funds, sold 2.8 million shares in the electric vehicle maker in September because it disagreed with Musk's pay package, Dutch outlet Het Financieele Dagblad reported Friday. The report did not detail the fund's specific concerns about labor conditions at the company.

A spokesperson for ABP, which manages $552 billion overall, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bloomberg reported that ABP's Tesla stake was valued at about $585 million.

In a statement to the NL Times, ABP said "we cannot and do not need to invest in everything," and that the divestment was not politically motivated. Musk has been a prominent supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, and is co-leading a commission called the Department of Government Efficiency.

In 2018, Tesla's board and shareholders voted in favor of a performance-based compensation plan. The same year, a shareholder sued Tesla and Musk, arguing that Musk influenced the board's decision through his personal relationships with board members, including his brother. In January 2024, a Delaware judge ruled to strike down Musk's compensation package, siding with a shareholder. The stock option-based package could be worth tens of billions of dollars.

In June, the EV maker held a second vote, which led to shareholder approval of Musk's pay. ABP voted against the pay package and called it "controversial and exceptionally high."

Last month, the judge, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick, once again ruled against the compensation package, saying that Tesla's June shareholder vote wasn't enough to pass the package.

Tesla's Model Y was the best-selling car in the Netherlands in 2024, but the carmaker's sales have been declining in Europe. New Tesla car registrations from January to November 2024 fell over 15% compared to the same period in 2023, according to European Automobile Manufacturers Association data.

Tesla is worth about $1.27 trillion and its stock has risen about 74% in the past year.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider

L.A. wildfires destroy Black community birthed from Civil Rights era

12 January 2025 at 21:23

A historic Black community that grew out of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s is among the communities wiped away by devastating wildfires charring through Los Angeles County.

The big picture: The Eaton Fire has all but flatted the many Black-owned homes and businesses in the unincorporated area of Altadena, California, in San Gabriel Valley and the Verdugos regions.


Zoom in: The community of 42,000 residents β€” 18% are Black β€” has been among the hardest hit by wildfires that so far have claimed 24 lives and burned away over 12,000 structures across the county.

  • The Eaton Fire alone charred more than 1,000 structures and killed at least five people in Altadena, per the Los Angeles Times.

Octavia E. Butler, the late-pioneering Black science fiction novelist who wrote about a wildfire from climate change starting on February 1, 2025, in her novel "Parable of the Sower," is buried in an Altadena cemetery.

  • The cemetery caught fire, the LA Times reports.

Zoom out: Satellite images of burning buildings in Altadena examined by Axios show that last week, a large portion of the community was in flames or burned to ash.

  • The images give clues to how quickly the fire moved to long-protected communities because of high winds and drought conditions.
  • The whole community was ordered to evacuate when the Eaton Fire began last week and has since claimed many of the community's churches, landmarks and much of its downtown.
Maxar shortwave infrared closer satellite image of burning buildings in Altadena, California. Photo: Maxar Technologies via Getty Images

State of play: Much attention on the wildfires has focused on the destruction of homes in wealthy areas and of celebrities, but Altadena's devastation shows how middle-class areas and communities of color were also hit.

  • In the days after the Eaton Fire started, Black residents returned to homes passed down by family members only to see them gone as the fire burned block.
  • The community, where 58% of residents are people of color, also saw many Latino and Asian American residents return to rubble.
Danny Robinson and Sharon Beckford sift through the rubble of their family's home that the Eaton Fire in Altadena destroyed. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Among those returning to ash in Altadena was Shawn Brown, a Black homeowner. She told The Associated Press she lost her home and a charter school she founded.

  • She had a message for fellow Black homeowners in the wake of despair: "I would tell them to stand strong, rebuild, continue the generational progress of African-Americans."

Flashback: In 1960, 95% of Altadena's residents were white, according to Altadena Heritage, a nonprofit organization that seeks to preserve the community's history.

  • After President Lyndon Johnson signed several civil rights bills, including The Fair Housing Act of 1968, Altadena's Black population grew from 4% in 1960 to 27% in 1970.
  • Altadena was one of the few communities offering housing and loans to Black Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. As a result, it became a popular community for a growing Black middle class seeking to escape discrimination elsewhere.
Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver (1935 – 1998) and wife, professor and activist Kathleen Cleaver, play with their children Ahmad and Joju in front of Eldridge Cleaver's mother's home in Altadena in 1977. Photo: Nik Wheeler/Corbis via Getty Images

Stunning stat: Before the fire, the Black homeownership rate stood at 81.5% β€” nearly the national rate for Black homeowners, per the AP.

What we're watching: Recovering and rebuilding efforts typically overlook communities of color, who struggle amid the maze of insurance bureaucracies and federal disaster relief programs.

  • Communities like Altadena near wildfire-prone areas may consider building fire-prevention walls or barriers, as Octavia E. Butler foresaw in her futuristic novels.

More from Axios:

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