And those towers - and the incredible mountains that house them - are threatened. There hasn't been a big fire in 'dem parts in four decades, and with the entire state of California mired in a drought, it's a horrible situation. And the worst of their fire season, with the hot Santa Ana winds prepping to blow in from the east, hasn't begun.
We'll have the latest from this deadly fire scene, tonight at 11.
Also at 11, there are also dry conditions in Newark, but this is a very different kind of story. The City, strapped for money and apparently tired of people skipping on their water bills, is now cracking down.
But the way it's cracking down is not sitting well with many people.
Thousands of residents will have their water shut off, beginning tomorrow, and many of them don't have much control over it. It's their landlords who are the scofflaws. Is it fair to penalize the tenants? Isn't there a way for the City to put a lien on the property and order the tenants to send their rents to the City instead of the landlord? I'm no lawyer, but I suspect the lawyers out there who read this might have the answer.
Of course that may not be the problem - the landlords. They say their tenants can't afford to pay rent, so many of them haven't paid their monthly housing.
What a horrible, sign-of-the-times story.
In any event, we'll have the latest, at 11.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Scott Clark with the night's sports. I hope you can join Liz Cho and me, tonight at 11.
BILL RITTER
