Kirk Siegler

With the January 7 fires crossing multiple jurisdictions, survivors say it can feel like no one is in charge of the recovery, especially with FEMA's budget being cut.

In Altadena, Andrew King is trying to rebuild but is frustrated.

Meanwhile, King has a building permit and is going ahead with pouring the concrete for his garage, even though he still hasn't settled with his insurance company.

Kirk Sigler in PR News, Pasadena.

These bridge payments, as the administration is calling them, are meant to offset the effects of the president's trade war and tariffs that have left American soybeans here in the bins and not exported to China.

The aid is expected to arrive by early March, but farmers like John Kipley say they need the money right now.

Kipley says banks won't lend because they know farmers will still be in the red next season.

One estimate at a Farmers Union conference here showed that's the case for close to half of all the farms in South Dakota, where many family farms without capital could soon be out of business.

Kirk Sigler, NPR News, here in South Dakota.

NPR's Kirk Siegler reports from South Dakota.

These bridge payments, as the president is calling them, should be coming to farmers early next year.

Many like Kevin Dynert are on thin margins due to inflation, tariffs, and Trump's trade war closing off Asian markets for soybeans.

Most here in the Dakotas are grown for export.

Pretty much all of Deinert's soybeans are still sitting in storage.

He's holding out for higher prices and is counting on the administration's promises that it's secured deals with China so that country begins importing commodities from the U.S.

again.

Kirk Ziegler, NPR News, Mitchell, South Dakota.

The Democrats are citing a recent analysis by retired firefighters that shows the U.S.

Forest Service is 38 percent behind its own targets for prescribed fires, thinning and other projects aimed at making Western public forests less vulnerable to wildfires.

This follows President Trump's hiring freeze and doge cuts.