Steve Futterman

The state has dropped a lawsuit aimed at getting back $4 billion originally designated by the federal government for the state's long-delayed high-speed rail project.

The funding was slashed by the Trump administration in July.

The administration claimed there was no viable plan to complete the project designed to take passengers from L.A.

to San Francisco in three hours.

The plan originally called for the project to be completed by 2020 at a cost of $33 billion.

The cost has now zoomed to over $100 billion.

The state authority handling the project says it will now focus on other funding sources, including private investment.

For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles.

The storms may be less intense, but with the ground and hillsides already waterlogged, it didn't take much to cause new flooding along with more mudslides and rockslides.

Some intersections again filled with water and became hard to drive through.

In a few areas, there are still power outages.

The next few days should bring some relief.

Yeah, we're definitely improving.

Dave Gomberg is with the National Weather Service.

We'll start to see the shower activity decrease.

This has been one of the wettest Christmas weeks ever.

Some areas have received more than 15 inches of rain.

There have been several deaths.

One of the hardest hit areas has been the small mountain town of Wrightwood, where many homes suffered extensive damage.

For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles.