Trending Topics
Year of the Horse 
All over the world, people will be celebrating the Lunar New Year on February 17, and welcoming the Year of the Fire Horse. One of the twelve Asian zodiac animals, the horse is a powerful presence that is said...
Deadly Mushrooms 
Foraging for mushrooms? Don’t die.  That’s the message from California Poison Control this winter. Thirty-five people have gotten sick so far this season after consuming death cap mushrooms they mistook for edible varieties. Three of the victims needed liver...
The Palisades Fire: One Year Later 
Life changed for everyone in Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu on January 7 2025. A year after the Palisades Fire those who live or work in its shadow still aren’t used to the endless roadwork, the delays, the road...
Retrospective: Pacific Palisades-Paradise Lost 
Originally published in the February 21, 2025 issue of Topanga New Times The Palisades fire is named for the Palisades Highlands, where the blaze erupted on the morning of January 7, 2025. The conflagration rapidly spread throughout Pacific Palisades...
Books & Such

Caravan 

In Central America’s Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence. And the Roots of Migration (2021), Latin America historian Aviva Chomsky makes the clear case that immigration problems on the United States’ southern border are a direct consequence of an aggressive foreign...
NewsBeat

Firewise Training and Landscaping 

Topanga residents have two opportunities in May to learn about critical wildfire safety measures like home hardening and fire-safe gardening.  The Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains (RCDSMM) and TriunfoWater & Sanitation District are sponsoring a free...
NewsBeat

Leaf Blower Ban Bill 

One of the world’s greatest minor annoyances, the gasoline-powered leaf blower that wakes entire neighborhoods up at 7 a.m. with a sound like a jet plane taking off, may soon be a thing of the past in California.  The...