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Hi, I'm Faith Pino, and you're listening to Headlines from LA Times Studios.

Here's some of today's top stories from the Los Angeles Times.

An LA Times investigation has uncovered new details about the deadly palisades fire, raising serious questions about the Los Angeles Fire Department's response.

Firefighter text messages reviewed by the Times show crews warned their battalion chief not to leave the scene of a small New Year's Day brush fire, saying the ground was actively

smoldering and rocks were hot to the touch. Still, they were ordered to pull out anyway. Five days

later, strong winds reignited those embers, sparking the January blaze that killed 12 people

and destroyed thousands of homes in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Topanga.

According to reporters, one firefighter wrote that he told the chief it was, quote,

a bad idea to leave, and that quote, the rest is history. The LAFD declined to comment on the

texts, but maintains they believe the original fire was fully extinguished.

The revelations come as lawsuits and a Senate inquiry look into whether the city and state did enough to protect the community,

while a former Palisades resident, Josh Rindernecht, faces charges for igniting the original New Year's Day fire.

Interim Chief Ronnie Villanueva said in a statement this month that it was an undetectable

holdover fire, meaning it was burning deep underground and that it wasn't a failure to extinguish

the flames. But critics say firefighters should have stayed longer to monitor the burn

and that they chose not to use thermal imaging tools that could have detected hidden hotspots

and stop one of the most devastating fires in Los Angeles history. To read more about the investigation,

subscribe to the LA Times. And the Federal Reserve cut interest rates

again Wednesday for the second time this year, as it tries to boost growth in hiring despite

inflation still running high. According to reporters, the new benchmark rate now sits at around

3.9 percent, down slightly from about 4.1. The hope is that over time,

...