In today's newscast:
Support for Big Sur community
Firefighters are making progress on the Timber Fire in Big Sur, but some of the community is still evacuated.
The Community Association of Big Sur and Big Sur Big Share are among local nonprofits collecting donations.
Community Association board chair Ryne Leuzinger says the Monterey County Community Foundation has started distributing grants through its Fire Relief Fund.
" That's going to help us with a specific initiative," he said, "which is get checks out to community members who have lost work or faced extra costs."
Amanda Holder at the Community Foundation says the ongoing fund gets activated for fires in Monterey County.
"One hundred percent of donations go to grant making," she said. "We do not take any fees."
So far, no homes have been lost in the fire, which is currently over 6,000 acres and 29% contained, according to Cal Fire.
Editor's note: the acreage and containment have been updated as of 9:30 a.m. on Friday Aug. 21, 2026.
Climate funding
State lawmakers are looking for ways to protect funding for transportation and other climate programs after changes to the state’s Cap-and-Invest Program reduced the money available for them.
The Cap-and-Invest carbon auction system generates revenue by selling pollution credits to companies that emit greenhouse gases. That money has helped pay for public transportation, housing and other climate programs.
A Senate proposal would shift over a billion dollars in state funding to free up money for those programs.
But lawmakers say a longer-term plan is needed to fund climate investments currently relying on declining revenues from the auctions.
That reporting from our partner, CapRadio.
