‘Not our mission’: private fire crews protect the insured, not the publicAgencies hired to protect assets look like first responders but, if a fire puts them in danger, they can become a liabilityFirefighters work to defend homes from an approaching wildfire in Sonoma, California. Photograph: Jim Urquhart/ReutersThe engines, big and small, came from all over the country to fight the Kincade fire in the Sonoma county wine region of California. There were trucks from Nevada, South Dakota, Colorado – and from the wildfire protection unit of home insurer AIG.As fires have increasingly encroached on development in California’s wildlands in recent years, communities are grappling with a new paradigm of risk. If …

New Mexico man gets life for killing family as teenA man convicted of fatally shooting his parents and three siblings in New Mexico as a 15-year-old was sentenced Friday to life in prison with the possibility of parole in a case that has tested the limits of mental treatment for juvenile offenders. Judge Alisa Hart sentenced 22-year-old Nehemiah Griego after his attorney sought a sentence that would have let him continue treatment while on probation.

Groups ask California governor to deter parolee deportationsImmigrant rights groups called Friday for Gov. Gavin Newsom to end policies they say ease the transfer of prison inmates to federal authorities despite California’s efforts to provide a sanctuary to those who are in the country illegally. The groups asked Newsom to stop prison officials from holding parolees until they can be picked up by federal immigration officials. California passed a law in 2017 barring local and state agencies from cooperating with federal immigration authorities over those who have committed certain crimes, mostly misdemeanors, but critics said it doesn’t apply to the state prison system.