Good evening, SoCal. We're wrapping up the day for you with the most important stories you need to know and your weather outlook.

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Continued dry and comfortable weather just in time for Friday.

Change is on the way as another pair of Pacific storms will affect the area for the weekend, especially Saturday.

Plan for moderate rain amounts and gusty winds.

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Today's Big Stories

1. LA is building resilience hubs as safe spaces for extreme weather events

As Los Angeles braces for a seventh atmospheric river in less than a month this weekend, LA’s Climate Emergency Mobilization Office presented a plan to cope with another weather extreme that’s only months away: heat.

The city will increase the number of so-called resilience hubs, which provide shade, cooling, internet and transportation services in buildings that are energized with renewables and backed up with battery energy storage.

Equipped with solar panels, backup power, shade and emergency food and water supplies, resilience hubs will target communities that are at highest risk for the negative effects of climate change. According to the UCLA Heat Map, disadvantaged, low-income and pollution-burdened communities experience as much as 15% more hospitalizations and premature mortalities during extreme heat waves. 

In addition to serving communities during extreme heat events, resilience hubs will provide ongoing services and programs throughout the year, whether it’s after-school programs for children, meal programs for seniors or wraparound services for people experiencing homelessness, Segura said.

Community input about the exact services each resilience center needs, she added, is key.

2. Series of drenching California storms put dent in drought

Atmospheric rivers pounding California since late last year have coated mountains with a full winter’s worth of snow and begun raising reservoir levels — but experts say it will take much more precipitation to reverse the effects of years of drought.

The U.S. Drought Monitor’s weekly update released on Thursday showed that “extreme” drought has been virtually eliminated a week after the worst category — “exceptional” — was washed off the map. Two weeks ago, extreme drought covered 35% of California.

The Drought Monitor characterized the improvement as a significant reduction in drought intensity but cautioned that large parts of the state have moisture deficits that have been entrenched for two or three years.

Most of the state is now in the “severe” or “moderate” categories of drought, with small areas in the far northwest and far southeast in a status described as “abnormally dry,” which is the lowest level.

In the Sierra Nevada and other mountains, the water content of the snowpack is more than 200% of normal to date and more than 100% of the April 1 average, when it is historically at its peak, according to the state Department of Water Resources. 

Low water levels are seen in Castaic Lake in Castaic, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

3. Anaheim tears down 'problem' motel as part of effort to revitalize Beach Boulevard

Anaheim tore down a "problem" motel as part of a continued effort to clean up and revitalize the city's Beach Boulevard corridor. 

On Wednesday, construction crews using excavators and other equipment bulldozed and ripped apart the Covered Wagon Motel, a two-story, 70-room motel at 823 S. Beach Blvd. 

The city closed the motel, which initially opened in 1961 under a different name, in March 2022, for public health and safety violations and inhumane living conditions, Anaheim spokesman Mike Lyster said. 

The city hasn't identified a developer for the site yet, but the plan is to start potential construction in 2024.

While other Orange County cities such as Buena Park, Stanton and Huntington Beach have heavily invested in its Beach Boulevard area with restaurants, food halls, and outdoor malls, Anaheim's 1.5-mile Beach Boulevard corridor remains a work in progress.

Lyster said Anaheim is working to rebuild its Beach Boulevard corridor "as an inviting, walkable, livable street with new homes and thriving businesses."

4. Bauer released by Los Angeles Dodgers after suspension cut

Trevor Bauer was released Thursday by the Los Angeles Dodgers after the pitcher's unprecedented 324-game suspension over sexual misconduct allegations was reduced by an arbitrator.

Los Angeles designated Bauer for assignment on Jan. 6, the last day to restore him to the roster, after arbitrator Martin Scheinman cut the suspension imposed by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred from 324 to 194 games. The Dodgers placed the pitcher on waivers Thursday, and any team can claim Bauer by 1 p.m. EST Friday.

Bauer is owed about $22.5 million from the remainder of his $102 million, three-year contract, making a waiver claim unlikely. If the 2020 NL Cy Young Award winner is not claimed, any team can sign him after 2 p.m. EST Friday for the major league minimum of $720,000. The Dodgers would be responsible for the remainder of the $22,537,635 he is owed.

The suspension has cost Bauer about $37.6 million in salary.

Manfred suspended Bauer last April for violating the league’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy after a San Diego woman said he beat and sexually abused her in 2021. Bauer has maintained he did nothing wrong, saying that everything that happened between him and the woman was consensual.

Bauer was never charged with a crime.

5. AG Garland names special counsel to investigate Biden documents

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday announced Robert Hur will serve as special counsel to investigate classified documents found at President Joe Biden’s home and former office from his time as vice president, amid questions about why the White House delayed public announcements of the discovery of the sensitive records.

The news about the special counsel came hours after the White House confirmed President Biden's legal team discovered "a small number" of additional Obama-Biden administration documents at his house in Wilmington, Delaware, in December and just days after an attorney for the president said Biden's lawyers in early November had discovered classified records at his former office space in Washington.

Neither discovery was confirmed by the White House until this week — and only after media reports first revealed them.

Details in Garland’s announcement threw into question the White House’s claims of transparency.

Irrespective of the Justice Department review, the revelation that Biden potentially mishandled classified or presidential records could prove to be a political headache for the president, who called Trump’s decision to keep hundreds of such records at his private club in Florida “irresponsible.”

Biden has said he was “surprised to learn that there are any government records that were taken there to that office,” but his lawyers “did what they should have done” when they immediately called the National Archives.

Your Notes for Tomorrow

• President Joe Biden hosts Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House
• Court hearing for Colorado gay club shooting suspect
• Sentencing in criminal tax fraud case against Trump Organization
• Two years since Donald Trump’s second impeachment
• Three years since first COVID case outside China confirmed
• Secretary Blinken and Japanese Prime Minister visit NASA headquarters
• National Blame Someone Else Day (First Friday the 13th of the Year)
• National Rubber Ducky Day