My work
Does a billionaire couple own almost all the water in California? Here’s why that’s False.
With wildfires raging in Los Angeles in January 2025, a narrative took shape on social media that the billionaire Resnick couple, who run a massive agriculture operation in California through the Wonderful Company, have control over most of the water in California. Through research and expert interviews, the story lays out why that popular idea is wrong and explains the extent of the couple’s water holdings.
Fact-check: Have some California reservoirs been closed for 15 or 20 years?
Another claim around the Los Angeles wildfires was that empty reservoirs led to a water shortage in the Palisades. Fact-checking a statement from J.D. Vance, this story explores to what extent an empty reservoir affected the fire response and investigates the claim that there were several reservoirs empty for many years.