Latest news with #Prang
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Many fire victims are owed a tax refund. L.A. County can't find some of them
Many residents who lost their homes in the Palisades or Eaton fires should have received a tax refund because their properties are now worth a lot less. But in about 330 cases, U.S. Postal Serice workers tried unsuccessfully to deliver the checks to vacant or destroyed homes, since residents hadn't provided a new address. Los Angeles County officials said Tuesday that they have sent roughly 9,700 checks totaling $26 million to residents whose properties were reassessed because of wildfire damage. Those residents had already paid their taxes and were owed a refund after their property values plummeted. 'I'm concerned that people probably need that money back right now,' L.A. County Assessor Jeff Prang said of the residents who haven't received their checks. Prang said there were similar issues with the roughly 2,000 reassessment alerts his office sent out. The office has obtained new mailing addresses for many residents who filed tax relief claims asking for their properties to be reassessed. But other eligible households never filed, creating a gaping hole in the county's address book. Residents who were displaced by the fires can update their mailing addresses at the county assessor's website. "We understand the impact that this has on people,' said Assistant Auditor-Controller Robert Campbell. 'We don't want these folks who have already been impacted by a disaster to also fall into some type of limbo.' Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Los Angeles wildfire victims may be missing relief money, County Assessor says
The Los Angeles County Assessor's Office is warning wildfire victims that they may be missing out on important tax relief or refund checks due to invalid addresses. Officials said Tuesday that while many property owners have already received lower property tax bills or even partial refunds through state disaster relief programs, hundreds of those checks and notices are now being returned to the county because the listed mailing addresses are no longer valid. 'In numerous cases, the original property—and with it, the recorded mailing address—was destroyed in the wildfires,' the assessor's office said. 'Getting relief into the hands of wildfire victims is a top priority for our Office,' said County Assessor Jeff Prang. 'But we need their help in updating contact information so that relief can reach them without delay.' After the fires, the Assessor's Office says it took a proactive approach in reviewing damage across all areas included in the official disaster declarations. All properties, even those in which the owner didn't file paperwork, have received lower property values if any damage was found. That decrease in property value results in a lower tax bill for homeowners and, in many cases, tax refunds. Homeowners whose properties were affected may have already received a Notice of Assessed Value Change, which is a letter that explains how much their property's taxable value has been temporarily reduced due to damage. This can significantly reduce their property tax bills until the home is repaired or rebuilt, officials said. But to get refund checks or future notices without delay, homeowners must make sure their current mailing address is on file with the county. Pacific Coast Highway reopens early following Palisades Fire closure The Assessor's Office stresses that a change in address does not change the location of the property, but simply ensures that important documents and refunds are delivered to where the owner can actually receive them. 'We understand how devastating these fires have been, and we are committed to making sure impacted property owners receive the support they're entitled to,' Prang said. Los Angeles County homeowners can update their mailing address by visiting the County Assessor's website. For more details about wildfire-related tax relief, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Guardian
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Rebirth: Home Sweet Home review – family holiday turns into hellish apocalypse in Thai-set yarn
Square-jawed cop Jake (Wiliam Moseley, Peter from the early-2000s Narnia movies, all grown up) arrives in Bangkok with his wife Prang (Urassaya Sperbund) and moppet daughter Loo (Akeira Hadden) to visit Prang's mother. Unfortunately for this nuclear family, a demon has broken through on to this earthly realm, its first point of contact right in Bangkok and all hell has quite literally broken loose. Actually the film, which is an adaptation of a computer game (called Home Sweet Home) popular in Thailand, rather dawdles with touristy scenes of Jake, Prang and Loo daytripping around the city, and one has to wonder if some of the production money was put up by a tourism board with its own agenda. Nevertheless, Jake tries to kill possessed bad guy Mek (Michele Morrone, rather a hoot) in a shopping mall and that's when it all kicks off. Suddenly, half the population of Bangkok seem possessed and are trying to kill the other half, and Prang and Loo are separated from Jake and must cross the city on a municipal bus as they try to avoid being murdered by the marauding millions. Elsewhere, a ginormous demon made of fire and CGI pixels moves its slow thighs through the urban landscape, a rough beast whose 93 minutes has come round at last in time for the absurd apocalyptic conclusion. Directors Steffen Hacker and Alexander Kiesl (plus the uncredited screenwriters) throw just about every mythology into the mix, from paganism to Buddhism to a bit of Hollywood horror-movie lore. The end result isn't pretty, but as genre fare it's at least energetic and Sperbund contributes a credible performance as Prang, one the film deserves. Rebirth: Home Sweet Home is on digital platforms from 14 April, and on DVD and Blu-Ray from 21 April.
