Aaron Rodgers helps cement football rivalry forged in fire

Seven-plus years after the Camp fire incinerated most of the town of Paradise, reconstruction remains halting. Roughly a third of about 11,000 destroyed homes have been rebuilt. The woodsy charm that had been the town’s signature will take time to recover.

One thing the Butte County mountain town has brought back is high school football, with locals rallying around the Bobcats like perhaps no other time in the town’s history. My colleague, Bill Plaschke, wrote a compelling series of stories and then a book on how Friday nights provided a balm for a town reeling from the fire’s unparalleled destruction.

Now, Paradise High School is raising funds to spread the power of gridiron healing to Hawaii, where the California school plans to travel in September to play a team from another fire-ravaged community, Lahaina. The resort town on the northwestern coast of Maui burned in August 2023.

Hundreds of locals are still in temporary housing. Since the fire, about 3,400 residents have left the island due to gaps in insurance payouts, challenges getting federal aid and rising rents, according to the Guardian newspaper.

A match to help heal two devastated communities

The inaugural Unity Bowl will pit the Paradise team against Lahainaluna High School on Sept. 5. If all goes according to plan, the Hawaiian team will travel to California in 2027 for a rematch.

“Our hearts are full of pride for our town and how far we have come,” Paradise High co-Principal Christina Voigt told local news station ABC10. “This trip is bringing back a lot of memories and conversations about how far we have come. It has also reminded us of all the support we received after the fire, and we want that for Maui; we want them in the spotlight.”

The challenge of funding the football game

Paradise has been home primarily to working-class people and retirees. So it presented no small challenge for the school to come up with the roughly $70,000 it would take to get the football team to Hawaii and house and feed them there.

A good chunk of the money came from NFL star Aaron Rodgers, who gave $15,000 that went into the travel fund. Rodgers grew up in nearby Chico and played high school football there before going on to Butte College and UC Berkeley and, later, the National Football League.

Rodgers’ donation came from the $1 million he gave to the North Valley Community Foundation, one of the leading charities helping with post-fire recovery. “Let’s help these people begin to heal and rebuild,” he said.

Funding for a rematch

Close to reaching their initial fundraising goal, Paradise High administrators say they still need to bring in enough donations to pay for their trip, hopefully with enough left over to help underwrite some of the costs of hosting the Lahainaluna players and families in California.

“When you go through something like the Camp Fire and then see another community go through something similar you immediately want to help,” Voigt said via email. “Football was a large part of the recovery for both of these communities, bringing the community back together. Paradise wants to share hope with them and help whatever way they need. That is hard to do without a connection, though, and this will connect the teams forever.”

Here’s how you can support the team’s trip to Hawaii.

Today’s top stories

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra during a debate with other candidates at East Los Angeles College on May 5, 2026.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Becerra’s rivals in the governor’s race are piling on

• Xavier Becerra’s longtime advisor Sean McCluskie pleaded guilty to stealing $225,000 from the former Biden Cabinet secretary’s campaign account.
• Democratic and Republican rivals in the 2026 California governor’s race are seizing on the scandal to question Becerra’s fitness, warning that legal jeopardy could hand victory to Republicans.

What we know about Eileen Wang

• The former Arcadia mayor resigned Monday after federal charges revealed she secretly operated a propaganda website for the Chinese government from 2020 through 2022.
• In Arcadia and other heavily Asian cities in the San Gabriel Valley, the charges have brought questions about what exactly China is doing, along with alarm about a potential backlash in the United States.

Our mega-guide to Route 66: America’s Mother Road

• Route 66 is turning 100 this year. Across eight states, we scouted out vintage motels, new businesses, neon signs, friendly Muffler Men, road food, vivid characters and 20th century ruins.
• Here’s our mega-guide to America’s Mother Road.

L.A. condo sales have slumped to a 20-year low

• Fewer than 2,000 units sold in January and February — the worst start to the year since 2005.
• Stubbornly high mortgage rates, rising homeowners association fees and investor caution have dampened buyer interest, with median condo prices dropping 4.5% compared with a year earlier.

What else is going on

• Disabled veterans may be getting a big property tax break in California.
• The nation’s students are deep in a reading recession. Here’s how L.A. and California fit in.
• Social media videos take center stage in the L.A. mayoral campaign.
• Los Angeles quietly fired its first chief heat officer.
• D4vd murder case: The singer will face a key hearing on charges he killed and dismembered a teen.
• The Cinerama Dome takes a likely step toward reopening “in the near future.”

Commentary and opinions

• The “Disney adult” obsession needs to stop already, argues features columnist Todd Martens.
• In his latest column, Gustavo Arellano writes about how a fast food taco showed us who Steve Hilton really is.

This morning’s must-read

California

For Subscribers

Great white sharks are surging off Southern California. It’s actually good for the ocean

With an uptick in great white shark activity at SoCal beaches, a team from the Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab tags the giant fish with a goal of gleaning insights that can improve ocean safety.

May 13, 2026

Another must-read

• Is “Blue Dot Fever” a real problem for the concert industry?

For your downtime

A guest room featuring an oversize clamshell headboard at The Baby Grand, an over-the-top San Diego hotel opening in May.

(Megan Morello/For The Times)

Going out

• Hotels: Coronado’s new hotel is a maximalist dream — with lush lagoons and iridescent clamshell beds.
• Art: Gary Baseman’s new exhibition at the historic Johnie’s Coffee Shop features 40 drawings on menus of local restaurants including Canter’s and Max & Helen’s.

Staying in

• Television: Here are the 15 TV shows we’re excited about this summer.
• Recipe: Here’s a recipe for spiced rice and fish with minty peas.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games.

A question for you: With three new stations open, will you ride L.A. Metro’s D Line?

Denise says, “Not any time soon, but very likely once it opens the Century City stop. I’ve been struggling through the construction and road closures and chaos for too long not to. But it still is too far east to be of any practical use. However, I will continue to utilize the E Line (station within a mile of my home) as often as possible!!”

Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally ... your photo of the day

From Old Highway 66 near Laguna, N.M., Casa Blanca Road leads to Enchanted Mesa and Acoma Village.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from The Times’ Christopher Reynolds on Old Highway 66 near Laguna, N.M. It’s one of 66 photos Reynolds took from America’s Mother Road as she turns 100.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.