Fire Victims Face Mortgage Relief Denials Despite State Law; Plus, AI Podcasts Flood the Market

Homeowners who lost their houses in January’s Los Angeles wildfires say banks are denying or limiting mortgage forbearance, despite a state law promising up to a year of relief. Meanwhile, the podcast industry is being reshaped by a surge of AI-generated shows, with studios producing hundreds of thousands of episodes at minimal cost, raising concerns about trust, content value, and advertising rates as synthetic voices spread across major platforms.