Topline:
From the presidential race and possibility of the first U.S. woman president, to more down ballot issues and races, SoCal voters had a lot on their minds as they lined up to vote, particularly around the economy.
Why now: LAist reporters were at polling stations across Los Angeles and Orange counties on Tuesday as thousands of people turned up to cast their ballots.
Read on... for more on what our journalists saw on the ground Tuesday.
LAist reporters were at polling stations across Los Angeles and Orange counties on Tuesday as thousands of people turned up to cast their ballots. From the presidential race and possibility of the first U.S. woman president, to more down ballot issues and races, voters had a lot on their minds as they lined up to vote, particularly around the economy.
Silvia Rosales of Koreatown told LAist's Julia Barajas she waited two hours to cast her vote.
"It's very difficult to gather the money you need for rent every month, yes, it's very difficult," she said. "And then food — it's so expensive! And, at work, we're earning the same wages."
Here's a look at what our journalists saw on the ground Tuesday:
Topline:
Scientists are building a “Noah’s Ark” of tide pools at the L.A. County Museum of Natural History that they say will be a game-changer when it comes to tracking climate change.
The details: The first comprehensive record of California’s tidal ecosystems — from San Diego to the Oregon border — is focused on invertebrates and algae. They play a key role in the ecosystem but have been studied far less than more visible fish, birds and mammals. The reference library will include DNA profiles and physical samples and will be an open resource for scientists.
Tracking climate change: The DNA library will give scientists a reference point to let them more effectively track and understand changes in tidal ecosystems. Intertidal habitats are some of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including rising water temperatures and sea levels.
Expanding protections: Officials say the project will also have practical applications for managing the state’s Marine Protected Areas. They say it will allow them to better monitor invasive species and identify new marine environments that need state protection.
Read on … to hear from the scientists involved in the project.
On an overcast morning in July, marine biologist Greg Rouse knelt next to a large tide pool near La Jolla’s Bird Rock.
“This place is incredibly diverse in habitats,” Rouse said, scooping a sample of seawater into a plastic bag.
A few miles down the beach, in his seaside lab at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, Rouse separated the sampled water into a petri dish.
At first glance it was just water and some floating ocean debris.
But when Rouse slid the petri dish under a microscope, hundreds of nearly-microscopic animals burst into life on a high-resolution monitor: shrimps and snails, pillbug-like isopods, worms of all sorts of different shapes, and at least one bright-orange sea slug.
Sampling tide pools like this is fairly routine for Rouse, but lately, it has been part of something bigger. Rouse is leading the first phase of an effort to document California’s intertidal ecosystems.
That means logging every organism found in the tidal seawater, sand and rocks from San Diego to the Oregon border over the next two years.
“It's a baseline of what is here right now,” Rouse said. “It's a shame we didn't do this 20 or 40 years ago. But in those times, we didn't really have the DNA technology and the cost efficiency that we have these days.”
The project, called the California Intertidal Biodiversity DNA Barcode Library project, is ambitious. Nothing of this scale has been attempted in the U.S. It’s being led by a coalition of top research institutions, including Scripps, the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, the California Ocean Protection Council and the Southern California Coastal Research Project.
The goal is to create a comprehensive picture of California’s tidal habitats by focusing on the algae and invertebrates that live in them, including their DNA profiles. Scientists say that will let them more effectively track changes in those ecosystems.
The intertidal region is made up of the narrow strip of coastline that alternates between being submerged at high tide and exposed at low tide. It’s habitats are some of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including rising water temperatures and sea levels.
The two-year project launched with $10 million in state funding earlier this year but kicked into high gear this summer.
Last month, Rouse led a group of dozens of scientists to the tide pools, where they pulled more than 7,000 samples from the area around Bird Rock.
“Anything we could see, we took. But also we took a lot of stuff you can't see back to the lab and had many people on microscopes finding all the tiny creatures,” Rouse said. “Because most of the diversity is actually too small to see.”
Testing is still underway, but so far the samples represent 1,600 species of invertebrates and algae, hundreds of which could be new to science.
Once collected and analyzed at Scripps, the physical specimens and their DNA profiles will be sent to the L.A. County Museum of Natural History where they will be stored in a massive library.
The museum was chosen in part because it has the largest collection of invertebrates in the U.S., outside of the Smithsonian Institution.
The project will be focused on invertebrates and algae because fish, mammals and other big, visible animals have been sampled plenty. Scientists say there is a major gap in the understanding of the tiny tide pool organisms that play a key role in the wider ecosystem.
“It's all about a food chain … and we don't have a good grounding of who's eating whom,” said Regina Wetzer, curator of marine biodiversity at the Natural History Museum. “It's a whole cascade of networks that feed the larger things that are carnivorous fish or that are birds."
Building this biological library is not just for the sake of expanding scientific understanding. It’s also practical.
Without a clear baseline to reference, said Dean Pentcheff, project manager of the Diversity Initiative for the Southern California Ocean, scientists have been largely operating in the dark.
“To responsibly manage the shore and manage our resources and manage the life on it, we need to know who's where and who's who,” Pentcheff said. “And right now, for the intertidal [zone], we don't know that.”
The DNA library will lay the groundwork for new, powerful tools scientists can use to monitor changes in the tidal ecosystem.
One of those is environmental DNA, or E-DNA, the biological detritus that naturally sloughs off organisms. Collecting samples of water or sand, and the E-DNA in it, can provide a quick snapshot of an ecosystem when compared to a baseline.
“That's a list of all the organisms that are there, but you can't put a name to any of them unless you have a reference library to look it up in,” Pentcheff said. “So our job in this project is to cruise up and down the state and create that library of genetic reference sequences to enable environmental DNA to be used in the future.”
The library will also be designed to allow for different levels of DNA sequencing, from basic DNA profiles, called barcodes, that are quick and easy to produce, to much more complex profiles that provide detailed information on an organism.
The tools the project is expected to unlock have also galvanized the officials in charge of protecting the state’s marine environments.
“Where are invasive species showing up? What's happening with species range shifts as things migrate northward? Those are the kinds of questions that we can answer, start to answer with a lot of this information,” said Mike Esgro, a member of the California Ocean Protection Council who oversees the state’s Marine Protected Areas.
California’s Marine Protected Areas cover about 16% of California’s coastal waters. They are specific geographical areas in the ocean or around coastal estuaries designed to protect and conserve marine life and habitats.
Esgro hopes the DNA library, and emerging tools like E-DNA that rely on it, will improve how officials manage these places. For example, it could help officials better understand which ones are most vulnerable and identify additional marine environments that need state protection.
It could even help scientists figure out how to shift tidal habitats inland to compensate for rising sea levels.
He also wants to see continued collaboration with state agencies like the Ocean Protection Council and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
And he hopes the California project, which he calls the “Noah’s Ark of intertidal diversity,” can serve as an example. Scientists in California are already looking at other possible DNA libraries focused on insects and fungi.
“The climate crisis is very real. It's very urgent. We're seeing the impacts right now,” Esgro said. “And so I think adopting that kind of mindset of — ‘We gotta go big; we gotta swing for the fences’ — that's crucial.”
Topline:
Air regulators on Thursday ordered Lineage Logistics to strengthen odor-control measures and expand air-monitoring as a result of the massive warehouse fire in Boyle Heights last June. Lineage representatives said many of the requirements had already been implemented at the site. Others, including a community communication plan, were expected to happen within five days, the company said.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District Board did not require Lineage to pay any financial penalties, which several elected officials, including L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, had requested in light of the numerous air quality violations it had been issued.
Why it matters: The decision came after dozens of residents who spoke at the two-day public hearing described enduring weeks of foul odors and health concerns.
Read on... for more updates on the cleanup effort.
This story first appeared in the Boyle Heights Beat.
Air regulators on Thursday ordered Lineage Logistics to strengthen odor-control measures, expand air monitoring and improve communication with residents as cleanup of the burned warehouse continues.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District hearing board unanimously approved an abatement order on the second day of a public hearing into a series of air quality violations tied to the June fire in Boyle Heights.
The board did not require Lineage to pay any financial penalties, which several elected officials, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, had requested in light of the numerous air quality violations it had been issued.
Lineage is required, among other things, to:
Many of the order’s requirements had already been implemented at the site, Lineage representatives said, while the community communication plan and increased air quality monitoring is expected to happen within five days.
Representatives for AQMD said the order was designed to strike a balance between swift food waste removal and work to control the odors plaguing the community. AQMD focuses specifically on air pollution regulation.
Dominic DiCarlo, Lineage’s vice president of global safety and compliance, said that he believes all of the rotting bulk food items will be removed by next week, without citing a specific date. He added that it would take another week to remove the rest of the material and fully disinfect the facility.
Bass ordered that all biohazard food waste be removed from the facility by Aug. 14. It’s unclear if Lineage will meet the mayor’s deadline.
DiCarlo said the company expects to spend between $80 million and $100 million on the cleanup and remediation of the burn site. He claims that about 80% of the approximately 88 million pounds of food stored at the facility has been removed to about 10 landfills and recycling facilities in Southern California and Arizona.
“This order will ensure that there are enforceable conditions on [Lineage] as it completes this cleanup project, which will minimize odor impacts on the community and expedite removal of food waste which is the source of these odors,” said Josephine Lee, senior deputy counsel for AQMD.
Topline:
A new guide from a group of local scientists helps Angelenos affected by the 2025 L.A. fires navigate questions about soil testing and clean up.
Why it matters: When the Eaton and Palisades fires burned down houses and garages, items including paint, kitchen appliances and car batteries released dangerous substances into the environment. Exposure to these substances can increase the risk of respiratory, neurological and reproductive problems, as well as certain cancers.
How to get your soil tested: If you suspect that your soil may be contaminated, the guide suggests two main options for getting it tested. One option is to hire specialists to come to your house to collect and test samples. The other option is collect them yourself and submit them for testing.
Read on … to learn who might need soil testing, the steps involved and how soil can be cleaned up.
A new guide from a group of local scientists helps Angelenos affected by the 2025 L.A. fires navigate questions about soil testing and clean up.
The guidelines are based on soil tests conducted by USC CLEAN and Community Action Project Los Angeles on more than 6,000 lots in and around burn zones in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
Sujeet Rao, the health and well-being practice director at Public Exchange at USC, who contributed to the guide, said it's a response to questions that he and other contributors knew residents had.
“We all came together … to help fire affected families understand and navigate questions they may have about environmental contamination related to the fires,” Rao said.
The guide includes information about soil contamination, testing, cleanup methods and ways to reduce your exposure risk.
When the Eaton and Palisades fires burned down houses and garages, items including paint, kitchen appliances and car batteries released dangerous substances into the environment.
Exposure to these substances can increase the risk of respiratory, neurological and reproductive problems, as well as certain cancers.
Lead was the most common concern, according to the scientists’ testing.
Rao said that’s worrying because lead is a neurotoxin.
“What that means is that [for] especially young children whose brains are still developing or women who are pregnant, lead can affect the development of the brain,” Rao said.
While you’re waiting for testing results or remediation to be completed, you can minimize your exposure to many soil contaminants.
Rao said it’s hard to say whether any specific property needs soil testing or cleanup, but gave some general guidelines.
If your house burned, definitely.
If you saw ash in the air, on the ground or otherwise near your house during the fires, get your soil tested.
If not, testing is likely unnecessary.
Other things to consider are the age of the houses that burned and their proximity to your property.
“We do know that if you’re in a neighborhood that has a lot of old housing, it is more likely that there is lead that could have been mobilized,” Rao said. “The inverse of that is, in the Palisades, we generally see much lower levels of lead contamination because the housing there tends to be so much newer.”
The guide suggests two main options for going about testing.
One option is to hire specialists to come to your house to collect and test samples.
The other option is collect samples yourself and submit them to a testing program, such as USC CLEAN.
In the testing results, look for contaminant levels that exceed the residential limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency or the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.
Both account for how the area is used, including whether children are playing outside or people are gardening.
If your soil test results are above the EPA or DTSC limits, the guide offers four main methods to clean it up.
Some soil remediation can be paid for through insurance. Costs will depend on the size of your yard and which contaminants are present. The guide estimates that the least costly options are capping and immobilization, which can run around $10,000.
The full soil remediation guide is on the Consortium website.
Topline:
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is once more trying to limit the number of people who are born in the country who can become American citizens, in a sign that even after his first attempt at limiting birthright citizenship was rejected by the Supreme Court, he’s ready to try again.
Restricting automatic citizenship: The written executive order appeared to focus on restricting automatic citizenship to specific categories of people, including children born to adults with connections to foreign embassies or organizations as well as anyone considered an “alien enemy” of the United States. It also aimed to restrict birthright citizenship to anyone whose parents “engaged in fraudulent activity to obtain citizenship.”
Birth tourism: A second order seeks to curb what Trump called “birth tourism” by increasing restrictions on visitors to the U.S. who want to obtain visas to give birth while in the country. Trump said he thought his latest actions would be constitutional.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is once more trying to limit the number of people who are born in the country who can become American citizens, in a sign that even after his first attempt at limiting birthright citizenship was rejected by the Supreme Court, he’s ready to try again.
The president said he was signing two executive actions on immigration, including one limiting the number of people eligible for U.S. citizenship after being born in the United States.
The written executive order released later Thursday was narrower in scope than the previous one shot down by the Supreme Court and appeared to focus on restricting automatic citizenship to specific categories of people, including children born to adults with connections to foreign embassies or organizations, as well as anyone considered an “alien enemy” of the United States.
It also aimed to restrict birthright citizenship to anyone whose parents “engaged in fraudulent activity to obtain citizenship.”
A second order seeks to curb what Trump called “birth tourism” by increasing restrictions on visitors to the U.S. who want to obtain visas to give birth while in the country.
Trump said he thought his latest actions would be constitutional.
“I thought we were going to win it at the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, we had a bad decision, very unfair decision. Our country suffers because of it and we’re ending it a different way,” Trump said.
In June, the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s previous efforts to declare that children born to people in the U.S. illegally or temporarily aren’t American citizens, and upheld a broad conception of birthright citizenship.
On Trump’s first day in office of his second term, he signed an executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship, which allows anyone born in the United States to automatically become an American citizen.
Trump’s administration was immediately sued by opponents who said the executive order went against the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, which makes anyone born in the country a citizen, with very limited exceptions.
The executive order was blocked by several lower courts and never took effect.
In June, the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s order by a 6-3 vote. But the vote was too close for many immigration advocates and legal observers who felt the legal question of birthright citizenship was a long-settled issue.
