The Brief

A slow leak from a chemical tank smeared an orange cloud across the sky of a Southern California neighborhood on Tuesday, but authorities said they quickly got it under control.

Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Aaron Katon said authorities responded to a business that makes cleaning products after receiving a call shortly before noon about the cloud. Police evacuated a nearby middle school as a precaution, Katon said.

They do not yet know what the chemical was, but all shelter-in-place orders have been lifted, he said. The regional air quality management district has deployed staff to the area to investigate, said Connie Villanueva, a spokesperson for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The company, Shepard Bros., could not immediately be reached for comment.

Three company employees reported minor respiratory irritation and declined further treatment, Katon said.

The leak occurred in the city of La Habra near a mix of residential neighborhoods and industrial warehouses about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Anaheim.

Keary Godinez, who works in a nearby restaurant, said she saw what appeared to be a dark yellow cloud spread across the sky. The 20-year-old said she watched students across the street board buses to evacuate, but police told her the eatery could remain open.

“It looked like pollen dust,” Godinez said, adding she didn’t detect a smell from the cloud. “It just kind of smeared in the sky and started going away.”

La Habra Mayor Jose Medrano had urged residents to shelter in place and said some streets were being evacuated.

Luis Gomez, who manages a nearby pickleball program, said earlier Tuesday he saw the cloud, called police and was told anyone within a mile radius of the location was under an evacuation order.

The Los Angeles Lakers will unveil a statue of former coach Phil Jackson outside their downtown arena next year.

The Lakers announced the plan Tuesday to honor Jackson, who led the Lakers to five championships and seven NBA Finals appearances during two stints totaling 11 seasons as their head coach.

The statue will be unveiled April 9 before the Lakers’ home game against Minnesota.

After his famed tenure leading Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls to six championships, Jackson joined the Lakers in 1999 and immediately began another era of major success for the 17-time NBA champion franchise.

His first three teams in Los Angeles won championships behind the dynamic duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, and the Lakers added two more titles in 2009 and 2010 led by Bryant and Pau Gasol. His Lakers also made the NBA Finals in 2004 and 2008.

Jackson set the Lakers franchise record for coaches with 610 victories while leading his teams to the playoffs in every year of his tenure, which ended in 2011.

“Phil Jackson defines championship basketball for a reason,” Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement. “His masterful approach to coaching brought out the best in some of the greatest athletes to ever play the game. After he accepted my dad’s invitation to join the Lakers, Phil’s unmatched creativity and commitment to excellence restored our championship legacy, bringing five titles and setting a standard of excellence for generations to come. It is a great joy to be able to mark that achievement with the statue he so richly deserves.”

Jackson will be the ninth person associated with the Lakers to be honored with a statue in Star Plaza outside their arena. He joins Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Bryant, O’Neal, broadcaster Chick Hearn and former coach Pat Riley, whose statue was unveiled earlier this year.

Jackson’s 11 championships as a head coach are the most in NBA history. The North Dakota native and former New York Knicks forward is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Mayor Karen Bass is stepping down from the governing body for the L.A. region’s embattled lead homeless services agency, she told KFI last week.

The decision comes after LAist reported Bass skipped more than half the L.A. Homeless Services Authority Commission meetings held since appointing herself in 2023.

Details on the exit plans

Bass told KFI’s Gary and Shannon she’s leaving the LAHSA Commission, citing time constraints.

“I am going to be stepping down because I just — in terms of time and all,” Bass said in a live radio interview on Friday.

Bass’ office did not respond to interview requests and questions from LAist.

The backstory

LAist reporting found Bass missed 13 of the 21 LAHSA Commission meetings held over a recent year period, well above the four absence-threshold that can trigger potential removal under LAHSA’s bylaws.

Bass’ three-year term on the LAHSA Commission expired June 30, but she still remained on the commission as of Tuesday.

LAist reviewed three years of meeting records and found that Bass was among two sitting commissioners who had four or more absences over a single 12-month period.

L.A.’s mayor appoints half of the board’s members and Bass must appoint her replacement soon.

Paul Rubenstein, LAHSA's chief of staff, told LAist on Tuesday that Bass has not informed the agency that she will step down from the commission. Other members of the commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

What’s next?

LAHSA is a joint powers authority between the city and county, created three decades ago to manage the region’s response to homelessness.

The agency has come under scrutiny for alleged mismanagement of taxpayer dollars, including the Trump administration's attempt to suspend LAHSA.

In response to the agency’s documented dysfunction, L.A. County pulled most of its money from the agency and created its own homelessness department.

Bass now appears fed up with LAHSA and eager for the city to follow suit.

“I took the step of being on the commission so that I could learn much more and I could see what we needed to do,” Bass told KFI. “And I came to the conclusion that the city needs to have its own system.”