The Brief

Frustrated with the pace of the long-promised cleanup of radioactive material from the Santa Susana Field Lab, a coalition of activists will be protesting starting today to demand an urgent cleanup of a nuclear waste site near Simi Valley.

The activists are marking the 65th anniversary of a partial nuclear reactor meltdown at the Santa Susana Field Lab in July 1959, which released radioactive material and other toxic chemicals into the soil and surrounding areas. At the time, the Atomic Energy Commission issued a statement claiming that there was "no release of radioactive materials" into the surrounding area, which was later shown to be false.

Even after the meltdown, the 2850-acre site was still used for nuclear development and testing until 1988, according to the Department of Energy. The site was also used for rocket tests conducted by NASA and its contractor Rocketdyne. Ownership of the majority of the site was transferred to Boeing in 1996, though the U.S. government owns the remaining portions.

Activists and environmental groups allege that since Boeing became stewards of the site — and the hazardous chemicals within — the company has been slow to mitigate risks for surrounding residents.

"They are trying to get out of the full, complete cleanup," said Melissa Bumstead, founder and co-director of the group Parents Against Santa Susana Field Lab. "They want to cut corners. And they're minimizing the risk to the public."

For their part, Boeing said the company is following a cleanup procedure laid out by the California Environmental Protection Agency two years ago "to implement a stringent cleanup of the site."

"The cleanup framework provides Boeing with a clear process, schedule, and criteria for future decision-making, while protecting important biological and cultural resources," a Boeing spokesperson wrote in an email to LAist. "Interim soil and groundwater measures are ongoing and the final soil and groundwater cleanup are slated to start as soon as 2026."

Studies conducted over the years have not always been able to demonstrate a significant increase in rates of cancer near the former test site, though many others have.

"Taken together, the studies do not support a link between incidences of cancer and past operations at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory," Boeing wrote to LAist.

Bumstead and her fellow advocates refute this, pointing to several studies that found higher rates of certain types of cancer for people working and living close to the site. For Bumstead, the issue is personal.

"My daughter is 14 now, but she's a two-time cancer survivor, and she's one of 80 kids in our community who've had cancer that we know of," Bumstead said.

The spread of radiation from the site also became a flashpoint for surrounding areas following the Woolsey Fire in 2018, which burned through parts of the SSFL site.

At the time, California's Department of Toxic Substances Control said that they did not believe any toxic chemicals had been released into surrounding areas. However, a study published in 2021 found that while most samples taken nearby did not have elevated radiation levels, radioactive matter did spread outside of the site.

The highest levels of radiation in the study were detected in Thousand Oaks, about 9 miles from the site of Santa Susana Field Lab.

Boeing entered into mediation with the state in 2021, according to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. In 2022, the parties announced a cleanup agreement to "hold Boeing accountable" after 15 months of negotiations. The state set stringent standards for the cleanup, saying that it should be sufficiently free from waste for residents to live on the site and grow their own produce from the formerly contaminated soil.

That full cleanup is expected to take 10 to 15 years, though state officials said they're looking at ways to expedite the process.

Bumstead and other advocates say that the sooner the site is rid of nuclear waste and other hazardous materials, the better.

"One of the long term problems, one of the reasons why this has taken 65 years, is it's easy to kick the can down the road forever," Bumstead said.

Topline:

The case: In September, the city settled a lawsuit brought forward by two brothers in their 70s who said they suffered serious injuries after an LAPD officer crashed into their car. Days before the $18 million settlement was reached, lawyers for the brothers said Feldstein Soto called an expert witness testifying for the plaintiffs and “attempted to ingratiate herself with him and asked him to make a contribution to her political campaign,” according to a sworn declaration to the court by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Robert Glassman.

The response: Feldstein Soto did not respond to an interview request. Her spokesperson said the settlement “had nothing to do” with the expert witness. Her campaign manager told LAist the city attorney had been making a routine fundraising call and did not know the person had a role in the case, nor that there were pending requests for her office to pay him fees.

What Jurado says: In a statement to LAist, Jurado said she wants to “make sure that the city’s legal leadership is guided by integrity and accountability, especially when their choices affect public trust, civic rights and the city’s limited resources."

What’s next: The motion needs to go through a few committees before reaching the full City Council. If it passes, the motion calls for the city attorney to “report to council in closed session within 45 days regarding the ethics breach violation and give updates to the City Council."

Every year in Santa Ana, Luis Cantabrana turns the front of his home into an elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe that draws hundreds of visitors.

Along the front of the house, the multi-colored altar is filled with lights, flowers and a stained-glass tapestry behind a sculpture of the Lady of Guadalupe. Cantabrana’s roof also is lit up with the green, white and red lights that spell out “Virgen de Guadalupe” and a cross.

Visitors are welcomed with music and the smell of roses as they celebrate the saint, but this year’s gathering comes after a dark year for immigrant communities.

Luis Cantabrana stands in front of the stunning altar he built in front of his home in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe. Every year, his display draws hundreds of visitors.

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Destiny Torres

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LAist

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Why do they celebrate? 

In 1513, the Virgin Mary appeared before St. Juan Diego between Dec. 9 and Dec. 12, asking him to build a church in her honor. Her image — a brown-skinned woman wearing a green veil with her hands together in prayer and an angel at her feet — miraculously appeared on his cloak.

To celebrate in Santa Ana, worshippers gathered late-night Wednesday and in the very early hours Dec. 12 to pray the rosary, sing hymns and celebrate the saint.

Cantabrana has hosted worshippers at his home for 27 years — 17 in Santa Ana.

The altar started out small, he said, and over the years, he added a fabric background, more lights and flowers (lots and lots of flowers).

“It started with me making a promise to la Virgen de Guadalupe that while I had life and a home to build an altar, that I would do it,” Cantabrana said. “Everything you see in photos and videos is pretty, but when you come and see it live, it's more than pretty. It's beautiful.”

The Santa Ana home's elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe draws hundreds of visitors each year.

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Destiny Torres

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LAist

)

Gathering in a time of turmoil 

Many also look to the Lady of Guadalupe for protection, especially at a time when federal enforcement has rattled immigrant communities.

“People don’t want to go to work, they don’t want to take their kids to school, but the love we have for our Virgen de Guadalupe,” Cantabrana said. “We see that la Virgen de Guadalupe has a lot of power, and so we know immigration [enforcement] won’t come here.”

Margarita Lopez of Garden Grove has been visiting the altar for three years with her husband. She’s been celebrating the Virgencita since she was a young girl. Honoring the saint is as important now as ever, she said.

“We ask, and she performs miracles,” Lopez said.

Claudia Tapia, a lifelong Santa Ana resident, said the Virgin Mary represents strength.

“Right now, with everything going on, a lot of our families [have] turned and prayed to the Virgen for strength during these times,” Tapia said. “She's a very strong symbol of Mexican culture, of unity, of faith and of resilience.”

See it for yourself

The shrine will stay up into the new year on the corner of Broadway and Camile Street.

California’s unemployment agency kept paying cellphone bills for 4 1/2 years without checking whether its workers actually were using the devices.

That’s how it racked up $4.6 million in fees for mobile devices its workers were not using, according to a new state audit detailing wasteful spending at several government agencies.

The Employment Development Department’s excessive cellphone bills date to the COVID-19 pandemic, when it shifted call center employees to remote work and faced pressure to release benefits to millions of suddenly unemployed Californians.

It acquired 7,224 cellphones and wireless hotspots by December 2020. State auditors analyzed 54 months of invoices since then and found half the devices were unused for at least two years, 25% were unused for three years and 99 of them were never used at all.

The investigation, which auditors opened after receiving a tip, identified 6,285 devices that were unused for at least four consecutive months, and said the department spent $4.6 million on monthly service fees for them.

From the beginning, the department had about 2,000 more cellphones than call center employees, according to the audit. The gap widened over time after the pandemic ended and the department’s staffing returned to its normal headcount.

As of April, the audit said the department had 1,787 unemployment call center employees, but was paying monthly service fees for 5,097 mobile devices.

“Although obtaining the mobile devices during COVID-19 may have been a good idea to serve the public, continuing to pay the monthly service fees for so many unused devices, especially post-COVID-19, was wasteful,” the audit said.

Department officials told auditors they were unaware of the spending, but auditors pointed to regular invoices from Verizon that showed which phones were not being used.

“We would have expected EDD management to have reconsidered the need to pay the monthly service fees for so many devices that had no voice, message, or data usage,” the audit said.

The unemployment department began acting on the auditors’ findings in April, when it canceled service plans for 2,825 devices. It has since implemented a policy to terminate service plans for devices that go unused for 90 days.

The California state auditor highlighted the mobile devices in its regular report on “improper activities by state agencies and employees.” The audit also showed that the California Air Resources Board overpaid an employee who was on extended leave as he prepared to retire by $171,000.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.