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The Brief

The most important stories for you to know today
  • 101 Freeway wildlife crossing to open this winter
    A wall with scaffolding stands in front of a hillside lined with trees and grass.
    Officials with the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing announced Wednesday that SoCal animals will be able to traverse the crossing on Dec. 2, 2026.

    Topline:

    The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing — a nearly 1-acre structure that is expected to reconnect areas traveled by SoCal’s wild animals — will be open to wildlife on Dec. 2 after years of planning and construction.

    What’s the latest? High-voltage power and telecommunication lines have been moved underground. Crews also recently finished drilling and constructing dozens of new 75-foot-deep concrete pile structures along Agoura Road to serve as the foundation for the structure.

    Read on… for what’s next for the crossing this summer.

    The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing — a nearly 1-acre structure expected to reconnect areas used by SoCal’s wild animals — will open to wildlife on Dec. 2 after years of planning and construction.

    Construction began on Earth Day in 2022. Once completed, the bridge will allow all forms of wildlife to safely cross the busy 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills, from mountain lions and bobcats to birds and butterflies.

    Beth Pratt, regional executive director at the California Regional Center with the National Wildlife Federation, said the crossing is unlike any other wildlife crossing in the country.

    “This project is four projects in one, and it is of a complexity, coordination and magnitude that is off the charts,” Pratt said. “The Santa Monica Mountains are one of 36 biodiversity hot spots in the world, and we designed this for an array of wildlife so that all wildlife in this region would have a future.”

    The project’s cost is around $90 million to $100 million, and is considered one of the most expensive wildlife crossings in the world.

    A small mountain lion plush doll sits on a bed of rocks. Behind the toy stands two easels with graphic renderings of a bridge.
    Officials with the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing announced Wednesday that SoCal animals will be able to traverse the crossing on Dec. 2, 2026.
    (
    Destiny Torres
    /
    LAist
    )

    Why it matters 

    Jeff Sikich, a wildlife biologist with the National Park Service, told LAist that the mountain lion population is small and isolated in the Santa Monica Mountains, and the 101 Freeway is a major barrier for movement.

    “We don't have many lines from north of the freeway crossing south, so that can lead to very low genetic diversity. We have documented inbreeding fathers breeding with daughters and granddaughters,” Sikich said. “It's not a numbers problem in the Santa Monica Mountains here … It's a genetic diversity issue.”

    Vehicle strikes are the leading cause of death for this mountain lion population, Sikich added. The bridge will allow animals born in the Santa Monica Mountains, especially those with diverse genetics, a safe way to leave.

    The letters "Annenberg Wildlife Crossing" is etched on the side of a concrete bridge.
    Officials with the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing announced Wednesday that SoCal animals will be able to traverse the crossing on Dec. 2, 2026.
    (
    Destiny Torres
    /
    LAist
    )

    What’s next? 

    Construction of the first structure is complete, and crews are now building the second half over Agoura Road. That second structure is expected to go up over the summer.

    Robert Rock of Rock Design Associates said crews are using methods to reduce effects to drivers who rely on the 101 Freeway.

    “We had precast box girders that were built at a facility in Perris, California, that were all essentially giant concrete Legos that came and got placed,” Rock said. “That reduction in impact to the traveling public was a key deciding factor that motivated how we changed the design.”

    Next, crews will move three million cubic feet of soil to regrade the land surrounding the site.

    A lot of the work on the second structure has been happening 60 to 100 feet underground, Rock added.

    “As we get to the end of the summer, I think people will start to see how much transformation actually is occurring on the site because we'll have met that moment in the schedule where all that work is coming back up to the point where you'll be able to see it from the freeway again,” he said.

  • Will CA vote 'progressive' in the race?
    Jane Kim, a woman with medium skin tone, wearing a pink suit and black shirt, speaks behind a podium with signage on it that reads "CADEM."
    Jane Kim speaks at the 2026 California Democratic Party State Convention in San Francisco on Feb. 21, 2026.

    Topline:

    Jane Kim, backed by Bernie Sanders, could ride the progressive wave. Ben Allen has the California Democratic party’s endorsement for the insurance commissioner job.

    What it could mean: How it plays out could rest on how engaged voters will be about an elected position they may not know much about; how much weight disillusioned voters give to the state party’s endorsement; and how much they respond to ads and mailers that they’ll be bombarded with ahead of the November election.

    The candidates: Kim, a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, is squaring off against Allen to become the regulator of the state’s massive insurance market. Kim wants to establish state-run natural disaster insurance for all and expand low-cost auto insurance to all California drivers, in line with well-known progressive ideas like Medicare for All. Allen wants to stabilize and improve the private insurance market after years of availability and affordability problems largely driven by increased wildfire risk and massive, deadly wildfires.

    Read on... for more on the candidates.

    Progressive Jane Kim, one of two Democratic candidates for California insurance commissioner, is betting that voters are as hungry for change as those who powered Zohran Mamdani into New York City's mayor's office and Abdul El-Sayed into Michigan's U.S. Senate race after the Democratic Party endorsed her rival, state Sen. Ben Allen.

    How it plays out could rest on how engaged voters will be about an elected position they may not know much about; how much weight disillusioned voters give to the state party's endorsement; and how much they respond to ads and mailers that they’ll be bombarded with ahead of the November election.

    Kim, a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, is squaring off against Allen to become the regulator of the state’s massive insurance market. Kim wants to establish state-run natural disaster insurance for all and expand low-cost auto insurance to all California drivers, in line with well-known progressive ideas like Medicare for All. Allen wants to stabilize and improve the private insurance market after years of availability and affordability problems largely driven by increased wildfire risk and massive, deadly wildfires.

    Kim’s message has struck a chord with many Californians: She got the most votes, more than 27%, among the 11 candidates on the ballot in the June primary. Allen came in second with more than 19%.

    “(Kim and Allen are) a microcosm of the fracture going on in the Democratic Party across the country,” said Shauhin Talesh, a law professor at UC Irvine whose expertise includes insurance and consumer protection. “They both think insurance companies should be regulated. The question: How aggressively should California intervene and what role should the government claim?”

    Allen recently secured the California Democratic Party’s endorsement, which Talesh said wasn’t surprising because the senator is seen as a more “traditional” candidate.

    Kim, whose accomplishments include securing free community college for San Francisco residents and the state’s first $15 minimum wage, was the director of the California Working Families Party, a party within the Democratic umbrella that supports progressive policies including raising the minimum wage. She is backed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, on whose presidential campaign she worked in 2020.

    “Is this going to become another situation where people are speaking with their votes (and going against the establishment)?” Talesh asked. “At what point does Democratic Party recognize it?”

    But Kim isn’t just lacking the state party’s endorsement. The insurance industry is, not surprisingly, leery of her plans to have the state play a greater role in insurance. So are some consumer advocacy groups such as Consumer Watchdog, whose founder wrote the ballot initiative that became the state’s insurance law.

    Jamie Court, president of the group, warned that a state-run natural disaster insurance fund — which Kim says would be funded by portions of premiums policyholders pay to their insurance companies — would require tens of billions of dollars to start, which he said could be wiped out by one catastrophic fire.

    Kim has said that while her proposal would require further study, her critics fail to address that there needs to be more discussion and “public engagement to reform the system.”

    “I don’t think just allowing the insurance industry to raise rates is the solution,” she told CalMatters in an interview. “People will lose their homes or go uninsured. And that will wreck the economy.”

    Allen told CalMatters that his opponent’s proposal “is effectively a massive subsidy for those who are rich” because their homes will cost more to replace after a fire.

    Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, said Kim’s message is resonating with Californians because of “a populist wave, not a progressive wave” nationwide.

    He noted that primary results showed Kim did well in historically conservative areas such as the Inland Empire and the Central Valley, as well as in Los Angeles County — which includes Allen’s district.

    Considering those results, Jorge Contreras, California director of the Working Families Party, called the state Democratic Party’s endorsement of Allen “out of touch.”

    Some delegates for Kim complained their votes did not seem to be counted; Kim called for a recount.

    “The votes were counted,” said Robin Swanson, spokesperson for the party. “And recounted. The result was the same.”

    Ben Allen, a man with light skin tone, wearing a blue suit and light blue shirt, speaks behind a podium and gestures with his hands.
    Insurance Commissioner candidate Ben Allen delivers remarks during the California Democratic Party convention at Moscone Center in San Francisco on Feb. 21, 2026.
    (
    Yalonda M. James
    /
    San Francisco Chronicle via AP
    )

    Contreras noted that the next day, the California Labor Federation endorsed Kim.

    Not everyone buys the "moderate" label being pinned on Allen — including at least one of his own supporters.

    “Ben is a progressive by any standard,” said RL Miller, former chair of the California Democratic Party’s Environmental Caucus who also runs a political action committee, Climate Hawks. The group doesn’t endorse in California races, but Miller said she personally endorsed Allen.

    “He’s stood with us and authored landmark climate bills over the years,” Miller said, adding that the “tribal nature of Democratic politics these days” might be the reason Allen is being seen as the more moderate candidate.

    Allen has a strong track record on the environment, including his work on Proposition 4, the $10 billion bond measure approved by voters in 2024, which includes funding for wildfire prevention. He also authored the law that decreases the use of single-use plastics.

    Allen’s votes have also been more aligned with some of the same groups now supporting Kim, including the California Labor Federation. The senator’s record has generally not aligned with business interests, according to CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database.

    Though both candidates have pledged not to take money from the insurance industry, Contreras said it’s important to follow the money in this race.

    Business groups spent $1.5 million to oppose Kim’s primary campaign, mostly from JOBSPAC, a coalition of employers sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce, according to Digital Democracy.

    Meanwhile, Contreras said “Ben Allen has taken crypto money, which came in big for him at the end.” Campaign finance records show billionaire Chris Larsen, co-founder of crypto company Ripple, in May gave $1 million to the PAC sponsored by California Environmental Voters, the biggest outside spender supporting Allen’s campaign.

    Contreras said billionaires are going to spend a lot of money supporting moderates this election cycle: “Why? Because they want the status quo. Jane is now going to be the bogeyman.”

    Jane Kim, a woman with medium skin tone, wearing a black jacket and outfit, holds a microphone while standing in front of signage.
    Jane Kim speaks to supporters during an election night party at El Rio in San Francisco on June 2, 2026.
    (
    Beth LaBerge
    /
    KQED
    )

    The biggest contributors to Kim’s campaign are the California Working Families Party and the California Teachers Association, which gave about $365,000 and $150,000 each, respectively.

    The main difference between this battle and other contests going on elsewhere is that many voters don’t know exactly what the insurance commissioner does, said Kevin Liao, a Democratic political consultant who briefly worked on Allen’s campaign before leaving to work on Tom Steyer’s gubernatorial campaign during the primary.

    That could mean that voters will rely on shortcuts such as Sanders’ endorsement of Kim, or the California Democrats’ endorsement of Allen. The race could come down to whose brand will convince voters, he said.

    “We’re at a moment when voters, certainly the base of the Democratic Party, are fed up with the party establishment,” Liao said.

    But not all candidates with more progressive ideas have found success: In California, the progressive Steyer failed to advance to the general election. Recently, David Crowley, a moderate Democrat, beat Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor by less than a percentage point.

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

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  • ICE gives high marks for health as deaths climb
    Two people walk passing a sign that reads "GEO. Adelanto ICE Processing Center" as more people walk away from the building. A metal fence is out of focus in the foreground.
    People walk in the parking lot outside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in Adelanto on May 27, 2026.

    Topline:

    Immigrant detention centers are receiving high marks for health and safety under the Trump administration, according to a new investigation by the Project on Government Oversight.

    More details: An analysis by the Project on Government Oversight found that under the Trump administration, the number of ICE detention facilities with the agency’s highest inspection grade, “superior,” has tripled since 2024. That coincided, the analysis found, with weakened detention standards and fewer inspections. Those “superior” ratings have also come with a rise in deaths in immigration detention custody — 2025 was the deadliest year in ICE custody since 2004.

    The backstory: Regular reports out of immigrant detention facilities, some as recent as last month, indicate a pattern of complaints: bad water, untrained staff and slow response times to acute and chronic medical conditions.

    Read on ... for more on the report.

    This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

    Regular reports out of immigrant detention facilities, some as recent as last month, indicate a pattern of complaints: bad water, untrained staff and slow response times to acute and chronic medical conditions.

    Despite those complaints — echoed by disability rights groups, a federal judge and the California Justice Department — Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities have received high marks on their own internal scorecards.

    An analysis by the Project on Government Oversight found that, under the Trump administration, the number of ICE detention facilities with the agency’s highest inspection grade, “superior,” has tripled since 2024. That coincided, the analysis found, with weakened detention standards and fewer inspections.

    Those “superior” ratings have coincided with a rise in deaths in immigration detention custody — 2025 was the deadliest year in ICE custody since 2004.

    Four people have died at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center since August 2025, according to the Project on Government Oversight, the most of any facility in the country during that span.

    The ratings come from ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight, which also grades the facilities for “deficiencies,” or violations of ICE detention standards. Those failures are important: If a facility fails twice in a row, it can lose federal funding.

    “Despite this provision — or perhaps because of it — detention facilities rarely received failing grades from inspectors between fiscal years 2022 and 2026,” the Project on Government Oversight investigators wrote.

    ICE detention facilities are holding a record number of people, at least 65,000 on July 11. But even with that skyrocketing custody population, ICE has also found fewer violations among its facilities.

    The analysis found that the number of violations at ICE facilities dropped by 68% between 2022 and 2025.

    The Project on Government Oversight, which describes itself as a nonpartisan investigative nonprofit, said in its report that ICE did not respond to multiple interview attempts. The nonprofit released its findings this morning and CalMatters is seeking comment from ICE.

    When news media organizations reach out to for-profit prison companies that run these detention centers, like GEO Group and CoreCivic, about complaints, they often point to these federal detention standards as a counterpoint to specific allegations.

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

  • Here's how to stop getting so many messages
    A young adult's hands with painted purple nail polish hold a smart phone.
    The general election is approaching, and you may be seeing more political ads and messages on your phone.

    Topline:

    It’s election season, which means California residents are receiving text messages from candidates making pleas for their votes, time and money ahead of November.

    If you feel like your phone is being flooded with political messages, you’re not alone.

    The backstory: According to data compiled by PACspam.org, an organization that analyzes political spam texts, the number of political texts in the U.S. has increased dramatically over the last decade, from 300 million in 2018 to 66.5 billion in 2024. In California, registered voters received more than 2 billion political texts in 2022, according to the latest yearly data available from Robokiller, a text and spam call blocker app.

    What's next: The California State Assembly is in committee working out the details of a bill that would bar text message advertisements, including campaign ones, from being sent between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. and allow people who receive the ads during those hours to seek legal damages of $500 per text. But for now, they are legal.

    Read on ... for tips on how to stop getting so many political ads via text.

    It’s election season, which means California residents are receiving text messages from candidates making pleas for their votes, time and money ahead of November.

    If you feel like your phone is being flooded with political messages, you’re not alone.

    According to data compiled by PACspam.org, an organization that analyzes political spam texts, the number of political texts in the U.S. has increased dramatically over the last decade, from 300 million in 2018 to 66.5 billion in 2024.

    In California, registered voters received more than 2 billion political texts in 2022, according to the latest yearly data available from Robokiller, a text and spam call blocker app.

    Experts note that the texts are far less expensive, compared to other methods of reaching voters, so candidates have little reason to pull back.

    “It’s basically like if you’re not doing it, it’s a big missed opportunity,” said Julia Leitner, a political strategist.

    But some lawmakers want to change that.

    The California State Assembly is in committee working out the details of a bill that would bar text message advertisements, including campaign ones, from being sent between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. and allow people who receive the ads during those hours to seek legal damages of $500 per text.

    Meantime, campaign texts are legal under Federal Communications Commission guidelines. So, if you don’t want the texts, how can you make them stop?

    How to stop receiving campaign texts 

    There are steps you can take to reduce the number of political texts you receive.

    You can reply “STOP,” and the sender should cease sending messages. But that may not end them completely.

    Alex Quilici, the CEO of YouMail, a phone call blocking service, said unsubscribing from one text chain likely won’t stop you from receiving messages from other text chains.

    “The question is how big is the list?” Quilici said. “Are they just taking you off the list for one candidate? Or [do] they take you off the party list? You may have to reply ‘stop’ a bunch to really stop them.”

    If the sender keeps contacting you, you can report them directly to the FCC by forwarding the text to 7726 or “SPAM”.

    The FCC is able to investigate the number and potentially prevent the sender from delivering more messages if they’re violating their rules.

    Why campaigns use texts

    Leitner, who is a recruiting director at Close the Gap California, an organization that prepares progressive female candidates to run for seats in the California Legislature, said texts are a low-cost and effective tool for campaigns to connect with voters.

    “We are all on our phones all of the time and so a text message is kind of the easiest way to reach a voter,” Leitner said.

    It costs campaigns tens of cents to send each text. Leitner said that often makes them a better investment than direct mail campaigns, which can cost between $0.43 to $1.19 per piece of mail, or TV spots that can cost hundreds to millions of dollars, depending on factors like market, size and time.

    How campaigns get your information

    Campaigns have several ways to get your contact information. One is by requesting voter files from the Secretary of State’s office. When you register to vote, including online or at the DMV, that information goes into a database.

    State law allows certain people, such as political candidates, academics and journalists, to request that information, which can include your name, date of birth, address, contact information and political party preference.

    Another way campaigns get your data is by buying it.

    Huge databases, like Democratic Data Exchange and Data Trust, use a combination of public records and their own consumer data to curate lists of people for campaigns to contact.

    But there are restrictions as to how that information can be used, said Paul Mitchell, vice president of bipartisan voter data firm Political Data Intelligence.

    “We don’t sell data to anybody using [it] for private purposes,” Mitchell said. “It is only for campaigns or if a local government wants to reach voters.”

    Data brokers who operate in California are required to report their activities, including what information they collect and who they’re selling it to, annually to the California Data Broker Registry operated by the California Privacy Protection Agency.

    If they don’t, they can be fined $200 per day they fail to register by the CPPA, be charged the $6,000 registration fees they failed to pay, and have to pay for expenses incurred by the CPPA in their investigation.

    Data companies often collect information when voters donate to political causes through fundraising technology like ActBlue or WinRed, and agree to receiving texts, calls or other types of communication.

  • LAFD logs note chemical was leaking during fire
    A person holds a sign that reads "We're being poisoned" in a crowd of people sitting and looking at one direction.
    Health concerns have persisted in the weeks since a fire at the Lineage cold storage warehouse began in Boyle Heights.
    Topline:
    Newly obtained Los Angeles Fire Department records offer a minute-by-minute view from the perspective of first responders as they confronted the warehouse fire in June. A computer-aided dispatch log showed that firefighters identified “an active amonia [sic] leak” on the roof of the building about 35 minutes after a 911 caller first reported the warehouse fire.


    Why it matters: Ammonia can cause wheezing, coughing and eye, nose and throat irritation. It can also exacerbate asthma and other respiratory conditions. Children are among the most vulnerable.

    Community concerns: Boyle Heights residents have said they’ve experienced sore throats, skin rashes, headaches, irritated eyes and worsened asthma, among other symptoms during the fire and its aftermath.

    What Lineage says: Lineage spokesperson Melanie Mendoza said, “At no point has ammonia reached a level that would pose a health risk.”

    Read on ... for more about the LAFD logs and what Lineage's own reports about ammonia have said.

    The giant warehouse that burned for eight days in June in Boyle Heights had used thousands of pounds of anhydrous ammonia to cool the facility.

    Anhydrous ammonia is a common refrigerant used in cold storage warehouses. But it is also toxic, and if it leaks, it can cause respiratory irritation; in large doses, it can lead to lung and eye damage and even death. In 2020, a contractor at a Lineage Inc. facility in Statesville, North Carolina, was killed and others were injured during an ammonia release.

    On June 17, the first day of the Boyle Heights fire, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore told CBS LA that ammonia had escaped from the facility.

    “We believe an ammonia line was then compromised, because we had a large powerful stream of ammonia coming out,” Moore said as clouds of smoke and flames rose behind him. Moore said the Fire Department had ordered residents to close their windows and doors and shelter in place.

    Since then, Lineage and the Fire Department have provided few details to the public about what happened. Lineage has denied that a leak occurred and has said ammonia was removed from its warehouse during the blaze. In July, Moore later reportedly said no ammonia was detected, but the Fire Department has not released results of its monitoring for the chemical or for other toxics during the fire.

    More recent ammonia readings raise a separate question: Why is ammonia, which can remain in the air for about a week, being detected more than a month after the fire?

    In recent weeks, the South Coast Air Quality Management District has reported levels of the contaminant at a local elementary school about a half a mile from the warehouse that far exceed average exposures for the L.A. area. Lineage has reported even higher levels in fine print on the company’s website. On July 10, for example, one of the company’s readings taken less than 100 feet from peoples’ homes detected ammonia at 13,000 parts per billion, more than double the level the state of California considers safe for short-term exposures. Another reading that also exceeded the safety guideline at 7,000 parts per billion. Several other readings — one measured as recently as Aug. 6 — were also elevated.

    Lineage spokesperson Melanie Mendoza didn’t respond to Capital & Main’s request for comment on ammonia levels that the state considers unsafe. She had previously denied in an email that there were any “measurable ammonia concentrations” detected in the community. She later walked that back, saying ammonia levels had not exceeded the state threshold for acute exposures.

    “At no point has ammonia reached a level that would pose a health risk,” she said.

    What first responders logged

    There is still no official report of what happened during the fire. But newly obtained Fire Department records offer a minute-by-minute view from the perspective of first responders as they confronted the blaze in June. A computer-aided dispatch log, obtained by Capital & Main through a public records request, showed that firefighters identified “an active amonia [sic] leak” on the roof of the building at 3:12 p.m. — about 35 minutes after a 911 caller first reported the warehouse fire.

    A minute later, the log reports the appearance of “an unknown vapor cloud” rising over the warehouse. Moore later reportedly said the cloud was the result of cold air mixing with hot air and did not contain ammonia.

    By 3:25, the log again notes an ammonia leak and says that firefighters would battle the blaze in “defensive mode,” or from outside the structure, likely because it was considered too dangerous to go inside. At the same time, the Fire Department ordered residents to close their windows and doors, shut off air conditioners and shelter in place.

    Los Angeles Fire Department hazardous materials crews monitored the air for ammonia and other toxic gases during the fire. But the department has not disclosed its findings. Fire Department spokesperson Branden Silverman told Capital & Main in a statement that “collecting it will take some time.”

    A spokesperson for Mayor Karen Bass didn’t respond to Capital & Main’s questions about the facts that caused Moore to change his opinion about the ammonia release or about the department’s delay in reporting the results of its air monitoring during the fire.

    Lineage reported a “potential spill” to the California Office of Emergency Services about 90 minutes after the fire erupted, according to a hazardous materials spill report. By law, even potential releases of hazardous materials such as ammonia must be reported to state and federal authorities. The report — provided to Capital & Main by the Office of Emergency Services — paraphrases a Lineage representative, whose name is redacted, as saying: “There is no potential release of anhydrous ammonia and no concerned [sic] of release.”

    To date, there has been no publicly released investigation of whether a hazardous ammonia leak occurred.

    But on Aug. 4, Los Angeles Public Press reported that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency demanded that Lineage answer questions about a possible ammonia release. The agency gave Lineage an Aug. 17 deadline to produce a “detailed description and timeline” of what happened, to disclose any contaminants that were released and the calculations made to make that determination. The agency also asked for the results of air monitoring that was conducted when firefighters initially reported an ammonia leak and in the days that followed, as well as any emergency response measures taken to stop or minimize hazards it may have posed.

    Mendoza said the EPA inquiry is “the agency’s standard response to the notifications Lineage made in accordance with the law.” She added, “Lineage will continue to provide the EPA with all requested information.”.

    Publicly, Mendoza and other company representatives have provided little information and have denied there was an ammonia release.

    On Aug. 6, Dominic DiCarlo, Lineage vice president of global safety and compliance, said, “We’re highly confident that ammonia from the refrigeration system was not compromised.”

    DiCarlo cited tests the company and local fire officials conducted of the refrigeration system and statements by fire officials.

    He also said “no ammonia readings were picked up outside the facility.”

    DiCarlo didn’t specify when the readings were taken.

    DiCarlo was testifying at a South Coast Air Quality Management District hearing, which was held to resolve odor complaints resulting from the warehouse cleanup. The issue of community exposure to toxic chemicals came up repeatedly during the two-day proceeding. The company agreed to 93 conditions to mitigate odors and reduce residents' exposure to toxics, including additional “fenceline monitoring” at the warehouse site for ammonia and other contaminants and notifying AQMD and the community if readings exceed state or federal thresholds.

    Mohan Balagopalan, one of the five-member panel that presided over the hearing, in closing remarks, expressed skepticism about the company’s assertion that there was no ammonia release during the blaze.

    “I would take that with a grain of salt,” he said.

    Balagopalan, a retired AQMD manager and a toxics expert, said he thought the ammonia hazard was likely one reason firefighters battled the fire from the ground and the air via helicopters instead of remaining on the roof.

    Angelo Bellomo, a retired Los Angeles County Department of Public Health deputy director, said an investigation is required to discover whether there was a hazardous materials leak.

    He said first responders’ observations can provide important information.

    “If they say there is an active anhydrous ammonia release, you don’t have to drill them over that,” he said, adding that ammonia is easily detectable because of its distinctive odor.

    A black and white SUV police car is parked in the middle of a street behind yellow police tape. Several red fire trucks are also parked in the street and thick black smoke is pictured in the distance.
    Smoke from the warehouse fire inundated Boyle Heights.
    (
    Alejandra Molina
    /
    Boyle Heights Beat
    )

    Concerns about ammonia

    A month after the fire erupted, there are renewed concerns about community exposure to ammonia. Ammonia can remain in the atmosphere for a week, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

    But five weeks after the fire, AQMD air monitoring found ammonia at “much higher than typical levels in the air in urban Los Angeles,” according to Jill Johnston, an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at UC Irvine, who has reviewed the data. The AQMD monitoring was conducted outdoors at Eastman Elementary School, about a half mile from the warehouse.

    The Los Angeles Unified School District’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety also found elevated ammonia levels inside a classroom at the school according to an Aug. 10 report, which found elevated levels in a classroom at the Eastman Early Education Center and in one at Humphreys Avenue Elementary School.

    Ammonia “can cause wheezing, coughing, irritate the eyes, nose and throat, exacerbate asthma or COPD,” (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder), Johnston said, adding that “kids in particular tend to be more vulnerable to adverse impacts.”

    Boyle Heights residents have told Capital & Main they’ve experienced sore throats, skin rashes, headaches, irritated eyes and worsened asthma, among other symptoms during the fire and its aftermath.

    Two of Lineage’s own measurements — conducted by private contractor Onterris — registered ammonia levels that far exceeded safety guidelines.

    The state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment advises that ammonia levels at 4,500 ppb or higher can cause adverse health effects during short-term exposures. One of the readings, on La Puerta Street — no more than about 50 feet from homes — was more than double the state standard at 13,000 ppb, while the other registered 7,000 ppb. Several other readings by the company showed elevated levels near Boyle Heights homes as recently as Aug. 6, when ammonia levels reached 3,000 ppb near the warehouse on Prado Street and as far back as July 3, with a 4,000 ppb measurement at the facility fenceline about 50 yards from Indiana Street.

    It is not unusual for corporations like Lineage to hire their own environmental testing firms. But Onterris, which until April 2026 was known as the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, has earned a reputation for producing health and environmental assessments that favor the companies that hire it. In 2023, when a train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, and spilled dozens of hazardous chemicals that caught fire, ProPublica and the Guardian reported that CTEH tested residents’ homes with hand-held monitors and told them the air was safe. But independent experts the news organizations consulted said the monitoring devices were insufficient to detect all the chemicals that may have been present and the monitoring period was too short to capture accurate results.

    In 2010, two then-U.S. Congressmembers, Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who is now a U.S. senator, cited the company’s track record as they urged Tony Hayward, then-CEO of BP PLC, not to use CTEH to assess the health of cleanup workers in an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

    “CTEH has a history of being hired by companies accused of harming public health and releasing findings defending the corporate interests of those that employ them,” they said in a letter.

    Onterris’ media representatives did not answer a Capital & Main email inquiring about the company’s environmental track record.

    In Boyle Heights, the source of the ammonia detected weeks after the fire broke out isn’t known. The company stored between 10,000 and 24,999 pounds of ammonia in the warehouse daily, according to a report posted by the California Environmental Protection Agency. At the Aug. 6 hearing, DiCarlo said the company had removed all of the ammonia from the facility —more than 10,000 pounds – from the facility.

    But Johnston said the elevated levels in the environment could suggest that some ammonia remains in the burnt remnants of the warehouse. Rotting meat that still has not been removed from the structure could also emit ammonia, she said.

    What's next

    Boyle Heights residents may have an opportunity to question Lineage about whether there was an ammonia leak and how extensive it was. In its letter to Lineage, the U.S. EPA says the company could be required by federal law to hold a public meeting within 90 days of “a reportable accident,” depending on what substances were released. Capital & Main asked Mendoza if such a meeting is planned, but she didn’t respond before this story was posted.

    Residents may still face barriers in getting the information Lineage provides in answer to the EPA’s questions. EPA spokesperson Julia Giarmoleo told Capital & Main in an email that “documents are available to the public in response to a FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request,” which can take weeks or months to be fulfilled.


    This article was originally published by Capital & Main. Aaron Cantú contributed to this report. Copyright Capital & Main 2026.