The Brief

If you’re out in nature this weekend, you might see people combing spots in search of one thing: monarch butterflies.

The community science initiative, known as the Western Monarch Count, is led by the Xerces Society, a conservation nonprofit that looks for the insects annually. This is the last count for the year, and it runs through Jan. 11.

The count is run mostly by hundreds of volunteers and partners of the Xerces Society across the state.

Why the count matters

Across California, monarch butterflies have been in steep decline in recent decades. The count is one of the ways the Xerces Society is trying to understand what’s happening and how we can help them recover.

The count looks specifically at the habits of a specific type of monarch known as overwintering monarchs, which travel hundreds of miles to our coast to escape harsh winters. They have special fat reserves in their tiny bodies, which make them beefier than breeding ones, says Sara Cuadra-Vargas, a  conservation biologist at the Xerces Society.

“ You can think of it … like if your great-great-great-great-grandfather was a superhuman that lived extra long and was extra large,” Cuadra-Vargas said.

The count happens over three periods, starting in October. This period is called the late-season count, which can show biologists how many monarchs are moving away from our sites and what mortality is looking like.

How you can help monarchs

They’re set for volunteers for this count, but you can volunteer for next year’s count by signing up to volunteer here. They require at least 15 hours of commitment — you’ll get set up with training.

Volunteers typically are assigned a site for the season and go out early in the morning when it’s too cold for monarchs to move. You’ll scan for the orange butterflies with binoculars and document things like habit quality and disturbances.

Cuadra-Vargas says our region has dozens of confirmed and potential overwintering sites, but the bulk of monarchs are seen in the central coast. In training, she tempers expectations.

“ We do still get overwintering monarchs here in Southern California, in Los Angeles and Orange counties,” she said, “but it’s a bit of more presence-absence that we’re looking for.”

That means you also may report where monarchs aren’t anymore, which is an important piece of data for biologists.

If you want to help out now, though, there’s still a few ways to do it:

• Help track where monarchs get their nectar by snapping a photo and sharing it through the Monarch Nectar Plant Database submission form.
• Add pictures of monarchs you see to the Xerces Society’s project on iNaturalist.
• If you want to get real high-tech, there’s a separate program that’s asking people to download a phone app to track specially tagged monarchs with solar transmitters.
• You also can go the low-tech, old-school route: Plant milkweed at home to give them something to eat.

The West Hollywood City Council will consider a motion Monday evening that thwarts long-planned and nearly shovel-ready protected bike lanes along Fountain Avenue out of concerns that the cyclist improvements will eliminate too much street parking.

The motion was introduced by West Hollywood City Councilmember Lauren Meister. If passed, it would direct staff to evaluate an alternative design for Fountain Avenue, one that maintains the road’s existing parking capacity, reduces the road to one travel lane in each direction and adds a center turn lane — but doesn’t include protected bike lanes.

“Continued investment in bicycle infrastructure elsewhere would remain a separate consideration,” according to a copy of the motion. 

Meister did not respond to LAist’s requests for comment about her motion.

The project 

Introducing protected bike lanes to Fountain Avenue was approved by City Council in 2025 as part of the first phase of the Fountain Avenue Streetscape Project.

The approved designs include reducing the road to one travel lane in each direction, installing pedestrian improvements and creating a bike lane separated from vehicular traffic by concrete curbs.

The goal of the road redesign is to increase safety. Between 2013 and 2024, there were 35 collisions resulting in severe injuries and five fatal collisions, according to the city. Last year, Blake Ackerman, a 27-year-old attorney, died while biking on Fountain Avenue in a hit-and-run collision. 

But to make room for the reimagined Fountain Avenue, city staff said they would need to remove 60% of the road’s street parking. To mitigate that loss, city staff has suggested allowing residents with parking permits to use nearby parking lots.

Although it was ultimately approved, the issue caused disagreement among the five members of the City Council. Two voted against it — Meister and West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman.

The election

The future of Fountain Avenue has been a political issue at play in recent city elections, and this year is no different.

Meister and Heilman are termed out, and there are three seats on West Hollywood City Council up for grabs. 14 candidates are vying for a spot, and their views on the bike lane debate are front and center.

Incumbent Chelsea Byers, who is an advocate for the protected bike lanes, is running to retain her seat.

Several candidates have spoken out against Fountain Avenue’s planned bike lanes, including Kyle Brazeal.

Brazeal has earned the endorsements of Meister and Heilman. He told LAist he isn’t against bike lanes and believes there are other West Hollywood streets that are better candidates for cycling infrastructure.

The timeline

West Hollywood officials said construction for the first phase, including the protected bike lanes, is scheduled to begin before the end of 2026. That schedule would change if the City Council decides to pursue an alternative design.

Officials said in a report that changing the project’s scope could “jeopardize” the nearly $5 million in state grant funding it’s planned to use for construction.

City staff said in the report that if the motion is approved, it would seek clarity on how any design changes would impact grant funding and if the city would need to find alternative funding sources.

Topline:

Joseph Hawkins, former director of ONE Archives at the USC Libraries, the largest LGBTQ+ repository, joined AirTalk, LAist’s daily news program, to talk about the legacy and current state of these spaces.

Economic woes: As the story goes with a lot of local businesses right now, gay and lesbian bars are suffering the same economic challenges due to rising costs and a decline in alcohol consumption.

“Masses of people who can go to a bar and sustain it over a long period of time has become more and more difficult,” Hawkins said. "Some bars don't have the clientele that they used to because of the internet."

Tony in Anaheim called into AirTalk and shared a funny story about showing up embarrassingly early (8 p.m.) for a night out at the Abbey in West Hollywood, but ultimately remembered it as a safe place to make friends after moving to Los Angeles.

Jeff in Palm Springs called in to say bars in his city seem to be thriving thanks to an older population and tourists.

Hawkins said there may be a silver lining in the shift we're seeing.

"Maybe we're not losing gay bars; what we're doing is opening up other spaces where gay people can be included," he said.

Listen to the full conversation above for more history and insight.

Hackers stole personal and demographic information about millions of California public school students in a data breach revealed Friday by the California Department of Education.

Hackers allegedly accessed the information through the company ETS, which conducts standardized testing, including the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress tests that start in third grade. Between May 22 and Sept. 18, 2026, an “unauthorized party” copied student information files, according to the CDE website.

However, ETS’ investigation did not find that the information has been made public.

What information was taken?

The breach exposed the information of 5.7 million students currently enrolled in transitional kindergarten through high school and those enrolled since 2023. Students who have left California since 2006 without notifying the state that they transferred to another school are also affected. That information could include:

• Student names, birthdays, addresses and schools
• Statewide student ID numbers (SSID)
• Demographic information, including race or ethnicity, gender, country of origin and English learner status
• A student’s disability and related academic support 
• Whether a student is low-income or unhoused 
• Statewide testing results

The breach is not reported to include:

• Parent or guardian information 
• Social Security or driver’s license numbers
• Financial information

ETS is working with cybersecurity experts and law enforcement and is monitoring whether the students’ information appears publicly.

The California Department of Education is also collaborating with state cybersecurity experts and reviewing whether ETS complied with data security and requirements included in its contract with the state. The state has also set up a website with more information.

How to get help

ETS is emailing and sending letters to affected students and families to notify them of the breach and offer two years of free identity protection services. Separate services are available for minors and adults — both have a March 19, 2027 deadline to apply.

It’s important to know that not getting notified does not necessarily mean a student’s data is safe. Families can call a dedicated helpline, 833-931-8488, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Twenty-eight immigrants from across California are facing federal charges alleging they illegally registered to vote or voted in California elections, federal prosecutors announced Monday in the Trump administration’s latest effort to imply California election rolls are riddled with fraudulent voters.

The charges come days after federal authorities filed a lawsuit against state and Los Angeles County election officials that seeks to force elections officials not to count up to 20,000 registered voters’ ballots because federal prosecutors suspect those voters could be non-citizens.

“Today’s charges demonstrate why that lawsuit is so important,” Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter told reporters. “It’s about preventing voter fraud that cancels out the votes of U.S. citizens. Enforcing federal law increases the integrity of elections.”

McCotter said federal prosecutors filed a motion urging the judge overseeing the lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles to order state officials to segregate the ballots that prosecutors suspect may have already been mailed to noncitizens.

State officials have brushed off the allegations.

Gov. Gavin Newsom last week called the Trump administration’s voter fraud hunt “a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day.”

He said the prosecutors’ request to throw out ballots “should scare the hell out of every American.”

“We will continue to carry out free and fair elections in the Golden State — and call out this authoritarian as he tries every play in the dictator’s playbook,” Newsom said in a statement.

The announcement comes just 15 days before the Nov. 3 election in which Californians are already deciding on a new governor, 14 statewide ballot measures and several competitive races that will be key to which party controls Congress.

It’s part of a national push by the Trump administration to find examples of noncitizens voting illegally in elections. Independent experts and state election officials say that voter fraud is exceedingly rare, despite claims from President Donald Trump and his allies that it happens on such a massive scale as to sway elections in Democrats’ favor.

Federal prosecutors said all of the 28 foreign nationals who face charges are lawful permanent residents, otherwise known as green card holders. That means they are legally allowed to stay in the country but they are not citizens and are not allowed to vote in elections.

The defendants live in cities around the state from Los Angeles County to Sacramento. Of them, 22 are accused of voting in at least one election including as recently as the June primary; five only registered to vote and one submitted a provisional ballot in 2020, prosecutors say.

Essayli said that in the last two months, federal prosecutors have charged around 113 noncitizens in 20 states with illegal voting and registration offenses.

The arrests represent just a miniscule fraction of registered voters. For example, more than 9.4 million Californians cast ballots in the June primary election.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who oversees prosecutors in Los Angeles, said the federal government may charge state election officials with crimes if they allowed noncitizens to vote.

“They are being complicit in noncitizens voting in our elections,” Essayli said. “And as they were warned last week, not only is it a civil violation, but they could also face criminal consequences for that conduct if they knowingly process ballots from noncitizens once we've informed them who the noncitizens are.”

The charges come weeks after federal investigators issued grand jury subpoenas to Los Angeles elections officials seeking information on registered voters.

Federal prosecutors also sought information on registered voters in San Diego County, the news outlet inewsource reported, as well as Orange County, according to records obtained last week by CalMatters.

The Department of Homeland Security recently claimed that Nevada had nearly 16,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls; they sent the state the names of only 185 voters. Nevada officials confirmed they were all U.S. citizens.

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