The Brief

A baby pelican traveled at least 500 miles up California’s coast before landing near Mendocino alone on May 10 — exhausted and starving.

Now, the fledgling is in the care of International Bird Rescue, which took in an above-average number of emaciated young brown pelicans so far this spring. It’s the third starvation event in four years for the iconic California seabirds. Experts can’t fully explain why, though they said climate change is at play.

“Everything’s getting weirder,” said Corinne Gibble, a marine bird specialist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We’re having harmful algal blooms and more unexpected weather events. What we can do is get more birds into rehab and better the science around helping them.”

To explain last year’s starving pelicans, scientists hypothesized that the birds could not see their prey in choppy, murky water after late-season storms. Another possibility is that anchovies and other fish swam farther below the warm sea surface, too deep for the pelicans to reach.

For last year’s event, the state recorded roughly 1,000 pelicans captured for rehabilitation — and in 2022, for similar reasons, 800.

This year, there are only 250 ailing pelicans tallied so far, but fresh challenges. The seabirds arrived in two waves, sick and then starving.

At first, rescue centers received adults poisoned by a toxic algae bloom in Southern California. The blooms, predicted to become more severe with climate change, have lasted longer this year — and produced not one but two types of neurotoxins: domoic acid and saxitoxin.

And then came the starving babies. The majority of the roughly 250 pelicans International Bird Rescue received since March were less than 6 months old. The center gets about two-thirds of the birds statewide and considers 90 birds a month highly unusual. The state’s seabird scientists are still looking for answers.

Finn Watson (left), Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician, and Kelly Buffa, Registered Veterinary Technician, examine a California Brown Pelican at International Bird Rescue in Fairfield on May 19, 2025.

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Gibble said the breeding season was early and especially successful this year. It’s natural to see the fledglings struggle more to forage than adults, so that might just be amplified right now. In 2012, there was a similar large starvation event for young birds after a booming breeding season.

Rebecca Duerr, director of research and veterinary science for International Bird Rescue, said that’s a possibility. An additional theory about these starving young, she said, is that their parents, sickened by the harmful algal blooms, might have abandoned them before they were ready to forage alone.

“These young birds didn’t know how to eat yet,” Duerr said. “It’s circumstantial evidence, but it looked like, you know, if mom doesn’t come back, they have to leave the nest or they’ll die.”

This California subspecies of brown pelicans breeds from the Channel Islands south into Mexico. Both the male and female pelicans should feed their chicks until they learn to fly, what’s called fledging, at around 3 months old. V-formations of pelicans then typically migrate north together during the warmer months.

ierra Koop, wildlife rehabilitation technician, fills a tray of herring with water to feed rescued California Brown Pelicans at International Bird Rescue in Fairfield on May 19, 2025.

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Gibble, who handles the state’s dead seabirds, will wait to hazard more guesses about what went wrong this year until she has additional test results later this month. She wants to see if the algal blooms also affected the starving young pelicans that died, even though they hadn’t shown symptoms while alive.

Luckily, the numbers indicate the starvation event is slowing.

For Ciera Duits-Cavanaugh, the manager of the SPCA Monterey County’s Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, the influx of young pelicans this year is a mystery. “This may be just an annual thing that happens now,” she said. “Three of the past four years have broken our averages, so something is different.”

Times have been tough for brown pelicans before. The birds almost went extinct in the 1960s, thanks to the now-banned pesticide DDT, and were listed as endangered until 2009.

Warming seas present a newer kind of threat. Back in 2014, some seabird populations plummeted due to fish die-offs during the marine heat wave scientists called “the blob.” Some researchers think pelicans in particular might find fewer fish with warmer sea surface temperatures, such as during El Niño cycles, which are expected to intensify.

“We’re really on the frontline of climate change here,” said JD Bergeron, the CEO of International Bird Rescue. “You can read a research paper and get it intellectually. But the feeling of seeing all these birds struggling when they were previously doing just fine is a scary thing.”

Meanwhile, Bergeron’s staff and volunteers at International Bird Rescue’s two facilities in Fairfield and Los Angeles are working around the clock to bring the rescued pelicans back to life.

The pelicans that the International Bird Rescue releases live on average for six years in the wild. The younger birds have a slightly lower chance of survival.

The one bird that stranded in Mendocino County on Albion Flat Beach had flown the greatest distance of any other pelican at the Fairfield rescue center. The small bird is likely a female, though still too young — at around 3 months — for the vets to tell.

Since arriving earlier this month, the pelican has graduated from an inside enclosure, where the birds that need routine medicine and other care reside, to an outside space.

On Monday, the other pelicans stretched their wings, swooping between high perches. The fledgling rested by the swimming pool, sometimes watching and other times tucking its face under its wing.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Since 1977, Richard Santillan has been to every Opening Day game at Dodger Stadium. 

“The tradition goes from my father, to me, to my children and grandchildren. Some of my best memories are with my father and children here at Dodger Stadium,” Santillan told The LA Local, smiling under the shade of palm trees near the entrance to the ballpark Wednesday morning. He was there to protest the team less than 24 hours before Opening Day.

Santillan, like countless other loyal Dodgers fans, is grappling with his fan identity over the team’s decision to accept an invitation to the White House and owner Mark Walter’s ties to ICE detention facilities.

More than 30 people joined Santillan on Wednesday morning for a press conference held near 1000 Vin Scully Drive to convey a message directly to the team. 

“We are demanding the Dodgers stop participating in funding of inhumane treatment of families and do not go to the White House to celebrate with the criminal in chief,” Evelyn Escatiola told the crowd. “Together, we have the power to make a change.”

Escatiola, a former dean of East Los Angeles College and longtime community organizer, urged fans to flex their economic power by “letting the Dodgers know that we do not support repression.”

Jorge “Coqui” Rodriguez, a lifelong Dodgers fan, spoke to the crowd and called on Dodgers ownership to divest from immigration detention centers owned and operated by GEO Group and CoreCivic.

Jorge Coqui H Rodriguez speaks at a press conference outside Dodger Stadium on March 25, 2026, to demand the Dodgers not to visit the White House following their 2025 World Series win.

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In a phone interview a day before the protest, Rodriguez told The LA Local he did not want the Dodgers using his “cheve” or beer money to fund detention centers. 

“They can’t take our parking money, our cacahuate money, our cheve money, our Dodger Dog money and invest those funds into corporations that are imprisoning people. It’s wrong,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez considers the Dodgers one of the most racially diverse teams and said the players need to support fans at a time when heightened immigration enforcement has become more common across L.A.

The team’s 2025’s visit to the White House drew ire from the largely Latino fan base, citing the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on immigrants. 

In June, the team came under further scrutiny when rumors swirled online that federal immigration agents were using the stadium’s parking, which immigration authorities later denied in statements posted on social media accounts.

The team again came under fire after not releasing a statement on the impacts of ICE raids on its mostly Latino fan base at the height of immigration enforcement last summer. The team later agreed to invest $1 million to support families affected by immigration enforcement.

When he learned the Dodgers were pledging only $1 million to families in need, Rodriguez called the amount a  “slap in the face.” 

“These guys just bought the Lakers for billions of dollars and they give a million dollars to fight for legal services? That’s a joke,” Rodriguez said. “They need to have a moral backbone and not be investing in those companies.”

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, former Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershawsaid last week that he is looking forward to the trip.

“I went when President [Joe] Biden was in office. I’m going to go when President [Donald] Trump is in office,” Kershaw said. “To me, it’s just about getting to go to the White House. You don’t get that opportunity every day, so I’m excited to go.”

The Dodgers have yet to announce when their planned visit will take place. 

Santillan sometimes laments his decision to give up his season tickets in protest of the team. His connection to the stadium and the memories he has made there with family and friends will last a lifetime, he said. On Thursday, he will uphold his tradition and be there for the first pitch of the season, but with a heavy heart.

“It’s a family tradition, but the Dodgers have a lot of work to do,” he said.

A local favorite mom-and-pop bookshop in Eagle Rock is facing displacement due to a steep rent hike. The owners say theirs is just one of several small businesses along Eagle Rock Boulevard struggling to keep up with lease increases.

Over the past 19 years, many in the neighborhood have come to love READ Books for its eclectic collection of used titles and shop dog Florence.

Co-owner Jeremy Kaplan said it’s been a delight to grow with the community over the years.

“Like seeing kids come back in, who were in grade school and now they’re in college,” Kaplan said.

But the building where Kaplan and wife Debbie rent was recently sold, and the rent increased by more than 130% to $2,805 a month, Kaplan said. He told LAist it was an increase his small business simply could not absorb.

Kaplan said he originally was given 30 days notice of the rent increase. After some research, assistance from Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s office and some pro-bono legal help, Kaplan said he pushed back and got the 90-day notice he’s afforded by state law.

California Senate Bill 1103 requires landlords to give businesses with five or less employees 90 days’ notice for rent increases exceeding 10%, among other protections.

Systems Real Estate, the property management company, did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

What can small businesses do? 

Nadia Segura, directing attorney of the Small Business Program at pro bono legal aid non-profit Bet Tzedek said California law does not currently allow for rent control for commercial tenancies.

Outside of the protections under SB 1103, Segura said small businesses like READ Books don’t have much other recourse. And even then, commercial landlords are not required to inform their tenants of their protections under the law.

“There’s still a lot of people that don’t know about SB 1103. And then it’s very sad that they tell them they have these rent increases and within a month they have to leave,” Segura said.

She said her group is seeing steep rent hikes like this for commercial tenants across the city.

“We are seeing this even more with the World Cup coming up, the Olympics coming up. And I will say it was very sad to see that also after the wildfires,” Segura said.

Part of Bet Tzedek’s ongoing work is to advocate for small businesses, working with landlords who are increasing rents to see if they are willing to give business owners longer leases that lock in rents.

What’s next 

After READ Books posted about their situation on social media, commenters chimed in to express their outrage and love for the little shop.

While he looks for a new spot, Kaplan says he’s forming a coalition of local businesses and activist groups to see what can be done to help other small businesses facing similar displacement. He wants to address the displacement issue for businesses like his, which have made Eagle Rock the distinctive neighborhood that it is today.

Owl Talk, a longtime Eagle Rock staple selling clothing and accessories in a unit in the same building as READ Books, is facing a “more than double” rent increase, according to a post on their Instagram account.

Kaplan said he’s been in touch with the office of state Assemblywoman Jessica Caloza and wants to explore the possibility of introducing legislation to set up protections for small businesses like his, including rent-control measures or a vacancy tax for landlords. Kaplan said he also reached out to the office of state Sen. Maria Durazo.

By his count, Kaplan said there are about a dozen businesses within surrounding blocks that are at risk of closing their doors or have shuttered due to rent increases or other struggles.

When READ Books was founded during the Great Recession, Kaplan said he knew it was a longshot to open a bookstore at the same time so many were struggling to stay in business.

“It was kind of interesting to be doing something that neighborhoods needed. That was important to me growing up, that was important to my children, that was important to my wife growing up,” Kaplan said.

“And then somebody comes in and says, ‘We’re gonna over double your rent.”

Topline:

Frozen budget: Most of the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting budget comes from an assessment that people who own property illuminated by lights pay on their county property tax bill. The amount people pay depends on the kind of property they own and how much they benefit from lighting. A typical single-family home currently pays $53 annually, and in total, the assessments bring in about $45 million annually for the city to repair and maintain streetlights. Changing the amount the Bureau of Street Lighting gets from the assessment requires a vote among property owners who benefit from the lights.

Ballots: L.A. City Council’s vote gives city staff the green light to prepare and send out those ballots. Miguel Sangalang, who oversees the bureau, said at a committee meeting earlier this month that he expects to send out ballots by April 17. Notices about the ballots will be sent out prior to the ballots themselves.

Near unanimous vote: L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez was the only “No” vote Tuesday, saying she wanted to see a more current strategic plan for the bureau. Sangalang said the bureau developed a plan in 2022 that lays out how money will be spent. Councilmember Imelda Padilla was absent for the vote.

Vote count: Votes will be weighted according to the assessment amount. Basically, the more you’re asked to pay yearly to maintain streetlights, the more your vote will count. Ballots received before June 2 will be tabulated by the L.A. City Clerk.

How much more money: According to a report, the amount needed in assessments from property owners to meet the repair and maintenance needs of the city’s streetlighting in the next fiscal year is nearly $112 million.

Use of the money: Sangalang said at a March 11 committee meeting that the extra funds would be used to double the number of staff to handle repairs and procure solar streetlights, which don’t face the threat of copper wire theft. That would all potentially reduce the time it takes to repair simple fixes down to a week. Currently, city residents wait for months to see broken streetlights repaired. The assessment would come with a three-year auditing mechanism.