The Brief

On a recent spring morning in Pacific Palisades, the clanging and hammering of construction filled the air. A small group of people gathered under a partially burnt Brisbane box tree shading the sidewalk on a street near the center of town.

The group took measurements — the leafiness of its crown, the width of its trunk. They inspected its bark for fungus and noted any new growth sprouting.

For more than a year, a group of researchers and students from UCLA, UC Davis, University of Florida and the U.S. Forest Service, alongside local volunteers and students, have collected data on more than 2,000 trees — about 600 in the Palisades and 1,500 in Altadena — to analyze how they may recover after the fires and their role in the fires’ spread.

The question about the fires' spread is key as California debates new regulations, called Zone Zero, near homes in high-risk fire areas. Their ongoing research is showing that in some cases, well-maintained vegetation may actually help buildings survive a fire.

The data will be some of the most extensive ever gathered to understand how the urban tree canopy fares in the face of increasingly catastrophic fires in an era of human-caused climate change.

Monitoring the health of post-fire trees

The team of researchers has been collecting data on trees in the Eaton and Palisades burn scars since just a few days after the fires started last year.

They’ve primarily focused on trees in the public right-of-way in areas with the highest number of tree species — that way they’ll be able to compare their data with tree canopy data from before the fires. The researchers have used in-person monitoring and remote sensing to survey the areas. A team from UC Davis has been collecting data using LiDAR.

“The purpose of our work is essentially to see how the trees have done,” said Edith de Guzman,  a cooperative extension specialist with the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation. “We want to understand how different species or different tree types fare.  And another aspect of the study is around flammability of trees and essentially doing a little bit of forensic work to understand what burnt what.”

Edith de Guzman (left) assists an undergraduate student measuring a fire-scarred tree in Pacific Palisades.

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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The group stops at a jacaranda tree a little further up the street from the Brisbane box. Part of the crown is blooming purple, but fungus grows on its trunk.

“It's flowering, which is good. It's demonstrating that it still has enough energy to do that,” de Guzman said. “But we really don't see any growth that's happening from the fine branches and fine twigs at the end. So this tree's not doing super well.”

The bark is blackened on the side of the trunk closer to where a house once stood. The bark on the street side is lighter — some sprouts reach out from the trunk.

It’s a common pattern, de Guzman said.

“ The pattern that we see again and again is that the tree caught fire from the structure rather than the other way around,” she said.

Though they’ve only done preliminary analysis, de Guzman said that so far, they’re finding mature trees, no matter the species, tended to survive the flames better. And that most of the surviving trees they’ve surveyed actually grew in the last year.

“We are seeing that by and large, many trees are coming back and we just need to give them a chance,” said de Guzman. “They might be a little unsightly, they might not look exactly like they did before the fires, but they want to live, most of them. And we have quite a lot of species, both native and non-native, that are coming back.”

What the research says so far

Most research on wildfires, tree canopy and fire spread has come from rural, forested areas, said Francisco Escobedo, a research scientist with the Forest Service who has studied the issue for more than six years in areas such as Santa Rosa and Paradise.

“When we have these urbanized, highly populated, densely built environments that are affected by fire, we know very little about what happens to trees,” Escobedo said. “A lot of these trees, unlike the trees we have in our surrounding forests, didn't evolve with fires. What happens to jacarandas, what happens to magnolias, what happens to coast live oaks in urban environments?”

A tree in Pacific Palisades that appears to have suffered the most on the side where a house once stood.

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His research in more urban areas affected by fire is painting an increasingly nuanced picture. One recent study remotely measured some 16,000 buildings, as well as surrounding vegetation moisture, in Paradise in Northern California after the 2018 Camp Fire and Ventura after the 2017 Thomas fire. They found that drier vegetation near buildings in both areas was associated with building loss. But in Ventura, buildings near trees that were not water-stressed actually had a better chance of survival.

“ So the greener the trees were, the higher the influence of that vegetation on the building surviving,” Escobedo said.

The reasoning is still being parsed out, but Escobedo said they suspect it’s in part due to variations in types of vegetation and how the fires spread in each area. In both areas, embers largely drove building-to-building fire spread, though the intensity of the fire front and the nature of the vegetation were different — largely conifer forest up north, versus chaparral, shrub greenery here in Southern California.

While houses burned around them, many trees were able to withstand the flames, as shown by this aerial view of Altadena from June 2025.

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Myung J. Chun

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Getty Images

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Escobedo says that’s why hardening homes and location-specific vegetation recommendations are key, rather than blanket policy recommendations. He added that the latest iteration of Zone Zero proposed regulations embraces more of this nuance.

“These neighborhoods are just very different from wildland conditions,” Escobedo said. “This home ignition zone, defensible space buffer concept we have was developed in wildland areas.”

“ If vegetation gets dry enough, hot enough, it's going to burn,” he added. “From what we've learned with home-hardening practices, there are things you can do to your home to reduce that ignitability. So what we think our research might be leading to is that there are things you can do with your vegetation to reduce that probability of ignition.”

Another aspect of the research will focus on how different species of trees responded to the fires, which will provide another helpful data point for policies and insurance protections, said Alessandro Ossola, an associate professor in urban plant science at UC Davis, who has led the LiDAR sensing aspect of the data collection.

“ We can plant, strategically, trees of the right species to withstand climate change but still provide benefits to the community and people that need trees so much,” he said.

Many trees in burn scar areas are resprouting in unusual ways, like this one in Pacific Palisades. The odd growth patterns can be a sign of stress and recovery.

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A symbol of resilience, data to inform policy

The researchers also hope their work will inform better protections for urban forests before and after future fires. For many survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires, the loss of their neighborhood trees since debris removal and, lately, ongoing construction has been yet another gut punch on top of the loss of their communities.

Already about 20% of their survey trees have been cut down since last year’s fires, de Guzman said. And as summer heat arrives, many of the remaining surviving trees will need help to make it through.

“What we're seeing is that removals are happening illegally,” she said. “ There are removals that are happening potentially by developers or their contractors despite the fact that the tree is not a high-risk tree and despite the fact that the tree is trying to bounce back.

“ So a lot of the trees should just be monitored at this point, not removed.”

Another recent Forest Service study found that the urban tree canopy recovered to pre-fire levels in Ventura and Santa Rosa within five years. However, the forest canopy declined overall in forested areas near Paradise — another indication of how different ecosystems respond in different ways to fire.

UCLA graduate student Matthew Murphy measures growth on the crown of a tree.

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“How can we ensure that we can continue to live with nature in ways that are protective, both of our built environment and of the softer, greener things that make it livable and inviting?” said de Guzman.

While many questions remain, in many ways, the research is not just rooted in the physical realm, she said.

“These trees were witnesses to an inferno — some firefighters tell that temperatures reached 2,000 degrees and more — and yet here they are,” de Guzman said. “These neighborhoods are going to change completely. … But we have an opportunity to maintain some of the witnesses that are here to tell the story of the before times.”

This weekend's Long Beach Pride Festival was canceled by the city on Friday — hours before kickoff. The city said festival organizers failed to provide the required safety documentation.

The Pride Parade, managed and funded by the city, will continue as scheduled on Sunday at 10 a.m.

The parade will start at Ocean Boulevard and Lindero Avenue and travel along the Ocean Boulevard coastline to Alamitos Avenue in Downtown Long Beach.

Roads will close and parking will be restricted starting hours before the parade. Streets are expected to reopen by 2 p.m.

No parking on these streets

Between 4 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday parking won’t be allowed on:

• Ocean Boulevard from Redondo to Atlantic Avenues
• The immediate side streets on the north and south sides of Ocean Boulevard from Redondo to Atlantic Avenues

And these streets will be closed

The following streets will be closed to traffic during their designated times:

• 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. — Ocean Boulevard between Redondo and Lindero, including side streets on the north and south side of Ocean Boulevard
• 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. — Shoreline Drive between Ocean Boulevard and Shoreline Village Drive
• 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. — Ocean Boulevard between Lindero and Atlantic, including all side streets on the north and south side of Ocean Boulevard
• 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. — Alamitos Avenue between Ocean Boulevard and Broadway

Where you can park

Long Beach Pride says that parking will be available at the Long Beach Convention Center at 400 E. Seaside Way. Accessible parking and viewing will be available at Junipero and First Street, near Bixby Park.

Ride the Metro

Take the LA Metro A Line and exit 1st Street Station in Downtown Long Beach. After you exit, it's roughly a 10-minute walk down Ocean Boulevard to the parade festivities at Marina Green Park.

Editor's note: This story includes descriptions of allegations of sexual assault and rape.

Harvey Weinstein's latest sex crimes trial ended with a hung jury Friday, on the third day of deliberations.

It was the second time in a year a jury was unable to reach a verdict on the same charge.

Accusations against the former Hollywood mogul came to define the #MeToo movement, and he was first convicted of assaulting Jessica Mann in 2020. The former aspiring actress testified Weinstein raped her at a DoubleTree hotel in Manhattan in 2013. But that verdict, along with another charge, was later overturned.

In a second New York trial last summer, Weinstein was found guilty on one count of a criminal sexual act in the first degree and not guilty on another. But a third charge, of raping Mann, ended in a mistrial after the jury foreperson declined to return to deliberations, citing concerns for his safety.

Weinstein had returned to court for a third New York trial in April, this one focusing on Mann's allegations. But on Friday morning, Judge Curtis Farber received a note from jurors stating they were unable to reach a unanimous decision. Farber then read jurors a modified deadlock charge, known as an Allen charge, urging them to resume deliberations.

Jurors soon responded with another note restating their position. "We feel that no one is going to change where they stand," it said. Nine jurors fell on the side of not guilty; three supported a guilty verdict, Weinstein's lawyers told press outside of the courtroom.

The prosecution has until late June to decide whether they'll try the case again.

Outside of court, 55-year-old juror Rick Treese said that the group diverged on "where we actually had facts." He told reporters, "We didn't have enough facts to grasp onto, so it was emotion." People in the group "had varying emotions about it based on [their] experience in life."

"Everybody respected each other. Everybody respected their backgrounds. It was very civil. I feel certain that we dug into it enough."

Another juror, Josh Hadar, said his vote was for "not guilty," in part because he felt there might be parts of Mann's testimony that were "fabricated."

"I think the prevailing thought was that the witness had a lot of inconsistencies in her story," he said.

The mistrial concludes a month-long trial that was quieter than Weinstein's previous court appearances, with a diminished media presence and less public attention. Earlier this year, Weinstein hired a new legal team, including high-profile criminal defense attorneys such as Marc Agnifilo, known for representing Luigi Mangione and Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Defense attorneys argued that Mann and the then-married Weinstein had a consensual, on-again, off-again relationship over many years. But Mann testified that on that 2013 morning at the DoubleTree hotel, Weinstein "command[ed]" her to undress and penetrated her despite Mann repeatedly saying "no." Weinstein has denied all allegations of sexual assault.

Now 74, Weinstein has been incarcerated since 2020. In 2022, he was convicted of rape and sexual assault in a separate case in California and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He is appealing that verdict.

Agnifilo said outside court on Friday, "It's our job not just to win this case. There is an entire legal knot that needs to be untangled. And we're going to start untangling that knot strand by strand with the New York case and then the California case. So this really is just a first step." He said that this latest mistrial might not be "the win [Weinstein] wanted, but it's a win."

A statement from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said prosecutors were "disappointed that the proceedings ended in a mistrial" and would consider next steps in consultation with Mann.

"For nearly a decade, Jessica Mann has fought for justice. Over the course of many weeks during three separate trials, she relived unthinkably painful experiences in front of complete strangers," the statement said. "Her perseverance and bravery are inspiring to the members of my office, and more importantly, to survivors everywhere."

Weinstein's lawyers have said that he is in poor health. He used a wheelchair in court and did not testify on the stand in this trial, nor during any of his previous criminal cases. At one point during jury deliberations, Judge Farber announced Weinstein could not appear in court due to complaints of "chest pains."

Weinstein has given a limited number of interviews from prison, including with far-right podcaster Candace Owens and the Daily Mail. Most recently, he spoke with The Hollywood Reporter from Rikers Island.

When asked whether he had apologized to any of the women who brought charges against him, Weinstein told The Hollywood Reporter, "I apologized to them generally. You can't call them when you're in a trial with them. But I'll say it here today: I apologize to those women. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been with them in the first place. I misled them."

Citing his health issues, including bone marrow cancer, Weinstein said, "I'm dying here. And the DA's idea is probably to have me dying in prison. But I am dying."

More than 30 teams will take their handmade cars through a custom downhill course of twisty turns and obstacles Saturday as the Red Bull Soapbox Race returns to Los Angeles for the first time in nearly a decade.

Teams from across the country were selected from hundreds of applicants to compete on creativity, design, showmanship, course navigation and time.

There are no engines allowed in this race — all soapboxes must be gravity-powered.

Fully-functioning brakes and steering are required, but almost every other aspect of the engineering and design is left up to the competitors’ imaginations. According to Red Bull, the soapbox should be an extension of its team, the wilder and more outrageous the better.

From real racers to a car made out of bicycle parts

Contestants take on the course at the Red Bull Soapbox Race in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2025.

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Long Nguyen

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The race includes competitors from across Southern California and beyond.

UCLA Bruin Racing, made up of the school’s Formula SAE Squad (which also design and race specialized cars), entered with its “Mk. 9 racer” soapbox that was originally an out of commission EV car.

Metro LA repurposed parts from some of the unclaimed bikes left behind on the transit system for its “carrot-colored” bus design (and yes, that is the agency’s nod to Tyler, the Creator’s song "Rah Tah Tah." IYKYK).

The Seagrave 13 team from Las Vegas is dedicating their soapbox to Pasadena first responders who battled last year’s Eaton Fire. They’re planning to donate the car to the L.A. County Fire Museum after the race.

Built on a patio

One of the homegrown teams trying their luck this year is made up of a group of renters and friends in Santa Monica and Victorville who built their “Runaway Hotdog Stand” soapbox on an apartment patio.

“The fact that we're able to do this shows that I mean anybody could do this, and honestly could do anything else,” Carlos Monson, captain of the Speedy Wiener team, told LAist.

The Speedy Wiener team drew their design inspiration from L.A.’s iconic hot dog carts, typically a small grill that serves bacon and veggie toppings outside concerts, sporting events and tourist attractions.

The Speedy Wiener team modeled their soapbox after L.A.'s iconic hotdog carts.

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“For us, luckily, a majority of them are Latino and we're like, you know what, this is actually a perfect opportunity because the whole team is Latino,” said Monson, who will also be driving the soapbox.

The group of friends, between 18 and 21 years of age, built most of their cherry-red car on Monson’s apartment patio under Victorville’s glaring sun.

The Speedy Wiener repurposed the base of an old, rickety go-kart frame for their "Runaway Hotdog Stand" soapbox.

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Courtesy Carlos Monson

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They repurposed the base using an old, rickety go-kart frame that Monson said took about an hour just to carry up the stairs and get through the front door.

They worked on the soapbox in between classes and shifts at work. The final touches include stamping their Speedy Wiener logo and adding a mock-menu to the frame. There’s also ketchup and mustard bottles with yellow and red streamers hanging from the nozzles and a rainbow umbrella over the wheel.

The team, made up of renters between 18 and 21 years old, built most of the soapbox on their captain's apartment patio in Victorville.

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Courtesy Carlos Monson

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For the car’s structure, Monson turned to a collection of cardboard boxes he had lying around after a recent move and attached the various pieces with zip ties.

“We'll be able to hopefully last when they make it down the race track,” he said.

Engineering students’ big break

Another entrant on Saturday is the Los Ingenieros, a group of mechanical engineering students from Cerritos College in Norwalk, who has taken inspiration from the team’s Hispanic heritage and Los Angeles culture.

Their car is lucha libre-themed with rails modeled after a wrestling ring and the driver donning a muscle suit and mask.

The red, white and green colors represent the Mexican flag and features Chicano-style pinstriping from L.A.’s lowriders, as well as some Aztec patterns.

The Los Ingenieros team is made up of a group of mechanical engineering students from Cerritos College.

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Courtesy Ruben Orozco

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“It's definitely going to be a powerful testimony to our culture,” said Ruben Orozco, a Los Ingenieros member from La Mirada.

The team never expected to be picked for the race, and Orozco said the invitation has been “mind-blowing” and “surreal.”

Arelie Marquez, another member from Long Beach, told LAist she sketched the design for the modified go-kart frame before the team chopped the wheels, boosted the back axle and added suspension. While some of the students drew up blueprints on engineering computer software, Marquez used her welding experience to help mount the brackets — all in Orozco’s backyard.

As a community college student, Orozco said he’s felt like he’s missed out on opportunities to showcase their knowledge and innovations compared to students in the Cal State or UC system, but the Red Bull Soapbox Race has helped shed that notion.

“Not only has it been reassuring to myself, but also we've used it as a platform to kind of show others in STEM, in community colleges, that you could do crazy things as a student,” he said.

And yes, the team is already highlighting the unique engineering experience on their resumes, according to Gabriel Ramirez, a Compton resident and another member along with his twin brother, Hector.

Their next challenge? Cramming for finals next week.

The Surfrider Foundation is hosting a protest in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday to oppose what it sees as mounting threats to our California coastline.

In 2015, a pipeline operated by Plains All American spilled more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil near Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County. Hundreds of marine mammals were killed or injured and beaches across the region were contaminated.

Bill Hickman, a senior regional manager with the Surfrider Foundation, remembers it well.

“I live in Ventura. We had a bottlenose dolphin wash up here that was covered in oil,” Hickman told LAist. “That was really sad to see. And there was oil on the beach all the way down to L.A.”

The spill also “shut down fisheries, closed multiple beaches, and impacted recreational uses such as camping, non-commercial fishing, and beach visits,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In March, the Trump administration invoked the Defense Production Act to bring that same pipeline, now run by Texas-based Sable Offshore, back online. The company says that the system will produce tens of thousands of barrels of oil a day, as well as “provide a secure, consistent source of domestic crude oil, replacing approximately 1 million barrels per month of imports.”

But Hickman and other environmental advocates say restarting the pipeline raises serious concerns. California sued the Trump administration in March to keep it shut.

The restart, along with the Trump administration’s push to open the California coast up to new oil and gas drilling for the first time in decades, has Hickman sounding the alarm.

“Right now it seems like if you’re not outraged you’re not paying attention,” Hickman said. “And luckily a lot of people are really fired up about all of the threats to the environment and particularly the Santa Barbara channel.”

Oil spills like the one in 2015 could also deeply affect tourism, the fishing industry and lead to billions in cleanup costs, according to Gov, Gavin Newsom’s office. In a January 2026 statement opposing the Trump administration’s new offshore drilling plans, the governor’s office said the state's coastal economy “supports hundreds of thousands of jobs and generates over $44 billion annually.”

On Sunday morning, Hickman will be part of a spiritual ritual in surf culture: a paddle-out into the ocean at Refugio State Beach.

He said anyone with a human-powered craft is welcome to join the circle to oppose drilling on our coasts.

“People are standing up. There’s a lot of opposition,” Hickman said. “Californians really treasure our coast, our beaches, our waves and really want to protect them.”