The Brief

The next time you shop for a cooking stove, the gas versions might show a health warning label similar to those on tobacco products.

Because a stove's blue flame releases air pollution into your kitchen, California lawmakers have passed a bill that would require such warning labels on gas stoves for sale in stores and online. Gov. Gavin Newsom has until the end of September to sign the bill into law.

The legislation comes after a series of lawsuits was filed against stove manufacturers, claiming they should have warned customers about potential health risks. Environmental activists are encouraging people to switch to electric stoves, part of a broader campaign to cut climate pollution from buildings. Now there's an effort to put health warning labels on stoves nationwide.

Why one chef replaced her gas stove

About 38% of U.S. homes cook with natural gas, and utilities have preserved that market share with tobacco-style tactics to avoid regulations on gas stoves. Part of that is a decades-old "cooking with gas" campaign that has helped gas stoves remain popular with cooks, including famous ones.

"I will say, historically, I've been really a snob about that," says Samin Nosrat, who wrote the 2017 award-winning cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. She learned to cook with gas. "I just never accepted an alternative in my imagination."

But a few years back, she bought a house with a gas stove, and her carbon monoxide alarm kept going off when she cooked. At first, she assumed the alarm was broken and installed a new one. Finally she called the gas company. A utility worker said that levels of the poisonous gas were "off the charts high" and that she should get checked for carbon monoxide poisoning.

Nosrat was fine but says, "I really didn't feel safe. I just always had this feeling of like, 'Is my oven going to kill me?'"

For her to switch from a gas to electric range could have required expensive electrical upgrades and construction that would inconvenience her neighbors. So Nosrat opted for a new style of electric induction stove with batteries that doesn't need a special outlet.

As part of her installation, the California company Copper measured pollutants in Nosrat's home before and after. It found that both nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide levels dropped dramatically.

While Nosrat still uses a gas stove in her studio for work, she says it's a relief to know her home range is no longer sending fossil fuel pollutants into her living space. And she found another benefit to using an induction stove with a smooth cooktop: "Cleaning it rules — like, you just spray it down and wipe it off."

Proposed California law to warn stove buyers

Another Californian has been learning about indoor air pollution from gas stoves, and as a state lawmaker, she sponsored legislation to warn other stove buyers.

California Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, a Democrat from Santa Cruz, says she knew to turn on the vent hood when using the cooktop, but she hadn't thought about her gas oven. "So if I've got a lasagna in the oven, I have never put the vent on, because you're not seeing the smoke and everything," Pellerin told NPR. "So I was emitting horrible gases into my home."

Medical experts say nitrogen dioxide is the biggest concern. It's a reddish-brown gas and is a key element of smog outdoors. It can irritate airways and may contribute to the development of asthma, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The American Public Health Association has labeled gas cooking stoves "a public health concern," and the American Medical Association warns that cooking with gas increases the risk of childhood asthma.

Gas stoves can also leak methane, even when they're off, and stoves emit benzene, which is linked to cancer. While stove manufacturers have developed cleaner and more efficient burners, they aren't widely available to consumers.

Gas-lit flames burn on a natural gas stove. California's Legislature passed a bill requiring health warning labels on new gas stoves.

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If Pellerin's legislation becomes law, it will require a label on gas stoves for sale in stores and online that says, "Gas stoves can release nitrogen dioxide, benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, and other harmful pollutants into the air, which can be toxic to people and pets." The label would also mention associated risks for breathing problems, suggest using a vent hood and say, "Young children, people with asthma, and people with heart or lung disease are especially vulnerable to the toxic effects of combustion pollutants."

"I think this is just important for us to have transparency and inform consumers so they can make the decision that's right for their family," Pellerin says.

Similar bills were introduced in Illinois and New York, but unlike California's version, lawmakers did not pass them out of the legislature.

The campaign for warning labels is part of a larger climate effort to get consumers to switch to electric appliances that don't burn fossil fuels. Commercial and residential buildings account for about 13% of heat-trapping emissions, mainly from the use of gas appliances.

The natural gas production and supply system leaks the powerful greenhouse gas methane during drilling, fracking, processing and transport.

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The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) opposed California's health warning legislation and suggested a different label that does not focus on fossil fuel combustion pollution. The trade group echoes gas industry arguments that smoke and fumes from cooking food are a bigger problem than pollution from burning gas and that two separate issues are being conflated.

"If we want to talk about people's health and indoor air quality, then let's talk about that. If we want to talk about fossil fuel versus electrification, then we need to talk about that," says Kevin Messner, AHAM's executive vice president and chief policy officer.

Messner says all pollution from stoves — electric or gas — requires proper ventilation to prevent pollution from accumulating in homes. With warning labels only on gas stoves, Messner argues that this sends the wrong message.

"So if you go to, let's say, a retailer and you see a gas cooking product with a warning or information that says you should use ventilation. Then right next to it, you have an electric appliance or an induction [stove] that does not have that warning — this is common sense that you're going to think, 'I don't need to use ventilation for the electric appliance,'" Messner says.

AHAM says it's disappointed California lawmakers passed the health warning label only for gas stoves. But that has energized activists, who hope they can get similar labels on gas stoves for sale nationwide.

A national campaign for gas stove health warnings

The use of gas stoves has become a flash point in the culture wars. One of the groups pushing for health warning labels has turned to humor to spread its message. Gas Leaks Project released a parody trailer this year for a reality show it calls Hot & Toxic. The premise is an "unsuspecting homeowner" who loves her new gas stove but later learns it comes with some of "the hottest, most toxic housemates imaginable."

Each character represents a pollutant created from burning gas, including carbon monoxide, or “C.MO,” who echoes a line that reality show fans will recognize, but with a twist. "I did not come here to make friends," she says. "I came here to cause chest pain, nausea and vomiting."

A campaign associated with the parody encourages people to sign a petition to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) telling it to put warning labels on gas stoves nationwide.

The CPSC was at the center of a 2023 culture war campaign led by conservatives, who falsely claimed the Biden administration wanted to take away Americans' gas stoves. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, wrote on social media, "I'll NEVER give up my gas stove. If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands."

The outrage was prompted by a story in which CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. suggested that the CPSC might consider stricter regulations on new gas stoves in response to health concerns.

Trumka and the CPSC did not respond to NPR's requests for interviews. Even before that kerfuffle, the CPSC had launched a task force about gas stoves and indoor air quality. It included industry, environmental and consumer groups.

"We met at least monthly for a year and a half," says AHAM's Messner, adding that participants were leaning toward regulating cooking fumes instead of fossil fuel combustion pollution. "The enthusiasm for having CPSC's task force trailed off by some who didn't see it going in the direction where they wanted it to go, politically."

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group disputes that conclusion and says the staff member directing the group was reassigned. Still, U.S. PIRG has redirected its campaign and launched a new effort to get health warning labels on gas stoves sold in Washington, D.C., by suing one of the biggest stove manufacturers.

The case for suing gas stove companies

U.S. PIRG filed a lawsuit in May against the Chinese company Haier, which owns GE Appliances. U.S. PIRG says the manufacturer violates the District of Columbia's consumer protection law, which "prohibits a wide variety of deceptive and unconscionable business practices."

"We're saying that it's a deceptive practice for GE Appliances to sell gas stoves in the District without warning consumers about the well-documented health risks associated with cooking with gas," says Abe Scarr, U.S. PIRG's energy and utilities program director.

The group isn't asking for money, aside from paying U.S. PIRG's attorney fees and costs. Instead it wants the court to require GE Appliances to put health warning labels on gas stoves sold in the District.

A spokesperson for GE Appliances said the company won't comment on the litigation but said: "All our ranges and cooktops meet or exceed applicable safety standards."

A 1992 analysis by Duke University and Environmental Protection Agency researchers found that children in a home with a gas stove have about a 20% increased risk of developing respiratory illness. A 2022 analysis showed 12.7% of childhood asthma cases in the U.S. can be attributed to use of gas stoves in homes.

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Other gas stove manufacturers face potential class action lawsuits in California and Wisconsin that claim companies should disclose the risk of pollutants to consumers. Attorneys in Massachusetts have filed a similar case against the local gas utility Eversource.

Scarr says the legal cases are needed because stove buyers aren't getting the message that pollution from gas stoves can lead to health problems. His group surveyed 62 Lowe's, Home Depot and Best Buy locations in 11 states. Secret shoppers were dispatched to ask about health concerns.

U.S. PIRG found that most salespeople "flatly denied or expressed ignorance about the health risks of gas stoves" and that 15% of them "recommended gas stoves over electric ranges or induction cooktops, even when the secret shopper voiced concerns about pollution."

Lowe's and Best Buy did not respond to NPR's interview requests. A Home Depot spokesperson said, "Most customers choose a gas, electric or induction range based on which fuel their home is equipped for" and also said that the retailer sells range hoods and that a stove's instruction manual "speaks to the importance of ventilation."

As Scarr's group pursues its D.C. lawsuit, he says they plan to again pressure the CPSC to require health warning labels for the entire country, possibly as soon as next year.

Copyright 2024 NPR

As federal officials suspend funding to L.A.’s main homelessness agency — citing mismanagement — a recent audit found the agency did not spend tens of millions of dollars allocated to it.

The audit found the L.A. Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) underspent its overall budget by $108 million in the last fiscal year ending in June 2025, mainly because of “program delays.” The year before, the underspend was nearly $150 million. Some of it was carried forward to future years, auditors wrote.

Specifically to federal dollars, the audit shows LAHSA spent at least $7 million less than it had budgeted last fiscal year. LAHSA had budgeted $61.5 million in such dollars. It spent only about $49 million to $54.4 million, per the audit.

Underspending at LAHSA was called out more than four years ago, in a January 2022 audit that found the agency left $3.5 million in federal grants on the table by not using them.

A spokesperson for LAHSA has not responded to a request for comment.

LAHSA is governed by a 10-member commission that is half appointed by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, and half appointed by each of the five county supervisors. Bass has served on the commission since she appointed herself to it in fall 2023.

Bass’ office said in a statement that the mayor “has grave concerns about LAHSA and zero tolerance for mismanagement and negligence.” The federal money suspension puts lives and progress on homelessness at risk, the statement added.

The mayor’s office statement says the mayor “previously directed the city to evaluate how to move away from the agency.”

When the City Council considered in March whether to withdraw the city’s funds from LAHSA and instead have the city directly oversee the dollars, Bass cautioned that the city first would need “a serious, thoughtful transition plan,” adding that “the last thing we need is a new department and more bureaucracy.”

Spokespeople for the county supervisors have not returned messages for comment on the underspending.

City of L.A. also underspends

The city of L.A. also has been underspending its homelessness budget — to the tune of $513 million in Bass’ first full fiscal year as mayor that ended June 2024, according to an analysis later that year by City Controller Kenneth Mejia’s office.

Federal officials cited that in their letter Thursday as one of many reasons for their suspension of funds to LAHSA. The letter incorrectly attributed the full underspend to LAHSA. The findings were instead about the city’s overall homelessness spending, a portion of which goes to LAHSA.

Spokespeople for HUD have not responded to an emailed request about the inaccuracy.

A controller’s analysis for the following fiscal year, ending June 2025, found the city again underspent its homelessness budget, by at least $473 million.

“Breaking City Hall from its decades old dysfunctional system is how we finally brought homelessness down by 17%,” Bass said in a statement at the time. “I’m glad to support the controller’s recommendations to further reform the status quo.”

Other problems found in audit

The federally required audit, known as a single audit, must be done each year by an accounting firm hired by LAHSA.

The latest one, finalized last month and covering the fiscal year that ended last June, found failures surrounding poor bookkeeping and accounting of taxpayer money at the agency — which spent over $800 million in public funds last fiscal year.

The agency’s financial statements initially included “significant” inaccurate amounts that needed to be adjusted late in the audit process, the auditors found.

It found the inaccuracies stemmed from a "significant deficiency” in LAHSA’s “internal controls,” which are supposed to safeguard against financial inaccuracies and fraud.

Vacant tax-funded apartments

LAist reported Thursday that LAHSA has been using tax dollars to pay for more than 250 empty apartments as part of an initiative Mayor Karen Bass introduced years ago to make housing readily available to unhoused people. That’s just over a third of the units in the strategy, known as master leasing, according to an LAist review of official data.

The vacancies have been tying up tax dollars — largely overseen by the county — that could house hundreds of people in other approaches, according to official financial data.

Other funds leaving LAHSA

In response to previous audits that found major problems with LAHSA’s oversight of tax dollars, county supervisors decided last spring to withdraw all of the county’s $300 million-plus in annual funding of services through LAHSA and instead have the county directly manage it starting July 1.

Problems identified in the latest audit reiterate why the county pulled its funding, Supervisor Kathryn Barger said in a statement Monday.

The city is considering moving in a similar direction as the county. A key City Council panel — its homelessness committee — recently recommended the full council start shifting city homelessness funding out of LAHSA over the course of the next fiscal year. Bass urged caution, saying moving too quickly to shift funding could disrupt services for unhoused people.

LAHSA has long functioned as the L.A.’s homeless services department, with over $300 million in city money expected to flow through LAHSA this fiscal year.

A cookie business with well over a dozen flavors ranging from Mexican hot chocolate to mango sticky rice? How very L.A.! Lei’d Cookies started as a pandemic pop-up. Nowadays, you'll find them in the Culver City Arts District.

About the owner

Baker and owner Leilani Terris posing, holding two cookies from Lei’d Cookies.

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Co-owner Leilani Terris originally thought she'd become a physical therapist. After applying to school, she took a gap year, taught herself to bake and connected with co-owner James Lewis to start their cookie business.

Terris sat down with Austin Cross, who hosts AirTalk every Friday, to explain how their cookies take customers on a bite-sized journey to other countries.

What's the best way to experience Lei'd Cookies?

Add ice cream to a warm cookie at their Culver City shop. If you want a more communal experience, take a trip with a group of friends to Smorgasburg L.A., which takes place every Sunday in downtown L.A.

Known for international flavors

Terris wants customers to get a taste of other cultures. Lei'd Cookies has put a spin on ghriba, a type of shortbread cookie from Morocco, and spicy Mexican hot chocolate.

Bakery details

• Although Terris didn't start with professional culinary experience, her co-owner, James Lewis, worked in restaurant management for years prior to opening.
• They joined Smorgasburg L.A.'s list of vendors in 2021.
• Lei'd Cookies opened its brick-and-mortar in Culver City in 2023.

Cookies we tried

• Orange Date Blossom Cookie (Ghriba inspired and includes apricot jam and walnuts)
• Mayan (cinnamon, cayenne, and chocolate from Tabasco, Mexico)
• Mango Sticky Rice
• Guava and Goat Cheese (their best-seller)

What should we try next?

Southern Californians could face floods and fires this year.

A hot, dry winter has led to fires already, and experts said Friday at a news conference in Los Angeles that that is projected to continue.

Different from previous wildfire seasons, though, experts are also closely watching El Niño, a powerful weather pattern that causes changes in winds and ocean temperatures.

“California is faced with multiple disasters, whether it be fires, floods, hazardous material incidents,” said Brian Marshall, fire and rescue chief with the California Office of Emergency Services. Marshall said the El Niño “could impact fires and could impact flooding across the state.”

The National Weather Service is predicting a 63% chance of a “very strong” El Niño from November to January. It could be one of the most powerful since 1950, according to the weather service’s Climate Prediction Center.

Heavy El Niño storms could trigger flash flooding and debris flows in wildfire burn scar areas.

The effects of the rapidly developing El Niño on this year’s wildfire season remain uncertain, and experts urged residents to stay vigilant.

“Even very strong El Niño events do not lead to the expected impact everywhere,” according to the Climate Prediction Center.

William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, said more rain can also increase plant growth, which can eventually dry out and create more fuel for fires.

Robert Garcia, fire chief in the Angeles National Forest, said the recent Burro Fire provided “some indicators of what may be ahead” as vegetation starts to dry. The Burro Fire charred 30 acres and burned for about a week in May in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Glendora.

What you can do to stay safe

Fire officials advised people to create defensible space around their homes by clearing it of dry vegetation and other flammable materials.

Pre-fire conditions, including the abundance of dry vegetation, were “dominant drivers” of burn severity in the Eaton, Palisades and Hughes fires in January 2025, according to a new study led by San Diego State University in collaboration with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory researchers.

“Regions like Los Angeles … have a lot of human populations who are living closer to these environments that are susceptible to wildfires,” said Madeleine Pascolini-Campbell, a scientist at JPL and a co-author of the study.

Beyond fire prevention, defensible space also helps firefighters enter properties to extinguish flames.

“Wind-driven, ember-casting wildfires moving through a community without defensible space makes it very difficult for us to be able to combat those fires,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Jaime E. Moore said at the news conference. “It makes it unsafe for our firefighters and those that are working hard to protect your home.”

Los Angeles Unified has renamed two campuses previously named for Cesar Chavez. The move follows a New York Times investigation that found the famed labor leader sexually abused girls and women.

The board voted to rename the schools Friday following town hall meetings and a vote among staff, students and parents at each campus.

Cesar Chavez Learning Academies in San Fernando is now Arroyo High School, and Cesar Chavez Elementary School is now Oakland Street Elementary School.

How did the change come together?

A March New York Times investigation found survivors of Chavez’s abuse included United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta. The LAUSD Board voted unanimously a week later to begin a renaming process for the two campuses after a consultation with the schools’ communities.

With one exception, none of the other prospective names were associated with specific people.

Arroyo High School

Previously called: Cesar E. Chavez Learning Academy

Other names considered:

• Valley High School
• Rudy Acuña High School (Rodolfo "Rudy" Acuña is a Chicano studies scholar who died earlier this year at age 93.)

The vote: Arroyo High earned 557 of 1,063 votes, and was the most popular choice among each of students, parents and staff. It’s based on the street where the school is located. (“Arroyo” is Spanish for “creek.”)

Oakland Street Elementary School

Previously called: Cesar Chavez Elementary School

Other names considered: 

• Eagles Elementary
• Arroyo Elementary

The vote: Oakland Street Elementary received 211 out of 314 votes, and was the favorite among each of students, parents and staff.

What's next?

The district has designated $209,000 for renovations associated with the name changes, including changing signs and marquees.

The single largest cost is refurbishing the high school’s hardwood gym floor, which will cost an estimated $120,000. Other significant costs include removing and replacing metal lettering on the front of the high school for $25,000, as well as removing and replacing crash pads and banners in the gym for $30,000.

Have other thoughts on school names?

Senior editor Ross Brenneman contributed to this story.