The Brief

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

In the days after the Lineage warehouse fire blanketed the Eastside in thick smoke, Althana Ávalos desperately searched for an air purifier for her 9-year-old son with asthma. 

The 33-year-old Los Angeles Unified School District teacher closed the windows and doors of her East L.A. home, and her family wore KN95 masks. But it wasn’t enough. They soon began feeling the effects of the smoke: sore throat, eye and skin irritation, nausea and headaches. 

When she called the office of Councilmember Ysabel Jurado to have an air purifier delivered to her home, she was told she didn’t qualify.

“I’m sorry,” the person on the phone told her, according to Ávalos. “Due to the address that you’re providing, you are on the other side so you don’t qualify … You belong to the county.” 

“Really? This is a disaster,” Ávalos remembers thinking. “My son has asthma. What am I going to do?”

The moment captured what many residents say they experienced for days following the fire: For some seeking help, access to emergency resources often depended less on how close they lived to the fire and more on which side of an invisible border they called home. 

A crisis felt across invisible borders

Ávalos lives on the east side of Indiana Street, in unincorporated East Los Angeles, not the city of L.A. Just across the street, on the west side of Indiana, is Boyle Heights, where the Lineage warehouse is located.

Although the warehouse is in Boyle Heights, it sits near the borders of East L.A. and Commerce, separated by short stretches of roads and industrial blocks. Walking a few feet places residents in a different jurisdiction entirely. 

Those geographic boundaries shaped who distributed supplies, where residents went for help, and, in some cases, who qualified for resources such as air purifiers.

While Boyle Heights residents are represented by Los Angeles city officials, including Jurado, and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, residents in unincorporated East L.A. fall under Los Angeles County and are primarily represented by Supervisor Hilda Solis.

Where do you live?

Boyle Heights, highlighted in blue, is within the city of East L.A. and is represented by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and Mayor Karen Bass.

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Map created within ArcGIS by Andrew Lopez

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The LA Local

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East Los Angeles, highlighted in orange, is an unincorporated community within LA County. It is represented by Supervisor Hilda Solis.

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Map created within ArcGIS by Andrew Lopez

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The LA Local

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Boyle Heights: Highlighted in blue, Boyle Heights is a neighborhood within the city of Los Angeles. Residents are represented by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and Mayor Karen Bass.

East Los Angeles: Highlighted in orange, East Los Angeles is an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County. Residents are represented by Supervisor Hilda Solis.

Residents search for relief

When the fire broke out on June 17, elected officials responded and posted updates on social media as firefighters battled the blaze.

And when the flames reignited within the building two days later, officials declared local and statewide emergencies while agencies worked to acquire and distribute air purifiers, pass out masks and open up smoke relief shelters across the Eastside. 

Antonio Chapa, left, director of field operations for Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, distributes air purifiers on Indiana Street in Boyle Heights on June 22, 2026.

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Isaac Ceja

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Boyle Heights Beat

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But residents say accessing those resources wasn’t always straightforward. 

Some distribution events required proof of residency. On social media, residents asked whether they qualified for assistance if they lived near the fire. Others were clearing up confusion from commenters about whether their addresses were actually within Los Angeles city limits. 

For Ávalos, it was confusing that strict government rules still applied for the neighboring jurisdictions even during a crisis.

“I knew I belonged to the East L.A. area. It didn’t hit me that in, you know, in this case of emergency, or in this situation, they were going to be asking,” said Ávalos.

Community groups filled the gaps

Henry Perez, executive director of InnerCity Struggle, said his organization repeatedly heard about people running into the same issue of being turned away at distribution sites.

“It’s extremely frustrating and infuriating,” Perez said. “To be told that they couldn’t get the air purifier because of where they lived on the dividing line, that is just heartbreaking.”

Henry Perez, executive director of InnerCity Struggle, speaks at a press conference on Thursday, June 25, 2026.

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Steve Saldivar

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The LA Local

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As demand for clean air grew, groups including InnerCity Struggle, Proyecto Pastoral, the East L.A. Walking Club and The Maravilla Community Advisory Committee, as well as individual volunteers, organized their own distributions, regardless of jurisdictions.

Meanwhile, Ávalos’ family continued searching for relief as their conditions worsened.

On Saturday, June 20, they went to the smoke relief shelter at City Terrace Park. During a visit to the shelter, Sen. Durazo stepped inside to talk to families.

After explaining how she was turned away from receiving an air purifier, Durazo, upset by the situation, called on one of her team members to help get one, Ávalos said. A few hours later, the air purifier had been personally delivered to her at the shelter.  

State and local elected officials, including Durazo, Assemblymembers Mark Gonzalez and Jessica Caloza, and U.S. Rep. Jimmy Gomez, also spent time in the affected neighborhoods sharing updates and connecting residents with resources.

Ávalos wasn’t the only resident who described frustration over jurisdictional divides. 

Martin Ramirez, who owns N&M Auto Repair on the corner of Union Pacific Avenue and Indiana Street, said he tried to get an air purifier for his business from Our Lady of Victory Church in East L.A. but was turned away because his business address put him in Commerce.  

Officials emphasize unity as the response evolves

As the fire continued burning, city and county leaders began appearing side by side at press conferences, stressing that government agencies were working collaboratively.

First District Supervisor Hilda Solis speaks at a press conference at the City Terrace Park Smoke Respite Center and is joined by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Council District 14 Councilmember Ysabel Jurado.

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Photo courtesy of First District Supervisor Hilda Solis

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Later in the response, public messaging also appeared to shift. 

At a press event on Thursday, June 25, Bass pushed back when asked by a local reporter about the miscommunication between county and city departments.

“First of all, I know the two of us here, the three of us here, we’re not going to put up with jurisdictional divide,” Bass said. “People can go to the county for help and if the resources…happen to be on the city side, the bottom line is that if the people of this community need help, we’re going to do everything we can to get it there.”

Around the same time, in a social media post promoting purifier distribution on Friday, June 26, Hilda Solis wrote that aid was “open to adjacent communities.” 

A community resource center that opened up in Boyle Heights over the weekend presented a similar shift, stating services were open to “residents and businesses of Boyle Heights and nearby communities.” 

Still, some residents said the changing guidance added to the confusion. 

In written statements to Boyle Heights Beat, both Jurado and Solis acknowledged the challenges residents faced along the Boyle Heights and East L.A. border. 

“Emergency doesn’t recognize jurisdictional boundaries, but government often does,” Jurado said.

A plume of smoke billows out of a Boyle Heights warehouse on Saturday, June 20.

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Isaiah Murtaugh

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The LA Local

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Jurado said city departments and county agencies are now coordinating around air quality monitoring, debris and food waste removal, traffic and hauling plans, water runoff protections, public health resources, and community outreach.

Solis shared a similar sentiment, stating that although the county stayed in close communication with the city on emergency response from day one, it had become streamlined by day seven.

“By the end of the first week, that included broader resource distributions, expanded health services, planning for the Community Resilience Center, and connecting residents, workers, and small businesses with recovery resources,” Solis said.

What residents want to see change

Perez of InnerCity Struggle said officials should use the Lineage fire as a lesson before the next disaster. 

“This isn’t going to be the last environmental crisis or, just, emergency crisis and they need to recognize that there are certain parts of the city and the county that border one another,” Perez said. “What we want our elected leaders to really learn from this experience is that preparedness is critical.”

One of the biggest lessons Councilmember Jurado said she learned through the process was that environmental emergencies “require neighborhood-level preparedness” before disaster strikes.

“In future emergencies, residents should not have to chase government for information. Government needs to show up where people already are: at their doors, at trusted community organizations, at schools, churches, clinics, recreation centers, and neighborhood gathering places,” Jurado said. 

For residents like Ávalos who live along the city-county lines, the fire reinforced how a divide in resources — from health care and law enforcement to services like trash and public works — can shape access to help. 

“If something like this were to happen again … I don’t think that [where you live] should matter,” Ávalos said.

Exposition Park’s new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens to the public on Sept. 22 — and LAist got a preview.

The 300,000-square-foot building, designed by architect Ma Yansong, working with the firm Stantec, could easily blend into the scenery of Coruscant or Bespin in the Star Wars universe.

For the fans of that certain long-time ago, far, far-away universe, you are immediately greeted by a Naboo Starfighter big enough to fit inside at the museum entrance with a life-size R2-D2 in the co-pilot seat.

Star Wars fans will definitely get their fill with pieces like this in the cinema section:

Doug Chiang, Podrace Crash, production art for "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace," 1995–99. Digital print.

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Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

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You can find designs and set pieces from other George Lucas production companies, Industrial Light and Magic and Skywalker Sound, but the museum is dedicated to impactful storytelling of all kinds, with a special focus on the work of illustrators.

“Most of the stories are myths, they're not real, but the illustrations make them real,” George Lucas said at a preview event. “A picture is very powerful, and the stories are very powerful, and you combine them together, and those two elements create a society.”

So, you’ll also see works like this E.H. Shepard illustration from Winnie-the-Pooh in a section dedicated to children’s stories.

E. H. Shepard, “Christopher Robin at the enchanted place,” illustration for Home Chat, 1928.

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Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

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And that’s not the only significant work you’ll see there.

 “You can see one of the first historically important ‘dogs playing poker’ paintings made in 1894 as a whiskey advertisement, very close to Frida Kahlo, very close to Batman,” Lucas Museum senior curator Ryan Linkof said.

The museum’s umbrella of “narrative art” encompasses fine art like these works from painter, pro-football player and actor Ernie Barnes, photographer Dorothea Lange, and comic book artist Rafael Navarro:

Ernie Barnes, The Critic’s Corner, 2007. Acrylic on canvas.

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Matt Kroening

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Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

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Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, 1936.

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Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

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Rafael Navarro, art for Sonámbulo: Mexican Stand-Off, 2006.

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Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

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Murals and public art

The museum features public art installations — both reproductions of works by Diego Rivera and Banksy.

Three of the featured works by Banksy.

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Matthew Kroening

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Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

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You'll also experience an extensive video installation of Judith Baca’s The Great Wall of Los Angeles, which you can take in while sitting instead of having to walk the whole length.

A new green space in the middle of the city

The museum boasts extensive grounds built on a former parking lot. There, you can see a number of sculptures, including one of Jabba the Hutt and Princess Leia.

Jabba the Hutt and Princess Leia statue.

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Kevin Tidmarsh

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LAist

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“This public park is available and accessible to everyone all the time, even if you don't come to the museum, even if the museum's not open. You can come to the research library,” Linkof said. “It's an asset and a resource for everyone, including and especially the community.”

How to visit

• Location: One Lucas Plaza, Exposition Park, Los Angeles
• Tickets: Timed tickets cost $25 for adults, $21 for seniors and are to free to minors, active-duty military, members and LM37 passholders. See your options ▶
• Park access: Free
• Regular hours:
  Mon, Wed, Thu: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
  Fri: 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.
  Sat: 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.
  Sun: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
  Closed Tuesdays

Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman on Wednesday won the backing of the Democratic Socialists of America L.A. in her challenge to incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. The DSA-LA is a potent political organization known for mounting successful door-knocking campaigns for candidates for political office.

The endorsement places the resources of DSA-LA to work for Raman in what’s expected to be a close race for mayor, but also opens Raman up to criticism that she’s too far left in her political views for the voters of L.A.

The endorsement came after Raman won more than 60% of the vote in an online election held within the organization over the past week. Of the more than 6,000 members in the L.A. region, 1,400 participated in the vote.

“With Raman at the top of the ticket, DSA-LA is organizing to unite tenants, union members, immigrant communities, and working Angelenos behind a slate that can break corporate interests’ grip on city government,” DSA-LA said in a statement. “Our vision is clear: win office, build a governing majority, and deliver a city working people can afford to call home.”

Raman, a member of the organization, was first elected with its help in an upset victory over an incumbent City Council member in 2020. She was the first of four DSA-LA members elected to the council in recent years.

“A socialist movement with a path to the mayor’s office in Los Angeles should make the political establishment nervous,” said Sean Wakasa, DSA-LA co-chair. “The opportunity in front of us is enormous, and we intend to meet it.”

Raman was not immediately available for comment.

A spokesperson for the Bass campaign did not comment specifically on the endorsement but pointed to some of the issues that surfaced in debates between the candidates, including how to handle homeless encampments and Police Department funding.

"Nithya Raman said kids aren't safer if an encampment is 500 feet away from a school and voted repeatedly to cut basic public safety funding to make LA safer," Alex Stack said. "Those are positions she now fully owns as she tries to flip-flop and convince voters otherwise."

Raman has defended her opposition to a ban on camping next to schools, saying moving them merely shuffles homeless people from one neighborhood to the next.

A 'double-edged sword'

Some voters will likely be turned off by the DSA’s endorsement of Raman, according to USC Political Science Professor Christian Grose.

“The DSA endorsement is definitely a double-edged sword,” he said. “It's going to hurt her with the Pratt voters, who will be decisive potentially in the election.”

Conservative T.V. personality Spencer Pratt finished third in the primary with 26% of the vote.

Grose added that Raman already has come under fire for her association with the DSA-LA.

“So those attacks were kind of happening already,” he said.

Wasaka said Raman nonetheless has a lot of appeal to progressive voters.

“Nithya Raman has had a long history with DSA-LA and has helped pass transformative policies at the city level,” Wasaka said. “Her leadership and progressive vision have aligned with DSA members, and we are excited to canvas for her and help her win.

“We’re knocking on tens of thousands of doors, we’re hosting fundraisers and we’re talking to all of our neighbors and families about how these candidates are going to build political power for the working class.”

The DSA-LA endorsed several other candidates in local elections, including Marissa Roy over John McKinney in the L.A. city attorney’s race.

Raman is a member of the DSA-LA, but was not endorsed in the primary, in part because some members said she didn’t hew closely enough to the party line. Raman, for example, wants to roll back part of the mansion tax, which places an extra tax on the sale of properties worth more than $5.4 million. Raman has said it discourages the building of affordable housing.

Other endorsements

The DSA-LA backing comes on the heels of another big endorsement of Raman from a major labor union. Earlier this week, Unite HERE Local 11, which represents hotel and restaurant workers, said it is backing Raman.

“Nithya Raman will fight alongside our members to protect working families, enforce our laws, preserve our housing, and hold corporations like Airbnb accountable when they take desperately needed homes off the market,” said Ada Briceño, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11.

Political scientist Fernando Guerra of Loyola Marymount’s Center for the Study of Los Angeles said the union’s endorsement is important.

“I would 10 times more want the endorsement from UNITE HERE that has 30,000 members,” said Guerra. “They are one of the most powerful electoral bodies in terms of mobilization in all of California, especially in Los Angeles.”

Most labor unions back Bass in the election, including the powerful L.A. County Federation of Labor. The Democratic Party and Chamber of Commerce also have endorsed Bass.

Despite speculation earlier this week, a hurricane is not going to hit Southern California this weekend.

Tropical Storm Marie is churning in the Pacific Ocean several hundred miles off the coast of Mexico. It’s expected to reach hurricane strength by Thursday morning.

The storm is moving northwest, which is typical for most storms in the eastern Pacific. Forecasters say the chance is extremely minimal that it will veer north.

“The current forecast track is for Marie to continue to move off to the west and northwest, further and further away,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Rich Thompson.

A diagram shows the likely path of Tropical Storm and Hurricane Marie through Monday morning.

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NOAA

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But that doesn’t mean we’ll dodge its effects completely.

Hurricanes can affect weather patterns from afar, and Marie is likely to significantly impact Southern California’s weather and beaches over Labor Day weekend.

Beware dangerous beach conditions

Recent storm surges already have damaged Aliso Beach in Laguna Beach. A storm off the coast now has meteorologists warning of rough beach conditions and high moisture heading into the Labor Day weekend.

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Allen J. Schaben

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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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The strongest effects from the storm will be felt along the coast.

 ”Those beach coastal impacts are gonna be the big thing to watch for this weekend,” Thompson said. “You're going to have a large and southeast southerly swell moving into the coastal waters from the hurricane.”

Forecasters are warning that the swell will come with dangerously strong rip currents and big waves, especially along south-facing beaches. It could also bring the potential for coastal flooding.

The swell's peak will probably hit Sunday and Monday.

Surf along the Southern California coast has already been high this summer. Last weekend, the conditions, combined with large beach crowds, led to more than 1,200 ocean rescues by L.A. County lifeguards. With temperatures soaring, more than 1 million people went to L.A. County beaches last weekend.

And with the holiday this weekend, large crowds are likely to return to the beaches, potentially putting more people in the path of even more dangerous ocean conditions.

If you do plan to go to the beach, the safest option is to stay near occupied lifeguard posts and heed lifeguard warnings. Also, stay off of jetties and coastal rocks.

If you’re caught in a rip current, swim parallel to the shoreline. Once you stop feeling the current’s pull, swim at an angle away from the current and toward the shore. If needed, tread water and wave for help.

National Weather Service safety tips on how to move out of a rip current safely.

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Courtesy National Weather Service

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The ocean conditions this weekend are also coming after high surf and tides have already caused significant coastal erosion ahead of this winter’s El Niño.

Moisture incoming

Marie will also bring a surge of moisture to Southern California, which means beaches will likely be socked in by tropical cloud cover.

It also means there will be a chance of rain across the region.

But at most, the rain will be light, with about a 50% chance of half an inch or less. Forecasters do not expect precipitation to be heavy enough to cause mudslides or hydrate vegetation in any significant way.

However, there is still some uncertainty among forecasters when it comes to the amount of rain and strength of the storm — they could vary if the storm’s path shifts even slightly.

“ That's what we're watching very closely in the next several days,” Thompson said. “If the forecast does seem to change over the next couple of days, it's because the track of the storm would have changed.”

If the storm veers slightly closer to North America, Thompson said the amount of rain and severity of ocean conditions would increase. If it veers the other direction, they would decrease.

Los Angeles Unified has blocked student access to generative artificial intelligence tools on district-issued devices.

”This is an emerging technology,” said Pia Sadaqatmal, chief academic officer in an interview with LAist. “We will continue to be adaptive as needed, but we do know that the heart of it is really making sure that we keep teaching and learning at the center of our decision.”

Wednesday’s announcement, made at the kickoff meeting of a new AI committee, was a surprise to board members and parents in attendance.

“Just based on the facial expressions of folks in this room, many parents, some of whom work at the district, some of whom don't, I don't think it's well-publicized,” said Nick Melvoin, one of three board members on the committee, after district staff explained the restrictions. “I would encourage us to do more.”

The district’s decision bars an estimated 378,000 students from using generative AI tools on LAUSD laptops and tablets. New York City’s public school system — the only district in the country larger than LAUSD — also announced new limits on artificial intelligence Tuesday.

Parents affiliated with the advocacy group Schools Beyond Screens, which has called for a moratorium on student AI usage in the district, edited prepared comments as they stood at the podium before the committee.

“ We are asking our local institut — no, we're thanking our local institution,” said Sandra Martinez Roe.  "Thank you, LAUSD for setting an example and knowing that your obligation is to do so.”

How LAUSD changed course on AI 

Previously, district policy allowed students 13 and older to use AI tools under school supervision and after they complete a lesson about “digital citizenship.”  

The LAUSD board voted in June to enact what was then the most-widespread student screentime restrictions in the country, but did not specify limitations to student AI use.

The resolution instead created an ad hoc generative AI committee with the goal of developing policy recommendations for board approval by next year.

Committee chair Kelly Gonez said the new restrictions were a surprise, but that she substantially agreed with the decision to limit students’ access to generative AI.

“ I wouldn't expect necessarily that there would be a pause for forever,” Gonez said. “But this provides us the opportunity to really think through what does our policy look like moving forward.”

How the AI rules work in practice

There is currently no mechanism or policy to prevent students from using AI on personal devices to complete school work, though the software will continue to block access if a student signs in to their district profile on that personal device.

District leaders said the web-filtering software Lightspeed prevents students from accessing any website or app categorized as an AI tool on an LAUSD Chromebook. There is a comparable tool for tablets, said  David Cooper, senior director of information technology.

The district’s interim chief information officer, Douglas Le, said Lightspeed can also track how long students use district devices.

“This allows us to capture their screen time, the app usage to the second,” he said.

That information will be available in the future to students’ families through the Parent Portal app, teachers and the board, Le said.

How to weigh in on LAUSD’s AI policy

The LAUSD board’s generative AI committee meeting is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. on Wednesdays through April 2027.

• Oct. 21, 2026
• Dec. 9, 2026
• Jan. 20, 2027
• March 3, 2027
• April 7, 2027

Community members can tune in to the meetings online, over the phone or in person at the board room at 333 S. Beaudry Ave.

The district is also publishing information related to student screentime and other technology use, including information about a series of webinars, at lausd.org/screentime.