Julia Barajas
explores how college students achieve their goals, whether they’re fresh out of high school, pursuing graduate work or looking to join the labor force through alternative pathways.
Published October 5, 2023 5:00 AM
(
Samanta Helou Hernandez
/
LAist
)
Topline:
Southeast L.A. residents have grappled with the stench of rotting flesh for decades, on top of other environmental ills.
Why now: LAist reporter Julia Barajas recounts two bus rides — one as a student waiting for her ride to high school and the other as a reporter that got her thinking about where the terrible smells she grew up with in Southeast L.A. originated.
Why it matters: Barajas goes deep into what's happened since her student days in the early 2000s and why the odors continue to this day. She reports: "What was most startling was that all this was happening after air quality officials adopted a rule intended to prevent those very odors."
When I was still in high school, my bus stop was on the corner of Miles and Saturn avenues, in the city of Huntington Park. It was across the street from an elementary school, and a stone’s throw from city hall, the public library, and a very nice little park.
Each weekday morning, I’d stand on that corner to wait for a yellow LAUSD school bus to pick me up and take me to a magnet school in the South Bay. Every so often, a putrid odor would fill the crisp morning air. I’d hold my breath to avoid taking it in. Then, I’d stare down the street, hoping the bus would get there early and whisk me away.
In some ways, that's where the reporting for this series started — back in the early 2000s, back when I was still in high school and experiencing those bad smells that still occur today.
LAist reporter Julia Barajas stands at the corner in Huntington Park, where she waited for the school bus as a child.
(
Samanta Helou Hernandez
/
LAist
)
What a 'Toxic Tour' of Southeast L.A. has to do with this investigation
I recently hopped on another bus in Huntington Park — two decades later and now a reporter for LAist. I was with a group of high school students on a “Toxic Tour” of the area where I’d grown up.
The “Toxic Tour” is hosted by Communities for Better Environment (CBE), a nonprofit that’s advocated for clean air, soil, and water since the late 1970s. The tour takes you on a four-hour journey that highlights the impact of industrial polluters on residents’ health and quality of life. It also emphasizes how community members have fought back against environmental ills, this as a means of inspiring the next generation of activists. In September 2022, our tour was specifically designed for residents of Southeast L.A.
That day, the bus took us to:
Park Avenue Elementary School in the city of Cudahy, which was shut down after parents and teachers raised concerns about the petroleum waste that bubbled up on the playground.
As we stood outside the battery plant, I recognized a stench: the same one I used to smell while waiting for the bus. A student from South Gate High recognized it, too. She said it was something she often encountered on her campus.
Farmer John's Vernon facility, which closed earlier this year, is covered in murals depicting pastoral scenes with happy pigs.
Our tour guides told us that Southeast L.A. residents often attribute this dead animal odor to the Farmer John slaughterhouse in Vernon, which is renowned for its hauntingly picturesque pig murals. (Farmer John shut down the facility earlier this year.) On the tour, the guides pointed out that Vernon is also home to facilities that recycle animal remains from slaughterhouses, grocery stores, restaurants, and shelters. Through a process called “rendering,” those remains are turned into materials that can be used for other products.
I thought about the rendering plants on my drive home from work a few days later. While heading south on the 5 Freeway near the city of Commerce, a nauseating smell entered my car. I rushed to roll up the windows, but the stench still left me with a sharp headache.
I looked around to see where it could be coming from, wondering if anyone monitored odor emissions. When I got home, I checked.
What I learned about who was responsible for regulations
Vernon is a primarily industrial city near Downtown Los Angeles and Boyle Heights.
(
Samanta Helou Hernandez
/
LAist
)
The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) is tasked with monitoring and improving air quality in most of L.A. County. I also learned that community members can file odor complaints. Then, through CBE, I found out that AQMD was in the process of shutting down a rendering plant that the agency said had repeatedly broken the rules.
I mentioned all this to my editor, Mary Plummer, and she encouraged me to file public records requests with AQMD. Our goal was to get a better sense of the odors’ impact on local communities.
One of my first requests called for all air quality complaints from August 2022 to the present filed in Vernon, along with neighboring areas and some non-adjacent cities. I also requested all air quality complaints associated with Baker Commodities, Inc. the rendering plant that I'd heard was being shut down by regulators. In this case, we asked for records dating back to August 2019.
The first batch of public records data was illuminating. In recent years, AQMD has received hundreds of complaints about rendering plant odors. As I read through them, I noticed that some were from local schools, while others were from local businesses. One complainant said “IT SMELLS LIKE ROTTING DEAD BODIES EVERY SINGLE DAY.” Another person said that the “ODOR IS SO BAD THAT EVERYONE HAS LEFT THE OFFICE, AGAIN.”
What is a rendering plant?
A rendering plant is a facility that converts livestock and pet carcasses, as well as kitchen grease and wastewater, into industrial-use fats and oils. Once converted, these materials are used to manufacture soaps, cosmetics, and many other products.
What type of companies send dead animals and other materials to rendering plants? Typically slaughterhouses, restaurants, supermarkets, and animal shelters.
For example, many grocery stores collect meat and bone scraps from their butcher departments and send them to rendering plants.
Good to know: Not all facilities process the same type of items. According to AQMD, some rendering companies process animals from shelters, while others, like Baker Commodities, Inc., primarily render livestock and poultry.
The complainants also said the stench made it difficult for them to breathe. They said it gave them headaches and made their stomachs churn, that it made their eyes itch and throats burn. Some community members reported smelling it in the evenings, others encountered it while dropping off their kids at school. Many said it was worse on hot days, and that they had to close their windows to avoid it. Some said the stench wouldn’t let them sleep. Some said they’d been smelling it for days in a row. Others were outraged because they’d been smelling it for years.
Understanding why regulators shut down Baker Commodities, Inc.
With this in mind, I looked into what was behind the shutdown of Baker’s rendering company. After scouring dozens of court documents, I confirmed that the company has sued AQMD for $200 million in damages. Perhaps more significantly, the lawsuit also aims to bar the agency from shutting down the plant again in the future.
These are the steps I took to fully understand what’s on the line with this lawsuit:
Reached out to dozens of stakeholders, including rendering plant workers who could potentially lose their jobs.
Repeatedly called Baker’s headquarters in Vernon and their lead attorney on the case, and spent many hours researching the company.
I spoke with environmental justice activists and local officials who’d lodged complaints on behalf of their constituents.
Then, to learn more about how rendering helps the environment, I spoke with two agricultural experts.
To better understand how the odors can wreak havoc on community members’ health and quality of life, I spoke with experts in public health.
I asked a historian/geographer to delve into Vernon’s long-term relationship with its neighbors.
I also reached out to an attorney who is well-versed in environmental conflicts to help me navigate court records.
I visited every rendering plant repeatedly and noticed that one didn’t have any signage to let passersby know where to report odors, which has been required since late 2017 under AQMD's Rule 415 to minimize the odors.
And through this reporting, I realized that two of the rendering plants are within walking distance from Exide.
Why the area's history was so important
Exide’s proximity to the rendering plants matters to those with ties to the area. Over the course of my reporting, I spoke at length with community members throughout Southeast L.A., as well as Boyle Heights and unincorporated East Los Angeles. We chatted on the phone, on social media, and in person, often at parks or in front of their homes. In some cases, I left notes in their mailboxes — in English and in Spanish.
Flyers distributed by LAist reporter Julia Barajas during her reporting process.
(
Julia Barajas
/
LAist
)
Time and again, local residents said they felt their communities had been pummeled by environmental injustice. Some brought up the Delta jet that dumped fuel on a school in Cudahy in 2020. Others brought up the explosion at a scrap metal recycler in Maywood in 2016. Many underscored that Exide was allowed to operate without permits for decades. To ask community members to endure the stench of decaying carcasses while the soil in many homes is still being remediated, they said, is to add insult to injury.
These interviews included Cristina Garcia, a former state Assemblymember who grew up in Bell Gardens and taught math at Huntington Park High.
Garcia said that when she was teaching, she often had to choose between opening the windows and letting in the stench, or keeping them closed and subjecting her students to a hot room without air conditioning. She said it was hard for students to learn in those conditions. And it was hard for her to teach.
Communities like ours “have been treated like dumping grounds,” Garcia said. She’s certain that the ongoing stench of rotting flesh would not be tolerated in more affluent parts of town, so “why is this how we have to live?”
That question has stayed with me.
Credits
This story is part of a series that was reported over the course of many months and required extensive interviews in the community and a dozen public records requests. Julia Barajas is the lead reporter and Mary Plummer is the main story editor.
The Jane and Ron Olson Center for Investigative Reporting helped make this project possible. Ron Olson is an honorary trustee of Southern California Public Radio. The Olsons do not have any editorial input on the stories we cover.
Libby Rainey
has been tracking how L.A. is prepping for the 2028 Olympic Games.
Published February 3, 2026 4:00 AM
(
Kirby Lee
/
Getty Images
)
Topline:
The 2028 Olympic soccer final matches will take place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, but earlier games will be played at stadiums across the U.S.
The locations: Stadiums in San Diego and San Jose in California will host Olympic soccer matches. So will New York City, Columbus, Nashville and St. Louis.
What to expect: The venues outside of the L.A.-area will host group stage and knock-out matches in the Olympic tournament ahead of the final stage matches in Pasadena.
Read on...for a list of the stadiums.
The 2028 Olympic soccer final matches will take place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, but earlier games will be played at stadiums across the U.S.
Those locations were announced Tuesday by the Olympics organizers. Stadiums in San Diego and San Jose in California will host Olympic soccer matches. So will New York City, Columbus, Nashville and St. Louis.
The venues outside of the L.A.-area will host group stage and knock-out matches in the Olympic tournament ahead of the final stage matches in Pasadena. The Games will allow fans from around the country to view Olympic competitions.
The additional stadiums where Olympic soccer matches will take place are:
Etihad Park in New York City
ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus, Ohio
GEODIS Park in Nashville, Tennessee
Energizer Park in St. Louis, Missouri
PayPal Park in San Jose
Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego
LA28 said in a news release that organizers "intentionally designed the tournament to include stadiums from the East Coast to West Coast to minimize travel demands."
Dates and locations for the women's and men's tournaments will be announced before ticket sales start in April.
Erin Stone
is a reporter who covers climate and environmental issues in Southern California.
Published February 2, 2026 3:57 PM
Water companies that serve Altadena lost thousands of customers in the Eaton Fire.
(
Mario Tama
/
Getty Images
)
Topline:
Water companies that serve much of Altadena are expected to hold public meetings this week to discuss how they’ll rebuild and stay in business after the Eaton Fire reduced many of their customers’ homes to ash. Two out of the three mutual water companies in the area are holding public meetings this week to discuss raising rates.
The background: Last year’s fires not only destroyed homes and businesses, but also critical infrastructure, such as water delivery systems. Rebuilding that infrastructure is particularly challenging in unincorporated areas such as Altadena, which is primarily served by three tiny, private water companies — Las Flores (more on their situation here), Rubio Cañon and Lincoln Avenue water companies. Unlike public utilities, these private, not-for-profit companies have less access to state and federal funding resources to rebuild, so customers are likely going to have to foot much of the bill. Customers of these companies are actually co-owners, called shareholders. Each is governed by its own set of bylaws.
Complications: All of Altadena’s water agencies have sued Southern California Edison, accusing it of responsibility for the Eaton Fire, but the result and timeline of such lawsuits remain uncertain. In turn, Edison has sued the water companies (among others), claiming they didn’t provide enough water for firefighters during the fire.
Rubio Cañon Land and Water Association: Rubio Cañon Land and Water Association served about 9,600 people in Altadena but, after the Eaton Fire, about 30% of that customer base is now made up of empty lots. While insurance is covering much of the most critical infrastructure repairs, the company faces a $1.95 million revenue shortfall.
Its proposal: To close the budget gap, the company is proposing an 11% rate hike, plus a “fire recovery charge” between $10 and $30 a month.
What about merging with other water companies? While Lincoln and Las Flores water companies have submitted paperwork to the state to study consolidation, Rubio Cañon has rejected being part of the effort. “Such consolidation could trigger a 7-12 year state process and significant shareholder costs, as Altadena is not classified as a disadvantaged community to qualify for the full menu of state resources,” the company wrote in its update ahead of this week’s meeting, calling such consolidation discussions “premature” and “unproductive.”
Upcoming board meeting: The board will hear from the public about the proposal at a meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Altadena Community Center. Attendees will have to prove they're a customer. More details here.
Lincoln Avenue Water Company: Lincoln Avenue served more than 16,000 people in Altadena before the Eaton Fire. Now, about 58% of its customers and revenue are gone. Although the company says it has sufficient reserves and is not facing bankruptcy in the near term, it has decided to raise water bills by $15 a month for existing customers. To improve its long term resilience, the company is also considering merging with Las Flores water company, but that will take time.
Upcoming board meetings: The board will discuss the rate hike at a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Loma Alta Park Community Room. The meeting is open to shareholders only.
Keep up with LAist.
If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
Destiny Torres
is LAist's general assignment and digital equity reporter.
Published February 2, 2026 3:24 PM
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan begin Friday, and eight athletes have roots in Southern California.
(
Luca Bruno
/
AP
)
Topline:
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan begin Friday and eight athletes have roots in Southern California, including Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Read on … for a full rundown on the SoCal’s Olympic athletes.
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan begin Friday and eight athletes have roots in Southern California, including Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Team USA’s 232-member roster includes 21 athletes from California. The Winter Games begin Feb. 6 and end on Feb. 22.
What about the 2026 Paralympics? The Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics will start on March 6 and run through March 15. Not all qualifying athletes have been announced yet.
You can watch the games starting Friday on NBC and streaming on Peacock.
Jordan Rynning
holds local government accountable, covering city halls, law enforcement and other powerful institutions.
Published February 2, 2026 3:21 PM
The LAPD deployed munitions and mounted units.
(
Spencer Platt
/
Getty Images
)
Topline:
A federal judge banned LAPD from using 40mm projectiles at protests last month, but researcher Scott Reynhout of the nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights says the department still utilizes other crowd control weapons that can be just as dangerous — if not more so.
Why it matters: Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have used thousands of crowd control weapons against protesters in L.A. since June 2025, when federal immigration raids began escalating tensions in the region. Many people who were never accused of breaking the law have still been struck by what are known as “less-lethal” crowd-control weapons, including rubber bullets, tear gas and flash bang grenades.
The most dangerous crowd control weapons: The LAPD uses a 37mm launcher that is inherently risky, Reynhout said. Even though the 37mm rubber bullets are smaller than the 40mm projectiles the LAPD was banned from using at protests, they are more likely to hit sensitive areas like the face and neck because they fire multiple projectiles in each shell.
Read on... for more on the crowd control weapons used by local law enforcement agencies.
Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have reported using thousands of crowd control munitions against protesters in L.A. since June 2025, when federal immigration sweeps began escalating tensions in the region.
Many people who were never accused of breaking the law nonetheless have been struck by what are known as “less-lethal” crowd control weapons, including rubber bullets, tear gas and flash bang grenades.
While a federal judge banned the LAPD from using 40mm projectiles at protests last month, the department still uses other crowd control weapons. According to Scott Reynhout, who researches these weapons for Physicians for Human Rights, a nonpartisan nonprofit, some of these weapons can be just as dangerous as the banned projectiles — if not more so.
LAist spoke with Reynhout to better understand what they do and how people protesting lawfully can protect themselves.
Reynhout said it's very important that people pay attention if law enforcement declares an unlawful assembly, which they are required to do before using crowd control weapons in most cases.
“ If the police have declared an illegal assembly, it would behoove you to take steps to isolate yourself from that particular situation,” Reynhout said. “If that is not possible for you, for whatever reason — say, you live in the particular area where you are — then you could consider [protecting] yourself from chemical irritants or potentially from impact projectiles.”
Some of the most dangerous crowd control weapons used in L.A.
Physicians for Human Rights’ international study, Lethal in Disguise, found weapons that fire multiple projectiles at once were “far and away the most dangerous” type of crowd control weapons.
"82% of all the recorded injuries in the medical literature that came from impact projectiles were from ... multiple projectile impact projectiles,” Reynhout told LAist. “And 96% of all the ocular injuries from impact projectiles were from these multiple projectile impact projectiles."
He said the LAPD is the only police department in the U.S. he is aware of that uses this type of weapon. The department uses a 37mm less-lethal launcher (LLM) that shoots five rubber bullets with each shell.
According to reports required by Assembly Bill 48, the department used more than 600 of these shells — that’s over 3,000 projectiles — against anti-ICE protesters last June. They have continued to report using the 37mm launcher, most recently to disperse crowds after the Dodgers World Series win on Nov. 2, according to AB 48 reports.
The 37mm launcher is inherently risky, Reynhout said. Even though the 37mm rubber bullets are smaller than the 40mm projectiles the LAPD was banned from using at protests, they are more likely to hit sensitive areas like the face and neck.
The use of multiple projectiles causes the 37mm projectiles to scatter in a cone shape once they leave the launcher, making them much more difficult to control than a single projectile. He said LAPD’s policy of “skip firing,” which means officers are instructed to aim 5 to 10 feet in front of the person they are shooting at, also adds randomness.
A diagram showing LAPD's policy of "skip firing" the 37mm less-lethal launcher at targets.
(
LAPD Use of Force Directive
)
“ The real risk behind these multi-shot impact projectiles,” he said, “is that you just really don't have any control over where these bullets go in the end.”
Reynhout said people standing beside or behind the intended target could very easily get hit, which he believes was likely the case when Australian reporter Lauren Tomasi was struck in the leg by a rubber bullet in June.
[Note: LAist correspondent Adolfo Guzman-Lopez was struck in the throat by a projectile at a 2020 protest. Long Beach police later said they believed that injury was caused by a ricochet of a foam round.]
LAist reached out to LAPD for comment on their use of the 37mm launcher, but the department did not respond.
Another type of crowd control weapon found to be especially dangerous is the use of beanbag rounds, usually fired from a 12-gauge shotgun. These rounds fire small lead pellets sealed in a fabric bag.
Reynhout said the use of these rounds can be “horrific” and leave people with life-threatening injuries.
According to LAPD policy, beanbag rounds are not allowed to be used for crowd control, but other agencies have used them. The California Highway Patrol reported using beanbag rounds against anti-ICE protesters last June.
If you find yourself in a situation where projectiles are being deployed, Reynhout advises focusing on protecting your face and eyes. That’s where the most serious injuries occur.
Reynhout said ballistic eyewear that meets military standards (MIL-PRF-32432) could offer protection against some of the most severe injuries.
He said the 40mm or 37mm projectiles can be similar to getting hit by a golf ball by someone swinging just 6 feet away, and while things like bike helmets, paintball masks, hockey masks or even soft body armor might help to some degree, they aren’t designed to protect someone from that kind of impact.
What you may most likely be affected by: Chemical agents
Chemical agents like tear gas and pepper spray are crowd control weapons that saturate an area and affect everyone in it, Reynhout told LAist, and that includes people who may not even be part of a demonstration.
He said you should be especially aware of these weapons being used near you if you have asthma or any airway or respiratory system issues because they can provoke severe reactions in some cases.
In their report, Reynhout and other researchers found that children and older people are also at risk of severe reactions, which could be life-threatening.
There is gear on the market to mitigate those risks, including sealed safety goggles and respirators (N-, P- or R-100). If you find yourself exposed to a chemical irritant like tear gas or pepper spray, Reynhout said there is nothing shown to be more effective than flushing the area for 10 to 15 minutes with saline solution.
The saline solution should ideally be sterile and at body temperature, he told LAist, but plain water also works if that is what you have available. The important thing is that you continue to flush the area and dilute the chemicals.
For skin or clothing, Reynhout said dilution with water is still the key, but you can use some Dawn dish soap to help wash away pepper spray.
Other dangers
California law enforcement officers have also used flash bang grenades in response to protests since June. The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol together used more than 300 aerial flash bang grenades on June 8, according to AB 48 reports. Those are crowd control munitions shot out of 40mm launchers that explode mid-air and create 170 dB of sound and 5 million candelas of light.
LAist asked the LAPD about their policy on using flash bang grenades for crowd control, but the department did not respond. The LAPD has not listed any uses of flash bang grenades in their AB 48 reports dating back to April 2024.
Aside from these, there are a number of other crowd control weapons and devices that are used by law enforcement agencies in the L.A. area: grenades that explode to release small rubber balls, pepper balls, batons or — unique to the LAPD — officers on horseback using wooden practice swords called “bokken.”
How to reach me
If you have a tip, you can reach me on Signal. My username is jrynning.56.
You can follow this link to reach me there or type my username in the search bar after starting a new chat.
And if you're comfortable just reaching out by email I'm at jrynning@scpr.org
Reynhout said deciding how much protection you might choose to take with you to a protest is very personal. Some bulkier items might restrict your movement, cause you to overheat or impede your ability to maintain situational awareness, so it is important to consider what risks you may face and use your best judgement.
Sometimes, he said, that best judgment might be to walk away from the situation.
