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The heat wave continues through the week, though the marine layer is keeping coastal areas cooler.
Quick facts:
The heat wave continues through the week, though the marine layer is keeping coastal areas cooler.
Coastal highs from L.A. to Orange County will stay in the mid-70s this afternoon. Long Beach will see a high of 80.
Meanwhile, it will be in the mid to upper 80s in the L.A. basin. The San Gabriel Valley will be in the lower 90s and the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys will see temperatures in the upper 90s, with the hottest parts getting up to around 102.
Antelope Valley highs will top out at 106, and it'll be about 10 degrees hotter than that in the Low Desert.
Here are the places under an excessive heat warning until Saturday at 8 p.m.:
An Air Quality Alert initially set to expire Tuesday at 8 p.m. has been extended through Saturday. The South Coast Air Quality Management District says as high temperatures persist, air quality will reach "Unhealthy" levels throughout the inland areas of L.A., Orange and Riverside counties.
In the Lake Arrowhead area and localized areas of San Bernardino, the agency says air quality will reach "Very Unhealthy" levels.
Poor air quality can cause respiratory problems for children, older adults and people wii pre-existing lung problems.
OZONE ADVISORY (Tuesday, July 18th - Saturday, July 22nd): elevated smog levels expected as high temperatures are predicted to persist through the week: https://t.co/Y158OoQ1rv pic.twitter.com/bIz6um0Keb
— South Coast AQMD (@SouthCoastAQMD) July 18, 2023
On July 18, in 2005, it was 94 degrees in Big Bear Lake, the highest recorded temperature for the San Bernardino County mountain community.
Check out our full list of things to do this week.
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The Lynwood Library has reopened after its first major renovation in almost 50 years. New skylights brighten the space and there are dedicated areas for teens, kids, studying and community meetings.
Why it matters: The renovation was the first major construction project since the library was built in 1977. “ It does give you a feeling that our community matters,” said Danielle Trujillo, who grew up nearby and visited the library often.
Why now: Supervisor Janice Hahn said she advocated for part of L.A. County’s federal COVID-19 pandemic relief dollars to fund five library renovations in District 4, including the Lynwood Library.
The Lynwood Library has reopened after its first major renovation in almost 50 years. New skylights brighten the space and there are dedicated areas for teens, kids, studying and community meetings.
“It does give you a feeling that our community matters,” said Danielle Trujillo, who grew up nearby and visited the library often. “That we deserve new books, that we deserve new furniture, that we deserve to be in a space that's welcoming, spacious, and inviting.”
The $8 million project began in 2024 and closed the library for about two years. The branch reopened Aug. 20 and celebrated with a ribbon-cutting Thursday.
“ I'm so happy to have this open, and a place for our community to gather, to connect,” said Lynwood Mayor Gabriela Camacho, who also brought her twins to the library.
Gabrielle Fata and her 3-year-old son Zennett can walk to the library from their home.
“ I just try to get him interested in loving books at a young age, so I just like him being around all the books and all the letters and everything,” Fata said.
Supervisor Janice Hahn said she advocated for part of L.A. County’s federal COVID-19 pandemic relief dollars to fund five library renovations in District 4, including the Lynwood Library. The southeast L.A. County city is home to about 64,000 people.
“I still believe that libraries are a real treasure for communities and schools,” Hahn said. “I know a lot of young people get their information online and are on the internet, but I really believe libraries are still an important part of the fabric of a community.”
The renovations were originally planned to be completed by November 2025. Hahn said she wasn’t sure what caused the delay.
“Wish it could've been open earlier, but [there] are always construction issues and problems that I think we face with almost everything we try to do in the county of Los Angeles,” Hahn said.
LA County Library Director Skye Patrick said when the Lynwood Library was first built in 1977, the idea was to keep the space dark to preserve the books inside.
“The library is … no longer just about the books. It's about the people.” Patrick said. “We want the space to be welcoming, we want it to be open, we want it to have a lot of airflow through it.”
Jennifer Estrada is an eighth grader at Hosler Middle School, less than a mile away from the library, and has started visiting twice a week to study and hang out with friends since it reopened.
“ I feel like it's very open. You could be you in here,” Estrada said.
Trujillo, who is now the adult teen librarian here, said she’s excited to see the next generation embrace the library.
“ I try not to show it as much 'cause I don't wanna scare them away,” Trujillo said. “But I'm really excited that the teens are coming into the space and that they're happy with it.”
Trujillo said in addition to the teen space, the Spanish language and manga collections are also popular.
She said the library also welcomes feedback.
“If anyone ever wants to come talk to us and share some ideas that they have for the library, we're completely open to that,” Trujillo said.
Address: 11320 Bullis Road, Lynwood
Hours:
Learn more: Website
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Friday is California Wildlife Day in remembrance of Jackie, one of Big Bear’s famous bald eagles who died last month.
Why now: State Sen. Tony Strickland, whose 36th district includes parts of L.A. and Orange counties, introduced the idea with a resolution that passed last week with unanimous, bipartisan support.
Why it matters: Strickland told LAist he felt it was fitting to make Jackie an official part of California history. He added that the fan community’s response to the resolution has been even bigger than expected, which he said shows how many people deeply care about Jackie’s story. “At a time when there's plenty of issues that divide us, Jackie represents something that almost everyone can appreciate — the beauty of wildlife,” he said. “The bald eagle represents freedom, strength, resilience and the American spirit, and that's exactly what Jackie was.”
The backstory: Jackie died on Aug. 10 after being rescued in Big Bear and getting weeks of intensive care for severe anemia at the Ojai Raptor Center. Jackie took the internet by storm by starring in a popular YouTube livestream that has been run by Friends of Big Bear Valley, an environmental and educational nonprofit, for more than a decade.
What's next: The resolution calls on Californians to celebrate Jackie’s memory and the importance of protecting the state’s wildlife for generations to come.
Remembering Jackie: Friends of Big Bear Valley and multiple other organizations in the area are planning an event to honor Jackie on Oct. 3. The location and exact details have not yet been announced.
Go deeper: Jackie’s death shocks the world. How humans in her SoCal home remember the eagle
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass painted herself as a proven fighter for environmental justice issues. Her challenger, L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman, said progress on environmental goals has stalled in City Hall.
Key topics: The candidates each had about 45 minutes to individually answer questions from Erin Stone, an LAist senior reporter focused on climate and environment.
Here are some of the topics they covered:
LAist will have more coverage and analysis of the conversations Friday morning.
Topline:
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass described herself as a proven fighter for environmental justice issues. Her challenger, L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman, said progress on environmental goals has stalled in City Hall.
Key topics: The candidates each had about 45 minutes to individually answer questions from Erin Stone, an LAist senior reporter focused on climate and environment.
Here are some of the topics they covered:
About the organizers: The event is organized by a coalition of local environmental and environmental justice groups including: Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters, SCOPE-LA, Sierra Club, Clean and Healthy California, Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance and Communities for a Better Environment
LAist will have more coverage and analysis of the conversations Friday morning.
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The Trump administration is taking steps to advance a mysterious and unprecedented project to compile state-by-state lists of people it has decided are eligible citizens over the age of 18 who can vote in the upcoming midterm election.
About the timing: Trump officials will no longer meet its own deadline to publish that information on a portal on Friday, which is 60 days before Election Day.
Where things stand: Department of Justice attorneys told opposing counsel in two separate lawsuits that instead of meeting the Sept. 4 deadline, they would give 48-hours notice to plaintiffs' counsel before the state citizenship portal was launched, according to recent court filings.
Why this matters: The U.S. has never attempted to create a comprehensive list of American citizens before this administration. Maintaining voter lists is the responsibility of states, not the federal government, as the Constitution dictates that states control elections. But President Trump has repeatedly taken steps to try to exert executive control over elections.
The Trump administration is taking steps to advance a mysterious and unprecedented project to compile state-by-state lists of people it has decided are eligible citizens over the age of 18 who can vote in the upcoming midterm election. But it will no longer meet its own deadline to publish that information on a portal on Friday, which is 60 days before Election Day.
Department of Justice attorneys told opposing counsel in two separate lawsuits that instead of meeting the Sept. 4 deadline, they would give 48-hours notice to plaintiffs' counsel before the state citizenship portal was launched, according to recent court filings.
The U.S. has never attempted to create a comprehensive list of American citizens before this administration. Maintaining voter lists is the responsibility of states, not the federal government, as the Constitution dictates that states control elections. But President Trump has repeatedly taken steps to try to exert executive control over elections.
The basis for the federal government creating state citizenship lists is an executive order Trump signed on March 31. A lower court had blocked implementation of key parts of that executive order in 23 states and Washington, D.C., but the Supreme Court stayed that injunction late last month, opening the door for the plan to be implemented after all.
The March 31 executive order directs U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Social Security Administration to create "State Citizenship Lists" of individuals the agencies believe are citizens in each state, and send those lists to state officials "no fewer than 60 days before each regularly scheduled Federal election."
The next section of the executive order says the U.S. attorney general will prioritize investigating and prosecuting state and local officials who issue federal ballots to anyone not eligible to vote.
"States here have a strong incentive to actually use these lists to try to avoid federal investigation," said Jules Torti, counsel at the nonprofit Protect Democracy, in an interview with NPR. "But we know that these lists are going to be based on really inaccurate data. So the risk of disenfranchisement here is really, really palpable."
The privacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center, along with individual voters, filed a motion Thursday asking a federal judge in Maryland to block the administration from creating the citizenship lists and publishing them on a portal. Specifically, they seek to block a June 8 implementation memo authored by USCIS director Joseph Edlow that outlines the plan.
The motion, which was brought by Protect Democracy, along with another nonprofit legal group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, argues the administration's plans to share Americans' personal data between agencies and then disseminate the data to states violates multiple federal laws, including the Privacy Act, the Social Security Act and the Administrative Procedures Act. Under the Privacy Act, federal agencies must give the public 30 days notice and the opportunity to comment before they collect and disseminate Americans' personal data for a new purpose.
The EPIC lawsuit also argues the government does not have access to accurate, up-to-date information on American citizens, especially those who move frequently, have changed their names, or are foreign-born. For example, Social Security's citizenship data often isn't updated when people naturalize, and the SAVE data system, operated by USCIS, frequently doesn't include records for people who became citizens as minors when their parents naturalized.
Torti said it is "deeply concerning" that the administration is still planning to go ahead with the creation of citizenship lists but is no longer going to meet the deadline, since that means the lists will be completed even closer to Election Day.
"It means additional chaos, additional confusion for the state election officials and just for voters," Torti said. "And I think that's the point. The point here is to create chaos in advance of the election."
Neither the Department of Justice, nor the Department of Homeland Security, which is tasked with compiling the citizenship lists, responded to NPR's request for comment.
The June 8 implementation memo stated that the portal for state election officials would be available around June 30 and a second portal where citizens could check their information would be available at a later date – but that deadline passed without further updates.
The federal government has secured a domain for the state citizenship lists portal. While the portal is not currently online, it was briefly live in recent days with a landing page that said "Coming Soon," according to court filings.
Lawyers representing Democratic party groups that had challenged the March 31 executive order in a separate lawsuit filed in April, accused the administration in a recent filing of failing to notify the court or the parties about its plans to move forward with the state citizenship portal. They asked the judge to require the federal government to give immediate updates about their plans to implement the executive order.
This latest legal battle over the administration's plans to compile state citizenship lists comes as the Department of Homeland Security is ramping up its efforts to analyze state voter rolls with the goal of identifying potential noncitizens who are registered to vote. Previous audits have found instances of noncitizens casting ballots to be incredibly rare.
Additionally, last week, ICE published a request for information on a federal procurement site seeking vendors who can compile public voter rolls and voter history files from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories, "to support Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) fraud detection and data segmentation activities."
NPR's Hansi Lo Wang contributed reporting to this story.
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