Topline:
Do you have a question about the wildfires? The LAist newsroom does its best to get your questions answered: We've compiled an evolving list of FAQs to do just that, and we will continue to add to it. So, if you have a question that you don't see answered, email us.
What we're answering so far: Is looting really a problem? When should I seek mental health care? How can I help? And ... what about all the animals?
What's next: If you don't see your question answered, let us know.
Do you have a question about the wildfires? The LAist newsroom does its best to get your questions answered: We've compiled an evolving list of FAQs to do just that, and we will continue to add to it.
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This is one of the most frequently-asked questions. And the answer is, yes, there are many steps you can take to help protect your property ahead of an evacuation.
However, there are several big warnings to start with. First: Safety, not property, needs to be your top priority in the face of danger. If fire authorities tell you to evacuate, grab people and pets and don't look back. If you do have a window of opportunity, experts say you should next prioritize having your vehicle/s packed and ready to go. Only then, and only if a comfortable time cushion remains, should you worry about protecting property:
Here are some of the tips, click through to the story for the rest:
Read more: Your LAist cheat sheet: A short guide to giving your home a fighting chance if you need to evacuate
Fire science studies tell us that at every big wildfire, about 10% of residents stay behind. An additional 25% are in the "wait and see" category: They linger after the call, and when they finally evacuate ahead of the oncoming flames, it's far riskier than if they had left early. Don't risk it. As fires ravage Southern California, L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone reported a "high number of significant injuries" to residents who didn't evacuate in advance of the fast-moving Palisades Fire.
Even if you are willing to risk yourself, think about others. Staying behind also puts first reponders at risk: Protecting people's lives will always be a top priority for firefighters, so the presence of stay-behind residents requires fire crews to shift their tactics to protect those people, rather than keeping fire from taking homes and other property.
Read more: This is why fire officials don't want you to stay and defend your home|Fire authorities are begging you to follow evacuation orders
This is a bewildering and frightening period for the thousands who have lost their homes and have been
evacuated. The California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has issued "a mandatory one-year moratorium on insurance non-renewals and cancellations" for ZIP codes in areas directly affected by the fires, a process that has also helped victims in earlier fires. (Search your ZIP code and fire name here ▶). Renters and business insurance policies may include coverage for disaster relief and evacuation-related expenses, so the above recommendations still apply.
So what to do first? If your property was damaged or if you needed to evacuate, the state wants to hear from you to answer questions and walk you through the process, even if you do not believe you are insured.
A few other things to know: Evacuation-related expenses could fall under your policy. Document everything, and keep receipts. Another takeaway for all of us: Document and take pictures of your property beforehand to help with such documentation. Simple walk-throughs with the video camera on your phone are a great place to start.
Read more: Your LAist Cheat Sheet: These are the steps fire victims need to take to make an insurance claim
LAist reporters spoke with housing rights experts to produce a guide for tenants and landlords about the legal protections, responsibilities and next steps involved in recovering from the fires. And we help you answer questions such as:
Read more: The LA fires raise many questions for renters. LAist has answers|Asking rents skyrocket as LA fires destroy homes
There have been many rumors and false reports floating around out there about what may be behind the fires. But that's a question that can't be answered easily at this time. But answers will be coming as authorities begin to sift through it all. Here's an explainer of why this will be a painstaking and time-consuming process.
In case of the Eaton Fire, there are already questions about whether power lines played a role. Lawyers have already asked Southern California Edison to preserve evidence related to the fire, according to a filing with the California Public Utilities Commission. SoCal Edison has already done its own preliminary investigation and says it did not cause the fire. The company says it de-energized its power lines in the area "well before the reported start time of the fire," according to a press release. Stay tuned.
Read more: What caused the LA fires? We explain what's known so far and how fire causes are determined|Eaton Fire is now among deadliest in state history, with more wind on its way
An executive order issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom makes it easier for people whose homes burned down to rebuild as quickly as possible in exactly the same places. Many applauded the move. Others question whether it encourages development in high fire-risk areas. At LAist, we'v been asking this question for years: Why do we keep building houses in places that burn down? (It's a question we ask in particular because our reporting shows that yes, wildfires are getting worse.)
In the wake of the recent fires, Char Miller, a professor of environmental history at Pomona College, told LAist’s AirTalk: “... if we're really going to build back into neighborhoods that have burned, and burned multiple times, then I think we should ask a different policy question, which is why are we doing this?”
Read more: Gov. Newsom's rebuilding order aims to help Angelenos. But is it a good idea?|Why do we keep building houses in places that burn down?|Yes, wildfires are getting worse. The history that got us to this moment
"Red flag warning." They're some of the most dreaded words in fire-prone California. By now, many locals understand the term to basically mean, "Watch out for fires. It's about to get real." But who decides to issue a red flag warning? What goes into that decision? And what should you do in response? Here's everything you need to know:
Read more: What does a 'red flag warning' mean?
It's a term we hear again and again in fire coverage. And while you might think it means a fire is "contained," or "under control," it does not. Basically, containment is the work fire crews do to remove potential fuel around a fire's perimeter. Here's how Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. A.J. Lester explained it to LAist: "We're essentially heeling in on that fire and chasing it down... going around it, and trying to make sure that it won't jump back the other way," he said. "[Crews are] going to slowly go all the way around and in a big circle — depending on the perimeter of the fire — and they're going to do containment all the way around until there's 100%."
Read more: What does 'containment' of a fire mean, exactly?
A PDS warning was issued amid the historical wind storms that drove the Palisades and Eaton fires. But even avid weather watchers were among those wondering: What is a 'PDS' fire warning, exactly? It stands for a "particularly dangerous situation" alert issued by the National Weather Service. And if it's used, pay attention.
Think of it as the Olympic gold of fire weather warnings, says National Weather Service meteorologist Ryan Kittell.
Read more: Explain the 'PDS' fire warning to me, please
Nearly two dozen school districts have experienced full or partial closures since the Palisades and Eaton fires broke out, interrupting classes for roughly 700,000 students around Los Angeles. Some schools burned down. Many colleges were also impacted. Gov. Gavin Newsom has directed state agencies to work with impacted schools to develop a plan to serve students as they rebuild.
For now, though, this is a district-by-district challenge: Newsom has directed state agencies to work with impacted schools to develop a plan to serve their students as they rebuild. To that end, here is a look at how LAUSD hustled to get many schools ready to welcome kids back.
Read more: How to talk to children about wildfires, evacuations and losing a home|Gov. Newsom offers schools, students flexibility in wake of LA fires|Where can college students and employees get fire aid?|How LAUSD prepared schools to be safe and clean amid wildfires|UCLA goes remote
For many fire victims, it has been a one-two punch. After losing their homes in the past week’s historic Los Angeles fires, many are suddenly confronting another crisis: the region’s long-standing shortage of affordable rental housing.
“We're seeing astronomical rent increases,” said Chelsea Kirk, a policy and advocacy director with L.A.-based tenant rights nonprofit Strategic Actions for a Just Economy. Housing policy experts say L.A.’s rental market — which already had a severe shortage of affordable housing, particularly among units large enough for families with children — will likely be supercharged by the sudden influx of thousands immediately needing new housing.
But all those projections have yet to play out. Real estate experts tell LAist that surrounding counties are likely to absorb some of the displaced people, but with a few exceptions, they aren't seeing a big effect just yet in places like Orange County.
There is one big exception, however: high-end rentals. The number of homes leased in January for at least $20,000 a month shot up 238% in O.C. and 233% in L.A., according to Steven Thomas, chief economist with Reports on Housing, which analyzes real estate trends in Southern California.
Read more: LA fire victims are suddenly thrust into an unforgiving rental housing market|Asking rents skyrocket as LA fires destroy homes
People are desperate in the wake of the fires. And some people take advantage of that. LAist reported on one listing for a four-bedroom home in Bel Air that went up Saturday morning for $29,500 per month — a nearly 86% increase from the property’s advertised rent in September 2024.
If you see examples of price gouging, take screen shots immediately to document it and report it.
Read more: LA fire victims are suddenly thrust into an unforgiving rental housing market|Asking rents skyrocket as LA fires destroy homes
Probably. Even after the immediate scramble for new housing subsides, costs in Southern California could remain elevated for an extended period, housing economists say. A recent survey of Hawaiians impacted by the 2023 Maui fires found that one year after the disaster there, families were paying 43% more on average to rent housing of a similar size or smaller.
Trey Gordner, a data scientist with the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, said Angelenos affected by the fires should anticipate a long road to recovery. “It's going to be a bigger challenge for a longer time than I think many people are prepared for,” said Gordner, a co-author of the Hawaii study.
Read more: LA fire victims are suddenly thrust into an unforgiving rental housing market|Asking rents skyrocket as LA fires destroy homes
The ongoing wildfires that erupted across Los Angeles County last week have many residents worried about what they're breathing and how to keep their families safe. It's one of the most commonly-asked questions we're getting here at LAist. So we asked the experts. They cautioned that health risks from ash, smoke and toxic materials that linger in the air can persist for months or years — especially in or near burn areas.
So what can you do? Here are 7 expert tips from the experts for minimizing your health risks during and after L.A.’s wildfires, including: Don't rush the turn to normal, and stay away from ash.
Plus: A guide to cleaning up the ash in and around your home
Read more: Concerned about LA air quality? Here are 7 expert tips|Does a ‘good’ Air Quality Index rating mean it’s safe to be outdoors?|What parents should know about wildfire air quality, ash, and protecting kids
You can expect to hear lots in the weeks ahead about what could have been done, or should have been done ... but our reporting to date and the experts we have spoken to suggest that, based on everything we know so far, that the fires were unstoppable, fanned by severe winds and exacerbated by near-zero rainfall throughout Southern California. Stay tuned for more details as we learn more about the causes and origins. And there will be several investigations and reports into what went wrong and what could have been done differently.
Read more: Fact check: Could brush clearance have prevented the Palisades Fire?|Yes, wildfires are getting worse. The history that got us to this moment
Law enforcement officials have vowed to crack down on any signs of looting. Hundreds of officers, many in plain clothes, have been dispatched to fire zones to watch for any signs of trouble. So far, a few dozen people have been arrested. And L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman is pursuing charges against at least nine people: “Let me be clear: If you exploit this tragedy to prey on victims of these deadly fires, we will find you and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. Curfews are in place in place from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in fire areas until further notice in what authorities say is an effort to guard against potential looting.
Read more: DA: 9 people charged in connection with looting during fires in LA County | Curfew orders put in place for Palisades and Eaton fire zones as authorities warn of looters and scammers
This is one of the most surprising headlines to come out of the tragedy so far. Firefighters in the Pacific Palisades fire reporting running out of water. And you haven't heard the last of it. This much we know: The final tank used to maintain critical water pressure in the hilly area ran dry by 3 a.m. on Wednesday. LA authorities say that low water pressure caused the shortage, not an actual lack of water. But that distinction doesn't matter to critics, and more details will be coming. The news triggered Governor Gavin Newsom to announce an investigation into the issue, saying that the lack of functioning hydrants "likely impaired the effort to protect some homes and evacuation corridors."
Read more: Fact check: What really happened with the Pacific Palisades water hydrants?|As fires ravage the LA region, so too are conspiracy theories and misinformation
Please don't be suckered in by the misinformation and the conspiracy theories. And please, please, please don't share something unline unless you know it comes from a reliable source. (Like LAist, or any of the many official channels such as CalFire.) There's so much bad info flying around. Like, that the state's stringent environmental policies are to blame. (Not true.) Or that the L.A. County Fire Department is accepting online donations. Not true, at least not at this time. So don't fall for a scam. (L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said staff are working on a process to accept donations in the future. Stay tuned.)
And then there is the one about the Hollywood sign burning down. Nope. The image of the Hollywood sign on fire was AI generated. One easy way to debunk this one was, just use Google Reverse Image Search.
Read more: As fires ravage the LA region, so too are conspiracy theories and misinformation
We have gotten so many emails from people wondering if a home at a particular address burned down, of if we know anything about what is still standing in a particular neighborhood. The answer is, unfortunately, we're still figuring that out. The priority right now is getting the fires under control, and many areas remain off limits.
We do have this, however: People impacted by the Palisades and Eaton fires can now search damage assessment maps for their home or other address. Authorities stress that these maps are preliminary and will be updated daily as more areas are inspected, according to L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.
Read more: How to check if your home was damaged or lost in the Eaton and Palisades fires
Only this much is certain: The numbers are evolving. Here's why the true number has been so hard to pin down: We are dealing with multiple governmental and law enforcement agencies as they are all trying to respond to an unfolding disaster. At least 27 deaths have been confirmed by the L.A. County Medical Examiner so far. Officials have warned that we don't yet have absolute clarity on the total toll, as dozens are still reported missing.
Read more: What we know, and don't know, about the rising number of wildfires fatalities
Here is an evolving list of resources for fire victims and evacuees that includes the latest information we have about shelters, available and discouted hotels, childcare and more. We are adding to it as we find out about additional supplies. If you know of a resource that can be added to this list, email us and once we vet it we may include it.
Read more: Fire recovery: Victims and evacuees can get started with these resources|LA restaurants offering free meals for evacuees and first responders|Where can college students and employees get fire aid?
This is a question we get again and again, but the answer is not so simple. The instinct is to head down to an evacuation center or a house of worship with cans of food or blankets or toiletry kits — or show up and offer to volunteer. But that food and clothing has to be managed and stored. And volunteers often need some level of training and clearance. Thing is, there might not be time for that. The experts we talked to suggest that you reach out to a place that aligns with your interests and beliefs and ask them what they need — don't make assumptions. And have patience with places and staffers who are also stressed and might be feeling overwhelmed. Nearly all the experts we talked to said financial donations are often what is needed most, so if you can, consider making a donation to vetted organizations like the Red Cross.
Read more: Experts tell us the best way to help LA's fire victims right now
Answer: Now and always. You don't need an excuse to attend to your mental health. You don't need to "tough it out" because others have it so much worse than you. The fires have shocked and unsettled all of Los Angeles and Southern California. It can't hurt to talk it out with a professional. Another tip from Merritt Schreiber, a clinical child psychologist at UCLA and the chair of Disaster Response for the California Psychological Association: Even if you weren’t evacuated, even if your house is still standing, we are all dealing with the grief and fear of having fires blazing all over our region, so it’s a good idea to stop doom scrolling and limit your media intake.
Read more: These devastating fires are taking a toll on our mental health. Here’s how to know when to seek help | How to talk to children about wildfires, evacuations and losing a home
Thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed and many school districts impacted by the fires, like L.A. Unified, have temporarily closed. For parents or guardians of children, it all makes for an especially daunting time — managing your anxiety while also making sure your kids' needs are taken care of. Here are some tips for navigating difficult conversations with kids.
Read more: These devastating fires are taking a toll on our mental health. Here’s how to know when to seek help | How to talk to children about wildfires, evacuations and losing a home
Animal shelters throughout the area have been overwhelmed with an influx of pets — dogs, cats and more. They are doing what they can to keep pets safe while their families deal with fire destruction. Many local shelters are opening up their doors, and their barns to keep animals safe. You can help by fostering an animal or helping fire victims by taking in their pet.
As for animals in the wild: As heartbreaking as it may be, it's best to leave these cases to the professionals. Keep your distance, and report the incident to your local animal control authorities. (They are likely to be overwhelmed by demands as well, so be patient.)
Read more: What to do if you spot an injured animal in the wild|As SoCal fire evacuations expand, shelters seeks pet foster families, donations | How you can help owls, foxes and more displaced or injured by wildfires | What happens to wildlife after a wildfire?
A public affairs officer with FEMA posted a video to X, telling viewers to “carefully consider” how you describe your needs when creating a GoFundMe page. Why? Federal law prohibits FEMA from “duplicating” benefits you receive from another source — such as a crowdfunding site.
The pubic affairs officer, Brandi Richard Thompson, spoke to LAist and shared some tips for doing just that.
Read more: How a GoFundMe account can impact your disaster aid
Let's start with the obvious: It's impossible to sum up the death and destruction caused by these wildfires. Right here, right now, we won't even try. But we have received so many questions about landmarks, and restaurants, and favorite L.A. spots. To that end, here are a few stories that have been written so far, with more sure to come:
The losses were so gutting that we had to celebrate where we could. For example: The Palisades Fire threatened the Getty Villa. The good news: It's still standing
Read more: Before and after: A remembrance of the iconic restaurants that burned down
The L.A. County fires have destroyed thousands of homes. Adriana Martinez was one of the "lucky" ones. Her home was still standing while the Eaton Fire inferno burned down so many others. But Martinez might not feel so lucky: She has been living in a West Covina hotel, and she must figure out how to clean up the extensive smoke and ash damage inside her home. We have a guide to help you do that, including how to figure out what you should keep — invaluable family heirlooms that might need professional cleaning — and what you should toss, such as pillows that have dense fabric that makes it all but impossible to get the soot out of.
Note, however, that the previous scientific research shows that the detritus left behind after a fire can be laden with toxic compounds and gases, from heavy metals to burned plastics to asbestos. Exposure to the ash and even air can cause short-term health impacts, from the runny eyes to respiratory issues and more.
At the very least, wear an N95 mask, gloves and long-sleeved clothes and pants while cleaning. And limit anything that kicks up soot and dust: A 2023 study shows that cleaning a home's hard surfaces by dusting, wiping down with damp cloths, and mopping can effectively lower the concentrations of smoke-associated gases. Other experts advise a HEPA-filter vacuum, too.
Read more: Cleaning up after the LA wildfires is dangerous. Here's how to protect yourself |Smoke and ash filled your home. What do you clean? What do you throw out?
Water departments across L.A. County, including the L.A. Department of Water and Power and Pasadena Water and Power, issued water advisories for residents near the Palisades and Eaton fires. The first thing to do in an emergency is to check whether your home is under a water advisory. You'll need to know what water department or district you’re in. (Check your water bill, or ask your property owner or manager.)
This cheat sheet provides more details, but here are highlights:
Read more: Cheat sheet: Everything LA residents need to know about water advisories|Yes, wildfires are getting worse. The history that got us to this moment.
Are we actually seeing more blazes happen or are we just more aware of them thanks to apps like Watch Duty, which can send users practically real-time updates on wildfire conditions, including new fires that pop up. Here’s a guide to what we know and don’t know yet about the spinning roulette of fires.
And here are some high-level takeaways from our findings:
Read more: Are more fires popping up in LA than normal? What we know|Yes, wildfires are getting worse. The history that got us to this moment.
More than 1,500 residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities were relocated out of harm's way during the wildfires. State and federal laws require all elder-care residential facilities to have written evacuation plans, but a lack of available beds across L.A. County hampered many of those plans. Initially, hundreds of these vulnerable residents were sent to public evacuation shelters.
In other words, keeping track of where a loved one was being moved was a stress shared by many. Here are some helpful resources: The California Department of Public Health published a full list of nursing homes that were evacuated because of the fires and is updating that list regularly. It includes information about where residents were temporarily relocated — helpful to know in a crisis when staff might not be position to answer phones. Assisted-living facilities regulated by the California Department of Social Services have a list as well.
Takeway for the future: Many nursing home and assisted-living residents are in the process of returning. But ordeal has been a lesson for all of us with loved ones in a care facility. Talk to management for details about their emergency evacuation plans, how you'll keep abreast of details during an unfolding disaster and make a plan for what options might be available for your unique circumstance. (For example, maybe you have the ability and resources to relocate a loved one ahead of an evacuation.)
Read more: Here's how to find information on nursing home evacuations
If you're told to evacuate immediately, just go. If you're told you might need to leave, there's lots you can do to get ready. Either way, here's a guide to some next initial tips you can take right after evacuating. Click through to read our guide in full, as it will answer questions such as:
Read more: I had to evacuate my home, what do I do next?
If you have to leave now:
If you have more time:
Things to consider:
Navigating fire conditions
How to help yourself and others
Understanding how it got this bad
This story will be updated as we answer more of your questions.
We have another pip — the second egg in Big Bear’s famous bald eagle nest is showing signs of hatching.
The backstory: That’s just a day after the first egg started showing signs of hatching on Friday morning. The egg shell has continued to crack as the chick breaks through, revealing more of the eaglet’s fuzzy gray feathers as time goes on.
We have another pip — the second egg in Big Bear’s famous bald eagle nest is showing signs of hatching.
The first pip, or crack, was confirmed in Jackie and Shadow’s egg no. 2 on Saturday morning, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that runs a popular YouTube livestream of the nest overlooking Big Bear Lake.
That’s about a day after the first egg started showing signs of hatching on Friday morning. The egg shell has continued to crack as the chick breaks through, revealing more of the eaglet’s fuzzy gray feathers as time goes on.
More than 38,000 people were watching the livestream shortly after the organization confirmed the second crack, compared with the more than 26,000 viewers who tuned in on Friday.
“The first egg is still in the process of hatching, it is not considered hatched until it is completely free of the egg shell. The chick has popped its head out of the shell to say a happy hatch day to mom and dad!” Friends of Big Bear Valley wrote on Facebook to more than a million followers on Saturday. “It also appears that the second egg has a pip. It is not well defined as of this morning, but we will likely see more progress throughout the day.”
Jackie and Shadow's usual incubation timeline is around 38 to 40 days, according to the nonprofit.
With pips in place, it could take the chicks a day or two to complete the hatching process, as seen with last season’s trio.
Friends of Big Bear Valley won’t know for sure if any chicks are male or female, as the organization has said the only way to tell is with a blood test.
But once eaglets are around 9 or 10 weeks old, there should be signs that can help the nonprofit make an educated guess, including the chicks’ size, ankle thickness and vocal pitch.
Generally speaking, female bald eagles are larger than males. Female bald eagles also tend to have larger vocal organs — the syrinx — which leads to deeper, lower-pitched vocalizations, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley.
Historically, Jackie and Shadow’s chicks are given temporary nicknames initially, such as Chick 1 and Chick 2, or Bigger Chick and Smaller Chick (which some fans affectionately nicknamed Biggie and Smalls).
The final decision has then been left up to Big Bear Valley elementary school students. Previous chicks have been named Stormy, BBB (for Big Bear Baby), Simba and Cookie through that process.
Last year, Friends of Big Bear Valley crowdsourced more than 50,000 name choices in a week-long fundraiser, with the students voting from 30 finalists on official ballots delivered by the nonprofit.
The feathered parents’ eaglets were named Sunny and Gizmo last April.
One of last season’s three chicks didn’t survive a winter storm within weeks of hatching. Friends of Big Bear Valley named that chick “Misty” in honor of one of their late volunteers who is “still very missed,” the organization previously shared.
Topline:
In California too few children on Medi-Cal like Kekoa are getting their eyes checked, and the problem is growing worse.
What the data says: Vision problems, particularly nearsightedness, have grown more common among American children. Roughly one in four school-age kids, or 25%, wear glasses or contacts, a proportion that increases as kids get older, according to 2019 federal survey data.
What's happening: Just 16% of school-age kids on Medi-Cal saw an eye doctor between 2022 and 2024 for first-time eye exams, continuing vision check ups or glasses, according to a report commissioned by the California Optometric Association. That’s down from 19% eight years earlier. The report, based on two years of Medi-Cal data, suggests that the state is moving in the wrong direction even as eye problems become more prevalent among kids.
Read on ... for more on what California is trying to do to reverse this problem.
When Kekoa Gittens was 3, his preschool teacher told his mother he was a problem. He couldn’t sit still. He didn’t participate. When other kids learned the alphabet, he didn’t pay attention.
The next year, Kekoa’s classroom problems worsened. His mother, Sonia Gittens, took him to his pediatrician, who referred the boy to an eye doctor.
That doctor looked at the back of Kekoa’s eyes and diagnosed him with myopic degeneration, a dramatic form of nearsightedness.
“They are too little. They don’t know how to express themselves and say, ‘I cannot see it, teacher,’” said Sonia Gittens, who lives in the Marin County town of Corte Madera.
Today, Kekoa is a successful high schooler, but too many kids don’t get their eyes checked until they’re far behind in school.
Vision problems, particularly nearsightedness, have grown more common among American children. Roughly one in four school-age kids, or 25%, wear glasses or contacts, a proportion that increases as kids get older, according to 2019 federal survey data.
In California too few children on Medi-Cal like Kekoa are getting their eyes checked, and the problem is growing worse. Just 16% of school-age kids on Medi-Cal saw an eye doctor between 2022 and 2024 for first-time eye exams, continuing vision check ups or glasses, according to a report commissioned by the California Optometric Association. That’s down from 19% eight years earlier. The report, based on two years of Medi-Cal data, suggests that the state is moving in the wrong direction even as eye problems become more prevalent among kids.
Medi-Cal provides insurance for low-income Californians and those with disabilities.
“Every day when I see these children it is always a surprise to me that the kids are not getting the care they need,” said Ida Chung, a pediatric optometrist and an associate dean at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona.
The trend indicated in the report is alarming, Chung said. In her clinic, where about half of children are on Medi-Cal, it’s common for kids with congenital vision problems to visit for the first time when they’re in first grade or later. That indicates to Chung that many kids don’t have enough access to eye care.
Though kids might be getting basic vision screenings at school or from a pediatrician, some eye problems are still overlooked. “It’s something the child had before they were born,” Chung said.
Colusa County, a rural farming region north of Sacramento, saw the sharpest drop in kids’ eye doctor appointments in the state from 20% between 2015-16 to just under 2% between 2022-24.
Nearly all counties — 47 out of 58 — performed worse on vision care than they did in the past, the report shows, with some, like Colusa, declining significantly.
Most of the severe declines happened in rural areas, although urban counties like San Francisco and Los Angeles also saw decreases. Only seven counties improved the rate of children receiving eye exams or glasses. Four counties were excluded for comparison in the report because the numbers were too small.
“The decline in performance here is so widespread that something really needs to happen,” said David Maxwell-Jolly, a health care consultant who authored the report and the former director of the Department of Health Care Services, which oversees Medi-Cal. “These numbers are way lower than what you would expect to be seeing if we’re doing a good job of detecting kids with treatable conditions.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health Care Services said in an email the state could not confirm the accuracy of an external report, noting that vision services can be difficult to track because “not all encounters are captured in a single, comprehensive dataset.”
For example, many initial vision screenings take place in the pediatrician’s office during well-child visits, which include eye and hearing screenings as well as immunizations and developmental checks. State data shows about half of kids with Medi-Cal receive well-child visits.
Still, experts say the low numbers tell a real story: if children were reliably getting follow-up care from initial screenings, the share who get comprehensive eye exams and glasses would be closer to 25-30% — in line with the known prevalence of vision problems among kids — rather than the 16% found in the optometric association’s report.
Maxwell-Jolly said the analysis he conducted replicated an internal, unpublished department report tracking vision services between 2015 and 2016. His analysis, based on data obtained through a public records act request, updated the results for more recent years.
The state’s most recent Preventive Services Report, which measures how well Medi-Cal delivers preventive care to children, shows the rate of comprehensive eye exams for children and young adults ages 6-21 is similar to the optometric association’s analysis at 17%.
Contra Costa County experienced the third largest decline in children’s eye care in the state. A spokesperson for Contra Costa Health Plan said Medi-Cal health plans are not required by the state to track vision benefits and that it would take time to understand the data. The state, however, does track vision services internally, according to the health care services department.
A bill sponsored by the optometric association and authored by Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, a Democrat from Cupertino, aims to require the state to establish vision benefit quality measures and report performance data publicly. The goal of the legislation is to track where kids do not have enough access to vision services and to ensure that Medi-Cal providers are improving services.
Amy Turnipseed, chief strategy and government affairs officer for Partnership HealthPlan of California, said rural parts of the state struggle to find enough providers. The nonprofit health insurer provides Medi-Cal for 24 northern counties, including Colusa and Modoc.
In Modoc County, which borders Oregon and Nevada, one optometrist serves a 90-mile radius. Partnership has worked closely with that optometrist to ensure they continue accepting Medi-Cal patients, Turnipseed said.
“In rural counties with lower populations, losing even one provider can exponentially impact the access to services to families,” Turnipseed said. “In the past few years we’ve seen vision providers reduce or limit their Medi-Cal, which makes it harder for families to see providers.”
An assortment of glasses at Vision to Learn mobile optometry clinic at Esther Lindstrom Elementary School in Lakewood on March 20, 2026. Photo by Ariana Drehsler for CalMatters Modoc is one of just seven counties where more children have received vision care in recent years, according to the report.
Providers frequently cite low reimbursement rates from the state as a reason for not accepting Medi-Cal patients. The California Optometric Association estimates only about 10% of its members accept Medi-Cal. The reimbursement rate for a comprehensive eye exam is about $47, said Kristine Shultz, association executive director.
“Our reimbursement rates haven’t increased in 25 years. Imagine getting paid what you were paid 25 years ago,” Shultz said.
State law requires schools to periodically check kids’ vision starting in kindergarten. Those screenings are a good bellwether for if a child is struggling to see in class, said Chung with Western University. The problem is getting the kids who fail the screening to an eye doctor.
Chung runs an academic optometry clinic that works with local schools in Pomona. Each year up to 35% of students fail the screening, meaning they likely have a vision problem. But based on conversations with school nurses, Chung said only about 7% of those children then go to an eye doctor and come back to school with glasses.
Chung, who chairs the children’s vision committee for the California Optometric Association, said colleagues who work with school districts around the state report similar experiences.
“If a high number of those children are not getting the follow up care, we may just be fooling ourselves and checking a box,” Chung said. “We’re in compliance with the law in California but are we really helping the children?”
For some families, the answer is no. That’s what happened to Kekoa when he was 3. The school checked his eyes and said he might have vision problems, but his mother, Gittens, waited. Her son was still learning his numbers and letters. How would he be able to read an eye chart, she reasoned. It wasn’t until his problems got worse that Gittens took Kekoa to an eye doctor.
Now, at 15, Kekoa wears contacts and likes athletics. He needs to see to compete in capoeira martial arts competitions and surf on the weekends, his mother said.
First: Dr. Kiyana Kavoussi shows letters on a monitor during Noah Mattison’s, 11, visual acuity test. Last: Optician Maya Ortega looks at Italia Martin’s, 6, eyes before she chooses new glasses inside the Vision to Learn mobile optometry clinic at Esther Lindstrom Elementary School in Lakewood on March 20, 2026. Photos by Ariana Drehsler for CalMatters Many parents lack the resources to take their kids to the doctor, or simply wait. Notes from school nurses flagging that a child failed a vision screening may also get lost in a backpack on the way home, educators say. The California Department of Education does not track the results of school vision screenings.
Vision To Learn, a nonprofit, created a mobile eye clinic to help bridge the gap between kids failing school vision screenings and getting glasses. The group brings an optometrist to campus, meaning kids that need an eye exam can get one the same day and go home having gotten a prescription and ordered glasses.
Damian Carroll, chief of staff and national director, said Vision to Learn’s numbers tell a similar story to Chung’s. About one-third of students screened are unable to read the eye chart, but very few of those kids have adequate glasses.
In the California schools where the program operates, around 70% of kids who have been prescribed glasses did not own a pair. Another 20% had glasses with outdated prescriptions, according to internal data, Carroll said.
And that gap can drastically affect learning outcomes or behavior in school.
“First and second graders who try on glasses the first time are blown away because they just thought that’s how the world looked,” Carroll said. “They can see the leaves on the trees and the math on the board, and it’s shocking to them.”
For the record: This story has been updated to reflect that Maxwell-Jolly’s study replicated the methodology of an earlier one by the Department of Health Care Services, but did not republish department findings.
Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
Topline:
For more than 15 years, botanist Naomi Fraga of the California Botanic Garden has been trying to collect seeds from the rare Death Valley sage, for safekeeping in a vault of native California seeds. Each time, she's come home empty handed. But this year, with the desert in the midst of a big bloom, she's trying again.
The backstory: The plant has silvery-green pointy leaves, fuzzy buds and striking deep purple flowers. But it is challenging to study and to sample. Fraga says she often has to hike or scramble up mountainsides, or drive on backroads to find it. Very little is known about the plant's pollinator. And in exceptionally dry years, the Death Valley sage doesn't flower at all — meaning no seeds either.
Read on ... for more on Fraga's search.
For more than 15 years, botanist Naomi Fraga of the California Botanic Garden has been trying to collect seeds from the rare Death Valley sage, for safekeeping in a vault of native California seeds. Each time, she's come home empty handed. But this year, with the desert in the midst of a big bloom, she's trying again.
"It's a little bit of a gamble," she says. "But, you know, the plant's having a really good year. I feel hopeful."
The plant has silvery-green pointy leaves, fuzzy buds and striking deep purple flowers. But it is challenging to study and to sample. Fraga says she often has to hike or scramble up mountainsides, or drive on backroads to find it. Very little is known about the plant's pollinator. And in exceptionally dry years, the Death Valley sage doesn't flower at all – meaning no seeds either.
The sage's habitat is mostly protected, within the boundaries of Death Valley National Park. But climate change doesn't respect park boundaries – and could push these plants that are already living on the brink into even more existential peril.
"You can imagine that if conditions were to get more difficult with a changing climate, it's going to be harder and harder to collect seed," Fraga says.
In late March, Fraga headed into the foothills of the Nopah Range, near an abandoned mine, to check on one of the largest populations she knows of. And for the first time since 2009, she found the seeds. Soon, she says, she'll return with a team to attempt the first big harvest of Death Valley sage seeds.
Topline:
California State University is embarking on a detailed, sweeping plan to enroll more students as part of an all-out push to bring much-needed cash to the workhorse system of 22 campuses that educates 471,000 students.
The backstory: Ten campuses, including Dominguez Hills, saw double-digit enrollment declines in fall of 2025 compared to fall 2020, when the first full academic year of the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Why it matters: The loss of enrollment is a major driver of the financial struggles many of the system’s campuses face. The Cal State’s chancellor’s office says the system is facing a $2.3 billion budget gap in the current academic year. There’s a bright spot, though: Cal State officials say the system overall is on pace this year to beat state enrollment targets for the first time in four years.
Read on ... for a deep dive into how Cal State Dominguez Hills is trying to turn things around.
The first day of fall semester for a university freshman is often stressful. Not for Vanessa Menera, an 18-year-old who’s the first in her family to attend college.
Last year, she arrived 15 minutes early to her first fall class with an internship and campus job already in tow, plus a mental map of Cal State University Dominguez Hills, a sprawling, nearly 350-acre institution in the Los Angeles area’s South Bay.
The already confident student possessed even more motivation to make the most of her time on campus because of a program she took last summer: The First-Year Experience Summer Program.
“Everything was so easy to me, and I'm really grateful, because I know it was because of that First Year Experience that I was able to do that,” said Menera.
The summer program is one of several strategies Cal State Dominguez Hills seeks to expand as it combats a half-decade enrollment slide that’s unraveling its finances. But it’s not the only approach to fiscal right-sizing. Nor is Cal State Dominguez Hills alone in combatting large drops in its student population.
That’s because the money that the country’s largest public four-year university system needs to properly educate its students isn’t there. Now, California State University is embarking on a detailed, sweeping plan to enroll more students as part of an all-out push to bring much-needed cash to the workhorse system of 22 campuses that educates 471,000 students.
Ten campuses, including Dominguez Hills, saw double-digit enrollment declines in fall of 2025 compared to fall 2020, when the first full academic year of the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The loss of enrollment is a major driver of the financial struggles many of the system’s campuses face. The Cal State’s chancellor’s office says the system is facing a $2.3 billion budget gap in the current academic year. There’s a bright spot, though: Cal State officials say the system overall is on pace this year to beat state enrollment targets for the first time in four years.
People walk past the exterior of the Innovation & Instruction building at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson on Feb. 19, 2026. Photo by Zin Chiang for CalMatters Still, a key state lawmaker admonished the system’s under-enrolled campuses for missing its enrollment targets.
“I'm concerned that these campuses may be overfunded,” said Assemblymember David Alvarez, a Democrat from Chula Vista, at a December legislative hearing about Cal State’s finances. He is chairperson of the Assembly’s budget subcommittee on education and a key player in deciding how much state money universities receive. His worry? Other campuses with rising enrollments need the money to educate their ever-growing student body by hiring more professors, tutors and other staff to support students.
The state funds campuses based on how many Californians they enroll; by educating fewer students than what the state pays per student, the campuses are technically collecting more revenue than their enrollment levels would permit. That’s because the state pays schools for the number of California students they’re supposed to enroll, not how many they actually enroll.
By that measure, San Francisco State last year collected close to $50 million more in state dollars than its enrollment levels indicate it should receive — the campus enrolled about 5,300 fewer Californians than state goals stipulated in 2024. Cal State Dominguez Hills was taking about $7 million more. Conversely, Cal Poly Pomona was down about $20 million, because they enrolled 2,500 more students than the state’s target.
California is also eyeing multi-billion-dollar budget deficits, putting even more pressure on lawmakers and school systems to use money wisely.
The Legislature last year required Cal State to submit a report by March 1 detailing how campuses with enrollment struggles plan to attract new students and meet their state targets. Campuses sent their turnaround plans to the system’s chancellor’s office by December.
CalMatters conducted a dozen interviews and issued six records requests for this story.
Cal State Dominguez Hills’ enrollment is down 20% compared to 2020 and its finances have suffered. As a result, campus officials laid off 38 non-faculty staff and managers in 2025.
The school projects it will lose an additional $8 million this year, cutting deeper into its reserves, which have dwindled from $46 million in 2022 to a projected $10 million this summer.
The campus’ graduation rates fall below the systemwide average. And the campus historically has posted lower retention rates, meaning more students quit after one or two years compared to other campuses in the system. Dominguez Hill’s retention rate has grown in the last year, however.
The school enrolls the highest share of undergraduate students in the system who receive the federal Pell grant for low-income students — 69% compared to a Cal State average of 51%. Systemwide, those Pell students graduate at lower levels than students who don’t receive the grant.
Dominguez Hills’ turnaround plan includes a campus goal of enrolling about 800 more students to hit its enrollment target by 2027-28. More students plus planned systemwide tuition hikes and a new student-approved campus fee are projected to generate $25 million in additional money.
To reach its enrollment goals, the campus will lean on approaches that have demonstrated success, including the First Year Experience summer program, which Dominguez Hills started in 2022. Through the program, about a quarter of the freshman class enrolls in up to two free college courses during the summer before fall term. These are all general education courses required for graduation, with an emphasis on teaching students how to study well. The program also engenders a sense of community among students and campus staff.
Other strategies include attracting new students and keeping more of its current students. Another is to re-enroll students who’ve previously dropped out. It’s an approach that’s top of mind for campuses across the state: California is home to about 3.5 million adults with some college credit but no degree. Even a miniscule bump in the students who return to school could eradicate a campus’ enrollment woes.
Another budget-stabilizing effort may mean additional job losses. Campus professors are now meeting regularly to find ways to combine courses and run fewer sections of the same course. This helps the school average more students per course, but it’ll likely mean fewer lecturers — instructors who lack the full-time benefits and job safety of tenured professors.
Systemwide, 63 degree programs were discontinued by the Board of Trustees in 2024.
A student walks up the stairs in the Innovation and Instruction building at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson on Feb. 19, 2026. Photo by Zin Chiang for CalMatters Dominguez Hills in February reversed course on terminating six majors, including art history and philosophy. Student advocacy spurred the restoration. The school also determined that cutting individual programs made less sense than reviewing all majors to find other ways to integrate academic programs, said Kim Costino, the school’s interim provost, in an interview.
“Everyone is hopeful that we are going to be able to create a more economically efficient curriculum that serves students better,” said Terry McGlynn during an interview. He is a biology professor at Dominguez Hills who is chair of the academic senate, a faculty group that shapes campus academics.
But “there's clearly going to be some pain involved,” he added.
The school cited in its report to the system that expanding the The First Year Experience program is one way to increase enrollment.
The campus spends $635,000 annually to run it. Almost 84% of students in the program advanced to their second year of college in fall 2024 — well above the 66% for students who didn’t sign up for the First Year Experience, according to data the campus shared. For a school desperate to undo its enrollment slide, keeping the students it has — and their tuition dollars — is a key strategy.
Any incoming freshman can enroll in the First Year Experience.
One reason Menera knew the campus so well when fall classes began? An extra-credit assignment for her environmental studies course over the summer required her to identify every vending machine on campus.
Student Vanessa Menera, 18, in the Innovation and Instruction Building at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson on Feb. 19, 2026. Photo by Zin Chiang for CalMatters The First Year Experience also features activities that reinforce what students learn, such as a field trip to a museum for an English course led by a guest author whose book the professor assigned to students. For her environmental studies class, Menera said that she carried a trash bag for more than a week to visualize how much waste people accumulate.
The school also awards a $150 scholarship to students who complete a summer-experience course. But for students who work over the summer or help care for family members, that amount alone may not be enough to persuade them to attend the program, said Costino. She ran the summer program until December.
The summer courses are long. Most meet twice weekly for four hours, so a student in two courses is in class for about 16 hours a week. Menera worked anyway that summer, maintaining the job she had during high school at TJ Maxx in Anaheim, some 20 miles from campus. She continues to work now, logging 17 hours a week at a campus convenience store on top of a full academic load. The summer program mentally prepared her for long school and work days, she said.
Costino thinks the program’s growth won’t be in students enrolling the summer before freshman year, but instead in students who earned a D or F in a course their first year and need to make up the class the following summer. While students can presently retake classes, they have to pay for them. Providing free make-up courses that either replace or average out a previous low grade helps the school retain more students who are on academic probation or just lost academic confidence after a bad first year, Costino said.
Cal State Dominguez Hills is seeking to expand its efforts to re-enroll students who’ve dropped out. Since 2021 the school has re-enrolled nearly 1,100 such students for fall term through its “Once a Toro, Always a Toro” program, named after the campus mascot.
While these students represent a tiny portion of the campus’ annual enrollment, they lead to instant revenue for the school from tuition and fees. It’s a few extra million dollars for the school, and it costs about $300,000 to $600,000 annually to maintain the re-enrollment program.
Once these students return to Dominguez Hills, most graduate. Data the campus shared with CalMatters show that earlier cohorts of the re-enrolled students have graduation rates of around 50% three years after they return. The numbers grow to about 70% after six years.
The school is now targeting any student who dropped out in the last 15 years or so, said Sabrina Sanders, the program director of Once a Toro.
She maintains a list of 10,000 formerly enrolled students. Annually, about 1,000 apply, around three-quarters are admitted, and roughly 300 to 400 enroll. Some who were admitted don’t enroll for several reasons, including prior low GPAs that make them ineligible for financial aid.
One of the students who returned is Wynette Davis. The 27-year-old is four classes away from finishing her bachelor’s degree in psychology after dropping out two years ago.
Davis transferred to the university from community college in 2022. She was on track to earn her bachelor’s in 2024 and even walked the stage during the spring graduation ceremony, needing just a few more classes that summer to finish her degree. But tragedy struck: Her daughter’s father died in spring 2024, and the shock derailed her academics. That spring and summer, she failed four classes. Davis left as a result.
She tried to re-enroll a year later, but learned she owed the university tuition money and couldn’t qualify for financial aid because her failing grades dropped her below the campus’ threshold for aid eligibility. Davis was ready to give up on earning a bachelor’s until an email from Once a Toro entered her inbox.
A staffer with the program helped Davis receive a waiver for her past-due account balance as long as she promised to pass her classes for the year, Davis said. The staffer also worked with the school financial aid office to reinstate her eligibility for financial aid for her spring classes after her grades improved.
Last fall Davis retook the classes she previously failed, passing them all this time. She’s in two classes this spring and will need two more next fall to earn her bachelor’s degree.
“If it wasn't for the Once a Toro, Always a Toro program, I probably would not have been back in school right now,” Davis said.
Another setback is the changing nature of academic requirements. Students who were gone for a decade may have pursued majors that don’t exist or were heavily altered, so the courses they took toward their majors might not satisfy new requirements. Sanders and the school’s advising teams collaborate with academic department deans to convert the re-enrolling students’ old coursework into the updated expectations for existing majors. Or re-enrolled students pursue an interdisciplinary major that combines old coursework with new.
“There's a sense of shame that comes with dropping out of college and having someone there to kind of put those thoughts and put that inner dialogue to rest” was key, said Stephanie Esquivel, a returning student who re-enrolled in 2022 after leaving the campus her freshman year in 2007.
She credited Sanders with helping her transfer her community college units to her university major. To Esquivel, a team like Once a Toro shows that the campus desires returning students and invests in the social infrastructure to help them, she said.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
