The Brief

Just eight of 34 Orange County cities, plus the county, have made progress on local climate action plans, according to the latest report from the non-profit Climate Action Campaign.

Just six of those O.C. cities have approved plans to address the causes and impacts of climate change, according to the group’s first report that was released last year.

Orange County jurisdictions — despite facing high risks of worsening landslides, sea level rise, fire, heat and flood — are far behind other Southern California counties when it comes to having climate action plans, according to the California Climate Action Plan Database, which is compiled by researchers at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. (You can also check out different types of climate-related plans submitted by your community to the state here.)

And Orange County, the sixth most populous county in the U.S., is one of the biggest counties without a climate action plan. But, slowly, that appears to be changing, in large part due to grassroots organizing by local residents.

“It is well beyond time to act,” said Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley at a press conference in Santa Ana about the new report. “I’ve been working on these issues since I was on the planning commission in the early 2000s in Costa Mesa. So we have been struggling, but I think now we are making forward progress.”

Orange County jurisdictions have fewer climate action plans than surrounding counties, according to the Climate Action Plan database from Cal Poly.

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Courtesy Cal Poly Climate Action Plan Database

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The county was called out in last year’s report for not having a climate action plan, but has now completed a draft plan that Foley said will be presented to the board of supervisors for approval later this month.

Local organizers celebrated the progress.

“When we published our first report card, some people suggested that we were being too hard on local governments and that we were expecting too much from our leaders,” said Tomas Souza de Castro with the O.C. Climate Action Campaign.

“But now that we have experienced unprecedented heatwaves and fires in our own backyard in just the last week, we know that there is no cavalry coming to save us. We can create a climate safe, climate resilient future here in O.C.”

What is a climate action plan? 

Climate action plans, or CAPs, provide a long-term roadmap for governments to reduce planet-heating and health-harming pollution, and adapt to worsening disasters driven by climate change, such as increasingly extreme heat, drought, fire and floods.

They are most effective when legally-binding and are only effective as long as they’re actually adhered to.

Local CAPs are important because different cities and counties have different sources of pollution and require their own specific ways to adapt to the changes occurring as a result of global heating.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to addressing and adapting to the climate crisis, and state and national plans can often be too broad for practical use by local governments. The climate crisis may be global, but it’s experienced and addressed locally.

Climate action plans generally focus on two buckets: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change. A robust plan has a detailed inventory of where greenhouse gas emissions come from, and has plans to reduce that pollution in everything from transportation to industry to households.

A robust CAP also focuses on adaptation, including strategies to fortify infrastructure, develop a sustainable water and energy supply, reduce waste, expand access to green space and address inequality in climate impacts.

CAPs are particularly important for local governments to receive certain types of state and federal funding. According to 2021 State Controller data, Orange County receives some of the least spending per capita from the state.

A map from the Climate Action Campaign report of cities that have adopted or are developing climate action plans in Orange County.

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Courtesy Climate Action Campaign

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CAPs can also be replicated and scaled. For example, the report points out how both California and the United States eventually adopted the city of San Diego’s CAP target for emission reductions.

At this point, none of Orange County’s jurisdictions have adopted a plan that meets the state’s targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent below the 1990 levels by 2030. Globally, scientists say greenhouse gasses must be reduced 45% by 2030 to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Where progress has been made and stalled

The report highlights Orange County, Laguna Beach, Santa Ana, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Tustin, San Clemente, city of Orange and Irvine as taking steps in developing or implementing their climate action plans, while acknowledging there’s still a long way to go.

Each of those cities is in the process of developing a plan, with several such as Santa Ana, Buena Park and Costa Mesa hiring dedicated staff positions to help carry out the plans.

Orange County has also now successfully completed its draft CAP. Supervisor Foley said it will help the county apply for funding from the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, and includes greenhouse gas inventories for every city in the county, so O.C. cities don’t have to spend time or money doing that themselves.

The report says Huntington Beach, however, has taken steps backward. While the city approved a climate action plan in 2017, last year the city council voted to dissolve its Environment and Sustainability Committee and stopped working on its Sustainability Master Plan.

The report also highlights how the city left the Orange County Power Authority, which supplies participating cities with renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar.

You can read the full report here.

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

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

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

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

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

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Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

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

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

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

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

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Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

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

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

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

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

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Matt Kroening

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Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

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

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Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

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

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Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

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Murals and public art

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

Three of the featured works by Banksy.

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Matthew Kroening

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Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

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

A new green space in the middle of the city

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

Jabba the Hutt and Princess Leia statue.

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Kevin Tidmarsh

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LAist

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

How to visit

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Raman was not immediately available for comment.

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

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

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

A 'double-edged sword'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other endorsements

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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NOAA

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

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

Beware dangerous beach conditions

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

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Allen J. Schaben

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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Courtesy National Weather Service

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

Moisture incoming

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How LAUSD changed course on AI 

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

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

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

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

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

How the AI rules work in practice

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

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

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

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

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

How to weigh in on LAUSD’s AI policy

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

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

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

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