The Brief

Good news for one of nature’s rarest and unlikeliest species: The critically endangered Devils Hole pupfish has been making a resurgence after a very close brush with extinction last decade.

The fish — whose full natural habitat consists of a hole in Death Valley National Park with a surface area of about 10 feet by 60 feet, little oxygen and very warm water — has been central for conservationists and biologists interested in how the species managed to develop in such extreme conditions.

So it was with guarded optimism that officials announced a few weeks ago that the spring pupfish census had counted 191 of the silvery fish, which measure little more than an inch long. That's a far cry from the 35 counted in 2013, when the species was at its closest to the brink since being studied.

Back from the brink

Before the population started declining a few decades ago, roughly 200 to 250 specimens were counted each spring by scuba divers. Typically, the population roughly doubles for the fall count, Death Valley National Park aquatic ecologist Kevin Wilson said, because sunlight starts to reach the water in the hole in the late spring and summer. That allows for algae to grow as a food source.

However, the species has faced a series of challenges. First, development in the 1960s threatened the fish’s habitat, which is connected to an underground aquifer that started being tapped in the desert for agricultural purposes. And even after protections were put in place to save the endangered fish, the population started declining in the mid-1990s before reaching its low point in 2013.

Although the population’s been on the rise for a few seasons, officials said they wanted to be cautious before publicizing the upswing since the count is prone to major swings, with fall typically having much higher numbers than spring.

This pupfish’s unique habitat

Devils Hole is located within Death Valley National Park, though it’s easy for visitors to miss since it’s located in an exclave of the park across the Nevada border, about 10 miles from Death Valley Junction. The hole itself is at least hundreds of feet deep — its bottom has never been mapped.

“It's not a flowing spring. It's not a bubbling spring. It's just kind of this geological fault that opened up this cave, and you're looking at the aquifer,” Wilson said. “It's kind of a strange term for folks, but you're just looking at water that's underground and we just have a window to see it.”

It’s in this unlikeliest of spots that the Devils Hole pupfish managed to take root, eventually evolving into a separate species from other local pupfishes, with a tolerance for extreme conditions and no pelvic fins.

“There's a lot of species that we don't expect to survive because humans have manipulated the environment to the extent that we have driven them to extinction,” said Michael Schwemm, senior fish biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service. “What's unique about this one is the isolation. The fish managed to get [to Devils Hole] during times of high water and evolve independently and go on their own trajectory.”

Devils Hole as pictured from above.

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Courtesy National Park Service/Kim Stringfellow

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Other than the isolation and unique evolutionary developments, Devils Hole pupfish are remarkable for another reason: Wilson said they live in the smallest habitat for any known vertebrate species.

You can actually see the pupfish for yourself: Just keep in mind that the hole is fenced off to protect the fish, so you may need to bring binoculars.

A conservationist flashpoint

The Devils Hole pupfish isn’t just notable from a biological perspective, it was also at the center of a debate over water use and conservation in the late 1960s and 1970s.

“A local landowner put a well in right on the boundary of National Park Service land, turned it on, and the water level went down right away and the pupfish population declined,” Wilson said.

The debate got contentious enough that bumper stickers that read “kill the pupfish” or “save the pupfish” were popular.

The battle made it all the way to the Supreme Court in 1976, when the court decided in Cappaert v. United States that the federal government could restrict pumping of the aquifer that feeds Devils Hole in order to preserve the pupfish population. This set the precedent for the federal government to claim the rights to not just water sources on federal lands, but also adjacent aquifers in order to protect endangered species.

The future of the Devils Hole pupfish

Conservation biologists have been working to restore the pupfish population since the decline started, which Schwemm called one of the “smallest population sizes that a population has ever rebounded back from in a completely natural setting.”

Scientists routinely monitor the pupfish in Devils Hole.

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Kurt Moses

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National Park Service

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Though scientists want to keep the Devils Hole pupfish in its natural environment, they’ve had a little intervention: Owing to the population decline and scarce food sources, scientists started to feed the fish in 2007, and the population numbers have been monitored via diving expeditions for decades.

According to Schwemm, the fish is of great interest to researchers as they work to understand how the fish evolved to survive in high-temperature water with low levels of oxygen and food.

But even if the species’ natural habitat changes and becomes unviable for the fish in the years to come – which is possible with climate change – scientists have instituted a stopgap measure. A nearby tank mimicking the natural conditions of Devils Hole, including a 93-degree water temperature and very low oxygen, has managed to sustain a separate pupfish population.

And since pupfish populations appear to be stable or growing in both the natural and artificial habitats, officials are looking forward to being able to study the fish without devoting most of their energy to survival.

“It really opens up the door for future research,” Schwemm said. “We were really limited on our ability to do research before, and I think that's going to really help us.”

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

It’s official: Eight Democrats and two Republicans say they have filed paperwork for the June 2 primary ballot in the California governor's race, setting up a wide-open contest in which two Republicans who have consistently led in polls could shut out all other Democrats.

Here are the 10 candidates:

• Xavier Becerra, Democrat, former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary and former California Attorney General
• Chad Bianco, Republican, Riverside County Sheriff
• Steve Hilton, Republican, Fox News contributor and former adviser to conservative British prime minister David Cameron
• Matt Mahan, Democrat, mayor of San Jose
• Katie Porter, Democrat, former U.S. representative representing Orange County
• Tom Steyer, Democrat, billionaire entrepreneur and former presidential candidate
• Eric Swalwell, Democrat, U.S. representative from the Bay Area
• Tony Thurmond, Democrat, state superintendent of public instruction
• Antonio Villaraigosa, Democrat, former mayor of Los Angeles and former Assembly Speaker
• Betty Yee, Democrat, former state Controller

Steyer became the last to officially file on Friday, the deadline for submitting candidacy paperwork.

Former Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon exited the race earlier this week, endorsing Swalwell instead.

What's next?

The secretary of state’s office says it will verify the paperwork their campaigns submitted and publish an official list of primary candidates by March 21.

The top two vote recipients in the primary, regardless of party, will advance to the general election. But the two Republican frontrunners enjoy more consolidated support from their base than their Democratic counterparts, who risk fragmenting the Democratic vote. At the February state Democratic Party convention, delegates were so split that no candidate earned enough votes for the party endorsement.

With the current field, there’s a 27% chance of a Republican faceoff in November, according to statistical modeling by Democratic strategist Paul Mitchell.

The prospect is worrisome for many Democratic leaders, including state party leader Rusty Hicks, who earlier this week penned an open letter calling for those without a “viable path” to victory to drop out before the Friday deadline to file paperwork. And for those who remained, he pleaded, drop out by April 15 at the very latest if they couldn’t make “meaningful progress.”

The call appeared to fall on deaf ears, as eight of the nine announced Democratic candidates stayed in. Even if someone drops out now, their name will still appear on the primary ballot as long as they qualify, risking siphoning votes away from other Democrats.

Discounting the risk

When asked about the risk of a November shutout at a Thursday gubernatorial forum, several Democratic candidates brushed it aside while insisting they each would be voters’ best choice.

Villaraigosa told CalMatters the GOP base will coalesce behind just one candidate when President Donald Trump makes an endorsement.

“When that happens, that person is going to surge up and the other (Republican is) going to go down, it’s as simple as that,” he said.

Of the Democratic attendees at the forum, only Porter acknowledged the risk of a crowded field of Democrats.

“I think it is terrifying to think about what Trump would do to Californians if we had a governor who at every turn cooperated with him rather than stood up for our California values,” she said. “So I don’t think it’s a certainty, but I do think it’s a risk, and I think the stakes are very, very, very high.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

James A. Garfield High School in East Los Angeles is headed to state after winning the Los Angeles Unified School District’s 45th annual Academic Decathlon.
The Eastside school claimed the top prize — the Superintendent’s Trophy — earning 44,336.10 points out of 60,000 points. Abraham Lincoln High in Lincoln Heights scored 40,181.70 and is among the eight LAUSD schools advancing to the state competition.

The LAUSD teams will compete at the California Academic Decathlon on March 19-22 in Santa Clara. 

Decathletes representing Garfield High are Derek Dominguez, Ana Santos, Davian Valladares, Joseph Villa, Liana Lopez, Julie Lopez, David Ventura, Kimberly Palacios, and Briana Zuniga.

Villa was among the top students who earned the highest district-wide scores, coming in third with 8,267.5 points out of 10,000 points.

Board member Rocío Rivas, who represents East LA, said Garfield’s win “reflects the real progress taking shape across our district and the momentum we’re

building as they represent our communities at the California Academic Decathlon.”

The district said it holds 23 state titles – more than any district in California – and 19 national titles. 

“At Los Angeles Unified, we are proud to represent one of the most diverse student communities in the nation,” said Academic Decathlon Regional Director Dr. Neena Agnihotri in a statement.

“Our Decathletes come from many cultures, languages, and life experiences, and that diversity is one of our greatest strengths,” Agnihotri said.

Also competing in the California Academic Decathlon are: Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, Van Nuys High School, John Marshall High School, Bell High School, The Science Academy STEM Magnet and Dr. Richard A. Vladovic Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy.

This story appeared first on LA Local.

FIFA World Cup organizers expect more than 150,000 extra visitors to flood the Los Angeles area during eight World Cup games this summer, and all of them are going to need places to sleep.

AirBnB, the short-term rental giant, is kicking up its efforts to recruit more properties to the platform by offering a $750 bonus to first-time hosts in World Cup cities.

The company courted new hosts with lunch and a special workshop Thursday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, where the games will be played. Other short-term rental companies — like Vrbo and Booking.com — are also promoting rentals near World Cup stadiums.

Renting out houses, apartments and rooms in Los Angeles and Inglewood is less of a cavalier process than it was a decade ago.

Lawmakers in many places have developed tighter short-term rental regulations in hopes of cracking down on neighborhood disruption, collecting more tax dollars and preventing scarce housing stock from being converted into full-time vacation rentals.

If you’re a local who is hoping to make a few extra bucks by renting out your place this summer, here are three tips to get you started, straight from active short-term rental hosts and property managers.

Get the ball rolling soon

It takes time to get a space properly listed for short-term rental.

Many local governments, including the city and county of L.A., as well as Inglewood, require hosts to apply for permits. Approvals can take two to four weeks in the city of L.A., said Lisa Giuntoli, whose company Nonpareil Stays manages 45 short-term rentals in the area.

Giuntoli said short-term rental listings perform better in web searches the longer they remain online, and for the World Cup, in particular, visitors are booking places well in advance.

“It takes a minute to get up to speed,” she said. “If you’re interested, do it now.”

Do your homework on local rules

Each local government sets its own guidelines for short-term rentals. Several have revamped their ordinances in recent years.

Hosts can bear some responsibility for how their rentals affect the neighborhood. Inglewood, along with the city and county of L.A., requires permitted hosts to keep their renters up to speed on noise regulations and other local rules.

Not everyone can get a permit. Inglewood requires permit applicants to have lived within the city for 10 consecutive years. In the city of L.A., secondary residences and rent-stabilized properties aren’t eligible to become short-term rentals.

Perrita King, a Leimert Park resident, said she has still been able to keep her extra space listed by renting to people looking to stay longer than a month, such as traveling nurses.

If you live in the city of LA, you can check here to see if your property falls under rent stabilization.

If the logistics seem daunting, consider a specialist

If you’re not interested in waking up at 1 a.m. to help out a renter who lost their key, there are a few different ways to hire a specialized short-term rental manager.

Companies like Nonpareil Stays manage portfolios of dozens of short-term rentals. King, the Leimert Park host, said she goes through a web-based company called Fairly.

You can also narrow your search through Airbnb’s co-host network, which allows you to filter prospective managers by location and other factors.

Longtime Republican Rep. Darrell Issa will not seek reelection, he announced Friday.

His decision comes four months after his San Diego-area congressional district was redrawn to favor Democrats and shortly after San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, a Republican, filed papers to run in the same district.

Issa, a longtime GOP stalwart, said he was endorsing Desmond in a statement announcing his decision to retire.

“This decision has been on my mind for a while, and I didn’t make it lightly,” he said. “But after a quarter-century in Congress — and before that, a quarter-century in business — it’s the right time for a new chapter and new challenges.”

A history of reshuffling

Issa represented the San Diego area in Congress for more than 20 years. He briefly retired in 2019 when his seat, now represented by Democrat Mike Levin, became more competitive. He returned to Congress in 2021 after winning a seat in the 50th District, which was redrawn after statewide redistricting later that year. He moved to his current seat in the 48th District in 2023.

The newly configured seat attracted a slew of Democratic challengers after it became more competitive when voters approved Proposition 50 last fall. The redistricting measure was designed to give Democrats up to five additional seats in the U.S. House and counter similar redistricting efforts in other states that favored Republicans.

Desmond had previously announced that he would run in the 49th District against Levin.

“They drew me into this district, but the truth is I’ve been serving this community for years,” Desmond said in a statement to CalMatters. Prior to Prop. 50, Desmond lived in the 49th District. He now lives in the 48th. “I’ll fight every single day to make life more affordable, more safe and more free.”

Crowded field of Democrats

In the 48th District, two Democratic candidates — Ammar Campa-Najjar, a former opponent of Issa's, and San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert — lead a crowded field eager to flip the district blue. No candidate garnered enough support for the party’s endorsement last month.

California Republicans have been reshuffling for months as their districts were redrawn.

Republican Rep. Ken Calvert, one of the longest-serving members in Congress, is now running in the 40th District against Republican incumbent Young Kim of Orange County. His present district, the neighboring 41st, was moved entirely out of conservative pockets of Riverside County to Los Angeles County.

Issa briefly contemplated a congressional run in Texas in December after the new districts were created but decided against it.