The Brief

Before this spring, the last time anyone had laid eyes on a small flower with lavender petals on Santa Cruz Island was nearly 60 years ago.

The plant is called Saints' Daisy.

"So it's in the sunflower family," said Sean Carson with the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden who helped find the rare flower again on the island. "The flower is beautiful."

The plant, Carson described, is about a foot tall, with longish hair sticking out of its stem and leaves. Saints' Daisy has two types of flowers: the ray flowers with its long, thin purple petals, and the yellow-orange disk flowers beaming in the middle.

The flower, though unassuming, is both rare and elusive. The plant was last seen in 1965 on Santa Cruz Island — one of the few places it's known to have existed in California.

"It's only been collected 77 times in its entire history," said John Knapp, an ecologist at the Nature Conservancy.

A patch of Saints' Daisies found earlier this year.

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Courtesy The Nature Conservancy

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Saints Daisy in the wild of Santa Cruz Island.

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Courtesy The Nature Conservancy

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That is until earlier this year, when a team of botanists and researchers, including Carson and Knapp, broke the drought.

A decade-long search

In 1978, the Nature Conservancy purchased a majority of the Santa Cruz Island — the largest of the Channel Islands about 25 miles off the coast of Southern California — with the aim of restoring the island's habitats.

"We inherited a bunch of threats that were on the island," said Knapp, including pigs and sheep that were brought on to the island for ranching but had become feral.

"Endemic island plants are often called 'ice cream plants,' meaning that they're so delicious, these introduced animals target them," Knapp added.

In the last decade, Knapp said teams of researchers and conservationists have been looking for some 22 species that are thought to be extirpated — or forever gone — from the preserve on Santa Cruz Island.

In the spring of 2024, the groups set out again on their search. This time, it included Carson, who works to conserve endangered flora in California and had studied a small colony of Saints' Daisy in Lompoc.

"I became pretty familiar with this plant at different life stages when it was in vegetative form and when it was in flower. When John asked me to come on this trip to Santa Cruz Island... I was like, 'OK, you know, I've got the mental image of this plant that I could find it in a needle in a haystack kind of thing,'" Carson said.

The rest of the team had studied photos of the flower and old herbarium records of when it was last seen on the island nearly 60 years ago.

"We all had a search image," Knapp said. "But again, I had never seen it before in person, but Sean had."

The hunt for a Saints' Daisy

Carson remembers vividly that morning when he rediscovered the Saints' Daisy.

It was April 8, 2024 — also the day of the solar eclipse.

The team of surveyors checking out the solar eclipse that happened on the same day when the rare Saint Daisy was re-discovered.

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Sean Carson

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"We got out of the truck and put our solar eclipse glasses on," Carson said. "I had this great photo of we're all watching the solar eclipse happen. And it kind of just set this great mood, like we are now ready to go survey for these plants. And, you know, we kind of left the truck with this kind of like high hopes."

Carson said they had a bit of a hike ahead of them, as they were wandering up the hill. On their minds was the general description of the location Knapp gave them of where the plant was previously seen.

"It's kind of this steep terrain where, you know, soil's falling," Caron remembered. "You've got some manzanita, but then there's a kind of a dense area of pines and it's create this kind of canopy."

Santa Barbara Botanical Garden's Sean Carson, posing next to the Saint Daisy he re-discovered on Santa Cruz Island.

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Courtesy The Nature Conservancy

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It all felt very familiar to Carson.

"The understory just had that feeling where you're like your hair sticks up on your neck. And I'm like, 'OK, this seems like Saints' Daisy habitat,'" Carson said. "I just had that gut feeling."

The Saint Daisy bud Sean Carson found on Santa Cruz Island -- nearly 60 years after the plant was last seen.

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Sean Carson

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Other members of the survey team were within earshot, but Carson couldn't see them in his vicinity. He went toward an opening that is almost totally shaded under trees.

There again was that uncanny feeling.

"And lo and behold, I see the kind of dark green lime leaves just sticking above the ground," he said.

He ran toward the patch the size of a ping-pong table, got on his hands and knees, and saw the hair on the leaves, stems and the buds — one of the plant's indicators.

"I knew right then and there that it was the species — there was the Saints' Daisy," he said. "I started laughing and I was yelling at John. I can hear him come crashing through these, these dead pines and everyone else was coming from the right and the left."

Selfies were taken. Photos were snapped. High-fives were exchanged. And the team was cautious not to damage the plants, knowing how precious the rediscovery was.

Surveyors from left to right: Dario Berrini and Greg Bluffin from the San Diego Zoo, and Sean Carson from the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden.

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Courtesy The Nature Conservancy

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What's next

The Saint Daisy found on Santa Cruz Island in spring 2024.

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Sean Carson

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"It was a decade of work and here we finally found one and the fight is not over because we're going to have to do some work to recover this plant on the island," said Knapp from the Nature Conservancy.

To that end, the next step is to try to propagate the Saints' Daisy — and to protect it on the island from other threats including those stemming from our changing climate, like fire and prolonged drought.

Conservationists hope that Saints' Daisy will follow in the footsteps of two other plant species on Santa Cruz Island that were delisted as endangered species because of recovery efforts.

"The fact that we actually did not lose this [plant] from the island, because we have lost so much," Knapp said. "The euphoria, you know, it felt like we struck a point for nature."

Some government funding streams for L.A. County’s public health system are drying up, and officials are turning to private philanthropy to fill the gap.

A new privately funded foundation launched Thursday to strengthen public health services after $50 million in federal, state and local funding cuts to the county’s Department of Public Health since early last year.

“It is really a hard day for our community when we have to ask for private donations to fund a public good, but unfortunately, we've lost too much money to not take this important step,” said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

In February, the county’s Public Health Department closed seven clinics, with six remaining open. About half of the patients seen in those clinics are uninsured, according to county officials. The department also cut hundreds of staff positions.

Ferrer is on the board of the new foundation, The Fund for Advancing Public Health LA, which held its first meeting Thursday.

She said the fund will help the county maintain its basic public health infrastructure, including disease prevention, health promotion, environmental health, and emergency response efforts.

Other board members include several health insurance executives, as well as actors Sean Penn and Danny Trejo. Board member Saree Kayne of the R&S Kayne Foundation pledged $150,000 to the fund Thursday. Kayne said she hopes the donation encourages others to give.

The foundation aims to raise $2 million this year.

More cuts expected

L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell said it’s crucial to have an alternative funding stream to protect services for the county's most vulnerable residents.

“We are saving public health,” Mitchell said. “This fund represents a new approach, one that brings together government philanthropy in the private sector to invest in community-based solutions, protect vulnerable populations, and strengthen our public health infrastructure.”

Officials say more public health cuts are coming, through the federal budget law known as the "Big Beautiful Bill," which slashes funding for Medi-Cal.

The county Department of Public Health anticipates losing up to $300 million in revenue over the next three years because of the federal budget bill and other potential funding freezes. Federal funding accounts for almost 50% of the public health budget, according to county officials.

Mitchell also led an effort to put a half-percent county sales tax increase to fund public health on the June ballot.

If approved by voters, that proposal, known as Measure ER, is expected to raise about $1 billion a year for county safety net health services, including about $100 million for the public health department.

Board members

The Fund for Advancing Public Health LA announced its founding board of directors, which includes:

• Dr. Barbara Ferrer, LA County Department of Public Health director
• Debbie I. Chang, Blue Shield of California Foundation CEO
• Sean Penn, actor and co-founder of Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE)
• Martha Santana-Chin, LA Care Health Plan CEO
• Saree Kayne, R&S Kayne Foundation CEO
• Danny Trejo, actor and restaurateur
• Jarrett Barrios, an executive at the American Red Cross
• Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Charles R. Drew University College of Medicine Dean
• Kristin McCowan, an executive at the Los Angeles Dodgers

The Rose Bowl in Pasadena may be a centenarian, but it’s holding up pretty well as it continues to host events on its way to a starring role in the LA28 Olympics.

But before it can host the soccer final, it needs fixes, especially to the infrastructure serving the bathrooms and drinking fountains. Fears of a toilet backup while in the world’s spotlight led Rep. Laura Friedman to seek federal funds for upgrades. On Thursday she announced she secured just over $1 million.

“Two years from now, athletes around the world are going to compete for gold right where we are standing. This is not the time to find out whether or not these pipes are up to the task,” Friedman said.

The planned work, she added, will lead to improved water flow capacity and water drainage, eliminating the risk of backups and emergency maintenance.

The funds came from the House of Representatives Interior and Environment subcommittee. The fixes, an official said, will be completed by the LA28 Olympics.

The funds, however, are a drop in the bucket when it comes to what’s needed to make needed improvements to the Pasadena venue.

Officials, including (left to right) Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation President Dedan Brozino, Deputy Fire Chief of the City of Pasadena Tim Sell, Congresswoman Laura Friedman, and Rose Bowl Stadium CEO Jens Weiden announced infrastructure funding for the 103-year old Rose Bowl.

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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/LAist

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“Over the  next 20 years there's about $200 million that we need to put in and that's everything from updating light fixtures to updating gas, water, wastewater lines, etc.,” said Dedan Brozino,  president of the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation, the nonprofit that supports the Rose Bowl stadium's preservation and enhancement.

Getting venues ready will be expensive

The money is a much-needed win at a time when elected officials in city, county, state and federal offices have been struggling to find the funds to get L.A.-area venues ready for the global Olympic stage in two years.

The entrance to a men's bathroom at the Rose Bowl.

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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/LAist

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A $360 million proposal to spruce up asphalt in parking lots around Exposition Park won’t be done in time for the Olympics, as originally planned. Meanwhile, just up the street, there’s concern that a $2.6 billion expansion of the L.A. Convention Center, which is hosting Olympic wrestling, fencing and judo in 2028 won’t be ready for the Olympics.

Additionally, to save money, LA28 organizers moved Olympic diving to the Rose Bowl complex last year because it has two Olympic-sized pools, while the Exposition Park complex doesn't and would need expensive upgrades.

Topline:

About the chick: The chick hatched March 14. The zoo opened its Cape vulture enclosure in February 2025 after years of planning to encourage the birds to roost and nest, welcoming a new breeding pair that year. When it grows to be an adult, it’ll have a wingspan of 8 1/2 feet.

About the enclosure: The L.A. Zoo said it spent years developing the vulture habitat, which was designed to mimic the vultures’ natural environment in South Africa and nearby countries. Dominick Dorsa II, the zoo’s director of animal care, said in a statement the successful hatching is “a testament to the design and construction” of the habitat.

How to see the chick: You can’t for the time being. Zoo officials are keeping it away from visitors until the chick matures, though you can still see adult Cape vultures at the zoo’s enclosure.

Though visitors will have to wait until the chick matures to see it in the enclosure, you can still take in the impressive eight and a half foot wingspan of the adult Cape vultures.

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Courtesy Jamie Pham/L.A. Zoo

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What zoo officials are saying: “Welcoming a Cape vulture chick is a thrilling moment for our team and a beacon of hope for African vultures,” the L.A. Zoo’s curator of birds Rose Legato said in a statement. “Vultures are one of nature's most misunderstood marvels, and I cannot wait for our guests to eventually watch this chick grow and learn just how vital they are to our ecosystems.”

About the species: Cape vultures are listed as a vulnerable species due to human activities and encroachment. According to the L.A. Zoo, African vultures are more closely related to eagles and hawks than vultures native to the Americas, like the zoo's California condors that hatched last year.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

What should have been a celebration for formerly incarcerated youth completing a reentry program at the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory (BHAC) last week instead ended with seven students and two staff members detained by the Los Angeles Police Department, according to witnesses. 

Now, nearly a week later, BHAC staff and city officials are demanding answers from the LAPD, with some accusing officers of racial profiling. 

According to the LAPD, officers observed a large group gathered on the corner of Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and Mott Street around 4:16 p.m. on March 26. Authorities then requested backup for what they described as “a large group surrounding officers,” LAPD Public Information Officer Tony Im said. 

The group, classified by police as an “aggressive gang group,” consisted of seven 18-year-old students from the BHAC’s Bridge Academy Movement (BAM) program and two BHAC staff members.

The BAM program pays formerly incarcerated youth to complete 200-250 hours in media and visual arts training to prepare them for creative careers. That day, students were set to showcase their work at the BAM program graduation for families and community members. 

Rene Weber, a teaching artist at the BHAC, had been with the students setting up for the ceremony minutes before the incident occurred. 

According to Weber, the students had gone to coffee across the street at Milpa Kitchen as they often did, when staff were alerted that they were being detained. 

Weber said he arrived to find students and a staff member pressed against the wall in handcuffs. 

Video from the scene, taken by a staff member at the BHAC, shows multiple officers surrounding the group. At one point, an officer orders a person to “get on the wall” and displays a stun gun.  

“No, none of that, these are kids right here,” the staff member replies.

Another staff member, Teotl Veliz, recorded a large police response.  

“I counted 12 cop cars, that’s at least 25 cops, and they had a helicopter,” Veliz said. “It was just so comedic, tragically comedic, that it was on their graduation day too.”

Officers established a perimeter with yellow tape along the side of Ashley’s Beauty Salon as local business owners and witnesses gathered around the students. 

“I was just incredibly disappointed in LAPD… because it became so apparent to everybody, all at the same time, that it was racial profiling and nothing else,” Veliz said.

Weber said officers gave shifting explanations for the stop at the scene, including blocking the sidewalk and possible underage vaping. After Weber told the officers that all of the students were 18, they said they would investigate whether the group had any gang affiliation. 

Police have not responded to questions about what led officers to believe that the group was gang-affiliated. 

Weber recalled pleading with the officers to let the group go and explaining to them that they worked across the street. Community members and local business owners also stepped in to vouch for the students. 

“Our job is to help them gain a new perspective on life,” Weber said. “They’re coming out of juvenile detention and they’re turning their lives around. We can do our part in keeping them off the streets and keeping them doing better but what does it mean if they’re going to be profiled and treated exactly the same way?” 

In total, seven 18-year-old students and two staff members were detained. BHAC staff said one student and one staff member were taken to Hollenbeck Community Police Station and released less than two hours later after advocacy from community members and Councilmember Ysabel Jurado.

The incident ultimately resulted in an infraction for smoking a cannabis e-vape on a public sidewalk, according to a photo of the infraction shared with the Beat. LAPD did not provide details about the people taken to Hollenbeck Station or the infraction. 

The graduation ceremony was cancelled that night and is expected to be rescheduled in April. 

“Graduation should be a moment of pride and possibility — not fear,” Jurado said in a statement. “I’m seeking answers about what occurred, and this underscores the need for stronger relationships between law enforcement and community organizations so moments like these are protected, not disrupted.”

Carmelita Ramirez‑Sanchez, the conservatory’s executive director, said she was grateful to the community and Jurado for advocating for the students’ release. Jurado met her at Hollenbeck Station within 20 minutes of being alerted to the incident, she said. 

“They had store owners, señoras, barbers, that ran out and were trying to explain to the police who our kids were,” Ramirez‑Sanchez said. 

Still, she said the incident tarnished what should have been a joyous celebration.

“I imagine that what this does is derail this entire idea that you can be an active participant in your own restorative growth,” she said.