Yusra Farzan
covers Orange County and its 34 cities, watching those long meetings — boards, councils and more — so you don’t have to.
Published April 16, 2025 2:17 PM
Waves crash near the train tracks in San Clemente.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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Topline:
Orange County officials are moving forward with a series of projects to stabilize a stretch of coastal railway through San Clemente despite environmental critics saying the “haphazard” measures will only have short-term benefits.
About the measures: The emergency measures approved by the Orange County Transportation Authority board include the addition of more than 500,000 cubic yards of sand, as well as the repairing and additions of rock along the coastal railway. The California Coastal Commission’s permit approvals also include installing a 1,400-foot catchment wall to hold debris from landslides and restoring a pedestrian trail at Mariposa Point.
What environmentalists say: Environmental groups say that although the catchment wall will help address the issues that have led to railroad closures, the continued addition of rocks is exacerbating coastal erosion and limiting public access to the beach.
Read on ... for more on the project and what critics say.
Orange County officials are moving forward with a series of projects to stabilize a stretch of coastal railway through San Clemente despite environmental critics saying the “haphazard” measures will only have short term benefits.
The emergency measures approved by the Orange County Transportation Authority board include the addition of more than 500,000 cubic yards of sand, as well as the repairing and additions of rock along the coastal railway. The California Coastal Commission’s permit approvals also include installing a 1,400-foot catchment wall to hold debris from landslides and restoring a pedestrian trail at Mariposa Point.
But Mandy Sackett, senior California policy coordinator for Surfrider Foundation, said the “haphazard” short term rock walls won’t hold back the ocean and will instead destroy beach access for the public.
Environmental groups say that while the catchment wall will help address the issues that have led to railroad closures, the continued addition of rocks is exacerbating coastal erosion and limiting public access to the beach.
“If everything was natural, as coastal erosion happened, the beach would just move inland. But what the rocks do is that they put an arbitrary line in the sand and they fix the coastline right there,” said Suzie Whitelaw, president of Save Our Beaches San Clemente.
Storm waves crashing against the rocks, she said, then accelerate erosion.
“ It becomes a vicious cycle,” she said.
Sackett added that the current walls prevent the public from walking from city beaches to San Clemente State Beach and San Onofre State Beach.
The sand option
Whitelaw said sand is the the best solution for creating a long lasting buffer, adding ”the wide sandy beaches protected the tracks for 130 years until they got too narrow.”
The beaches along the rail got so narrow that there was no dry beach left, but sand replenishment efforts by the San Clemente City Council, she said, has now resulted in some dry sand in North Beach.
Researchers at UC Irvine have previously told LAist that sand is the natural defense against strong waves.
The stabilization measures include sand, but it’s not coming soon.
The California Coastal Commission granted emergency permits to OCTA, but now the transportation authority needs to obtain permits from the Army Corps of Engineers for the sand, with the project expected to start next year.
The commission also pushed back on a request to install a 1,200-foot rock wall near San Clemente State Beach, a decision applauded by environmental groups like the Surfrider Foundation.
“This is a $300-million public works project that the OCTA is trying to push through the emergency permit process, which kind of circumvents environmental review, any public input, and it's really frustrating,” Sackett said.
Joel Zlotnik, a spokesperson for OCTA, told LAist the work will result in the temporary closure of the rail line, but the agency is still working out a timeline. He added that OCTA obtained the money for the projects from the federal and state governments.
OCTA has spent about $40 million since 2021 to address emergency closures of the railroad, he said.
What is the long term outlook for the coastal rail corridor?
OCTA is currently spearheading the Orange County coastal rail resiliency study” to explore long term protection strategies for the coastal rail corridor. The report was supposed to come out later this year, but Zlotnik told LAist that it will likely be released in 2026 because the stabilization measures will take precedence.
“We want to make sure we have sufficient time to get enough meaningful feedback,” he said.
Libby Rainey
has been following the World Cup in Los Angeles.
Published July 11, 2026 5:00 AM
The 2026 FIFA Fan Festival was hosted at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
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Sean M. Haffey
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Getty Images
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Topline:
A community organization in Los Angeles is criticizing how the FBI enforced a strict no-drone policy around World Cup venues after federal agents disrupted a community gardening event in South L.A.
What happened: The incident took place the first Sunday of the tournament, while crowds were watching matches at the FIFA Fan Festival at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Nearby, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust was hosting a celebration for teenagers who had created a native plant garden. Then someone flew a drone to photograph the moment.
How were agents involved: Moments later, the Department of Homeland Security agents, Los Angeles police officers and the FBI were on the scene, according to an organizer. They confiscated the drone and fined the person operating it.
Background: The drone had violated temporary flight restrictions implemented for the World Cup.
Read on … for what organizers and the federal government had to say about the incident.
A community organization in Los Angeles is criticizing how the FBI enforced a strict no-drone policy around World Cup venues after federal agents disrupted a community gardening event in South L.A.
The incident took place the first Sunday of the tournament, while crowds were watching matches at the FIFA Fan Festival at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Nearby, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust was hosting a celebration for teenagers who had created a native plant garden on a patch of land that used to be an oil drilling site.
Then someone flew a drone to photograph the moment. Minutes later, Department of Homeland Security agents and Los Angeles police officers were on the scene, according to Bz Zhang, a project manager who was helping run the event. Soon the FBI arrived. They confiscated the drone and fined the person operating it.
The Neighborhood Land Trust was hosting a celebration for teenagers who had created a native plant garden on a patch of land that used to be an oil drilling site when authorities arrived.
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Wendy Salvador
)
" We were unknowingly in violation of federal airspace, and we were told that we were a threat to national security," said Zhang, who witnessed the encounter.
The drone had violated temporary flight restrictions implemented for the World Cup. The Federal Aviation Authority has banned unauthorized drones within "3-nautical-mile radius and up to 3,000 feet above ground level" around stadiums on match days and also prohibited them around certain fan events, like the one at the Coliseum.
Since the tournament started in L.A., federal authorities have seized dozens of drones near SoFi Stadium and the Coliseum, according to the FBI. In total, more than 600 drones have been confiscated across the country.
The crackdown is part of an effort across all 11 U.S. host cities to identify and remove unauthorized drones from the skies around World Cup venues and fan events. Ahead of the tournament, FEMA awarded host cities $250 million specifically to combat drone usage.
"We knew we needed to act quickly to keep the World Cup safe from the rising threat of unmanned aircraft systems and that’s exactly what we did,” said Karen Evans, FEMA's acting cdministrator, in a statement announcing those funds.
But Zhang said that the incident at the garden represented the unintended consequences of hosting mega-events like the World Cup for ordinary community members.
" It's one thing to be aware of construction. … It's another to be expected as residents to know, to the 10th of a mile, that I'm in a particular zone and that, to the hour, I need to be in compliance," Zhang said.
Laura Eimiller, FBI spokesperson, disagreed. She said drone operators are responsible for knowing the rules and that every person in L.A. who had a drone confiscated during the World Cup also received a fine.
"There's been a zero-tolerance approach," Eimiller said.
Robert Garrova
explores the weird and secret bits of SoCal that would excite even the most jaded Angelenos. He also covers mental health.
Published July 11, 2026 5:00 AM
Kerckhoff Marine Lab, Corona del Mar, circa 1935
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Courtesy Caltech photo archives
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Topline:
Hiding out among the luxury beachfront condos in the Newport Beach neighborhood of Corona Del Mar is Caltech’s Kerckhoff Marine Laboratory.
A ‘magical’ marine station: The place is one of the oldest running marine labs on the West Coast. Scientists that have conducted research there include Wheeler North, who studied the ecology of kelp forest.
Keep reading ...to find out how you can visit ...
Hiding out among the luxury beachfront condos in the Newport Beach neighborhood of Corona Del Mar is an outpost where scientists have been conducting important marine research for nearly a century.
And you can go check the place out for yourself.
A ‘magical’ marine station
With its Spanish style architecture that includes a central tower and red-tiled roof, Caltech’s Kerckhoff Marine Laboratory looks like it’s been teleported in from another time and place.
Originally built as a boat and club house, it was purchased by Caltech in 1929 for use as a beachfront science outpost.
Victoria Orphan, James Irvine Professor of Environmental Science at Caltech and director of the Kerckhoff Marine Lab, said the place is one of the oldest running marine labs on the West Coast.
“There’s something just really magical about marine stations. They’re rustic, so it’s not like you’re going into a fully polished clean room. But that’s part of the charm and you really feel the history,” Orphan said.
One of her favorite spots? The tower. That’s where Orphan said some famous papers were written.
“Sometimes when I have writer’s block, I’ll go and sit in the tower and try to channel the scientists of old,” she told LAist.
That would include the work of Wheeler North, one of Orphan’s heroes. From 1962 to 2002, he conducted pioneering research on the ecology of kelp forests. Orphan said North’s work was instrumental for learning how an imbalance in the sea urchin population can decimate kelp forests.
These days that important research continues, with scientists at the lab looking at how microbes can capture carbon dioxide, mitigating global warming. They even have a 4-foot, bright yellow autonomous vehicle that scans the seafloor so scientists can learn more about seagrasses, which are important for oxygen creation and carbon capture, serve as fish nurseries and help protect the coastline from storm surge.
Kerckhoff Marine Laboratory in Corona del Mar
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Courtesy Caltech photo archive
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“In areas where you have seagrass, you get less sediment erosion [and] a little more protection of the property on land, which people who live on the coast care about,” Orphan explained.
Engineers from Jet Propulsion Laboratory are also interested in using autonomous vehicles in cooperation with the lab to see how they can help study the deep ocean right outside the harbor.
You can visit the lab to learn about all of the science going on there, with free open houses on Tuesdays and monthly ‘Science and Sunsets’ events that include dinner and cocktails at the historic outpost.
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Mariana Dale
explores and explains the forces that shape how and what kids learn whether they’re at school or visiting the library.
Published July 10, 2026 5:15 PM
Matthew Reinhart, left, and Daniel González, right, created “Luceros y Penumbras,” a pop-up book seeking to break the world record for size.
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Mariana Dale
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LAist
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Topline:
A pop-up book that’s seeking to break the world record for size has unfolded at the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles.
The backstory: Luceros y Penumbras, which roughly translates to “starlight and shadows,” is part of the Central Library’s centennial celebration. The towering tome is rooted in L.A. artist Daniel González’s experience visiting the library and his family in Mexico as a child. “It's a knowledge tree that's been shaped by all these different things that I've learned at the library, about myself, about the city I grew up in [and] about the town where my family's from,” González said.
How it was made: González sketched the images, carved them into linoleum, printed them with ink and then digitized them to add color and other details. Matthew Reinhart, a paper engineer, author and illustrator, designed the three-dimensional build. “ My job is really making mistakes,” Reinhart said. “Making mistakes, figuring out where they are and solving them and— of course— making them look good.”
The stats: Luceros y Penumbras is four pages that open to create two scenes— one of the Central Library building and another of a sprawling tree. The book is 31 feet wide, more than 11 feet tall, and weighs 1,800 pounds.
How to visit: The pop-up book is on display in the rotunda from Saturday through mid-November during the Central Library’s regular hours.
Read on ... to learn more about what it took to create this 1,800-pound pop-up book.
A pop-up book that’s seeking to break the world record for size has unfolded at the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles.
The art piece is 31 feet wide, more than 11 feet tall, and weighs in at 1,800 pounds.
Luceros y Penumbras, which roughly translates to “starlight and shadows,” is rooted in L.A. artist Daniel González’s experience visiting the library and his family in Mexico as a child.
“It's a knowledge tree that's been shaped by all these different things that I've learned at the library, about myself, about the city I grew up in, [and] about the town where my family's from,” González said.
The nonprofit Library Foundation of Los Angeles collaborated with the library to commission the piece as part of the Central Library’s centennial celebration.
The project is inspired, in part, by the library’s Toy Movable collection, an archive of more than 2,000 pop-up books.
“Normal pop-up books … they seem so simple, but something amazing pops out when you open the page,” said Todd Lerew, the foundation’s director of special projects. “That sort of childlike wonder that you feel that's persistent, even as an adult, is something that was really important to capture and dial up to 11 with this project.”
The origin of 'Luceros'
The foundation asked González in June 2025 to create a book that told the story of his personal relationship with the library. As González pondered questions including ”What did the library do for me as a young person?" and "Why was I so attracted to it?" he thought about how knowledge was passed down in his family through the generations.
His grandmother told him stories about the stars above her farm near Teúl, Zacatecas, in Mexico. She said those that emerged at dawn — luceros — were among the most special because they signaled the start of a new day.
“ I looked at those stars … and the histories that my grandparents were sharing with me as these guiding lights,” González said. “Just like the library is a guiding light for many people.”
Daniel González's maternal grandmother, Isabel Gómez, told him stories about the creatures that lived near her farm, including owls, that could teach healing.
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Courtesy Daniel González
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González grew up blocks away from the Benjamin Franklin Library in Boyle Heights.
“ I spent summers there because it was literally the coolest place to be,” González said. “It just gave me the opportunity to explore anything that I had an interest in.”
Daniel González, as a child, after an unsuccessful attempt to make a kite after a trip to the library. "My dad's like, 'I'm gonna take a picture of you so you can see what you look like when you get grumpy,'" he said.
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Courtesy Daniel González
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Later, he’d visit the Central Library during a middle school field trip and return on the bus to wander the stacks and ask the staff questions.
“ I'm really lucky that I met the people that nurtured that curiosity,” González said.
From sketches to ‘paper engineering’
First, González sketched the images, carved them into linoleum, printed them with ink and digitized them to add color and other details.
A few of Daniel González's tools. In the future, he plans to sell prints related to "Luceros y Penumbras."
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Mariana Dale
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LAist
)
Matthew Reinhart, children’s book author, illustrator and “paper engineer,” was tasked with translating the images into three dimensions.
“ My job is really making mistakes,” Reinhart said. “Making mistakes, figuring out where they are and solving them and — of course — making them look good.”
The construction and the fabrication of the book took the work of more than 30 people over a series of months. At least a dozen people using giant poles capped with cushions turn the pages.
Fast facts about Luceros y Penumbras
Dimensions: 31 feet wide, more than 11 feet tall, and Weight: More than 1,800 pounds Materials: paper, corrugated cardboard and fabric Artist:Daniel González Paper engineer:Matthew Reinhart Fabricated by:Goodnight & Co.
Luceros y Penumbras is four pages that open to create two scenes — one of the Central Library building and another of a sprawling tree with an I Spy-like collection of creatures and images throughout. The featured pages will change throughout the exhibition, which is open until mid-November.
There are at least a dozen different symbols throughout “Luceros y Penumbras."
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Mariana Dale
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LAist
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The sea turtle at the base of the tree is a reference both to the creatures that live in the San Gabriel River and to the original inhabitants of the L.A. basin. The Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe tells a story that connects the region’s earthquakes to the turtles.
“When we think of sea turtles, we think of these faraway places where they live, like tropical places,” González said. “But they exist here and they've had to adapt to a changing climate, a changing environment, and find places to call home, just as people do.”
Other images include:
A star resting in an outstretched hand in honor of Octavia E. Butler, the science fiction writer who also spent time in the library.
Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent Aztec deity and a frequent motif in East L.A.’s murals.
An owl, a symbol of knowledge associated with the Greek goddess Athena and the Roman goddess Minerva.
González said the goal is for viewers to create their own narrative about what they see.
“ I just hope that people carry with them a sense of curiosity to further explore the things that I present, but also maybe something within them,” González said.
Visit the pop-up book
Central Library Centennial Festival
See Luceros y Penumbras — and visit LAist — at the celebration of the library’s 100th birthday. When: Saturday, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Cost: Free Address:630 W. Fifth St., Los Angeles More information, including parking, here.
On display
When: Saturday through mid-November Address: Central Library, 630 W. Fifth St. Los Angeles Hours: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Wednesday 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Sunday Parking: Validated rate available during library hours at 524 S. Flower St., more information
Lucas Brady Woods
covers the weather and disasters, among other climate and science topics.
Published July 10, 2026 4:33 PM
The Summit Fire is burning in a part of the Antelope Valley that is dotted with Joshua trees and other desert plants.
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CalFire
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Topline:
Multiple evacuation orders are in place for residents near a fast-growing fire in the Antelope Valley and the Angeles National Forest, near the L.A. County and San Bernardino County line.
What we know so far: The fire is burning in a remote area but appears to be moving southward, toward the foothills below Wrightwood.
Read on ... for more on evacuations.
For the most up-to-date information about the fire:
Multiple evacuation orders were in place Friday for residents near a fast-growing fire in the Antelope Valley and the Angeles National Forest, near the L.A. County and San Bernardino County line. A smoke advisory is in effect for parts of L.A. County.
As of Saturday morning, the Summit Fire had burned more than 2,500 acres since it sparked earlier in the day and was moving south toward the foothills below Wrightwood.
Evacuation orders are in place for multiple areas in the Antelope Valley near the Angeles National Forest; multiple evacuations are also in place in L.A. and San Bernardino counties.
An evacuation shelter has been opened at the Antelope Valley YMCA in Lancaster. Small pets are allowed in the evacuation shelter. Small animals can also be taken to the Los Angeles County Animal Care Center in Palmdale.
L.A. County and Angeles National Forest fire crews are working to contain the blaze. Authorities said structures are threatened, but they have yet to specify the type of structures or how many. Several aircraft are involved in the firefight.
The L.A. County Fire Department responded to the reports of the brush fire at 12:49 p.m.
The basics
Acreage: over 2,500 acres as of Saturday morning.
Containment: 0%
Structures destroyed: None reported (though authorities said structures are threatened).
The Summit Fire was first reported early Friday afternoon near Llano in the Antelope Valley. It is burning near the L.A. County and San Bernardino County line. It grew rapidly throughout the afternoon. Weather conditions are expected to stay warm with gusty winds for the rest of the day and into the night.
The area where the Summit Fire began is sparsely populated.
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CalFire
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