Erin Stone
covers climate and environmental issues in Southern California.
Published March 24, 2026 5:00 AM
Red sand verbena, a native dune plant, blossoms with small purple flowers in the spring and is a key plant for the formation of dunes.
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Erin Stone
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LAist
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Topline:
Some 30 acres of sand dunes will be restored on an iconic stretch of beach in Santa Monica to help combat rising sea levels and worsening erosion.
The background: Thousands of acres of sand dunes once stretched from south of Santa Monica to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, providing habitat for local wildlife and buffering the coast against storms. Development and worsening climate change is threatening the beaches as we know them today, but research is finding bringing back dunes could help.
Keep reading...for more details on the restoration effort and how to get involved.
On a recent morning, traffic on Pacific Coast Highway sped by the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica, below where San Vicente Boulevard and Ocean Avenue meet. A few hundred yards away, the waves crashed on the shore.
But 100 years ago, when Hollywood starlet Marion Davies lived in this once-rural spot of coast, standing this close to the house would put you knee deep in water at high tide.
“That low white concrete wall was the sea wall to protect the pool, to protect the backyard of that home,” said Tom Ford, CEO of the Santa Monica Bay Foundation, gesturing toward the house.
A century ago this wide flat beach was far narrower. Many beaches in the Santa Monica Bay were artificially widened from the 1930s through the 1960s.
The sand came from an ancient system of coastal dunes that extended from LAX all the way to the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The endangered El Segundo blue butterfly is found only in the dunes’ restored, fragmented remains.
Expanding dune restoration
Now, change is coming again to this iconic stretch of beach. For a decade, The Bay Foundation has been figuring out how to bring back pieces of those ancient dunes. So far, the nonprofit has restored small patches of dunes on beaches from Point Dume to Manhattan Beach.
Their latest, and largest dune restoration effort so far, will extend about 30 acres south of Santa Monica pier to the border with Venice. Announced last month, it’s possible thanks to a partnership with the city and a $2 million state grant.
The nonprofit first installed dunes in Santa Monica in 2016 — “installed” meaning they put in a simple rope and little wood fence around about 3 acres, then scattered a bunch of native dune plant seeds. Nature did the rest.
The historic extent of sand dunes in the southern Santa Monica Bay.
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Courtesy Kyle Emery
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UC Santa Barbara
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Now across about 8 acres of this beach, dunes up to 5 feet tall are crowned with low-lying plants: blossoming yellow beach evening primrose flowers, light green beach bur, saltbush — a foundational plant for growing dunes, Ford said.
“These are super tough characters. They can handle the salt water, they can handle the salt air," Ford said. “Their big roots are extending down into the beach.”
The native dune plants will provide more habitat to shorebirds, including snowy plovers, a threatened species.
Snowy plovers are a threatened species.
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Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Southeast
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Licensed under CC BY 2.0
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Ropes and signs surround the dunes to discourage people from trampling them.
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Erin Stone
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LAist
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Within a few months of the dunes installation in 2016, a snowy plover nest appeared on Santa Monica Beach for the first time in some 70 years. Now, they can be spotted scurrying about the driftwood and dune plants.
Birds migrating thousands of miles along the Pacific Flyway will be able to rest and forage here too.
Not only that, the dunes can lessen the amount of sand that blows onto the bike path, parking lots and roads, a regular nuisance for city maintenance crews.
Help restore dunes
The Bay Foundation relies on volunteers to help with dune restoration, and a lot more help will be needed as the nonprofit expands their efforts. Find volunteer opportunities here.
Dunes and sea level rise
Long term, the dunes can help combat rising sea levels.
“Between the sea level rising and getting taller, more frequent, more violent storms hitting our coastline, we're likely to lose the beach,” Ford said.
But dunes “start to build a beach that grows in height, and that helps us keep up with sea level rise,” Ford said.
Tom Ford, CEO of the Santa Monica Bay Foundation.
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Erin Stone
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LAist
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Ford picks up trash next to a plant blossoming on a dune.
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Erin Stone
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LAist
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Sand dunes can withstand only so much water,but the Santa Monica dunes have been shown to reduce erosion and flooding.
Native dune plants hold onto sand, while allowing the dunes to remain dynamic, reducing erosion. That’s opposed to introduced species like iceplant, which have squeezed out many native dune plants and are akin to concrete to wildlife.
When not carpeted by iceplant, the dunes themselves can absorb waves’ energy, displacing less sand and redistributing it in a way that allows the beach to recover. In contrast, sea walls trigger a scouring effect when the waves reverberate off of them, said UC Santa Barbara coastal ecologist Kyle Emery, who is part of a team that has surveyed more than 120 dune restoration sites across the state, including the Santa Monica dunes.
His research found that those dunes also reduced flooding on the beach during significant storms in the winter of 2023.
“That restored dune site was able to prevent about 14 meters or 50 feet of water runup on the beach,” Emery said.
A batch of younger dunes forming on Santa Monica beach.
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Erin Stone
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LAist
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There are only so many ways to adapt to rising sea levels. We may have to abandon some areas. Nourishing beaches with sandis one expensive tool.There’s hard infrastructure like sea walls, but that’s costly and worsens erosion. You can build sand berms like the ones that go up in the winter in Orange County — those can protect infrastructure, but don’t have much benefit for wildlife (or ocean views).
As for dunes?
“We've demonstrated that this nature-based solution can protect against sea level rise and storm-driven wave erosion,” Emery said.
Still, Emery emphasized, dunes are no silver bullet. Dunes won’t work everywhere, and some places are likely to simply be too inundated with water. More long-term research is needed, Emery said, but so far the research on dunes shows promise. A 2023 state law requires all coastal areas to plan for sea level rise — dunes are mentioned as a nature-based strategy. And Proposition 4, passed by voters in 2024, provides dedicated funding for such coastal resilience efforts.
The wide, flat, groomed beach we're all used to in Santa Monica.
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Erin Stone
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LAist
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Restored dunes stretch along the shore in the other direction.
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Erin Stone
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LAist
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Bolsa Chica State Beach, for example, is likely to seek such funding for its own burgeoning dune restoration effort (mostly to help with sand that piles up in parking lots and on Pacific Coast Highway), as are parts of south Orange County, where beach erosion has been a major problem for infrastructure, such as the Pacific Surfliner tracks, said Riley Pratt, a senior environmental scientist for State Parks Orange Coast District.
“ I think the writing is on the wall, and we're now looking at it differently, that we really need to get ahead of this,” Pratt said.
In Santa Monica, the dunes are something of a test. We’ve become used to volleyball and sunbathing on wide, groomed stretches of sand, but maybe it’s time to make room for dunes, too. They may be cluttered with some trash, but there’s also a patchwork of plants and small birds foraging. There’s also driftwood and kelp — once the foundations of developing dunes before we came accustomed to scraping the beach clean.
It’s a more complicated version of beach, but likely a more sustainable one.
Beach evening primrose is a native dune plant that helps stabilize sandy soils and provides habitat for coastal wildlife.
Courtney Eileen Fulcher
is the apprentice news clerk for AirTalk and FilmWeek, hosted by Larry Mantle.
Published June 29, 2026 5:32 PM
A 1938 photo of KNX's studios.
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Herman J Schultheis
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Los Angeles Public Library
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Topline:
With KNX's shift last month back to AM radio only, we asked Southern Californians to share their memories of listening to the radio.
Why now: Back in April, broadcast company Audacy announced it was moving KNX News — one of the last-remaining all-news FM stations — off 97.1 FM, but keeping the long-running news format on 1070 AM where it's been for more than 100 years. The move officially happened in May to make way for a new sports talk station.
A radio time capsule: AirTalk, LAist's flagship daily news show which airs on 89.3 FM, asked listeners to share their favorite memories of listening to the radio.
Continue reading... for vintage photos from The Los Angeles Public Library's digital archive collections highlighting Southern California's rich radio history.
Southern California was built on radio.
"I can still hear the jingle KFWB News 98,” wrote Taline in Los Feliz, during a recent conversation on LAist's daily news show, AirTalk, which airs on 89.3 FM. “I grew up hearing that in my dad's minivan on the way to and from school. It has a special place in my heart.”
Back in April, broadcast company Audacy announced KNX News — one of the last-remaining all-news FM stations — was leaving the FM dial where it had simulcast on 97.1 FM since 2021. The station, which is also one of the oldest in L.A., is not budging from 1070 AM where it has been on the air for more than 100 years. The move away from FM officially happened in May to make way for a new sports talk station, which Audacy officials called an area of growth for advertisers in today’s media landscape.
The move is one in a long line of changes for radio and a reminder that before podcasts, playlists and algorithms, many Southern Californians built their days around radio broadcasts.
Radio, a daily ritual
The construction of KNX
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Herman J. Schultheis
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Los Angeles Public Library
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Michael Jackson, a well-known KNX, personality
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Los Angeles Public Library
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Larry Mantle, now in his 41st year hosting AirTalk, remembers being a kid and dreaming of what it might be like to be behind the mic at one of these radio stations.
“ I grew up with KNX," he said. “My dream job as a kid was to be an anchor on KNX or KFWB, the two local all-news radio stations, 'cause there was nothing like hosting AirTalk that even existed at that point.”
Mantle opened up the phone lines on a recent show to hear from his fellow SoCal radio lovers about the shows they miss and the memories they have. Here's what they had to say:
A love for radio, then and now
A pilot of KMPC's traffic alert helicopter pictured with his daughter and grandson.
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Los Angeles Public Library
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A 1963 picture of Valley State College (now Los Angeles Valley College) preparing to launch KVCM
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Larry Leach
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Los Angeles Public Library
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“When you'd walk down Hollywood Boulevard where the station was, you could hear it playing as you went down the street,” said Olivia in Glendale about KLAC 570 with Al Jarvis.
Larry in Yorba Linda shouted out KBCA Jazz for its 24-hour jazz, saying “When I first moved out here in '68 from Phoenix, which had like an hour a week, it was a real wonder.”
Mark in Glassell Park emailed that he loves KCRW’s Henry Rollins, writing, “I used to bristle at his unique DJ persona, but over time, I came to love him and his crazy eclectic playlists. I find his knowledge in history and punk rock fascinating. He's a gem and a legend."
"I'd like to give a shout-out to all the DJs working at KXLU, the college station at Loyola Marymount University, said Jeremy in Culver City in an email. “That station's been on the air for nearly 60 years. I believe it's one of the best examples of what's possible with radio."
"KFWB and KRLA back in the day when they were rock music stations — Dr. Demento, one of my favorite on-air personalities, also had eclectic music taste," said Carrie in Desert Edge.
“ Dr. Demento was must listening when I was a kid in junior high school at Le Conte Junior High in Hollywood,” Mantle added. “Every Sunday night on KMET, we would make sure we were listening to Dr. Demento and his funny records.”
The question remains…
An 11-year-old winning a car in a KMPC contest in 1963.
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Los Angeles Public Library
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Listener support is vital to any radio station, and it’s clear KNX has many lifelong fans. AirTalk listeners highlighted their support for household KNX names over the decades like Bill Keene, Melinda Lee, Mike Roy and Jackie Olden.
As KNX makes changes, many are watching closely and thinking about the future of radio.
Listeners like Tommy in La Quinta are left wondering if the radio dial will be the same…
“I’m a hardcore listener, but I don't know about casual listeners [and] if they'll tune to AM,” he said.
Libby Rainey
has been tracking how L.A. is preparing for the 2028 Olympic Games.
Published June 29, 2026 5:02 PM
LA28 chair Casey Wasserman speaks with L.A. Mayor Karen Bass at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on August 10, 2024.
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Luke Hales
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Getty Images
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Topline:
After months of hand-wringing, Los Angeles and LA28 have come to a tentative agreement on how Olympics organizers will reimburse the city for its expenses for the 2028 Summer Games.
What's in the deal? The private Olympic organizing committee will pay upfront for the estimated cost of services that are not eligible for federal reimbursement, like trash pick-up and traffic control. Under another proposal, the city would also be able to tap an LA28 contingency fund if it isn't fully repaid by the federal government for policing costs at Olympic venues.
What happens now: The agreement is nearly nine months overdue and still needs approval by Mayor Karen Bass and the city council. The City Council's ad-hoc committee on the 2028 Games will meet Tuesday afternoon to vote on the agreement.
Concerns remain: The contract between the two parties doesn't fully resolve one of the biggest areas of financial risk for the city: the enormous cost of security for an event as extensive and high-profile as the summer Olympics and Paralympics.
Read on...for more on concerns over security costs for 2028.
After months of hand-wringing, Los Angeles and LA28 have come to a tentative agreement on how Olympics organizers will reimburse the city for its expenses for the 2028 Summer Games.
According to the deal, the private Olympic organizing committee will pay upfront for the estimated cost of services that are not eligible for federal reimbursement, like trash pick-up and traffic control. Under another proposal, the city would also be able to tap an LA28 contingency fund if it isn't fully repaid by the federal government for policing costs at Olympic venues.
The agreement is nearly nine months overdue and still needs approval by Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council.
The 2028 Olympics are intended to be privately financed, and an existing city agreement with LA28 states that the Olympics organizers, not L.A., will pay for extra costs for public services in support of the Games. But L.A. is the financial back-stop for the Olympics, meaning if LA28 goes in the red, taxpayers will pick up the bill.
Beyond that, the city services agreement presents another area where L.A. could incur additional unexpected expenses for hosting the Games. L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez warned LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover earlier this year that a bad deal could "bankrupt" the city.
Jacie Prieto Lopez, an LA28 spokesperson, and Paul Krekorian, who leads the city's office of major events, said in statements that the freshly inked agreement would help deliver a fiscally responsible Games.
"Mayor Bass’ priority is that the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games be fiscally responsible, protect taxpayers, and benefit Angelenos for decades to come. This agreement helps deliver that commitment," Krekorian said.
But the contract between the two parties doesn't fully resolve one of the biggest areas of financial risk for the city: the enormous cost of security for an event as extensive and high-profile as the summer Olympics and Paralympics.
The federal government has so far allocated $1 billion for security costs for the Olympics. Exactly where those federal funds will go has not yet been determined, and there's no guarantee they will cover all of L.A.'s policing costs.
To address this, city officials have also proposed an amendment to a 2021 agreement between the city and LA28. That amendment would establish that if L.A. is not reimbursed by the federal government for all its eligible expenses, it could dip into LA28's contingency fund of $270 million before the private organizing committee could use those funds for any legacy projects.
But that bucket of money will first be used for any costs that Olympics organizers still owe if they run out of revenue — meaning if the Olympics don't turn a profit, the city's access to that money will depend on how much is left for the taking.
Civil rights attorney Connie Rice, who has been tracking the city's negotiations with LA28, told LAist the agreement was a "PR document" not a deal. She pointed out that if the federal government does not pay up for security spending as expected, L.A. could be in trouble.
" It leaves the taxpayers with a GoFundMe strategy," she said.
The city services agreement lays the groundwork for more negotiations between LA28 and the city. Each venue will require its own agreement, to be negotiated by July 1, 2027. Venues in the city of L.A. include Dodger Stadium, the L.A. Convention Center, L.A. Memorial Coliseum and the Venice Beach Boardwalk.
The City Council's ad-hoc committee on the 2028 Games will meet Tuesday afternoon to vote on the agreement.
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Lucas Brady Woods
covers the weather and disasters, among other climate and science topics.
Published June 29, 2026 4:54 PM
Cleanup is underway now at the Boyle Heights food storage warehouse that spewed smoke around L.A. earlier this month.
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Alejandra Molina
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Boyle Heights Beat
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Topline:
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed a pair of executive orders Monday to ramp up efforts to clean the mess left by the fire that burned for a week at a Boyle Heights warehouse.
Why now: Since the warehouse fire was put out, the 85 million pounds of frozen food stored inside is now rotting, spreading foul smells throughout surrounding neighborhoods and raising concerns about an influx of pests. Residents have also been left with worries about air and water contamination after the fire and possible long-term public health effects.
Spoiled food removal: Bass and city officials said Monday the warehouse owner, Lineage, began moving food debris on Sunday to landfills in Ventura and Riverside counties. The company predicts it will take 5,000 truckloads to remove it all.
Reducing odors: Lineage plans to apply a chemical deodorizer, likely chlorine dioxide, to the food, debris and trucks leaving the warehouse. It’s also installing devices within the warehouse that will spray mist over the food inside until it is moved.
Pest control: Lineage is responsible for pest management inside the warehouse, while the city of Los Angeles is responsible for it outside the warehouse. Both have hired private contractors to manage pest control.
Air and water testing: The South Coast Air Quality Management District is overseeing efforts to measure harmful material in the air and posting data to its online air quality map. Lineage also hired private contractor Onterris to monitor air quality in the community surrounding the warehouse, with South Coast AQMD’s oversight. The Los Angeles Department of Sanitation has been monitoring water flowing from the site since firefighting operations began. It’s using a variety of methods, including containment tanks and catch basins, to divert the runoff into the sewer and prevent it from flowing into the L.A. River.
What’s next: Bass’ two executive orders are intended to accelerate cleanup efforts, protect residents and hold accountable the companies responsible for the facility and its safety. One order directs the Fire Department to report on its investigation into the cause of the fire within 90 days. The orders also include a number of provisions to help Boyle Heights residents and businesses, including free public transit, financial assistance and expanded public health resources.
Why it matters: Officials and advocates have called for transparency around the cleanup, especially because they say the neighborhood has been historically under-resourced and disproportionately subjected to environmental burdens. One of the orders signed Monday directs city officials to compile a report within 45 days on industrial areas across Los Angeles that sit close to homes and schools. The report also must include possible zoning and land use changes that would reduce negative health effects from existing and future industrial facilities.
Aaron Schrank
has been on the ground, reporting on homelessness and other issues in L.A. for more than a decade.
Published June 29, 2026 4:36 PM
Tents in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles on June 11, 2026.
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Apu Gomes / AFP
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Getty Images
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Topline:
L.A.’s lead homelessness agency, LAHSA, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Monday, asking a judge for relief from a federal funding suspension it calls unjustified.
How we got here: On June 11, HUD suspended the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority from federal grant activity pending an investigation into alleged mismanagement. The federal agency said the suspension means LAHSA cannot fulfill its role as collaborative applicant for the entire region’s application for federal homelessness dollars for the upcoming fiscal year. In its lawsuit, LAHSA says the suspension is the Trump administration’s back door attempt to eliminate the Continuum of Care program in L.A., which gives local officials discretion over homelessness projects submitted for federal funding.
LAHSA’s challenge: LAHSA says HUD has failed to identify any public agreement or transaction that LAHSA has violated or cite proper evidence of mismanagement. LAHSA also claims several inaccuracies and misrepresentations in HUD’s original suspension letter, including relying on reviews that LAHSA says were irrelevant to federal funding. “HUD supports its position with an amalgamation of uncorroborated hearsay information apparently cherry-picked from the internet,” the complaint states.
Legal argument: LAHSA's attorneys contend that HUD unlawfully suspended funding, arguing that the action violates the Administrative Procedure Act, the Constitution's separation of powers principle, and the Tenth Amendment. LAHSA is asking for a stay of the HUD suspension pending judicial review and a permanent injunction barring head from suspending LAHSA or blocking the work of the Los Angeles Continuum of Care.
Why it matters: The deadline for the L.A. region to submit its application to HUD for regional homelessness grants is Aug. 26. LAHSA says the suspension jeopardizes $241 million in federal funding that supports more than 11,000 people across L.A. County. LAHSA says the HUD suspension could prevent the agency from other activities, including releasing the findings of its 2026 homeless count conducted in January.
