The Brief

Half of the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep tracked by scientists died during last season’s record-breaking winter, according to researchers interviewed by LAist.

Some sheep got trapped in avalanches, some died of starvation, and some were killed by mountain lions when the sheep were forced to move to lower elevations to look for food.

The population is now estimated at 360 sheep, a 40% decline from a year ago, according to Tom Stephenson, who heads the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program. That estimate includes new lambs that were born in the spring.

Some herds, including two of the three living in Yosemite National Park, have been mostly or perhaps entirely wiped out.

During their summer field surveys, researchers found just one live ewe, the term for adult female bighorns, from Yosemite's Mount Gibbs herd. Last year there were 20.

They found no live ewes from Yosemite's Cathedral Range herd, which they say leaves little chance the herd can recover naturally.

"It's frustrating," Stephenson said. "I've spent a lot of my career trying to get this animal to recovery. And when you think you have it figured out, you'll get a curveball thrown at you like a winter as extreme as the one we just had."

The extent of the devastation is evident in the field notes recorded since the beginning of 2023 and posted on the recovery program's website:

• Taboose Creek herd, Feb. 1: "All collared ewes are believed to be dead from heavy snows this winter."
• Mount Williamson herd, Feb. 23: "4 bighorn have been killed by lion predation since January, and as many as 6 others may have died due to heavy snows this winter."
• Sawmill Canyon herd, April 16: "7 bighorn are known to have been killed by lions in Sawmill Canyon since January, including a ewe that was captured 4 days prior to lion predation."
• Laurel Creek herd, May 27: "All collared animals are believed to have died this past winter and spring during heavy snows."
• Big Arroyo herd, May 27: "All collared animals are believed to have died this winter, during heavy snows."

State and federal wildlife officials have managed Sierra bighorn herds since the 1970s in an effort to re-establish a healthy population. The sheep were listed as an endangered species in 1999.

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Courtesy: Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program

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CA Department of Fish & Wildlife

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Other Sierra Nevada herds fared better, including Yosemite's Mount Warren herd. In the Mount Baxter herd, which is the largest, near the eastern Sierra town of Independence, researchers observed 75 sheep over the summer.

Researchers try to keep tracking collars on about one-third of all female ewes in order to gauge a herd's health and ability to reproduce. They generally collar fewer rams. Half of the collared animals died over the winter.

The bighorn recovery team also does winter and summer surveys of the areas occupied by the 14 bighorn herds they monitor, but some sheep territory is difficult to access. Researchers say it’s possible some sheep in the hardest-hit herds survived and simply couldn't be found.

"I don't want to let go of this idea that there still might be sheep out there," said Sarah Stock, a Yosemite National Park wildlife ecologist, referring to the decimated Cathedral Range herd. "But I am also realistic at the same time."

Brief history of the Sierra Nevada bighorn

The Sierra Nevada bighorn broke off from their desert bighorn cousins to form a distinct subspecies some 600,000 years ago, according to John Wehausen, who has been studying the Sierra sheep for close to 50 years. Wehausen now heads the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Foundation.

Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep often feed in meadows at the bottom of rocky slopes and snowfields. Then, they'll work their way back up the slopes to spend the night at high elevations among the boulders.

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Bernd Zeugswetter

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LAist

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Up until European settlers came in the 1700s and 1800s, thousands of bighorn sheep are thought to have occupied the Sierra Nevada, from the Yosemite region south to Mount Whitney and the high slopes of Sequoia National Park.

But European settlement was devastating for the sheep, mostly because imported domestic sheep passed on bacteria to the native bighorns that caused fatal respiratory diseases. The bighorns had no immunity.

That led to many decades of decline. By the mid-1990s, there were only about 100 Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep left. Conservationists ramped up efforts to save the species, and they were listed as endangered by the state and federal government in 1999.

Since then, state and federal wildlife officials have tried to carefully manage the herds. They’ve transported ewes and rams from healthy herds to augment smaller ones, and started new herds in other parts of the sheep's historic range.

Bighorn sheep once occupied a large swath of the Sierra Nevada, from the Yosemite region south to Mount Whitney and the high slopes of Sequoia National Park.

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Courtesy: Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program

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CA Department of Fish & Wildlife

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In March 2015, for example, in a celebrated event, 10 ewes and three rams were airlifted to Yosemite's Cathedral Range to start a herd there. (Stock, the Yosemite wildlife ecologist, gave a passionate TEDx Talk about the release in 2016.)

At that time, in 2016, the Sierra Nevada bighorn population numbered over 600 animals — healthy enough for Stephenson to think the animal might be downlisted from endangered to threatened within the next five years.

Now, that seems like a distant goal.

In a recent talk for the Yosemite Forum lecture series, Wehausen noted that after 37 years of trying to re-establish a healthy bighorn sheep population in the Yosemite area, "we are exactly where we started," he said. "It seems like it's a juncture and we should ask some hard questions about what we're doing here."

Why did the bighorn have such a tough winter?

The naturalist John Muir wrote in 1894 that bighorn sheep "ranks highest among the animal mountaineers of the Sierra."

Wheeler Ridge, where one of the bighorn herds lives, during the heavy 2022-2023 winter.

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Bernd Zeugswetter

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LAist

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The padding on their hooves grips surfaces like a rock climbing shoe. Their ultra-powerful legs can propel them up near-vertical slopes at high speed. Their keen eyesight helps them spot food and predators across the vast expanses of the Sierra.

Their bodies are equipped to spend winters in freezing conditions at elevations above 11,000 feet. The species has survived at least three ice ages (Wehausen says new evidence shows they've survived six).

So why was this winter so tough on them?

First off, the amount of snow was exceptional, at least in recent history. "Last winter was the largest in 23 years," said Karl Rittger, a research scientist at the University of Colorado's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.

A total of 11 atmospheric rivers hit California, dumping two to four times the average precipitation in the central and southern Sierra Nevada mountains, according to the institute's data.

Researchers had documented heavy losses of bighorn in the winter of 2016-2017 and, to a lesser extent, 2018-2019. But deaths this year were the highest since species recovery efforts began.

Stephenson said the Sierra Nevada had likely experienced storms of similar intensity at some point in history, and the bighorn species persisted. But because the population is now so small, it's difficult to sustain major losses.

"This is a good example of how much effort needs to go into recovering an endangered species once a population declines," he said.

A smaller population also means less genetic diversity that might help sheep weather future storms, said Dani Berger, a Ph.D student at Utah State University who studies the way Sierra Nevada bighorns handle snow.

"This is a game of small numbers and in small numbers you're vulnerable to things like unexpected changes in the environment," she said.

Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep rely on their excellent eyesight to spot approaching predators and sources of fodder.

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Bernd Zeugswetter

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LAist

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Migration routes disrupted

Another potential reason the Sierra bighorns fared so poorly this year is because they lack generational knowledge of migration routes that might've helped them find food and escape avalanche-prone areas. Some of the herds that experienced the biggest losses this year were relatively new to their area — within the last 10 years — either because they moved there on their own or because researchers transported them there.

"Those historic migration patterns would have given them many more opportunities to move to lower elevations where they would be much less impacted by these severe winters," Stephenson said.

Still, Berger noted, in many parts of the Sierra, the winter was so snowy, including at lower elevations, that the sheep had no good options.

"If you stay up high, you might die in an avalanche and might not have food. Or you can come down to lower elevations and risk being eaten by a mountain lion," Berger said. "It's hard to say which is the bigger threat, but it seems this winter, snow was definitely the bigger threat."

Mountain lions threaten recovery

In late August, the Los Angeles Times reported on the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program’s failed effort several years ago to relocate two male mountain lions to a desert mountain range to prevent them from preying on the bighorn sheep.

One of the lions had killed more than 10 Sierra bighorns, Stephenson said, "so we really couldn't just let it remain within the recovery area and continue to eat bighorn sheep."

Mating season for bighorn sheep takes place in the fall. Rams compete to mate with the females, including by slamming their heads together.

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Bernd Zeugswetter

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LAist

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The hope, Stephenson said, was that moving the lions to a mountain range in the Mojave National Preserve — with a large stretch of desert between them and the Sierra Nevada — would prevent the lions from trying to return.

But they did try. One starved to death in the desert while the other was so emaciated that it had to be euthanized. Mountain lion advocates, referenced in the L.A. Times piece, said the effort caused the animals unnecessary suffering.

After the L.A. Times and several other media outlets published articles, Stephenson said he got threats from angered readers and calls for his resignation.

Stephenson said he felt the story failed to explain the dire straits faced by Sierra bighorn and his program's longer-term efforts to manage the directly competing interests of the sheep and lions.

When the Sierra bighorns were listed as endangered, mountain lions were recognized as a major threat to their recovery. In the early years of the recovery program, mountain lions known to target bighorn sheep were regularly euthanized — sometimes several of them each year, he said.

Stephenson said the program has since shifted toward relocating mountain lions to areas where they have abundant deer and other prey. They've learned that it's much easier to relocate female lions than males "because [males] have such a strong homing instinct and they want to return," he said.

"We're obviously trying to run this recovery program as responsibly as possible and we aren't trying to eliminate lions from the eastern Sierra," Stephenson said. He added that the local mountain lion population "is still incredibly healthy."

Historically, grizzly bears and wolves that once lived in the Sierra Nevada might have kept the mountain lion population in check.

"We know that wolves preyed on mountain lions," Stock said. "So our predator-prey system is kind of out of whack. And that could be part of the issue that we're seeing play out right now."

Wehausen sees a glimmer of hope in a new pack of gray wolves that made an appearance this summer in Sequoia National Forest.

What climate change might mean for Sierra bighorn

The upside of all that winter precipitation was plentiful summer forage for the surviving sheep and their new lambs. LAist joined researchers on a recent hike to look for bighorn on the backside of Wheeler Ridge, northwest of Bishop. A group of around 10 sheep — ewes, rams and yearlings — nibbled grass at the bottom of a snowfield.

Two of the rams occasionally butted heads, a sign that mating season is starting.

Tom Stephenson has headed up the Sierra bighorn recovery program since 2008.

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Bernd Zeugswetter

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LAist

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Some of the sheep wore tracking collars with a colored tag to make them easier to spot among the tan and beige boulders that provide near perfect camouflage. Almost all had bulging bellies.

"They're really fat," Stephenson said, peering through binoculars. "They look superb."

Whether that translates to healthier herd numbers next year might depend on whether the sheep face another harsh winter.

As the climate changes, the Sierra Nevada is expected to experience less snow, on average, but also more intense storms. If temperatures are warmer, more water makes its way into the atmosphere through a process called evapotranspiration, Rittger, the snow expert, explained.

"There's more water in the atmosphere for it to sort of drop onto the Sierra Nevada so you can get these big, extreme storms and we just happened to get a bunch of those last year," Rittger said.

More intense storms could be especially hard on herds that live in the typically snowiest parts of the Sierra Nevada and where it's harder to find paths down and out of the snow. This includes the northern herds around Yosemite.

Wehausen told LAist that during his decades of work trying to recover bighorn sheep, he's "been surprised at lots of things that slapped us in the face," including last season’s devastating winter.

He has come to think that saving the species will require much longer-term thinking — figuring out how best to help them withstand the still-uncertain future climate.

"They're really a magnificent animal living in a magnificent mountain range," Wehausen said. "I think it's worth the effort to get them to the next glacial period."

Electric bicycles allow riders to zip across town in a way that’s more affordable and environmentally friendly than gas-powered cars. They reduce traffic, can help people with mobility issues and generally are fun to use.

But the rising use of e-bikes has also resulted in high-profile collisions and growing safety concerns among parents, healthcare professionals and state legislators. Gov. Gavin Newsom last week signed three new e-bike laws. They follow one he signed earlier this summer to develop an e-bike safety training program for students.

The measures limit youth access to e-bikes, set sidewalk speed limits and clarify what exactly classifies as an e-bike. But critics of the laws fear overregulation and over-policing could discourage riders from a mode of transit they argue is inexpensive, clean and liberating.

Here’s a look at the new laws.

Age limits in San Mateo County

Assembly Bill 2595 authorizes a San Mateo County pilot program banning children under 12 from riding certain lower-speed e-bikes. Parents or guardians whose children violate the law face $25 fines. At the end of the pilot, which is scheduled to sunset in 2031, the county must report to the Legislature about the program, including the number of traffic stops initiated for a citation.

The governor in 2024 signed laws to establish similar programs in San Diego and Marin counties. Other states, including Alaska, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, also have minimum age requirements for e-bikes ranging from ages 14 to 16. California does not have an age minimum for most e-bikes, although riders of the fastest ones must be at least 16.

A study by researchers from UC San Diego found that e-bike collisions — particularly among riders ages 14 and younger — are “rapidly increasing” in the state. In 2018 there were two incidents, compared to 1,566 in 2024, though e-bike usage in general has expanded over recent years.

Assemblymember Diane Papan, a San Mateo Democrat, proposed the latest pilot after two young children in the county died in collisions involving e-bikes and e-motorcycles. One of the crashes last year in Burlingame involved an SUV driver who initially collided with an 11-year-old on an e-bike. The driver then fatally struck 4-year-old Ayden Fang who was playing on a nearby sidewalk.

“There were multiple responsible parties at multiple points where this could have been avoided,” said Xiaoming Fang, Ayden’s father, at an Assembly hearing in April. “An 11-year-old should not be riding a motorized vehicle that can go up to 20 miles an hour.”

E-bikes require a level of judgment and situational awareness that young children do not yet have, said Robin Pang-Maganaris, a city council member for Belmont.

“What results is not just a risk to those children, but an undue and unfair burden on drivers, parents, teachers and community members who are forced to anticipate the unpredictable movements of these young e-bikes.”

Setting speed limits

The governor also signed AB 2346, which imposes new manufacturing and disclosure requirements for e-bikes and sets speed limits for riding on a sidewalk.

Starting Jan. 1, 2029, Class 2 e-bikes (or an e-bike that provides throttle and pedal assistance up to 20 mph) will be required to have a speedometer, and all e-bikes must have either integrated or detachable front and rear lights. E-bike retailers will be required to disclose to consumers information about each e-bike, including what class it belongs to, its maximum speed and if it has any age restrictions.

Another part of the law taking effect on Jan. 1, 2027 empowers local governments to set speed limits on bike paths and multiuse trails, ranging from 10 to 20 mph, and sets a default statewide limit for riding on sidewalks to 10 mph. Speed limits established before the provision goes into effect can remain.

E-bike vs. e-moto

The third law Newsom signed cracks down on retailers that sell devices that go faster than e-bikes, such as electric motorcycles that can travel over 28 mph, but are marketed to consumers as legal e-bikes.

A 2025 report by San Jose State University’s Mineta Transportation Institute found that illegal e-motos are the primary reason behind increased injuries among electric mobility riders, not legal e-bikes.

Senate Bill 1167 sailed through the Legislature with strong bipartisan support and no vote in opposition. Four key advocacy groups for bicycling and traffic safety — Cal Bike, People for Bikes, Streets for All and Streets are for Everyone — also backed the measure.

The law does not punish legal e-bikes, said Marc Vukcevich, Streets For All’s director of state policy, during a June hearing. Instead, it addresses what he calls “the e-moto problem.”

“Right now, public confidence in e-bikes is being undermined by a different category of vehicle, he said. “Which are high-powered electric mopeds, motor-driven cycles, and e-motos that are being marketed, sold and used as if they were ordinary bicycles or e-bikes.”

Villainizing e-bikes?

All three laws passed in the Legislature by almost unanimous votes, but they faced some criticism from e-bike advocates.

In its opposition to the San Mateo pilot, Streets for All characterized the plan as ineffective and premature since data from San Diego County’s pilot has not yet been submitted. In developing more pilots before reviewing data from existing ones, the move “undermines evidence-based policymaking,” it said.

There’s also concern about proper enforcement, said David Martinez, Streets for All’s state policy manager.

“How can you tell a 13-year-old from a 12-year-old?” he said. “I don’t know if that’s easily discernible.”

E-bike proponents also said they worried the new measures risk criminalizing e-bike riders, and they argued that legislators should focus more on creating roads that accommodate all types of users, instead of just regulating e-bikes. They point out that thousands of Californians die every year in vehicle collisions.

“Fifty percent of all vehicle trips in the country are three miles or less,” said Martinez. “That’s a bikeable distance. If we just had more protected, safe infrastructure where people from ages 8 to 80 can ride safely and feel comfortable while riding, then we can also … reduce the number of crashes that happen.”

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

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

On a hot September morning, a handful of elders moved between tables of fresh fruits and vegetables on the Korean Resource Center’s back patio, picking up groceries as trot music played in the background.

Some sat together, chatting as they waited for a raffle. Organizers gave away bags of rice, containers of kimchi and other staple groceries in the Koreatown community.

It was the second “Sijang,” Korean for market, a mutual-aid food distribution program launched by KRC over the summer.

Sijang and other community efforts like it come as businesses and residents adjust to changes in CalFresh, California’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Stricter eligibility requirements and changes to how benefit are provided took effect Oct. 1, adding to the challenges facing low-income families across the country.

In Los Angeles County, about 1.5 million people receive CalFresh benefits, while another 320,000 are eligible but aren’t enrolled, according to the latest available data.

As more residents struggle to afford food, community markets like Sijang can help connect them with groceries.

“Groceries are commonly an item that is cut and people historically rely on community and social networks like churches and charity and grassroots mutual aid programs, where social welfare program and public institutions fail,” said Danny Park, who spearheads the program.

Sijang is organized in partnership with Polo’s Pantry and the Hollywood Food Coalition. The next marketplace is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 23. KRC says no one will be turned away.

Park said it grew out of the center’s work with residents and conversations with members and staff experiencing economic hardship.

“In our pilot day of Sijang … close to 50 people from family to seniors were lined up before we opened our doors, a sight that is not uncommon in Koreatown and Los Angeles,” Park said.

Bags of groceries at the Korean Resource Center during its Sijang mutual-aid and community marketplace event on Sept. 18.

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Hanna Kang

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The LA Local

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KRC’s work has given the organization a close look at the financial pressures facing residents. In 2025, the center helped 4,286 people enroll in public assistance programs, including EBT, General Relief and Medicaid, Park said. Staff handled an average of 18 enrollments each day.

Food insecurity remains widespread across Los Angeles County. A USC Dornsife study published in December found that 24% of county households experienced food insecurity last year.

KRC staff sometimes help elderly residents take cans and bottles to recycling centers to earn money, Park said.

One neighborhood over in Pico Union, With Love Market & Café is also trying to help residents afford food. But the changes to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, have hit the business hard, said Anna Cho-Son, the market’s community programs director.

Most of With Love’s customers use EBT, she said, and the market has seen a decline in EBT users since the changes took effect.  The market has also lost contracts after some of its partner organizations lost funding.

The market is owned by 38 investors from the community and loses money on groceries, Cho-Son said. It has relied heavily on EBT spending, and the decline in customers using those benefits has compounded other financial challenges.

“We lose money on groceries, and so we were really relying on a lot of EBT dollars,” she said. “But obviously, people are not able to spend as much money as they were previously.”

Asked how the market is preparing for the full impact of the SNAP changes, Cho-Son said, “We’re deeply not prepared for it.”

With Love is trying to help customers stretch their grocery budgets through a produce incentive program called With More California. The program, which operates as a localized extension of California’s Market Match initiative, matches SNAP spending on California-grown produce, Cho-Son said, allowing customers to receive up to $40 worth of free produce a day.

Cho-Son said the market has been increasing outreach at schools and community colleges because many people who could benefit from these programs do not know they exist.

Customers who do use the program regularly return to buy produce, she said.

“I think the biggest and most important metric is that people come back, and they come back specifically for that program,” Cho-Son said.    

She added the market is also looking for ways to build a more sustainable local food system, rather than relying entirely on temporary grants and emergency food assistance.

“I think as we’re trying to do these emergency programs, we’re aware that food is obviously such an immediate need,” she said, “but in the long term, that’s not going to fix anything.”

The Korean Resource Center

With Love Market & Café

Fall is here, and so are the cozy, seasonal drinks. If you’re looking to skip out on chain lattes and support local instead, this guide is for you.

Whether you’re a pumpkin spice lover or not, these Eastside cafes have a variety of drinks and pastries to choose from.

Cafe Niña

Add a ghost design to your drink at Cafe Niña.

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Courtesy of Cafe Niña

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What started as a home-based coffee shop in Boyle Heights has now expanded to a brick-and-mortar location in East Los Angeles. Find their fall menu at both locations. If you’re looking for spooky vibes, ask for a ghost design on the inside of your cup.

• Pumpkin pillon latte: Pumpkin with piloncillo
• Durazno Latte: Peach cobbler-inspired latte

Acurrúcame Café

The pumpkin spice latte is made with fresh pumpkin and espresso at Acurrúcame Café.

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Courtesy of Acurrúcame Café

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This cafe is known for specialty drinks available only to customers who order in person. Its pumpkin spice matcha and latte are available now, while the Franken-Berry latte and the Beetlejuice matcha will be available starting September 26.

• Pumpkin spice matcha or latte: Made with fresh pumpkin and either matcha or espresso
• Franken-Berry latte: Made with espresso and blueberries
• Beetlejuice: Matcha made with blackberries

Semillas Café y Flores

Maple brown sugar shaken espresso from Semillas Café y Flores.

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Courtesy of Semillas Café y Flores

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Pair your fall pastries, including maple pecan blondies, ginger molasses cookies or a slice of pumpkin loaf with your choice of fall drinks:

• Carrot cake latte: House-made spiced carrot syrup, espresso, cream cheese cold foam with pecan crunch topping
• Manzanita tonic: Spiced apple cider, tonic water, espresso, house-made canela syrup with apple crisp topping
• Canelita cold brew: House-made canela syrup, Chiapas cold brew with cinnamon cold foam
• Maple shaken espresso: Maple syrup, sea salt, espresso shaken with ice, topped with a splash of milk and maple cold foam

Cafe Cafe Mobile Coffee

The butternut squash latte topped with cookie crumble from Cafe Cafe Mobile.

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Courtesy of Cafe Cafe Mobile

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Not a pumpkin spice lover? Cafe Cafe Mobile has you! Its butternut squash latte has been a crowd favorite during the fall season.

• Butternut squash latte: An ode to pumpkin spice but with butternut squash spices, topped with cookie crumble.

Cake Girl

Pumpkin spice cold brew from Cake Girl.

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Courtesy of Cake Girl

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Anhelo Coffee

For all the cookie butter and piloncillo pumpkin lovers out there, Anhelo Coffee has you covered:

• Cookie butter latte: Cookie butter blended with espresso; iced version available with cream top and sprinkled with crushed Biscoff cookies.
• Piloncillo pumpkin spice latte: House-made piloncillo pumpkin spice syrup blended with espresso.
• Piloncillo pumpkin spice cold brew: Cold brew coffee topped with house-made piloncillo pumpkin spice cream.
• Cookies & cream matcha: Matcha blended with cookies and cream

California Community Colleges announced an agreement Thursday with Arizona State University that creates a guaranteed transfer pathway for students.

In recent years, ASU has been rapidly expanding, “growing with no end in sight and expanding well beyond the state's borders,” as AZ Central put it. For California community colleges, the new agreement offers a new option for students who struggle to transfer to the California State University and University of California systems.

For over a decade, California community college students could enroll in a two-year associate degree of transfer after it was codified in law. There are about 60 ADT options students can do. The law envisioned that if students completed that program, they were guaranteed admission to a California State University campus. In recent years, that guaranteed transfer degree has also let students transfer to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

What transfer options do students have?

But the transfer process is not an easy one.

A state audit of the transfer process in 2024 found that only 21% of students who started at a California community college between 2017 and 2019 transferred to a four-year university within four years of starting their ADT program. The audit pointed to “financial insecurity, family responsibilities, and an inability to relocate.”

Another reason: CSU and UC had complicated transfer requirements that were difficult for students to navigate. And transfer students weren’t always offered their first-choice CSU or UC school — so even if they got into a CSU or UC school, sometimes they didn’t go because it was not in the region they were applying to.

The audit also found:

• every community college did not offer all ADTs
• all CSU campuses did not accept all the ADTs
• not all community colleges offered counseling to make sure students had the required number of units to transfer. 

The Arizona State option

Enter ASU with a golden ticket, literally.

At a signing ceremony at their center downtown, ASU officials demonstrated — printed-out tickets in hand — how ASU was going to guarantee a degree pathway for every student who completes the ADT.

 ”The plan here is to try to increase transfer, increase completion of baccalaureates in equitable ways for Californians,” said James Todd, chief academic officer at the California Community Colleges.

“ What makes this unique is this is the most comprehensive ADT partnership that has existed for the California Community Colleges,” said Jeff DeFranco, special advisor to the provost at ASU. “Arizona State University is accepting all 60 associate degrees for transfers. So we're saying we're accepting all these, and those 60 actually lead and open you up to nearly ... 100 different degree options.”

Students who choose to transfer to ASU can enroll on campus in Arizona, do the program online or opt for ASU Local, where you do your coursework online but you have a weekly meeting with your fellow students and ASU staff.

“ What ASU could provide is, for instance, let's say you can't leave your community, and this was the case for many students: childcare, supporting an intergenerational household, work commitments, whatever was going on — sometimes they can't leave,” he said. “ASU has more than 200 bachelor's degrees online, and that is very unique.”