Topline:
Southern California’s palm trees are almost as iconic as our beautiful beaches and sprawling national parks, but their giant prickly fronds aren’t nearly as popular.
Why it matters: Palm fronds are tough and bulky, which makes them difficult to get rid of, and almost every city has different rules for how to handle them.
We have advice: From disposal to repurposing, keep reading for tips on what to do next.
Southern California’s palm trees are almost as iconic as our beautiful beaches and sprawling national parks, but their giant prickly fronds aren’t nearly as popular.
They litter streets, sidewalks, and yards, take up prime parking spots, and can even be dangerous.
Palm fronds are also tough and bulky, which makes them difficult to get rid of, and almost every city has different rules for how to handle them.
The messy mounds of foliage can be cleaned up, but dodging those pesky fronds after strong winds may just be a struggle of living in SoCal.
Fronds are basically the leaves of the palm tree and come in many different shapes and sizes.
Their typical lifespan is roughly five years, according to A&P Nursery, and fronds brown with age until they fall off on their own, with human help, or with a strong gust of wind.
Now, getting rid of them once they’re off the trees is where things get tricky.
The coarse and fibrous fronds can take years to break down, which makes them challenging to compost. The city of Ventura called them the “plastic of plants.”
If the fronds have fallen all over your yard, roof, or private property — you’re on the hook for cleaning them up.
But you might not be able to just dump them in the green bin with your other clippings, depending on where you live.
A lot of waste facilities won’t accept palm fronds because they’re tough enough to get tangled in the machinery, and some cities, including Riverside, Chino, and Torrance, require residents to throw them away like trash.
Palm fronds DO NOT belong in your green waste container. Palm fronds are a coarse and wiry material, strong enough to get tangled in sorting and processing equipment. Please dispose of palm fronds in your black trash container. Visit https://t.co/fecEGVULHJ for info. pic.twitter.com/sLooBF4x5F
— City of West Covina (@WestCovinaCity) October 12, 2020
But if they’re blocking a street, sidewalk, or other public right of way, your city should be able to help. For example, in Los Angeles, you can report downed fronds to 311, and in Pasadena, you can submit an online service request here.
If you’re looking for a unique use for palm fronds, you might have to head out all the way to Coachella Valley for Palm Silage, Inc, a California-based company that turns them into livestock feed.
They’ve accepted palm waste from local landfills before, but there’s other options that are a bit closer to home.
They may make for lousy compost, but palm fronds can be turned into durable thatch roofs for gazebos, chicken coops, or garden sheds. They can also be used to block wind from young and fragile plants in your yard.
If you’re looking for a more artistic alternative, some have turned them into creepy (and cheap) Halloween masks, weaved them into baskets, and even carved them into wildlife figurines.
Topline:
Nearly 300,000 California K-12 students experienced homelessness in the 2024-25 school year, the highest numbers ever recorded by UCLA researchers. Southern California counties, including Los Angeles and Orange, account for the highest numbers of students experiencing homelessness in the state.
Why it matters: Students experiencing homelessness are more likely to frequently miss school and fall behind academically. While many students have started to score higher on the state’s standardized math and reading tests following pandemic-related declines, the percentage of unhoused students who meet the benchmarks is about 20% lower than their housed peers, the research found.
SoCal numbers: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties account for half of the students experiencing homelessness in the state. About 62,000 – nearly 5% — of L.A. County students were unhoused in the 2024-2025 school year.
What's next: California’s most recent budget includes $116 million to help schools identify and support students experiencing homelessness. The report’s authors say while that’s “encouraging,” more than one-time funding is needed.
Nearly 300,000 California K-12 students experienced homelessness in the 2024-25 school year, the highest numbers ever recorded by UCLA researchers and a 10% increase from the prior peak in the 2018-19 school year.
“The sheer magnitude of how many students are experiencing homelessness and how much it's increased, that was the biggest finding for us,” said Grace Kim, study co-author and research analyst at the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools.
Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties account for half of the students experiencing homelessness in the state. About 62,000 — nearly 5% — of L.A. County students experience homelessness in the 2024-25 school year.
Researchers at UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools examined data collected by the California Department of Education between the 2017-18 and 2024-25 school years, including homeless student enrollment, attendance and test scores.
Schools are required to identify students who lack stable housing and provide resources, such as transportation, so they can access the same quality of education as a housed child.
Students experiencing homelessness are more likely to frequently miss school and fall behind academically. While many students have started to score higher on the state’s standardized math and reading tests following pandemic-related declines, the percentage of students experiencing homelessness who meet the benchmarks is about 20% lower than their housed peers, the research found.
Black, American Indian and Alaska Native students experienced higher rates of homelessness than their peers of other races — about 1 in 12.
California’s most recent budget includes $116 million to help schools identify and support students experiencing homelessness. The report’s authors say while “encouraging,” more than one-time funding is needed to support students experiencing homelessness.
“Having integrated systems of support is also a super important factor,” Kim said. “The reason why we see these gaps in terms of academic achievement or chronic absenteeism … it's not [students’] fault.”
Topline:
Cleanup is just beginning for a contaminated industrial site in South Gate, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials who are leading the effort.
Why it matters: The small, southeast L.A. city has three Superfund sites, areas designated by the federal government as highly contaminated with hazardous waste.
The backstory: The site, known as the Southern Avenue Industrial Area, housed a screw manufacturing business for 30 years, then a carpet adhesive plant. Both businesses are now defunct and the site was designated by the federal government as a Superfund site in 2012.
What's next: EPA officials estimate soil cleanup will take about two months. Groundwater cleanup planning will start in 2027 and could take a year or more.
Read on ... to learn about the other contaminated sites in South Gate.
Cleanup is just beginning for a contaminated industrial site in South Gate, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials who are leading the effort.
The small southeast L.A. city was built on industry — in the early 20th century it boomed with auto, chemical and other manufacturers.
That legacy also left it with three Superfund sites, areas designated by the federal government as highly contaminated with hazardous waste.
The three sites are all clustered on a large lot framed by Southern and Rayo avenues. A residential neighborhood is nearby.
“This site is less than 50 yards away from a home, so we want to make sure that we clean it to a point where we can feel confident,” said South Gate Mayor Joshua Barron.
South Gate is home to about 90,000 people, the majority of whom are Latino. The median household income is about $74,500 and the state has identified the city and surrounding communities to be disproportionately burdened by pollution and its health effects.
This site, dubbed the Southern Avenue Industrial Area, housed a screw manufacturing business for 30 years, then a carpet adhesive plant. Both businesses are now defunct and the site was designated by the federal government as a Superfund site in 2012.
The pollution at this property was compounded by pollution from companies next door.
One of the two adjacent Superfund sites was used by Cooper Drum Co., a steel drum recycling plant. A group of Cooper Drum’s former customers, including chemical manufacturers and oil companies, are paying for part of that cleanup. The other site, previously operated by an aircraft rivet and conveyor belt manufacturer, is still in the analysis and planning stages.
First, a site has to get officially listed. Then the EPA has to analyze the property to understand exactly what and where contamination occurred. Identifying who is responsible for pollution can take time, result in lawsuits, or not be resolved at all. If the responsible party is defunct or can’t pay for the cleanup, then taxpayers have to foot the bill.
EPA experts need to then analyze the site and develop a cleanup plan, and funding needs to be secured. The cleanup can take years, even decades. The federal government has been slowly working through a backlog of sites, identifying those of highest importance through the National Priorities List, of which there are 97 in California. Learn more about the Superfund process here.
At the Southern Avenue site where the EPA broke ground Tuesday, analyses commissioned by the agency found widespread lead and other toxic contamination in the soil, as well as a plume of trichloroethylene, a carcinogen, in the groundwater.
Officials say the plume has not affected the deeper aquifer South Gate and other southeast L.A. cities rely on for drinking water.
In 1986, the city closed water wells contaminated by the neighboring Cooper Drum site.
“ The water is safe to drink,” said Mike Montgomery, superfund director for the EPA. “What we're trying to do is prevent it from becoming impacted.”
EPA officials estimate soil cleanup will take about two months. Groundwater cleanup planning will start in 2027 and could take a year or more. The whole effort is estimated to cost between $45 million and $60 million, primarily through federal dollars.
Topline:
Forecasters predict that this year’s El Niño could be the strongest on record. LAist wants to help answer your questions about it.
The background: Scientists say an El Niño climate pattern has already formed in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Warming ocean temperatures are on track to exceed even the historic El Niño of 1997.
Why it matters: In Southern California, El Niño is expected to come with a lot of rain and high sea levels, as well as the resulting flooding, mudslides and coastal erosion.
Read on … to find the form where you can submit your questions about El Niño.
The summer heat may be sweltering at the moment in Southern California, but predictions about this winter’s El Niño show it could be the strongest on record.
So the LAist newsroom wants to know: What questions do you have? (You can submit below.)
We can tell you now that El Niño is a climate pattern that happens roughly every two to seven years, and is one of the most powerful drivers of the Earth’s weather.
During an El Niño event, the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America warms to above normal temperatures. The warm ocean adds moisture and heat to the atmosphere, influencing atmospheric circulation, temperatures and precipitation on a massive scale.
El Niño typically results in mild weather in the northern United States and wetter conditions in the southern part of the country.
In Southern California, we could start to see the effects of El Niño in the late fall or early winter. Generally, those effects include significant rain and high sea levels and the consequences that come with them, such as flooding, mudslides and coastal erosion.
Forecasters say there is a more than 90% chance of a powerful El Niño event this year, and a 70% chance that it’s record-setting.
That said, uncertainty remains around how exactly this winter’s El Niño will play out here.
So as you gear up for an El Niño winter, ask us your questions and we’ll do our best to get answers in the months ahead.
Topline:
The company behind the Garden Grove hazardous waste scare earlier this year is planning to resume full operations in late September, subject to an independently monitored, court-approved safety plan. The company employs 500 people at its Garden Grove facility.
The details: GKN Aerospace said in a news release that it had permanently decommissioned the tank that set off the hazmat scare in May and forced some 50,000 nearby residents to evacuate. Removal of the tank is pending review and approval from state regulatory agencies, according to an emailed response from Salma Elshakre, a spokesperson for the Orange County Health Care Agency, which is overseeing the cleanup.
Read more ... for more information on the controversy.
The company behind the Garden Grove hazardous waste scare earlier this year is planning to resume full operations in late September, subject to an independently monitored, court-approved safety plan.
GKN Aerospace employs 500 people at its Garden Grove facility.
GKN Aerospace said in a news release that it had permanently decommissioned the tank that set off the hazmat scare in May and forced some 50,000 nearby residents to evacuate.
Removal of the tank is pending review and approval from state regulatory agencies, according to an emailed response from Salma Elshakre, a spokesperson for the Orange County Health Care Agency, which is overseeing the cleanup.
All of the toxic chemical, methyl methacrylate (also known as MMA), has been removed from nearby tanks as well, Elshakre said.
This week, the company also announced a forthcoming $100 million compensation fund for affected residents and businesses. GKN expects to release details on how to apply in the coming months.
At least 39 lawsuits have been filed against the company in conjunction with the hazmat incident, according to a GKN webpage set up to track the fallout. The company pledged to explain the legal effect of participating in the compensation fund before it is launched.
Garden Grove Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein said in a statement that the city “welcome[s] this progress and will continue to expect GKN to address the broader effects on our community.”
A coalition of community groups called GKN Out of Garden Grove Coalition wants the city to shut down the GKN plant completely. The coalition plans to release a report documenting the company’s alleged history of hazardous waste failures at a news conference Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at 11300 Stanford Ave. in Garden Grove.
