The Brief

The smog appeared out of nowhere on July 8, 1943, blinding drivers and causing car crashes. Mothers grabbed their children and ran inside hotels to escape unwanted fumes. Some thought it was chemical warfare by a foreign country. But no, it was smog.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron said he would get rid of the "vexing fumes" within four months. The problem persisted for more than four decades.

L.A. has made progress on the stuffy air, which was once so thick it burned lungs and eyes and caused nausea. But the fight for clean air is far from over as Los Angeles still remains one of the worst-air-polluted cities in the country.

What brought the smog?

People initially blamed the smog on a gas company plant that made artificial rubber. Then, they blamed sulfur.

Chip Jacobs is a co-author of Smogtown: The Lung-Burning History of Pollution in Los Angeles. He said it was almost like L.A. was in a state of denial.

"Some people started suspecting it's cars, it's hydrocarbons from cars reacting in sunlight," he said in an interview with LAist's daily news program AirTalk, which airs on 89.3 FM. "That was not appreciated and embraced until a little scientist at Caltech took a chance."

That scientist was Arie Haagen-Smit, who escaped Holland to avoid World War II. According to Jacobs, he didn't want to be a scientist. But he was angry at the weak science around investigating smog. Lab work revealed tailpipe emissions were the smog culprit. Still, not a lot of people wanted to believe him.

"He was going up against the coolest product you could buy, a car," Jacobs said.

Feeling the burn

The smog ruined the great outdoors for many people in the decades to follow. AirTalk caller Joanne grew up in L.A. during the 1950s. She told host Larry Mantle that when she came home from college she asked her mom, "How can you live here?"

"It felt like the entire world was peeling onions," she said. "That's the only way I can describe it."

Other callers chimed in and remembered schools closing in the 1960s because the air pollution was so bad.

Mantle remembered burning lungs as a child.

"I just remember my lungs burning and wondering, wow, why is that? What's causing this?" Mantle said. "You don't really know what's going on because you take the smog for granted."

Jacobs also said it ruined a lot of fun for him in the 70s. He recalled canceled baseball games.

"You start with a blue sky, and it seemed like a fog rolled in. All of a sudden your asthmatic friends were running for the primatene mist," Jacobs said.

What changed? 

Ed Avol is a professor emeritus at the Keck School of Medicine at USC in the population and public health science department. He said cleaning up the air has been a huge success story in understanding improvement in Los Angeles.

He pointed to technology and policies through the state and regional agencies on refineries, power plants, and chemical and manufacturing.

Avol also credited regulations on trains, planes, ships and cars. Those included smog checks for cars, lead removal from gasoline, and catalytic converters that helped clear some of the air.

"The problem is really so vast here, and so many millions of sources here, that really one has to do a sort of full court approach to try and address everything we can to try and reduce that,” Avol said.

Listen to the conversation

The contractor building the long-awaited LAX People Mover project has filed a lawsuit alleging the city of L.A. breached its contract in several disputes.

In the suit, filed with the L.A. County Superior Court on July 9, LINXS alleges the city is misplacing blame in construction-related disputes and refusing to extend contract deadlines. LINXS also alleges it’s owed additional payment for the work as a result of the delays.

The project, a 2.25-mile-long elevated train designed to transport riders between airport terminals and local transit, is currently undergoing testing. Work on the train is scheduled to be complete “in a few months,” according to a June interview with Los Angeles World Airports CEO John Ackerman on the L.A. in a Minute podcast.

Chief among the disputes detailed in the lawsuit is one involving repairs to faulty electrical equipment in the system that powers the train, resulting in testing delays last year. LAist reported on this dispute last November and in April.

A spokesperson for LINXS said it has attempted to engage in “extensive good-faith efforts over the past two years” to resolve the ongoing contractual disputes.

A spokesperson for Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that manages LAX, said the agency does not comment on pending litigation. They added that the agency remains committed to “delivering a safe, durable and reliable” train as soon as possible.

The L.A. City Attorney’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In its lawsuit, LINXS said that by not granting the contractor’s compensation and time-extension requests, the city is attempting to evade accountability for the delayed train, which was once expected to open in 2023 and is nearly a billion dollars over budget.

The contractor warned in its lawsuit that without an extension of contract deadlines, it might be forced to repay lenders who financed the project as soon as this fall. In that case, the contractor said in its lawsuit that it could become “insolvent and unable to perform,” adding that possibility would have “catastrophic consequences.”

Dispute over metering cabinet

Last February, staff from Los Angeles World Airports and the city’s Department of Water and Power directed LINXS to repair equipment in a metering cabinet that had degraded due to moisture and debris, as LAist previously reported.

LINXS completed the repair work, which required power to be partially shut down between February and July 2025. That temporary power disruption delayed critical testing of the technology that allows for central control of the People Mover’s systems.

LINXS said last year, and also in the current lawsuit, that the repair work is not in its scope of work. As a result, the contractor has said it's owed compensation and a minimum of a 141-day extension to complete construction.

“Since then, [Los Angeles World Airports] has stonewalled the discussions of [LINXS’] compensation and a time extension,” the contractor alleges in its lawsuit.

LINXS, citing information it received from a public records request, alleges the issue stemmed from an instance where LADWP opened the metering cabinet in September 2024 to rectify design issues with the equipment contained in it.

Whereas past disputes between LINXS and the airport were resolved through settlements that have so far totaled hundreds of millions of dollars and resulted in schedule extensions, the dispute over maintaining electrical equipment has been uniquely contentious.

“Other relief events that we’ve dealt with up to this point … we could agree there were some things that were not totally within LINXS’ control,” Jake Adams, an airport executive who is overseeing $5.5 billion in LAX upgrades, said in an interview with LAist in April. “This relief event is very different. We believe there is absolutely no merit to this claim.”

The lawsuit also alleges that the contractor is owed additional time and money for several other ongoing disputes, including that Los Angeles World Airports is refusing to sign a power agreement with LADWP for solar panels installed as part of the People Mover project and that workers on separate airport projects have “demolished” work LINXS completed for the train.

What’s the status of the People Mover?

The People Mover is operating in a testing phase where it simulates how the train will operate when it begins shuttling travelers between airport terminals and the L.A. Metro system.

The testing of the train won’t be impacted by the lawsuit, a spokesperson for Los Angeles World Airports told LAist.

A hearing on the case filed last week has been scheduled for December, according to the L.A. County Superior Court’s website.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will pause non-urgent vehicle stops after two deadly shootings in less than a week, Maine Sen. Angus King's office tells NPR.

King spokesman Matthew Felling says the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the policy shift. Maine Sen. Susan Collins also posted Tuesday on X that she had called for change.

"I spoke with DHS Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin last night and urged him to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops," she wrote.

DHS told NPR in a statement that it will not "disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics," and it's unclear what this change will look like in practice.

The most recent death happened Monday in Biddeford, Maine, where ICE agents tried to pull over the car of 26-year-old Joan Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national.

"The vehicle attempted to flee the scene, and fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon," DHS said in a statement. However, the agency has not provided any evidence to back the claims. The agents were not wearing body cameras.

Last week, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot by agents in Houston after they attempted to pull him over. The Department of Homeland Security says Salgado Araujo tried to use his van as a weapon, prompting an agent to fire their weapon. But passengers in the van have disputed this account.

Paul Hunker, the former chief counsel of ICE in Dallas, told NPR the standards and principles of when to discharge a firearm are clear.

"I was an attorney for the officers — the person has to pose an imminent threat of harm to use deadly force," Hunker said.

He said whether the person poses an imminent threat is always from the perspective of the officer.

DHS policy

The Department of Homeland Security's policy says deadly force cannot be used solely to prevent someone from fleeing … unless the person poses a significant threat of death or serious physical harm to the agent or others.

DHS accused Salgado Araujo of weaponizing his car against the ICE officer. In Maine, the agency said Durán Guerrero posed a public safety threat.

But in these cases, there hasn't been video evidence to back up those allegations.

The latest development has been welcomed by former DHS officials who said a reset is needed in order to regain the trust of the public and ensure no more lives are lost.

"That person could flee and present a big danger to people around them … that's one of the reasons I think there are few vehicle chases because of the danger and the harm that could happen if one of those goes bad." Hunker said.

He said in the past, ICE's preference has been to assume custody of the undocumented immigrants who were already in jails, making it safer for the agents.

Sarah Saldaña, a former ICE acting director under President Barack Obama, said the shift in policy is a good start.

"I think it's a very practical thing to do until the agency can get its officers more properly trained and attuned to what their effort is," Saldaña said. "Immigration enforcement should not be a deadly endeavor — it should be a method by which to make sure that people are complying with the law."

Despite the shift in policy, there are a lot of outstanding questions about what led to the fatal shootings of Salgado Araujo in Houston last week, and of Durán Guerrero in Maine this week.

None of the federal immigration agents were wearing body cameras, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

After the shooting of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January, DHS vowed to quickly deploy body cameras to federal immigration agents nationwide.

But that hasn't happened.

The agency is blaming Democrats in Congress and the partial government shutdowns for this. But it is, again, vowing to deploy body cameras for all agents in the next 60 days.

That footage would have been key to knowing whether the agents followed protocol or not, and to hold the agents accountable, said Lauren Bonds, the executive director of the nonprofit National Police Accountability Project.

"Luckily in both instances there were witnesses, independent witnesses, that observed some things and were able to share some information," Bonds said. "But it's really hard to be able to hold ICE agents accountable in any manner if all we're getting from DHS right now is kind of vague statements about the car being used in a way that was either threatening the ICE agents or, in the case of Maine, threatening the public."

Bonds said the public needs to keep demanding answers and independent investigations to create a change in policy — like the pause on traffic stops made public Tuesday.

NPR's Meg Anderson contributed reporting.

The highest tides of the year typically hit in summer and winter — around each solstice. That’s tracking so far this year, but a combination of natural phenomena and human-caused climate change are adding to the extremes of these normal cycles.

The Long Beach Peninsula — a narrow stretch of homes on the sand between the ocean and Alamitos Bay — is one place where all of those forces are coming together.

High water

In mid-June, a combination of strong swell and high tides led to dramatic images of water splashing over sand berms, onto the boardwalk and into streets.

This week and last, tides topped 7 feet again. Without the same swell, the results were less dramatic.

Higher-than-average tides are normal for this time of year, but they’re predicted to become the new normal overall by late century.

“What is happening rarely now will happen almost at every high tide when we get to the end of the century,” said Mark Merrifield, an oceanography professor at Scripps.

Merrifield said the recent tides have been high due to natural cycles related to the moon’s position to Earth this time of year. It’s also likely related to El Niño, a natural climate pattern that warms the Pacific Ocean — and warmer water takes up more space, leading to higher sea levels.

That warm water tends to peak at the end of the year, which means winter, during the next high tide season, is likely to be even more “eventful,” Merrifield said.

On top of all that, pollution in our atmosphere is contributing to the warming and higher sea levels as well, experts told LAist. Since the Industrial Revolution, sea levels have been rising at an increasing rate, according to NASA.

Long Beach’s response

The city of Long Beach’s climate action plan estimates sea levels will rise as much as 2 feet by 2050 and nearly 7 feet there by 2100.

“We're going to see sea level going up much faster as we go into the latter part of the century,” Merrifield said. “I think at some point it will come down to understanding how to live with high water, which is not something we've normally done.”

A map from Long Beach's climate action plan shows projected sea levels in the lowest-lying areas of the city.

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And those who know Long Beach’s peninsula have noticed.

“The tides that we're seeing now, we did not see in the past,” said Todd Leland, Marine Bureau manager for the city.  “We used to not have to build berms year-round. We'd only have to do it on an occasional basis here on the peninsula.”

It’s been in just the last 10 years that Long Beach has had to build sand berms to protect oceanfront properties from high tides and south swells, which the south-facing beach is particularly vulnerable to, Leland said.

An earth mover rebuilds the sand berm at the end of the Long Beach peninsula after a storm flooded it in January 2023.

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Long Beach Post

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City crews build up a sand berm as they prepare for high tide along the peninsula in Long Beach in 2022.

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Six days a week, city workers truck sand from the wider, western side of the beachfront back to the peninsula to replenish the sand that gets sucked away by the water between the jetty and the breakwater down the beach.

“We're running out of space to build the berms because we're not able to keep up with the sand movement,” Leland said.

To address that, the city hopes to break ground on a project later this year to dredge some 415,000 cubic yards of sand from the Alamitos Bay Channel and replenish the beach about 200 feet out again.

“ With 200 more feet of area to work with, we potentially might not have to make berms,” Leland said. The city had considered long term plans to restore kelp beds and rocky reefs in front of the peninsula in part to help slow wave energy, but that effort has stalled.

Todd Leland, Marine Bureau manager for Long Beach, stands by berms on the peninsula.

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The view from the peninsula

Charles Thomas has lived on the peninsula for 50 years. He married his wife on the beach in front of his house.

“It used to be the widest part,” he said. “We had a big 96-foot tent. It was a big party, and everybody had a great time.”

Charles Thomas has lived on the Long Beach Peninsula for 50 years and remembers when the beach was much wider.

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On a recent afternoon, just before high tide, water flooded over an eroded berm and underneath the lifeguard tower toward Thomas’ house.

“ We could not fit that tent there anymore,” Thomas said, shaking his head. Thomas said he supports the dredging project and hopes it will help more than the berms.

Down the boardwalk, Siobhan Gadallah stood with her husband and son, watching the water splash over the berms. The young child squealed in glee as the water came onto the boardwalk.

Cathy Gaddalah (left to right), Bauer Parks, Siobhan Gaddalah and her husband, Mitchell Parks.

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“The waves splash over pretty intensely, like to the point where I think it could knock over my 4-year-old pretty badly,” Gadallah said. “ Thankfully we haven't had any flooding [inside], but our entire porch has been pretty badly flooded.”

The family has rented here for two years, but they’re not too worried about the long-term prospects. Moving from downtown Long Beach, their new place feels like “living in a different country,” Gadallah said.

“ As long as you have those sandbags, they do their job pretty well,” she said.

Long Beach trucks sand from this western part of the beach back to the peninsula to help with erosion.

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A sand berm on the Long Beach Peninsula protects homes from flooding but also blocks the ocean view.

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As for the berms?

“ I do think the berms help, although I'm not a fan obviously,” she said. “I do think it creates some sort of barrier, but once it hits a certain point, it does absolutely nothing.”