The Brief

The last time there was proof of a mountain lion roaming the Verdugo Mountains was in 2018, when P-55, also known as Adonis, was captured by hidden wildlife cameras.

It was a big deal then, because the Verdugo Mountains had lost another male cougar in 2017. Biologists at the time were hopeful that Adonis would mate with a known female in the area called Nikita. When Adonis left the area, Nikita stopped appearing on the cameras.

But last December, a handsome male cougar was captured by the camera of wildlife photographer Johanna Turner.

Local residents of the Verdugo Mountains call him the La Tuna Puma whom wildlife photographer Johanna Turner captured on camera last year.

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Courtesy Johanna Turner

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Turner is a consultant with the Cougar Conservancy and she’s been documenting the movement of Southern California’s mountain lions in the Verdugo Mountains since 2011.

“It has, you know, several canyons with year-round water sources and lots of deer and no competition,” said Turner. Residents share the mountain space with native species and the area attracts avid hikers who enjoy exploring the shrubbery.

For Turner, seeing another puma wander the Verdugos is exciting.

“As long as he doesn't bother people, he should settle in really nicely.”

Right now, the mountain lion’s main threat is Canyon Hills — a 221-luxury home development slated to be built in the heart of his territory.

The trajectory of the Canyon Hills project spans 20 years, dating back to its approval in 2005.

At the time, local environmental activists and community members opposed the project that’s set to rise on both sides of the 210 Freeway in Sunland-Tujunga.

Resistance has resurfaced now that the project’s developer, Nevada based Whitebird Inc, has applied for a grading permit to begin shaving off 80 feet of ridgelines.

When Emma Kemp, a Tujunga resident, heard about the grading permit, she reached out to local wildlife advocates, botanists and Gabrielino/Tongva and Fernandeño Tataviam tribe members to mobilize their efforts to stop the development project. She formed the community group No Canyon Hills and started a petition to request a second environmental impact report (EIR) that, as of now, has over 170,000 signatures. 

“This is an opportunity to press pause and reevaluate before we further fragment the habitat here,” said Kemp.

Emma Kemp, a Sunland-Tujunga resident and co-founder of No Canyon Hills, bends down to smell fresh buckwheat in the Verdugos.

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Gillian Morán Pérez

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LAist

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The argument

Approval for the project was based on an EIR approved in 2004.

The No Canyon Hills group and other wildlife advocates are demanding the city intervene and request another EIR. But Whitebird Inc. attorney Jack Rubens stands by the city’s decision made years ago.

“A second EIR cannot be required for the Canyon Hills Project because it's fully entitled and doesn't require any further discretionary approval,” Rubens said.

And there’s another issue that No Canyon Hills says underscores the need for a new EIR. The proposed development stands in a Very High Fire Severity Zone, according to the city of Los Angeles Fire Protection Bureau.

The area has seen multiple wildfires in the past, the latest being the La Tuna Fire in 2017 which destroyed five homes and charred 7,200 acres of land. To this day, the surviving scraps of burnt trees and bushes remain.

A charred tree in the middle of the Verdugos.

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Courtesy Rio Asch Phoenix

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Rubens says that if anything, the development will help mitigate wildfire risk.

“It will provide a new southern evacuation route for those residents to La Tuna Canyon Road in the 210 Freeway and include a new 1 million-gallon water tank close to the existing neighborhoods.”

Rubens adds the road will give firefighters better access to the hillside once the road system is constructed.

The city’s role in the project

Dean Wallraff is an attorney working with No Canyon Hills and the executive director of Advocates for the Environment. He was part of the original effort to stop the Canyon Hills development when it first came to city council back in 2003.

Wallraff sent a letter to the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, the Los Angeles City Planning Department, and Councilmember Monica Rodriguez’s office arguing that the grading permit would be discretionary and would trigger further review from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Per CEQA guidelines, a project is deemed discretionary if it requires a public agency or body, like a city council, to exercise its judgment and approve or disapprove the project.

Kemp met with Rodriguez in April to discuss the Canyon Hills project, but Rodriguez said her hands are tied.

Here’s what she said in a recent statement to LAist:

We asked City Planning if the grading permit requires discretion and their response was — no.

Instead, the permit is deemed ministerial. That means “a governmental decision involving little or no personal judgment by the public official as to the wisdom or manner of carrying out the project.” In short, a public official can’t use their personal, subjective judgment to carry out a decision on the project.

What’s at stake

A stream of water flowing through the Verdugos.

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Courtesy Rio Asch Phoenix

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“This is one of the only one of the few recreation areas for the city of Los Angeles,” said Lydia Grant, president of the Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council.

The Verdugos are rich with native species including the crotch bumblebee which is listed as federally endangered under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service. Having lost 70% of its habitat over the years, the bumblebee is also listed by the state as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need.

A trek into the Verdugo Mountains will lead you to other native fauna, like the Hollyleaf Cherry tree, which amateur botanist Haley Hopkins says is a keystone species. It provides food and habitat to other creatures. One of the oldest Hollyleaf Cherry trees stands on the proposed site of Canyon Hills.

“It's like this ripple effect because then there's gonna be less bugs around because they're not gonna have as much food. And then that's gonna hit your birds next, and then your small mammals, and then …that means apex predators,” says Hopkins. The La Tuna Puma is a critical apex predator.

The bush poppy, a plant known as a fire follower that sprouts in areas that went through wildfires.

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Courtesy of No Canyon Hills

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LAist

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Devlin Gandy, a conservationist, says that the Verdugo Mountains function as a “completely viable wildlife habitat and corridor in a ring perspective that encircles a suburban sprawl” connecting the Tujunga wash to the Hahamonga Watershed near the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

When the final EIR came out in 2004, it did not detect any mountain lions throughout the area. It described the potential for wildlife using the pathway between the Tujunga Wash and the Verdugo Mountains as “tenuous at best” and that ultimately, the proposed development would not affect that connection.

But that was then, and this is now say local wildlife advocates, and there’s plenty of cougar scat to show that they do pass through the area.

To that point, Rubens says that Whitebird has already taken measures to address wildlife movement.

“Whitebird revisited this issue with Caltrans in connection with an approval that was required for the project and agreed to construct two wildlife friendly fences between the freeway."

The southern edge of the project provides an additional potential movement path for the mountain lion, even though it's an unlikely path due to its proximity to noise and light from freeway vehicles,” said Rubens.

A screenshot of the developer Whitebird Inc's proposed Wildlife Movement Path that would create a fence around the housing development

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Courtesy No Canyon Hills

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Elephant Hill serves as inspiration

Doug Carstens, another environmental attorney helping No Canyon Hills, recalls a similar battle that started in 1984 and ended in 2007 — the fight to save Elephant Hill.

Residents in El Sereno mobilized to save Elephant Hill, one of the few parks in the area filled with walnut groves.

In 2004, the L.A. City Council at the time approved a 24-lot development that was proposed in 1984 but locals found out that the developer expanded that to 56 lots without further review. The community partnered with Carstens' law firm to contest the development.

It wasn’t until 2007 when former Councilmember Jose Huizar persuaded the council to withhold issuing a building permit until another EIR was submitted by the developer. The developer sued, but in the end, the city council purchased the land, declaring victory for locals.

While the Elephant Hill case was different, Carstens says that that story serves a purpose.

“I think it's at the heart of this, which is, can you do further environmental review and are you legally required to when an approval, you know, was granted at a certain level, so many years ago,” said Carstens.

'We're all connected to it'

In a recent conversation between No Canyon Hills and the developer, the developer said they would consider selling the land — for upwards of $10 million.

Kemp says that’s a huge deal for their fight and they are courting philanthropic foundations and local conservancy groups to save this portion of the Verdugos.

At a community meeting in early June, supporters of No Canyon Hills gathered to hear about the project's status. Supporters filled the pews of the Church of Verdugos and their chatter electrified the air.

Community members gather at the visioning event hosted by No Canyon Hills.

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Gillian Morán Pérez

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Kemp called it a “visioning event” where people could come together and share ideas.

Nathan Nuñez, a Gabrielino Indigenous cultural keeper, said that it’s important to save the cultural resources, the plants, the animals, the land saying, “we're all connected to it.”

Jen Ho, a La Crescenta resident, left her house for the first time in five months after having her baby to attend the meeting.

“I'm really committed to protecting the land for future generations on top of wishing this land be kept intact for wildlife and plants. I would love for this people-led movement to become a pivotal changing point in how L.A. city governs."

Today is officially the last day as a county employee for L.A. County CEO Fesia Davenport, who has been on medical leave for the past six months and received a controversial $2 million taxpayer payout that LAist brought to light last fall.

Davenport announced her planned departure last month, citing health concerns. While on leave, she has faced criticism from the public and county employees over the payout, as well as a lawsuit alleging it was an illegal gift that must be reversed. The payout was labeled “confidential” and kept secret from the public until LAist unearthed it two months later, even though state law requires settlement agreements to be public.

When announcing her plan to step down, Davenport said in a LinkedIn post last month she was doing so “to focus on my health and wellness.” She also emailed CEO office staff to say she’s learned she has a predisposition for the same type of health problem that killed her brother Raymond in 2018 and that two of her sisters experienced last year. One of her sisters will require 24-hour care for the rest of her life, Davenport wrote.

The $2 million payout, approved in secret by county supervisors, was in response to Davenport claiming she was harmed by a voter-approved measure that will change her job into an elected one in December 2028, almost two years after her employment contract was set to expire in early 2027.

The supervisors agreed to pay Davenport the $2 million she had requested, without negotiating her down from that amount. As part of receiving the taxpayer payout, the settlement deal says Davenport cannot make — nor cause anyone else to make — “negative statements or communications disparaging” the Board of Supervisors and other county officials. There are exceptions, including for required testimony and disclosing workplace conduct she believes is unlawful.

The $2 million payout was in addition to Davenport’s county salary of $630,813 in annual base pay.

Leaders of the two largest L.A. County employee unions — representing nurses, social workers, sheriff’s deputies and others — said many of their members were shocked and outraged to learn about the payout from LAist’s reporting. They said Davenport had been telling workers there was no money to give them raises, while secretly negotiating a $2 million payout for herself.

A lawsuit filed by a county resident and taxpayer in February claims the payout was illegal because Davenport did not have a valid legal dispute with the county. Under the state Constitution, local government settlement payouts are illegal gifts of public funds if they’re in response to allegations that completely lack legal merit or exceed the agency’s “maximum exposure,” according to court rulings.

If a judge finds a payment was an illegal gift, they can order the money to be paid back. County lawyers are disputing the case, saying the payout served a legitimate public purpose.

The judge assigned to the lawsuit, James C. Chalfant of L.A. County Superior Court, is retiring at the beginning of next month, before the first scheduled hearing in the case. Online court records do not yet indicate which judge will take over the case.

Last month, county supervisors ordered new transparency measures in response to LAist revealing the payout. The county will now create a public dashboard of settlements between the county and its executives, and make sure all such settlements are reported to the public on meeting agendas after they’re finalized.

Ever since Davenport suddenly went on leave Oct. 8, her CEO role has been filled temporarily by Joe Nicchitta, the county’s chief operating officer.

The county CEO oversees the roughly $50 billion county budget, labor relations with over 100,000 county employees and implementing key priorities of the county Board of Supervisors — including poverty alleviation and addressing homelessness.

County supervisors, who oversee the CEO, will be in charge of selecting a permanent chief executive.

California lawmakers passed legislation in 2017 agreeing to cover up to $270 million of losses related to the Olympic Games after L.A. covers the first $270 million should a deficit occur. That legislation directed the governor to execute a contract solidifying the state's commitment.

But more than eight years later, that contract hasn't been inked by the governor's office.

The state's guarantee is of potentially huge importance to the city of Los Angeles, which took on a huge risk when it agreed to be the financial backstop for the Olympics in order to secure the host city bid. L.A.'s financial exposure is essentially unlimited. If LA28, the private nonprofit running the games, winds up with a deficit exceeding $540 million, the city is responsible for the rest.

When asked about the contract, the governor's office directed LAist to the California Department of Finance. Spokesperson H.D. Palmer said that the state is currently in talks with LA28 and the city of L.A. about contract language, but asserted there are no “sticking points.” He said only that working out contract language takes time.

LAist asked LA28 for more details on what's being discussed and when the contract would be finished.

"We engage regularly with our state partners on various Games planning items and look forward to continuing our strong partnership with the state and the city in the lead up to 2028 as we work to execute a fiscally responsible Games," Jacie Prieto Lopez, vice president of communication and public affairs at LA28, said in a statement.

Ilanna Morales, a spokesperson for L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, told LAist in a text message that the city was "confident that an agreement will be reached and that the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be a financial success."

The lack of a signed state contract could trigger alarm bells in city government, where some officials are already upset that another key contract remains unsigned. That is an agreement between Los Angeles and LA28 over compensating the city for extra services it will provide for the Olympics, such as police overtime. That contract was scheduled to be signed more than six months ago.

City officials say if that contract isn't airtight, it could leave L.A. with millions in unexpected costs. Referring to that unsigned contract, Councilmember Monica Rodriguez warned CEO Reynold Hoover in a public letter last week that the coming Olympics could "bankrupt" the city.

Love them or hate them, jacarandas are back and in bloom.

One question that might come to mind as you’re pointing out how pretty they are, or complaining about the flowers falling all over your lawn — am I even saying that tree’s name right?

To answer this question, I put on my linguist hat and traced the word back to its origins.

The English pronunciation

You likely already know this one, or can guess it — “jack-uh-RAN-duh.”

This is the pronunciation in most English dictionaries, but many Spanish speakers bristle at the hard “j” sound. Overall, it’s not super close to the original pronunciation, but it turns out that people saying the word with a hard “j” sound are onto something. More on that soon.

The Spanish pronunciations

Yes, that’s pronunciations in the plural.

If you grew up seeing Mexico City’s iconic jacarandas in bloom, you likely pronounce it “hah-cah-RAHN-dah” (that’s written out with English phonetics). That’s how it’s said in Mexico and Central America.

You can hear this pronunciation loud and clear in the song “What Else Can I Do” from the movie Encanto.

But the tree is native to South America, specifically Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and Brazil. And for those who grew up seeing the equally iconic floral displays in Buenos Aires, there’s a subtle but important difference. In South American Spanish, the word is spelled jacarandá, so it’s pronounced with emphasis on the last syllable: “hah-cah-rahn-DAH.”

But where does the word come from?

Here’s the twist: jacaranda might register as a Spanish word to many, but it isn’t — at least not originally. It comes to English via Portuguese and Old Tupi, a language that used to be a lingua franca for much of colonial Brazil. The word, which refers to a number of different trees, is in the historical record as early as 1614.

The Tupi word was originally recorded as yacaranda or îacaranda — unfortunately, there are no recordings of how this was pronounced back then. Then, it turned into jacarandá in Portuguese. In Portuguese, the letter “j” is pronounced like “zh,” not like the English letter “h.”

So that means in Brazil, it’s pronounced something like “zhah-cah-run-DAH.” You can hear my best attempt at saying it, after a year’s worth of college-level Portuguese classes, in the audio clip above.

However you say jacaranda — “jack-uh-RAN-duh,” “hah-cah-RAHN-dah,” “hah-cah-rahn-DAH,” “zhah-cah-run-DAH” — have at it. Just make sure not to park under one.

The latest clash between California and President Donald Trump over abortion and gender-affirming care could soon leave doctors caught between state and federal law.

Under a bill that may soon pass the Legislature, California medical providers and affiliated businesses could face hefty state fines if they comply with a federal subpoena seeking abortion, gender-affirming or reproductive care information without first notifying the California attorney general, patients and providers.

But delaying responding to the feds could put them at risk of violating federal law, and independent constitutional scholars say the pending law might not survive a legal challenge.

The bill is in response to efforts the Trump administration and conservative states have undertaken to block or criminalize abortion services and care for transgender people.

Under Assembly Bill 1930, any medical provider or business served with any civil, criminal or regulatory inquiry, investigation, subpoena or summons seeking “legally protected health care activity” “shall not comply” unless the provider notifies the state attorney general as well as others involved in the care.

The measure’s author, Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur of Los Angeles, said the impetus for the bill, in part, was a federal subpoena from the Trump administration to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles seeking medical records for youth transgender patients.

“No one should have to fear that seeking lawful medical care in the state of California could put their privacy and their safety at risk,” he told the Assembly Judiciary Committee at a hearing last week.

Lawmakers spent just 17 minutes discussing AB 1930 at its first legislative hearing last week, despite the legal complexities and consequences for California’s patients, doctors, hospitals, insurers, tech companies and others. It passed on a party-line vote, according to the CalMatters Digital Democracy database. It now moves to the Assembly Public Safety Committee where it’s scheduled to be discussed on Tuesday

The Los Angeles hospital was one of 20 medical providers that offered gender-affirming care for minors that received federal subpoenas seeking patients’ medical records. At the time, the U.S. Justice Department said the subpoenas were part of an investigation into “health care fraud” and “false statements.” Some of the families sued to fight the subpoenas. In January, the feds backed off and didn’t receive the records.

Rady Children’s Hospital, which operates facilities in San Diego, Orange and Imperial counties, told CalMatters earlier this year that the U.S. Health and Human Services inspector general was investigating the hospital. The investigation preceded Rady’s decision to halt most gender-affirming services for minors, a decision that is now tied up in multiple court cases.

The measure says that in order for a business or provider to release records, the entity making the legal demand must include an affidavit declaring that the investigation is not related to punishing providers for performing abortions, transgender care or other services protected under California law or that the investigation involves a possible California crime or is an inquiry into “professional discipline.”

The recipient would be required to inform the attorney general’s office within seven days of receiving the legal demand. The attorney general would have an additional 30 days to review the matter before the recipient could comply with the order.

The measure, which is co-sponsored by Attorney General Rob Bonta, would also mandate that the provider notify patients and providers whose records are being sought. Those who break the rules would face civil penalties of up to $15,000 per violation.

Democrats move to protect abortion

California lawmakers have, in recent years, enacted more than a dozen laws designed to shield medical professionals from conservative states and the federal government on abortion and transgender health care.

Democrats passed the laws after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and other states began banning or criminalizing abortion. Thirteen states ban abortion and some, most notably Texas, penalize anyone who helps another person get an abortion.

Legislative efforts to protect clinicians and patient medical records have expanded as the Trump administration has increasingly politicized other services like gender-affirming care for minors.

California laws prohibit state law enforcement from extraditing medical professionals who may have violated another state’s laws on abortion or gender-affirming care. They also prohibit medical facilities from sharing patient information about those services with out-of-state law enforcement.

LGBTQ+ civil rights group Equality California is the latest bill’s other co-sponsor. Zbur was its executive director before being elected to the Legislature.

Equality California’s legislative director, Craig Pulsipher, told the Judiciary Committee the measure builds “on California’s existing protections to ensure that patients can access health care without fear that their personal information will be weaponized against them.”

Various groups that oppose gender-affirming care are against the measure, as is the California Chamber of Commerce.

In a letter to lawmakers, representatives for the state’s influential business lobby said CalChamber’s members appreciate lawmakers wanting to “help defend businesses facing subpoenas,” and they don’t oppose the bill out of “support for misuse of subpoena powers.”

“However, we are concerned that AB 1930 will compel businesses to violate federal law in order to comply with state law,” they wrote.

Layla Jane, a “detransitioner” who sued her health care provider over the gender-reassignment surgery she received as a teen, said the bill would protect doctors from investigations into negligent care and make it harder for patients like her to subpoena for medical records.

“This bill shields providers so they can keep chopping up bodies,” she told the committee. “It wraps the doctors, the clinics, the gender industry in a legal blanket and says, ‘You are protected from accountability no matter who you harmed.’ There is no blanket for me.”

Would the bill survive a legal challenge? 

Bill Essayli, a former Republican state lawmaker who oversees the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, said in a statement that Zbur’s measure would be unconstitutional.

“Any effort by California to restrict the federal government’s lawful use of, or compliance with, subpoenas is unlawful and unenforceable under the Supremacy Clause,” Essayli said.

Three independent constitutional scholars who CalMatters asked to review the bill suggested Essayli may have a point.

Under that provision of the U.S. Constitution, states cannot pass laws that run counter to the federal government’s legal authority.

“If there’s a conflict between federal law on the one hand, and state or local (law) on the other, federal law wins out,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of UC Berkeley School of Law.

Chemerinsky and the other scholars said the measure is unlikely to run into the same legal problems that caused a federal judge to block California’s attempt to ban federal agents from wearing masks. The judge in the mask case ruled that the state had discriminated against the federal government since it exempted state police from the ban.

This proposed measure doesn’t single out the federal government; the bill applies to any entity issuing subpoenas.

Still, the scholars said forcing private health care providers and businesses not to respond to a subpoena on a federal deadline could be legally problematic.

“It looks like the federal government could say you’re impeding their law enforcement,” said Leslie Gielow Jacobs, a law professor at University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law.

“Is this impeding federal ... objectives?” said Vikram David Amar, a law professor at the UC Davis School of Law. “If so, it would be invalid under Supremacy.”

The California Attorney General’s Office responded to an interview request for Bonta with an unsigned written statement.

“Bills aren’t final when they’re introduced and can change throughout the legislative process,” it read. “Our office will continue to have conversations with stakeholders regarding AB 1930 and will address concerns as appropriate and needed.”

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