The Brief

At least seven wildfires burning around Southern California are sending smoke across the region. The South Coast Air Quality Management District has extended a smoke advisory warning of unhealthy air through 10 p.m. Thursday.

What does a smoke advisory mean?

Local health officials send out warnings when the air quality is unhealthy. The advisories encourage people to avoid outdoor activities and take other steps to limit contact with smoky air.

Where are the wildfires?

Wildfires are burning in Ventura, San Diego, Riverside, Santa Barbara and L.A. counties. You can keep tabs on the fires on the CalFire website.

How bad is the air?

Wildfire smoke is generally worse for your health than the kind of “garden variety urban pollution” Angelenos are used to, said Suzanne Paulson, an atmospheric chemist at UCLA. But air quality depends on where you live, and might change from hour to hour. The good news is that low-cost air quality sensors have made it easier to find out just how bad the air is in your neck of the woods. You can check PurpleAir, Clarity, and IQAir for real-time data on pollution levels, often down to the neighborhood level.

How to avoid breathing bad air

Staying indoors in the best way to avoid bad air pollution, Paulson said. You can also try to avoid the worst areas. “So for example, I ride my bike to work. I regularly look at the map and see if the air quality is OK, and sometimes I even change my route,” Paulson said.

Clemente Larraín, a doctoral student from Chile, chose his program at UCLA because it offered subsidized childcare on campus. His young daughter was enrolled for free, giving him the peace of mind to focus on his studies.

Now, the university has thrown a wrench in those plans.

In an email to families enrolled in UCLA’s Early Care and Education program, Darnell Hunt, executive vice chancellor and provost, announced two university-run childcare centers will close at the end of the 2026-27 academic year because the university has determined “the program is not sustainable.”

“ For international students, this is the worst news because we don't have networks here," Larraín said. "We don't have family. Some of us have some friends, but not too close to just trusting them to our kids.”

He earns around $3,000 a month working on campus, which he said barely covers his rent, forcing the family to dig into savings. Meanwhile, his wife is waiting for a work permit so she can start to bring in additional income.

Having to find full time care for their daughter is causing immense stress.

“ This obviously changed radically the experience of the graduate students with family at UCLA,” Larraín said.

Limited childcare options for parents

The announcement comes as a changing landscape is making it harder for parents to find childcare across California. A new report by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley found that the rollout of a new grade for 4-year-olds in the state’s public schools is having unintended consequences for childcare businesses. Those businesses have typically cared for children 5 and under but are now losing more children to transitional kindergarten.

Between 2019 and 2025, about 1,100 preschools have closed across California.

Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi, an associate professor of Asian American studies at UCLA, has two children enrolled in a UCLA-run childcare center, which she said costs her around $6,000 a month — and that’s at a subsidized rate.

“Having a high-quality, safe, reliable childcare option for my children just allows me to do my job as a UCLA professor, which includes research and publishing, but also teaching and mentorship of undergraduate and graduate students,” Gandhi said. “I'm really not sure how I'll be able to do that job if I don't have adequate childcare next year.”

Gandhi said the only alternative she has for her daughter is Bright Horizons Westwood, which is part of a large chain of childcare facilities across the U.S.

“ But to be honest it doesn't have as good of a kind of teacher-child ratio as [UCLA's Early Care and Education] does, and it has a super long wait list,” she said.

LAist has reached out to the childcare facility to ask about its waitlist, teacher-child ratio and rates.

Earlier this year, Gandhi said, tuition at UCLA’s Early Care and Education program increased by 4%, Gandhi said. At the time, UCLA also announced it would eliminate “all food program services (which includes all meals, baby formula and food, milk and snacks), discontinuing support for diapers and formula, not backfilling vacant positions, and other cost reducing measures.”

After families protested, the university backed down.

‘Disconnected from its mission’

Yvonne Yang, an assistant clinical professor at UCLA in psychiatry, called it "callous and heartless," even "cruel" that the university decided to close down the childcare centers.

“It means to me that the university has completely become disconnected from its mission and basically lost its soul and is focusing only on profits,” said Yang, who is also a physician and researcher at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center.

Yang said she’s now competing with all the families enrolled in the UCLA program for the limited childcare options available on the west side.

 ”When our kids were young and still breastfeeding, moms are welcome to just walk up to the daycare and to feed our kids during the workday, which is so much better than having to pump,” she said. “It's just a way of maintaining that connection with your kids so early in that transition.”

Having the childcare center on campus allowed her to integrate having a family life and being a professor, she said.

Los Angeles County education leaders say Inglewood Unified is emerging from a financial crisis that started more than a decade ago.

An estimated 5,000 students returned to district campuses this week for the start of what could be the last school year under the control of an outside administrator.

“ We spent the first day of school filled with joy,” said James Morris, the district’s county-appointed administrator since 2023. “Breakfasts were ready. Children were welcomed with balloons and red carpets.”

Morris said 95% of enrolled students showed up Monday and 96% on Tuesday— several percentage points higher than recent statewide attendance averages.

Last month, a state agency announced the district had met all the standards needed to regain local control, and if it maintains those improvements for another year, the board of education could again have the power to approve a budget and make other key decisions in 2027.

“This exit from receivership is something the community has been waiting for,” Morris said.

Morris told LAist he is “completely confident” the district’s scores on the state evaluation will continue to improve.

However, Inglewood, like other California school districts, faces continued budgetary and enrollment challenges.

The backstory

Inglewood Unified became one of 10 school districts in California to enter receivership in 2012 after the district requested a multimillion loan — and ultimately borrowed $29 million — from the state to balance its budget.

As a condition of the loan, the state, and later Los Angeles County, appointed a series of outside administrators to run the district.

To regain local control, Inglewood Unified must meet more than 100 standards related to finance, governance, staffing, student achievement and facilities established by the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT).

FCMAT’s July 2026 report found Inglewood Unified met all the standards. It now needs to maintain those standards for another year.

The district will continue to have additional oversight until it pays off the $29 million loan — with interest — and completes an external audit.

Challenges, opportunities ahead

Overspending was one factor that landed Inglewood Unified in receivership and the district's spending is expected to exceed revenue by $21 million this school year, according to the most recent FCMAT report.

The district has outlined a series of budget cuts, including nearly $7 million in the 2026-27 school year, that includes eliminating certificated educators, support staff and administrators because of declining enrollment.

The FCMAT report found the district enrolls 67% fewer students than it did in the 2003-04 school year.

The district closed nearly half of its schools since the start of the receivership. Five shuttered in June 2025.

Inglewood Unified, like other California districts, also expects enrollment to continue to decline. The state distributes funding based on an average of how many students show up to class each day, so fewer students means a smaller multiplier for education dollars.

However, Deputy Superintendent Bernadette Lucas, says new programs could help stem enrollment losses.

“ Historically, the district has seen its greatest drop between middle school and high school, as parents and students look for options that align to their passions and their futures,” Lucas said.

In response, Lucas said high schools are creating pathways for students to earn career and technical education certificates. In 2025, Dr. Dre and producer Jimmy Iovine partnered with the district to open a new high school focused on design, technology and entrepreneurship.

“I'm not saying it's a huge wave, but students are coming back slowly, and families are expressing more interest,” Lucas said.

How Inglewood families can get involved in the district’s future

Watch or attend a board meeting 

Five elected trustees represent Inglewood Unified residents. Even though the board doesn’t currently oversee the district directly, their meetings are where important decisions about finances, curriculum, school safety and other topics are discussed.

Community members can also share their experiences and ask questions during the public comment portion of each meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 19. The public portion of the meeting is expected to start at 5 p.m.

The agenda, livestream link and schedule of upcoming meetings are online.

Join a parent teacher group (PTA) at your child’s school

PTAs often organize fundraisers, student events and volunteer opportunities for their school. Parents, guardians, caregivers and other family members of students are welcome to join.

“ We're the fun arm of the school,” Marcie Brown, vice president of the Inglewood Council of PTAs, told LAist in July.

Vote in upcoming Inglewood elections

Several contests in November’s general election will shape the future of Inglewood schools.

There are elections for three of the district’s five board seats. The winners of these races will likely serve on the first board with decision-making power since the district entered receivership.

• In Trustee Area 1, incumbent Joyce Randall is running against challenger Cheryl Williams. 
• In Trustee Area 2,  Joe W. Bowers Jr. will face off against Shelby Richardson. Incumbent and Board President Carliss McGhee cannot run again after serving three consecutive terms. 
• In Trustee Area 3, incumbent Brandon Myers is running against challenger Yaritza A. Gonzalez. 

Voters will also decide whether to approve a new property tax to raise up to $396 million to pay for repairs and classroom upgrades.

LAist will have a guide to Inglewood Unified’s bond measure in our upcoming Voter Game Plan.

Since fall 2025, the Trump administration has moved to make it more challenging for people to become U.S. citizens.

In the past, candidates for naturalization studied the answers to 100 questions issued by the federal government. During their civics test, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers would ask 10 questions from the list; to pass, candidates had to answer six correctly. Now, candidates must be prepared to answer 128 questions, and more correct answers are required to pass.

The Department of Homeland Security has also reintroduced “neighborhood investigations” into aspiring citizens — a discretionary practice that had been shelved since the 1990s.

About a year since those changes were implemented, advocates in Southern California say they are seeing additional barriers, including delays in the scheduling of naturalization interviews and heightened scrutiny of applicants who request waivers for testing requirements due to a physical, developmental, or mental disability.

DHS has also proposed changes that could make it significantly more expensive to apply for naturalization; more expensive for candidates to appeal denials; and eliminate fee waivers and reduced fees for low-income applicants.

The agency has said that these changes are needed to cover the cost of adjudicating naturalization applications.

For Dahni Tsuboi, CEO of the nonprofit Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California, this claim rings hollow.

“When you compare the $240 billion that have been invested by Congress in the last 18 months on the enforcement side, and then, for the people who are taking all the steps to become citizens, we're just making that much harder, I think that's very alarming,” she said.

A sharp drop in naturalization interviews

In recent months, local immigrant advocacy groups have seen a drop in the number of people getting scheduled for naturalization interviews.

At the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, “we still have folks who applied before the [changes to the civics tests were implemented last October] that are still awaiting an interview,” said staff attorney Shawntel Williams.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California has been doing naturalization work for 40 years, Tsuboi said. Typically, 5 to 10 of their clients get scheduled for naturalization interviews every month. Since April 2026, that number has dropped to zero.

According to the nonprofit, the total number of naturalization adjudications per month — including approvals and denials — went from 78,379 in September 2025 to 37,832 by January 2026.

Tsuboi fears that naturalization rates could drop even further if DHS’s fee changes are implemented.

The changes, she said, could have an outsized impact on Asian Americans communities, who make up the largest share of naturalized U.S. citizens. At the nonprofit she represents, Tsuboi added, “75% of the individuals who apply for naturalization use the fee waiver or the reduced fees.”

How advocates are responding to changes  

To support immigrants navigating the evolving naturalization landscape, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles’s Shawntel Williams and her colleague, Eugenia Kim, have been hosting free citizenship education workshops at the nonprofit’s offices in Westlake.

They also offer free pre-screening clinics for people who are interested in determining their eligibility.

For people with a physical, developmental, or mental disability, Kim said “we strongly recommend — more than ever — that if you believe that you qualify to apply for an N-648." The form is a medical certification that's completed by a doctor who has personal knowledge of your disabilities and has actually treated you over the years.

"We also recommend that applicants have that completed N-648 reviewed closely by an attorney,” Kim said.

She and Williams plan to continue hosting their legal clinics for the foreseeable future.

For aspiring U.S. citizens, Williams added, legal advice has become essential, as news of all the changes to the naturalization process could be discouraging.

“We don't want people to count themselves out,” she said.