The Brief

The Los Angeles County Probation Department said in a statement Friday night that a gun was found at around 10 a.m. at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey. The department said the firearm was found in “an area only accessible to staff.”

“No youth had access to it, and nobody was injured,” the department said in a statement emailed to LAist.

The L.A. Times reported that the firearm was found in a location that youth could access, citing anonymous sources.

The backstory

In May, the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) gave L.A. County 60 days to transfer nearly 300 incarcerated youths to Los Padrinos juvenile hall in Downey after it found facilities in Sylmar and near downtown L.A. to be unsuitable.

The L.A. County Probation Department said earlier this week it had completed the move ahead of schedule. In a statement on Wednesday, Guillermo Viera Rosa, the interim probation chief, said the county had gone “from Mission Impossible to mission accomplished.”

The reaction to Friday's incident

“This is absolutely unacceptable. Every single person entering our juvenile facilities is supposed to be searched by security, including all staff and visitors. If this current security company is unable to do that, we should find a new one,” said L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn in an emailed statement.

What's next

The Probation Department said that, as of Friday afternoon at around 5pm, the facility remained on lockdown as local law enforcement worked on investigating.

Go deeper: Nearly 300 Incarcerated Youth In LA Will Be Relocated In Less Than Two Months. Some Families Are Concerned

It’s that time of year when black bears are beefing up, often on trash, in Southern California’s foothill communities.

From fall to early winter, bears quadruple their food intake in preparation for the cooler months — bears here don’t really hibernate given our mild weather and plethora of resources, but they do slow down during the winter (as we all should). And right now, mother bears are looking to find a safe place to den and have their cubs.

Bears aren’t just roaming the roads of mountain towns either. They’re in suburban neighborhood streets along the 210 Freeway corridor — including Altadena, Sierra Madre and Monrovia — and even in Encino and Tarzana.

A black bear walks along an Arcadia street earlier this month.

(

Courtesy Wild Neighbor

)

This time of year is when humans and bears might come into conflict more frequently, says a former biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“You're going to see those bears just eating ravenously, foraging all day for food, and then also they're going to start looking for these potential denning sites under our crawl spaces, unfortunately,” said Jessica West, a human-wildlife conflict specialist who over the last five years worked for the state on bear coexistence efforts from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

Nearly 60,000 black bears are estimated to live in California. Here in Southern California, the estimate is around 2,000, according to the latest count by the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife.

State resources to help communities coexist with bears have been cut. That includes West, who was the sole wildlife conflict biologist serving Southern California counties. Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed a bill into law that aims to bring some of those resources back, but in the meantime, the need remains.

“More than ever, people and bears are sharing space,” West said.  "The fact is that they're here and they're not going anywhere, and we're here as humans and we're not going anywhere.”

Neither did West’s passion for wildlife coexistence when she was laid off. That’s why she just launched her own business to help fill the resource gap: Wild Neighbor.

Jessica West, a bear biologist, installs an "unwelcome" mat at a home. The electrified mat helps keeps curious bears away.

(

Courtesy Wild Neighbor

)

An "unwelcome" mat with bear prints outside of a home in Ojai.

(

Courtesy Wild Neighbor

)

She offers detailed property assessments and recommendations for $150. She focuses primarily on prevention, such as strategically placing electric wiring and “unwelcome” mats to secure crawl spaces, trash and other vulnerable areas, which can cost $350 to around $900 depending on the home. She also rents such equipment if residents prefer. West works with manufacturers of electric bear-resistant tools that have been vetted for fire safety and bear conflict.

“We really want to avoid potentially orphaning those cubs,” she said.

It’s best to avoid allowing a bear to get into your crawl space or trash in the first place, West said. When bears become too accustomed to humans and eating human food, the risk of injury to people and pets rises. And the bears themselves are more likely to be euthanized.

In 2023, California hit a tragic milestone: It was the state’s first documented killing of a human by a black bear, in Northern California. In Southern California, foothill communities such as Sierra Madre have seen several bear-related injuries in recent years (more on that in our 2024 podcast on this topic). Several bears, including a well-known one in La Cañada Flintridge, have also been euthanized in recent years.

In the vast majority of cases, this is preventable, West said, if residents take a little responsibility for securing their own properties. That can also save thousands of dollars in damage caused by a bear.

Since West is no longer with the state, she can’t trap bears that have risen to the point of becoming a problem — for example, those that learn how to regularly get into homes or cars, or have lost their fear of humans. She does encourage her clients to share sightings and any concerning conflicts with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, but she doesn’t share anything herself without clients’ permission. (Learn how to report bear sightings or human-bear conflict here.)

West said that in lieu of state resources, companies like hers may become more common.

“What [clients] can expect is someone who is going to listen to them, and someone who is passionate about their job and really wants to help them,” West said. “Because at the end of the day, I'm a bear biologist by training. I love bears, but my whole goal in all of this is to help people. Because if we help people, we're also helping bears.”

City inspectors have declared several buildings on the Peninsula unsafe to enter after Hurricane Rachel’s high surf and tides chewed away at the shoreline, tearing apart a section of a wooden wall that is the neighborhood’s last line of defense against the ocean.

Officials issued a notice Thursday night that a large section of the bulkhead, left exposed after waves from Hurricane Marie ripped away its surrounding sand, was badly damaged over the past day and left a gap that allowed water to reach homes and side streets.

Residents stood in shin-deep flooding on Friday, with vehicle access closed at 62nd Place. Waves continued to chew at homes’ foundations along the shoreline and tear planks from the boardwalk. At least one home in the 6500 block of Seaside Walk appeared close to collapse.

Laath Martin, a city spokesperson, said inspectors are still assessing the extent of the bulkhead and boardwalk damage.

Crews rushed to make emergency repairs, pump water off the streets and fill in the exposed section with roughly 1,000 sandbags. The city is bracing for rain this weekend, and more high tides and surf are expected.

Inspectors surveyed homes threatened by water damage and red-tagged two buildings containing three units in the 6400 and 6500 blocks of Seaside Walk. The red tag means they’re too dangerous to enter.

Craig Nakano, a spokesperson for the city’s Community Development Department, said Friday that nobody has been displaced by the tagging. One property was under construction, he said, while the other was confirmed by the owner to be vacant.

A young man talks with an employee helping pump water out of the street as high surf from Hurricane Rachel crashes into the Peninsula in Long Beach on Friday, October 9, 2026.

(

Thomas R. Cordova

/

The Long Beach Post

)

A third building received a yellow tag, which means its owner may go in briefly to collect belongings but may not stay. Nakano confirmed that the owner had already found somewhere else to stay.

Two buildings were already yellow-tagged after damage from Hurricane Marie weeks ago. The latest damage brings the total to five damaged Peninsula structures, two red-tagged and three yellow-tagged. The tags are preliminary, and a red tag can be downgraded to yellow once repairs are made and inspectors sign off. Inspectors will keep checking homes twice a day.

The latest bout of strong waves — whipped up by Hurricane Rachel — came just weeks after other hurricane-charged swells battered the Long Beach coast and the Peninsula.

The city is planning a multimillion-dollar dredging project to rebuild the stretch of Peninsula beach that’s been eroded. Long-term fixes are expected to be even more expensive.

In the meantime, storms keep rolling in.

The forecast for this weekend

Bryan Lewis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said high surf and tide are expected to rise precipitously each day through Sunday, with tides reaching 7.5 feet high on Saturday and nearly 8 feet high on Sunday morning around 10 a.m. Waves are currently ranging from 4 to 7 feet high, but are expected to rise to up to 8 feet by Sunday, he said.

Conditions on Sunday evening and Monday morning, he said, will mirror Saturday, and likely will not relent in strength until Wednesday morning.

The NWS expects to announce a flood warning later Friday. They currently have an advisory running through Tuesday. Warnings are usually triggered when coastal buoys the Service monitors — in this case ones in the San Pedro Channel and city harbor — are routinely hit with high enough surf, Lewis explained.

This storm could also bring rain and wind. The city expects up to a half-inch of precipitation this weekend and gusts strong enough to knock down trees and power lines.

“Protecting our residents is our top priority as high surf and erosion impact our Peninsula community,” Mayor Rex Richardson said in a statement. He praised emergency crews and urged residents to “be prepared and follow City guidance.”

Lewis said rain showers could start in the area as early as Friday night and Saturday morning, with a second storm system hitting the area on Monday. Showers are expected to total between a half inch and three quarters of an inch of rain.

“This will bring additional rain, so that’s kind of separate from what tropical storm Rachel could be responsible for,” Lewis said.

Metrolink, Southern California’s regional commuter rail service, is planning for major service cuts — slashing 29% of weekday trains and 40% of weekend trains. Those cuts could go into effect as soon as next month.

The Metrolink Board of Directors on Friday voted to move forward with a $420 million budget proposal for this fiscal year, which includes the service cuts. The proposal now goes to member agencies for review and approval.

A majority of Metrolink’s budget is funded by Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties’ transportation agencies. For more than a year, Metrolink officials have been building a budget that member agencies, like the Orange County Transportation Authority and L.A. Metro, would approve as it struggles to close its funding gaps.

How did we get here? 

The service announcement comes the same week as the agency rolled out fare increases.

Metrolink officials blame low ridership numbers for the budget troubles and increasing operational costs for the potential change in service.

The agency expects an 18% dip in ticket revenue in the next fiscal year. On top of that, both OCTA and L.A. Metro proposed cutting their subsidies to the rail service by millions of dollars.

Tom Schamber, Metrolink's chief financial officer, said the service cuts were necessary to balance the budget.

“These cuts were targeted at low-performing trains and trains that overlap with the Pacific Surfliner service,” Schamber said. “The schedule will look more like a commuter rail service focused on weekdays during peak periods.”

How could my routes change?

In Orange County, the number of weekend trains will be cut in half and weekday trains by nearly 40%. Weekday service to Oceanside is included in those cuts.

San Bernardino and Antelope Valley lines will also see major service cuts to weekday and weekend trains. Weekday trains for the Ventura County line were cut by 36%.

You can see the proposed service schedule here.

What do some riders think? 

During public comment on Friday, many riders expressed concern that Metrolink was entering a transit death spiral — a slippery cycle where fewer services and higher fares lead to fewer riders and deeper financial trouble.

Cooper Crane, a UC Riverside graduate student and historian of Southern California’s public transportation network, said the cuts make the service impractical.

“It is going to bring Metrolink into a death spiral, which could be compared to the historic collapse of services such as the Pacific Electric here in Southern California,” Crane said. “We don't want to experience something like the collapse of the Pacific Electric again, but the budget cuts that have been made by Orange County and the lack of government commitment to the support for the service is pretty much exactly what that will lead to.”

Mason Buck of Irvine said he mainly uses the Metrolink services recreationally.

“You can understand my concern when I look, and I see weekend service getting absolutely gutted in Orange County. … Issues like this are extremely frustrating to me because it feels like such a self-inflicted wound,” Buck said. “I just want an alternative to driving.”

The changes will not just stunt ridership growth but exacerbate ridership loss, Adriana Rizzo, a founding member of Californians for Electric Rail, said.

“This is going to be a net negative for Metrolink. I'm very concerned that we're going to be back here in six months, looking at even more severe cuts,” Rizzo said. “Metrolink is essential for the economy. It's essential to keep our region moving, and we cannot just let it die.”

What’s next?

County transportation agencies need to consider and adopt the budget before it goes back to the Metrolink board for final approval on Oct. 23.

Southern California roads are likely to get more treacherous soon because of El Niño.

The climate pattern’s signature heavy rainstorms are expected to hit over the next few months, and some coastal roads could be impacted by surging sea levels much sooner than that.

We could also get a taste of what that will look like this weekend with Tropical Storm Rachel expected to pass through Baja California and the San Diego area. High surf has already been slamming the coast, and forecasters predict the first widespread rain of the season starting this weekend.

All this rain on the horizon means extra risks for the many Southern Californians who spend a lot of time driving.

Officials are urging residents to get their cars ready now for an especially wet El Niño season.

Preparing your car

As with home, there is a series of steps to take to ensure your car can safely get you around during extreme weather.

First, consider replacing your windshield wipers, especially if they’re worn out. According to AAA, most manufacturers recommend replacing wipers every six to 12 months.

Take a look at your headlights and brake lights too. If they’re broken or their bulbs have burned out, replace them. If the lenses are weathered or hazy, have them cleaned up or restored.

Also replace old or worn tires. AAA recommends replacing tires every six to 10 years or if you see any bulges, bubbles, sidewall damage, separated treads or exposed cords.

You can also use a quarter for a quick, unofficial tire test. If you stick a quarter between your tire’s treads with the top of George Washington facing the tire and can still see the top of his head, the treads are wearing down and due for replacement soon.

Use a tire gauge to check your tire pressure too. The correct psi is usually listed on the inside of your car door or in the owner’s manual. You can add air to your tires at just about any gas station.

It’s also a good idea to keep certain supplies in your car in case you become stranded, including a flashlight and batteries, a cellphone charger, a jacket, gloves and a first-aid kit.

Avoid floodwaters

If you find yourself driving during heavy rain and flooding, never attempt to drive or walk through floodwaters.

Emergency management officials say one of the most common causes of death during storms is flooding, with many of those deaths in vehicles.

“Driving during rain can be hazardous, especially when we're not following the signs and the directions of our first responders and of the road departments,” said Mark Pestrella, director of L.A. County of Public Works. “If you are traveling in L.A. County and it is raining, and there is a sign up that says, ‘Do not go through this water,’ I advise you not to go across that street.”

Even if a flooded street seems shallow, it’s impossible to know exactly how deep the water is or what’s under the surface. Just 6 inches of fast-moving water can knock over an adult, and a foot of water can carry away a car.