The Brief

A year ago, California State University, Dominguez Hills started the state's first master’s degree program for incarcerated students, with the goal of creating a pathway for a growing number of college graduates to continue their education behind bars. Already, its future is uncertain.

The state agency that paid tuition for 31 students in the inaugural class of the humanities graduate program says it may have made a mistake.

Not all of the students funded by the Department of Rehabilitation, which provides vocational services for people with disabilities seeking employment, should have been deemed eligible for its services, officials said. And that means that both students already enrolled and new ones seeking to start the grad program may have no way to pay for classes.

Now, students are anxious and college officials are scrambling to find alternative ways to cover tuition costs.

More than a month after classes officially started, around a third of the 41 students who had been accepted into the program’s second cohort had not yet received funding. The rest of the students are in limbo: some have explicitly been denied funding, others are waiting to see if the funding will be approved, and a few haven’t even had interviews about their eligibility for support yet. And some students in the first cohort are wondering if they’ll be able to finish their degrees.

Access to graduate programs inside is becoming increasingly important as the number of bachelor’s programs in prison grows with the return last year of Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated students. Since the first incarcerated bachelor’s graduates got their degrees from California State University Los Angeles at the state prison in Lancaster in 2021, California prisons now offer 11 bachelor’s programs, with two more starting next year.

Several of those Cal State LA grads continued on to the master’s program, which is open to students across California’s 34 prisons. It’s part of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation commitment to offering education “from grade school to grad school.” Research shows that the higher the level of education someone achieves in prison, the less likely they are to return to prison once they are released and the more likely they are to find a job.

Graduate programs in prison are rare. The few master’s programs that are available are usually print-based programs where students submit their assignments and communicate with professors via mail. The Cal State Dominguez Hills program is different. Most of its students have laptops that allow them to communicate with their professors and also interact with their classmates on moderated discussion boards.

But the current challenges facing the master’s program highlight the vulnerability of prison education programs that rely on a single funding source. Programs must often cobble together funding from various sources, sometimes resulting in tenuous partnerships between agencies with different primary missions. The situation underscores the need for diversified and sustainable funding models for prison education programs.

The federal rules are clear

The Department of Rehabilitations funds people, not programs, said Kim Rutledge, deputy director of legislation and communications. The agency is primarily focused on preparing individuals with disabilities to find jobs. "Sometimes we pay for education as a part of getting someone to competitive, integrated employment, but we're not strictly an education program,” she said.

Although the agency serves people with disabilities in California, its funding primarily comes from federal workforce dollars. That money has clear eligibility rules, said Mark Erlichman, deputy director of vocational rehabilitation.

The guidelines mean the agency cannot fund individuals who don’t have job opportunities in the near future without putting the entire agency and the population it serves at risk. As a result, the agency can’t in most cases provide money or services to incarcerated students who are not expecting to be released soon.

“We have a program that served 154,000 Californians with disabilities last year,” Erlichman said. “There's no flexibility that wouldn't jeopardize our entire program.”

Counselors evaluate individuals on a case-by-case basis to see if they can receive services from the Department of Rehabilitation. Eligibiity to receive financial support includes having a disability that significantly hinders someone’s ability to work and being able to benefit from services to achieve employment in a competitive, integrated setting.

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Courtesy California State University, Dominguez Hills

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In practice that means a job in the community that pays at least minimum wage. Individuals who are serving life without the possibility of parole or other long sentences are generally precluded from finding such employment.

“Therefore they would not be eligible for our services, which in this case is asking for education to be paid for," Rutledge said.

Most prison jobs would not meet the competitive employment criteria either. Incarcerated individuals in California usually earn less than $.74 an hour.

Much of the Department of Rehabilitation’s work with the incarcerated population is with reentry planning before people are released. Formerly incarcerated students with disabilities have been also able to use its support to pay for college. But it’s unusual for the agency to be working with individuals who might still have a long time to serve.

Last year, counselors may have determined that some incarcerated individuals in the first cohort were eligible for services based on limited information, Rutledge said.

“There are some instances last year where the counselor who made the determination wasn't aware that there was no possibility of parole,” Erlichman added.

Erlichman stressed that there hasn’t been a change in criteria and there is no Department of Rehabilitation policy against funding people who have life sentences. He said they will work with individuals in the first cohort who had been determined eligible for support in error.

“We're not going to pull [funding] right away, but we really have to look at those again on a case-by-case basis,” Erlichman said.

The case for postgraduate opportunities in prison

Just because someone doesn’t have a release date or has a life without parole sentence doesn’t mean that they won’t ever get out of prison. “Parole dates are moving targets,” said Matt Luckett, director of the Cal State Dominguez Hills master’s program.

People are often released early through clemency or state legislative reforms that allow them to be resentenced, and precluding them from services that support education means that they are less likely to be able to support themselves if they are released. Twenty-one students who were in the first three cohorts of the Cal State LA bachelor’s program at Lancaster — many of whom thought they’d never be going home — have gotten out.

“We want to give them every chance to be as prepared as they can be to get a job if they do get out,” Luckett said.

Even if they never get out of prison, lifers often become mentors and tutors to younger individuals inside. Sometimes they even start education programs.

Master’s student Dortell Williams, who is a Cal State LA grad serving life without parole, said that people serving extreme sentences are often excluded from rehabilitative programs despite the ways they can benefit their communities.

“We are expected to die in prison. And while that outcome is a real possibility, the irony is that our permanence in prison is used by the guards as a stabilizing influence on rowdy youth and people sojourning through the system,” he said. “We mentor, peer instruct, quell violence and lead people in the right direction. Education helps us shape a safer environment inside for our peers and staff, and helps us keep the youth in our families and communities from coming to prison at all.”

Kunlyna Tauch, another Cal State LA graduate at Lancaster who was accepted to the master’s program, said that seeing peers earn a degree – particularly a master’s – can change a prison’s entire culture.

“Consider the wider implication of what graduate-level education can mean to a community of people that don't think they are worth it,” said Tauch, who will be released in October. “When one person achieves something, the entire population experiences that accomplishment.”

The need for broader investment

As graduate students, individuals enrolled in the Cal State Dominguez Hills program are not allowed to take out federal student loans and are not eligible for federal financial aid such as the newly reinstated Pell Grants. Most students are unable to cover costs themselves.

All costs for the Cal State Dominguez Hills master’s program — estimated to be between $12,000-15,000 for the two years — have to be covered by tuition and fees. The program doesn’t receive any direct funding from the university or the corrections department.

Luckett said it was never the intention for the master’s program to rely solely on funding from the Department of Rehabilitation. In the short term, individual students are applying to scholarships and Luckett is looking at alternative sources of funding such as a GoFundMe campaign. But, he says, with hundreds more graduates expected from prison bachelor’s programs over the next several years, there needs to be broader investment in postgraduate opportunities in California from both public agencies and philanthropic organizations. “The whole point of building this ecosystem is making sure it’s sustainable,” Luckett said.

A representative for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said that over the past few years the department has worked with Cal State Dominguez Hills to explore options for tuition and will continue to support graduate opportunities. “Just as for students in the community, it is a challenge to find financial support for the master's degree,” the spokesperson said. “Although DOR's policy clarification is a hurdle, it is not the end of the program or of CDCR's commitment to the program.”

Charlotte West is a reporter covering the future of postsecondary education in prisons for Open Campus, a nonprofit newsroom focused on higher education. Sign up for her newsletter, College Inside.

When Christian Bryson needs quick weather information, like for this weekend's massive snowstorm, he doesn't wait for the 5 p.m. local newscast. Instead, he turns to Ryan Hall.

"It's as if he's sitting in the living room with you tracking the storm," said Bryson, a 21-year-old meteorology student at the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Hall, who goes by "Ryan Hall, Y'all" on his social media platforms, calls himself a "digital meteorologist" and "The Internet's Weather Man." His YouTube channel has over 3 million subscribers. Hall did not respond to a request to comment about his platform.
Hall is part of an increasingly popular genre of social media weather accounts that share information leading up to extreme weather, and then livestream for their viewers, sometimes for hours at a time. Overall, Hall offers solid information and is a good communicator with a few technical omissions, experts told NPR. But the weather genre online spans a wide range of sources — from amateurs with no science background to accredited meteorologists.
Experts say that while weather influencers can help fill an information gap, platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and X tend to prioritize engagement and likes over accuracy. That means extreme weather updates on social media are often sensationalized or lack context, says Gary Lackmann, a professor of atmospheric science at North Carolina State University.
"They're not going to the National Weather Service web page, they're just looking at what's in their feed," Lackmann said. "Once you start clicking on viral extreme weather stuff, then the algorithm is going to just feed you more and more."

Rise in social media use for weather updates

Lackmann, who is also head of NC State's department of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences, said in 2024 during Hurricane Helene, a weather disaster that swamped western North Carolina, killing 108 people, he started to see more and more people getting their weather information from social media
He says that, in the face of extreme weather events, people need credible and authoritative sources such as the NWS.
But with social media, sometimes "you get some kid who wants to get a lot of shares and likes and be an influencer on social media," he said.
Matthew Cappucci, a senior meteorologist for the weather app MyRadar, has personal experience with both worlds. He worked for years at the Washington Post as a meteorologist, and now posts weather forecasts on the internet.
Cappucci said his success on Facebook, Instagram, and X shows how rapidly people are shifting from getting their weather information from traditional news outlets versus social media.
"Within two months, I was able to reach 60 million-plus people on social media, just on Facebook," Cappucci said
Bryson, the 21-year-old, said Hall and other credible weather influencers use language that non-meteorologists understand and they can share information at any time of the day.
"The fact that it's available at your fingertips," Bryson said. "I could go to Ryan Hall at 4 p.m. I'm eating my dinner and get the information that I need."

Digital meteorology can help fill information gaps 

There are positives to having meteorologists and credible weather sources on social media, Lackmann said. He's seen local weather influencers in North Carolina help disperse information from official outlets.

"There's a real need for that kind of localization and personalization of weather information," Lackmann said.
Aaron Scott, an assistant professor of meteorology at the University of Tennessee at Martin, said digital meteorology, a relatively new certification program that encompasses all forms of digital media, has an important place in the new media landscape.
"People do trust them, and they have built rapport," Scott said. "Sometimes that can make the difference if someone's going to actually go take shelter from a tornado or not."
Scott's department at UT Martin is now offering a digital meteorology class dedicated to teaching students how to engage with an online audience.
Cappucci also sees the positives with his own content. Social media allows for more flexibility than on-air television, he said. He pushes back on climate misinformation or weather conspiracy theorists.

A minefield of misinformation on social media

But all three experts interviewed by NPR see the downsides in the way social media algorithms push the most sensationalized — not always the most accurate — information to the forefront.
"The brightest colors, the most outlandish information will always get more following than actual truthful information," Cappucci said.
Cappucci said the ability to make increasing amounts of money on social media can also lead to inaccurate weather information.
"As TV viewership wanes and as salaries come down, it's easier to make up that money by posting crazy stuff online," Cappucci said.
Meteorologists use a number of different numerical models as they predict the possible outcomes of an extreme weather event. Because of this, people can "cherry-pick" one model and sensationalize a forecast, Lackmann said.
"You cry wolf too often, and people won't take proper precautions when there really is a high probability of an extreme event," Lackmann said.

The effort to preserve credible weather reports

Meteorologists and other weather professionals are grappling with how to navigate the new media landscape and prioritize accurate information, the experts said.
NWS has increased its social media presence, Lackmann said. Experts at the American Meteorological Society have discussed a social media certification that extends beyond the digital media certification currently available.

Scott said how the field will grapple with social media, and now AI-generated media, is "a huge question mark."
"That's the million-dollar question," Scott said. "How do we make it? Do we have some type of badging system where you're certified, you're not? Then, who decides that?"
Copyright 2026 NPR

Housed in the basement of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Koreatown is a small room filled with ladders, drills, saws and other tools that many renters don’t have space – or reason – to own.

Starting Saturday, that room will officially open as the Los Angeles Tool Library. In this volunteer-run lending library, community members can borrow tools instead of purchasing new ones.

The idea began two summers ago, when founding member Chih-Wei Hsu was trying to build benches with friends and realized they didn’t have the right tools. After researching tool libraries around the country, Hsu learned that while they’re common elsewhere, there were none in his neighborhood.

“I feel like one of the biggest ways this can help people is – especially for a lot of people that are only wanting to build, say a shelf or a bench – it doesn’t make sense to go out and buy something that costs you $100, $200 just to do this one cut for this one project,” Hsu said.

The model is simple: Residents can sign up for a membership online or in person, browse available tools online or in-person and check them out for up to 10 days and renew once if no one else has reserved them. Borrowers are asked to bring an ID and proof of address, similar to a traditional library.

The library will operate Wednesdays and Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with plans to expand hours as more volunteers join.

“Instead of buying one thing and letting it sit on a shelf forever, we’d be able to share resources,” Hsu said. “A lot of people live in apartments or smaller spaces. Not everyone has a garage. A ladder is very useful to change a lightbulb, but not everyone has space to store a six-foot ladder.”

The library is designed with renters in mind, particularly in central Los Angeles. Hsu said the project is meant to be accessible and affordable, with monthly membership costs of $10 to $20 and with slight discounts for annual sign-ups. The library also offers volunteer opportunities in exchange for membership.

The library does not yet offer bilingual services, though Hsu said organizers are working to recruit Spanish-speaking volunteers.

Finding a space that is affordable was a major hurdle, but Hsu eventually secured a basement space at Immanuel Presbyterian Church.

The library has raised about $4,000 through donations and a founding membership drive, with much of its inventory coming from individual donors and in-kind contributions from the Makers Hub, a tool library in Compton.

“Everyone who’s working right now is a volunteer,” Hsu said. “If we scale up enough, we can look into hiring people, but the idea was always for this to be volunteer-driven.”

Beyond tool lending, organizers hope the space can serve as a community hub, hosting gatherings like book clubs or skill-sharing events.

Hidden along one of LA’s most iconic — and often gridlocked — boulevards, Pico-Union’s art scene is having a moment.

It is one of Los Angeles’ most densely populated neighborhoods, with more than 34,000 people per square mile. It is also among the city’s oldest.

Located west of Downtown LA, Pico-Union has the distinction of being a part of the original El Pueblo de Los Angeles settlement, putting it within the city’s original boundaries established in 1781.

The neighborhood has a rich history, from its days as an upper-class suburb to its current role as a major destination for immigrants.

Because of this, Pico-Union is largely known for its diverse, bustling community and its stunning architecture, with many streets lined with Victorian, Craftsman and Mission Revival homes.

No discussion of Pico-Union would be complete without a mention of Powers Place, the shortest street in LA. Just 35 feet long, it runs between Alvarado Terrace and S. Bonnie Brae Street.

But Pico-Union doesn’t get enough credit for its numerous creative spaces, making it an under-the-radar spot for art lovers and practicing artists. And all of it is happening on its slice of Venice Boulevard.

The 13-mile road also has a long history as one of LA’s most famous streets. It began as West 16th Street in 1896, when a streetcar could take riders to the ocean.

By 1950, when the railcars disappeared, Venice Boulevard was more than just a major thoroughfare. It became part of LA’s identity — a vibrant, pulsating corridor that acts as a crossroads of ideas, history, and raw creative energy.

The street begins at the bohemian, stylish storefronts of Abbot Kinney in Venice and cuts an unapologetic path all the way to the dense, commercial commotion of Downtown Los Angeles. This vast stretch is a living testament to the city’s rich tapestry, evidenced by the eclectic mix of locally-owned businesses, the deep roots of numerous cultures and the explosion of vibrant, meaningful murals that adorn its walls.

In the heart of the city, where Venice Boulevard slices through the neighborhood of Pico-Union, the artistic spirit of Los Angeles finds a particularly resilient home. Along this single, vital street, one can discover the places and people that are actively ensuring the neighborhood’s powerful, creative legacy continues to thrive.

Artwork from the Pico-Union art scene on display at as-is.

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Joe Garza

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The LA Local

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as-is

A modern art gallery in a nondescript building on Venice Boulevard, as-is starkly contrasts with its mostly working-class surroundings. It offers a quiet escape from Pico-Union’s busy streets, making it a hidden gem for visitors.

While as-is looks modern, it keeps one eye on the recent past.

“The gallery has an interest in regionalism — Los Angeles in general — but also a kind of hyper-localism,” the gallery’s director Tom Jimmerson told The LA Local. “Things that have happened just a few blocks from here, maybe in the 1970s or 1980s, have ended up becoming a kind of time capsule.”

Pico-Union has had its ups and downs over the last century from being a streetcar suburb to an area impacted by freeway construction and periods of disinvestment.

Its past reputation as a creative mecca of sorts has been forgotten, Jimmerson said.

And while the neighborhood represents far more than just art, it’s places like as-is that preserve its uniquely artistic history, and may even serve as a signpost for Pico-Union’s future.

“We kind of operate as a reminder that this neighborhood has had different kinds of functions and different kinds of associations over the years,” Jimmerson explained. “Art had been one, and will be one again, no doubt.”

Location: 1133 Venice Blvd.
Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m.
Website: https://www.as-is.la/

Part of exhibit from the Pico-Union art scene at Demi Lauren Studios.

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Joe Garza

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The LA Local

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Demi Lauren Studios

Putting a paintbrush to a canvas may seem like a daunting task for those who think they don’t have a creative bone in their body. But Demi Lauren Studios proves that the barrier to becoming an artist is thinner than most people realize. It can also be a bit more fun.

Here, clients can learn how to paint from experienced mentors while listening to music, sipping on an alcoholic drink, and even smoking.

“It’s a vibe! It’s colorful, you get to relax, it’s very welcoming, and you can just have a good time,” Demi told The LA Local.

Demi said many people come in thinking they can’t paint or draw.

“But it’s easier than it looks!” he said excitedly. “Some people are totally shocked when they’re able to create something.”

Many people credit Demi’s instruction style. “I just try and break it down into shapes and familiar objects so they can make a masterpiece,” he explains.

Location: 1459 Venice Blvd.
Hours: Wednesday through Friday, 2 to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 3 to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 2 to 4:30 p.m.
Website: https://artclasseslosangeles.com/

A mural outside the Graf Lab highlights the prominence of street art in the Pico-Union art scene.

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Joe Garza

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The LA Local

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The Graff Lab

Graffiti is sometimes linked to mischief and illegal activity rather than a form of high art.

But the Graff Lab takes the craft seriously, providing a large outdoor area where artists of all ages can express themselves without the fear of being arrested.

As part of the Pico Union Housing Corporation, the Graff Lab was founded by Ricardo Guerrero, the program’s director.

“It was created out of the need for there to be an arts space in the community,” he told The LA Local.

In addition to graffiti arts instruction, the Graff Lab also hosts numerous cultural events, along with other arts and athletics educational programs.

This urban sanctuary offers artists, especially youth, a safe and supportive place to build creative skills while navigating the challenges many face outside its doors.

“A lot of the kids that hang out here and do their art,” Guerrero explained. “They tell me themselves that if it weren’t for this place that they’d probably be in a gang or dead. It’s a very rough community.”

Location: 1038 Venice Blvd.
Hours: Monday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Website: https://www.thegrafflab.com/

It's long been understood that working outside in hot weather can be dangerous: Even ancient Egyptians worried about dehydration for workers building the pyramids.

Now, a growing body of research is quantifying that danger — and suggesting ways to better protect workers.

The risks extend beyond obvious concerns like dehydration and heatstroke.

"Heat makes people slower to react and worse at making decisions," says Adam Dean, a labor economist at George Washington University. "That means farmworkers driving a tractor or a construction worker operating equipment are more likely to have a fatal accident on a hot day."

But a suite of new analyses has found that regulations that provide basic safeguards like water, shade and rest for workers in hot conditions can help lower the numbers of heat-driven injuries, workers' compensation claims and even deaths.

The studies all use different datasets and methods but come to a similar conclusion, says Barrak Alahmad, an environmental health scientist at Harvard University and an expert on occupational health risks.

"States with heat standards have lower risk of heat injuries, of heat fatalities and other outcomes compared to states that don't have these heat standards," Alahmad says.

The most recent study, published in December in the journal Health Affairs, looked at California's rule protecting outdoor workers from heat, the oldest such rule in the country. Researchers found the regulations led to at least a 33% drop in heat-related deaths among workers after 2010 — an estimate of several dozen lives saved each year.

The outcome "delivers a clear message," says Dean, the study's lead author. "Heat standards, if they're adopted and effectively enforced, can significantly reduce worker deaths."

The new wave of studies comes as the federal government is considering creating new national rules to protect workers from excessive heat. Several states and local jurisdictions are also considering new standards.

The federal rules, first proposed under Biden, are now under review by the Trump administration. Their future is uncertain.

While the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has recognized for decades that heat poses risks to workers, there is active debate among worker advocates and business groups about how best to provide protections: via stringent, highly specific regulations, or with broader guidelines that allow employers to take the lead in crafting efforts specific to their own industries.

The new studies could help inform any new rules, says Jordan Barab, who was deputy assistant secretary of labor at OSHA under the Obama administration. Though the basic measures to protect workers have been well-known for decades, it's invaluable, he says, to "show that when a state actually implements these requirements that they actually have saved lives."

The California example

Federal regulators first noted that heat could put American workers at risk in the 1970s and '80s. But for years, OSHA prioritized regulating other workplace hazards. Heat issues were managed under the agency's more generalized rules, such as the "general duty clause," which required employers to maintain workplaces "free from recognized hazards."

But some states, like California, decided to go further. In 2005, after the highly publicized deaths of several farmworkers due to heat exposure, California passed the nation's first state-level regulations to protect outdoor workers from excessive heat. Requirements kicked off when temperatures exceeded 85 degrees Fahrenheit (the threshold has since been lowered further).

The rules set out to provide some simple protections: access to water, shade and rest on hot days.

For many years, California was the only state with such heat rules, setting up a natural experiment: Would heat-related worker deaths fall in California, compared to neighboring states with similar weather conditions but no such protections?

The new study suggests that, at first, the rules didn't make much of a difference. During the first few years, researchers did not find a decrease in heat-related death rates in California compared to neighboring states.

"When California first adopted a standard in 2005, it was ineffective," Dean says.

But that would soon change.

In 2010, the state strengthened the rule and deaths began to drop, the study found — eventually falling by more than 30%, with even more dramatic reductions in recent years.

The changes to the rule, Dean says, were critical. Though the initial rules required employers to provide water and shade, in practice, inspectors sometimes found problems — like undrinkable water.

So, the state clarified. Water had to be drinkable and free. And there needed to be enough shade for all workers during breaks. California also ramped up workplace inspections and launched an educational campaign to train the state's many outdoor workers about their rights.

"A critical lesson is that merely passing a heat standard is not enough," Dean says. "It was only after the state launched a statewide enforcement campaign that we started to see deaths decrease relative to the surrounding states."

The rules could have been even more effective with more consistent enforcement, says Garrett Brown, who until 2014 worked for Cal/OSHA, the state agency tasked with enforcing the rule. Even though the number of inspections increased, he says, limited staffing caused ongoing enforcement challenges.

It could have been "even more health protective for workers if there was an even more robust enforcement program," Brown says.

A growing body of evidence

The California study joins two other analyses with similar findings published in the past year.

Together, they provide important insights that could help in the design of future rules, says Alahmad. He led an analysis of heat-influenced worker injuries, published earlier this year, which found that states with heat rules had lower injury rates than those without.

Another recent study found workers' compensation claims were lower in states with heat standards compared to those without.

The next step for researchers is to suss out the most important parts of those regulations, Alahmad says: "What elements are actually most effective?"

That will be key information for regulators across the country. More than a dozen states and cities proposed new heat protection rules in 2025.

Edited by Rachel Waldholz