The Brief

On Thursday, over a hundred California State University, Los Angeles students and employees protested in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. building with signs that said “King Kills.” People shouted “Shut it down!”

“I think it has to be something that wakes people up, that gets them talking,” said Anthony Ratcliff, a professor in the university’s Pan African Studies Department and the chair of the faculty union.

What riled people up, he said, is an email last week from university President Berenecea Johnson Eanes saying a recent test found potential asbestos exposure in one part of King Hall.

That part has been closed, the email stated, and work is being done to abate the asbestos; two offices next to the affected office will also be worked on.

An email sent out on Thursday afternoon said testing also found mold, and that staff are working to track down the source. It also said air quality in King Hall meets federal standards for asbestos and lead.

How long has asbestos been a problem?

Asbestos has long been used to insulate buildings. Research has shown that long-term exposure to asbestos can cause cancer. The effects of that exposure may not show up for years.

The Environmental Protection Agency made several moves to ban or regulate asbestos starting in the 1970s. King Hall opened in 1962.

A student walks past an asbestos warning sign inside of King Hall at Cal State LA on February 29, 2024.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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Noah Galbraith with Students Against Tuition Hikes shows fallen and bulging ceiling tiles inside of King Hall across from the a Pan-African studies office at Cal State LA.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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For over a decade, employees at Cal State L.A. have received notifications that asbestos is present in “various” buildings on campus. The notifications say the toxic substance isn’t dangerous if it isn’t disturbed from the building material and it doesn’t become airborne.

Previous notifications said that asbestos is typically found in walls, floors, roofs, pipes, insulation, fire resistant materials, boilers, and ceiling insulation. Cal State L.A. previously published an asbestos slidedeck as part of an awareness training.

But faculty and staff say talked at the protest about colleagues who’ve worked in these offices and died of cancer.

“[In] March 2022, I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer,” said Jill Grayson. She received the news less than a year after beginning an administrative job in King Hall for the Pan African Studies Department.

She can’t say that working in the building caused the cancer, but she’s very worried for employees who’ve worked there longer.

“Shut it down, figure it out, and make a plan for the future,” she said.

How has the university tried to fix it?

The university has had plans for years to spend millions of dollars to renovate part of the building and tear down the rest. It’s unclear where those plans stand.

“The university’s new administration is focused on addressing facilities needs and is taking action. The health, safety and wellbeing of our community is the top priority of the president and the administration,” said CSULA spokeswoman Margie Low in an email.

What are the building conditions?

An LAist walk through King Hall revealed wet ceiling tiles that bulged while several next to them were missing. That situation revealed two layers of building material.

Next to the missing tiles, a wall sign warns “CAUTION, WORK IN PROGRESS” and listed a facilities telephone number. A sign next to that one, which appeared to be placed by protest organizers, said, “CAUTION, ASBESTOS HAZARD, SAY NO TO KILLER KING HALL!”

Student and organizer with Students for Quality Education Anita Rangel.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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Organizers say the heightened rhetoric is intentional.

“We’re frustrated and we want attention [to the issue], it’s a cry for help,” said Anita Rangel, a sixth year student in Chicanx/Latinx studies.

Rangel was wearing a white hazardous materials suit at the protest.

“These buildings are deteriorating, and it's a lack of respect towards us being here,” she said.

The largest cyclospora food poisoning outbreak in U.S. history is over, U.S. health officials said Friday.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said they are confident that all recalled iceberg lettuce related to this specific outbreak is off the market.

Nearly 13,000 reported cyclospora cases were tied to the multistate outbreak, federal officials say. They represent the bulk of an unprecedented surge in the parasitic diarrheal illness this year.

Even with the outbreak deemed over, several questions remain, including about its origin. The parasite is spread through human feces, and it still isn’t clear how sewage could have contaminated enough food to sicken so many people.

“This contamination can happen if produce is grown in soil or comes into contact with water that has been contaminated,” said Ellen Shumaker, director of outreach for a North Carolina State University food safety program, Safe Plates.

Since May 1, the government has received reports of nearly 20,000 lab-confirmed cases, or more than 16 times the number reported during the same period last year. More than 6,100 suspected cases also have been reported.

The worst previous year in the U.S. for infections was 2019, when about 4,700 illnesses were reported nationally.

This year’s surge in cases was dominated by an outbreak in 21 states linked to iceberg lettuce. But there are thousands of other cases that have not been linked to that outbreak.

Michigan was the hardest hit state, with the most reported cases and the two U.S. deaths tied to the outbreak.

Cyclospora is a microscopic, spherical parasite that commonly causes watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the CDC. Outbreaks tend to occur most often in the late spring and summer.

The illness, called cyclosporiasis, is less common than foodborne illnesses caused by other germs, including salmonella and E. coli. Many cases are never linked to a specific food or other source.

In this outbreak, investigators initially zeroed in on lettuce served at Taco Bell. Federal officials subsequently focused on Taylor Farms as the source of the lettuce, and the company recalled iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico.

The Taylor Farms recall involved thousands of packaged salad products combining iceberg lettuce with other vegetables. The products were shipped to major U.S. restaurant chains, including Yum Brands, which owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC.

The FDA has ended its on-site inspections and sample collection at iceberg lettuce growers and the processing facility in Mexico, the agency said Friday. Samples from the on-site inspections are pending analysis, the FDA said.

The outbreak cast a spotlight on a worsening problem: U.S. regulators are conducting fewer international inspections to catch contaminated produce before it lands on American plates.

The Associated Press’ health and science coverage receives financial support from the AP Fund for Journalism and private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

For 16 years, Carlos Ortez, 64, has opened the doors of his restaurant, Un Solo Sol, near Mariachi Plaza, eager to share the philosophy behind his plant-based dishes and the importance of nourishing the body through holistic food. 

It’s what he’ll miss the most when the restaurant closes on Sept. 28, Ortez said. 

“This decision was not made lightly,” Ortez wrote in an Instagram post announcing the restaurant’s closure. “Rising operational costs, inflation, and the broader challenges facing the restaurant industry have made sustaining a small footprint increasingly difficult.”

The announcement comes after years of declining sales and mounting economic crises that have driven customers away, including the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration raids, and recently, the Lineage warehouse fire. 

The restaurant stopped making a profit in 2022, and ever since, Ortez has been using personal funds to sustain it, he said. 

“We’re closing the front door right now so that I can think,” Ortez said. “How am I going to fit a small restaurant with these ideals … in Los Angeles, in Boyle Heights, in the world?”  

Carlos Ortez, 64, owner of Un Solo Sol, stands in front of the restaurant on Sept. 10 in Boyle Heights.

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Laura Anaya-Morga

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Boyle Heights Beat

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Un Solo Sol’s origin 

Ortez, a career engineer-turned-business owner, launched Un Solo Sol in 2005 with his ex-wife as a food-service provider for charter schools. In 2010, Ortez opened the brick-and-mortar across the street from Mariachi Plaza, serving primarily vegan and vegetarian dishes before becoming fully vegan in 2022. 

The menu features Latin-American staples like pupusas from Ortez’s native El Salvador, pozole and enchiladas, as well as cuisine from cultures around the world.  

The yellow and green storefront near the corner of Boyle Avenue and 1st Street has become part of the fabric of the 1st Street business corridor. In neighborhoods like Boyle Heights, losing a small business disrupts “the cohesiveness of the community,” Ortez said. 

On social media, customers grieved the loss of one of the only vegan restaurants on the Eastside.  

“Thank you for the many years of delicious meals made with love,” one user commented. 

“Carlos you poured your heart out for the Vegan community and Boyle Heights,” another wrote. 

What’s next

While the restaurant will close its doors, Ortez said his work isn’t over. He plans to stay in the community and take time to consider how his naturopathic, whole-foods-oriented restaurant concept can continue in a different form.

“The plan is to reemerge,” Ortez said. “It’s not that I don’t have the capacity to let go, it’s that I’m still alive.” 

Want to visit?

The restaurant will close on Sept. 28. Until then, hours are Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 12 to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 12 to 3 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m The restaurant closes Tuesdays and Wednesdays. 

Un Solo Sol is located at 1818 E. 1st St.

California teens will be barred from “addictive” social media products and limited in their interactions with chatbots under two of the 13 bills signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom Thursday to protect kids online.

The law on addictive social media may be the most controversial. It will require social media companies to either stop offering “addictive” tools like infinite scroll and autoplay to users under 16 or to keep those users off their platforms entirely.

Authors say the law is necessary to address a teenage mental health crisis and that it will force social media companies to take long-awaited action.

“Parents can’t compete. Can’t compete with the engineering, can’t compete with the algorithms,” Newsom said at a press conference announcing the laws. “You feel like you’re a lousy parent.”

But digital rights organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation urged Newsom to veto the bill, calling it “well-intentioned, but deeply flawed.” That organization said the bill defines “addictive features” so broadly that it would effectively create a full ban on social media for kids under 16 and cut off youth from “essential information and experiences.”

The measure limiting artificial intelligence chatbots is more broadly supported, even by tech juggernaut OpenAI. Named after California teen Adam Raine, who died by suicide in 2025 after receiving tips from ChatGPT, the new law will impose time limits for minors and require built-in mental health resources. It will also mandate safety plans for chatbots. If a chatbot detects a threat of self-harm, the chatbot operator will be required to alert parents. Companies like OpenAI or other creators of chatbots could face legal liability for failing to act.

“Raising teens at this moment, those of us that are, we know the youth mental health crisis in an everyday reality,” Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, one of the bill’s authors, said after the bill’s signing. “There isn’t one of us that hasn’t seen it first hand.”

OpenAI has said the law “pairs strong protections with continued access to useful AI tools.”

The law builds on existing regulations on chatbots in California, like requiring the tools to notify users that they are interacting with AI.

Those two were the most notable among several related measures Newsom also signed.

One makes social media companies legally liable for damages if their platforms harm a child. Another expands and revises age-checking requirements, while a third expands companies’ responsibilities for acting on child abuse content.

Another will place a four-year moratorium on AI-powered chatbot toys for kids under 16.

Earlier this week, Newsom also signed two bills that create standards for independent AI tool auditors. Another new law clarifies requirements for businesses that create products “likely to be accessed by children,” preventing them from collecting children’s data as a condition of using their services.

The laws come amid mounting concern over how social media and AI tools may be damaging kids’ mental health.

Adam Raine’s death was one in a string of incidents that alarmed parents about how their kids might be interacting with chatbots. Those concerns go beyond teens, too, as the tools are linked to increasing incidents of so-called “AI psychosis,” in which chatbots seem to encourage and feed delusional thinking.

The new legislation also comes on the heels of a landmark legal settlement between Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta and a coalition of state attorneys general, including California’s Rob Bonta.

In a major suit, the states accused Meta of knowingly damaging teens’ mental health through addictive features like infinite scrolling and continued to promote those products even after the damage became clear internally. The suit has been compared to the Big Tobacco lawsuits of past decades.

Last month, as the trial started, Meta agreed to pay up to $17 billion to settle the case. Some of that money will be earmarked to address mental health harms for kids and states will decide where to spend the rest.

The settlement also requires Meta to change its products to address some of the mental health concerns. Under the terms of the agreement, the company will limit “likes” for underage users’ accounts and stop sending notifications during school hours, among other limits.

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