The Brief

Fires are still burning in parts of Los Angeles, and potentially dangerous winds continue to be a threat.

Wildfire smoke causes particularly dangerous air quality, especially for sensitive groups that include children and pregnant people. The multiple fires that broke out last week led L.A. County to issue a smoke advisory that ended Sunday evening, and the South Coast Air Quality Management District extended a "windblown dust and ash advisory" through Wednesday evening.

Many families are still wondering, justly, how safe the air is. Facebook and Reddit groups for parents and caretakers have been bursting with questions about what children can or can't do, and making some version of the same inquiries: How can the air supposedly be OK when it’s filled with ash? And what does that mean for kids?

What’s in the air?

First, the risks.

Wildfire smoke includes small particles that can be dangerous for your health. (It’s called particulate matter 2.5).

As LAist has reported:

"It's not just forest burning, but unfortunately, homes and businesses and factories with their own sets of plastics and toxins that… will be high levels of oxides, nitrates, and heavy metals that can be carcinogenic," said Richard Castriotta, a pulmonologist at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.

How do I know what particulates are in the air?

The South Coast Air Quality Management District monitors particulates in our region, and is responsible for the air quality index (or AQI). And experts say AQI is a good place to start. The SC AQMD marks 0-50 air quality as good, 51-100 as moderate, and anything higher as unhealthy for sensitive groups, which includes pregnant people and children.

But the AQI doesn't account for everything, said Michael Kleinman, co-director of the Air Pollution Health Effects Laboratory with UC Irvine's School of Population and Public Health.

"The particles from the fire, especially close to where the fire was, will be contaminated with other toxic materials, and they can be a harm hazard," he said.

PurpleAir, a network of public air quality sensors, offers an alternative view to AQMD's.

Read more from LAist: Does a ‘good’ Air Quality Index rating mean it’s safe to be outdoors?

The AQI is fine, but I'm still worried. What should I know?

Castriotta with USC said toxins from burning homes won't always be taken into consideration in the air quality index. And the closer you are to a fire or burned homes, the higher the risk of those contaminants in the air.

He said potentially toxic ash from burned buildings could get spread in the aftermath of a fire — but where it goes depends on the winds.

"If you're in Santa Monica close to the Palisades Fire, or if you're in Pasadena close to the Eaton Fire and the wind's blowing in that direction, then you probably want to keep your kids out of ... the outside air," he said.

Why are children and pregnant people at a higher risk around wildfire smoke?

These pollutants can be particularly dangerous for young children and pregnant people because they have higher respiratory rates, according to Rita Kachru, the chief of allergy and immunology at UCLA. This means that these groups are breathing faster — so they inhale more pollutants per minute.

"[Children are] considered a little bit more high-risk because they're a little bit more sensitive to the air pollution, because they tend to spend more time outside," Kachru said. "They tend to have more vigorous activity when they're running around outside. It's hard to tell a little 3-year-old, 'OK, go outside, but don't run around.'"

Children with pre-existing health conditions such as allergies and asthma may be at higher risk when it comes to wildfire smoke exposure, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

How do I protect myself and my kids from bad air quality?

The best mitigation is being out of environments with unhealthy air, said Mary Johnson, a research scientist at Harvard's School of Public Health.

" If you can stay away from the smoke and stay indoors, or go where the air quality is better, you should do it. It's always better to avoid exposure," she told LAist on Monday.

If you can't leave the area entirely, multiple health experts agreed that staying inside is important to staying healthy.

"I know we all have PTSD from COVID, and that's the last thing anybody wants to hear is stay indoors," Kachru said. "But really, that is the best thing you can do."

Staying healthy while indoors

Much of the advice for keeping children safe is the same as the guidance everyone is following. The CDC advises parents to:

• Keep children indoors when air quality is poor
• Keep doors and windows closed
• If possible, use an HVAC system with an air filter or a portable air filter.

Kachru also recommends keeping infants and children cool and hydrated during a wildfire, for example by giving your child a cool bath.

"Keep them cool, so they don't have too much internal heat as well," she said.

And here are other tips we've compiled from our previous coverage and elsewhere:

• Experts recommend a HEPA filter — worth noting, HEPA stands for high efficiency particulate air — if you can get one. If you can't access an air filter, here's a guide to making your own out of a box fan.
• The Environmental Protection Agency suggests creating a clean room in your home — a designated space to keep air quality as high as possible. It has a guide to setting this up here.

We have to go outside. What should we do?

If you have to be outside in bad air quality, wear an N-95 mask. Children over the age of 2 can also wear a mask, but make sure it fits properly.

" My suggestion is to make a game out of it, so that the child will accept it," said Castriotta with USC about helping your child to wear a mask.

He also said if you need to take your kids somewhere in a car, run the air conditioning and make sure the air that's circulating is just the air that's inside the car.

We evacuated and are returning to our home. How do I know it's safe?

The L.A. County Department of Public Health advises parents returning home after a wildfire to keep children away from ash and items covered in ash.

"Think of ash like fine, dangerous dust that can be inhaled deep into the lungs and can cause major problems everywhere it lands. It's not just dirt," a county advisory states.

Before returning with children to an area impacted by wildfire, the EPA and pediatric groups recommend you check for:

• safe drinking water
• running electricity
• safe road conditions
• structurally sound homes; and
• sewage, ash, and debris have been removed

Kleinman with UC Irvine advises those returning home to wipe down walls and surfaces, and vacuum to clean the house. The county recommends a vacuum with a HEPA filter — a vacuum that sprays dust around could be counterproductive.

" Even though the ambient air, the outside air, is relatively clean, the air inside the home may be worse," Kleinman said.

He added that if you don't have an air quality monitor, looking for how much dust is accumulating is a good way to get a sense of indoor air quality.

And if you do return to a site where a home burned down, experts say to be careful afterward.

" Don't take your outer clothing that you wore into the fire zone and then wash it with the family laundry, because whatever toxic chemicals are there are going to be spread around," Kleinman said. " People have to be very cautious and avoid unnecessary exposure."

Learn more from an expert

On Jan. 22, we interviewed Kachru about all things air quality for an Instagram Live presentation. Watch it for yourself:

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene became a household name in the run up to the 2020 election for divisive rhetoric, political stunts and enthusiastic support of President Donald Trump. But after growing disagreements with Trump during his second term, Greene announced she will leave Congress in January before her term is up.

Greene said it would not be fair to her northwest Georgia district, one of the most conservative in the country, to have them "endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the President we all fought for" while noting that "Republicans will likely lose the midterms."

Greene's split with Trump widened in recent weeks as she pushed for the release of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

For months, Greene had been publicly pressing Trump and top Republicans in Congress to release all files from two federal investigations into Epstein. She was part of a small cadre of Republicans who helped force a vote on the House floor to release the files — a process that drove Trump to reverse his position on the documents and led to near-unanimous support for the measure this week.

But before Trump reversed course, he lashed out last week, calling her "Marjorie Traitor Greene," and told reporters, "Something happened to her over the last period of a month or two where she changed politically."

In her post Friday night, Greene defended her decision to fight for the release of those documents.

"Standing up for American women who were raped at 14, trafficked and used by rich powerful men, should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the President of the United States, whom I fought for," Greene wrote.

Greene's defiant push against Trump

On a brisk morning this week, Greene stood outside the Capitol with some of the women who say they were abused by Epstein.

"I've never owed him anything," Greene of the president on Tuesday. "But I fought for him and for America First. And he called me a traitor for standing with these women."

The cracks between Trump and Greene grew over the last year, as Greene increasingly pointed out where she saw the president falling short: she called the war in Gaza a genocide, criticized Trump's decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities, and pressed for expiring health subsidies to be extended, citing the threat of skyrocketing premiums for people in her district, including her own children.

And she was doing it not just on social media or right-wing outlets, but on programs like ABC's The View.

"What Happened to Marjorie?"

"I was thinking, if this was the first time I'd ever seen this person, it sounds like a normal congressperson from Schoolhouse Rock," said University of North Georgia professor Nathan Price after Greene's appearance on the daytime television staple.

For some, this new persona may be hard to square with the Greene many Americans first got to know: the congresswoman who embraced QAnon conspiracy theories, liked a post that called for violence against former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. and heckled school shooting survivor David Hogg in 2020, before he became a prominent political activist.

Even Trump has publicly mused in recent weeks: "What happened to Marjorie?"

Georgia Republican strategist Brian Robinson says it's a fair question.

"I am open to the idea that she's had a 'road to Damascus' moment, a conversion, that she sees the errors of the toxicity and wants something that's better," Robinson said in an interview with NPR earlier in the week.

On her own social media and with journalists, Greene has been open about addressing claims from Trump and others that she has changed or abandoned the president. NPR reached out to Greene for further comment.

"Nothing has changed about me," Greene told the hosts of The View. "I'm staying absolutely 100% true to the people who voted for me, and true to my district."

Robinson said the changes could be part of a natural evolution for Greene, a former CrossFit gym owner from the Atlanta suburbs.

"We love to elect outsiders to Congress," Robinson said. "They go to Congress with very little idea of how it works. And if at some point you're like, 'I want to do substantive things that make America better, then I've got to do this a little bit different."

Or, Robinson said, she may be trying to broaden her appeal with an important constituency as she weighs a bid for higher office. Trump said last week he showed Greene polling earlier this year suggesting she would flounder in a race for Georgia governor or Senate.

"Is she intentionally signaling to women, 'The good old boys club ignores us, and I understand your struggles?" Robinson said.

Both Robinson and Price said Greene's evolution was more about style than substance. She has disavowed some of her more controversial views, but not others, like the unproven assertion that widespread fraud upended the 2020 election result.

The anti-interventionist, anti-elite principles that first propelled her to Congress also remain core to her identity. "What she's responding to is believing that the President has shifted on these issues," said Price.

Some potential political opponents see an opportunity in Greene's break with Trump. Robinson, who worked for Greene's opponent in her first primary race, says in the past he has warned potential challengers not to underestimate her.

"You are wasting your time," Robinson said. "She will beat you. And I would have said that into infinity until this week."

How Greene's district reacted to the shift

But in the 14th Congressional District, it was not clear this week that anything had changed. As chair of the Paulding County Republican Party, Ricky Hess spends a lot of time talking with voters.

"The issues that they want to talk about involve high property taxes, high health care costs, whether or not their kids will be able to buy a house when they graduate," Hess said this week ahead of Greene's resignation.

Hess told NPR he believes Greene's "America First" worldview resonates in this heavily working class and rural stretch of Northwest Georgia.

"She's pretty tapped into what her constituents are wanting, and I have to believe that most of her actions are in service to that," Hess said.

Hess said voters saw Trump and Greene as fighters on the same team. Though Martha Zoller, who hosts a political talk radio show that airs across North Georgia, said in an interview Wednesday she didn't believe everyone's minds were made up.

"People are kind of reeling, if you want to know the truth," Zoller said. "We haven't had a lot of listeners discussing it because they're waiting to see what happens."

Georgia political observers noted that Greene has been anything but a predictable politician — including her surprise resignation.

Trump has come to a truce with other politicians he's feuded with, including Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. And his future relationship with Greene could still evolve.

But Zoller said the conflict between Trump and Greene has been about more than just two big personalities falling out on the national stage.

"I think that the big discussion we're going to be having as Republicans over the next few years is what is the Republican movement once it's not Trump?"

Zoller said earlier this week it seemed clear that Greene wants to be part of that discussion. But with her resignation, the answer to that question is may be less clear now than before.

NPR's Stephen Fowler contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 NPR

Promoting illegal car sideshows and street races in Long Beach, whether through social media, print, or group chats, could soon cost you up to $1,000 and six months in jail.

The Long Beach City Council on Tuesday voted to create a new ordinance that makes it illegal to encourage or advertise street takeovers, saying these exhibitions are an outstanding danger to the public and a nuisance to neighborhoods.

The item will come back to the dais as a draft prepared by the city’s attorney’s office, which would then be voted into law.

It will allow police to levy penalties on those they can prove promoted or encouraged people to attend the illegal exhibition, which often includes cars doing donuts and burnouts in public intersections ringed by crowds. Police will track promoters through testimony and social media. Promotion bans like this one already exist in other municipalities like San Jose and Alameda County.

It builds on a 2022 city law targeting those who attend these events, making it a misdemeanor for those within 200 feet of a street takeover. Tuesday’s vote also included an amendment that exempts accredited news reporters from the existing spectator ban.

The city’s northernmost 9th City Council District, where the proposal originated, continues to claim the majority of reported street races across Long Beach, with more instances reported there than other parts of the city combined.

Ninth District Councilmember Joni Ricks-Oddie said the law was a direct response to what her constituents experience regularly.

“Illegal street racing and sideshows remain some of the most dangerous public safety challenges in our city,” she said.

Between 2022 and 2023, the police received 349 calls about street racing or other exhibitions of speed — 210 of which were in Ricks-Oddie’s district that encompasses most of the city above South Street. When asked, police did not provide more up-to-date statistics.

Councilmember Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, whose district borders Rick-Oddie’s, said in the Longwood neighborhood, sideshows are a common occurrence on Susana Road, a street that borders unincorporated land and is next to an elementary school.

“Reckless driving is harmful for everyone,” she said. “It is unacceptable in areas that are highly utilized by children, and we must return our streets and neighborhoods to a state of normalcy.”

In the city’s plan to eliminate all vehicular deaths by 2026, commonly known as Vision Zero, a survey section found nearly a quarter of respondents listed traffic enforcement as the top priority. Ahead of the 2026 budget, respondents ranked public safety among the top three priorities for the city.

The city also plans to install three automated speeding ticket cameras in the 9th District, along Artesia Boulevard from Harbor Avenue to Butler Avenue; Atlantic Avenue from the L.A. River to Artesia Boulevard; and Long Beach Boulevard from Artesia Boulevard to 70th Street.

Long Beach is on track to have more than 50 traffic deaths this year.

Millions of Americans have shed pounds with help from drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound.

But people who take these drugs often experience unpleasant side effects.

"They lose weight, which is a positive thing," says Warren Yacawych of the University of Michigan, "but they experience such severe nausea and vomiting that patients stop treatment."

So at this year's Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego, Yacawych and other researchers held a session to describe their efforts to understand and solve the side-effect problem.

The weight-loss products are called GLP-1 agonists. They work by mimicking a hormone that reduces appetite and slows digestion.

Yacawych and his colleagues wanted to know if they could tweak these drugs to suppress appetite without making people queasy.

The team focused on two areas in the brain stem where GLP-1 drugs have a big effect.

"The first is affectionately known as the brain stem's vomit center," Yacawych says. "It's naturally designed to detect any accidentally ingested toxin and coordinate the feeling of nausea and the vomit response."

The second area monitors food intake and tells people when they're full.

The team found a way to direct GLP-1 to the area involved in feeling full, while keeping the drug out of the vomit center.

When the researchers did this, the mice no longer felt sick. But they also didn't get thin — probably because there are specific cells in the vomit center that do not induce vomiting but are critical to weight loss.

"So it's very challenging," Yacawych says, "to be able to separate these side effects, like nausea, from GLP-1's intended effects, like weight loss."

A possible workaround came from a team led by Ernie Blevins of the University of Washington. They gave obese rats a low dose of a GLP-1 drug along with the hormone oxytocin, which is itself an appetite suppressant. That allowed the rats to lose weight without feeling sick.

Not just nausea

Another side effect of GLP-1 drugs is a decrease in thirst, which could be dangerous for people who are already losing lots of fluids from side effects like vomiting and diarrhea.

"If you're in that state of dehydration and you're not feeling thirsty to replace those fluids, that would be a problem," says Derek Daniels of the University at Buffalo.

To understand how GLP-1 drugs reduce thirst, Daniels and a team began studying the brains of rats. And they got lucky.

"We had a happy accident in the lab," Daniels says. "And the happy accident involved a rat called the Brattleboro rat."

Brattleboro rats are laboratory rodents with a genetic mutation that makes them thirsty nearly all the time. But the scientists discovered that these rats are also very sensitive to GLP-1 drugs, which drastically reduced their water consumption.

The team studied the rats' brains to see where GLP-1 was influencing thirst. That led them to several areas of the brain that appear to affect thirst but not appetite.

The discovery could help scientists preserve thirst by designing drugs that "target good places but not bad places," Daniels says.

Appetite and addiction

A team from the University of Virginia found that GLP-1 drugs are already targeting a brain area that plays a role in addiction as well as eating. It's a region involved in emotion and the reward system.

When the researchers delivered GLP-1 to this brain area in mice, it reduced their desire for "rewarding food, like a burger," says Ali D. Güler of the University of Virginia.

But the animals continued to eat healthy, nonrewarding foods, he says — a bit like people choosing a salad bar over dessert.

Identifying this brain area should help scientists find GLP-1 drugs that target the reward system while avoiding areas involved in appetite, Güler says. And that could lead to new treatments for alcoholism and other substance use disorders.

The finding also could explain the observation that people who take GLP-1 agonists tend to reduce their consumption of alcohol.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that found Texas' 2026 congressional redistricting plan pushed by President Donald Trump likely discriminates on the basis of race.

The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito will remain in place at least for the next few days while the court considers whether to allow the new map favorable to Republicans to be used in the midterm elections.

The court's conservative majority has blocked similar lower court rulings because they have come too close to elections.

The order came about an hour after the state called on the high court to intervene to avoid confusion as congressional primary elections approach in March. The justices have blocked past lower-court rulings in congressional redistricting cases, most recently in Alabama and Louisiana, that came several months before elections.

The order was signed by Alito because he is the justice who handles emergency appeals from Texas.

Texas redrew its congressional map in the summer as part of Trump's efforts to preserve a slim Republican majority in the House in next year's elections, touching off a nationwide redistricting battle. The new redistricting map was engineered to give Republicans five additional House seats, but a panel of federal judges in El Paso ruled 2-1 Tuesday that the civil rights groups that challenged the map on behalf of Black and Hispanic voters were likely to win their case.

If that ruling eventually holds, Texas could be forced to hold elections next year using the map drawn by the GOP-controlled Legislature in 2021 based on the 2020 census.

Texas was the first state to meet Trump's demands in what has become an expanding national battle over redistricting. Republicans drew the state's new map to give the GOP five additional seats, and Missouri and North Carolina followed with new maps adding an additional Republican seat each. To counter those moves, California voters approved a ballot initiative to give Democrats an additional five seats there.

The redrawn maps are facing court challenges in California, Missouri and North Carolina.

The Supreme Court is separately considering a case from Louisiana that could further limit race-based districts under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. It's not entirely clear how the current round of redistricting would be affected by the outcome in the Louisiana case.