The Brief

A year and two months after its original deadline, Los Angeles Unified School District leaders have released their official plan to upgrade more than 600 schools to create more green space and add shade on campus.

The 188-paged Green Schoolyards For All Plan details what it will take to achieve this goal by 2035, and finds it could cost $3 billion, or more, to get there.

“Certainly, the delay has been disappointing, because I think there is a lot of momentum around this topic,” said school board member Kelly Gonez, who originally authored a resolution in 2022 to try and get the green school yard plan going. “There's no time to waste because there is a lot of work to do, and so much is needed.”

Defining a schoolyard  

The plan includes new definitions for what qualifies as a schoolyard and what qualifies as a green/natural area, which helps designate what parts of a school campus should be upgraded and what tools can be used. For example, a green space is defined as “exterior areas within a schoolyard which are of recreational and/or ecological value,” which can serve the following purposes:

• Provide locations for recreation and play
• Provide opportunities for the interactive educational observation of natural systems
• Protect areas of both typical and unique plant and animal communities
• Provide areas of natural interest and beauty within the school campuses for students and staff

Materials that can be used in creating these spaces include: plants/trees, grass/lawn/natural turf/other turf materials, dirt/mulch, decomposed granite, permeable pavers. But, according to the document, synthetic turf and cool coating are not considered “green elements.”

In previous school district surveys and conversations with parents about the best approach for greening schools, there was some concern over an over reliance on technology like cool pavement. A majority of people surveyed expressed a desire for “natural” materials like trees and plants.

Parent advocates like Angelenos for Green Schools co-founder Aleigh Lewis argue that natural spaces should be prioritized.

She understands the need for pavement for sports and other play, but believes trees, grass and other natural surfaces should be prioritized over repaving surfaces with a reflective coating.

“You have all this money and you could do so much more for every school and cool them down,” Lewis said.

The Green Schoolyards Index

One of the new parts of the plan is an updated list (starting on page 72 in the PDF file) of 205 elementary school campuses. They're ranked in order of the most heavily polluted areas within vulnerable communities, which get high heat temperatures on campus and are in need of green spaces.

District leaders have identified 634 schools that need natural spaces into three categories — Category 1 includes the 205 elementary schools that have the schoolyards with less than 10% green/natural space. Category 2 is for elementary schools that have 11% or more green/natural space and all of the secondary schools. Category 3 will also include secondary schools. The priority list for Category 2 and 3 are not included in the index.

The challenge

District leaders say that in order to complete all of the projects by 2035, they would have to have about “60 medium-to-large scale projects” started every year over the next eight years. Every year, they would have to have an allocation of $350 million to $400 million.

But, in the plan, district officials state that completing the listed amount of large projects in that time period may not be possible because of the lack of funding, workers and resources. Experts, parents and community members have argued the district could do more with less money.

Right now, the district is using various ways to fund campus greening projects, like lease financing agreements, repurposing bond funding, state funding and partnership grants.

Gonez said the district has already invested $100 million in greening since the resolution passed because they’ve been creative of making their campuses at least 30% green. But there’s still a long way to go.

“There's a big challenge ahead of us, which is how to meet that overall $3 billion number in the next 11 years,” Gonez said. “I want us to dive more deeply into that gap about what we can do right now and how to reach that overall goal so that we can work with our external partners and advocate with the state and federal governments to be able to get the funding that we need for green space.”

Why it matters

A majority of LAUSD school campuses are covered in asphalt, which absorbs heat. Temperatures on asphalt schoolyards in the summer in places like the San Fernando Valley can register up to 142 degrees on the surface. Schools everywhere in L.A. are feeling the impacts of rising heat.

Experts say hot weather could stretch further into the first months of the school year, raising temperatures. V. Kelly Turner, associate professor of urban planning and geography at UCLA and associate director of the Luskin Center for Innovation, said that’s how it’s going to be in the future.

Turner and her colleagues have studied extreme heat and the role design plays in how people experience it. They found that “schools are some of the hottest places in communities” as a result of how they’ve been built.

The background

In June 2022, district leaders allocated $58 million to outdoor education initiatives, including greening of campuses. A few months later, Gonez, who was president of the board at the time, called on Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and his team to develop a plan to ensure campuses were at least 30% green by 2035.

District officials say they have partnered with local nonprofits like Tree People and Trust For Public Land to help plant trees and create more shade on school grounds through the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection grant. There are eight LAUSD nonprofit partnerships that have received Cal Fire grants in the 2022-23 grant period. There are other grants, and other funding proposals that are in process.

Meanwhile, the Greening Schools and Climate Resilience Committee meeting that was originally scheduled for May 15 has been pushed to June 5.

The Phillips 66 oil refinery in the South Bay is shutting down, and nearby communities want a say in what comes next. But some residents worry they’re already being left out.  

Carson officials had called for creating a task force that would include community members to provide recommendations during the redevelopment process, but the effort has stalled.

City officials say they’re in direct conversation with Phillips 66 and are hosting community town halls for residents.

The background

Phillips 66 announced its intention to close its L.A. refinery in 2024, citing an aging facility and increasingly strict state regulations. The refinery spans more than 650 acres and has two main complexes, one in the L.A. neighborhood of Wilmington and one in Carson. They’re connected via a 5-mile pipeline. The company processed its final barrel of crude oil late last year.

Soon after Phillips 66 announced its intent to close, the Carson City Council passed a yearlong moratorium on proposals to develop the site and amended the general plan to give the council authority to approve the final plans for redeveloping the portion of the property within city limits.

What Carson leaders said 

When the moratorium expired last year, and in anticipation of the company submitting a project proposal, Carson Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes directed staff to put together a task force — including residents, City Council members and other stakeholders — to help inform the cleanup and redevelopment of some 223 acres of the company’s land within Carson city limits.

“ I know that my residents are real concerned about what they would like to see on that site versus them being told after the fact,” Mayor Pro Tem Cedric L. Hicks Sr. said at a council meeting last September, when he also expressed support for establishing a task force.

Task force effort stalls

Nearly nine months later, a task force has not been created.

In a statement to LAist, Carson spokesperson Margie Revilla-Garcia said the task force hasn’t yet been established “as staff is still discussing its structure internally.”

“At this time, no timeline has been established for the creation of the task force,” Revilla-Garcia wrote in an email.

Councilwoman Arleen Rojas, whose district includes the refinery, said a task force is premature — cleanup should be the priority.

“We have the community that’s been giving us ideas on what they want there, but we really need to clean it up,” she said.

Rojas said the council established an ad hoc committee that regularly meets with Phillips 66 about the cleanup. Meanwhile, she said the city has hosted and will hold more town hall meetings to educate residents about the cleanup process, which is likely to take years.

In April, Phillips 66 submitted its initial plan to turn the site into warehouses and industrial buildings. (The company submitted a proposal for its Wilmington site in August 2025 to the city of L.A.)

What’s next

Some Carson residents worry that without a designated task force, their concerns could go unheard as Phillips 66 carries out a largely unprecedented cleanup and redevelopment effort.

Jonathan, a Carson resident who grew up with a window view of the nearby Valero oil refinery, said most of his neighbors know little about the Phillips 66 closure. (LAist is not publishing his surname because he fears for family members who are in the U.S. without documentation.) He learned about the creation of a task force via the environmental justice advocacy group Asian Pacific Environmental Network, or APEN.

That group had pushed for a task force that would be included in cleanup conversations, not only redevelopment efforts.

He added that a task force could allow residents to have some say in rectifying longstanding health and pollution concerns from the area’s refineries.

“We get pollution stains on our walls inside because the air is just that dirty,” he said. “In some ways it's a lot like living next to a giant bomb that you don't really know the timer.”

He hopes a task force could help influence the current proposal, which is fully industrial.

“ Living in the shadow of a refinery makes you yearn for way more green spaces,” he said.

Recommendations on how to spend $3.7 million recovered from the Andrew Do corruption scheme will be left to his successor — and long-ago boss-turned-foe — Supervisor Janet Nguyen, under a plan advanced Tuesday by Orange County supervisors. The money is expected to be devoted to benefitting his former constituents, with exact spending plans to be proposed later.

The supervisors moved forward with a proposal by Nguyen to transfer the recovered dollars into her district’s discretionary funds, which she makes recommendations on how to spend. In doing so, they opted not to pursue a notion floated by Supervisor Don Wagner to spend the funds outside the district — an idea that faced intense pushback from dozens of public commenters at Tuesday’s meeting.

“ These funds were recovered in connection with the Andrew Do corruption matter,” Nguyen said. The money, she added, “should be returned back to the benefit of the 1st District community that were deprived of the intended services and public benefits.”

Nguyen said a variety of community needs could be addressed with the dollars, including helping people affected by multi-day mass evacuations over a recent explosion risk at a Garden Grove industrial facility.

As LAist reported when uncovering the corruption scheme, Do used the district discretionary process to allocate millions of dollars in the scheme without it ever appearing on public agendas. Under a state law passed in response to the Do scandal, spending of those funds in O.C. now must go to a public vote of the full board and be posted in an online spending log.

Supervisors have not yet decided how much of the recovered funds will go to communities such as Santa Ana that were in Do’s district during the first year-and-a-half of the four-year scheme, before the map changed due to redistricting. That question will be decided when the board votes on Nguyen’s spending recommendations.

Residents want the money to stay in the district

The supervisors’ move came after more than 50 residents of Do’s former district spoke to the board during public comments — all urging that the funds be spent in the district it was originally intended for. Wagner previously said he wanted a discussion on where to spend it because there are so many needs “across the county.”

“ This is shameful that you're even considering that this money not return to our district,” said Anne Calvo, a senior in Seal Beach’s Leisure World community.

“Please return the funds that are due to our district that were stolen from us,” said Calvo, who was appointed by Nguyen to the county’s Older Adults Advisory Commission.

“Please don't steal these funds twice,” said Huntington Beach resident Lori Sueki.

Vietnamese-language media covers a packed audience during public comments about the fate of $3.7 million recovered from the Andrew Do corruption scheme, during the OC Board of Supervisors’ public meeting on Tuesday, June 9, 2026.

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Jill Replogle/LAist

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Nguyen said it was the most number of speakers she could recall speaking on one topic at a supervisors’ meeting in the year and half since she re-joined the board.

In the days leading up to the discussion, Nguyen put out email blasts calling on constituents to send letters and speak up for devoting the funds to the district.

Several elected officials in local cities were among those calling on the board to spend the money in the district.

“ Other districts vying for the 1st District's funds, which are rightfully the 1st District's, is crazy,” said Butch Twining, an elected city councilman for Huntington Beach.

“Your respective districts have already received 100% of your funding,” Twining said.  ”The money is for our kids, our seniors, our veterans, to aid in providing help to our homeless and underserved communities, our public safety.”

The money diverted in the scheme was originally intended to feed vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities in his district, which included Little Saigon, Huntington Beach and — in the earlier part of the scheme — Santa Ana.

The diversion of the funds “hurt and created true victims of residents who were denied the services, the assistance, the opportunities, to recover quickly and to have their needs addressed,” said Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, who was mayor of Santa Ana during the pandemic.

“The money should go back to those that were harmed. But let's figure out who was harmed and make sure that we look at that,” he said, noting the changes to the district lines.

Fallout

Do is now serving a five-year sentence in federal prison after he admitted to accepting bribes in exchange for awarding millions in tax dollars meant to feed needy seniors and people with disabilities in his district.

As part of the plea deal, Do acknowledged taking more than $800,000 in bribes through his two daughters, including a down payment on the house his youngest daughter Rhiannon Do later forfeited to resolve the criminal case. The unaccounted-for dollars were first uncovered by LAist.

Federal officials recovered money from seized bank accounts and two properties connected to the bribes — including the Tustin house his daughter bought.

Millions more haven’t been recovered, at least yet

The amount of taxpayer money recovered so far is less than half of the $7.9 million Andrew Do admitted was diverted from specific meal contracts.

In a lawsuit seeking to recover funds, the county alleges the total amount lost was even larger: $13.25 million. The county’s suit — scheduled for trial in November 2027 — covers all of the money Do gave to two nonprofits, Viet America Society and Hand to Hand Relief Organization.

That leaves more than $4 million — and possibly much more — not yet recovered.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office noted they have an ongoing criminal case against Do’s alleged co-conspirator Peter Pham.

“Assuming we obtain a conviction in that matter, we would expect to seek restitution,” the spokesperson, Ciaran McEvoy, said.

Pham left the country on a flight to Taiwan in late 2024 and remains a fugitive, according to McEvoy. The case against him also includes charges against another alleged co-conspirator, Thanh Huong Nguyen, who led the Hand to Hand nonprofit.

The scandal has also been costly to taxpayers in other ways. In addition to what the county has spent on legal fees to pursue the lawsuit, $1.7 million has been spent on outside contracts — including a forensic audit — Supervisor Katrina Foley said on Tuesday.

Congratulations to those lucky — or deep-pocketed — enough to score a ticket to one of eight World Cup games in Los Angeles. (If not, it's not too late.)

That now means a visit to Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood — or SoFi Stadium to the rest of us — along with tens of thousands of others, all jostling to get in, seated, fed, and out.

SoFi is home to both of the city's (American) football teams: The Rams and The Chargers. And the ginormous arena plays host regularly to music's biggest names.

So it's all well-trotted territory. But to make your journey a bit easier, here's our cheat sheet on SoFi.

Driving?

We have to ask: you sure you want to get in a car? Because there are many public transit options to help you avoid traffic and save you money.

My colleague and transportation reporter Kavish Harjai has put together an entire transit guide for said purpose.

Still driving?

Fine! When in Rome ... we get it. In addition to navigating game-day gridlock, you’dll arlso have to park that thing.

Parking at and near SoFi Stadium

You can purchase official parking for each game. And offsite parking too. Inglewood’s Park & Go offers remote parking and shuttle service every 15 minutes to the stadium.

Pro-tip 1: Most of the streets near SoFi are permitted for residents only. Your car will be towed.

Pro-tip 2: There will be folks selling parking spots in private lots and driveways. As they say, caveat emptor.

Pro-tip 3: It could take at least an hour to get out of SoFi after the game. Use the restroom before heading to your car and pack your patience.

Food and stuff

Pregame: As my colleague Gab Chabron says, Inglewood's food scene reflects its Black and Brown residents that make up nearly 90% of its population. So grab some mightily tasty wings at a strip mall, or go a little fancy at a supper club co-founded by actor Issa Rae. Gab has all the details and more recommendations on his guide.

Game time: Plenty of options too at SoFi, which you can find here.

Pro-tip 1: After some back-and-forth, FIFA now allows fans to bring in one, soft, plastic 20 oz factory sealed disposable water bottle to the match. No other outside food or drink is allowed.

Pro-tip 2: The stadium does not accept cash.

Pro-tip 3: SoFi has a strict bag policy. Read what is allowed here.

Pro-tip 4: Yes, you can bring a poster and a flag. But there are strict rules on what those signs say.

Republican Steve Hilton will advance to the November general election in the race for California governor, setting up a longshot contest against Democrat Xavier Becerra in which he’s promised to slash spending and regulations if elected.

Hilton, a British American former Fox News host, secured about 25% of the vote in the June 2 primary, with about 88% of votes counted as of Tuesday evening.

His opponent, Becerra, is a former state attorney general and U.S. Health and Human Services secretary who emerged from a large pool of Democratic candidates.

Hilton’s win knocks billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer from contention after he spent $215 million of his own money to boost his populist campaign and blanket the airwaves with ads. It will make the general election a traditional partisan matchup during a midterm election year that Democrats will treat as a check on President Donald Trump’s administration rather than the intra-Democratic Party brawl that Steyer supporters had hoped for. California uses a top-two primary system; the two candidates with the most votes advance to the November ballot regardless of party.

With a crowded field of Democrats all competing for votes, Hilton led in the polls for much of the race, energizing conservative voters with promises to cut income taxes and the gas tax, boost oil drilling and overturn environmental regulations such as the state’s greenhouse gas reduction mandates.

He’s sold his candidacy as an opportunity for Californians crushed by high costs to end “16 years of one-party rule.” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the last Republican to lead California, left office in 2011.

“The people of California have really been generous in giving the Democratic Party the opportunity to show that their ideas work,” Hilton said last week, declaring victory early at a press conference in Sacramento. “I think the patience is running out, really.”

He faces an uphill battle in November.

California Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two-to-one. Though Hilton says he’s presenting the chance for the state to go in a different direction, there has been a GOP candidate in the general election for governor in every race in the past two decades — and besides Schwarzenegger’s tenure, Democrats have won them all.

He’s also endorsed by Trump, whom Californians disapprove of by high margins.

But he has not downplayed the endorsement.

“I think it’s going to be very helpful to Californians to have a governor who has a good working relationship with the president and his team,” he said.

Hilton’s signature campaign promise is to eliminate the income tax for the first $100,000 in earnings and institute a flat tax rate above that; he said last week that his campaign will consider raising that cap after conducting an economic analysis of the California cost of living. Either option would represent an enormous reduction in state revenue that Hilton has said he expects to offset by cutting a third of state spending.

He has not said how, if elected, he would get such a proposal through the Democratic supermajority in the state Legislature.

Hilton was born in London, the son of Hungarian immigrants to the United Kingdom. He got his start in politics working for the British Conservative Party and played a prominent role in the rise of Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010. He moved in 2012 to Silicon Valley, where his wife was a Google executive, and dabbled in startups before launching a weekly Fox News show in 2017 during Trump’s first presidency. The show, The Next Revolution, ran through 2023.