The Brief

When the moon slips in front of the sun on April 8, many places will hold eclipse viewing parties. The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, for example, will hand out special viewing glasses shaped like the historic building.

"We encourage everyone to come to the Alamo," says Alamo Trust spokesperson Jonathan Huhn, who notes that past astronomical events have drawn thousands to the Alamo's plaza. "We're hopeful to have another 5,000 people out in front of the shrine of Texas liberty to witness this beautiful celestial event."

But the Alamo is just outside the so-called path of totality — that's the ribbon of land that stretches through 13 states, from Texas to Maine, that will see a total solar eclipse. During a total eclipse, the sun is completely obscured by the moon.

"We're not in the 100% area of totality," says Huhn, who says he thinks the sun will be around 99.9% obscured. "It's very, very close."

Close but no cigar, according to eclipse experts.

"I would never tell someone, '99% is close enough.' That's definitely not the case with a solar eclipse," says Michelle Nichols, who directs public observing programs at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.

"Drive those last few miles to get into the path of totality," she urges. "People go to total eclipses to get the full experience, and 99% will not get you the full experience."

"It's 100% or nothing," agrees Fred Espenak, a retired NASA astrophysicist who has experienced 30 total solar eclipses. "There's such a radical, dramatic difference between a 99% partial and a 100% total. There's no comparison."

During a total eclipse, the sky darkens suddenly and dramatically. The temperature drops. Stars come out. Beautiful colors appear around the horizon. And the once-familiar sun becomes a black void in the sky surrounded by the glowing corona — that's the ghostly white ring that is the sun's atmosphere.

"It seems supernatural," says Espenak. "It is so far beyond the scope of normal, everyday existence that it seems dream-like or hallucinogenic."

A partial solar eclipse offers none of that magic, according to Rick Fienberg, the project manager for the American Astronomical Society's solar eclipse task force.

"Even at 99%, it gets no more dark than on a sort of typical overcast day," says Fienberg. "You can have a 75% or 80% partial solar eclipse, and if you didn't know it was happening, you might not notice because the environment changes so little."

That's because the sun is just so incredibly bright that even a tiny exposed sliver can light up the sky — or hurt your eyes if you're not wearing protective glasses. Only during the brief total eclipse phase when the sun is completely covered (which varies depending on your exact location but could be around four minutes) is it safe to look up toward the sun without special eye protection.

"The sun is about a million times brighter than the full moon," explains Angela Speck, an astronomer at the University of Texas at San Antonio. So if 99.9% of the sun is obscured, she says, there will still be "a thousand times more light than the full moon, and so it's still bright."

The last time parts of the United States got to see a total solar eclipse, in 2017, the path of totality went over a lot of rural areas, says Nichols. This time, the path cuts through more urban areas.

That means while around 32 million people live in the path, many more live a short distance away.

For them, the difference between seeing a partial eclipse and seeing a total one may mean going across town.

"If you get right up to the path, but don't go that last, you know, a few hundred yards into it, you're going to have a very, very deep partial eclipse," says Fienberg. "It will definitely get noticeably dark, but not near as dark as it will get at 100%. And you will not see the solar corona."

Popular places located just outside the path of totality will have to decide what kind of event to hold that day, if any.

The San Antonio Zoo is on the side of the city that won't see a total eclipse. Unlike the nearby Alamo, it will focus on having pre-eclipse activities on the day before.

"We are hosting an Eclipse Prep event on Sunday instead of an event on Monday," zoo spokesperson Hope Roth told NPR by email, adding that astronomers will attend and free solar glasses will be available. "We will encourage guests to visit the zoo, grab their glasses, and have a fun time while preparing for the Eclipse the following day."

The historic Cincinnati Observatory, which frequently holds sky gazing parties, will only see a 99.7% partial eclipse. Staffers there thought hard about whether or not to hold an eclipse celebration.

"For the longest time leading up to this eclipse, we had been committed to being closed," says executive director Anna Hehman, "because totality, if the skies are clear, is within an hour of us."

Eventually, they decided to hold an event for those members of their community who, for whatever reason, couldn't travel to the path of totality.

"While we encourage everyone to head to totality if possible, we love that people want to be at the Cincinnati Observatory for out-of-this-world events like this one. So, if you can't head to totality, please join us," the observatory's website says.

After all, a partial eclipse is still an interesting celestial event that people have observed since antiquity, even if it's not as dramatic.

"The buzz about solar eclipses is usually focused on totality, and witnessing a total eclipse is worthy of the hype. But the vast majority of people won't be in the path of totality," astronomy educator Shauna Edson, at the National Air and Space Museum, told NPR in an email.

That's why the museum is holding an eclipse celebration on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., which will see an 89% partial eclipse.

"This eclipse falls during cherry blossom season, so a lot of people will be visiting DC, and the Museum wanted to provide a space where they could enjoy the eclipse together," Edson noted, adding that participants will be able to enjoy the crescent-shaped shadows that form under trees and try out different methods for viewing the partial eclipse.

After April 8, the contiguous United States won't see another total solar eclipse for 20 years. And the one that's coming in 2044 will only be visible from the less-populated states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana.

State and local lawmakers are joining immigrant rights groups in urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a bill that would bar California law enforcement from moonlighting for ICE.

Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, who represents Angelenos from South L.A. to Mar Vista, introduced AB 1537 in January. If implemented, the bill would ban California police, sheriffs and other law enforcement from taking on second jobs that involve “arresting, detaining, transporting, or deporting” people.

The bill has made its way through the state legislature and is now on the governor’s desk. Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto it.

At a press conference outside L.A. City Hall on Wednesday, José Madera, who directs the Pasadena Job Center, pointed to multiple deaths involving federal immigration agents in recent months — from Minneapolis to Houston — and to a recent shooting in Austin. “We don't need our local police to be part of that violence,” he said.

“ICE is a lawless, rogue agency that is terrorizing our communities, separating our families and kidnapping our neighbors,” said Bruno Huizar, supervising policy manager at the California Immigrant Policy Center. “Governor Newsom must sign AB 1537 into law to protect Californians.”

L.A. City councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, whose own parents were undocumented, said it pained him to see immigrant parents go to work and to church in fear of being separated from their children.

“If you’re a public servant, you should be serving the public — not helping ICE tear families apart,” he added in a follow-up email statement.

The bill, dubbed “No side jobs for ICE” by its proponents, would also require officers to report secondary employment offers relating to immigration to their employers.

“If a law enforcement agent gets a conditional offer from an immigration enforcement agency, that will be part of their employment records. And that will be subject to a public records act request,” said Shiu-Ming Cheer, a licensed attorney at the California Immigration Policy Center. “This is aimed at bringing transparency, so that we know how many officers are actually getting offers to work as an ICE agent or a Border Patrol agent.”

The Peace Officers Research Association of California, which represents officers across the state, has spoken out against the bill, arguing that “policies like this don’t improve public safety.” The Los Angeles Police Protective League did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

The bill is part of a growing effort to bar local law enforcement from engaging in the ongoing mass deportation effort. The L.A. City Council approved a motion in March, barring city employees from holding second jobs with federal immigration enforcement agencies.

In Santa Ana, the City Council recently adopted a policy that prohibits employees from obtaining outside work that involves federal immigration enforcement activities.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill aimed at protecting children who are abused.

The law, which went into effect this week, is named “Gabriel’s Law,” after Gabriel Fernandez — an 8-year-old boy in Palmdale who died in 2013 after being tortured and abused by his mother and her boyfriend.

“It devastated the community. Still has,” said State Assemblymember Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale), who worked on legislation related to Gabriel’s case for years. “It hasn't gone away, right? It’s something we still acknowledge.”

Since Fernandez’s death, the Antelope Valley has seen a number of high-profile child deaths at the hands of their parents.

The new law requires social workers to make sure a child gets emergency medical care when needed, and it makes it easier to prosecute social workers who knowingly falsify records.

Officials said there had been warning signs about Fernandez’s abuse, but social workers with the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services failed to follow up on them. The high-profile case prompted internal reforms in the agency.

What happened to Gabriel

Gabriel died in May 2013, after months of abuse from his mother and her boyfriend. He was found with a number of injuries, including a fractured skull, broken ribs and BB pellets lodged in his body. His mother and her boyfriend were both sentenced.

A teacher had reported signs of abuse to the county, but social workers did not remove him from the home. Then they ended the investigation. Prosecutors charged the social workers with child abuse, but the charges were later dismissed.

“He was literally tortured. And there were many, many, many documented events, and there are many encounters that he had with people that lacked follow-up,” Lackey said.

What does the law change?

Before this week, the law said that social workers may authorize care if a child needs immediate emergency care, but did not require it. Gabriel’s law requires a social worker to secure medical care for a child.

“ They call for an ambulance or escort the child to an emergency room— make sure a physician has the opportunity to provide some level of remedy and documentation of the injury,” Lackey said.

It also clarifies the law so that social workers who are guilty of falsifying or destroying public records can be imprisoned or fined.

Why did the law take so long to change?

Lackey’s previous legislative efforts related to Fernandez’s case failed over the years. He introduced at least five different pieces of legislation that failed to advance.

“I'm not even saying that I blame the pushback and the concern, because if you're too aggressive, there's a tendency to accuse people of wrongdoing when they are not guilty of wrongdoing, so we wanted to make sure that the balance was reasonable,” he said.

Lackey terms out this year. “We're trying to do something as a community to not only pay tribute to [Gabriel], but to prevent it from reoccurring,” he said.

The Los Angeles Fire Department has completed its investigation into the cause of the Lineage warehouse fire in Boyle Heights but was unable to determine what caused it. 

In a press release, LAFD said the June 17 fire was caused by an “electrical event” that occurred on the roof of the building, “adjacent to a section of solar panels.” Despite a “comprehensive investigation,” the department could not determine what caused the electrical event.

“The Department’s thoughts remain with all those impacted by this deeply tragic incident,” Arson and Fire Investigation Chief Thomas Raymond said in a release.

In response to the inconclusive investigation, District 14 Councilmember Ysabel Jurado said, “LAFD’s finding that the cause remains undetermined does nothing to alleviate what Boyle Heights residents have endured and are still carrying: months of health concerns and disruption, along with unanswered questions about whether this site can safely operate again.”

“The fact that we still cannot explain how this catastrophe began is yet another reason I will continue opposing any permits to rebuild this facility,” Jurado said.

Recently, the LA City Council voted to withhold rebuilding permits for the Lineage warehouse until after the Los Angeles Fire Department completed its investigation. Earlier this month, Lineage Chief Executive Officer Greg Lehmkuhl told Boyle Heights Beat and The LA Local that the company had not decided whether to rebuild, saying, “We’re still focused on holding the right people accountable here and making sure that we’re continuing to support the community.”

The CEO’s comments came after Lineage sued solar power provider Altus Power, Inc. and its contractor, blaming them for the fire. Altus Power and its contractor dispute those claims.

In a statement following the completed investigation, Lineage said, “Today’s report from the Los Angeles Fire Department validates what we have known all along: This was a solar fire.”

The fire and subsequent cleanup of millions of pounds of rotting food caused a flood of issues for residents living in Boyle Heights, East LA and surrounding communities, including an infestation of flies and pests, nausea and headaches, higher utility bills and other health concerns. 

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Boyle Heights Beat senior reporter Alejandra Molina and LA Local reporter Christopher Damien contributed to this report.

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