The Brief

Angelenos still bothered by the smell of smoke may be surprised to see that Air Quality Index numbers returned to “healthy” or “moderate” levels this week in L.A. County, but they shouldn’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet.

Public health officials and experts say the AQI, while helpful, fails to fully account for the health risks associated with destructive urban fires and high winds.

That’s because AQI is calculated based on common air pollutants like tiny particulate matter and smog, but it doesn’t quantify the exact level of specific toxic particles currently in the air — things like asbestos, copper, or lead from structures that have burned.

“The AQI is not reliable for this situation,” said Anthony Wexler, director of the Air Quality Research Center at the University of California-Davis. “And you can't see it. So looking around and saying, ‘Oh, it looks, looks clear.’ That doesn't tell you anything.”

To understand the health risks and stay safe, residents need to consider more than just the AQI metric, like the toxicity of the smoke and ash coming into their neighborhoods.

Rather than relying solely on the Air Quality Index, Wexler recommends checking out PurpleAir Map, which tells you where the plumes of smoke are in real time.

"If the plume is where you are or heading towards you, then take measures to protect yourself,” he said.

Local health officials have provided full lists of guidance on how to minimize your health risks.

What’s the AQI?

The Air Quality Index, or AQI, is the primary system used to warn the public when air pollution is dangerous. It’s based on data collected from 5,000 air monitors across the country. The index ranges from 0 to 500 and uses a color coded system:

A guide to AQI's numerical and color-based scale.

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AirNow.Gov

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As of Monday evening, the AQI was between 30 and 60 throughout L.A. County — in the “good” or “moderate” range — according to data from the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

That might seem counterintuitive to many in the Los Angeles area, particularly near Pacific Palisades on the westside and Altadena in the east, where firefighters are still working to extinguish massive fires.

What AQI doesn’t measure 

The AQI measures particulate matter in the air, but it doesn’t measure how toxic those particles are, Wexler said. It doesn’t measure the specific amount of plastic, copper, lead, or asbestos you’re breathing when you step outside.

“The particles and gases in the air right now are much more toxic than normal because they are from burning houses which have all kinds of stuff which we don't usually have in our air,” Wexler said. “And that stuff is bound to be much more toxic than what's usually in the air.”

It also fails to account for most ash particles, which are typically too large to be detected by air quality instruments, but contain the toxic chemicals and may cause health problems, experts said.

“The wind is spreading a lot of ash that is not detected in AQI,” said Nahal Mogharabi, who works with the South Coast Air Quality Management District. “These ash particles… are typically visible to the naked eye, either in the air or on outdoor surfaces.”

The toxic chemicals in the ash are the same ones that are in the smoke.

“There's a lot of chemicals involved — things like the plastics, toxic metals, asbestos,” said Mary Johnson, a research scientist at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “A lot of things in our environment, when they do combust, they can be toxic.”

So even when the AQI looks “good,” Angelenos could still be exposed to materials that are harmful to their health.

“There's just tons of stuff out there and all the black smoky crap — that's really bad stuff to be inhaling,” Wexler said.

Other metrics

According to the experts, one reason AQI levels had returned to normal early this week was because the fires were producing less smoke.

“Smoke production from the Eaton and Palisades fires has decreased significantly as evident from satellite imagery, webcam imagery, and local fine particle pollution monitors,” Mogharabi said. “This unfortunately may change as strong Santa Ana winds return to the area.”

L.A. County residents should take precautions whenever they smell smoke, see ash, or are in an area with high AQI levels. That means don’t exercise, keep your kids indoors, strap on your N95 mask and plug in your air filter.

The county Department of Public Health, which declared a local health emergency for L.A. County late Friday, says the risks are especially high if you have heart or lung conditions, are over 65, are pregnant or have children.

And when it comes to using your senses to detect health risks, it’s slightly better to follow your nose than rely on what you see.

“A better metric is your smell,” Wexler said. “Because you can smell it before you can see it. And so if it smells like smoke, it's there or it's coming.”

Winds will make things worse 

Winds are expected to pick up Tuesday, but aren’t likely to be as strong as last week when they reached speeds of between 80 and 100 mph. The National Weather Service is warning of wind gusts between 55 and 70 mph this week.

A red flag warning is in effect throughout wide swaths of L.A. and Ventura counties Tuesday morning and will continue through Wednesday.

Public health officials say it’s hard to predict where ash will travel or how air quality will be affected by harsh winds, but L.A. County residents should be alert. Those who are closer to the ongoing wildfires are generally at increased risk of breathing in toxins, but wind direction is also a major factor.

In short, it's better if the wind is blowing away from you.

“Smoke and ash can harm everyone, even those who are healthy,” said Muntu Davis, health officer for L.A. County.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Kaan Ayhan scored on the final kick of the match, and Turkey beat the United States 3-2 Thursday night for its only win of the World Cup.

Auston Trusty scored in the third minute and Sebastian Berhalter got a tying goal early in the second half for the Americans, who had already won Group D with victories over Paraguay and Australia. Coach Mauricio Pochettino’s team will meet Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Round of 32 on Wednesday.

Pochettino fielded nine new starters for this low-stakes game, but Christian Pulisic entered in the 58th minute. He hadn’t played since the first half of the Americans’ opener due to a calf injury.

Arda Güler and Orkun Kökçü scored in the first half of a resilient performance by Turkey, which had already been eliminated after losing its first two matches despite largely dominating both statistically.

Turkey improbably won in the eighth minute of stoppage time when Can Uzun got the ball in space on the back post and pushed it past sprawling goalkeeper Matt Turner to Ayhan, who slid to knock it home.

The game’s meaninglessness didn’t matter to the raucous sellout crowd that packed SoFi Stadium. The American team’s fan base has been energized by its strong start to this home World Cup -- and this Los Angeles-area crowd was still chanting and standing when Berhalter airmailed a long corner to Trusty, who made the stadium shake when he banged it home inside the back post.

Trusty’s goal was the Americans’ seventh of the tournament, tying their scoring record for any World Cup before knockout play even begins. It was also the 173rd goal of this tournament, breaking the record for the most combined goals scored in a World Cup set in Qatar four years ago — and doing it in four fewer matches.

Turkey evened it in the 10th minute with an excellent two-man game from Baris Alper Yilmaz and Güler, the 21-year-old Real Madrid rising star.

Berhalter tied it in the 49th minute by running on to a loose ball about 20 yards from the net for a vicious strike.

Pulisic replaced Tim Weah in the 58th minute for his first game action since the first half of their 4-1 victory over Paraguay nearly two weeks ago.

Pulisic said this week that he is ready to play again after coming out at halftime with a calf injury in the Americans’ home World Cup opener. The AC Milan midfielder entered the 2-2 game to an enormous roar, and he created a scoring opportunity just a couple of minutes later with a dynamic run down the left side.

Pulisic nearly scored again in the 63rd minute, but his quick shot off a nice pass from Berhalter was knocked off the goalpost by Turkey goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir, and Brenden Aaronson botched the resulting sitter.

The traditional way of voting in Huntington Beach could be upended after a judge’s ruling this week in a case accusing the city of diluting the electoral power of its Latino residents.

What happened?

The judge ordered Surf City to adopt ranked-choice voting for the November general election. Ranked-choice voting is where voters rank all candidates in order of preference, so if your first choice is eliminated, your vote transfers to your second-choice candidate.

It’s also the type of voting that helped Zohran Mamdani seize victory in the New York City mayoral race.

Why it matters

The ruling comes in a legal challenge to the city’s at-large elections, arguing Latino voters are unfairly disadvantaged and unable to elect a candidate of their choice. Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig Griffin agreed with the plaintiffs’ argument that “racially polarized voting has regularly occurred in Huntington Beach elections.”

The backstory

The case was brought to court more than two years ago by the nonprofit group Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and Victor Valladares, a Huntington Beach resident and local Democratic activist.

They argued that the city’s predominantly Latino neighborhood of Oak View had suffered decades of neglect, in part because residents there lacked the voting power to get representation in city government.

The bigger picture

Dozens of cities across Orange County and elsewhere in California have faced similar challenges to at-large elections over the past decade. Most have settled out of court by adopting district elections, whereby voters elect a candidate to represent their area, rather than citywide.

The change has coincided with an increase in Latino city council members in some Orange County cities.

Why ranked-choice voting?

Judge Griffin wrote that ordering the city to adopt ranked-choice voting was a “less drastic remedy” to bolster Latinos’ voting power than district elections. Currently in Huntington Beach, all residents vote citywide for city council seats, and the top vote-getters win.

With district elections, only people within a particular district can vote for a particular seat, which advocates say helps ensure districts see themselves represented in their local government bodies.

Among the advantages of a ranked-choice system, advocates say, is that it gives voters more freedom to vote for their favorite candidate, even if they think that person won’t ultimately win.

What does the ruling say, exactly?

The ruling orders Huntington Beach to implement ranked-choice voting for the November 2026 general election, if the Orange County Registrar of Voters can support the quick switch. The ruling also calls for the city to elect all seven councilmembers at once, rather than staggering the elections, as it currently does per the city’s charter.

Judge Griffin had delayed his ruling earlier this year to consider the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which ruled that race cannot play a role in the drawing of voting districts. Griffin ultimately determined that “nothing in Callais alters this Court’s decision” in the Huntington Beach case.

What’s next?

Both sides have two weeks to raise objections to the tentative ruling. Kevin Shenkman, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said he would not be surprised if the city appeals. City Attorney Mike Vigliotta told LAist in an email that his office is “reviewing the decision with outside counsel that litigated the case and determining next steps.”

We reached out to the Orange County Registrar of Voters for comment, and did not hear back before publication. If and when that changes, we will update this story.

How to attend Huntington Beach City Council meetings

• Huntington Beach holds City Council meetings on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 2000 Main St.
• You can also watch City Council meetings remotely on HBTV via Channel 3 or online, or via the city’s website. (You can also find videos of previous council meetings there.)
• The public comment period happens toward the beginning of meetings.
• The city generally posts agendas for City Council meetings on the previous Friday. You can find the agenda on the city’s calendar or sign up there to have agendas sent to your inbox.

LAist staff writer Sammy Marvin also contributed to this report.

A judge has ruled that a Metro bus project in a congested area of Los Angeles can go forward, for now, without incorporating bike lanes that street safety advocates argue are required by city law.

The $400 million project will add dedicated bus lanes along a more than 12-mile-long stretch of Vermont Avenue between 120th Street and Sunset Boulevard. The stretch of road has among the highest rates of pedestrian deaths and injuries in the city.

The ruling from June 15 is a preliminary decision on an injunction request that’s part of a lawsuit brought by Joe Linton, who argues that L.A.’s role in the design and permitting process of the project triggers Measure HLA street safety improvements. The L.A. City Attorney and Metro have rejected that interpretation of the law.

Linton filed the lawsuit in April 2025. He is the editor of the transportation publication Streetsblog LA. Linton is filing the suit as a resident of L.A., not in his capacity as an editor for Streetsblog.

What is Measure HLA?

In 2015, the L.A. City Council adopted Mobility Plan 2035, which identified networks of streets to improve with protected bike lanes, pedestrian signal improvements, bus lanes and other enhancements.

Seven years later, frustrated with a lack of progress on the plan, the local nonprofit Streets for All began campaigning for Measure HLA. The ballot measure, which was passed by voters in 2024, legally requires the city to implement Mobility Plan upgrades when it repaves at least one-eighth of a mile of a street located in one of the networks.

What are the key issues at stake in the lawsuit? 

There’s been a longstanding disagreement over whether Measure HLA applies to Metro’s work in city projects. Metro and the city of L.A. say the ordinance only applies to projects the city leads. Streets for All and Linton say the question of who leads a project is a technicality and that the city is obligated to follow Measure HLA because it’s responsible for approving certain elements of the project’s designs and permits.

The Mobility Plan calls for bike lanes along the same stretch of Vermont Avenue that Metro is working on.

Linton’s lawsuit says the city didn’t implement the bike lanes in accordance with Measure HLA when it resurfaced Vermont Avenue service roads in the past and that it should implement the improvements as part of the Vermont Transit Corridor project.

What are the details of the injunction? 

As the lawsuit plays out in court, Linton requested an injunction that sought to prevent the city from approving final design plans for the project without the bike lanes that Measure HLA calls for.

L.A. County Superior Court Judge Kristin Escalante denied the request on June 15. Escalante wrote in her decision that the city neither initiated the project nor selected Vermont Avenue for resurfacing and won’t be constructing the project itself.

“Metro’s coordination with the city does not transform the project into one made by or undertaken by the city,” Escalante wrote in her decision.

In April and June, Escalante denied Linton’s requests for pre-trial judgement on two other issues in his lawsuit, including deciding if resurfacing work on Vermont Avenue service roads triggered HLA-mandated upgrades and determining whether the city’s HLA ordinance represents an “impermissible amendment” of the ordinance.

What happens next?

The ruling is a preliminary decision. Linton said his legal team is preparing for the case to go to trial.

 “We didn’t lose at the end of the day,” Linton told LAist. “It’s a setback, but it’s a skirmish and not the outcome of the battle.”

Metro said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

LAist reached out to the L.A. City Attorney and did not hear back.

Are other legal battles taking place? 

Yes, there are two additional ongoing lawsuits that are related.

Linton filed a second lawsuit saying L.A. is using loopholes, like “large asphalt repairs,” to skirt Measure HLA requirements.

Separate from Measure HLA, Metro is working on another bus rapid transit project to connect North Hollywood and Pasadena with construction set to begin this summer. Metro filed a lawsuit in May saying Burbank is, without authority, refusing to grant the transit agency construction permits. On June 18, Metro filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to get the necessary permits so it can begin construction in July and ensure the bus project is ready for the 2028 Olympics.