The Brief

Have you been wondering, “When will the new 2024 COVID vaccine be available?”

The short answer is: It’s here. But even though the “fall vaccine” has been approved much earlier this year than the 2023 COVID vaccine was, just like last year it may take a while for these shots to become widely available to the public.

When will you the new COVID vaccines become available

On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) signed off on these updated COVID vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer (also known as Comirnaty), which should start to roll out across the United States in the coming weeks — as the 2024 summer wave of infections continues around the country.

Earlier this year, the CDC recommended that the updated shots be available to everyone age 6 months and older through pharmacies like CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid and Safeway, as well as health care providers, county public health departments and community clinics.

These COVID vaccines usually become available at pharmacies first, because pharmacies take their cue from the federal government and not the state — but with vaccines needing to be shipped, it might still be a while before vaccinations are available. For example, CVS is currently offering appointments for the new COVID vaccine starting no earlier than late August, and Walgreens is similarly offering appointments that begin September 6.

Remember: Unlike previous rounds of the vaccine, the FDA and the CDC stopped calling these updated shots “boosters” in 2023 — so you won’t see that language online around appointments. Instead, they refer to these annual fall vaccines as a “new” or “updated” vaccines that have been reformulated to better target a more recent strain of the coronavirus: This time, the omicron variant known as KP.2 that was common earlier this year.

Why do the new COVID vaccine rollouts seem different than they used to?

If you’re wondering why the new COVID vaccine seems to take so long to become widely available now, why you can no longer walk into any vaccination location to get an updated shot and why health insurance matters now, it’s because of the major change that came into effect last year: The federal government has stopped footing the bill for COVID vaccines.

These shots have now transitioned into the traditional health care market, like many other kinds of vaccines. So for most people with health insurance, insurers will now cover the cost of getting the new COVID vaccine direct, much like your plan might cover your flu shot. This is why you’ll hear many county public health officials urging people to first seek out the new vaccine via their health care provider (and also why those county-run vaccination sites that were so common at the height of the pandemic now don’t exist, at least on the same scale.)

But COVID vaccines now being purchased and distributed through the health care market now also means it’s far less simple for people without health insurance to find a free shot. Jump to “How do I find a COVID vaccine if I’m uninsured?”

Is the Novavax COVID vaccine available as well as Moderna and Pfizer’s new vaccines?

Not yet, although an updated version of the Novavax vaccine looks to be on the way a little later.

Unlike Pfizer and Moderna’s new COVID shots, the Novavax vaccine is a non-mRNA, protein-based vaccine. One reason some people choose the Novavax vaccine is based on aftereffects from getting the shot — as Science has reported, Novavax “appeared less likely than mRNA shots to cause side effects like headache and fatigue” in clinical trials.

How effective is this new COVID vaccine against the current strains?

Much like the flu shot, COVID vaccines have now become annual shots offered in the fall — and their “recipe” gets updated each year in the hope of maximum efficacy against current strains.

This new 2024–2025 COVID vaccine is an updated shot that supersedes and replaces the 2023–2024 shot, which you should now consider outdated. The recipe for this new vaccine will address a newer target: The KP.2 subvariant of omicron.

COVID strains are a moving target, and as you can see from the CDC’s COVID Variant Tracker, KP.2 is no longer the dominant subvariant in the U.S. — that’s currently KP.3.1.1. But this family of omicron subvariants is closely enough related that the vaccines promise cross-protection. A Pfizer spokesman said the company submitted data to the FDA showing its updated vaccine “generates a substantially improved response” against multiple virus subtypes compared to last fall’s vaccine.

“The vaccine is not intended to be perfect. It’s not going to absolutely prevent COVID-19,” said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research in a statement announcing the approval decision. ““But if we can prevent people from getting serious cases that end them up in emergency rooms, hospitals or worse — dead — that’s what we’re trying to do with these vaccines.”

The new vaccines should cut the risk of getting COVID by 60% to 70% and reduce the risk of getting seriously ill by 80% to 90%, Marks says.

Who can get the new COVID vaccine?

As of August 22, anyone age 6 months and up who got their last COVID vaccine shot at least two months ago — whether that was their primary vaccination series or their last booster shot — can get an updated COVID vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna, as soon as vaccination appointments become available. As in 2023, appointments may not become immediately widespread, depending on your location. Jump straight to where you can find a new COVID vaccine near you.

“Vaccination continues to be the cornerstone of COVID-19 prevention,” said the FDA’s Marks. “Given waning immunity of the population from previous exposure to the virus and from prior vaccination, we strongly encourage those who are eligible to consider receiving an updated COVID-19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variants.”

There is no specific guidance for certain age groups, but, as with other vaccines, children under 12 will be offered a pediatric (smaller) dose of this vaccine.

This 'fall' vaccine is available pretty early this year. Who should get it straight away?

The FDA’s Marks said that for his part, “when this gets into pharmacies I will probably be on line as soon as it gets rolled out.”

“Right now we’re in a wave, so you’d like to get protection against what’s going on right now,” he said. “So I would probably get vaccinated in as timely a manner as possible. Because right now the match is reasonably close. You’re probably going to get the most benefit you’re going to get from this vaccine against what’s currently circulating.”

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UCSF, said that older folks (age 65 and over) or people who are immunocompromised who have neither had a COVID vaccine in the last year nor had a COVID infection should seek out their new vaccine as soon as they can. These were the “folks I saw in the hospital very ill with COVID in the past few months,” said Chin-Hong.

Additionally, for Chin-Hong, the best vaccine is the one you actually get, so “at the end of the day, convenience trumps everything,” he said. “If you are motivated to get the updated COVID shot when it comes out sooner rather than later, just do it.”

“Getting it in your arm when you are motivated trumps being strategic about the whole thing,” said Chin-Hong.

Who should consider waiting a little while to get the new vaccine?

Delaying getting the updated vaccine may be right for …

Those who want the best possible immunity for a winter wave — and over the holidays

Marks said also said that even though he personally will be getting his vaccine straightaway, others might consider waiting until September or October if they’re particularly focused on having maximal protection through the anticipated winter COVID wave, as well as over the holidays. “Getting vaccinated sometime in the September to early October time frame seems like a pretty reasonable thing to do to help bring you protection through the December/January time frame,” Marks said.

For Chin-Hong, the “sweet spot” for getting the new COVID vaccine, if you’re not in that higher-risk group above, “is still some time in October so that antibodies peak in the winter when things are expected to be worse than the summer.”

“This is going to apply to most people,” he said. And while “the vaccine’s superpower is protection against serious disease, hospitalization and death,” the updated shot “does have the bonus of increasing the force field against getting infected as well,” said Chin-Hong. “Because there are so many events after October (Thanksgiving, holiday get togethers, Christmas, New Years), you may also want your antibodies to peak then for that bonus of lowering infection risk.”

People who've had a COVID vaccine — or a COVID infection — recently

Another reason you’d want to wait to seek the new vaccine: if you got your last COVID shot less than two months ago, or you’ve had a COVID infection less than three months ago. (PDF) (If your case was asymptomatic, use the date of your positive test instead of the onset of your symptoms.)

“If you have received a vaccine over the summer or got infected over the summer, there is no need to rush out and get the new vaccine as you will be well protected,” said Chin-Hong. “Wait until October and get both flu and COVID shots at the same time.”

People who are uninsured and need a free vaccine

The CDC’s Bridge Access Program, which was launched in September 2023 to provide free COVID vaccinations to uninsured people, was forecast to last until December — but is instead ending this month. And while a CDC spokesperson said that the agency will be making “$62 million of unused vaccine contract money” available to states to help vaccinate people without health insurance, right now it’s still unclear how that will work practically.

Waiting for your fall COVID shot, said Chin-Hong, will “give it more time for that system to be put into place so you won’t be charged if you don’t have insurance.”

Should I get my 2024 flu shot at the same time as my new COVID vaccine?

It’s totally fine, and safe, to get your flu shot at the same time as your new COVID vaccine, and when appointments roll out more widely you’ll often find that COVID vaccine appointments will prompt you to “add on” a flu shot at the same session — especially at pharmacies. Although, if you’re trying to schedule your kid’s vaccinations, the CDC advised in 2023 that you first talk to your pediatrician about the best schedule for the COVID and flu vaccines (and now the RSV — respiratory syncytial virus — preventive treatment too).

That said, the recommendations medical professionals make about when to get a flu shot are based on the fact that, like with your COVID vaccine, it takes about two weeks after you get vaccinated for antibodies to develop and provide protection against the virus.

The CDC says that September and October “are generally good times” to get your flu shot. In 2023, UCSF’s Chin-Hong told KQED that his “optimal sweet point” for getting this shot is “sometime before Halloween” — but notes that this is based on traditional predictions of flu season starting in November and peaking around January or February. If flu cases start to rise earlier, you should seek out your flu shot sooner, he said. And ultimately, in the spirit of any vaccine being better than no vaccine, “do what is most convenient,” he advised.

Where can I find a new COVID vaccine this fall, when they become available?

Don’t assume you’ll be proactively contacted about getting the new COVID vaccine.

Remember that a certain location may only be offering a certain brand of the new vaccine, whether that’s Moderna or Pfizer (or soon, Novavax). So be sure that the location you’re walking into or making an appointment for offers the type of updated vaccine you need or want.

Also make sure the appointment you schedule for your new vaccine is at least two months after your last COVID vaccine shot, or three months after your last COVID infection. (When you’re making an appointment for a new vaccine, you’ll likely be asked for the date of your last COVID vaccine dose or booster dose for this reason, to ensure you’re not getting your shot too soon.)

If you don’t have health insurance, jump to what we know about COVID vaccination for uninsured folks.

1. Find a new COVID vaccine through a local pharmacy, when available

For future reference, pharmacies are usually the first place new vaccine shots become available when announced because pharmacies take their cue from the federal government, not the state.

For example, CVS’s COVID vaccination homepage says that the pharmacy chain is now “waiting on the arrival of the new 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccines,” and that “you can schedule an appointment online now for a date in the near future.” Walgreens is also offering appointments for the new vaccine starting September 6.

Remember that pharmacies can’t vaccinate kids under 3, except for CVS MinuteClinics, who are permitted to vaccinate kids as young as 18 months old.

If you have health insurance, you should be able to give your insurer’s details at a pharmacy vaccination appointment to have the cost of your shot billed to them. One big exception to this: If you get your health care through a health system like Kaiser Permanente, you almost certainly won’t be able to get your new COVID vaccine for free (i.e., covered by your insurance) at a pharmacy like CVS or Walgreens, the way you can’t get your flu shot covered by Kaiser at a pharmacy either.

Ultimately, if you are a member of a health system like Kaiser and are unsure about what your health insurance covers, reach out to your provider to check if you will need to obtain your new COVID vaccine through them, in order to have it covered.

2. Find a new COVID vaccine through your health care provider, when available

If you have health insurance, check with your health care provider to see whether they can offer you an updated COVID vaccine. The San Francisco Department of Public Health stresses that “Health care providers are the first place to go for COVID-19 and flu health care.” That said, you could still be looking at a wait for supplies to reach your health care provider, even after the new shots were first authorized.

If you don’t have health insurance but get medical care through a city- or county-run provider, you should check with that location to see whether they can offer you the new COVID vaccine.

In addition to trying to talk with your health care provider directly, check the website of your provider to see whether it’s offering the ability to make appointments, and sign up for their vaccine notifications if that’s an option.

3. Find a new COVID vaccine through vaccines.gov, when available

Visit the federal government’s vaccines.gov website to see when appointments for the new updated COVID vaccine in or near your zip code become available.

A message on the site states that the CDC is updating this tool, “including replacing the vaccine locator with a pharmacy lookup tool to help people find a pharmacy near them, and this “lookup tool will be added once 2024–2025 flu and COVID-19 vaccines become widely available.”

4. Find a new Moderna or Pfizer COVID vaccine through My Turn, when available

Throughout the pandemic, My Turn has been the state’s site for all Californians to schedule vaccination appointments or find walk-in locations, regardless of health insurance status.

Because the new COVID vaccines are now being distributed through the traditional health care market, My Turn’s services have now been geared primarily toward uninsured people.

If you visit the My Turn page, select “Make an Appointment.” My Turn will ask for your information, and the ZIP code or location you’d like to use to search for vaccine appointments. You can give your home location, or input other locations to see which sites might be available farther away.

If you can’t travel to a clinic for your new COVID vaccine because of health or transportation issues, you can note this when registering on My Turn, and a representative from the CDPH is supposed to call you to arrange an in-home visit or transportation.

My Turn will ask you to provide a cellphone number and an email address. The state says this is so you can use two-factor authentication to confirm your identity and make your appointment, and to prevent bots from automatically scooping up available appointments online.

If you don’t have an email address or a cellphone number, or you have questions, you can call the California COVID-19 hotline at (833) 422-4255 (Monday–Friday 8 a.m.–8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m.–5 p.m. PT) and sign up over the phone. Both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking operators are available. Callers needing information in other languages will be connected to a translation service that offers assistance in over 250 languages.

5. Find a new COVID vaccine through your county, when available

Visit your county’s public health website to learn if your county will soon be offering the new updated COVID vaccine to its residents, particularly those who are uninsured or under-insured.

Where can I find a new COVID vaccine near me if I’m uninsured?

The CDC’s Bridge Access Program, which was launched in September 2023 to provide free COVID vaccinations to uninsured people, was forecast to last until December — but is instead ending this month.

A CDC spokesperson told KQED that the agency will now be supplying states with “$62 million of unused vaccine contract money,” to support state and local health departments this respiratory virus season “and help improve access for uninsured and underinsured Americans to COVID vaccines.” Right now, details of how this will practically work for folks without insurance in California is unclear, so we’ll keep updating this section as we find out new information relating to how people without health insurance can find a free or low-cost vaccine.

Uninsured children ages 18 and under can still get free COVID vaccines — and other free immunizations — as part of the Vaccines for Children Program.

Why can't I get my new COVID vaccine at a pharmacy if I have Kaiser health insurance?

Something to watch for this fall: If you get your health care through a health system like Kaiser Permanente, you’ll be asked to pay out-of-pocket if you try to get your new COVID vaccine at a pharmacy like CVS or Walgreens.

Why? Usually, if you have health insurance, you should be able to give your insurer’s details at a pharmacy vaccination appointment to have the cost of your shot billed to them. Health systems like Kaiser are the exception to this, and so you almost certainly won’t be able to get your new COVID vaccine at a pharmacy like CVS or Walgreens, the way you can’t get your flu shot covered by Kaiser at a pharmacy either.

Instead, last year Kaiser recommended its members receive their updated COVID shot at a Kaiser facility. The health system’s website says that “when provided by Kaiser Permanente, COVID-19 vaccines are covered at no cost,” but that “most California members” apart from Medi-Cal members will need to pay for the shot if obtained elsewhere. (KP.com also states that you “may be able to get up to half of the cost reimbursed” from Kaiser if you do.)

This meant that in 2023, people with health insurance through Kaiser faced a longer wait for their new COVID vaccine than folks with other types of insurance, unless they were prepared to pay these large costs up-front. CVS, for example, charges $190.99 for the new COVID vaccine “if CVS is not in network with your insurance plan.”

We’ll keep updating this guide with information as we get it. Find a Kaiser location near you that may be offering the new COVID vaccine when it’s available.

Midterms coverage: Live results | What to know | Stories around the country
All the signs were pointing in Democrats' direction heading into election night.

But nothing indicated quite this level of a romp.

Democrats won the House and the Senate, and while that outcome was always a possibility, the depth and breadth of the Democratic victories were jaw-dropping.

Tuesday night was a reminder that the pendulum of American politics continues to swing, and politics is never permanent.

Here are six takeaways about what happened, why it happened and what it all means going forward:

1. President Trump wanted this election to be about him. It was, and that hurt Republicans

President Trump leaves after speaking at a midterm election campaign rally at Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa on Oct. 22.

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President Donald Trump's unpopularity has been a glaring warning sign for the Republican Party heading into election night. Since the Iran war, Trump's approval ratings slid from 48% to as low as 36% in an average of the polls.

A whopping 62% of voters in this election disapproved of his job as president, according to the voter poll commissioned by the broadcast networks and the Associated Press, which mixes pre-Election Day polling of early voters and Election Day exit polls.

Three-quarters of voters said they are either angry or dissatisfied with the direction of the country. A plurality said the economy was the most important issue, and two-thirds said Trump's policies have made economic conditions worse.

In addition to the economy, corruption rose as an issue in the last several months. The voter poll showed that 62% said Trump prioritizes his own interests more than the country's.

For all of the things that will be written about this election, the bottom line is that Trump waged the kind of war he said he wouldn't get into — one that is dragging on, raising gas prices and piling on people who were already feeling the pinch — and now he is paying the price.

If Trump was supposed to be the kingmaker in the 2028 Republican presidential primary, think again. These midterms will have heavy reverberations for the presidential election. It will likely mean more GOP candidates will enter the race, and they will be more likely to present a wider view of what the direction of the party could be — rather than simply trying to carry the Trump torch.

2. Republicans tried to insulate themselves with redistricting, but it didn't work

The fundamentals of this election seemed to mirror the 2006 midterms amid the Iraq War — the last time the Democrats won back both the House and Senate. Democratic gains in this election, though, were seen as possibly being limited by structural disadvantages — primarily through Republican efforts to tilt the playing by redistricting.

Trump strongly encouraged conservative-led states to redistrict over the last year, hoping to gain more Republican seats in the House — but that backfired, particularly in south Texas. There was always the possibility that incidentally weakening safe districts could make them competitive. Now that that's happened, it's a true cautionary tale of the "dummymander."

3. Latinos are a true swing group in America now

The reason Texas Republicans' efforts to gerrymander didn't pay off is because Latinos did not vote in this election the way they did in the 2024 presidential election.

In 2024, Trump only lost the group by 5 points. It moved toward Trump at the time, in large measure because they were upset with inflation and believed Trump would bring down prices.

Not only did that not happen over the last two years, Trump also angered many in the community because of aggressive deportation tactics that targeted more than just hardened criminals, as Trump promised.

In a real indictment of the Trump deportation policies, roughly 60% of respondents in the voter poll said they disapproved of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Sixty-eight percent of Hispanics disapproved of how ICE is handling its job.

To be clear, Latinos are not a monolith. Latinos in South Florida have different backgrounds and priorities than those in South Texas or those in California or New York. But the fact that the largest-growing group in the country swung strongly away from the president and Republicans makes them very important electorally — a true swing group in the country that is underrepresented at the polls and has a lot of power.

4. Are Texas and other red states in play for Democrats, or was this election a giant asterisk?

Texas Democratic Sen.-elect James Talarico speaks during a midterm election night event at the Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin on Tuesday.

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Democrats won in a lot of red states. That is important for the party heading into the 2028 presidential election. To have a real chance at expanding the presidential map, they need to figure out how to appeal to red-state and rural voters. They showed in this election they can do that, but they won't have Trump as their rocket fuel in this next presidential election.

The Lone Star State, for example, has been a majority-minority state for a while, and that demography had previously given Democrats false hope. So is Texas the new Georgia, or will it revert to its conservative roots?

The breadth of Democratic victories in Texas in this midterm is undeniable. They won up and down the ballot — Democrat James Talarico won by roughly 12 points, or 1.1 million votes, the first time Texas is sending a Democrat to the Senate since 1988; incoming Gov. Gina Hinojosa won by 7 percentage points, or almost 700,000 votes; they flipped two congressional districts, both of which were won by Trump in 2024 by at least 14 points; they won lieutenant governor; attorney general; railroad commissioner and more.

As they say in Texas, they beat 'em like a rented mule. But are Democrats renting power in the state or is it something bigger? There is going to be a lot of money spent in 2028 to see if the blue gains in Texas are more permanent. And a lot is on the line, because Texas has 40 electoral votes, and putting it in play legitimately for Democrats would reshape the electoral map in a way that would only be rivaled by the earthquake of a shift that was California going for Democrats starting in 1992. (Yes, California used to be a reliably Republican state, going for the GOP in all but one election between 1952 and 1988.)

By the way, a bonus lesson from this election is that money isn't everything. Republicans spent more than $413 million on the Texas Senate race — and lost.

5. The results of this year's elections don't mean the country is enamored with the Democratic Party

Voters cast their ballots in the Kern County Elections Office in Bakersfield, Calif., on Tuesday.

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Democrats have the opportunity to show they can authentically represent their states and try to hold onto these inroads they made in lots of red states and districts.

They were handed the keys to Congress, and people are going to expect results. New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, the once majority leader who may want to be in the job again, victoriously promised overnight that "relief is on the way."

But how? Even if Democrats have serious policy ideas to help fix economic problems in the country, they can't wave a magic wand. They won't have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, and they are unlikely to have an eager negotiating partner in congressional Republicans or Trump. Just before midnight on election night, Trump put out an image on his social media platform of a big red hat with the word "VETO" on it.

So Democrats are in danger of overpromising and underdelivering, which has become all too common in politics, and leads to voters becoming jaded. Democrats have to be careful with their messaging and how they govern. There will undoubtedly be more investigations and oversight of the Trump administration. But how far will they go? Another Trump impeachment attempt, for example, could be politically fraught.

No doubt, the GOP was soundly rejected Tuesday night, but Democrats aren't much better liked. The voter poll showed Republicans underwater with a 41% favorable and 59% unfavorable rating. Democrats were 47%-53%. Democrats had lower approval ratings earlier in Trump's second term, mostly because of disaffected Democrats. They rallied together to win in these midterms, but fissures on the left are simmering below the surface and are about to become far more apparent in the 2028 presidential Democratic primaries.

6. The polls got the direction right. If anything, they underestimated Democratic support

For a decade, polls have underestimated Republican support. In these elections, that was not the case. In fact, in some places they underestimated Democratic support.

For example, the national generic congressional ballot — the question of who people would vote for if the election was held the day of the poll — favored Democrats by about 8 percentage points. The voter poll looks like it turned out to be at least +18.

It's important to understand that it's hard to poll when the country has been going through as significant a political realignment as it has been in the Trump era.
Copyright 2026 NPR

The state of California has agreed to accept $1.4 billion in federal funding to bring broadband internet access to 270,000 people while simultaneously challenging conditions attached to the funding.

Those conditions would stop the state from enforcing broadband laws that reduce costs and guarantee equal access for internet destinations.

California is the last state to accept money from a broadband program created in 2021 as part of an infrastructure bill passed during the Biden administration.

Under terms updated by the Trump administration one year ago, states that accept funding from the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment program must stop enforcing net neutrality rules, which ensure equal connection speeds for every app and website, as well as any rules that influence broadband internet costs. California enjoys the strongest net neutrality laws in the nation.

In recent weeks, digital access advocates argued that if the state accepts the money without meaningfully challenging the terms, it could endanger communities reliant on internet access for emergency services and raise costs for low-income Californians who receive internet subsidies. Through 2040, accepting the terms could cost Californians up to $16 billion, according to an estimate from open internet advocacy group Public Knowledge.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said it is both taking the federal money and maintaining its access rules. In a written statement shared with CalMatters, Anthony Martinez, a spokesperson for the governor, said that “Connecting these communities is the goal, and so is protecting them. California's laws, including our net neutrality protections, still stand."

The president of the California Public Utilities Commission, the agency chosen by Newsom to administer the program, provided the federal agency that administers the program with both a signed notice that California will accept the funding and a letter that calls the terms vague and outside of the commission’s legal authority. The letter sent Monday also acknowledges that the state will not distribute program funding to companies like Comcast, Pacific Bell, SpaceX, and Verizon until disagreements about the terms are resolved.

“The CPUC cannot be bound by any terms or conditions that are unconstitutional or not authorized by law and it expressly does not waive or concede any arguments or challenges concerning the legality, interpretation, or applicability of any term or condition,” wrote CPUC president John Reynolds in the letter.

Stephen Yusko, a spokesperson for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration within the Department of Commerce, responded to the letter today by saying that the terms and conditions of the award constitute the entire agreement between his agency and the utilities commission.

“No part of the letter outlining CPUC’s concerns is incorporated into or made part of the award,” he said in a statement provided to CalMatters.

Last month, a group of law professors who work on issues related to internet freedom and access urged the utilities commission and governor’s office not to accept the money without challenging the terms in court. Stanford University professor Barbara van Schewick told CalMatters that “only a court, or NTIA agreeing in writing, can take [the access terms] out of California’s award, and neither has happened.”

But she said she’s happy to see the letter makes clear that the state will not sign agreements with companies getting the federal broadband funding until the utilities commission and federal government resolve their disagreement over the terms. It also preserves a strong legal argument that the utilities commission lacks the authority to prevent other state entities from enforcing the law.

“The real test comes the first time a BEAD provider blocks a competitor’s app, throttles firefighters, or walks away from a price commitment,” she told CalMatters. “If the state enforces its laws when that happens, the letter will have protected Californians.”

She added: “If the state looks the other way, [the terms] will have worked exactly as the providers intended, without a single court ever ruling on it.”

Phil Grosse is a member of the California Democratic Party Rural Caucus. In recent weeks, Grosse and dozens of community leaders along the Russian River in Sonoma County urged the governor to challenge the broadband funding terms in court before accepting the money. He believes the terms would end phone service guarantees and backup battery power for cellular towers, endangering the lives of rural Californians.

“We can’t accept the money without all kinds of poisoned pills attached to it, and I’m glad the CPUC acknowledged that, and that they are bound to follow state laws and regulations,” he said, adding that he anticipates the whole ordeal will end up in court. “I’m hopeful the Trump administration will see the wisdom in the CPUC’s letter but I’m rather doubtful.”

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

Millions of dollars of settlement money from the largest known methane leak in the United States are now available to affected residents to replace gas-powered appliances with electric ones. Organizations involved in distributing the money say it will help create safer and cleaner homes.

The announcement makes available the first $20 million in incentive funding from the Aliso Canyon settlement to help home and building owners impacted by the 2015 Los Angeles-area blowout. In total, the program will make $40 million available to help people install heat pumps that cool and heat homes, electric stoves, water heaters and other appliances.

Evan Kamei is the director of TECH Clean California, a state program helping distribute the settlement money. He said the incentives “will help create healthier homes, lower energy costs, deliver cooling, and create local jobs by replacing aging gas appliances with efficient electric appliances.”

Anyone in the affected area with a single-family home will be eligible for the incentives, and certain income-qualifying residents will be eligible for extra funding. Access for multi-property owners will come later.

The Aliso Canyon gas leak took nearly four months to control, sickened thousands of families and forced them from their homes near the San Fernando Valley to escape a sulfurous stench and maladies including headaches, nausea and nose bleeds.

The natural gas storage well failed and uncontrollably released nearly 100,000 tons of methane and other substances into the atmosphere for more than 100 days. Methane is a potent, heat-trapping gas that contributes to extreme weather events worldwide through climate change. The natural gas facility involved in the blowout temporarily closed and later reopened at reduced capacity after being deemed safe to operate.

In 2021, thousands of families reached a settlement of up to $1.8 billion with the Southern California Gas Co. and its parent company, Sempra Energy. Some 35,000 plaintiffs were compensated after complaining of personal injury and property damage to their homes. SoCalGas spent more than $1 billion on the blowout, with most of the money going to temporarily relocate 8,000 families.

Weldon Kennedy is the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Copper, a California startup that sells electric induction stoves and ovens. He said his company got involved with the program to distribute settlement money after the group Energy Solutions highlighted how hard it would be to get people to switch their cooking appliances from gas to electric.

“People have a cultural attachment to gas when it comes to cooking,” Kennedy said. The kind of appliances Copper sells may help mitigate that attachment because they can be plugged into a regular outlet without the expense of rewiring that is usually associated with switching from gas-powered appliances to electric ones.

Cooking with electricity comes with health benefits. Gas stoves, which 47 million Americans use, release pollutants like nitrogen dioxide that’s been linked to asthma and cancer-causing benzene.

Products like electric appliances are one way to address the significant amount of pollution driving climate change that comes from cooking, heating and cooling living spaces and providing hot water in buildings.

Income-qualified residents affected by the Aliso leak are eligible for up to $31,800 worth of incentives to cover the cost of electric installations in their homes.

Switching from gas to electricity can save energy and lower bills.

Carol Kamei, Evan Kamei’s 72-year-old mother, has lived for 46 years near the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Facility and was one of the plaintiffs in the case against SoCal Gas. She remembers smelling gas and getting nose bleeds. When she read in the news that the leak was also spewing cancer-causing benzene, she knew it was time to go.

Carol Kamei said her nose bleeds went away after moving in with her sister in Hollywood for three months. She recently participated in a health study by the University of California, Los Angeles and found out she has diminished lung capacity, one of the health impacts researchers look for, she said.

“I do know some people that have died from blood-borne illnesses, cancer since then,” Carol Kamei said.

Kamei hopes to use the incentive funding to replace her oven with an electric one. “I’d rather not use gas,” she said.

The days are getting shorter, so it’s important to keep your spirits up, whether that’s by already starting to decorate for Christmas (too soon, if you ask me! I was just in London and all the department stores were decked out even before Halloween!) or just putting some fun things on the calendar for the weeks ahead. Like some of the events listed here!

Elsewhere on LAist, you can follow ongoing election results, find out if Cal State will take your music memorabilia for their archives and get your tickets for the LAist Moth Storyslam on Nov. 10.

Music

If it’s music you’re looking for, Licorice Pizza has your picks, including:

Wednesday 

• Austin psych-rockers the Black Angels at the Fonda
• K-pop veteran Henry Lau at the Novo

Thursday

• Medium Build at the Bellwether
• Alvaro Diaz at the Wiltern

Friday 

• Carl Cox plays the Hollywood Palladium
• Armand Hammer plays the Lodge Room

Saturday 

• Moby and Underworld plus others at Brookside at the Rose Bowl
• Gnarls Barkley with Gallant at the Wiltern
• Latin music star Mon La-fer-tay at the Forum, also playing Sunday

Sunday 

• Celebrating 30 Years of The Score w/ Ms. Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean at the Hollywood Bowl
• Buena Vista Orchestra at the Wiltern

Monday 

• GROOP, Slow Heat + Ray Monde, DJ Boogie Boudreaux at Zebulon

Tuesday

• Sienna Spiro at the Wiltern

Events

Luminex: The Infinite Between

Saturday, Nov. 8, 5 p.m.
2100 Ocean Front Walk and 200 N. Venice Blvd., Venice Beach 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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Luminex has lit up downtown with immersive projection work from a variety of artists, and now the innovative collective is heading to Venice, just in time to make the most of our shorter days.

Blading Cup USA

Friday and Saturday, Nov. 6-7
Yost Parking Lot
307 Spurgeon St., Santa Ana
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Watch expert skaters show off their tricks, or register to compete yourself as the Blading Cup USA returns to downtown Santa Ana. Now an official World Skate Challenger competition — World Skate is the international governing body for roller sports recognized by the International Olympic Committee — the Blading Cup is a full weekend of ollies, flip tricks and more.

SKY: Jacob Jonas

Friday and Saturday, Nov. 6-7, 8 p.m.
Occidental Studios 
2821 Council St., Echo Park 
COST: $57.55; MORE INFO 

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Dance troupe Jacob Jonas the Company will be at Occidental Studios in Echo Park for a two-night-only run of their latest show, SKY. The performance is free-form, and attendees are encouraged to move around the sound stage space like an art gallery. Jacob Jonas is always trying something new!

LA Loft Movie Club: Foragisms

Sunday, Nov. 8, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.  
Philosophical Research Society 
3910 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Feliz
COST: $12.51; MORE INFO

This quirky one-minute film festival got its start back in 2021 and is a chance to see new work, plus test your own (entries are curated around a theme at each event). This one is the last of the year for the LA Loft crew, so don’t miss it. The cozy fall theme is "Foragisms," co-curated with animator and Loose Frames curator Kat Ball — more on the inspiration behind "Foragisms" here.

Adrianne Calvo: Maximum Flavor at Home

Friday, Nov. 6, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The Last Bookstore 
453 S. Spring St., Downtown L.A.
COST: FROM $11:49; MORE INFO

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Award-winning chef and restaurateur Adrianne Calvo is bringing her latest cookbook — and some tasty treats — to one of my favorite places, the Last Bookstore. The new recipes are from Maximum Flavor at Home, which came out Nov. 3. Chef Adrianne will demonstrate some of her favorite crostini recipes.

L.A. Zine Fest

Saturday, Nov. 7, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
Angel City Derby Warehouse
785 E. 15th Place, Downtown L.A. 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

The '90s are back, and if you ever doubted it, head to the 13th annual L.A. Zine Fest, a free all-ages event celebrating the best of the very much alive and well D.I.Y. publishing community. More than 350 vendors will be there, including a wide range of artists, small presses, independent booksellers and community organizers from across Southern California and zine creators from all over the country.

Piano Department Recital 

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m.
Pepperdine's Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts
24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy Pepperdine

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What a treat to head up to Malibu for a free piano recital at Pepperdine, led by director Barry Tan. The student piano performance showcases talent on a regular basis, but what they will be playing remains a surprise.

Alanis Morissette: Butterfly with a Machete

Thursday and Friday, Nov. 5-6; Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 10-11
YouTube Theater
1011 S. Stadium Drive, Inglewood
COST: FROM $49.50; MORE INFO 

Alanis Morissette will play four nights at YouTube Theater.

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You oughta know that Canadian rock icon Alanis Morissette will bring her Butterfly with a Machete residency to the YouTube Theater for four nights starting Thursday. I’ll be there, basking in teenage nostalgia.

Nat Geo Live: Discovering the Galapagos

Thursday, Nov. 5, 7:30 p.m.
Broad Stage
1310 11th St., Santa Monica 
COST: FROM $75; MORE INFO 

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The always-popular Nat Geo Live series returns to the Broad Stage in Santa Monica with a trip to the Galapagos. I was just there with my family a couple of years ago, and while the real thing is an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime trip, the Nat Geo immersive version and live discussion
with disease ecologist Sarah Knute about the islands that fascinated Charles Darwin won’t disappoint, either.

Heaux Church 

Thursday to Sunday, Nov. 5-8, 7:30 p.m. 
Elysian Theater
1944 Riverside Drive, Silver Lake
COST: FROM $42.53; MORE INFO

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Following a run off-Broadway, Brandon Kyle Goodman’s Heaux Church is "part sermon, part confession, part dance party." Celebration Theatre and The Elysian, in association with Lena Waithe, produced the L.A. stint, which features former pastor’s kid Goodman giving "the sex talk you never got, but always deserved." Each performance features a free talkback after the show.