The Brief

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is reporting an extremely rare situation.

A Baldwin Park resident has been diagnosed with dengue after catching it locally, the department announced on Monday. Dengue is a disease caused by a virus that spreads mainly through mosquito bites.

While a very low amount of L.A. County residents catch dengue through travel yearly, this is the first time the L.A. County Department of Public Health has reported a locally-acquired case.

That means there are likely infected mosquitoes in the county.

What is dengue?

Dengue is common in tropical and subtropical regions, like the Caribbean, Central and South America, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific islands.

This is California’s third locally-acquired dengue case. Two others were reported in Long Beach and Pasadena in fall 2023. Those cities have their own public health departments.

Locally-acquired means the person had no history of travel to areas where the disease is endemic.

The risk of it spreading in L.A. County remains low, but the announcement comes at a time when dengue cases have been rising globally. The 2024 calendar year has had the highest number of cases on record, according to a recent health advisory.

More than 11 million cases of dengue have been reported in North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean in 2024, according to the CDC.

Dengue is primarily passed on to people through the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes, which are invasive to California.

Dengue can cause a range of flu-like symptoms. Those include fevers, headaches, pain behind the eyes, joint and muscle pain, rash, and even mild bleeding. About 1 in 20 cases develop serious disease symptoms, which could be life-threatening. But for most, symptoms usually last from a few days to a week.

What’s being done

The county Department of Public Health is working with vector control districts on prevention. The department said field teams are going door-to-door with information on dengue risk and mosquito bites nearby.

“This case further indicates that dengue fever is present in our community... ,” said Muntu Davis, L.A. County health officer, in a statement. “We must remain vigilant and prevent further cases through public education and mosquito control efforts.”

San Gabriel Valley’s vector control district is also increasing mosquito trapping to allow for more testing and to reduce the risk of additional spread in the Baldwin Park neighborhood.

How you can protect yourself

Because dengue is spread through mosquitoes, avoiding bites is the best way to protect yourself.

Aedes mosquitoes prefer to breed in small spaces, like containers and even bottle caps. And they are known as ankle biters that can be active during the day and in well-lit areas at night.

• Clear water and gaps

You’ll want to make sure to clear standing water around your home. A lot of the water sources that mosquitoes thrive off of are generated by us — think a dripping spigot, or water left outside for your pets. Clogged rain gutters, drying out buckets, and even fresh water in bird baths can become a breeding ground.

Give your home a check for gaps that mosquitoes can get through, like a broken window screen. The Greater L.A. County Vector Control District has a checklist that you can use to check your property.

• Use insect repellent

You’ll want to look for ones with specific active ingredients such as DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, IR3535, and 2-undecanone.

• Call in the experts

If the mosquitoes where you live won’t take the hint, call your local vector control district. They can catalog, remove, and document the spread — at no cost.

Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said Thursday that he will run for Senate Majority Leader in the next Congress, setting up a challenge to Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer after the party swept to power in the midterm elections.

Van Hollen said in a statement that “the American people called for change” and that is why he is running.

“It’s now on us to meet this moment, and to do that we need new leadership,” Van Hollen said. “This is not about any one person — it’s about answering the call of the American people. That is why I’m running for Senate Majority Leader.”

Van Hollen’s challenge comes after he said he was considering a bid and after Schumer has said he has the necessary support to win. The closed-door, secret-ballot election will be held in early December.

The race will be the first contested election for Democratic leader in decades. The question of whether to reelect Schumer has already divided the caucus and many senators will not say publicly how they will vote. They have privately deliberated about what message to take from the election, and Schumer recruited many of the party’s winning candidates and raised money for them.

Schumer has been talking to Democratic senators since the election about forming an agenda for 2027.

“I’m going to win it,” Schumer told The Associated Press in an interview last week.

The Los Angeles Unified School District may lease spaces in its elementary, middle and high schools to use as childcare spaces for babies. 

The district is putting together a list of qualified providers and looking to identify spaces it could lease.

Ranae Amezquita, executive director of the district’s early childhood education division, said once the district has a list of spaces, it will start a request for proposal process that childcare providers can apply to during the 2027-2028 school year.

Why is LAUSD looking to expand childcare options now?

In April, LAUSD board members passed a resolution in an aim to expand childcare and early education slots in the district.

The district currently runs about 90 preschools, called early education centers, for children 2 to 4 years old, but it has only four centers that serve children under 2. “The problem with infant care — the reason we can't open them ourself at this time, is because of the cost,” said Amezquita at a board meeting Thursday.

The need for local infant and toddler childcare is high. In 2022, L.A. County assessed that the county only had enough licensed spaces to care for 4% of kids under 2. At the same time, the district has been facing declining enrollment amid lower birth rates. The resolution to expand early childhood care aims to, in part, strengthen the enrollment pipeline into the district.

Learn more about affordable childcare in LA

• For many California parents, paying for childcare means racking up credit card debt
• Why childcare in California may get harder to find

In an extraordinary turn of events, the state’s judicial watchdog has removed Judge Robert Draper, 84, from the Los Angeles County Superior Court after 14 years of service. He faced several counts of misconduct prior to losing reelection earlier this year.

The California Commission on Judicial Performance concluded Tuesday in an 87-page decision that Draper engaged in 17 instances of behavior that made him no longer fit for office. He hasn’t heard a case since 2023 because of the issues.

“Judge Draper persistently violated the standards governing judicial behavior and engaged in extensive and severe misconduct,” the commission said in a statement, adding that it was “aggravated by his refusal to accept responsibility for his misconduct, and his lack of insight or remorse for his misconduct and its effect on others.”

Draper previously admitted to some of the claims and denied others in interviews with LAist earlier this year. In a statement this week, he called the decision “deeply disappointing.”

“Any individual put under such intense and meticulous scrutiny likely would find themselves in a similar situation, albeit with slightly different facts,” he said.

Draper said the investigation came at a time when he raised concerns within the judiciary, and that it was used “presumably for purposes of dismissing his dissent by discrediting him.”

He plans to pursue “other avenues” to change the system, according to the statement. Draper's attorney declined to share what those would be.

 “It’s very rare for a judge to be removed from the bench,” said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School. “It’s the ultimate sanction against a judge.”

The commission has only removed 15 judges since it gained the authority to do so in 1995, according to its records, with the last for an L.A. County Superior Court judge happening in 2006.

The misconduct

The decision comes after a yearslong investigation and legal proceedings with independent evaluators. Prior to that, Draper had never been disciplined. According to the commission, his long list of misconduct includes:

• Making “offensive” and “insensitive” comments in court about race and gender.
• Sending “abusive” emails and unnecessary graphic pictures of his naked backside to colleagues.
• Acting with “deliberate defiance of his presiding judge’s orders” by continuing to access court systems and work on cases while on involuntary leave.

Some allegations the commission reviewed were dismissed for lack of evidence, including one that he inappropriately touched an attorney’s hair.

What happens next

While Draper lost reelection, his seat is now empty sooner than usual. Judge-elect Tal Khan Valbuena is on deck to replace him in January.

It’s possible Gov. Gavin Newsom may decide to appoint Khan Valbuena sooner. The court could also move another judge into his department.