The Brief

L.A. County had its worst year on record for flea-borne typhus cases, reporting 220 cases in 2025. Experts say the disease is difficult to eradicate because humans, animals and vectors all play a part in transmission.

The department investigated outbreaks in central L.A., Santa Monica and Willowbrook. This year, there are 17 reported cases of typhus.

Typhus is a bacterial disease spread by infected fleas, which are most commonly found on rats, free-roaming cats and opossums.

How did we get here? 

L.A. County has seen an increase in flea-borne typhus cases year-over-year, Aiman Halai, medical epidemiologist at the L.A. County Department of Public Health, told LAist.

“These fleas live on reservoir animals, which in L.A. County are primarily rats, free-roaming cats and opossums,” Halai said. “Any factor that increases the interaction between these animals and humans will increase the risk of flea-borne typhus.”

There is an indirect link between weather and typhus, Halai said, because weather affects animal movement and human behavior, like how much time people spend outside.

Halai said diseases like typhus are difficult to eradicate.

“It's hard to control diseases that involve humans, animals and vectors, because there are so many different factors that play a part in transmission,” Halai added.

As for hospitalizations associated with typhus, Halai said the disease is relatively mild but can progress to serious illness.

“What we're finding is that nine out of 10 cases that we have identified have been hospitalized, and there may be many more cases that are undiagnosed and have not resulted in severe disease,” Halai added.

Is this happening anywhere else? 

Other parts of the U.S. are seeing increases in typhus cases, including Texas, Halai said.

Closer to home, the city of Long Beach issued a health alert warning residents about an uptick in typhus cases last year. The city, which has its own health department, reported 39 cases of typhus in 2025, of which 72% were hospitalized.

Jennifer Ann Gonzalez, public affairs officer for the Long Beach Health Department, said following last year’s increase, the department upped its mitigation efforts, including public education and vector control.

“The localized typhus outbreak reported in summer 2025 was controlled, and no additional cases associated with the outbreak have been reported,” Gonzalez said in an email. “To date, no outbreaks have been identified in 2026.”

How to protect yourself and your neighbors

The disease is not spread from person to person and is treatable with antibiotics. Symptoms can include high fever, nausea, muscle aches, rash and cough. People who think they have it should talk to their healthcare provider.

Infection occurs when feces from infected fleas are rubbed into cuts or scrapes, including flea bites, or rubbed into the eyes.

“Our cases have been as young as one year of age or to over 80 years of age. It's really a disease that can affect anyone at any time in L.A. County,” Halai said.

Pets don’t show symptoms, Halai added, but they act as a vehicle to carry infected fleas from reservoir animals to humans.

To protect yourself and your pets:

• Use flea control products for pets.
• Store trash and other food in secure bins to avoid attracting animals.
• Close crawl spaces and attics to discourage animals from nesting around your home.
• Avoid petting or feeding free-roaming animals, including cat colonies.
• When outside, use a bug repellent that protects from fleas. 

What to look out for

Typhus symptoms can start within two weeks after contact with an infected flea and can include fever, headache, muscle pain, nausea and rash.

L.A. County residents can find more information here.

Southern California was built on radio.

"I can still hear the jingle KFWB News 98,” wrote  Taline in Los Feliz, during a recent conversation on LAist's daily news show, AirTalk, which airs on 89.3 FM. “I grew up hearing that in my dad's minivan on the way to and from school. It has a special place in my heart.”

Back in April, broadcast company Audacy announced KNX News — one of the last-remaining all-news FM stations — was leaving the FM dial where it had simulcast on 97.1 FM since 2021. The station, which is also one of the oldest in L.A., is not budging from 1070 AM where it has been on the air for more than 100 years. The move away from FM officially happened in May to make way for a new sports talk station, which Audacy officials called an area of growth for advertisers in today’s media landscape.

The move is one in a long line of changes for radio and a reminder that before podcasts, playlists and algorithms, many Southern Californians built their days around radio broadcasts.

Radio, a daily ritual

The construction of KNX

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Herman J. Schultheis

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Los Angeles Public Library

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Michael Jackson, a well-known KNX, personality

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Los Angeles Public Library

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Larry Mantle, now in his 41st year hosting AirTalk, remembers being a kid and dreaming of what it might be like to be behind the mic at one of these radio stations.

“ I grew up with KNX," he said. “My dream job as a kid was to be an anchor on KNX or KFWB, the two local all-news radio stations, 'cause there was nothing like hosting AirTalk that even existed at that point.”

Mantle opened up the phone lines on a recent show to hear from his fellow SoCal radio lovers about the shows they miss and the memories they have. Here's what they had to say:

A love for radio, then and now  

A pilot of KMPC's traffic alert helicopter pictured with his daughter and grandson.

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Los Angeles Public Library

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A 1963 picture of Valley State College (now Los Angeles Valley College) preparing to launch KVCM

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Larry Leach

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Los Angeles Public Library

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“When you'd walk down Hollywood Boulevard where the station was, you could hear it playing as you went down the street,” said  Olivia in Glendale about KLAC 570 with Al Jarvis.

 Larry in Yorba Linda shouted out KBCA Jazz for its 24-hour jazz, saying “When I first moved out here in '68 from Phoenix, which had like an hour a week, it was a real wonder.”

 Mark in Glassell Park emailed that he loves KCRW’s Henry Rollins, writing, “I used to bristle at his unique DJ persona, but over time, I came to love him and his crazy eclectic playlists. I find his knowledge in history and punk rock fascinating. He's a gem and a legend."

"I'd like to give a shout-out to all the DJs working at KXLU, the college station at Loyola Marymount University, said  Jeremy in Culver City in an email. “That station's been on the air for nearly 60 years. I believe it's one of the best examples of what's possible with radio."

"KFWB and KRLA back in the day when they were rock music stations —  Dr. Demento, one of my favorite on-air personalities, also had eclectic music taste," said  Carrie in Desert Edge.

“ Dr. Demento was must listening when I was a kid in junior high school at Le Conte Junior High in Hollywood,” Mantle added. “Every Sunday night on KMET, we would make sure we were listening to Dr. Demento and his funny records.”

The question remains…

An 11-year-old winning a car in a KMPC contest in 1963.

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Los Angeles Public Library

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Listener support is vital to any radio station, and it’s clear KNX has many lifelong fans. AirTalk listeners highlighted their support for household KNX names over the decades like Bill Keene, Melinda Lee, Mike Roy and Jackie Olden.

As KNX makes changes, many are watching closely and thinking about the future of radio.

Listeners like Tommy in La Quinta are left wondering if the radio dial will be the same…

“I’m a hardcore listener, but I don't know about casual listeners [and] if they'll tune to AM,” he said.

After months of hand-wringing, Los Angeles and LA28 have come to a tentative agreement on how Olympics organizers will reimburse the city for its expenses for the 2028 Summer Games.

According to the deal, the private Olympic organizing committee will pay upfront for the estimated cost of services that are not eligible for federal reimbursement, like trash pick-up and traffic control. Under another proposal, the city would also be able to tap an LA28 contingency fund if it isn't fully repaid by the federal government for policing costs at Olympic venues.

The agreement is nearly nine months overdue and still needs approval by Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council.

The 2028 Olympics are intended to be privately financed, and an existing city agreement with LA28 states that the Olympics organizers, not L.A., will pay for extra costs for public services in support of the Games. But L.A. is the financial back-stop for the Olympics, meaning if LA28 goes in the red, taxpayers will pick up the bill.

Beyond that, the city services agreement presents another area where L.A. could incur additional unexpected expenses for hosting the Games. L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez warned LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover earlier this year that a bad deal could "bankrupt" the city.

Jacie Prieto Lopez, an LA28 spokesperson, and Paul Krekorian, who leads the city's office of major events, said in statements that the freshly inked agreement would help deliver a fiscally responsible Games.

"Mayor Bass’ priority is that the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games be fiscally responsible, protect taxpayers, and benefit Angelenos for decades to come. This agreement helps deliver that commitment," Krekorian said.

But the contract between the two parties doesn't fully resolve one of the biggest areas of financial risk for the city: the enormous cost of security for an event as extensive and high-profile as the summer Olympics and Paralympics.

Organizers are counting on the federal government to pay for public safety at Olympic venues that are considered part of a "national special security event." That includes costs for LAPD staffing. LA28 has not included security costs in its $7.1 billion budget — a fact that City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto criticized earlier this year.

The federal government has so far allocated $1 billion for security costs for the Olympics. Exactly where those federal funds will go has not yet been determined, and there's no guarantee they will cover all of L.A.'s policing costs.

To address this, city officials have also proposed an amendment to a 2021 agreement between the city and LA28. That amendment would establish that if L.A. is not reimbursed by the federal government for all its eligible expenses, it could dip into LA28's contingency fund of $270 million before the private organizing committee could use those funds for any legacy projects.

But that bucket of money will first be used for any costs that Olympics organizers still owe if they run out of revenue — meaning if the Olympics don't turn a profit, the city's access to that money will depend on how much is left for the taking.

Civil rights attorney Connie Rice, who has been tracking the city's negotiations with LA28, told LAist the agreement was a "PR document" not a deal. She pointed out that if the federal government does not pay up for security spending as expected, L.A. could be in trouble.

" It leaves the taxpayers with a GoFundMe strategy," she said.

The city services agreement lays the groundwork for more negotiations between LA28 and the city. Each venue will require its own agreement, to be negotiated by July 1, 2027. Venues in the city of L.A. include Dodger Stadium, the L.A. Convention Center, L.A. Memorial Coliseum and the Venice Beach Boardwalk.

The City Council's ad-hoc committee on the 2028 Games will meet Tuesday afternoon to vote on the agreement.