The Brief

There’s new evidence that your environment can play a significant role in how much you’re exposed to “forever chemicals,” a nickname for a group of harmful human-made substances that end up in your blood and are nearly impossible to get rid of.

University of Southern California researchers found in a study that some Angelenos, who lived near or too far from certain neighborhood factors, had a higher presence of chemicals in their bloodstream.

Why the study matters

Talk of “forever chemicals,” officially known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), is usually focused on our tap water supply. But these globally-used chemicals are in tons of consumer products, including grease-resistant food packaging, nonstick cookware, and waterproof clothing.

“You really need a more comprehensive way to deal with these chemicals because it’s not enough to give people clean water,” said Shiwen “Sherlock” Li, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in the Keck School of Medicine’s Department of Population and Public Health Sciences.

The study worked with 446 Southern California residents, mostly in L.A. County, and looked at four major factors to see how they affected PFAS levels in their blood:

• Tap water
• Proximity to industrial polluters
• Proximity to Superfund sites (an EPA designation for certain toxic waste dump areas)
• Low access to fresh foods

Every factor was associated with a significant increase.

An illustration of government data that shows the distribution of detection of PFOA (a type of PFAS) in tap water, locations of Superfund sites and potential PFAS-polluting industrial sites.

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Courtesy Shiwen "Sherlock" Li

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Neighborhood low food access in different census tracts using data from the USDA Food Environment Atlas. One of the ways low access to food is defined is by 33% of the population living more than half mile from the nearest supermarket, supercenter, or large grocery store.

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Courtesy Shiwen "Sherlock" Li

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If the research participants lived in neighborhoods with contaminated drinking water, or lived far from a grocery store — meaning they’re likely more apt to eat packaged fast food — the increased ranged from 40% to 60%. Li said some types of PFAS even showed a more than 100% jump. Living within 3 miles of an industrial site that processes PFAS also showed higher blood levels.

Keep in mind, blood presence is measured in milliliters, and the baseline levels in the general population are very low. However, current research suggests even tiny volumes can contribute to adverse health effects.

Li works in environmental justice research and has long been interested in the neurotoxic effects of PFAS, including why they have greater effects on some people over others. While the study isn’t meant to show what areas in L.A. County have more PFAS, Li said it’s about how systemic factors can impact us.

“In my opinion, it’s harder to change individual behaviors,” Li said, “but if you can create clean environments for everyone, they don’t need any behavioral change in the first place.”

While the EPA is taking steps to remove PFAS chemicals in our water, Li hopes policymakers will use the study as evidence to support environmental cleaning efforts.

How PFAS can affect human health

Low-income neighborhoods especially already have water contamination and air pollution issues for other reasons, so linking it to PFAS potentially adds another reason for harsher health outcomes. For example, other studies have shown Southeast L.A. to have more contamination than other neighborhoods.

“If people are worried about lack of green space, lead issues, or water infrastructure issues, they should also consider PFAS,” Li said.

Dr. Lisa Patel, a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford Children's Health, said other studies have shown PFAS can raise your cholesterol, lower your antibody response to certain vaccines and increase risk for pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia.

“There are some small decreases in birth weight that have been noted from exposure to PFAS, and then there’s an increased risk of kidney and testicular cancer as well,” Patel said.

Patrick Allard, a professor in the Institute for Society and Genetics at UCLA, said PFAS chemicals have a “constellation” of other health effects, including a strong impact on the immune system. There are also questions about whether that could be linked to neurological disorders like ADHD.

“I mean, I could go on — cardiovascular effects, kidney defects,” he said. “It seems like you can make connections between PFAS and many kinds of health effects.”

Both experts echoed that while there’s been more research interest into PFAS, we still don’t have a good handle on how long it takes for these issues to play out because people are exposed in different durations, ways, and amounts.

After a delay that has threatened plans for World Cup celebrations across the U.S., the federal government said this week that it's moving forward with awarding host cities including Los Angeles hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for security.

Host cities have been counting on the $625 million in federal funds, which were already allocated in last year's "One Big Beautiful Bill" for security costs related to putting on the global tournament.

L.A. will host eight matches at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, a five-day fan festival at the Coliseum and watch parties and fan zones around the region – and those events will require additional police and resources to pull off.

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is responsible for allocating the funding to the 11 host city committees in the U.S. Last month, officials in Miami and Kansas City raised the alarm that they may need to cancel fan plans if the money didn't come through soon. Los Angeles officials declined to weigh in at the time.

In a statement provided to LAist, FEMA blamed the ongoing government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security for the delay.

"While the recent funding lapse temporarily slowed the grant process and impacted FEMA’s grants management system, DHS and FEMA have completed their review and approval of applications" the statement said. "Grants supporting host jurisdictions and security efforts will begin going out soon.”

But the saga's not over yet. Los Angeles and the Bay Area are still waiting on those grants, according to a statement from the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, which is responsible for disbursing federal funds to the World Cup host committees in the state.

The money will be paid out as reimbursements – but organizers can't make plans to use the funds until they know what they've been awarded.

“Cal OES will continue pressing the federal government to announce the World Cup Grant Program awards so host city communities can plan responsibly and ensure the security resources needed for a global event like the World Cup are in place," a CalOES spokesperson told LAist via email.

LAist has asked FEMA, Cal OES and the L.A. host committee how much money they requested for security costs in Los Angeles, but has not received a response.

It's less than three months until the first World Cup match in the U.S. will kick off in Los Angeles on June 12.

In a cozy dance studio in Garden Grove, dancers of all experience levels, ages and backgrounds flock to Queer Latin Dance OC to learn the steps to salsa, cumbia and bachata.

For many, the dance class is more than educational — it’s a place to get away from it all, to find community and to uplift one another through art.

When Rodrigo Marquez founded Queer Latin Dance OC at the beginning of this year, he said he was filling a gap in Orange County that often lacks safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ community.

“I wanted to make creative communities for us to learn in a safe environment,” Marquez said. “Everyone's here to learn, and I want the pressure of whatever's going on in the world, just to forget for the next hour.”

Queer Latin Dance OC meets three times a week to learn the steps to salsa, cumbia and bachata.

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Destiny Torres

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LAist

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What are the dance lessons like? 

When creating his teaching plan, Marquez said he considers the range of experience his students might have. Everybody starts somewhere, he added, and the hardest part is showing up.

“It is scary, but if you're already showing up, then just jump in and just forget about the world. It's a great distraction, and dancing makes you feel better,” Marquez said.

Philip Lee, an elementary school teacher from Tustin, took his first class with the group Monday night, trying the quick steps of salsa.

“I had a stressful day. … All my stress that I had in my neck and upper back just kind of went away,” Lee said, adding that the high energy in the room is infectious. “It was nice just laughing with people in the community and meeting new people.”

Lee said the dance lesson gave him a space to be with community.

“The queer community specifically, and just kind of let my guard down and just be free and laugh and enjoy being me and celebrated for a love for the arts,” Lee said. “That's not a space that is always safe.”

Before taking lessons at Queer Latin Dance OC, Melba Rivera said she came in with zero dance experience.

“You come as you are. No matter what level you're at or how you identify or what your experience is, everybody's here and everybody's learning,” Rivera said. “It's a very encouraging and motivating space.”

Salsa and bachata are social dances, Marquez said, but one thing that makes his class unique to many is that regardless of gender identity, anyone can follow or lead.

Typically, the lead falls to the male dancer, and women follow. Marquez said it was important that no one feels pressured to be one or the other.

“That's why I created this, so people like me can just come and learn, not be expected to be in a gender role based on how they look,” Marquez said. “They want to dance how they feel.”

Why it matters

Taryn Heiner said, especially in Orange County, it’s challenging to find spaces that are queer-friendly and queer-open.

“That's really what makes this space so kind and warm and welcoming,” Heiner said. “We have all that base understanding of respecting one another, no matter who they are, who they love and what they do.”

Growing up in Orange County, not every room you walk into is a safe space, Rivera added.

“So walking into a room like this, where everybody's friendly, everybody's learning, everybody's just here for the same purpose to get better, to support each other, is really important,” Rivera said. “Not just in the class, but [in] the friendships we make outside of the classroom.”

Outside of dance class, Marquez’s students meet up for monthly hikes and other get-togethers. Marquez said it is a privilege and an honor to bring people together through his love for dance.

“I've seen people become friends since January, and I see them practice outside of practice,” Marquez said. “I've always had a dream to do my own dance classes, but to do it in a way where people can connect and just be themselves. It's far greater than that.”

Queer Latin Dance OC offers lessons to dancers of all experience levels and has created a new community hub in Orange County.

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Destiny Torres

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LAist

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Want to dance? 

Salsa, cumbia and bachata classes are held three nights a week on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Classes are $20 per session, but Marquez also offers a free beginner salsa class every Monday.

You can register for the class of your choice here. Payments are taken in person.

Border Patrol agents have been roving from city to city over the last 15 months, far from their home bases in California and elsewhere along the U.S.-Mexico border, engaged in an unprecedented mass deportation campaign.

A collaboration between CalMatters, Evident Media and Bellingcat has tracked these agents, documenting their tactics on the ground and through mountains of video footage, since their first proof-of-concept raid in Bakersfield in January 2025.

Exactly one year later, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renée Good in Minneapolis, followed weeks later by the killing of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent.

Our investigation shows that beyond those two shootings, immigration agents engaged in a pattern of force and questionable detention, aggressive tactics that courts have said likely violated the Constitution, as they moved from Bakersfield to Los Angeles, and then Chicago and Minneapolis.

In each city, federal courts stepped in to restrain them from violating civil liberties in that jurisdiction. Agents later deployed to another city. The video evidence suggests agents’ tactics became more brazen with each stop.

Under President Donald Trump, immigration agents have operated without typical public accountability. Many agents wear masks. Incident reports are largely hidden from the public.

“We are in a completely uncharted world now with these masked agents,” said John Roth, who served as inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security under Presidents Barack Obama and Trump.

“The first thing that you do when you give an agent a gun and a badge and the authority over American people is to make sure that they follow the Constitution, period,” he said.

In this new film, we focus on the activity of five agents from the US-Mexico border whose identities we’ve been able to confirm.

Watch the documentary

We are not aware of any disciplinary action taken against these agents. DHS did not respond to requests for comment; the individual agents either declined to comment or didn’t respond to calls or emails.

We showed the incidents to Roth and Steve Bunnell, former DHS general counsel. Both have testified before Congress, raising the alarm about what they see as a dismantling of the department’s accountability and credibility. Roth called the incidents “difficult to watch.”

“There are sort of two essential components of DHS and law enforcement generally being effective, and that’s trust and credibility,” Bunnell said. “And they have lost those things to the extent they had them.”