The Brief

At Vibe Cultivators, an indoor cannabis farm in Sacramento, the first thing to hit you is the smell. Earthy, skunky, whatever you want to call it, that is some pungent weed.

There are aisles of plants, growing on two levels under artificial lights. They have names like Gelato 33 and Alien Runtz.

"As you can see, all our plants are tagged," says Brian Prichard, Vibe's entrepreneur in residence.

The state-sanctioned tags are a sign this isn't weed grown by a guy who knows a guy. They contain the name of the state-licensed grower, the license number and an ID number just for the plant, so cannabis regulators can keep track of it.

Check out the rest of the series: How safe is your weed?

Things have changed since the days before California legalized marijuana, Prichard says. Back then, he had to be secretive about his work, which meant asking for help was challenging.

Rows of carefully tagged plants grow at Vibe Cultivators in Sacramento. The industry is largely supportive of California's push to regulate it and keep harmful products from hitting the market.

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Preston Gannaway for NPR

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"Before, you know, I'd go to Home Depot and I'd tell them, 'I need this part and this part to make something.' Well, they want to know what I'm making. 'Well, I can't tell you... I just need these parts,'" Prichard says.

Now, he can just ask for information, even from state regulators.

The California Department of Cannabis Control officially formed in 2021, combining what various other state agencies were doing to stay on top of the newly formed legal weed industry in the state. One of its primary jobs is to keep weed safe. It's a task many states with legalized marijuana struggle with, in the absence of federal support or guidance.

And without a deep well of scientific research – it hasn't been easy. Weed can contain mold, bacteria, or even heavy metals like arsenic. It can also be unexpectedly potent, not matching the THC levels on its label. States are trying to keep weed consumers from getting sick, while

supporting a growing, tax-paying industry.

"We like to say around here that we're building the plane as we fly it," says Zarha Ruiz, who leads environmental compliance and manufacturing safety at California's Department of Cannabis Control. "Nothing could be more accurate."

Left: Vibe Cultivators cheerful exterior. Right: Cody Daniel defoliates cannabis plants inside Vibe Cultivators.<br>

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Preston Gannaway for NPR

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On their own

For cannabis, unlike for brownie mix or Tylenol, there's no federal Food and Drug Administration to keep consumers safe. In that vacuum, weed regulators from several states came together to form the Cannabis Regulators Association, says Gillian Schauer, the group's executive director.

"States were struggling to set up literally their own mini FDAs and mini EPAs to try to do the due diligence that was needed," Schauer says.

The states share information, holding meetings and webinars to update each other on what's working and discuss evolving best practices, for instance.

But they don't all test for the same things. According to a 2022 study about the patchwork of regulation around the country, states were testing for more than 600 contaminants in all.

"Interestingly, in each jurisdiction there's only anywhere between 60 to 120 contaminants that are regulated," says Maxwell Leung, an assistant professor at Arizona State University who authored the study. For example, a contaminant might lead to a recall in one state. But another state may not even be testing for it.

Zarha Ruiz, branch chief of environmental compliance and manufacturing safety at the Department of Cannabis Control, outside Vibe Cultivators.

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Testing for more contaminants isn't necessarily better, however, he says. Without a vast body of research, scientists and regulators don't know which contaminants have the biggest impact on human health.

Still, California has seen recalls of legal weed — it had 63 last year, the most since the Department of Cannabis Control formed in 2021. That meant sellers had to yank 25,000 individual units of cannabis products from their shelves, because of things like microbial contamination or misbranding.

The California Cannabis Industry Association which represents growers, manufacturers and dispensaries, generally supports the state's effort to regulate. The association says it's "heartened" by the state's recent work on recalls, which came after an investigation called out the state for missing illegal pesticides in legal weed.

"That's not to say there isn't room for improvement in any emerging industry, and cannabis is no exception," says Caren Woodsen, the president of the association's board of directors.

Preventing a weed health crisis

For Ruiz in California, the regulators' priority is keeping people safe. People in the industry remember the EVALI crisis, a 2019 outbreak of lung injuries and hospitalizations across all 50 states linked to vape products containing vitamin E acetate, an additive in some e-cigarettes with THC. At least 68 people died, including four in California.

The possible health risks aren't confined to smoking. The Department of Cannabis Control also regulates edibles like gummies, brownies and sodas. In those types of products, the THC dose may be higher than indicated by the label. Edibles may also be contaminated by bacteria, which could sicken the person who consumes it.

Wyld's grapefruit-flavored gummies are poured into molds, cured, coated in sugar and then packaged for distribution at a factory in Sacramento, Calif.

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Sydney Lupkin

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, emergency room visits related to cannabis increased between 2019 and 2022 for people under 25. Earlier research showed edibles were responsible for a disproportionate share of cannabis-related ER visits.

Down the street from the Sacramento pot farm, there's a factory that makes a product called Wyld gummies.

On a recent grapefruit gummy-making day, a machine poured the solution into rectangular molds. Everyone was wearing hair nets, masks and blue gloves. It looked and smelled like any other factory that makes food, but stored in a metal locker inside a back room, there's a special ingredient: THC oil.

"Our gummies are four grams, but only 10 milligrams of that is cannabis or cannabinoid product," says Gabe Parton Lee, the company's attorney. "And so the majority is just candy."

Still, it's inspected by the California Department of Cannabis Control instead of the FDA or state inspectors under contract with the FDA.

In the distribution room, hundreds of boxes of marionberry flavored gummies are cordoned off to the side under a sign that says "Quarantine Area" in red lettering. The gummies are awaiting batch testing results at one of 27 licensed labs around the state before they can be loaded on trucks and on their way to retail destinations. Inspectors will be checking for contaminants and THC levels.

Using science for safety

In California, the Department of Cannabis Control tracks almost every step in the cannabis pipeline. Weed manufacturers even have to report how many pounds of plant trimmings they throw away.

Research scientist Hung Liu runs tests at the Department of Cannabis Control laboratory in Richmond, Calif., in January. Labs are looking for contaminants such as illegal pesticides and heavy metals.

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The department's lab in Richmond, near San Francisco, leads the state-licensed labs. It uses sensitive machines to test for hundreds of contaminants, setting standards and helping law enforcement with investigations involving the illicit marijuana market.

And as the California cannabis industry has evolved, the lab has had to keep up, finding ways to test everything from gummies to hard candies to beverages to popcorn.

"There's all kinds of things that people are infusing with cannabinoids that we have to be able to extract them out of to then declare if it is accurately labeled" or that the labeled dosage is accurate," says Antonio Frazier, branch chief for the department's Laboratory Services Division. "It's a very interesting industry and I love it because you see so much ingenuity. I mean, you're seeing really creative products out there."

Over the last five years, the legal cannabis market has gotten a lot cleaner, especially compared to what he's seen in the illicit market.

"We see the levels of illegal pesticides that are 10, 100 times the actual limit coming from the illicit market," he says. The DCC has also occasionally found fentanyl in non-regulated cannabis products.

A research scientist measures water activity in a flower sample at a Department of Cannabis Control lab.

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In other words, it's still safer to buy regulated weed than illicit weed – even though regulated weed is more expensive.

None of Vibe Cultivators' products have ever been recalled. Brian Pritchard says the regulation is doing its job, which helps him do his job.

"I don't have to sneak in at midnight to get my work done anymore," he says. "It's a major improvement. The only people that are going to complain about it [are] the people who are doing stuff wrong."

Copyright 2025 NPR

A bald eagle believed to be Jackie has been rescued in Big Bear after a brief fight with two other eagles, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley, the environmental nonprofit that runs a YouTube livestream of Jackie and Shadow’s famous nest.

The rescued eagle was seen on the ground near Dana Point Park, a popular look-out spot in the area for fans hoping to see the feathered family.

The eagle was taken in by the L.A. County Department of Parks and Recreation’s San Dimas Raptor Rescue and transferred to a specialized rehabilitation facility for further care, according to county officials.

The eagle’s sex and identity have not been confirmed, but Friends of Big Bear Valley said “it is apparent that the rescued eagle is likely Jackie.” The last time Jackie was seen in the nest was July 12, according to organization records.

“She is in the best place she can be and getting the care she needs,” the nonprofit said to the 1.2 million followers of its Facebook page.

L.A. County and nonprofit officials are urging people not to contact the rescue or facility so it doesn’t interfere with the help they’re providing the eagle and other animals.

What happened?

According to Friends of Big Bear Valley, cell phone video showed the rescued eagle fighting off the two other birds by using its talons, but it still couldn’t fly further away. The eagle was found near the park last Friday, but it was seen there Thursday too.

The eagle was picked up by wildlife rescuers, and the nonprofit said it has been in direct contact with them and the rehabilitation facility.

The first organization didn’t see any obvious injuries on the rescued eagle, but the bird was lethargic and yet still somewhat active, according to a Friends of Big Bear Valley post in its Facebook group, which has more than 485,000 members.

“The eagle is safe and receiving specialized care,” the L.A. County Department of Parks and Recreation said on social media Sunday. “We will share confirmed information as it becomes available.”

How are the rest of the feathered family doing?

While Jackie has been away, Shadow is caring for their fledglings Sandy and Luna, which took their first flights nearly a month ago.

Sandy and Luna have been in and out of the nest in recent days, and Shadow delivered 11 fish this weekend while they continue to learn to hunt, according to organization records.

“Send your light and loving energy to all of them,” Jenny Voisard, media manager, said Saturday in the Facebook group. “It doesn’t do anyone any good to panic and remember to step away from the livestream as needed. Nature is naturing.”

As the Trump administration delays regulations on “forever chemicals” that pollute reservoirs, rivers and aquifers nationwide, California officials say they are unsure what the consequences will be for an estimated 1.5 million Californians served by utilities with contaminated sources of drinking water.

With uncertainty over when regulations on some of the most common of these cancer-causing pollutants, called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, will take effect in California, lawmakers are floating alternative plans to remove them from the state’s tap water.

Among several forever chemical-related bills in Congress is one that would tax PFAS manufacturers to help utilities pay for expensive treatment technologies. State legislation that could have led to the ban of pesticides containing PFAS has been watered down by lawmakers, but environmental advocates still see the bill as an important first step.

“The corporations that contaminated our water rarely face accountability. My bill changes that by making them cover the cost of cleaning it up,” U.S. Rep. Linda Sánchez, an author of the federal bill, said in an email to Capital & Main. Pico Rivera and Downey are two cities in Sánchez’s Los Angeles-area district that are grappling with PFAS-contaminated water sources.

There are nearly 15,000 different PFAS chemicals, used in an array of everyday items like clothing, food packaging and cookware, as well as in fire-fighting foams, pesticides and many industrial processes. Regulators have found them around hundreds of landfills, airports, military bases and industrial sites across the state. Because they’re highly soluble, once they leach into the water table they’re extremely difficult to remove — and they can take thousands of years to break down. The chemicals can enter the body through contaminated water and accumulate over time.

Nearly everyone in the U.S. has these chemicals in their blood, and exposure to some of the most studied PFAS chemicals has been linked to cancer, liver disease, immune system disruption and other chronic health problems.

These chemicals are nearly ubiquitous in tap water. According to the consumer advocacy organization Environmental Working Group, 165 million Americans drink PFAS-laced tap water.

Under a plan established under the Biden administration, federal drinking water standards for perfluorooctanoic and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOA and PFOS), two of the most common forever chemicals, were set to be enforced in 2029. But under President Donald Trump, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has moved to delay those protections by offering water systems an opt-out until 2031. The EPA is also rescinding regulatory drinking water limits for four other forever chemicals.

Daniel Newton, assistant deputy director of the California Water Resources Control Board’s Division of Drinking Water, said state regulators are unsure whether impacted water systems in California would be eligible for the two-year delay — and, if they are, whether California would “allow that extension or not,” Newton said.

Of California’s 2,363 public water systems that have been tested since 2024, 466 had levels of either PFOA or PFOS above the federal regulatory limit, according to the water board. California requires water systems to notify the public if PFAS levels reach a certain threshold. Some systems have already begun treating or blending the water with clean sources to make it safer to drink.

Without federal drinking water limits for other PFAS substances, California has started the years-long process of adopting its own rules for one commonly used such chemical called PFHxS, which has been detected since 2024 in nearly 400 systems above the state notification level. Newton said the long-term goal in California is for these chemicals to be regulated “as a class” rather than through “individual” chemicals.

But environmental health advocates want California regulators to move faster.

“We’ve been monitoring these chemicals since 2019. That means that by 2029, we’ll have spent 10 years preparing,” said Andria Ventura, legislative and policy director with the nonprofit Clean Water Action. As such, she added, “California regulators should be more protective than the federal government by not delaying implementation.”

Some systems, especially smaller cash-strapped utilities, recommend a more cautious approach.

“It could potentially be advantageous to anybody dealing with this to wait,” said Carlos Quintero, general manager of the San Diego County-based Sweetwater Authority, pointing to high treatment costs and the evolution of new better treatment technologies.

Roughly 65% of Sweetwater Authority’s 200,000 customers live in areas designated by state agencies as suffering a combination of economic, health, and environmental burdens.. The utility is exploring different PFAS treatment technologies, the cheapest coming in at roughly $50 million. Quintero estimates ongoing operational and maintenance costs for the system alone could result in water rate increases of around 6%.

Rather than keep treating contaminated water, some lawmakers and advocacy groups want to remove the problem at the source.

In California, AB 1603 would for the first time require that pesticides be categorized as containing PFAS chemicals by the state, and their use to be reported to authorities. According to the Environmental Working Group, 37% of California grown nonorganic fruits and vegetables have PFAS-laced pesticide residues on them, while regulators found PFAS pesticides in roughly half of all surface water and sediment samples taken.

Under pressure from agricultural interests, lawmakers earlier this year stripped language from the legislation that would have eventually banned PFAS-based pesticides in California. But Susan Little, Environmental Working Group’s California legislative director, hopes this bill “sets the stage” for an outright ban in the future.

Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have banned the sale of PFAS-laden cookware and other products, arguing it would restrict the availability of affordable cookware.

Many impacted states, municipalities and water systems have sought financial relief through lawsuits against chemical manufacturers like 3M and DuPont. Just this week, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued major PFAS chemical manufacturers alleging they had deceived the public about human exposure risks and threats to the environment. But for the most part, the public continues to bear the brunt of cleanup costs through rate increases and taxpayer-funded programs.

Even so, these pots of money “are not anywhere near what the actual cost of compliance is going to be,” said Ian Lyle, director of federal relations for the Association of California Water Agencies. The Orange County Water District alone estimates a cost to the county of $1.8 billion over 30 years to treat PFAS.

With the idea of alleviating the burden on water systems and the taxpayer, Rep. Sánchez’s federal bill would establish a 45% tax on the manufacturing of PFAS to provide a tax credit of up to 25% for public and private water agencies.

“I expect it will be enough to cover the direct pay credit that will fund water cleanup efforts for both public and private water municipalities,” Sánchez said.

Copyright 2026 Capital & Main

Paramount's owners were planning to have secured firm control of Hollywood rival Warner Bros. Discovery by the end of this week.

A federal judge's ruling Monday in response to a major antitrust lawsuit filed by a dozen states has ground the process to a halt.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted a temporary restraining order to the states to pause the acquisition. The attorneys general allege Paramount's purchase of Warner Bros. would reduce competition, hurting filmgoers, TV and news consumers and especially those who create the entertainment and other content they rely on.

The $111 billion deal would unite Paramount and Warner Bros. movie and television studios, streamers Paramount+ and HBO Max, the nation's most-watched broadcast outlet (CBS) with 50 cable channels, and CNN and CBS News under the same roof.
"This is a critical first win in our case to ensure this megamerger never sees the light of day," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement issued to the press.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

NPR's Mandalit Del Barco contributed to this story.
Copyright 2026 NPR