Lab Assistant Abraham Jimenez loads blood samples for automated serology testing for measles immunity status at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health laboratory in Downey on Feb. 26, 2026.
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Ariana Drehsler
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CalMatters
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Topline:
California is battling measles outbreaks across seven counties as federal funding cuts gut local health departments and vaccine skepticism fuels spread among unvaccinated children.
Outbreaks: California has a high enough vaccination rate — about 95% of kindergarteners — to provide herd immunity against measles, but throughout the state pockets of unvaccinated communities drive outbreaks, experts say.
Read on... for how local health departments are fighting the infection with less funds.
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When a possible measles case is identified in California, a phone rings at the local health department and the clock starts ticking.
Laboratory workers need to process samples as soon as possible to confirm the case. And a public health nurse must call the patient to find out where they’ve been and who they’ve been in contact with recently.
If test results are positive, the communicable disease team has 72 hours or less to identify anyone who has been exposed and may be at high risk of infection or serious illness. Those people must quarantine or take a dose of a post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent spread. For the next 21 days nurses will monitor the group for symptoms.
“That’s ridiculously infectious,” said Dr. Sharon Balter, director of acute communicable disease control with Los Angeles County public health. “It balloons very quickly, and because measles spreads very fast we have to get on it right away. We can’t say we’ll wait until tomorrow.”
California has a high enough vaccination rate — about 95% of kindergarteners — to provide herd immunity against measles, but throughout the state pockets of unvaccinated communities drive outbreaks, experts say.
Shasta and Riverside counties are working to contain localized outbreaks. These are the first measles outbreaks in the state since 2020 and are happening at a time when health departments have less money and fewer staff than in recent years. In total, seven counties have reported a total of 21 measles cases this year, according to the California Department of Public Health.
“The United States is experiencing the highest numbers of measles cases, outbreaks, hospitalizations and deaths in more than 30 years, driven by populations with low vaccination rates,” said California Public Health Officer Dr. Erica Pan in a statement earlier this month. “We all need to work together to share the medical evidence, benefits, and safety of vaccines to provide families the information they need to protect children and our communities."
Containment comes with high costs
Investigating any communicable disease is time-intensive and expensive. The first three measles cases reported in L.A. County this year cost an estimated $231,000, according to a health department analysis.
Why does it cost so much? Because a disease investigation often requires a legion of public health nurses, physicians, epidemiologists and laboratory scientists to follow-up with hundreds of contacts, Balter said.
A computer shows an analysis of measles sequencing results at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health laboratory in Downey on Feb. 26, 2026.
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Ariana Drehsler
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CalMatters
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That includes sometimes visiting homes or exposure sites. For example, a recent exposure at a daycare required nurses to wring urine out of used diapers to test babies for measles. County health workers monitored 246 people who had been exposed to those first three measles cases — and the work is ongoing.
On Feb. 19, the county reported its fourth measles case. All of them were related to international travel. Other cases in California also have primarily been related to travel either internationally or to states where there are outbreaks. An unvaccinated child in Napa County contracted measles in January after traveling to South Carolina.
Riverside County health officials reported one measles case where the child had not traveled recently, and Shasta County health officials suspect their first case could be related to travel in Southern California but are waiting for DNA testing for confirmation.
Orange County reported two travel-related cases this year.
Health departments have fewer resources, more cases
Local health departments rely heavily on federal funding to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, but last year, the Trump administration slashed nearly $1 billion of public health funding from California. This year it attempted to claw back another $600 million from California and three other Democratic states.
Pending lawsuits froze the cuts, but local health departments are treating the money as a lost cause because they cannot bear the financial risk if a judge eventually rules in favor of the Trump administration.
Health departments are also confronting decreased public confidence: The high-profile questioning of vaccine safety and effectiveness by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has complicated public health’s struggle to contain the spread of preventable infections.
California Democratic leaders are aggressively fighting Kennedy’s direction. They sued to block the administration’s new vaccine guidelines, which stripped universal recommendation from seven childhood vaccines. They blame Kennedy and the Trump administration for “dismantling” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and stoking fears over debunked claims that vaccines cause autism.
The state also released its own vaccine guidelines and formed an alliance among four western states to share public health information and recommendations.
“Everything including the outbreaks, the financial cuts, the questions from the federal government that are arising are making our work very difficult,” said Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, Orange County public health officer.
Lab Assistant Abraham Jimenez loads blood samples for automated serology testing for measles immunity status at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health laboratory in Downey on Feb. 26, 2026.
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Ariana Drehsler
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CalMatters
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Lab Assistant Abraham Jimenez loads blood samples for automated serology testing for measles immunity status at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health laboratory in Downey on Feb. 26, 2026.
The outbreak, which lasted four months, spurred state lawmakers to pass some of the strictest childhood vaccine requirements in the country.
But even a single measles case requires “vast amounts of infrastructure” to contain, Chinsio-Kwong said. On average, the department identifies and monitors 100 exposed people per case. Since the start of last year, Orange County has lost $22 million in federal cuts to public health. The department is trying to protect their communicable disease surveillance work, but it gets harder with every cut.
“We're trying to prioritize our communicable disease control division,” health officer Chinsio-Kwong said. “There are a lot of different federal cuts, but we're putting that as front and center: That has to be saved no matter what.”
Measles spread in unvaccinated groups
Six hundred miles north, Shasta County is grappling with its first measles cases since 2019 and the state’s largest outbreak of the year.
In late January, a sick child visited a health clinic in Redding with measles symptoms that laboratory testing later confirmed. Health officials interviewed 278 people and identified six locations where others were exposed: a restaurant, a church basketball game, a gym, a park, Costco and the clinic.
They also identified seven other cases among family members or neighbors who were in close contact with the child.
It can take 21 days from the time of exposure for measles symptoms to develop. On Feb. 19, just before the end of that period, health officials confirmed a ninth case.
That person didn’t recognize the symptoms and visited several places while contagious, including a school, a church service, a basketball game and a clinic, said Daniel Walker, a Shasta County supervising epidemiologist. Now, the contract tracing process has started over. The communicable disease team expects to interview even more people this time.
All cases have been among children who were unvaccinated or did not know their vaccination status.
“It’s a great time to get immunized, because you can’t know when you’re next going to be exposed…especially because we’re in an outbreak situation,” Walker said.
Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.
The Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in an important gun case that has united an array of strange bedfellows, from conservative gun rights groups to liberal civil liberties groups.
Why it matters: At issue is a federal law making it a crime for drug users to possess a firearm. It's the same law that was used to prosecute then-President Joe Biden's son for illegal gun possession — only this case involves marijuana use and gun ownership.
What's next: A decision in the case is expected by summer.
Read on... for more about the case.
The Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in an important gun case that has united an array of strange bedfellows, from conservative gun rights groups to liberal civil liberties groups. At issue is a federal law making it a crime for drug users to possess a firearm. It's the same law that was used to prosecute then-President Joe Biden's son for illegal gun possession — only this case involves marijuana use and gun ownership.
The briefs in the case present diametrically different versions of the facts. On one side, the Trump administration portrays Ali Danial Hemani as a drug dealer and someone with terrorist ties and a marijuana habit. Importantly, he is not being prosecuted for any of those offenses, however. Rather, the government has charged Hemani with violating a federal gun law that bars people with drug addiction from possession of firearms, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the indictment, declaring that the federal law violates Hemani's Second Amendment right to own a gun.
The Justice Department appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that because Hemani admitted to FBI agents that he used marijuana several times a week, he is a "persistent" drug user, thus rendering illegal the possession of the gun he bought legally and keeps securely in his home.
Hemani's lawyer, law professor Naz Ahmad of the City University of New York, paints a very different picture of her client. Hemani, she notes, was born and raised in Texas, "attended high school there, played on the high school football team, attended the University of Texas at Arlington, was an honor student there" and is "a really valued member of his local religious community."
"The Second Amendment doesn't support disarming and prosecuting somebody for mere possession of a firearm if they happen to have used marijuana occasionally," she says.
"That's a mismatch," she adds, especially at a time when 40 states, to one degree or another, have legalized marijuana use.
If the court rules against Hemani,she says, "the statute could apply to anybody. It could apply to somebody who uses like a marijuana sleep gummy."
The Trump administration's advocate, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, acknowledges that under the Supreme Court's landmark gun decision four years ago, the government has a heavy burden to show that modern-day gun laws are analogous to laws in place at the nation's founding. But he contends that the statute used to prosecute Hemani is both justified and analogous to founding-era laws and practices.
Specifically, in his Supreme Court brief, Sauer points to the harsh punishments imposed during the founding era on "habitual drunkards." And he contends that both Congress and the states have restricted firearm possession by illegal drug users "for as long as that social evil has plagued America."
That said, for the most part, the case seems to have united groups from left to right, from civil liberties groups to gun rights advocates.
"It's outrageous that they tried to get him on a marijuana gun charge," says Aidan Johnston, director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America. He contends that the government is seeking to criminalize conduct that was widely tolerated at the founding.
"It was the universal custom of founding-era militias to imbibe," he notes, adding that Thomas Jefferson and other famous Americans "possessed firearms while being users of drugs ranging from opium to cocaine."
At the opposite end of the ideological spectrum are a variety of gun-safety groups that fear that if Hemani wins his case, it could gouge a hole in the existing system of national background checks.
Under the current system, dealers are required to first clear the sale by submitting the buyer's name to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The hitch is that there is a very small window in which to complete the check — just three days. And gun-safety groups say that anything that makes the rules more complicated and unclear could really screw up the system.
"We're saying" to the court, "whatever you do, it's essential that you keep the rules clear so that in that short window, federal agencies can give a quick answer to the dealers," says Douglas Letter of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
An adverse ruling, he says, would mess up the criminal background check process. That, in turn, would result in "so many, particularly women and children, who will die if that kind of a system is not in place."
A decision in the case is expected by summer.
Copyright 2026 NPR
Mariana Dale
explores and explains the forces that shape how and what kids learn from kindergarten to high school.
Published March 2, 2026 12:26 PM
A March 2020 LAUSD Facebook post recognized Chait's tenure with the district which includes teaching elementary school, serving as an assistant principal and principal before moving into district administration.
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Courtesy Los Angeles Unified School District
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Topline:
Longtime administrator Andres Chait addressed the public as acting superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District for the first time Monday. His comments came ahead of a closed board meeting to discuss his employment and ongoing labor negotiations with district unions.
What did he say: Chait said his priority as acting superintendent is to keep the district focused. “ We remain committed to academic excellence and student wellbeing,” he said Monday. “Our core values remain unchanged. I know transitions can create uncertainty, but our district is strong.”
Who is Chait? Chait has worked for the district for nearly three decades, most recently as chief of school operations. His responsibilities included overseeing school safety, athletics and the district’s office of emergency management.
Longtime administrator Andres Chait addressed the public as acting superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District for the first time Monday.
“ We remain committed to academic excellence and student wellbeing,” he said ahead of a closed board meeting to discuss his employment and ongoing labor negotiations with district unions. “Our core values remain unchanged. I know transitions can create uncertainty, but our district is strong.”
Chait has worked for the district for nearly three decades, most recently as chief of school operations. His responsibilities included overseeing school safety, athletics and the district’s office of emergency management.
A justice department spokesperson said the agency had a court-authorized warrant but declined to provide additional details. The reason for the searches is unknown.
Listen to Chait's full comments
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The U.S. attacks on Iran over the weekend, in conjunction with the Israeli military, marked a stunning new phase in relations between the two countries. But it is hardly the first time Washington and Tehran have clashed politically and militarily.
U.S. helps orchestrate coup: A key moment in U.S.-Iran relations goes back to 1953. A CIA-led campaign topples the elected government of Iran. The coup allows Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah (or king) of Iran, to consolidate power around himself. Pahlavi goes on to lead Iran for the next two and a half decades, becoming a strong U.S. ally.
Iranian Revolution and the U.S hostage crisis: In early 1979, following months of protests, Pahlavi fled Iran. The revolution had been led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shia cleric who was living in exile. Khomeini returns to Iran and oversees the country's transition to an Islamic republic, becoming Iran's supreme leader. In November of that year, a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and captured 66 Americans.
The 2015 nuclear deal: The U.S. reached a deal with Iran and five other world powers to curb Iran's nuclear capabilities in exchange for the removal of some punishing United Nations sanctions. In 2018, President Trump during his first term pulls the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal and reimposes sanctions on Iran.
Read on ... for more key moments.
The U.S. attacks on Iran over the weekend, in conjunction with the Israeli military, marked a stunning new phase in relations between the two countries.
But it is hardly the first time Washington and Tehran have clashed politically and militarily.
Here are some key historical moments between the U.S. and Iran.
1953: U.S. helps orchestrate coup that overthrows Mohammad Mosaddegh
Great Britain had controlled Iran's oil industry for decades, but in 1953 Iran's elected prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, nationalized the country's oil sector.
That move prompted Great Britain to appeal to the U.S. for help, and what resulted was a CIA-led campaign to topple Mosaddegh's government. The coup allowed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah (or king) of Iran, to consolidate power around himself. (The CIA, long suspected of having a hand in the revolt, officially acknowledged its role in 2013.)
Iranian opposition leader in exile Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini gives a speech as journalists surround him at Roissy airport near Paris on Jan. 31, 1979, before boarding a plane bound for Tehran. Khomeini establishes an Islamic republic in Iran.
The revolution had been led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shia cleric who was living in exile near Paris after being expelled by Pahlavi in 1964. Khomeini returned to Iran and oversaw the country's transition to an Islamic republic, becoming Iran's supreme leader. Khomeini established a hard-line theocracy and labeled America the "Great Satan." In November of that year, a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and captured 66 Americans.
A U.S. rescue attempt in the spring of 1980 codenamed Operation Eagle Claw, which was approved by President Jimmy Carter, was hampered by mechanical problems, a severe dust storm and a crash that killed eight service members. It failed to secure the release of the hostages.
Reagan's tenure was also marked by a now-infamous transaction with Iran.
Officials in his administration were discovered to have sold weapons to the country in the hope that it would help secure the release of American hostages held in Lebanon by Hezbollah, a militant group allied with Iran.
The Reagan administration used the proceeds of the arms sales to fund the paramilitary Contra rebel group fighting against the socialist Sandinista government in Nicaragua.
Reagan confirmed the story in a 1986 White House press conference and took public responsibility for what's become known as the Iran-Contra affair.
Late 1980s: Tensions in the Persian Gulf
Thousands of people mourn in July 1988 in Tehran, during the funeral service for those who died when an Iranian passenger jet was shot down over the Gulf by the U.S. military.
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Iran and Iraq were engaged in a war since 1980, and toward the end of that decade, Iran began to attack oil tankers belonging to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Iraq's financial supporters.
In 1987 the U.S. begins a military campaign known as Operation Earnest Will to protect Kuwaiti tankers.
Still, that incident touched off another military operation called Operation Praying Mantis, in which U.S. forces retaliated for the explosion by attacking several Iranian oil platforms.
The U.S. reached a deal with Iran and five other world powers to curb Iran's nuclear capabilities in exchange for the removal of some punishing United Nations sanctions.
The deal allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium for civilian energy purposes, but President Barack Obama argued that it would curb the country's ability to create a nuclear bomb. Iran also agreed to increased inspections of its nuclear facilities.
The Biden administration held indirect talks with Iran, and when Trump returned to office in 2025 he signed an executive order with the goal of exerting "maximum" pressure on Iran to end its nuclear weapons ambitions.
2020: U.S. drone strike kills Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani
A major recent development in U.S.-Iran relations occurred not in Iran itself but in neighboring Iraq.
Just a few days into 2020, U.S. forces launched a drone strike near the Baghdad International Airport and killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, among others.
Soleimani, who led an elite branch of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps known as the Quds Force, was seen as one of the country's most influential officials.
2025: U.S. and Israel strike Iranian nuclear sites
In June, the U.S. and Israeli militaries launched a dramatic assault on several Iranian nuclear sites. For the U.S., the military escalation followed what had largely been a diplomatic effort to deter Tehran from pursuing a nuclear weapon.
Trump said in a speech from the White House that the goal of the operation was to scuttle Iran's nuclear enrichment capabilities.
"Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated," Trump said, though there are questions about exactly how much damage was dealt.
In March, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had said that U.S. intelligence believes Iran "is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003."
The war over Iran engulfed more of the Middle East and beyond on Monday as strikes intensified, Iran-backed groups stepped up attacks and a fourth U.S. service member was killed in action.
More details: U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Monday the fourth U.S. service member died after being wounded during Iran's initial attacks in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes across Iran Saturday. A U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly told NPR that the troops who were killed were ground-based forces stationed in Kuwait.
Dead rises: The Iranian Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian organization, said at least 555 Iranians have been killed since the beginning of U.S. and Israeli attacks on Saturday. They include Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and members of his family. Iranian officials also said more than 168 schoolgirls were killed in a direct hit on a school.
Read on... for more about the war with Iran.
The war over Iran engulfed more of the Middle East and beyond on Monday as strikes intensified, Iran-backed groups stepped up attacks and a fourth U.S. service member was killed in action.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Monday the fourth U.S. service member died after being wounded during Iran's initial attacks in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes across Iran Saturday. A U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly told NPR that the troops who were killed were ground-based forces stationed in Kuwait.
"We expect to take additional losses, and as always, we will work to minimize losses," Gen. Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Monday.
President Donald Trump on Sunday had pledged that the U.S. would "avenge" the deaths of American troops.
In a separate incident, CENTCOM said three U.S. F-15E fighter jets crashed in Kuwait "due to an apparent friendly fire incident" Sunday night.
"During active combat—that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones — the U.S. Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses," it said in a statement. CENTCOM said all six members of the crew were "ejected safely, have been safely recovered, and are in stable condition."
It added that Kuwait acknowledged the incident and said that "the cause of the incident is under investigation."
Meanwhile, the Iranian Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian organization, said at least 555 Iranians have been killed since the beginning of U.S. and Israeli attacks on Saturday.
They include Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and members of his family. Iranian officials also said more than 168 schoolgirls were killed in a direct hit on a school.
Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah enters the fray, and Israel retaliates
Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon, said it launched attacks in Israel in revenge for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as in response to continued Israeli attacks in Lebanon since a ceasefire more than a year ago.
Israel said it intercepted one of the missiles while others fell into open areas, and responded to the attacks with airstrikes.
Lebanon's Health Ministry said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 31 people and wounded at least 149 — most of them in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese government, facing being drawn into another devastating war, said it planned to arrest those responsible for the rocket attack on Israel.
In the capital Beirut, residents leaving southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs streamed into shelters set up in schools, which have been closed by the government.
At the Renee Mouawad public school in central Beirut, many of those arriving had been displaced two years ago during fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Families arrived in cars piled high with mattresses and other belongings.
Abu Ali, a taxi driver who did not want to give his full name out of fear of being ostracized in his pro-Hezbollah neighborhood, said he left Dahiya, a Beirut suburb that is a Hezbollah stronghold, with his family at three in the morning after hearing air strikes.
"I spent the morning looking for a school and then I found this," he said. He and his family were last displaced during the war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2024.
"Last time I stayed in the streets," he said. "The schools were all full, and I couldn't pay rent for a house."
"The Israeli enemy is an enemy in the end. But enough — we also want to live," he said.
Israel continued a wave of strikes across the Iranian capital overnight that it said were aimed at security targets.
Casualties rise in Israel
Since Israel launched surprise attacks in Iran this weekend, Iran has been launching missiles at Israeli cities — killing at least 10 people.
Nine of those killed were at a public shelter that was hit by a missile in a city outside Jerusalem on Sunday.
Another missile attack in Tel Aviv killed a caregiver from the Philippines.
Shay Shor, an Israeli in Tel Aviv, said he wants Iranians to be free but is concerned Israel's killing of Supreme Leader Khamenei might not achieve that.
"We killed their leader, but the leadership in Iran is not completely destroyed and within a few months they're just going to come back," Shor says. "Next year is going to be the same thing, same story, same kind of war."
Other updates
Iran-backed militias in Iraq have also entered the fighting. They fired at a U.S. base in Irbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and claimed responsibility for a drone attack targeting U.S. forces at Baghdad airport.
A drone strike hit a British air force base on the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus, according to Britain's Defence Ministry. There were no casualties reported.
Iran's military said it shot down a U.S. F-15 fighter jet. It also said it fired 15 cruise missiles at the huge Ali al-Salem U.S. air base in Kuwait and what it called enemy vessels in the Indian Ocean. It did not mention fighter aircraft.
Gulf countries have so far largely left the fighting to U.S. forces stationed on their territory but increasing Iranian attacks are raising the specter of direct involvement by those states.
Saudi Arabia said Monday that it shot down two drones targeting one of its major refineries. It said the debris started what it called a limited fire at the Ras Tanura refinery but no civilian injuries.
The U.S. military said it had hit an Iranian warship, which was sinking Sunday in an Iranian port. Trump said in a video on social media that the U.S. had sunk nine Iranian warships and "largely destroyed" Iran's naval headquarters. The U.S. military's Central Command said it could not confirm those claims.
Global crude oil prices surged and stocks fell as the war with Iran entered its third day. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had hit three U.S. and U.K. oil tankers in the Gulf. On Saturday Iran said it was closing the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway vital to the global oil trade.
After Israel, Gulf countries that have long been considered as prosperous havens for Western expatriates have received the brunt of Iranian attacks.
After airport attacks and widespread flight cancellations, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told Sky News Monday that the government was considering arranging evacuation if needed for hundreds of thousands of citizens in the region.
Jawad Rizkallah reported from Beirut. Copyright 2026 NPR
