The Brief

This article was supported by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

When Jarret Palmer moved to the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles four years ago, he thought he had found his dream home. But now, he’s regretting that decision.

The roar of planes from nearby Van Nuys Airport is relentless, he said, adding that he fears the pollution from one of the nation’s busiest general aviation hubs is harming his family. Three years ago, his daughter was born underweight and spent days in the neonatal intensive care unit, he said.

“It kind of makes you … wonder, … was I so determined to find a house for my child?” said Palmer, who has a 2-year-old child. He added, “Did I make the mistake of … not looking into the environment enough? … There’s definitely, like, a little bit of guilt there,” said Palmer, who also has a 2-year-old son.

Palmer is not the only resident concerned about the dangers of living near Van Nuys Airport, a major revenue generator for the city and a frequent launch point for private jets used by celebrities including Elon Musk, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Jennifer Lopez.

In a Capital & Main survey of 80 residents who live in the airport-adjacent neighborhoods of Lake Balboa and Van Nuys, 65% of respondents said they attributed a health condition to noise and air pollution from VNY, the airport’s call letters. Nearly half of respondents said they had consulted a medical professional for what they suspected were airport-related health problems since 2020. The survey is not a representative sample, but it is an indication of anxiety among residents living near the airport. Despite their health concerns and activism at public meetings, residents said local officials have largely ignored their pleas for years.

Jarret Palmer sits in his home near the Van Nuys Airport.

(

Jeremy Lindenfeld

/

Capital & Main

)

“I’m sending letters and comments [to the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council] and all that, but they don’t get it,” said Danielle Sweet, a 30-year resident of Lake Balboa. The citizen panel offers feedback to airport officials. But Sweet, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said the officials have done little to address her concerns. The disease can be caused by long-term exposure to chemicals and by tobacco use. Sweet said she is not a smoker.

“They [airport officials] don’t really care about us. They’re still making money, and it’s almost like they don’t care what they have to do to do that,” Sweet said.

Newly appointed airport manager Jacob Haik, whom some residents credit with improving the airport’s communication with its neighbors, said he is committed to ensuring that Van Nuys Airport “remains a good neighbor, while continuing to serve as a vital economic engine for the region.” Last fall, Haik told Capital & Main, “We’ve been working on all kinds of different sustainability, compliance and noise reduction plans.”

Los Angeles City Councilmember Imelda Padilla, who represents Van Nuys and Lake Balboa, said in a statement: “I remain committed to working with Los Angeles World Airports and City departments to center residents’ voices and strengthen environmental safeguards.” Padilla also pointed to the city’s efforts to update its land use plan for the airport, a process she initiated “to ensure future airport developments prioritizes community well-being,” she said in the statement.

Most health concerns reported by residents to Capital & Main were respiratory in nature, but dozens also said they linked other health problems to the airport, including skin conditions, cardiovascular problems and cancer.

Jeremy Fenske, a Lake Balboa resident of four years, said he copes with the constant smell of jet fuel in the air by keeping his windows closed at all times and having air purifiers in every room. A father of small children, he said the air quality has gotten worse since his family moved into the neighborhood. He said on one occasion his toddler son had an asthma attack that required a trip to urgent care for albuterol.

“There are flights going on at 2 a.m. or later here, and that’s the least annoying thing about the airport — it’s just the smell,” Fenske said. “It smells like raw jet fuel blowing into our neighborhood. We can’t even have parties at the house, we feel embarrassed about it.”

Fenske said that he plans to move his family out of the home this year.

Audrey Anderson, a Van Nuys resident of 14 years, said that despite being a nonsmoker, she suffers from an annoying cough and eye irritation when she is home. Those symptoms disappear when she is away at work.

Capital & Main conducted its digital survey of residents in Van Nuys and Lake Balboa last summer and fall. Reporters also canvassed door-to-door in Lake Balboa, a neighborhood of more than 26,000 residents. Van Nuys is home to more than 162,000 people.

It is difficult to draw a direct line between a particular illness and pollution at the airport, said Ed Avol, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. But he added that the airport’s neighbors are understandably concerned. “I think those [concerns] are valid and should be looked at,” added Avol, who is an expert in respiratory health and air pollution.

Danielle Sweet in her Lake Balboa home.

(

Jeremy Lindenfeld

/

Capital & Main

)

A 2016 study found that those who live near the 12 largest airports in California suffered from higher rates of respiratory and heart disease and visited emergency rooms at higher rates. A 2021 study linked increased brain cancer risk to exposure to airport-related ultrafine particles near Los Angeles International Airport, which is also operated by Los Angeles World Airports.

Children born in hospitals near Van Nuys Airport have a higher-than-average rate of low birth weights, according to the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. The children who live in Lake Balboa, the community immediately west of Van Nuys Airport, are in the 90th percentile of lead exposure statewide, Cal EPA reported.

Van Nuys Airport ranks as the second-largest producer of lead emissions among airports statewide, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2017 National Emissions Inventory. Children under the age of 6 are especially vulnerable to lead exposure, which can slow their development and contribute to learning, behavior and speech problems.

But Van Nuys Airport is also an economic powerhouse for the city, generating more than $2 billion in business revenues annually and more than 10,000 jobs for the local economy. L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman, whose district includes parts of Van Nuys, Encino and Sherman Oaks, described the community members’ battles with the airport as a “David versus Goliath situation.”

“The economic impacts and benefits of these airports for this region are really enormous, and a lot of the time, for people in leadership, that outweighs considerations of the impacts that they’re having on local communities,” Raman said.

The challenge of addressing the effect of the airport on the surrounding community became clear last year when a Los Angeles City Council committee voted to block the construction of a new hangar at Van Nuys Airport in response to residents’ concerns, only to later reverse its decision. The initial vote was met with stiff opposition from the aviation industry, as well as from federal regulators, who threatened to withhold grant funding. Mayor Karen Bass ultimately argued that rejecting the lease would result in the loss of hundreds of millions in federal dollars, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Raman joined the majority in voting to both approve the lease and to settle a lawsuit filed against the city by Bonseph Helinet LLC, the helicopter joint venture that had proposed the new hangar at the airport.

Palmer views a plane above his Van Nuys home.

(

Jeremy Lindenfeld

/

Capital & Main

)

Van Nuys Airport’s economic importance is not the only challenge for residents. City and federal agencies share oversight authority over the airport, but none wields absolute control over its operations. In some cases, gaps in oversight exist.

For example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency establishes air quality standards nationwide under the Clean Air Act, but neither of the local agencies charged with enforcing these standards — the California Air Resources Board or the South Coast Air Quality Management District — have jurisdiction over aircraft emissions.

“They don’t have the authority to tell a particular airport that you need to shut down because your emissions are too high or that you cannot operate because you don’t meet our emission standards, because those airports are outside their jurisdiction,” said Yifang Zhu, a professor in the University of California, Los Angeles’ Department of Health Sciences who researches air pollution and climate change. “Those emission sources are under EPA’s purview but their hands are tied because this is also FAA-involved.”

The Federal Aviation Administration provides millions of dollars in grant funds for improvements at airports across the country, including Van Nuys Airport.

That said, it is not impossible for city officials to push back against polluting airports. After a decades of local protest and litigation, city and federal regulators agreed to close the Santa Monica Airport in 2028.

“If someone really wants to work on it, there are ways to do it,” Zhu said. “It’s just that you have to see it as a priority. And I don’t think they [governmental bodies] are seeing it as a priority at this point.”

Frustrated advocacy groups have turned to the courts, successfully suing companies at Van Nuys and other airports that provide fueling and maintenance for private planes that use leaded fuel.

In 2014, companies at 23 California airports settled with the Oakland-based Center for Environmental Health over alleged violations of Proposition 65, which mandated warnings for carcinogen exposure. The settlement also required the companies to switch to unleaded fuel once an alternative was available. Late last year, the center filed a motion in Alameda County Superior Court alleging that the companies had not complied with the agreement.

Meanwhile, the volume of air traffic at Van Nuys continues to trend upward. Between 2012 and 2022, the airport averaged more than 249,000 takeoffs and landings annually, according to Los Angeles World Airports. Former Van Nuys Airport manager Paul Herrera told Aviation Week in April 2024 that the number of such operations had reached nearly 328,000.

“It sounds like they’re dive-bombing us,” said Kern Konwiser, a Van Nuys resident of nine years. “It’s certainly a heightened anxiety and persistent level of stress.”

Vani Sanganeria contributed to the reporting of this article.

All photos by Jeremy Lindenfeld.

Copyright 2025 Capital & Main.

Federal forecasters say this year the planet could see the strongest El Niño event on record. It's already being called "Super El Niño" and even "Godzilla El Niño." El Niño is a natural climate pattern that has far-reaching impacts across the planet, potentially affecting hundreds of millions of people.

Where those impacts happen can vary drastically from one El Niño to the next. Here are the basics of what this historic event could bring.

What is El Niño?

El Niño occurs every two to seven years. It develops when a vast amount of water in the eastern Pacific Ocean warms up around the equator. That water releases massive heat, redistributing warmth from the ocean to the atmosphere. That shifts weather patterns around the world.

The flip side of El Niño is a La Niña, which is marked by relatively cool water in the tropical Pacific around the equator. These events are responsible for some of the biggest weather variability the planet experiences.

El Niño is like dropping a rock in a pond, says Daniel Vimont, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Even though you're not where the rock hit, you still may feel the effects of those waves," he says. "El Niño is the same thing, except it's an enormous rock in our entire Earth's system, and we feel the response."

How strong is it?

Sure, "Godzilla El Niño" is catchy, but technically, NOAA forecasters say this year's El Niño will fall into the "very strong" category. It's measured by the temperature of the ocean in a particular region off South America. The warmer the water, the stronger the El Niño. When that water is more than 2 degrees Celsius warmer than average, it qualifies as a "very strong" El Niño.

The last strong events were in 2015-16, 1997-8 and 1982-83. El Niños typically peak in November and December, but already, this El Niño is the strongest ever measured for this time of year. NOAA forecasters expect it to last through early 2027.

What will the impacts be globally?

All that added heat in the atmosphere raises temperatures globally. El Niño years tend to be the hottest on record. Forecasters say this year may get close to taking the top spot, but it's very likely that temperature records could fall in 2027. The planet is already warmer due to climate change, because emissions from burning fossil fuels are trapping more heat in the atmosphere.

El Niño also shifts rainfall patterns globally, raising the chances for destructive flooding in some parts of the world. Other regions get drier, exacerbating droughts. Both impacts can be catastrophic to agriculture around the world. The United Nations World Food Programme estimates that El Niño could push at least 49 million more people into acute food insecurity by the end of 2027.

What will the impacts be in the U.S.?

In El Niño years, the southern U.S. tends to see more intense rainfall because the jet stream shifts to the south. That raises the risk of floods along rivers and in cities. Still, in the Southwest, more rain could alleviate drought and recharge underground aquifers.

"El Niño tends to juice up those storms so that you get more really strong rain events," says Martin Hoerling, meteorologist and adjunct lecturer at the University of Colorado Boulder. "So if you were running a deficit in your water supply, a big El Niño, especially like the one we're having, can really get you into recovery mode that otherwise might have taken you years."

The northern half of the country gets warmer and drier, something that could exacerbate the current drought in the Intermountain West. Some states experience mixed effects during El Niños, like California. The state saw historic flooding in the 1997-98 El Niño, but was drier than average during the 2015-16 one. Climate experts say the current El Niño is so strong, it's more likely California will experience extreme rain.

El Niños can also lead to fewer hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, since it's more difficult for the storms to form. In the Pacific Ocean, hurricanes can get more frequent, fueled by warmer ocean water. Already this year, hurricanes have intensified rapidly in the Pacific, and Hawaii has had close calls with several hurricanes that brought destructive rain and wind.

Can we blame it all on El Niño?

Certain weather changes are common during El Niños, but there are no guarantees that extreme weather events this winter will match those predictions for every region.

"El Niño is like loading the dice," Vimont says. "While we're loading the dice for a certain type of response from El Niño, we still know that in any given year, there are still natural fluctuations that may mask that or cause the response to be slightly different than what we might expect."

In addition to that natural variability, weather events are also being affected by climate change. The most intense storms are already producing more rainfall in most of the U.S., since a warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapor. Heat waves and droughts are also getting more intense due to rising temperatures. Climate experts say El Niño and climate change impacts will both play out this winter, but while El Niño will fade, the effects of climate change will continue.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Fans of Hollywood Burbank Airport have a new way to rag on LAX-ers.

Burbank’s ambitious new terminal building has been completed on time and on budget. The long-awaited structure, known as the Elevate BUR project, is ready for prime time.

It’s slated to open to the public on Oct. 13, with a new entrance at Winona Avenue and Hollywood Way. On Monday, LAist got a look inside.

Why now?

The $1.3 billion terminal is a decade in the making. The project comes from Burbank’s Measure B, which voters passed in 2016.

Burbank Mayor Tamala Takahashi said the new building will replace the terminal that opened in 1930, which will eventually be demolished.

“ The old building is not to code, so it can’t be reused. It’s too close to the airstrip. That’s why we had to do this in the first place,” she said.

The new facility is more than 50% larger. Plus, it has a slate of improvements needed to meet FAA safety standards and state building requirements. That includes new seismic and accessibility features and more runaway space.

The new terminal will have the same 14 gates but with a lot more room.

(

Cato Hernández

/

LAist

)

The entrance to TSA. Once you're in, you either go left or right to your gate number after screening.

(

Cato Hernández

/

LAist

)

Takahashi said the new terminal will open up  capacity because all of the gates will be able to accommodate modern planes.

“What that means is that we’re going to have the same number of flights, the same number of planes, the same number of gates, but more people going through the airport every day,” she said.

There’s one thing travelers can count on to stay the same: You’ll still be able to board your plane on the tarmac.

The Hollywood touch

Tyron Hampton, president of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, which owns the airport, said it’s time everyone knows about L.A.’s best insider tip for flying.

“ This is no longer a secret,” he said. “We want people to come here. We want people to see this experience.”

Hampton said the new building has space for more amenities, which feature local retailers like Jones Coffee and Octavia’s Bookshelf.

The specs on the ceiling are supposed to mirror one of Marilyn Monroe's dresses.

(

Cato Hernández

/

LAist

)

Art is also woven into the design. Brent Kelley, who worked on the architecture at Corgan, said one of their themes was classic Hollywood.

For example, small dots on the ceiling are meant to evoke Marilyn Monroe’s glimmering dress during her iconic “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” moment.

A “silver screen” canopy extends across the building outside, alongside an installation that honors the time the buildings were covered in camouflage during World War II.

California State University is betting that artificial intelligence will transform the workplace — and that its 470,000 students need to learn how to use it before they graduate.

Last year, CSU became the nation’s first public university system to pay for students’ access to ChatGPT Edu. It has awarded over $3 million in grants for faculty to experiment with how to use AI in classrooms. Several campuses now train students in how to responsibly use the technology.

Those measures are all pieces of CSU’s strategy to prepare students for a future labor market reshaped by AI. But the investment in AI has come under criticism from some CSU faculty, and some students remain skeptical of the value of knowing how to use AI even as most are concerned the developing technology will threaten their chances of landing a job and keeping it.

The success of CSU’s AI strategy will depend on the extent to which AI affects the workforce that today’s college students will soon enter.

Hiring is frozen in many sectors right now as employers wait to see the true extent artificial intelligence will change the labor market, said Eric Bettinger, a leading education economist with Stanford Graduate School of Education. But it’s not clear if the slowdown in the labor market can be attributed to AI.

As with previous emerging technologies, AI is forcing employers to decide whether they should replace workers with the technology, or hire more employees who can leverage AI to be more productive, Bettinger said.

New graduates are facing a difficult labor market, considering the unemployment rate for this population has steadily risen since 2022, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

“The reality is that the world outside of school isn’t slowing down, and we need to prepare our students for that reality,” James Frazee, San Diego State University’s vice president for information technology, told EdSource.

Students worry AI is taking their future jobs

Ismaeel Malik, a San Jose State University justice studies student, said he worries about AI taking over jobs in his desired field.

“Entry-level jobs are work that people don’t want to do,” Malik, who will graduate next spring, told EdSource. Malik said he doesn’t think AI proficiency will make it easier to win a position out of college.

Other San Jose State students who spoke with EdSource say they think some majors will be more affected than others. San Jose State prenursing student Jade Goodewin said the “hands-on” part of her preferred future career seems fairly AI-proof. But second-year student Vien Tang, who is studying advertising, said that AI could replace some of the work of entry-level jobs in the advertising industry.

“It’s definitely a possibility, because I think a lot of companies try to cut costs,” Tang said. “There’s a likelihood of that happening.”

Given SJSU’s proximity to Silicon Valley and many companies whose technologies are reshaping the workforce, the university hopes to be a leader in AI adoption, said Sandra Hirsh, special assistant to the university’s provost for AI initiatives.

“We need to be preparing students with whatever the latest opportunities are, but also prepare students for the fact that change and evolution are going to continue to happen,” she said.

Hirsh said companies want graduates to have a basic understanding of AI and how to use it in their work. Despite the nebulous changes happening in the job market, companies that hire SJSU graduates have told university leaders that students also need skills in leadership, inventiveness and ethics.

The CSU system is paying $13 million a year to provide ChatGPT Edu to all 470,000 CSU students.

Artur Gafurov, president of the California State Student Association and a fourth-year student at San Jose State, said many students appreciate access to AI tools like ChatGPT Edu, but don’t necessarily know how to use them responsibly and effectively.

“I know a lot of students who are taking it upon themselves to learn a bit more about the tool and restrict themselves with how they use it,” Gafurov said.

Some question the value of AI initiatives 

Other private and public universities have signed agreements with companies such as OpenAI to give students access to large language models, including ChatGPT Edu. Large public university systems, such as State University of New York, have also developed systemwide AI policies, and some colleges, such as Northwestern University, have launched AI majors.

But not everyone at CSU has embraced the growing use of AI on campuses. Some professors pushed back on the OpenAI deal after CSU signed it in early 2025. Martha Lincoln, an anthropology professor at San Francisco State University, said CSU administrators did not clearly explain how AI would be used on campuses and in classrooms by students.

“What will students be doing with AI that’s so valuable? If it’s so valuable to them professionally, educationally, where is that value and what does it look like?” Lincoln said.

Martha Kenney, a professor in the SFSU Department of Women and Gender Studies, said CSU’s claims that AI is helping prepare students for the changing labor market are dubious because the university has not clearly identified skills young people should develop for their future careers.

“It’s possible it has no use for our students in this way,” Kenney said.

According to an OpenAI spokesperson, ChatGPT Edu provides students with access to the company’s latest large language model, and includes plug-ins that students and faculty can use to personalize their accounts for teaching and learning.

University officials say providing access to tools like ChatGPT is essential to prevent a digital divide for CSU students who may not be able to afford subscriptions to these technologies.

“We believe we’re doing the right thing to serve our mission to prepare our students for the future workforce,” said Ed Clark, CSU’s chief information officer.

The future workforce

Erika McEntarfer, the former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and a policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, said some experts in recent years have forecast that AI would wipe out white-collar workers’ jobs. There’s little evidence that has happened, she said.

It’s difficult for universities to predict which skills will be in demand in the future, she said, but colleges should prepare their students for disruptions to their careers. She noted that roughly 60% of today’s jobs didn’t exist in 1940.

Universities need to prepare students for a tough labor market, and not just because of AI, McEntarfer said. The recent rise in the unemployment rate among new graduates started before ChatGPT was introduced in 2022, she said.

McEntarfer’s advice to recent or soon-to-be graduates is to develop skills that make you a good “human” worker, such as small talk, showing up to work on time and meeting the needs of company leaders.

“With AI you need to make sure you’re using it as a personal trainer, not a human forklift,” McEntarfer advised future college graduates. “Hopefully that’s what colleges are doing.”

Mariana Sanchez is a fourth-year journalism major at San Jose State University and a member of the EdSource California Student Journalism Corps.

This story was originally published by EdSource.