The Brief

Two months past a statutory deadline, California’s top fire safety regulator published a report Monday on whether and how the state should legalize mid-rise apartment buildings with a lone staircase.

If this doesn’t sound like riveting news, you may have missed the brewing battle between pro-housing advocates and firefighting professionals over the cause of “single-stair reform” and whether America’s fire-averse building standards are standing in the way of more affordable, higher quality urban living.

The report, published by the Office of the State Fire Marshal, takes a fairly dim view of the “single stair” cause, but offers a few policy recommendations to state legislators should they move forward with the idea anyway.

At least one Democratic legislator appears intent on doing just that with legislation aimed at rewriting the state building code.

In California, as in much of North America, apartment buildings over three stories are required to have at least two staircases. This rule is meant to give residents multiple ways out in the event of a fire. But a coalition of Yes in my Backyard activists, architects and urbanists argue that much of the world does just fine with single-stair apartment blocks and that the state’s restrictive stairwell regs make it more difficult and costly to build modestly sized apartments on small city parcels.

Though modern safety measures, such as automatic sprinkler systems, smoke detectors and self-closing doors reduce the risks associated with smoke and flame, they “do not fully substitute for the redundancy of two independent stairway” which “is important for maintaining safety in the face of unforeseen failures,” the report read.

If state lawmakers opt to change the law anyway, the report recommended that single-stair apartment buildings max out at four stories, rather than three, and that they be subject to additional safety rules. The state should not consider going up to six stories — the current standard in New York City, Seattle, Honolulu and Culver City — without a second fire marshal study, the report concluded.

In its section on financial implications, the report also evaluated three mid-rise apartment projects and found that a second staircase made up between 7.5% and 12% of estimated total construction costs.

Though the findings mirror those contained in an earlier draft of the report CalMatters obtained in February, they came as a disappointment to some supporters of looser staircase requirements.

“As to be expected from this group,” said Bubba Fish, the Culver City councilmember who spearheaded that city’s single stair ordinance last year, in a text message. He called the four story max “ridiculous,” noting that even with that modestly relaxed requirement, California’s building code would remain out of step with much of the world.

The report is more than two months tardy, missing the January 1 deadline set by a 2023 bill authored by Milpitas Democratic Assemblymember Alex Lee.

Lee said that his office was still reviewing the report’s findings late Monday afternoon. But in a written statement, he expressed enthusiasm for future changes to the building code.

“Stairway requirements can have a profound effect on what does and does not get built in our neighborhoods, Lee said. “With the development of modern fire mitigation measures, it is critical that we re-evaluate our building codes and unlock previously undevelopable properties to build more housing."

Last month, Lee introduced a bill with the express intent of allowing “housing buildings with 4 or more stories to have a single stair entry and exit,” but which so far includes no additional detail.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

As cars pull in and out of the parking lot at L.A. State Historic Park in Chinatown, two nondescript-looking black cameras powered by solar panels quietly keep an eye on every vehicle entering or leaving the property.

The cameras are license plate readers made by Flock Safety, a controversial private surveillance company that works with thousands of police departments and cities in the United States.

Flock’s products — which range from automatic license plate readers (ALRPs) to more traditional cameras that can track people in real time — are marketed as AI solutions to help communities reduce crime.

Research, however, shows that Flock Safety’s technology isn’t as effective at reducing crime as the technology company claims. And critics argue that Flock’s license plate readers constitute unwarranted mass surveillance.

“The problem with mass surveillance is that it always expands beyond the uses for which it is initially justified—and sure enough, Flock’s system is undergoing insidious expansion across multiple dimensions,” wrote Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The cameras in L.A. State Historic Park were installed in late 2024, a spokesperson for California State Parks confirmed.

In recent months, amidst ongoing federal immigration raids, police across the country have faced increased pushback from members of the public who fear that federal authorities will get their hands on Flock data collected by local law enforcement agencies.

Last year, 404 Media reported that, although ICE does not have a contract with Flock Safety, researchers found that federal immigration authorities can access Flock’s license plate data by making requests to local law enforcement.

When reached for comment, a park official initially declined to answer basic questions about the Flock cameras.

“This is a public records request that needs to be requested through our legal office in Sacramento,” Public Safety Superintendent Captain Jeff Langley claimed when asked for the date the cameras were installed and for what purpose.

Langley also declined to confirm which law enforcement agencies have access to the license plate readers.

After multiple follow-up emails, Marty Greenstein, Director of Communications for California State Parks, told L.A. TACO in a written statement that the cameras were installed in late 2024, “to deter theft and vandalism, provide useful information for investigating incidents at the park, and provide important notices such as Amber Alert identification.”

Greenstein confirmed that park officials share data from the Flock cameras with “local and state law enforcement agencies in California.” They do not share data with “out-of-state law enforcement agencies or federal agencies,” according to Greenstein.

“State Parks has found these cameras to be a helpful tool at parks throughout the state,” Greenstein noted. “For example, the cameras have assisted in identifying stolen vehicles and locating missing, at-risk individuals.”

The south entrance to L.A. State Historic Park.

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California law prohibits local police from sharing data obtained through license plate readers with out-of-state and federal law enforcement agencies without a warrant.

However, previous reporting and audits have shown that California police regularly violate those laws.

Law enforcement agencies in Southern California — including the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and sheriff’s departments in San Diego and Orange County — searched license plate readers for ICE and Customs and Border Protection (Border Patrol) over 100 times, CalMatters reported.

And a 2023 American Civil Liberties Unions (ACLU) study found that 71 California law enforcement agencies violated state law by sharing license plate reader data with out-of-state agencies.

While Flock license plate readers have become regular fixtures in Home Depot parking lots and on private property, it is not common to see Flock cameras in public settings like parks in Los Angeles.

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks confirmed with L.A. TACO that there are no Flock cameras across the city’s more than 500 parks and facilities.

In recent years, communities in Los Angeles have increasingly resorted to crowdfunding to pay for and install Flock license plate readers.

Flock Safety credits a camera that was installed by the Baldwin Vista Hillside Neighborhood Association at the only entrance into the neighborhood with helping law enforcement arrest a suspect who was accused of breaking into L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ Baldwin Hills home and stealing two firearms.

Last year, a public debate ensued after wealthy residents in Cheviot Hills raised over $200,000 to buy Flock cameras. The residents donated the cameras to the Los Angeles Police Foundation with one stipulation: the police could use them only in Cheviot Hills.

Efforts to install Flock cameras in neighboring cities have been met with intense pushback.

Last month, the city of Santa Cruz became the first California city to cancel its contract with Flock Safety.

Zanja Madre (Mother Ditch) was the original aqueduct that brought water to the Pueblo de Los Angeles from the Rio Porciuncula (L.A. River).

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L.A. State Historic Park is unique in that it is a state-run park within the city of Los Angeles that is not only one of the few green spaces in the area but is also a park that regularly hosts community events, concerts, and film shoots, as well as multi-day festivals that bring tens of thousands of people to the park.

Joel Garcia, the director and co-founder of Meztli Projects, an Indigenous-based arts and culture collaborative, was surprised to learn about the Flock cameras in L.A. State Historic Park.

In January, Meztli Projects hosted an event there that brought together various drum-based communities to share in song and dance. At the event, screen printing stations were set up to create posters and other “pro-immigration” materials and resource guides, Garcia explained.

‘It was a response directly to what’s happening with ICE and the Trump administration," Garcia told L.A. TACO during an interview.

Garcia said he noticed the solar panel that powers one of the Flock cameras upon entering the parking lot. But he thought it powered a light.

“I always thought that was solar paneling for lighting,” he said.

When he checked with his colleagues, nobody said they were aware that there were license plate readers in the parking lot.

“I didn’t notice them either,” Garcia said.

“Unfortunately we are getting normalized to a level of surveillance [similar to] post 9-11, but this weaponizing of ‘public safety tools’ especially at a state park is unacceptable,” Garcia said in a written statement to L.A. TACO. “For many the state park [and] Yaanga, has been a place of convening and arrival since before this country. The irony of these cameras disrupting that legacy is upsetting."

Across from the present-day park once stood River Station, Garcia noted, a major passenger railroad stop during the late 1800s and early 1900s that brought huge numbers of immigrants to Los Angeles.

“[The park] has been a place of arrival for many different societies,” Garcia noted.

Having worked with the park before, Garcia said he’s noticed that there is sometimes a “disconnect” between what local park staff believes in and the decisions that regional park staff make for the park.

“There’s a huge disconnect between what happens up top and what happens at the park,” Garcia said.

Ultimately, however, Garcia sees this conflict as an “opportunity to empower.”

“[At times] there’s folks on the inside who want to help, and sometimes we as organizers have to provide them the tools to help,” Garcia said. “That may include connecting park staff with tribal leadership, or delivering the messaging that community members want to convey.”

The Library of Congress has found and restored a long-lost silent film by Georges Méliès.

The famed 19th century French filmmaker is best known for his groundbreaking 1902 science fiction adventure masterpiece Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon).

The 45-second-long, one-reel short Gugusse et l'Automate – Gugusse and the Automaton – was made nearly 130 years ago. But the subject matter still feels timely. The film, which can be viewed on the Library of Congress' website, depicts a child-sized robot clown who grows to the size of an adult and then attacks a human clown with a stick. The human then decimates the machine with a hammer.

In an Instagram post, Library of Congress moving image curator Jason Evans Groth said the film represents, "probably the first instance of a robot ever captured in a moving image." (The word "robot" didn't appear until 1921, when Czech dramatist Karel Čapek coined it in his science fiction play R.U.R..)

"Today, many of us are worried about AI and robots," said archivist and filmmaker Rick Prelinger, in an email to NPR. "Well, people were thinking about robots in 1897. Very little is new."

A long journey

Groth said the film arrived in a box last September from a donor in Michigan, Bill McFarland. "Bill's great grandfather, William Frisbee, was a person who loved technology," Groth said. "And in the late 19th century, must have bought a projector and a bunch of films and decided to drive them around in his buggy to share them with folks in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York."

McFarland didn't know what was on the 10 rusty reels he dropped off at the Library of Congress' National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Va. A Library article about the discovery describes the battered, pre-World War I artifacts as having been, "shuttled around from basements to barns to garages," and that they, "could no longer be safely run through a projector," owing to their delicate condition. "The nitrate film stock had crumbled to bits on some; other strips were stuck together," the article said. It was a lab technician in Michigan who suggested McFarland contact the Library of Congress.

"The moment we set our eyes on this box of film, we knew it was something special," said George Willeman, who heads up the Library's nitrate film vault, in the article.

Willeman's team carefully inspected the trove of footage, which also contained another well-known Méliès film, Nouvelles Luttes extravagantes (The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match) and parts of The Burning Stable, an early Thomas Edison work. With the help of an external expert, they identified the reel as having been created by Méliès because it features a star painted on a pedestal in the center of the screen – the logo for Méliès Star Film Company.

A pioneering filmmaker

Méliès was one of the great pioneers of cinema. The scene in which a rocket lands playfully in the eye of Méliès' anthropomorphic moon in Le Voyage dans la Lune is one of the most famous moments in cinematic history. And he helped to popularize such special effects as multiple exposures and time-lapse photography.

This moment from George Méliès' <em>Le Voyage dans la Lune</em> (<em>A Trip to the Moon</em>) is considered to be one of the most famous in cinematic history.<br>

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Presumed lost until the Library of Congress's discovery, Gugusse et L'Automate loomed large in the imaginations of science fiction and early cinema buffs for more than a century. In their 1977 book Things to Come: An Illustrated History of the Science Fiction Film, authors Douglas Menville and R. Reginald described Gugusse as possibly being, "the first true SF [science fiction] film."

"While it may seem that no more discoveries remain to be made, that's not the case," said Prelinger of the work's reappearance. "Here's a genuine discovery from the early days of film that no one anticipated."

Copyright 2026 NPR

The United States evacuated diplomats as attacks intensified across the Middle East, with drones striking the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia, while President Trump signaled the conflict with Iran could turn into an extended war.

Israel said it sent ground forces across the border into southern Lebanon and bombed Beirut suburbs as fighting with the Iran-backed group Hezbollah resumed after more than a year.

The U.S. and Israel kept up their attacks in Iran, where the death toll rose Tuesday to 787 people, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. Explosions were heard in Iran's capital of Tehran and other parts of the country.

Trump said Monday that the war could last four to five weeks, but could go longer than that.

In a social media post, Trump said that the U.S. had a "virtually unlimited supply" of munitions. "Wars can be fought 'forever,' and very successfully, using just these supplies," Trump wrote.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox it would not lead to an "endless war."

The war has so far killed six U.S. service members, according to the Pentagon, which warns that more casualties are expected.

Ten people in Israel have died since Iran began retaliating with missile attacks there.

Here are more of the key updates NPR is reporting on.

To jump to specific areas of coverage, use the links below:

U.S. Embassies | Americans evacuate | Lebanon | U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran | Strait of Hormuz | Global natural gas

U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia hit

The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia Tuesday urged Americans to avoid the compound after the Saudi Defense Ministry said the diplomatic post had been attacked by two drones.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry called it "a flagrant Iranian attack" in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

There were no immediate reports of injuries. The Defense Ministry said the drone strikes caused "limited fire and minor damage" to the U.S. Embassy.

The State Department has ordered evacuations of diplomatic missions in several Middle Eastern countries.

This comes after an Iranian attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait on Monday. The embassy said on social media Tuesday that it was closing until further notice.

In Jordan, the State Department said Tuesday it had evacuated its large embassy in the Jordanian capital Amman after threats against it.

Iran has been striking Gulf countries like the United Arab Emirates that are normally considered safe in retaliation to U.S. attacks that started Saturday. Iran has also hit commercial targets after warning that it would attack American interests across the region.

Amazon said Monday that two of its data centers in the UAE and one of its centers in Bahrain were hit by drones, affecting their operations.

— Jane Arraf and Hadeel Al-Shalchi

Americans urged to leave several countries

The State Department urged Americans to leave more than a dozen countries and territories in the Middle East because of the conflict, even as options to leave narrowed with flight cancellations and airport closures.

Americans need to "DEPART NOW from the countries below using available commercial transportation, due to serious safety risks," Mora Namdar, the State Department's assistant secretary for consular affairs, said in a post on X.

The countries and areas included:

• Bahrain
• Egypt
• Iran 
• Iraq
• Israel 
• Jordan 
• Kuwait 
• Lebanon
• The West Bank and Gaza 
• Oman
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia 
• Syria 
• United Arab Emirates
• Yemen
  

— Ayana Archie

Israel resumes strikes in Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah

The Israeli military said soldiers were "operating in southern Lebanon" as it continues strikes against Hezbollah, including in the Lebanese capital.

Israel and Lebanon signed a ceasefire in November 2024 but Israel has continued almost daily strikes since then. Iran-backed Hezbollah had refrained from attacks until Sunday, when it launched strikes in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Israeli military said Tuesday it targeted what it called Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities in Beirut's southern suburbs.

"Let me be clear: this is not a ground maneuver into Lebanon. It is a tactical step to create an additional layer of security for the residents of northern Israel," said Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani describing the Israeli troop movements.

Thousands of Lebanese streamed out of Dahya, the suburb where Hezbollah, a political party as well as paramilitary group designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and some other Western countries, is based.

They joined what the government says are at least 30,000 Lebanese fleeing Israeli strikes in south Lebanon and in Beirut. Shelters were so over-crowded some families resorted to laying out blankets on sidewalks of the corniche, Beirut's sea-side.

The Lebanese government says 52 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since Saturday.

— Jane Arraf

U.S. and Israel continue to strike Iran

In the Iranian capital, residents heard the sound of explosions overnight. There were no immediate reports of what had been hit.

Israel's military said it struck Iran's intelligence ministry and state broadcaster. The Israeli authorities also said that they are now focusing on targeting Iran's missiles and launchers.

Iranian missile strikes on Israel have significantly decreased. Israel says Iran may be rationing munitions gearing up for a long war.

An official in the region who spoke on condition of anonymity tells NPR Israel thinks it can achieve its war goals in two weeks total. Israeli officials say they want to create the conditions for Iranians to topple their government.

In Iran's southern city of Minab, a mass funeral was held for 165 people — most of them young girls — killed in an attack on a girls school Saturday. Many of the bodies had been buried under rubble.

The U.S. military said it was looking into reports of missiles hitting the school. The Israeli military said it was unaware of its forces operating in the area.

Some in the large crowd attending the funeral chanted "Death to America," "Death to Israel" and "No surrender."

Iran's Red Crescent Society said Tuesday at least 787 people have been killed in attacks on 153 cities across the country.

Ten people have been killed in Israel since the start of the conflict, according to Israeli officials.

— Daniel Estrin and Jane Arraf

Iran says it closed the Strait of Hormuz

Iran continued to threaten ships near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway vital to Gulf oil exports.

"The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Anyone who wants to pass, our devotee heroes in the IRGC navy and the army will set those ships on fire," security official Brig. Gen. Ebrahim Jabbari, said Monday. "Don't come to this region."

In a sign of the vast repercussions of the war, Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told an Iranian envoy that Iran must reopen the waterway.

Global natural gas supplies greatly reduced

In addition to the effect of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz on oil supplies, about 20% of the world's liquified natural gas, or LNG, is shipped through the Strait. On land, Iranian strikes hit Ras Laffan, the world's largest LNG export plant in Qatar. State-owned QatarEnergy says it has shut down LNG production.

Many countries are somewhat insulated from the disruptions in oil flows because they have oil in strategic reserves. But natural gas is a different story, says Anne-Sophie Corbeau,  a global research scholar at the Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy. Gas storage levels are particularly low because it's the end of winter.

" This is absolutely massive," Corbeau says. "It's going to impact everybody who is importing LNG."

Oil prices have risen since trading opened Monday, and so have natural gas prices in Asia and Europe. Energy experts say that higher gas prices and reduced LNG flows out of the Persian Gulf is highly profitable for LNG exporters elsewhere, including in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the U.S. The U.S. is the biggest exporter of LNG and is set to open a new LNG terminal in Texas soon.

— Julia Simon

Jane Arraf and Hadeel Al-Shalchi reported from Amman, Jordan; Daniel Estrin reported from Tel Aviv, Israel; Ayana Archie from Washington; Julia Simon from San Francisco.
Copyright 2026 NPR

This first week of March will bring warm temperatures, plenty of sunshine and some windy conditions.

Coastal communities will wake up to some morning low clouds, even some patchy fog, followed by afternoon sunshine. Temperatures at L.A. County beaches will reach 67 to 72 degrees, but hover around the low 60s for Orange County beaches. Most of the region, including downtown L.A., should see highs in the low to mid 70s.

Valley communities and the Inland Empire will see highs mostly in the upper 70s, and up to 81 degrees in the western San Fernando Valley.

In Coachella Valley, the highs today are expected to reach up to 88 degrees.