The Brief

The death rate for unhoused Angelenos remained relatively flat in 2023, and experts point to increased availability of anti-overdose medication being a potential factor, according to a report released Thursday by the L.A. County Department of Public Health.

The mortality rate rose just 1% in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available. That’s about 2,500 deaths of unhoused people in Los Angeles County that year, 45% of which were caused by drug overdoses.

On average, nearly seven people experiencing homelessness died each day in L.A. County in 2023.

In 2022, there were 2,374 unhoused deaths in L.A. County.

In previous years, there had been steep increases in deaths of unhoused people — a 56% increase between 2019 and 2021 — driven largely by a rapid rise in fentanyl overdoses. Since then, there have been efforts to make naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of opioid overdose, more widely available in libraries, jails and other spaces.

This year’s report credits expanded distribution of naloxone, known by the brand name Narcan, as likely helping prevent further dramatic increases. But drug-related deaths are still a major concern.

“Despite the continued plateau in drug-related overdoses among people experiencing homelessness, we are still facing the worst overdose crisis in history,” said Dr. Gary Tsai, director of county Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Abuse Prevention and Control, at a Thursday morning news conference.

Drug overdoses remain the leading cause of death for the region's unhoused population, and the drug overdose mortality rate among homeless Angelenos is nearly three times higher than it was in 2019.
Fentanyl was involved in 70% of drug-related fatalities in 2023, the report states, compared with 68% the previous year.

Coronary heart disease was the second leading cause of death, increasing significantly in 2023. Transportation-related injuries remained the third leading cause, with an unhoused pedestrian or cyclist dying about every other day.

The deadliest locations for unhoused Angelenos included downtown/Skid Row and Westlake/MacArthur Park, according to geographic analysis.

Reaction from county leaders

County government leaders appeared to be encouraged by some the findings in the report. Some said a plateau in the mortality rate is evidence that investments in housing and treatment for unhoused people were working.

Supervisor Hilda Solis said in a statement that she is well aware of the need for safe housing, mental health services and substance-use programs. Her district includes Skid Row and MacArthur Park.

“While it’s encouraging to see the overdose deaths and other major causes of death start to level off, we can’t stop here,” Solis said.

Supervisor Janice Hahn seems to agree.

"Getting people out of encampments and into shelters saves lives, and we should double down on harm reduction and preventing overdoses,” she said.

The Public Health Department offered more than a dozen recommendations for reducing homeless mortality in L.A. County, including expanding housing options for people who use drugs, increasing harm reduction services, improving access to cardiac care and collaborating with cities to curb traffic deaths.

By the numbers

Between 2013 and 2023, L.A. County’s homeless population nearly doubled to more than 75,000 people. In that time, the number of deaths of unhoused people increased every year, as did the overall mortality rate for the unhoused population.

That means as L.A. County’s unhoused population has grown, it also became even deadlier to experience homelessness in the region.

Overall, unhoused residents died at 4.5 times the rate of the general population in 2023. Their rate of drug overdose mortality was 49 times higher, and their rate of transportation-related death was 20 times higher.

Causes of Death

The top five causes of death have consistently been drug overdose, coronary heart disease, transportation-related injury, homicide and suicide, except in 2020 and 2021 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2023, those five causes made up 75% of all deaths among people experiencing homelessness in the region, according to L.A. County’s Department of Public Health.

1. Drug overdose

Drug and alcohol overdoses have been the leading cause of death since 2017, according to county data. The overdose mortality rate spiked dramatically between 2019 and 2022, before leveling off in 2023. Methamphetamine overdoses were the biggest cause of overdose death, followed by fentanyl.

“I think it's so important that we don't allow this data to let us become complacent,” said Trevor Lee, medical director of the harm reduction division at L.A. County’s Department of Health Services. “We are still in the midst of the worst overdose crisis in history, which is disproportionately affecting people experiencing homelessness.”

Health officials say increased distribution of naloxone, as well as other harm reduction, overdose prevention and substance use treatment services helped reduce the number of overdose deaths related to fentanyl and other opioids. In 2020, L.A. County service providers handed out 48,000 doses of naloxone. Last year, it was nearly 480,000 doses.

Still, the risk of fentanyl overdoses remains high among unhoused Angelenos who use drugs. The percentage of overdose deaths involving fentanyl increased to 70% in 2023, from 13% in 2018. That was similar to the previous year.

“It's so important that we interpret these results by identifying what's working and then doubling down on those efforts so that we can actually begin to see a decrease in deaths, because the plateau is not not good enough,” Lee said.

Methamphetamine was involved in 79% of overdose deaths. Most overdose deaths involve more than one drug, and more than half involved both fentanyl and methamphetamine in 2023, according to county officials. Cocaine was involved in 15% of overdose deaths, and heroin in 5%.

2. Coronary heart disease 

The second leading cause of death among L.A.’s unhoused population continues to be coronary heart disease, which accounted for 14% of deaths in 2023. The rate for this cause of death rose 22% between 2022 and 2023 — the largest increase recorded by L.A. County health officials since 2016.

The rate was nearly six times greater among unhoused L.A. County residents than in L.A. County generally.

Previous reports have pointed out that unhoused people in L.A. die from coronary heart disease at much younger ages than people who are housed. In 2022, the average age at death from coronary heart disease among the unhoused was 64, compared to 78 for all L.A. County residents.

3. Transportation-related deaths

In 2023, an unhoused pedestrian or cyclist was killed by a moving vehicle approximately every other day in L.A. County. But homeless Angelenos were 20 times more likely to die from transportation-related injuries than L.A. County residents overall.

People experiencing homelessness are more vulnerable to traffic deaths because they're more likely to live near roadways, according to the report. Transportation-related injury remained the third leading cause of death among all unhoused L.A. County residents and the second leading cause among unhoused women.

Traffic-related injuries caused 8% of all unhoused deaths in L.A. County in 2023, and the mortality rate associated with these deaths increased 50% compared with 2019.

County health officials recorded 347 traffic-related unhoused fatalities in 2022 and 2023. They found that the deaths were not concentrated in any specific location but spread out across L.A. County.

In 2023, 14% of all fatal traffic accidents reported to police involved unhoused victims, according to LAPD data.

4. Homicide

Homicide was the fourth leading cause of death among unhoused people in L.A. County in 2023. That year, 120 unhoused people were killed at the hands of another, a 25% decrease in the homicide mortality rate from a year earlier.

Unhoused Angelenos were 16 times more likely to die by homicide than the general population.

5. Suicide

The suicide rate among L.A.’s homeless population has remained relatively stable over time. Unhoused residents are eight times more likely to die by suicide than Angelenos in general.

Suicide rates have been consistently higher among younger people experiencing homelessness and among white and Latino people experiencing homelessness.

Recommendations

The L.A. County Department of Public Health had several recommendations to slow the mortality rate among unhoused people in the region.

They include:

• Ensure rapid access to housing and shelter.
• Expand harm reduction and overdose prevention outreach for residents at highest risk for overdose.
• Ensure that physical health, mental health and substance use treatment services are available and responsive to the needs of unhoused Angelenos.
• Work with municipalities and unincorporated communities to reduce traffic deaths among L.A. County residents experiencing homelessness.

Read the full report here.

The Warner Bros. Discovery board announced late Thursday afternoon that Paramount's sweetened bid to buy the entire company is "superior" to an $83 billion deal it had struck with Netflix for the purchase of its streaming services, studios, and intellectual property.

Netflix says it is pulling out of the contest rather than try to top Paramount's offer.

"We've always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance's latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid," the streaming giant said in a statement.

Warner had rejected so many offers from Paramount that it seemed as though it would be a fruitless endeavor. Speaking on the red carpet for the BAFTA film awards last weekend, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos dared Paramount to stop making its case publicly and start ponying up cash.

'If you wanna try and outbid our deal … just make a better deal. Just put a better deal on the table," Sarandos told the trade publication Deadline Hollywood.

Netflix promised that Warner Bros. would operate as an independent studio and keep showing its movies in theaters.

But the political realities, combined with Paramount's owners' relentless drive to expand their entertainment holdings, seem to have prevailed.

Paramount previously bid for all of Warner — including its cable channels such as CNN, TBS, and Discovery — in a deal valued at $108 billion. Earlier this week, Paramount unveiled a fresh proposal increasing its bid by a dollar a share.

On Thursday, hours before the Warner announcement, Sarandos headed to the White House to meet Trump administration officials to make his case for the deal.

The meetings, leaked Wednesday to political and entertainment media outlets, were confirmed by a White House official who spoke on condition he not be named, as he was not authorized to speak about them publicly.

President Trump was not among those who met with Sarandos, the official said.

While Netflix's courtship of Warner stirred antitrust concerns, the Paramount deal is likely to face a significant antitrust review from the U.S. Justice Department, given the combination of major entertainment assets. Paramount owns CBS and the streamer Paramount Plus, in addition to Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and other cable channels.

The offer from Paramount CEO David Ellison relies on the fortune of his father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. And David Ellison has argued to shareholders that his company would have a smoother path to regulatory approval.

Not unnoticed: the Ellisons' warm ties to Trump world.

Larry Ellison is a financial backer of the president.

David Ellison was photographed offering a MAGA-friendly thumbs-up before the State of the Union address with one of the president's key Congressional allies: U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Republican.

Trump has praised changes to CBS News made under David Ellison's pick for editor in chief, Bari Weiss.

The chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, told Semafor Wednesday that he was pleased by the news division's direction under Weiss. She has criticized much of the mainstream media as being too reflexively liberal and anti-Trump.

"I think they're doing a great job," Carr said at a Semafor conference on trust and the media Wednesday. As Semafor noted, Carr previously lauded CBS by saying it "agreed to return to more fact-based, unbiased reporting."
Copyright 2026 NPR

Each spring, the land around Diamond Valley Lake in Riverside County bursts into a vibrant array of native wildflowers. This year, it’s happening earlier than expected because of the recent rains.

The lake’s wildflower trail is scheduled to reopen this Friday, Feb. 27. Here’s what you should know before you go.

What the trail has to offer

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which manages the body of water in Hemet, says wildflower blooms are already dotting the hillsides around the ecological reserve at Diamond Valley Lake.

Think of a bright color wheel — that’s the kind of colorful blooms you’ll see. The hills grow orange California poppies, baby blue eyes, red bush monkeyflower and yellow tidy tips, to name a few. You’ll also get a peek at SoCal’s largest drinking water reservoir.

Known as the Judy Abdo Wildflower Trail, the 1.3 mile loop extends from the Lakeview Trail, close to the trail head and parking area. You can see a map here. The hike has some rugged terrain, but it’s rated as easy-to-moderate.

• Address: 2615 Angler Ave., Hemet
• Hours: Wednesdays through Sundays, 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

When you visit, don’t go too late! No entry is allowed after 3:30 p.m. Starting March 8, it’ll be open until 5:30 p.m. (with no entry after 4:30 p.m.).

You’ll have to pay $4 per person to use the wildflower trail. Parking costs $11 (or $5 if you’re: 62 years and older, a military member or a veteran).

Observe safely

Wildflower blooms are very popular in Southern California because of how beautiful (and Instaworthy) the scenery is, but you should tread cautiously.

About 10 years ago, Diamond Valley Lake’s trail had to be closed because crowds of visitors trampled the wildflowers. So when you visit, make sure to follow these etiquette tips so the bloom can be enjoyed by everyone.

A mammoth solar farm is moving forward in the heart of California. If built, which seems increasingly likely, it would cover 200 square miles of land and generate 21,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power entire cities. Huge batteries will store some of that power until it's needed most.

Farmers are among the project's backers. They don't have enough water to grow crops on big chunks of their land, and they're looking for new uses for it.

"We're farmers, and we would rather farm the ground," says Ross Franson, president of Woolf Farming and Processing, his family's business. "If we had the water to do it, we would farm it. But the reality is, you don't. You have to deal with the cards you're dealt."

Franson is on the board of the Westlands Water District, a farmer-run organization that's a key player in this effort, negotiating with solar companies and government regulators on behalf of its members. Westlands is an agricultural power and has long represented the interests of farmers in a large swath of land on the western side of the San Joaquin Valley, between the towns of Firebaugh and Huron. Decades ago, it helped persuade the federal government to build a giant canal to deliver irrigation water to this area from rivers far away in Northern California.

Jose Gutierrez, assistant general manager of Westlands Water District, on land that could become a solar farm.

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Dan Charles

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Yet these farmers are now facing a new water crisis. The canal has been delivering less water in recent years because of droughts and competing claims on that water. Until recently, the farmers had a backup water supply: They could pump water from aquifers a thousand feet underground. Now, though, a new state law is coming into force that bans overpumping from the aquifer.

So farmers in Westlands have been leaving large chunks of land unplanted. Another large piece of land, now owned by the Westlands Water District itself, has been fallowed because irrigating it could release high levels of a mineral called selenium that can poison wildlife or people. The farmers, and the district, have been looking for new ways to put that land to use.

A solar developer called Golden State Clean Energy seized the opportunity. Several years ago, it presented Westlands Water District with a master plan for a collection of vast solar projects.

Developers say scale will justify new power lines 

Patrick Mealoy, a partner at Golden State Clean Energy, says they had to propose a solar farm that would generate an enormous amount of power to make the case for new multibillion-dollar power lines to carry electricity from the San Joaquin Valley to Los Angeles and Silicon Valley. Mealoy says smaller proposed projects have stalled because they weren't big enough to justify building those power lines.

"In order to actually have solar be productive, you need size and scale, a mass of projects that support the necessary investment in high voltage transmission lines to collect the electrons and move them," Mealoy says.

Getting the managers of California's electrical grid to approve construction of those transmission lines could be the project's biggest remaining hurdle. If built, the cost of those power lines, along with the benefits of greater electricity supply, eventually will show up in consumers' electricity bills.

Franson says his immediate reaction to the proposal was "Yes, we need to do this." Negotiating the details and completing an environmental review took several years, but in December, the Westlands Water District's board voted to move ahead.

Golden State is the plan's architect, but other solar developers will build sections of it. Construction could take a decade. Even though the Trump administration has abolished some financial incentives for solar projects, Mealoy says it's still a solid business opportunity.

"The state needs it. It's permitted. It's the right place for it. I'm excited about this," he says.

Grace Wu, an environmental scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, says "this is a fantastic place for solar" because the fallowed farmland isn't high-value habitat for wildlife.

Farmworkers wonder if they will also benefit

About 150 farmers within the Westlands Water District, including Jeremy Hughes, have signed up to put solar on some of their land. "We look at it as a new crop. We're harvesting electricity," Hughes says. The guaranteed income from those acres makes it possible to keep farming the rest of his land.

"Because of solar, we can continue farming in Westlands. It'll keep the farming community alive," says Jose Gutierrez, assistant general manager of Westlands Water District.

In the small towns nearby where many farmworkers live, however, there are worries that local residents won't see many benefits from the project. Among those towns is Huron, home to about 6,000 people. Rey León grew up here, working in his family's restaurant. Now he's the town's mayor.

Rey León is the mayor of Huron, Calif., home to many farmworkers who aren't yet sure what they will get out of solar coming to the region.

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Dan Charles

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"I'm worried about Huron," he says. This solar deal may be great for the landowners of Westlands, he says, but less farming means fewer jobs for people who worked in the fields and orchards. León wants some of the solar revenue to flow to this community for education and training, to help people find jobs in this new solar industry.

"We are shareholders," he says. "We kept these communities alive, these economies robust. There's no excuse to leave us out."

Westlands and Golden State Clean Energy have been discussing what they call a community benefits package, but officials haven't released any details.

A possible model for other parts of California

Caity Peterson, at the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), says other farming communities in California may try to imitate what Westlands is doing. Because they, too, will have to stop pumping so much water from the ground as the new state law comes into force. "There's going to be some kind of right-sizing of agricultural land in the San Joaquin Valley," she says.

According to a study that PPIC carried out, farmers in the valley will have to stop growing crops on between 500,000 and 1 million acres. There will be a lot of dry, sunny land in California, just waiting for a solar developer.

Copyright 2026 NPR

A truly Los Angeles twist on March Madness is back, but this year, Angelenos are invited to weigh in on the worst intersections in greater L.A.

Whether you feel personally victimized by the Virgil Avenue, Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards intersection by the Los Feliz border, which a city official called a “‘nightmare,” or break into anxious sweats every time you get in line for the Burbank Boulevard Costco — you can soon channel some of that frustration into a social media match-up.

After Koreatown was voted as having the city’s worst parking last year, the latest competition run by Americana at Brand Memes on Instagram is upping the stakes with infamous intersections.

The anonymous account holder, who goes by Mr. Glen Dale, told LAist the “One Bad Intersection After Another” bracket is designed to be a democratic process for people to collectively crown the worst in L.A. once and for all.

“No matter who wins, it's all bad,” Mr. Glen Dale said.

Voting kicks off this weekend, and the winner will be crowned by April.

How it works

The competition is divided into four rounds based on the general geographic area, with nine intersections in each round.

Starting Sunday, @americanaatbrandmemes will post the competitors on Instagram with a poll attached around 11 a.m. each day throughout March.

The polls will be open for 24 hours, and the intersection with the most votes will move on to the next round to face off against the others.

To complete this year’s lineup, Mr. Glen Dale again started with a list of his personal worst before turning to his followers for some suggestions.

The intersection of Harvey Drive and East Broadway toward the Glendale In-N-Out was a popular proposal, for example, but Mr. Glen Dale said he felt that may be too niche for the bracket.

“I tried not to narrow in too much on one area,” he said. “And then tried to use my own experience to be like, ‘Oh yes, these ones feel like hallmarks.’”

If your personal worst isn’t in the competition, you can also suggest an intersection in the comments by writing “WILDCARD: (your suggestion).” The suggestions with the most likes will be added to the competition, with a wildcard slot in each of the four rounds.

Some popular wildcard suggestions include the Cypress Park roundabout at Riverside Drive and San Fernando Road, the Glendale Boulevard and Riverside Drive intersection with the wonky left-turn lanes in Silver Lake, and for another year in a row — all of Koreatown.

“I always put [wildcards] in there because I'm always like there's something I'm not thinking of that someone's going to suggest,” Mr. Glen Dale said. “This is a fluid list, we could change it.”

The intersection voted as L.A.’s worst of the worst will be crowned on Americana At Brand Meme’s account by April 1.

The East Side-ish Round

The first round focuses on the “East Side-ish” of L.A., including Silver Lake, Highland Park, East L.A., Echo Park and Eagle Rock.

The rounds are broken up by “side-ish” so people can focus their debates on the intersections, not the geographic boundaries of the bracket, according to Mr. Glen Dale.

The options include:

• Virgil Avenue / Sunset Boulevard / Hollywood Boulevard vs Sunset Boulevard / Sanborn Avenue / Santa Monica Boulevard
• Stadium Way / Academy Road vs Glendale Boulevard / Fletcher Drive / Silver Ridge Avenue
• Telegraph Road / Atlantic Boulevard / Triggs Street / Ferguson Drive vs wildcard vs Huntington Drive / Garfield Avenue / Atlantic Boulevard
• York Boulevard / N Avenue 50 vs Glendale Boulevard / Alvarado Street vs Avenue 42 / Eagle Rock Boulevard

Mr. Glen Dale said Avenue 50, which came up often in followers’ suggestions, could get its own bracket because the intersections in the area don’t seem to communicate with each other.

“You'll be sitting at a red light and seeing a green in front of you and being like, oh, when I get to that one it's going to be red,” he said. “But, you know, I ended up with York and 50 … [it] felt like a good representation of that street as a whole.”

The West Side-ish Round

The competition heads to Beverly Hills, Culver City, Westchester, Venice, Westwood Village and Brentwood for the second, “West Side-ish” round.

The options include:

• Beverly Hills 6 way stop vs Pacific Coast Highway / Chautauqua Boulevard / West Channel Road
• Washington Boulevard / Culver Boulevard vs Exposition / Robertson / Venice Boulevards
• Sunset Boulevard / Bellagio Drive / Bellagio Road / Bellagio Way vs wildcard vs Abbot Kinney Boulevard / California Avenue
• La Cienega Boulevard / Centinela Avenue / La Tijera Boulevard vs Wilshire / Westwood Boulevards vs San Vicente Boulevard / Montana Avenue

“It will be the Beverly Hills 6 stop,” one Instagram commenter wrote. “It is known.”

The Central LA-ish Round 

The third, “Central LA-ish” round takes us into the heart of Hollywood, West Hollywood, the border of Miracle Mile and Carthay Circle as well as the border of Wilshire Center and the Dayton Heights neighborhood.

The options include:

• Hollywood Boulevard / Highland Avenue vs Highland / Franklin Avenues
• Fairfax Avenue / La Cienega Boulevard vs Fairfax Avenue / Olympic / San Vincente Boulevards
• Jefferson Boulevard / La Brea Avenue vs wildcard vs La Cienega / Sunset Boulevards
• Franklin Avenue / Vine Street / 101 Freeway vs Virgil Avenue / Beverly Boulevard / Temple Street vs Santa Monica Boulevard / Western Avenue

The Los Angeles Times released a report this week ranking L.A.’s worst intersections based on traffic data, with the troublesome top spot going to Highland and Sunset in Hollywood.

The Valley-ish Round

Last but not least, the “Valley-ish,” which includes intersections in North Hollywood, Burbank, Studio City and Sherman Oaks.

This round also features my personal nemesis — Barham and Cahuenga boulevards.

I take this route relatively often to get from Burbank to West Hollywood and have to give myself a pep talk every time. The seemingly-constant congestion over the hill, driver confusion about what lanes lead where and people cutting into lines of cars just before a turn makes the experience feel like it takes years off my life.

The options include:

• Lankershim Boulevard / Vineland Avenue / Camarillo Street vs Burbank / Lankershim Boulevards / Tujunga Avenue
• Victory / Burbank Boulevards / Victory Place / 5 Freeway / Costco vs Ventura Place / Radford Avenue / Trader Joe’s / Sephora parking lots
• Harvey / W Broadway vs wildcard vs Sepulveda / Burbank Boulevards
• Mulholland Drive / Coldwater Canyon Avenue vs Barham / Cahuenga Boulevards vs Vineland Avenue / Magnolia Boulevard

Mr. Glen Dale agreed with my assessment, describing the Barham Boulevard intersection as his “white whale.”

“I hate going through that intersection, and it's not even that it's scary like other ones where you don't know what's happening,” Mr. Glen Dale said. “No matter which way you're going, everyone is converging onto Barham, and it just creates this madness.”

But Lankershim / Vineland / Camarillo appears to be an early follower favorite, as one commenter wrote, it “takes 2-3 business days to get through” and another added, “I’m rioting if [the intersection] doesn’t win.”