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The Brief

The most important stories for you to know today
  • How to sort through misinformation
    A bald headed man wearing a t-shirt that reads "police ice" is pictured from behind.
    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detain an immigrant on Oct. 14, 2015, in Los Angeles.

    Topline:

    It can be difficult to distinguish fact from rumor while you’re scrolling, especially when the news is concerning. We spoke to immigration experts and advocates about what to know about current ice operations in California and how to avoid sharing misinformation about ice raids yourself — even with the best of intentions.

    Why it matters: Since the inauguration, social media posts about apparent ICE sightings have ramped up — bringing understandable concern and panic with them.

    Where to start: Throughout California, there are networks of dedicated volunteers and attorneys who are responding to possible ICE activity around the clock.

    Read on. . . for information on how to identify what ICE operations look like and what you can do when you encounter one.

    Even before President Donald Trump took office for a second time, panic about his promised “mass deportations” — and raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — was already spreading throughout California.

    For example, in an early January operation unrelated to ICE, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office served two search warrants related to retail theft. But photos of the vans used by the sheriff’s office began spreading on social media, accompanied by messages claiming that ICE was present and detaining people in East San José, where thousands of immigrant families live.

    “People in the community were reaching out to me to ask me if this was true,” said Huy Tran, executive director of Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN), an organization with offices in San José and Fresno that offers legal aid, trainings and leadership development to immigrant communities.

    Throughout California, there are networks of dedicated volunteers and attorneys who are responding to possible ICE activity around the clock — called Rapid Response Networks. SIREN, for example, forms part of Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network, which, on Jan. 26, responded to reports from neighbors about ICE sightings in East San José. This time around, the Rapid Response Network confirmed that the rumors were true: ICE agents were indeed transferring individuals who had received deportation orders.

    Since the inauguration, social media posts about apparent ICE sightings in the Bay Area’s immigrant communities have ramped up — bringing understandable concern and panic with them. Last week, a San Francisco middle student’s report that they were questioned by an immigration agent on a city Muni bus prompted SFUSD officials to send emails to local families warning them about the alleged incident — even though representatives for both ICE and the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office ultimately denied any involvement in the incident.

    But it can be difficult to distinguish fact from rumor while you’re scrolling, especially when the news is concerning. We spoke to immigration experts and advocates about what to know about current ICE operations in California and how to avoid sharing misinformation about ICE raids yourself — even with the best of intentions.

    ICE, fear and perception

    In California, a state with roughly 2 million undocumented individuals, according to the Pew Research Center, advocates say Trump has been weaponizing fear, along with harsher enforcement of immigration policies.

    “The federal government is more likely going to do the things that can get the Trump administration visibility,” said Lourdes Martínez, who helps lead the immigrants’ rights practice at Oakland legal services nonprofit Centro Legal de la Raza. “They only have to detain a few people for the fear to really reverberate.”

    It’s normal to feel scared about ICE showing up in your community, said Tran from SIREN. “I understand the desire to want to do something, to share information right away,” he added.

    But fear also makes it hard for people to sort bad information from good, and panic can lead folks to quickly share online posts without checking them out further. “Anxiety, fear, it spreads incredibly quickly,” Tran said. “When people send information out to these huge networks, it spreads far, wide and fast.”

    A group of people hold up signs in protest. A woman at the center of the photo holds up her right hand in a fist
    Students and supporters of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) rally in downtown Los Angeles on Nov. 12, 2019.
    (
    Frederic J. Brown
    /
    AFP via Getty Images
    )

    What have ICE arrests looked like in Trump’s first days, and what is the focus?

    During his 2024 campaign, Trump promised his administration would launch “the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America.” He even promised to deploy the military for deportations.

    In his first week back as president, Trump signed both an executive order declaring “an invasion” at the southern border and ended a Biden-era rule that restricted immigration officers from detaining people at “sensitive locations” like schools, churches and hospitals. ICE detentions have also intensified in Chicago since the inauguration, where officials said they have launched “enhanced targeted operations.”

    But while Trump still said his administration would go ahead with mass deportations, officials appointed by him are being more careful with their words — laying emphasis, for now, on people with criminal convictions. “If you’re in the country illegally, ICE can visit you,” said Tom Homan, who Trump designated as “border czar.” “But right now … we’re concentrating on the worst first,” he clarified during an interview with Fox News on Wednesday. “The public safety threats.”

    In the same interview, Homan said that ICE had arrested 308 undocumented individuals with criminal convictions the previous day alone. For context, that’s still way below the average daily number of arrests and deportations during the Obama administration.

    As for Trump’s promise of using the military for deportations, the only evidence of the administration doing this is using military aircraft to fly migrants detained by ICE to their countries of origin. Additional troops have arrived in San Diego, but the Pentagon said these troops will not be involved in law enforcement.

    What should I do if I see an online post about ICE in the community?

    The major takeaway: If you think you see ICE in your neighborhood or see ICE reported nearby on social media, advocates advise that you call them instead of circulating anything online.

    Tran of SIREN explained further: Before posting anything, you should first reach out to your local Rapid Response Network — a coalition of volunteers, organizations and attorneys that work together to confirm ICE sightings and connect people who have been detained by ICE to legal representation.

    Find the Rapid Response Network that serves your community.

    It’s possible that the Rapid Response Network in your city has already checked out the reported ICE sighting you’re seeing on your feed — so by calling them, you can get information from folks who are at the scene. You could also be alerting them to an ICE sighting that isn’t already on their radar.

    San Francisco community organization Mission Action urged people to avoid sharing unverified information, with Executive Director Laura Valdez saying that such rumors “can unnecessarily heighten fear and confusion” and that communities should trust Rapid Response Networks to “verify reports and share clear, actionable updates.”

    The organization said that anyone directly witnessing ICE activity can contact the 24-hour San Francisco hotline at 415-200-1548. (Find other hotlines available in Northern California.)

    As a general rule, to be wary of misinformation online, check which organization is posting about apparent ICE sightings, and look for any sources for their information. Keep in mind that users of social media platform X can purchase “blue check marks,” so a blue check alone isn’t proof of reliability.

    Google’s reverse image search can be a quick way to see where a photo has been used on the internet. For example, an image purporting to show a recent “ICE raid” could be, in fact, an archive image from another year entirely. However, keep in mind that Google prioritizes its own AI results at the top of the page. Those results have been proven to sometimes be unreliable, inconsistent and even inappropriate, so it’s best if you actually visit the source through the links provided.

    Read more tips for spotting misinformation online.

    How can I recognize an ICE agent in real life or in a video?

    ICE agents can sometimes wear uniforms or gear that suggests they are police officers or probation officers, according to the American Civil Liberties Union Southern California.

    This can sometimes convince people to let agents enter a home without a warrant. In 2018, several San Francisco police commissioners called on ICE to stop these practices, saying it interfered with local policing.

    ICE agents can also wear civilian clothes or plain dark clothing with a bulletproof vest.

    Police officers, however, usually wear a more specific-looking uniform “with identifying insignias,” ACLU SoCal said.

    Q. What is the difference between ICE and CBP?

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and Customs and Border Protection, CBP, are both immigration enforcement agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. ICE conducts enforcement within the U.S. and manages detention and deportation operations. CBP conducts inspections at all U.S. “ports of entry” – at land borders, seaports, and airports. And the Border Patrol, which is part of CBP, polices the land borders in between the official ports of entry.

    ICE and CBP officers generally need an administrative warrant (signed by an ICE or CBP supervisor) in order to arrest a person. However they can make an arrest without a warrant if they see a person illegally entering the country, or they have “reason to believe” a person is here illegally and likely to escape before they can get a warrant.

    You have more protections if the encounter happens when you are in your home. Under the Fourth Amendment, if ICE or CBP agents (or any law enforcement officer) comes to your door and wants to enter your home, they either need to present a warrant signed by a judge (not just an administrative warrant from their agency) – or they need your consent. Agents could also technically enter without permission if they report hearing an emergency happening inside the home.

    If you don’t want the agent to come in, legal advocates say, you don’t have to open the door unless the agent shows you a judicial warrant. (Advocates suggest asking the agent to slide the warrant under the door or hold it up to a window where you can read it.)

    Similar to ICE, CBP officers may have “police” written prominently on their uniform. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection” may be written on their sleeve or on their back.

    Federal law grants additional powers to CBP within a wide border zone that the government has defined as 100 air miles from an “external boundary” of the U.S. Within that zone – which covers most coastal cities in the country, including San FranciscoCBP agents can stop and question people, and board vessels, buses and trains to search for unauthorized immigrants without a warrant.

    That said, you do still have constitutional protections, including the right to remain silent so you don’t say something that could incriminate you. Immigration officers cannot detain you without “reasonable suspicion” of a crime, and they cannot search you or your belongings without “probable cause” – unless you give your consent.

    KQED’s Tyche Hendricks and Samantha Lim contributed to this article.

  • A decadeslong history of arts education
    Mitski has described <em>Nothing's About to Happen to Me</em> as a concept album about a woman who hides away from society in unkempt solitude.

    Topline:

    This week, indie musician Mitski is playing a series of sold out shows at an unexpected L.A. venue: Hollywood High School’s auditorium. For the students, it’s an opportunity to see a beloved artist. For Hollywood High, it’s a continuation of a “world famous” arts legacy.

    Why now: Hollywood High School is one of just two U.S. stops for Mitski’s tour to support her new album, Nothing’s About to Happen to Me. “I wanted it to feel special,” Mitski told the show World Cafe. “  I wanted it to feel like an experience I wanted to recreate even the feeling that I had going to shows, going to DIY shows, punk shows.”

    The backstory: Hollywood High School opened in 1903 and many alumni went on to careers in the performing arts. They include:

    • Carol Burnett, actress, comedian, singer and writer
    • Brandy, singer, songwriter and actress
    • Judy Garland, actress and singer

    Why it matters: “It’s not just us watching a(n) artist that we like so much,” said Angel Cueto, a senior who won tickets through a content for good attendance challenge. “But us also maybe getting a peak into our future.”

    Read on...to learn more about Hollywood High’s history and how Mitski’s music resonates with the students. 

    This week, indie musician Mitski is playing a series of sold out shows at an unexpected L.A. venue: Hollywood High School’s auditorium.

    For the students, it’s an opportunity to see a beloved artist at “our freaking school.” For the school, it’s a continuation of a “world famous” arts legacy.

    “It makes me look at the school with so much pride,” said Lotus Rosby, a junior. “I'm like, ‘Wow, they have a huge artist coming to our school.’”

    Music for a ‘good cry’

    Mitski has built a dedicated following since she self-released her first album in 2012.

    Senior Angel Cueto found the singer in middle school during “a very like, angsty teen part of my life."

    “There's so many times where I've just bawled my eyes out in the shower to her music, and she's always like the crying artist that I go to when I just want a good cry,” she said.

    For sophomore London James, hearing 2014’s “I don’t smoke” was a canon event in her life.

    “Mitski speaks to me,” James said. “I understand her, like she's me and I'm her.”

    James searched for tickets as soon as she saw the announcement of the Hollywood High shows.

    “I didn't even have time to check the prices because every date was already sold out,” she said.

    James, who’s in the school’s theatre program, wondered if there’d be a chance for students to volunteer to work backstage.

    “But deep down I knew that was not gonna happen,” James said.

    A black and white photograph of a line of vintage cars parked in front of palm trees and a
    A 1920s era view of the Hollywood High School campus looking northwest from Highland Ave. The school opened in 1903 when the surrounding area was largely farmland.
    (
    Los Angeles Public Library Collection
    )

    Then the school announced a contest. If students attended school every class period, every day for two weeks, they’d be entered into a raffle to win a pair of tickets donated by Mitski’s team.

    Attendance is tied to school funding and students’ academic success, both of which are priorities for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

    Michael Reagan, an attendance counselor at the school, said the 168 students who entered the contest had a 96% attendance rate compared to 89% for those who did not.

    “ It's definitely my most effective attendance challenge that I've done all year… probably in my three years in the district,” Reagan said.

    A black and white photo of a Roman-temple style building. Two women sit on a concrete ledge.
    Hollywood High School's auditorium, pictured here in 1939, and the library were the only two surviving buildings after the the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake.
    (
    Los Angeles Public Library Collection
    )

    Students James, Cueto and Rosby were among the 46 students who won a pair of tickets.

    “I think I've said I'm excited 25 million times and I don't think it's enough,” James said.

    For Cueto, who’s a senior, it’s another opportunity to reflect on the arts as a viable career path — not just as an artist, but all the roles it takes to put together a show.

    “It’s not just us watching a(n) artist that we like so much,” Cueto said. “But us also maybe getting a peak into our future.”

    Why Hollywood High?

    Hollywood High School is one of two U.S. stops for Mitski’s tour to support her new album, Nothing’s About to Happen to Me.

    “I wanted it to feel special,” Mitski told the show World Cafe earlier this year. “  I wanted it to feel like an experience, I wanted to recreate even the feeling that I had going to shows, going to DIY shows, punk shows.”

    The artist is also donating $2 of each ticket sale to nonprofit L.A. afterschool music program In The Band.

    Mitski isn’t the first musician to play the auditorium. Former Smiths frontman Morrissey played at the school in 2013 and Hollywood High School’s connection to the arts goes back decades.

    Principal Samuel Dovlatian calls the school “world famous” because of the long roster of alumni working in arts and entertainment.

    They include:

    • Carol Burnett, actress, comedian, singer and writer
    • Brandy, singer, songwriter and actress
    • Sarah Jessica Parker, actress and producer
    • Laurence Fishburne, actor, producer and director

    Their names line the school's hallways in red stars. Actress Judy Garland also attended the school, but according to Dovlatian, skipped graduation to finish filming The Wizard of Oz.

    There’s also a collection of memorabilia in a “museum” attached to the school's library with includes:

    • The hammer from The Shawshank Redemption, a film written by alum Frank Darabont, who went on to create "The Walking Dead."
    • An original Ken doll modeled after alumni Ken Handler
    • A pair of rhinestone heels owned by Marge Champion, a dancer and the inspiration for Disney’s Snow White. 

    The arts are also a core part of the school’s present.

    Dovlatian said even if students don’t go into the entertainment industry, they’ll take away valuable skills about working in teams and communicating.

    “You have to go beyond the textbook,” Dovlatian said. “Get [students] hands-on learning, get them to struggle with the problem, the concept, the dance routine, the material, the equipment, and let them figure out for themselves what success means.”

    A colorful mural includes dancers, actors and a large bandshell.
    The historic library, which includes a mural of entertainment industry history, is one reason junior Dulce Duque chose to attend the school. “ I really like our old Hollywood vibes,” Dueque said.
    (
    Mariana Dale
    /
    LAist
    )

    Hollywood High converted the former auto-body shop into a studio where students learn video and film production.

    Mawuena Akorli uses that space as a junior in the New Media Academy program. She said as a Black girl, she doesn’t often see herself in the media.

    “ I wanna make stories and films that people can relate to and makes them feel seen,” Akorli said.

    How to apply for LAUSD magnet programs

    Hollywood High’s arts programs are a few of the hundreds of specialized magnet programs available at LAUSD schools. Learn how to apply with LAist’s School Game Plan.

    The same auditorium where Mitski will host her residency is also home to the school’s performing arts magnet, which includes theatre, dance and music.

    James has an invitation for anyone else in the audience to see Hollywood High’s Spring musical, which starts in mid-April.

    “ If you can go see Mitski, you can come see Into the Woods,” James said. “Y'all know where this auditorium is.”

  • Sponsored message
  • NASA is days away from historic moon launch

    Topline:

    NASA astronauts could be just days away from blasting off towards the moon for the first time since 1972. As soon as Wednesday, a four-person crew could launch on a mission to fly around the moon in an Orion capsule that's currently perched at the top of a 322-foot, orange-and-white rocket waiting at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.


    Launch timing: The crew's first launch opportunity will come on April 1, at 6:24 p.m EDT. Mission managers have several more launch opportunities through April 6. If their trip goes as planned, it will be the first time that a woman, a person of color, and a non-American will venture out around the moon. During a briefing, mission managers said that launch preparations were going smoothly and they were not dealing with any technical issues that might threaten a Wednesday attempt.

    No moonwalks, but a flyby: This will be the first launch in NASA's Artemis moon program that includes a crew. Astronauts will first orbit Earth so that they can check out key systems on their spacecraft, including life support, communication, and navigation. If everything goes as planned, they'll send themselves on a looping figure-eight path around the moon and back. It will take several days to get out to the moon, and the entire mission is expected to last about ten days. If their trip goes as planned, it will be the first time that a woman, a person of color, and a non-American will venture out around the moon.

    NASA astronauts could be just days away from blasting off towards the moon for the first time since 1972, when Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan took his last steps in the gray lunar dust.

    As soon as Wednesday, a four-person crew could launch on a mission to fly around the moon in an Orion capsule that's currently perched at the top of a 322-foot, orange-and-white rocket waiting at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

    "When those engines light, this thing is moving out," said Reid Wiseman, the NASA mission's commander, during a briefing with reporters on Sunday. He said that it was "surreal" to drive out to the launch pad and see this massive rocket.

    The crew's first launch opportunity will come on April 1, at 6:24 p.m EDT. Mission managers have several more launch opportunities through April 6.

    "Things are certainly starting to feel real," said NASA astronaut Christina Koch. She and Wiseman are in preflight quarantine, along with their fellow NASA astronaut, pilot Victor Glover, plus astronaut Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency.

    If their trip goes as planned, it will be the first time that a woman, a person of color, and a non-American will venture out around the moon.

    "We are getting very, very close, and we are ready," says Lori Glaze, the acting associate administrator for NASA's exploration systems development mission directorate.

    During a briefing, mission managers said that launch preparations were going smoothly and they were not dealing with any technical issues that might threaten a Wednesday attempt.

    "The one thing we are watching is the weather," says NASA exploration ground systems manager Shawn Quinn, who says the forecast currently calls for an 80% chance of favorable launch conditions.

    No moonwalks, but a flyby

    This will be the first launch in NASA's Artemis moon program that includes a crew.

    Over three years ago, during the Artemis I test flight in November and December of 2022, NASA put an Orion capsule through its paces without astronauts on board. That capsule went on a looping trip around the moon that lasted over three weeks and covered over a million miles before splashing back down in the Pacific.

    This time around, the astronauts will first orbit Earth so that they can check out key systems on their spacecraft, including life support, communication, and navigation.

    If everything goes as planned, they'll fire their vehicle's propulsion system to send themselves on a looping figure-eight path around the moon and back, a deep space journey that will take them more than 230,000 miles away from Earth. It will take several days to get out to the moon, and the entire mission is expected to last about ten days.

    The closest they'll come to the moon is about 4,000 to 6,000 miles above the lunar surface, as they swing behind the moon and briefly lose contact with mission controllers.

    At that distance, according to NASA, the moon will appear to be about the size of a basketball held at arm's length, with the distant blue Earth beyond it.

    A lander still to come

    This mission is a key step towards an eventual moon landing that will support NASA's goal of establishing a permanent lunar presence, including a moon base, with the help of international partners.

    But work on critical hardware — most importantly, the landing vehicle — remains incomplete, although NASA has been pushing to speed up its two lunar lander contractors, SpaceX and Blue Origin.

    NASA officials now plan to test out one or both landers in Earth's orbit before trying to press on with a lunar landing attempt. To do so, they added a lander checkout mission next year to the Artemis program's lineup of launches.

    Under the current timeline, a landing on the moon could be attempted in 2028.

    But long-time NASA veteran Wayne Hale, who spent decades as a flight controller and space shuttle program manager before his retirement, thinks that timeline is going to be challenging.

    "I kind of worry about whether it will be before 2030 or not, but hopefully not long after that," says Hale.

    He says NASA's new roadmap for the moon, unveiled last week at the agency's headquarters, is ambitious, involving multiple robotic missions, a lunar base, and power station development.

    "All of these are good but, to use a cliche — show me the money," Hale noted, adding that he hopes Congress will provide the necessary funds, but he's skeptical.

    A new moon race? 

    Already, the Artemis program has spent something in the range of $93 billion, according to one recent accounting from the agency's inspector general.

    NASA's return to the moon has essentially been in the works since 2004, when President George W. Bush gave a speech announcing that NASA would finish building the international space station, retire its fleet of aging space shuttles, and make its new focus the moon, as a stepping stone to Mars.

    "It's really the same program, with a little tweaking along the way, that we are trying to execute 22 years later," notes John Logsdon, a space policy historian and professor emeritus at George Washington University. "It's taken forever."

    In the 1960s the space race with the Soviet Union seemed existential, says Logsdon, and this generated an urgency that just doesn't exist for the current moon program. "This is just something that seems the logical next thing to do, but not with any great commitment to getting it done on any kind of reasonable schedule," says Logsdon.

    China is also seeking to put people on the moon, and some lawmakers in Congress and officials at NASA have tried to use that as a new space race that could inspire more funding and support.

    Most people alive today have no memory of being able to look up at the moon and know that astronauts are there. Recent surveys suggest wide support among Americans for NASA's return to the moon, says Teasel Muir-Harmony, curator for the Apollo collection at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

    "The Artemis program is actually more popular than the Apollo program was," says Muir-Harmony. "In general, the polls suggest that today, Americans are more supportive of the program than they were in the 1960s."

    Copyright 2026 NPR

  • Iran war tests CA's renewable energy policies
    Aerial view of an oil refinery. A mass of steel buildings, towers and scaffolding, smoke can be seen rising from the facility and a large American flag hangs off the side of one of the buildings. The sky is grey and cloudy.
    The Marathon Los Angeles Refinery in Wilmington.

    Topline:

    California's diminished fossil-fuel sector has made it especially vulnerable to the oil shock of the Israeli-U.S. war with Iran — and to interventions from the Trump administration that could delay or even reverse California’s trend toward renewable energy. As other economies clamp down on fuel exports, it’s possible the state could face even higher crude prices or a shortage of gasoline.

    The backstory: California is home to some of the world’s most aggressive climate policies, including a tax on carbon emissions and a strict requirement to adopt clean-burning fuels such as “renewable diesel” made from fats and oils. Over the last 20 years, California’s production of crude oil has fallen by around half, and many oil wells have shut down. The state now imports almost two-thirds of its crude oil from tanker ships, which is cheaper and more practical because it is separated by steep mountains from oil-producing zones such as Texas.

    Why now: Two weeks after the war in Iran began, the Department of Energy moved to restart a long-defunct California offshore oil pipeline owned by the company Sable Offshore. The order from Energy Secretary Chris Wright cited “California’s reliance on foreign oil vulnerable to geopolitical disruption,” with “a significant share traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.” The pipeline has been shut down since a 2015 oil spill that killed hundreds of animals, and state officials had not given it clearance to reopen. The addition of new supply from Sable could lower costs for refineries but beyond Sable there aren’t many good options for increasing crude supplies in the short term.

    California has managed a remarkable feat over the past 20 years. Even as its economy has grown to overtake Germany’s as the fourth-largest in the world, the state’s consumption of gasoline has declined by almost 15%, and consumption of petroleum diesel has fallen by around two-thirds. This has happened due to some of the world’s most aggressive climate policies, including a tax on carbon emissions and a strict requirement to adopt clean-burning fuels such as “renewable diesel” made from fats and oils.

    During the same period, California’s production of crude oil has also fallen by around half, and many oil wells have shut down. The state now imports almost two-thirds of its crude oil from tanker ships, which is cheaper and more practical because it is separated by steep mountains from oil-producing zones such as Texas. Some of the state’s largest gasoline and diesel refineries are also shutting down amid declining demand, which will make the state dependent on imports of refined gasoline, too.

    The state’s diminished fossil-fuel sector has made it especially vulnerable to the oil shock of the Israeli-U.S. war with Iran — and to interventions from the Trump administration that could delay or even reverse California’s trend toward renewable energy. Gas prices in the state have spiked toward $7 a gallon in recent weeks, the highest prices in the country. As other economies clamp down on fuel exports, it’s possible the state could face even higher crude prices or a shortage of gasoline.

    Two weeks after the war began, President Donald Trump’s Justice Department issued a legal memorandum arguing that the federal government can use the Defense Production Act to preempt state law in the event of energy emergencies. The Department of Energy then moved to restart a long-defunct California offshore oil pipeline owned by the company Sable Offshore. The order from Energy Secretary Chris Wright cited “California’s reliance on foreign oil vulnerable to geopolitical disruption,” with “a significant share traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.” The pipeline has been shut down since a 2015 oil spill that killed hundreds of animals, and state officials had not given it clearance to reopen. On the very next day, the pipeline reopened. California has sued to shut it back down.

    For now, the Sable pipeline is ramping up to process around 50,000 barrels a day, which would provide around 3 percent of the state’s daily oil needs. Chevron has already said it will buy and refine 20,000 barrels of crude from the pipeline starting in April. The addition of new supply from Sable could lower costs for refineries, said Mike Umbro, an energy entrepreneur who runs Californians for Energy and Science, an educational nonprofit that advocates for increased oil production. Beyond Sable, though, there aren’t many good options for increasing crude supplies in the short term.

    “Sacramento’s saying, ‘You don’t have a long-term future here,’ so the companies aren’t going to dump a bunch of money in to increase production,” Umbro said.

    Nevertheless, the Interior Department said this week it would consider a proposal from another offshore oil company to frack undersea oil wells in order to increase production. The administration has also held oil lease sales on federal land in California, and has sued to block a state law that would limit drilling near homes and schools, both measures that would open up more onshore oil production in the state.


    But more upstream oil production won’t help resolve the current fuel crunch. Even as some oil producers consider pumping more crude, no one has suggested building more refineries. In fact, Chevron and other large refinery owners have warned that California’s “cap-and-invest” program — a carbon tax that gets more expensive as time goes on — could soon drive them out of the state. The California Air Resources Board, the state’s climate regulator, is supposed to debut new rules for the carbon tax later this year, which would reduce the amount of free emissions refineries would be allowed to emit and make refineries less likely to stay in California.

    The oil industry’s argument against these regulations follows the same logic as the Trump administration’s. “Continued erosion of California’s refining capacity risks increased reliance on imported fuels that are slower to arrive, more exposed to global supply disruptions, and less reliable during emergencies or periods of heightened geopolitical risk,” Andy Walz, a senior executive at Chevron, wrote in a letter to state leaders.

    At the CERAWeek energy conference this week in Texas, Walz said he believes the state could soon have a shortage of gasoline and jet fuel, and that Chevron might close its own refineries within a decade. Those refineries account for 30% of capacity, and losing them could cause huge supply shortages for Bay Area drivers, Central Valley farmers, and even Air Force bases.

    Democrats and environmental groups in the state, meanwhile, say that the refiners may be crying wolf about the state’s carbon tax. They see the Iran crisis as more evidence that the state should lean harder into its transition away from oil. Indeed, as Katelyn Roedner Sutter, the California state director for the Environmental Defense Fund, sees it, the current gas spike may only speed up the state’s energy transition by making electric vehicles even more attractive. Governor Gavin Newsom’s latest budget proposed a subsidy for first-time EV buyers, designed to replace the repealed Inflation Reduction Act tax credits, and she said the Iran crisis could strengthen the governor’s case.

    “I do think the war actually makes it even more important to move forward with this, because I think it just underscores how vulnerable we are, being so dependent on fossil fuels,” she said.

    This article originally appeared in Grist at https://grist.org/energy/trump-iran-california-oil-sable/.

    Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org

  • Sale for locals starts Thursday
    The Olympic cauldron is lit at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in January ahead of ticket registration.

    Topline:

    Tickets to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles will go on sale Thursday. The much-anticipated drop is the first opportunity to get seats at Olympic events including the opening and closing ceremonies — and it's for locals only.

    What's happening: The sale will be open to those who pre-registered to buy tickets, and not everyone will be chosen. Fans will be randomly selected and given a time slot to buy tickets.

    Locals go first: Fans with eligible Southern California or Oklahoma City ZIP codes will be notified via email if they're selected for a slot to buy tickets in the pre-sale, which runs April 2 to 6. After that, fans from around the world will have their first chance to get tickets from April 9 to 19.

    Read on… for all the details on how the ticket sales will work.

    Tickets to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles will go on sale Thursday.

    The much-anticipated drop is the first opportunity to get seats at Olympic events, including the opening and closing ceremonies — and it's for locals only. The sale will be open to those who pre-registered to buy tickets, and not everyone will be chosen. Fans will be randomly selected and given a time slot to buy tickets.

    Fans with eligible Southern California or Oklahoma City ZIP codes will be notified via email if they're selected for a slot to buy tickets in the pre-sale, which runs April 2 to 6. After that, fans from around the world will have their first chance to get tickets from April 9 to 19.

    Those who are chosen from the draw will be notified 48 hours ahead of their time slot to buy tickets online, and will have two days to select and purchase their tickets. That means people will know as early as Tuesday if they've been selected to buy tickets.

    Each fan can snag up to 12 tickets, and an additional 12 tickets to the Olympic soccer tournament. Tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies are limited to four per person.

    If you aren't chosen for the first ticket drop, there will be more in the months to come. Plus, come 2027 there will be a re-sale market for tickets.

    How the draw works

    If you get an email that you've been selected to buy Olympics tickets, it will include the time window you have to purchase tickets and a link to the website where you can buy them.

    You'll have 48 hours to buy tickets, but LA28 recommends logging in as soon as you can to get the best ticket options. Once tickets are in your cart, you'll have 30 minutes to buy them.

    LA28 warned fans that they could encounter online queues when buying tickets. Some people reported this when registering for tickets, too.

    The ticket site will allow fans to search events by sport, venue and location. Once you choose an event, you'll book in a seating category — but actual seat numbers will be assigned later on.

    Fans who want to game out their purchases ahead of time can look at the competition schedule here.

    If you purchase tickets in the locals pre-sale, the billing address for the card you buy the tickets with will need to have one of the qualifying local ZIP codes. Here in Southern California, that includes people in L.A., Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.

    Prices

    Prices for Olympics tickets will vary widely. The cheapest tickets will be $28 a pop, with the priciest tickets upwards of $1,000, according to Olympic organizers.

    The majority of tickets to the Olympic Games will run into triple digits. According to LA28, half the tickets will be more than $200 and around 5% of tickets will be more than $1,000. In total, there will be 14 million tickets available across the Olympics and Paralympics.

    What exactly different events will cost — and how expensive tickets might get — isn't clear yet. An example in a Youtube explainer posted by LA28 showed ticket options for Track and Field preliminary competitions at the Coliseum ranging from $28 to $1,035.65.

    According to the video, there will also be standing room-only tickets for some events.

    Tickets to the Paralympic Games will go on sale next year.