The Brief

It's been nearly a year and a half since elected leaders at Los Angeles City Hall promised ethics reforms after a series of scandals forced the City Council president to resign and sent other members of the council to federal prison. In the wake of those events, political leaders said reform would be a top priority.

And yet there’s been no action — no hearings, no votes — on proposed changes to the City Charter that would make the Ethics Commission more independent and give it more power. The changes were first proposed by the commission in October 2022.

“Given all of the scandals that have been going on, all of the corruption at City Hall, it's really high time that they at least have a discussion on this,” said Sean McMorris, the Transparency, Ethics and Accountability Program manager for Common Cause, an organization that fights for government accountability.

“The clock is ticking,” he said.

The City Council has until early July to act to place the proposals on the November ballot. The proposals include increasing the amount of fines the Ethics Commission can impose, giving the panel the ability to place reforms directly on the ballot, and providing the panel with attorneys who are independent of the city attorney, one of the elected leaders the commission watchdogs.

The proposals must first go through the Ad Hoc Committee on City Governance Reform.

What do current City Council members say?

A spokesperson for City Council President Paul Krekorian, who chairs the committee, said a hearing to consider reform would be scheduled for later this month. Krekorian became council president after Nury Martinez resigned the position in October 2022.

Martinez's exit was part of the fallout from the leak that year of secretly recorded City Hall tapes in which she and others could be heard making racist and derogatory remarks.

Ethics reform “is very likely going to be on the agenda,” Hugh Esten, Krekorian's spokesperson, said to LAist, adding that the current council president “would be happy to see Ethics Commission reform on the ballot.”

But Esten also said Krekorian supports creating a charter reform commission to consider ethics reform instead of bringing it before the committee. That would be a lengthy process and likely mean no proposals would make it to the ballot until 2026.

“I share some of those concerns that we are not moving quickly enough,” said Councilmember Nithya Raman, a member of the government reform committee. She also said she supports strengthening the Ethics Commission.

Over the past three years, former council members Mitch Englander, Jose Huizar and Mark Ridley-Thomas have been sentenced to federal prison on corruption charges.

Councilmember Curren Price faces corruption charges in state court. And the city Ethics Commission has accused Councilmember John Lee of accepting illegal gifts from developers. He is not facing criminal charges.

What changes are proposed?

One proposed reform would double the fine the commission could impose to $10,000 per violation of ethics rules, such as accepting illegal campaign contributions. The fines have been the same for nearly 30 years. Under the proposed change, violators would also be liable for the cost of enforcement actions, which could run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Chicago has fines of $20,000.

“There are really really big things in there that would change the culture at City Hall and make it easier for the Ethics Commission to bring meaningful enforcement,” said Rob Quan of Unrig L.A., a City Hall watchdog group.

Another proposal would give the Ethics Commission the authority to place ballot measures directly before voters, bypassing the City Council. It's designed to avoid the current situation where the council has been slow to act on ethics reform.

“Right now, City Council can just sit on anything and everything,” said Jamie York, a longtime activist on ethics reform.

San Francisco’s Ethics Commission currently has the authority to place measures before voters.

“It's more a way to get the City Council to work with the Ethics Commission in the future,” said Jeffery Daar, president of the five-member L.A. Ethics Commission.

Other reforms include providing independent counsel to the commission and creating a budget with increases tied to the cost of living index so that City Council could not limit the effectiveness of the panel by cutting its budget.

“It's essentially City Council giving up some of their power and allowing themselves to be policed,” McMorris said. And that is not always popular with elected officials, he added.

York said city leaders have done a lot of “pontificating” about ethics reform, but have taken little concrete action.

“I think ultimately they’re scared of a power structure changing and I think that they’re scared of accountability,” York said.

Daar, the Ethics Commission president, said he is guardedly optimistic that reform will move forward.

Southern California roads are likely to get more treacherous soon because of El Niño.

The climate pattern’s signature heavy rainstorms are expected to hit over the next few months, and some coastal roads could be impacted by surging sea levels much sooner than that.

We could also get a taste of what that will look like this weekend with Tropical Storm Rachel expected to pass through Baja California and the San Diego area. High surf has already been slamming the coast, and forecasters predict the first widespread rain of the season starting this weekend.

All this rain on the horizon means extra risks for the many Southern Californians who spend a lot of time driving.

Officials are urging residents to get their cars ready now for an especially wet El Niño season.

Preparing your car

As with home, there is a series of steps to take to ensure your car can safely get you around during extreme weather.

First, consider replacing your windshield wipers, especially if they’re worn out. According to AAA, most manufacturers recommend replacing wipers every six to 12 months.

Take a look at your headlights and brake lights too. If they’re broken or their bulbs have burned out, replace them. If the lenses are weathered or hazy, have them cleaned up or restored.

Also replace old or worn tires. AAA recommends replacing tires every six to 10 years or if you see any bulges, bubbles, sidewall damage, separated treads or exposed cords.

You can also use a quarter for a quick, unofficial tire test. If you stick a quarter between your tire’s treads with the top of George Washington facing the tire and can still see the top of his head, the treads are wearing down and due for replacement soon.

Use a tire gauge to check your tire pressure too. The correct psi is usually listed on the inside of your car door or in the owner’s manual. You can add air to your tires at just about any gas station.

It’s also a good idea to keep certain supplies in your car in case you become stranded, including a flashlight and batteries, a cellphone charger, a jacket, gloves and a first-aid kit.

Avoid floodwaters

If you find yourself driving during heavy rain and flooding, never attempt to drive or walk through floodwaters.

Emergency management officials say one of the most common causes of death during storms is flooding, with many of those deaths in vehicles.

“Driving during rain can be hazardous, especially when we're not following the signs and the directions of our first responders and of the road departments,” said Mark Pestrella, director of L.A. County of Public Works. “If you are traveling in L.A. County and it is raining, and there is a sign up that says, ‘Do not go through this water,’ I advise you not to go across that street.”

Even if a flooded street seems shallow, it’s impossible to know exactly how deep the water is or what’s under the surface. Just 6 inches of fast-moving water can knock over an adult, and a foot of water can carry away a car.

Topline:

New data shows Waymo’s robotaxis are crashing less often as they log more miles driven in Los Angeles. Experts recently joined LAist 89.3’s AirTalk with Larry Mantle and said the numbers are encouraging but don’t tell the whole story.

The data: Analyzed by the Los Angeles Times, it found:

• Crash rates are down from 57 crashes per million miles driven in 2023 to under six this year.
• The majority of Waymo-involved crashes happened while the vehicle was stopped. However, Waymos are designed to stop when they encounter issues.

Why safety is improving: Better technology, remote human help, and human drivers getting accustomed to Waymos are likely reasons safety is improving, Matthew Raifman of UC Berkeley told AirTalk listeners.

Concerns: Former federal auto safety regulator and UCLA law professor Ann Carlson stressed on air that Waymo’s improving safety record shouldn’t be extrapolated onto other autonomous car companies like Tesla’s Cybercab or Amazon’s Zoox, both of which have had recent safety issues.

Listen: To the full AirTalk segment above to hear about the challenges involved in making autonomous cars safe in every environment.

The Los Angeles Unified School District’s restrictions on generative artificial intelligence have drawn mixed reactions from education experts and students.

The district said in a statement to EdSource that its new Generative AI Ad Hoc Committee is working on specifics and will bring policy recommendations to the school board by the end of this academic year.

Here’s what experts and students have to say about the approach.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Stephen Aguilar, professor of education at USC who leads the Center for Generative A.I. and Society

As a general rule, I am against blanket bans.

The core idea that I try to get across when we’re talking about screen time bans or AI bans is that we’re treating these technologies as though they are uniform, almost like a drug. AI is an umbrella term that refers to lots of different types of technologies.

Before everyone was talking about generative AI, cognitive tutors were AI-based tutoring systems that helped kids learn math. They can be very good at providing hints and diagnosing which concepts specifically students have issues with.

Teachers are often under-resourced and not respected in terms of the decisions that they end up making in the classroom. And policies aside, teachers end up defining almost 100% what the learning environment looks like for the kids that are under their charge.

So, I think that any real solution to this challenge involves giving teachers, and to a lesser extent parents, good information backed by sound science about the effects of different technologies.

Professional development is one way. Teachers need to be responsive to the emerging science about how kids learn — not because learning changes fundamentally, but because the tools we use to learn change.

Lucrecia Santibañez, professor of education and faculty co-director of UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools 

I think [AI bans are] probably the correct approach. As we learn more, some of these policies may be revised.

It is easier to ban it in the elementary grades because kids are learning basic skills. They’re learning how to read, write, do basic math and understand concepts about science.

What gets tricky in high school is that every kid pretty much has a smartphone, so their ability to independently access AI is really high. As teachers get better trained to use AI in their own teaching and assignments, we may see more of a hybrid model.

One of the guiding pedagogical questions for me is: Is doing the tasks themselves an important part of what students are meant to do? If you want students to brainstorm, for example, some of that needs to be practiced first before it is delegated to an AI companion.

An analogy that makes sense is to treat classrooms like gyms. If you want to get fit and be able to run, you have to do it yourself. And it is the same way with education.

Chaitra Sure, senior at Taft Charter High School in Woodland Hills 

I don’t frequently use AI, but I do observe people in the classroom using it. I would say it’s mostly used to give the answer, and then they [students] just move on without really understanding.

I think this ban is mainly because a lot of students don’t know how to use AI effectively in an educational sense. But I don’t think the ban is going to really restrict usage. We can use precedents like the phone ban. I don’t see my peers using phones any less.

But I think what we need right now is some sort of class or lesson integrated into the curriculum that teaches us how to use artificial intelligence more effectively, which we’re not taught.

With the growing prevalence of artificial intelligence and technology beyond high school, in college and in careers, it’s going to become much more important to know how to use AI. I think what would be more effective is having a required curriculum or more opportunity in school to learn how to use artificial intelligence more effectively.

It’s going to be so helpful for the future.

This story was originally published by EdSource.