The killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis have renewed a long-running debate among Democrats over how best to address immigration enforcement, and whether advocating for "abolishing ICE" fits into a winning political playbook.
Why now: It is a debate that has taken on new urgency among Democrats against a backdrop of bipartisan backlash to the Trump administration's deportation efforts, led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Critics on both the left and the right say the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal officers last month show the administration has gone too far.
Midterm election: For Democrats, the events in Minneapolis have created an opening ahead of this year's midterm election to shift the conversation on immigration — a notable change after struggling to message on the issue in the 2024 election.
Read on... for how Democrats are split on the strategy.
The killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis have renewed a long-running debate among Democrats over how best to address immigration enforcement, and whether advocating for "abolishing ICE" fits into a winning political playbook.
It is a debate that has taken on new urgency among Democrats against a backdrop of bipartisan backlash to the Trump administration's deportation efforts, led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Critics on both the left and the right say the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal officers last month show the administration has gone too far.
For Democrats, the events in Minneapolis have created an opening ahead of this year's midterm election to shift the conversation on immigration — a notable change after struggling to message on the issue in the 2024 election.
But internal divides over what to do about ICE could complicate the effort. Calls to "abolish ICE" have been particularly amplified by progressive candidates, especially among younger Democrats running for Congress and those challenging Democratic incumbents. On Capitol Hill, far fewer Democrats have re-upped support for abolishing the agency, despite many rallying around the issue during President Donald Trump's first term.
Instead, many elected Democrats have called for reforms at ICE, wary of appearing out of step with voters who want strong enforcement of immigration laws but who disagree with the administration's tactics.
"There is no question that the dynamic from '24 has flipped, [during] which immigration was a sure strength for Trump and a profound weakness for Democrats," said Jonathan Cowan, president and co-founder of the centrist think tank Third Way. But, he cautioned, if the party wants to be successful in November, they should keep the focus on the administration's missteps.
"The divide in the Democratic Party is not over rage, disgust and anger," Cowan said. "The divide is what are you going to do about it? How do you channel that rage in a way that actually changes policy? Both short and long run."
He warns the "abolish ICE" slogan may not be universally embraced among voters across the country. Democrats hoping to flip districts or win over swing voters, Cowan said, should lean into different language, such as calling for a "reform" or "overhaul" of ICE.
He likens the debate to when many Democrats coalesced around the "defund the police" movement in 2020, a decision that Cowan argues created an opening for Trump to paint Democrats as soft on crime.
"People embraced an emotionally satisfying slogan that in the long run proved to be politically toxic and a barrier to getting serious police reform in the country," Cowan said. "We are in grave danger of the same problem happening for those who are embracing abolish ICE."
A protester carries a sign that reads "Defund The Police" during a July 3, 2020 march in Richmond, Va. Many Democrats have been wary of calls to "abolish ICE," and point to how calls to "defund the police" hurt the party with voters in 2020 and 2024.
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That may already be happening. In response to calls to abolish the agency, many Republicans have attempted to link the movement with "defund the police." White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed that in a post on X last week, asking, "Why do Democrats keep attacking the law enforcement agencies that hunt down criminals and protect innocent American citizens?"
Loudest calls come from progressives and new candidates
The debate is poised to be especially salient in Democratic primaries and in states that have faced increased enforcement, such as Minnesota, Illinois, California and New York. Democratic candidates have already faced off on the debate stage in Illinois with competing pitches to abolish and reform ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. In Minnesota, immigration enforcement has become a key issue in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith.
Some of the loudest calls to abolish ICE have come from Gen Z and millennial candidates, many of whom have sought to frame their bids around a larger rejection of Democratic Party norms.
Darializa Avila Chevalier has embraced that message. The 32-year-old progressive organizer and Ph.D. student is running a primary challenge against Rep. Adriano Espaillat, 71, in New York's 13th congressional district, which includes upper Manhattan and part of the Bronx.
"From the very beginning, I've been adamant that I wanted the abolition of ICE to be central to what we're talking about," said Avila Chevalier.
"It's an institution that should have never existed to begin with," she added. "It's an institution that is younger than I am. And so I've lived in a world where ICE didn't exist, and we can all go back to a world where ICE doesn't exist and never exists again."
ICE agents look for someone at a home on Jan. 28 in Circle Pines, Minn. Protests continue around the Twin Cities area after the Trump administration sent thousands of immigration agents to the region to search for undocumented immigrants.
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Avila Chevalier says Democratic candidates need "to be bold" in their solutions to issues affecting voters right now, and that includes on immigration.
"If I could trust that the leadership we have was reflecting our values, was actually meeting this moment," she said, "I wouldn't be running."
Avila Chevalier is one of 10 candidates currently backed by Justice Democrats. The political group has supported a handful of progressives who have gone on to win seats in Congress, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who delivered an upset primary win in 2018 and ran on a platform that included abolishing ICE, a stance she's reaffirmed in recent weeks.
For nearly a decade, Justice Democrats has rallied around anti-establishment candidates of all ages who often draw contrast to the Democrats they're challenging by rejecting donations from corporate PACs or pro-Israel lobbying groups. But in the wake of the fatal shootings in Minnesota, candidates the group supports are also drawing a line in the sand on immigration — pledging to abolish ICE.
"Every single one of these communities has an ICE story of their own. And it's up to us to listen to those communities … and show people what an opposition party, if in power, would actually do," said Justice Democrats spokesperson Usamah Andrabi. "That's what our slate of candidates exists to be."
Andrabi disagrees with the idea that "abolish ICE" creates more party divides than flips voters.
Protesters stage a march calling for an end to taxpayer spending on ICE and demanding a moratorium on evictions on Jan. 31 in Minneapolis.
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"The slogan is not the problem. ICE is the problem," he said.
Recent polling indicates there is some support for the issue among voters, though not overwhelming. A plurality of Americans, 46%, strongly support or somewhat support abolishing ICE, according to a YouGov poll conducted after the shootings in Minneapolis. Americans under 30 were most likely to oppose Trump's immigration agenda, according to the poll, and nearly 7 in 10 voice some level of support for getting rid of the agency.
It's a generational sentiment that may add important context when looking at the influx of younger candidates voicing support for the issue.
"I think that they are furious. They see it all over their news feeds. They see it in their communities. They also, I think, are less beholden to this idea of tradition or the way things have been done," said Amanda Litman, the founder of Run for Something, an organization that recruits and supports young people running for local office.
"I think that sense of the crisis and of the urgency of this moment … is something that young leaders really bring with them into their positions of power," she added. "And it is both their super strength and often their weakness because they're a little more radical in some ways."
Divides on Democratic messaging
Immigration enforcement has become a central issue in funding negotiations on Capitol Hill, where Democrats are lobbying for changes to the tactics used by immigration officers. Democrats want to narrow the type of warrants immigration officers can use to enter homes, require them to wear body cameras and prohibit the use of face masks.
While Democrats in Congress are united in what they see as the bare minimum needed to reform immigration enforcement, there is less consensus on how far to take the rhetoric. Though Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., is pushing to "defund and abolish ICE," as are some House lawmakers, other Democrats have taken a different approach.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D–Mass., would not directly answer whether she supports calls to abolish ICE, telling NPR it needs to be "totally reorganized" and "torn down to the studs and rebuilt." She declined to say whether campaigning on abolishing ICE would benefit Democrats.
It's a debate that's also playing out in competitive midterm matchups, including in the Senate Democratic primary in Maine, where the state's governor, Janet Mills, and first-time progressive candidate Graham Platner are running to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Graham Platner is running against Gov. Janet Mills for the Democratic nomination for Senate in Maine. Platner has called for ICE to be "dismantled," characterizing it as "the moderate position."
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Mills has advocated for ICE reforms, calling for "measures" that would "prohibit ICE's lawless, dangerous conduct and their abuses of power." Platner has called for the agency to be "dismantled," characterizing it as "the moderate position" in a post on X.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills has not called for abolishing ICE, instead advocating for reforms at the agency.
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The degree to which candidates choose to embrace — or reject — calls to abolish ICE could prove particularly decisive in swing districts.
Though many voters want the current situation to change, calls to abolish ICE may mean different things to different people, argues Cowan of Third Way.
"You can take the literal word, slogan, abolish ICE, and it will get a certain level of support," he said. "But the moment you start asking people specifically what they actually support, the concept of abolishing interior immigration enforcement is not popular."
Though nearly half of Americans say they have some support for abolishing ICE, according to the latest YouGov poll, far fewer, less than a third, support abolishing the U.S. Border Patrol. When respondents were asked if they support Trump moving forward with a smaller enforcement effort, "aimed at criminals, not at hotel maids and gardeners," 55% strongly or somewhat approved.
The lack of Democratic consensus on the issue isn't stopping some progressive congressional hopefuls from standing by the policy they believe is right.
Mai Vang was in high school in 2003 when ICE was created. Now, more than two decades later, the 40-year-old Sacramento City councilmember is campaigning on abolishing the agency as she challenges 81-year-old Democrat Doris Matsui in California's 7th Congressional District.
"What we've seen is this agency has inflicted harm on our communities, and you can't reform it. There is not enough training or even body cameras that would justify what they are doing," she said in an interview.
When asked if she considered shying away from using the slogan, Vang pushed back.
"Not really because people are being killed and murdered by ICE," she said. "It's not a radical position to say we don't want an entity harming our families and loved ones. I don't think it's radical to want to dismantle an agency that is killing citizens."
Copyright 2026 NPR
Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach on Oct. 17, 2018.
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Topline:
After 70 years as the epicenter of Long Beach football, the iconic Veterans Memorial Stadium will be demolished later this month to make way for a modern replacement, slated for completion in 2029.
More details: The $250 million transformation will have an 18-acre footprint and include a new stadium that pays homage to the original as well as a massive sports complex featuring a 2,500-seat arena, fields for football, soccer and track, basketball and volleyball courts, athletic training and rehab facilities, offices, kinesiology classrooms and a hall of champions. The project is funded by Measure LB, an $850 million bond measure that finances LBCC construction.
Why it matters: The leveling of Vets Stadium closes a celebrated chapter of Long Beach history. The stadium hosted high-profile local and national sporting events, served as a movie set for Evel Knievel and became woven into the fabric of the city. It has accommodated countless graduations, and Long Beach City College and numerous area high schools will have to relocate their commencement ceremonies during construction.
Read on... for more on what the stadium meant to Long Beach.
After 70 years as the epicenter of Long Beach football, the iconic Veterans Memorial Stadium will be demolished later this month to make way for a modern replacement, slated for completion in 2029.
The $250 million transformation will have an 18-acre footprint and include a new stadium that pays homage to the original as well as a massive sports complex featuring a 2,500-seat arena, fields for football, soccer and track, basketball and volleyball courts, athletic training and rehab facilities, offices, kinesiology classrooms and a hall of champions. The project is funded by Measure LB, an $850 million bond measure that finances LBCC construction.
The leveling of Vets Stadium closes a celebrated chapter of Long Beach history. The stadium hosted high-profile local and national sporting events, served as a movie set for Evel Knievel and became woven into the fabric of the city. It has accommodated countless graduations, and Long Beach City College and numerous area high schools will have to relocate their commencement ceremonies during construction.
Graduation caps fly in the air after the completion of the Wilson High School commencement ceremony at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach Monday, June 14, 2022.
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From its inception, Vets Stadium was intended to be a monument for the people of Long Beach, living and dead. During World War II, seventeen homesick soldiers stationed in the South Pacific wrote a letter home to Long Beach, which appeared on the front page of a 1945 edition of the Press-Telegram. As alums of Poly and Wilson high schools, the soldiers implored the city to build a stadium and dedicate it to those who “went beyond the final yard marker” — including their own classmates who had died.
They enclosed $75 as their contribution to the proposed stadium, and the city took it from there, passing a $550,000 bond measure to fund construction. By 1950, the city had erected a colossal arena (significantly over budget, forcing the city to dip into its special projects fund) with 12,500 east-facing seats, the Press-Telegram reported. It boasted a double-decker press box, equipped with a snack bar and its own toilets — a state-of-the-art facility meant to attract visitors to Long Beach, according to a 1951 publication in the public library’s archives.
“The sheer capacity of it was such a big deal,” and it became a significant regional stage, said Mike Guardabascio, sports reporter and editor at The 562 and author of the book “Football in Long Beach.”
The stadium’s size meant it could accommodate state track and field championships, college and pro football, motorcycle racing, roller derby and rugby. It became the site of holiday food drives, large-scale swap meets, Covid-19 vaccinations and the distribution of emergency sandbags.
Yet its defining identity has been the heartbeat of high school football. Even after Long Beach City College acquired the venue from the city for $1 in 1987, Vets was the home stadium for Poly High School’s powerhouse program.
Few events in Long Beach draw tens of thousands of fans, Guardabascio said. But high school football games had a magnetic pull, and spectators consistently sold out the stadium, he said.
Veterans Memorial Stadium at Long Beach City College on Thursday, July 7, 2022.
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The noise coming from the stands was deafening — “like nothing else that you would ever hear,” Guardabascio said. He was a senior in high school at the time and remembered how much attention was dialed into the game. “You just had that feeling of Long Beach being the center of the world,” he said.
In the years since, as other large sports arenas became options, Vets Stadium became less of a go-to choice in the region, Guardabascio said. And the structure is now crumbling — pieces of concrete are falling off the back; a hole in the floor of the press box bathroom offers a window to the ground several stories below, he said.
The rebuild could reassert the city as a central player in the wider sports scene, Guardabascio said. He pointed to the exceptional sports facility upgrades Long Beach City College has already executed, including its pool and beach volleyball courts.
Still, the demolition of a symbol for the city weighs heavily on some. “Our whole football history runs through that place,” Guardabascio said. “Everyone who grew up caring about sports and football in Long Beach has memories of being there.”
Elly Yu
reports on early childhood. From housing to health, she covers issues facing the youngest Angelenos and their families.
Published August 14, 2026 5:00 AM
Childcares have been losing older preschoolers which have traditionally helped subsidize younger kids.
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Childcare providers in California are struggling to stay afloat, as they’re losing enrollment to transitional kindergarten. That’s according to a new report from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley. And the upshot is that it could make child care in California even harder to find.
The backstory: The state fully implemented a new grade for 4-year-olds called transitional kindergarten last school year. But private child cares are losing that enrollment.
Why it matters: Between 2019 and 2025, about 1,100 preschools have closed across California. Experts say parents will have fewer options to choose from if the trend continues for their children 4 and under.
Parents could soon be headed for an even bigger child care crunch in California, experts say.
That’s because the rollout of a new grade for 4-year-olds in the state’s public schools is having unintended consequences for child care businesses, according to a new report by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley.
Child cares have historically cared for children 5 and under, but the report found they’re losing more 4- and 5-year-olds to transitional kindergarten, a universal option that was fully implemented last school year.
Sue Carrera, who runs a home daycare in Inglewood, said that before the pandemic, she had an average of 12 kids enrolled in her program. Now, she has only four — the lowest since she opened up her business in 2008 — as she’s seen children move to the public school system earlier.
“ I don't really see myself staying in this business for any lengthy period of time,” she said.
The way that part of the child care business model worked was that older-age preschool children have helped subsidize the cost of caring for infants and toddlers, who are more expensive to care for, said Anna Powell, the report’s lead author.
“ When we're tinkering with a model where there's — ‘it already kind of barely makes ends meet’ — it absolutely can cause big ripple effects and potentially lead to system-level closures,” Powell said.
The report, which used a survey of thousands of child care providers, found that at child cares based at facilities, average enrollment of 4- to 5-year-olds fell by five children from 2023 to 2025. It also found that at the same time, providers haven’t been able to make an easy shift to caring for more babies. The teacher to child ratio is higher for infants (1 to 4) than for older preschoolers (1 to 12).
“ There's no resources to help them buy cribs that they didn't need before, and now suddenly they must have on site. There's no resources for educators who are used to, after decades, working with 4- and 5-year-olds, learning, 'How do I need to adapt my craft to work with these younger children?’” Powell said.
The study recommends California invest in the early education system in the same way it has invested in transitional kindergarten.
If more preschools close down the line, it could mean families may struggle more to find child care in an already scarce environment, said Debra Coleman, director of the L.A. County Office for the Advancement of Early Care and Education.
In 2022, there were licensed spaces in L.A. County to be able to serve only 4% of children under 2 years old.
“If you have less options, you will have less choices of where to go. It might impact the capacity,” Coleman said. “ It might take us from a very fragile system to a fractured system.”
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Lucas Brady Woods
covers the weather and disasters, among other climate and science topics.
Published August 13, 2026 5:08 PM
A low pressure system is bringing mild, cloudy weather to Southern California this weekend, with heat expected to return next week.
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Topline:
Forecasters say Southern California will be relatively cool and cloudy for the next few days after a summer of repeated heat waves.
The details: Highs along the coast will be in the 70s over the next few days. Inland areas of L.A. and Orange counties will get up to the 80s. The cloud cover will likely be widespread on Friday and much of Saturday, but concentrated mostly in the morning hours and along the coast.
The science: A system of low pressure air has moved into the region. Low pressure systems force air to rise, and as air rises it cools. It also eventually condenses, often forming cloud cover. Meanwhile, a deep marine layer and onshore winds are helping push those clouds farther inland.
Read on … to learn how long this reprieve from the heat will last.
Southern California is getting a dose of unseasonably cool weather — a welcome break after a series of hot, humid heat waves over the last few months.
Lower than normal temperatures are expected to stick around through the weekend.
Highs along the coast will be in the 70s over the next few days. Inland areas of L.A. and Orange counties will get up to the 80s. Even the Inland Empire is expected to peak at about 90 degrees on Friday.
The cooler temperatures are also expected to come with cloudy skies across the region.
The cloud cover will likely be widespread on Friday and much of Saturday, but concentrated mostly in the morning hours and along the coast, where skies could stay cloudy through the afternoon.
The cool, mild conditions won’t last long, though.
Forecasters say temperatures will start to tick back up on Saturday. They will stay below normal seasonal levels for a few days, but the summer heat will be back by the middle of next week.
So this weekend might be a good time to go on a hike or host that barbecue.
Low pressure equals mild temperatures
The cool weather is a pretty stark change.
Just a few weeks ago, the National Weather Service was issuing warnings across Southern California for extreme heat and predicting nearly record-breaking temperatures. Now, atmospheric conditions have shifted.
Much of that suffocating heat was driven by a massive system of high pressure air hovering over the Southwestern U.S.
High pressure systems trap warm air beneath them and compress it, further warming the air and preventing cooler air from displacing it.
This week, the high pressure system finally loosened its grip.
“That ridge of high pressure kind of broke down, and then a trough of low pressure developed off and along the coast of California,” said Devin Black, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Low pressure systems force air to rise, and as air rises it cools. It also eventually condenses, often forming cloud cover.
That’s one reason behind the clouds in Southern California this week.
Meanwhile, a deep marine layer and onshore winds are helping push those clouds farther inland. Forecasters note that the low pressure system and onshore winds are also keeping humidity levels up.
Despite the cloud cover and moisture, it’s unlikely there will be much, if any, rain. Some minimal precipitation could be possible in Ventura and Santa Barbara county mountains.
The low pressure system and marine layer will start to shrink on Saturday, allowing heat-generating high pressure to move back into the region.
By Christopher Damien, Alejandra Molina |Boyle Heights Beat
Published August 13, 2026 4:42 PM
Cleanup continues Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026, at the Lineage warehouse.
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Topline:
Friday is the deadline set by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass for the removal of all rotting food from the Lineage Logistics cold storage facility in Boyle Heights. Bass reiterated on Thursday that all of the approximately 88 million pounds of food that had been stored inside when the facility caught fire in June is expected to be removed by Friday. But Los Angeles Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents District 14 where Lineage is located, said Thursday afternoon that the cleanup efforts will likely not meet the deadline.
Lineage appears not on pace to meet deadline: Lineage is clearing between 1% and 1.5% of food each day, according to their progress reports. This roughly aligns with the weekly goal AQMD ordered Lineage to maintain, 10% or 8.8 million pounds of food removed each week. At that pace, it is unlikely they’ll be able to remove the remaining 7% of food waste in the next 24 hours.
What happens if the deadline is not met? Bass’ executive order does not provide details on what will happen if Lineage does not meet the Friday deadline for clean up.
The deadline set by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass for the removal of all rotting food from the Lineage Logistics cold storage facility in Boyle Heights is fast approaching.
Bass reiterated on Thursday to The LA Local that all of the approximately 88 million pounds of food that had been stored inside when the facility caught fire in June is expected to be removed by Friday.
City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents District 14 where Lineage is located, said in a press release Thursday afternoon that the cleanup efforts will likely not meet the deadline.
“I fully support the Mayor leveraging all the enforcement, cost-recovery, and accountability tools available to make clear that when the City establishes a public-health deadline, corporations are expected to meet it — and there are consequences when they do not,” Jurado said in the statement.
The company’s reports on the cleanup progress, similarly, have not appeared to be on pace with meeting that deadline. And some residents believe the putrid air they’ve had to live with for months will linger indefinitely despite the bureaucratic goal posts being met or moved.
Here’s what we know about the final phase of cleanup.
What is the deadline?
Workers continue to clear out the Lineage warehouse in Boyle Heights.
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Soon after a fire broke out on the roof of the 500,000-square-foot cold storage facility on Los Palos Street on June 17, the managers cut the power to the two massive refrigerated rooms in the building. While firefighters took about a week to contain the blaze, the millions of pounds of food inside quickly began to rot in the summer’s heat.
Bass on June 29 issued an executive order requiring the removal of all remaining food in 45 days, or Friday, Aug. 14. Food cleanup began in early July.
Meanwhile, residents of Boyle Heights, East L.A. and several other neighboring communities who were left to deal with the putrid odors, have made more than 4,000 air quality complaints to regulators since early July.
It’s not the only deadline Lineage Logistics faces.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District, which regulates air pollution in the region, issued 19 notices of violation alleging the odors created a public nuisance. Last week, the agency ordered the company to meet dozens of cleanup and air quality control standards, including enforceable requirements for food removal and full facility cleaning.
That agency set a separate deadline of weeks for the food and other material to be removed before the remaining freezer room is fully sanitized.
What’s been cleaned up so far?
The freezer that was extensively damaged by fire has been cleared. The remaining freezer held the vast majority of the rotting food that has been polluting the air in nearby neighborhoods.
Lineage Logistics has for weeks reported on its website about its progress toward 100% cleanup.
Residents can get a sense of their pace for cleanup by tracking their reports:
Aug. 7: 85% of food waste had been removed
Aug. 11: 92% of “bulk food cleanup” was completed
Aug. 12: 93% of food had been cleaned up
It’s unclear how exactly Lineage is arriving at these measurements and how the city or some other agency is independently verifying this progress.
Will they meet the deadline?
The deadline set by Mayor Karen Bass for the removal of all rotting food from the Lineage Logistics cold storage facility in Boyle Heights is fast approaching.
Lineage is clearing between 1% and 1.5% of food each day, according to their progress reports. This roughly aligns with the weekly goal AQMD ordered Lineage to maintain, 10% or 8.8 million pounds of food removed each week.
At that pace, it is unlikely they’ll be able to remove the remaining 7% of food waste in the next 24 hours.
Unless they significantly accelerate, this puts full food cleanup somewhere into next week. That revised timeline better aligns with the one Dominic DiCarlo, vice president of global safety and compliance for Lineage, outlined during the AQMD hearing last week.
DiCarlo added that the company expects to spend between $80 and $100 million on the cleanup and related expenses, which has been described as continuing around the clock.
Lineage did not respond to The LA Local’s request for more information about their progress toward the mayor’s deadline on Thursday.
What happens if they blow the deadline?
Jurado reported Thursday that Lineage would not meet the deadline, and expressed frustration with what residents have had to deal with.
Jurado’s statement reflected this: “For nearly two months, families in Boyle Heights have lived with unbearable odors, flies and pests, truck traffic, uncertainty, and disruption to their homes, businesses, and daily lives. They were told there was a deadline, and they had every right to expect that deadline to mean something.”
Bass’ executive order does not provide details on what will happen if Lineage does not meet the Friday deadline for clean up. Her office told The LA Local that it will provide more information on Thursday about the consequences if the deadline is not met.
Bass was among several local elected officials who had pushed AQMD to levy fines on Lineage for its air pollution violations, which it did not do. She has pushed city agencies to prevent Lineage from reconstructing the facility and continuing its business there. Local lawmakers have also introduced legislation that could increasingly regulate similar businesses in the future.
AQMD can levy penalties if Lineage does not meet its deadlines for cleanup in the coming weeks.
What are residents saying?
Residents on Prado Street were still hopeful Thursday that cleanup would be finished by the deadline.
“Ojalá,” that’s what Irma Soto said when she was asked if she believed workers would finish in time. “I hope they finish so this could all end.”
“It smells horrible,” she added as the stench emanated from the neighborhood early Thursday afternoon.
Soto said she’s been seeing more trailers picking up debris lately. Her neighbor said there appears to be more nighttime work near the facility recently.
“Who knows if they’ll finish, but they are working faster,” the neighbor said.
