María Rivas Cruz looks through a scrapbook of memories from her more than a decade-long relationship with Raymond Olivares, who died last year after being struck by a speeding car. The photo she holds shows them celebrating buying a house together.
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Topline:
New York and Michigan recently passed laws allowing local jurisdictions to lower speed limits, and Los Angeles voters backed safer road designs, but enforcement often meets political resistance. The number of pedestrians killed or injured on the road remains high.
Political roadblocks: There’s plenty of political resistance to speed enforcement. In California’s Statehouse, Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) proposed requiring GPS-equipped smart devices in new cars and trucks to prevent excessive speeding. But after pushback, the state lawmaker watered down his bill to require all vehicles sold in the state starting in 2032 to have only warning systems that alert drivers when they exceed the speed limit by more than 10 mph.
Although the Biden administration is championing Vision Zero — its commitment to zero traffic deaths — and injecting more than $20 billion in funding for transportation safety programs through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, road safety advocates and some lawmakers argue that the country is still far from making streets and vehicles safe, or slowing drivers down.
Read more ... for some personal perspectives from people calling for the needs for safer roads.
The party was winding down. Its young hosts, María Rivas Cruz and her fiancé, Raymond Olivares, had accompanied friends to their car to bid them farewell. As the couple crossed a four-lane main road back to the home they had just bought, Rivas Cruz and Olivares were struck by a car fleeing an illegal street race. The driver was going 70 in a 40-mph zone.
Despite years of pleading for a two-lane road, lower speed limits, safety islands, and more marked crosswalks, residents say the county had done little to address speeding in this unincorporated pocket of southeastern Los Angeles. Since 2012, this half-mile stretch of Avalon Boulevard had logged 396 crashes, injuring 170 and killing three.
Olivares, 27, a civil engineer for the city of Los Angeles, became the fourth fatality when he was hurled across the street, hit by a second car, and instantly killed. Rivas Cruz was transported to a hospital, where she remained in a coma for two weeks. Once awake, the elementary school teacher underwent a series of reconstructive surgeries to repair her arm, jaw, and legs.
María Rivas Cruz survived being struck by a car in southeastern Los Angeles while crossing the street in 2023 with her fiancé, Raymond Olivares, who died at the scene.
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A memorial for Raymond Olivares outside his Los Angeles home. Olivares was fatally struck by a car while crossing the street in front of his home last year.
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In the aftermath of the February 2023 crash, the county installed protective steel posts midway across the street. But residents, who had sought a platformed center divider and speed cameras, said that wasn’t enough.
“It’s just a band-aid on a cut. This is supposed to solve it, but it doesn’t, and that is what hurts,” said Rivas Cruz, who now at age 28 walks with a cane and lives with chronic pain. “I go to sleep, and I’m like, ‘It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream.’ And it’s not.”
The nation’s road system covers 4 million miles and is governed by a patchwork of federal, state, and local jurisdictions that often operate in silos, making systemic change difficult and expensive. But amid the highest number of pedestrians killed in decades, localities are pushing to control how speed limits are set and for more accountability on road design. This spring, New York and Michigan passed laws allowing local jurisdictions to lower speed limits. In Los Angeles, voters approved a measure that forces the city to act on its own safety improvement plan, mandating that the car-loving metropolis redesign streets, add bike lanes, and protect cyclists, transit riders, and pedestrians.
Still, there’s plenty of political resistance to speed enforcement. In California’s Statehouse, Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) proposed requiring GPS-equipped smart devices in new cars and trucks to prevent excessive speeding. But after pushback, the state lawmaker watered down his bill to require all vehicles sold in the state starting in 2032 to have only warning systems that alert drivers when they exceed the speed limit by more than 10 mph.
Although the Biden administration is championing Vision Zero — its commitment to zero traffic deaths — and injecting more than $20 billion in funding for transportation safety programs through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, road safety advocates and some lawmakers argue that the country is still far from making streets and vehicles safe, or slowing drivers down.
“We are not showing the political will to use the proven safety tools that exist,” said Leah Shahum, founder of Vision Zero Network, a nonprofit organization advancing Vision Zero in communities across the country.
Still a crisis
The need for safer roads took on urgency during the covid pandemic. Fatalities rose even as lockdown mandates emptied streets. In 2022, more than 42,500 people died on American roads, and at least 7,522 pedestrians were fatally struck — the highest tally of pedestrian deaths in more than four decades.
Experts cite several reasons for the decline in road safety. During the lockdowns, reckless driving increased while traffic enforcement declined. SUVs and trucks have become larger and heavier, thus deadlier when they hit a pedestrian. Other factors persist as streets remain wide to accommodate vehicles, and in some states speed limits have gradually increased.
Residents want more than the yellow protective posts erected since Raymond Olivares, a pedestrian, was fatally struck by a car fleeing an illegal street race. They want reduced lanes, lower speed limits, and safety islands.
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Safety barriers added to a crosswalk in Los Angeles have been damaged and hit by passing cars.
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Early estimates of motor vehicle fatalities show a slight decrease from 2022 to 2023, but pedestrian fatalities are still notably above pre-pandemic numbers. “It’s an encouraging start, but the numbers still constitute a crisis,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote in February of roadway deaths.
The Biden administration has directed $15.6 billion to road safety until 2026 and $5 billion in local grants to prevent roadway deaths and injuries. Under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s new “vulnerable road user” rule, states with 15% or more deaths involving pedestrians, bicyclists, or motorcyclists compared with all road deaths must match federal dollars in their safety improvement spending.
Road safety advocates argue the federal government missed an opportunity to eliminate outdated standards for setting speed limits when it revised traffic guidelines last year. The agency could have eliminated guidance recommending setting speed limits at or below how fast 85% of drivers travel on uncongested roads. Critics contend that what’s known as the 85th percentile rule encourages traffic engineers to set speed limits at levels unsafe for pedestrians.
But the Federal Highway Administration wrote in a statement that while the 85th percentile is the typical method, engineers rarely rely solely on this rule. It also noted that states and some local agencies have their own criteria for setting speed limits.
In response, grassroots efforts to curtail speeding have sprouted across communities. In April, Michigan passed legislation granting local governments authority to round down when setting speed limits.
And after four years of lobbying, New York state passed Sammy’s Law, named after 12-year-old Sammy Cohen Eckstein, who was killed by a driver in Brooklyn in 2013. The law, which will take effect in June, allows New York City to lower its speed limits to 20 mph in designated areas.
“With this legislation, I hope we can learn more children’s names because of their accomplishments, their personalities, and their spirit — not their final moments,” said Sammy’s mother, Amy Cohen.
Cindi Enamorado stands beside a memorial for her brother, Raymond Olivares, outside his Los Angeles home. Olivares died after being hit by a speeding car while crossing the street to the home he had just bought.
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Push for pedestrian safety
Advocates would also like the federal government to factor in pedestrian safety on the five-star vehicle safety rating scale. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed a separate pass/fail test that would be posted only on the agency’s website, not on labels consumers would see at the dealership.
Automakers like BMW questioned the effectiveness of a program testing pedestrian protections in vehicles arguing that in European countries that adopted such a regulation, it’s not been clear whether it led to fewer deaths and injuries. According to the campaign finance site Open Secrets, automakers spent about $49 million lobbying in 2023 compared with $2.2 million spent by advocates for highway and auto safety.
“The federal government has the biggest punch when it comes to requiring improved vehicle safety design,” said Wiener, the California state lawmaker.
Although Wiener modified his proposal to restrict excessive speeding, he has advanced companion legislation that would require Caltrans, the state transportation agency, to make improvements such as adding crosswalks and curb extensions on state-owned surface streets to better serve pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users.
When that bill was heard in a committee, opponents, including engineering firms and contractors, cautioned it would remove flexibility and hamper the state’s ability to deliver a safe and efficient transportation system. Lawmakers have until Aug. 31 to act on his bills.
María Rivas Cruz looks through a scrapbook of memories from her more than a decade-long relationship with Raymond Olivares, who died last year after the two were struck by a speeding car outside their home in southeastern Los Angeles. Rivas Cruz survived but now lives with chronic pain and walks with a cane.
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In Los Angeles, hope for change arrived in March when voters passed Measure HLA, which requires the city to invest $3.1 billion in road safety over the next decade. Rivas Cruz’s house, however, sits eight blocks outside the jurisdiction of the city initiative.
It’s been more than a year since the crash, but Rivas Cruz finds reminders everywhere: in the mirror, when she looks at the scars left on her face after several surgeries. When she walks on the street that still lacks the infrastructure that would have protected her and Raymond.
Stories of pedestrians killed in this Latino working-class neighborhood are too common, said Rivas Cruz. In September, she attended a memorial of a 14-year-old who was killed by a reckless driver.
“There’s so much death going on,” the Los Angeles Unified School District teacher said from her mother’s living room on a spring afternoon. “The representatives have failed us. Raymond and I were giving back to the community. He was a civil engineer working for the city, and I’m a LAUSD teacher. Where is our help?”
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
Destiny Torres
covers all things SoCal, from breaking news to local government, with a focus on Orange County.
Published November 10, 2026 5:00 AM
The chemical tank at the GKN Garden Grove aerospace facility.
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Allen J. Schaben
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Getty Images
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Topline:
A claims support center to help victims evacuated in Garden Grove’s chemical tank scare opens Tuesday, Nov. 10. GKN Aerospace, the company behind the hazmat incident, said the center in Los Alamitos will help eligible residents file for reimbursement.
Background: GKN Aerospace opened its $100 million claims program last month for those affected by the Garden Grove hazmat scare that forced more than 50,000 nearby residents to evacuate their homes and businesses.
What we know: The independent Claims Administrator, Ernst & Young, will operate the center and is responsible for reviewing, processing and evaluating claims. Assistance will be available in English, Vietnamese, Spanish and Korean.
Who is eligible? People and households who lived within the mandatory evacuation zone are eligible for the claims program. Businesses can file a business interruption claim for losses of income. Residents who lived in the warning zone, not the mandatory evacuation zone, do not qualify.
Know before you go: The center is located at 4281 Katella Ave., Suite 100 in Los Alamitos. Doors are open Monday through Friday from noon to 8 p.m.
Nick Gerda
is an accountability reporter who has covered local government in Southern California for more than a decade.
Published November 9, 2026 6:33 PM
Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority workers observe L.A. city sanitation workers removing an encampment in Venice Beach in June 2023.
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LAist
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Topline: The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority told its employees Friday to stop work, shut down their computers and stay off agency systems while it looked into “a potential security issue affecting our systems,” its chief executive confirmed to LAist. That shutdown order was still in place Monday evening, according to a LAHSA official not authorized to speak on the record.
Unknowns: Gita O'Neill, the agency’s interim CEO, told LAist on Friday evening that the agency did not “yet have enough information to say definitively whether any sensitive or confidential personal information was accessed.” She has not answered questions about whether or not services for unhoused people are disrupted.
Sensitive data: LAHSA holds highly sensitive information collected from people experiencing homelessness in the region. The agency oversees the Homeless Management Information System, or HMIS, which includes unhoused people’s names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and disabilities, as well as self-reported mental health and substance abuse history, income sources and domestic violence history.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority told its employees Friday to stop work, shut down their computers and stay off agency systems while it looked into “a potential security issue affecting our systems,” its chief executive confirmed to LAist.
That shutdown order was still in place Monday evening, according to a LAHSA official not authorized to speak on the record.
Gita O'Neill, the agency’s interim CEO, told LAist on Friday evening that the agency did not “yet have enough information to say definitively whether any sensitive or confidential personal information was accessed.”
She has not answered questions about whether or not services for unhoused people are disrupted.
Gita O’Neill, interim CEO of LAHSA, speaks ahead of the annual homeless count on Jan. 20, 2026.
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LAHSA holds highly sensitive information collected from people experiencing homelessness in the region. The agency oversees the Homeless Management Information System, or HMIS, which includes unhoused people’s names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and disabilities, as well as self-reported mental health and substance abuse history, income sources and domestic violence history.
In a statement Monday, LAHSA said it had taken its internal computer systems offline “as a precaution” and “engaged outside cybersecurity specialists to investigate the nature and scope of the incident.” The statement, sent on O'Neill's behalf by outside public relations strategist Trevor Daley, continued to call it “a potential cybersecurity incident.”
The agency is “taking steps to maintain essential operations,” the statement added, saying LAHSA “remains open” while the investigation continues. It said the agency is working with its technical and legal teams.
What staff were told
Friday’s email to "Team LAHSA" carried the subject line "URGENT: Log Off and Shut Down for the Week." LAist obtained a copy, and O'Neill confirmed by text message that she had sent it.
“As a precaution while we look into a potential security issue affecting our systems, we're asking all staff to stop work and take their machines offline for the remainder of today and through the weekend,” the email said.
It told employees to “Log off and shut down your LAHSA computer” and not to log back in or connect to LAHSA systems, including email, “until you receive an all-clear from us.”
The email also told staff to report anything “unusual” before shutting down, such as “files renaming on their own, unexpected pop-ups or messages.”
What LAHSA leadership has said
In a texted response to LAist on Friday evening, O'Neill said she asked staff to take their computers offline “out of an abundance of caution” while the agency’s IT team assessed the situation.
“Our IT team is actively reviewing the situation now and working to understand exactly what occurred and whether any information was affected,” she wrote. “Protecting people’s personal and confidential information is a top priority in that review.”
Leaders of three LAHSA-funded service providers told LAist on Monday afternoon that they had not received any communications from LAHSA about the potential cybersecurity issue. All three use the HMIS system that holds unhoused people’s personal details.
Previous attacks against another LA housing agency
Another L.A. housing agency was previously hit by cyberattacks. The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles — a separate agency known as HACLA — has said hackers got inside its network in 2022 and may have accessed people’s names, Social Security numbers, financial accounts numbers and medical information.
Two years later, HACLA was breached again, according to an official notice, with hackers potentially accessing names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and phone numbers.
LAist reporter Aaron Schrank contributed reporting to this story.
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Lindsey Horvath has announced she will run for county CEO in 2028.
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Topline:
Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath announced Monday that she is running to be the county’s first elected chief executive. Horvath is the only candidate so far to enter the race, which is set for 2028.
Why it matters: The new executive post will take the place of the county’s appointed CEO and implement key priorities of the county Board of Supervisors.
Voters created the position in 2024 when they approved Measure G, which was proposed by supervisors Horvath and Janice Hahn.
Pushback: On Monday, Supervisor Kathryn Barger issued a statement saying she believed it was “premature” to campaign for the new county executive position when it remained unclear whether “the office itself is constitutional.” Barger pointed to questions raised by former federal judge Stephen Larson about whether California’s Constitution allows an elected county executive to veto board decisions, control county contracts and take on powers state law currently gives the Board of Supervisors.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath announced Monday that she is running to be the county’s first elected chief executive. Horvath is the only candidate so far to enter the race, which is set for 2028.
The new executive post will take the place of the county’s appointed CEO and implement key priorities of the county Board of Supervisors. The executive will oversee the county budget, which is currently roughly $50 billion, and labor relations with more than 100,000 employees.
Horvath was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2022 and was re-elected in June to another four-year term. She represents the county’s 3rd District, which covers the San Fernando Valley and parts of the Westside and Central Los Angeles. She is a former mayor of West Hollywood.
The supervisor made her announcement Monday via social media and her campaign website. She called the race a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.”
The backstory
Voters created the position in 2024 when they approved Measure G, which was proposed by Supervisors Horvath and Janice Hahn.
Among other changes, the measure allowed the Board of Supervisors to expand from five to nine members by 2030 and established an independent Ethics Commission, which held its first meeting last month.
The pushback
On Monday, Supervisor Kathryn Barger issued a statement saying she believed it was “premature” to campaign for the new county executive position when it remained unclear whether “the office itself is constitutional.”
Barger pointed to questions raised by former federal judge Stephen Larson about whether California’s Constitution allows an elected county executive to veto board decisions, control county contracts and take on powers state law currently gives the Board of Supervisors.
“Moving forward with an office that would fundamentally change how Los Angeles County is governed, without first resolving these questions, is putting the cart before the horse,” Barger said in her statement. “We need clarity.”
The primary election is scheduled for March 7, 2028.
Elly Yu
reports on early childhood. From housing to health, she covers issues facing the youngest Angelenos and their families.
Published November 9, 2026 4:09 PM
Google says Search will be turned off for schools who restrict use of artificial intelligence.
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Topline:
The Los Angeles Unified School District said it’s reviewing Google’s announcement this week that it will not allow schools from using its search engine unless they opt in to using artificial intelligence.
The backstory: Earlier this school year, LAUSD implemented a moratorium on students using generative AI on district-issued devices. Currently, students in LAUSD can still use Google to search for information, but the AI mode — in which students can chat with the company’s chatbot, Gemini — is turned off.
What’s new: A Google executive said, "search and AI are deeply integrated” and that search would not be available to schools that bar AI.
What’s next: “We are reviewing Google’s announcement and its potential implications for schools, educators, and students,” said a spokesperson for LAUSD. The district’s Ad Hoc Committee on Generative AI will have its next meeting on Nov. 13.
The Los Angeles Unified School District said it’s reviewing how to proceed after Google’s announcement last week that it will not allow schools to use its search engine unless they opt in to using artificial intelligence.
Google said that in the coming months, access to products like Gemini and Google Search would be turned off by default until schools turn them on, saying it believes “schools should have control over AI in their classroom.” But Google Search, by default, includes an AI chatbot and uses AI to summarize search results — meaning that schools that restrict AI would not have access to Google Search.
“We are reviewing Google’s announcement and its potential implications for schools, educators and students,” said a spokesperson for LAUSD. “Los Angeles Unified believes emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, have the potential to enhance teaching and learning when introduced thoughtfully, responsibly and with clear safeguards.”
“Search and A.I. are deeply integrated,” Chris Phillips, vice president for education at Google, said to The New York Times. He told the outlet that if a school bans AI, students “will not have access to search, and they’ll see a message from their school that indicates it’s not available.”
How to weigh in
LAUSD's Generative AI Ad Hoc Committee will meet on Friday, Nov. 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The board meets in person in downtown Los Angeles at 333 S. Beaudry Ave, and also streams its meetings online, and offers American Sign Language and Spanish interpretation.
Community members can also request interpretation in other languages by contacting the Board Secretariat at secretariat@lausd.net or (213) 241-7002.
For more on how to be involved with LAUSD and its meetings (including where to park for board meetings!), read our handy guide.
What are schools doing now?
Currently, students in LAUSD can still use Google to search for information, a district spokesperson said, but the AI mode — in which students can converse with the company’s chatbot, Gemini — is turned off. Some searches may still show an AI-generated summary or overview. The district has asked Google for a modification to allow the summaries to be turned off.
If a school does opt in to artificial intelligence, Google said it will offer a “guided learning” tool in its chatbot for student accounts “to help them work through problems without skipping straight to answers.”
The announcement has prompted outcry from advocates. "Google forced its AI products into classrooms, and parents fought back," said Lila Byock, founder of Schools Beyond Screens, the group that pushed for LAUSD’s AI moratorium, as well as the district’s screen time limit. "Now Google is refusing to take no for an answer. … Schools Beyond Screens calls on district leaders to reclaim their authority from corporate interests and divest from Google."
