How To LA: What’s Happening At California’s Nursing Homes? (And Other Headlines)

In 2022, hundreds of nursing homes across California — facilities that typically help people rehabilitate after surgery or provide round-the-clock care for older or physically disabled residents — admitted and housed thousands of people with serious mental illnesses, often for a year or longer.

An investigation on California’s nursing homes

An investigation from my colleague Elly Yu, Elisabeth Gawthrop from APM Research Lab and The California Newsroom reveals that the consequences— documented in state records—have been horrific.

Without proper supervision, residents with serious mental illness have slipped out of nursing homes and gone missing for weeks, and been released with little regard for their needs.

“It’s appalling,” said Eve Hill, a former deputy assistant attorney general with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, who also spent 30 years as a disability rights lawyer. “It's very disappointing that this is still happening in spite of all the barriers we've tried to put up to prevent it from happening.”

Read the full investigation here.

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• Here’s a win for the southern sea otters — the coastal mammals will retain their status as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
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• The North Valley Military Institute voluntarily surrendered its charter and closed its doors permanently on Aug. 25, leaving nearly 800 students and 180 employees in the Los Angeles area without a place to learn and work.
• Southern Californians are experiencing pain at the pump with gas prices rising to around $6 for a gallon, the highest prices have been since last October.

Wait... one more thing...

When the project is finished, the equivalent of five Olympic swimming pools' worth of sand will have been dumped on the beach here.

(

Jill Replogle

/

LAist

)

On Wednesdays, we talk about climate, also known as Climate Wednesday, here at LAist.

Did you know that one of south Orange County’s most vulnerable coastlines is getting a fresh covering of protective sand? And to give you a better picture of how much, it’s about five Olympic-sized pools big.

How was this possible? An unusually quick and efficient collaboration between government agencies to transport excess sand washed down the mountains during last winter’s storms. Learn more about it here.

And a climate-adjacent topic: There are a lot of companies who claim they are “plastic neutral” — but is it a form of greenwashing? Greenwashing, according to ClientEarth, is when a company uses messaging to appear environmentally sustainable and green, but in reality their business models continue to create environmental harm.

And one last thing: Here’s a round up of the climate legislation that passed and failed in this year’s state legislative session and all of its potential impacts on Southern California.