What You Need To Know Today: Extreme Heat and LA's Unhoused, Route Fire, Local Farmer's Market Finds

Today in How to LA: What L.A. County is doing to keep vulnerable residents cool this weekend, community reflections from the sixth street bridge, what you can find at L.A.'s farmers' markets. 

Happy first day of September, y’all! This month, records will be broken. No, I’m not necessarily talking about my hopes and desires for LA’s hometown GOAT Serena Williams to play some serious match-winning tennis. I’m talking about the HEAT. Yep, we’re going to stick here for a minute.

Like my colleague Erin Stone writes, September is one of our hottest months and this month records will be broken due to the current climate crisis. Temperatures are expected to be 10 to 18 degrees warmer than normal in Southern California. And this extreme heat is especially dangerous for vulnerable populations like the elderly, the disable and the unhoused.

LA County officials have released a list of cooling centers that will be open during the heatwave. Here’s the problem: public libraries, which represent 60% of those centers, will have shortened hours or will be completely closed on Sunday and Labor Day. That is, unless the county officials can put up temporary locations.

My colleague Caitlin Hernández and I wrote a story about this, and what it means for LA’s most vulnerable populations. Andreina Kniss is an organizer with KTown For All, an advocacy group for the unhoused. She worries that most people aren’t aware that cooling centers are available to them and, if they do, they might be too far away.

"A lot of unhoused people are disabled and can’t move around very easily,” Kniss said. “A lot of folks elderly folks have mobility issues. So asking an unhoused person who might be a couple of miles from their local library to go walk over there is literally asking for a heatstroke.”

Read the story here.

As always, stay happy and healthy, folks. There’s more news below - just keep reading.

The News You Need After You Stop Hitting Snooze

*We hope to bring you all the news freely, but occasionally you might hit a paywall. Thank you for understanding!

• The Route Fire burning near Castaic grew overnight. Evacuations were ordered Thursday and the 5 freeway was shut down in both directions. By evening the triple-digit temperatures had already taken a toll on firefighters, sending more than a half dozen of them to the hospital. 
• Officials are warning the electrical grid will be under strain in an extreme heatwave that could last into next week; rolling blackouts could happen.   (Los Angeles Times)
• Pandemic-era protections from evictions and rent increases may soon be coming to an end in Los Angeles. The question is, what will happen when these protections go away? (Los Angeles Times) 
• The 6th Street Bridge is still the place to be in L.A. for a photo op. Things have calmed down a little since it first opened but, still, the regular users of the bridge hope others “Enjoy it but don’t F–it up.”
• After eight months, California’s legislative session is coming to a close this week with a final flurry of activity. For those proposals that make it through the gantlet, a final decision awaits on the governor’s desk. Newsom has until the end of September to either sign or veto the bills — we're tracking some of the most consequential and interesting bills.
• The Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant was scheduled to close in a few years, but California lawmakers voted overnight to keep it open. Environmentalists are behind it. Here’s why.
• The bivalent vaccines are coming. The Food and Drug Administration authorized new versions of the COVID-19 vaccines that will target the old strain of the virus plus omicron subvariants that are spreading now.

Wait! One More Thing...Food Is Expensive. Check Out Local Farmers' Markets For A Healthy Deal

A woman shops at the Mar Vista Farmers' Market

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Evan Jacoby

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LAist

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Thursday is my favorite day of the week because we get to talk all about FOOD. Fun fact about yours truly: I am a chicken & waffles connoisseur. It is my favorite dish of all time. But TODAY we are talking about your local farmer’s market. My colleagues with the How to LA podcast took a trip to one in Mar Vista. They stocked up on beautiful fruits and veggies and chowed down on arepas. The best part though - it was actually cheaper than going to the regular market. It was certainly cheaper than Whole Foods!

Did you know that California has more farmers’ markets than any other state? Wow! I might just make it a bucket list goal to explore all 116 in L.A. County. But first I think I gotta check out the one closest to me. I might just tell you all about my experience in a future newsletter. For now, check out the podcast or read about the Mar Vista market trip in LAist.