u/losangelestimes

New research in California’s San Joaquin Valley finds valley fever fungus thriving in urban areas in rodent burrows, revealing a wider, more insidious footprint. One study links living near new Kern County oil and gas wells to higher infection risk, while massive housing and solar construction promise more soil disturbance and airborne, infectious dust.

John Taylor, a UC Berkeley professor who has spent years studying valley fever and the fungus that causes it across the Central Valley and the Southwest, has grim advice for people doing outdoor manual labor in those arid regions: Wear a full face mask hooked up to a HEPA-filtered air supply.

“Anything else, you are playing with a dangerous situation that could make you sick for the rest of your life,” he said.

Read more at the link.

When California’s groundbreaking law on single-use plastic passed in 2022 to address the growing scourge of plastic pollution, it had broad political support. There was the state Chamber of Commerce, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a powerful ocean advocate and Californians Against Waste.

But now as the law’s deadlines and requirements finally take shape, a hefty industry-oriented consortium is quietly organizing to burn it — and its companion law, the state’s Truth in Recycling law — to the ground.

Internal industry documents obtained by The Times show how a group called the Print Creative Alliance and its allies plan to kneecap the laws. The alliance is an industry advocate and resource hub for printers, print brokers, packaging and label businesses, vendors, and creative marketing professionals across 13 western states.

The organization sees the laws as financially perilous for the packagers and producers they work with, and therefore, for their own work.

Read more at the link.

Admirers of Jackie the bald eagle, who became an internet sensation from her perch overlooking Big Bear Lake, will have yet another chance to celebrate the bird’s legacy.

In a rare bipartisan resolution, California lawmakers established Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, as California Wildlife Day in remembrance of Jackie, calling the bird “a California icon.”

Jackie “created a connection between wildlife and people,” said State Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Huntington Beach), who authored the resolution. “She touched so many hearts around the world. ... This resolution now gives Jackie’s story its official place in California history.”

Read more at the link.

Rams owner Stan Kroenke has agreed to buy the Angels, adding Major League Baseball to a portfolio that spans six leagues and two continents.

The deal runs through Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, Kroenke’s holding company, which also owns the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, the Colorado Rapids of MLS and Arsenal of the Premier League.

Read more at the link.

Days after the top elections official in Shasta County announced that he planned to hire an election denier who served prison time for tampering with voting machines, county leaders there made an extraordinary plea to state and federal authorities: Please come investigate. 

Curtis — whose name was on the ballot, in a race he lost — has sequestered primary ballots in a room in the elections office in Redding, sealing the doors with locks, duct tape and red-lettered signs that read: “KEEP OUT PER ROV CLINT CURTIS.”

Curtis has told reporters that the ballots did not look, feel or smell right and that he had directed facilities workers to put a lock on the room and destroy the keys so that if anyone tries to gain access, they will need a warrant and bolt cutter. Curtis said he, too, had asked the FBI to investigate.

The county fired back, saying in its statement that it wanted the FBI — as well as the California secretary of state and the attorney general — to investigate Curtis, whose short tenure as registrar has been fraught with controversy. Curtis could not immediately be reached for comment.

Read more at the link.

Angelenos are exactly where they need to be to see Thursday’s partial “blood moon” lunar eclipse — provided the weather cooperates.

For now, the National Weather Service is forecasting a “mostly cloudy” night, meaning that even geographical front-row seats to the celestial phenomenon won’t guarantee a solid viewing.

The moon will already be in the first, or penumbral, stage of the eclipse when it rises over the southeastern horizon at 7:18 p.m. The main stage of the eclipse will begin at 7:34 p.m., when the moon will fall under the core, or umbra, of Earth’s shadow. It will gradually turn a reddish, copper color as sunlight bends and filters through the atmosphere to fall on the otherwise-obscured part of the moon.

The eclipse will peak at 9:13 p.m., when 96% of the moon’s surface will fall under the Earth’s shadow. The most visible phase of the eclipse will end at 10:52 p.m., and the eclipse will end entirely just after midnight.

The Griffith Observatory will open its doors from 7:25 p.m. to 10 p.m. to anyone who wants to observe the eclipse among fellow sky gazers.

Read more about how to get the best view of this celestial phenomenon at the link.

When celebrity bald eagle Jackie died this month, Sandra Sehl didn’t know what would happen to her remains.

Like many, Sehl, 53, was a devoted fan of the raptor and her mate, Shadow, who were made world-famous by a nonstop livestream of their nest. The Connecticut resident began watching about seven years ago, and the duo helped deliver her through difficult times, including the death of her mother — a past president of the Hartford Audubon Society who imparted a love of bird-watching to her daughter.

Sehl learned that Jackie would be sent to the National Eagle Repository — as are virtually all recovered carcasses of bald and golden eagles in the country. In the early 1970s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established the facility to provide members of federally recognized Native American tribes with eagle feathers, parts and whole bodies for religious use.

It’s not what Sehl wants for Jackie — and she’s not alone. News of Jackie’s fate has divided her millions-strong fan base. Some, like Sehl, want Jackie to go back to her natal digs in Big Bear. Yet many others, including the nonprofit that runs the livestream, believe her rightful place is in tribal hands.

Read more at the link.

Travelers are accustomed to seeing an all-inclusive price for airfare when browsing flights online, but they may soon need to read the fine print before purchasing as Washington is trying to change disclosure requirements.

The Department of Transportation proposed new regulations last month that would allow airlines to highlight fares without individual components such as taxes.

The change could mislead consumers, marketing and aviation experts said. The existing guidelines were established by the Obama administration to protect consumers from deception.

Read more at the link.

The Trump administration has quietly let lapse a program for young leaders at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The Times has learned. In its place, California will launch its own council for young people looking to get involved with environmental issues at the state level. 

The California EPA’s Environmental Youth Advisory Council is doing a callout for people ages 14 to 20 years old who want to build leadership skills, learn from environmental decision-makers and make recommendations on state environmental policy, officials said.

The move comes after a similar group within the federal EPA, the Biden-era National Environmental Youth Advisory Council, appears to have expired under the Trump administration. California’s program hopes to fill the gap by “giving young people a seat at the table,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.

Learn more at the link.

For nearly three decades, a onetime Compton gang leader named Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been one of the most vocal theorists about the death of Tupac Shakur. The rapper was fatally shot at the height of his fame on Sept. 7, 1996, while riding to a Las Vegas nightclub in a BMW driven by Death Row Records boss Marion “Suge” Knight.

The events surrounding that night have been exhaustively investigated and recounted in numerous stories, documentaries and police investigations. But the mystery about exactly what happened has endured.

This week, Davis is on trial in Las Vegas, accused of orchestrating the murder. And prosecutors believe Davis himself will be the star witness who proves their case.

Find out more at the link.

A federal judge issued a scathing order blocking a gambit by the Trump administration to take control of federal funding for homelessness programs in Los Angeles County.

In issuing a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter found that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it suspended the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority from managing federal homelessness funds. He set a trial date in February.

The June 11 suspension disqualified LAHSA from submitting an application, due August 26, for about $240 million on behalf of 140 providers of homeless services. HUD said the suspension was necessary, citing negative audits and news reports going back more than a decade. LAHSA filed suit, alleging the abrupt action was a pretext for the Trump administration’s intention to impose its own policy short-term housing with an emphasis substance abuse and mental health treatment over the local priority of support for permanent housing.

Learn more at the link.

The fight over a proposal to tax the assets of California billionaires to fund healthcare is getting more expensive.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has poured $102 million this year into Building a Better California, a group that’s funding two ballot measures that could block a billionaire tax, data from the California Secretary of State show. Brin’s latest donation totaled $20 million. It highlights how California’s ultra-wealthy are battling a proposal to tax their net worth.

The November showdown over taxing the ultra-rich has drawn national figures, powerful unions and major business allies, reflecting deep anxiety about billionaires fleeing California and the future of its social safety net.

Learn more at the link.