Friday, March 28, 2025

California Lawmakers Seek to Change CEQA (Again)

By Lynn La, CALMATTERS

A handful of legislators rallied near the state Capitol Thursday to promote what they’re calling an “extremely unsexy,” but important, bipartisan bill package intended to put California’s housing development into overdrive.

But one bill stands out for its potential to turn a landmark state environmental law on its head.

As CalMatters’ Ben Christopher explains, a proposal by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks would exempt most urban housing developments from the California Environmental Quality Act. Known as CEQA, the law requires government agencies to review and disclose the environmental impact of any public project, including new housing developments.

If the bill by the Oakland Democrat becomes law, it would mean:

• No more environmental lawsuits over proposed apartment buildings;
• No more legislative debates over which projects should be exempted from CEQA;
• Environmental justice advocates, construction unions and anti-development neighborhood groups can’t use CEQA to delay development.

Friday, March 28, 2025

PUSD Board Grapples with Teacher Layoffs, Fire Recovery in Marathon Meeting

Altadena Arts Magnet likely to remain at temporary campus amid safety concerns following Eaton Fire

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education dealt with contentious issues surrounding teacher layoffs and fire recovery during a marathon 6-hour Thursday night public meeting that stretched past midnight.

Dozens of teachers, students and parents packed the Elbie J. Hickambottom Board Room to protest the District’s decision to lay off 115 teachers, with many speakers urging the Board to reconsider the cuts.

“These layoffs are harming us, the students, because of all the drastic changes happening in our lives right now,” wrote student Consuelo Martinez in a journal entry read during public comment. “Many teachers have lost their homes and now the District is saying they might have to take their jobs away too.”

The Board also discussed a measure allowing Altadena Arts Magnet School to remain at its temporary Allendale Elementary campus until January 2026, responding to parent and staff concerns about returning to their original campus that sits near areas devastated by the January Eaton Fire.

Friday, March 28, 2025

Metro Advances Plan to Boost Construction Opportunities for Women

CITY NEWS SERVICE

As LA Metro prepares for global events coming to the region and major projects on the horizon, the Board of Directors is advancing an effort Friday to increase opportunities for women in construction.

In a unanimous vote Thursday, the Board approved a report and instructed staff to expand initiatives to help women, meet equity and hiring goals. Staff are expected to provide a progress update in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026.

“Our goal is that we want to make the trades simpler for women,” Board Chair and L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn said. “Our leaning in is to make it simpler and easier, and to break down those barriers so that women can have a co-equal chance at succeeding in the construction trades.”

In 2019, Metro took steps to examine the disparity in construction opportunities for women. They authorized a study that assessed female participation levels in various trades and discussed barriers in recruitment and retention of women in construction roles.

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Altadena Residents Express Concerns Over Noise, Air Quality Amid Eaton Fire Cleanup Efforts

By ANDRÈ COLEMAN, Managing Editor

Residents of Altadena near the Altadena Golf Course are raising concerns over noise and air quality as crews work to clean up properties damaged by the Eaton Fire.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is set to begin crushing concrete and recycling metal on the golf course starting next week.

The fire, which started in Eaton Canyon on Jan. 7 led to 17 deaths, destroyed 9,000 structures and scorched 14,000 acres, left tons of debris in Altadena and forced the Corps to find a location to move the devastation as it clears local properties.

Homeowners whose properties are still standing are worried, and have expressed concerns over the potential hazards posed by the cleanup operations.

The Army Corps maintains that the operation will be safe, despite its proximity to residential areas. Officials say air quality will be closely monitored, and the noise level will be kept to a minimum, comparable to the sound of “loud traffic”

Thursday, March 27, 2025

How Much Lead and Other Toxic Metals are Present after the Eaton Fire?

Courtesy of CALTECH

On the evening of January 7, 2025, Caltech professor of geochemistry François Tissot evacuated his Altadena home with his family as the Eaton fire spread. Fires in Altadena and surrounding communities ultimately took 17 lives and destroyed over 9,000 buildings, causing widespread damage estimated to cost more than $10 billion. Tissot’s home sustained heavy smoke, ash, heat, and fire damage: melted windows and roofing, compromised waterproofing, cracks in several walls, and more.

The Eaton fire was unique in that 90 percent of the homes that burned had been built before 1975, meaning that they likely contained some amount of lead paint and asbestos, building materials that are now banned by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for their danger to human health. In the aftermath of the fire, Tissot saw an opportunity to help by leveraging his laboratory’s state-of-the-art techniques to measure the presence of toxic metals like lead in the debris. As a geochemist, Tissot has deep expertise in studying the chemical signatures of elements like lead and uranium in meteorites to learn about the early solar system,

Thursday, March 27, 2025

California Powerhouse Law Firm Battles Edison Over Recent Wildfire Damages

STAFF REPORT

Robinson Calcagnie, Inc., a powerhouse Southern California plaintiffs’ law firm, is representing victims of the Eaton and Hurst fires against Southern California Edison. The firm has secured millions in compensation for wildfire victims suffering wrongful death, property loss and emotional distress injuries in previous cases throughout California.

“After suffering catastrophic losses, injuries, or the death of a loved one, people need someone to stand up for them, to go up against the big companies that inflict harm then refuse to take responsibility for the injuries and losses they cause,” said Mark P. Robinson, Jr., founder and senior partner of the firm.

“Throughout my forty-year career, I’ve stood up for these victims and made sure that the companies responsible are held accountable, and my clients are compensated for their injuries and losses,” Robinson added. “I’ll never stop fighting for my clients.”

Robinson gained national recognition early in his career as lead counsel in the landmark Ford Pinto exploding gas tank case,

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Sheriff to Re-Test DNA Samples Due to Use of Potentially Defective Kits

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Thursday is planning to re-test about 4,000 DNA samples after learning the agency used testing kits over a roughly eight-month period that were found by the manufacturer to occasionally deliver incomplete results.

According to the department, officials at the Scientific Services Bureau learned only Monday about a notice that was sent to the agency last year by a DNA testing kit manufacturer stating that “a specific lot of kits were prone to intermittently poor performance with potential to cause incomplete results or profiles.”

The notice was sent to the department on Aug. 28, 2024, but it was directed to a person who was no longer with the department. The notice by the manufacturer recommended that the use of the affected kits be discontinued, but the department continued using them for about eight months, between July 2024 and February 2025.

It was unclear exactly how many criminal investigations may have been impacted by the use of the affected kits.

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Court Hearing to Discuss LA’s Homelessness Services

By FRED SHUSTER, City News Service

City officials called to a Los Angeles federal court hearing Thursday are expected to respond to the bleak picture of the region’s homelessness assistance programs painted by an independent consulting firm that spent months trying to track expenditures.

The court-ordered audit by the firm Alvarez & Marsal identified $2.4 billion of funding, including appropriations, commitments or spending related to city programs.

The scathing assessment released earlier this month by U.S. District Judge David Carter revealed a disjointed and poorly managed system resulting in the auditors’ inability to track substantial funds allocated to assistance services.

Carter requested Mayor Karen Bass, Council President Marqueece Harris- Dawson, City Controller Kenneth Mejia, and Board of Supervisors Chair Lindsey Horvath show up at the hearing Thursday morning.

According to the A&M report, information gaps, coupled with a lack of accurate and complete data and documentation, posed “significant obstacles” to auditors. Further, insufficient financial accountability led to an inability to trace substantial funds allocated to the city’s programs,

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Will This Bill Be The End Of California’s Housing VS Environment Wars?

By Ben Christopher, CALMATTERS

For years California has been stuck in a recurring fight between legislators who want the state to turbocharge new home construction and legislators determined to defend a landmark environmental protection law.

The final showdown in that long-standing battle may have just arrived.

A new bill by Oakland Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks would exempt most urban housing developments from the 55-year-old California Environmental Quality Act.

If it passes — a big if, even in today’s ascendent pro-building political environment — it would mean no more environmental lawsuits over proposed apartment buildings, no more legislative debates over which projects should be favored with exemptions and no more use of the law by environmental justice advocates, construction unions and anti-development homeowners to wrest concessions from developers or delay them indefinitely.

In short, it would spell the end of California’s Housing-CEQA Wars.

“If we’re able to get it to the governor’s desk,

Thursday, March 27, 2025

California Food Banks Brace for Funding Cuts, and Not Only from the Trump Administration

By Jeanne Kuang, CALMATTERS

Five years since the COVID-19 pandemic upended the economy and made millions experience hunger for the first time, demand at the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services is still higher than ever.

The number of monthly clients has risen to 310,000, more than double the number of people the food bank served before the pandemic, spokesperson Kevin Buffalino said.

So it was a blow this month, he said, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture halted hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds for food banks. Caught up in the freeze were 11 truckloads of food – 400,000 pounds – that the Sacramento food bank was expecting over the next few months.

A total of 330 truckloads bound for food banks across the state has been suspended, according to the California Association of Food Banks, with no indication of when or if they’ll be delivered. The biggest potential hit is to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank,