| Why some fear Burbank airport is an accident waiting to happen. 'Everybody has had concerns' - Los Angeles Times |
| The airspace over Los Angeles is among the most congested in the world, but the Hollywood Burbank Airport is uniquely situated, creating extremely tight parameters around the midsize airport.
Burbank’s main runway is particularly short, and there is significant, nearby air traffic from the busy Van Nuys Airport — just six miles away — leaving little room for error as pilots prepare to land at Burbank, according to a review of safety records and interviews with local and national aviators.
The setup of the two airports puts their planes in the same airspace, with overlapping flight patterns as they land and take off, though they are supposed to fly at different altitudes. Adding to the challenge, the FAA itself has pointed out, is the fact that Van Nuys — home to many flying schools — has a “wide variation of pilot experience, and aircraft capability.”
Since 2018, there have been at least 12 near collisions reported at Burbank, according to a Times review of reports in the Aviation Safety Reporting Database, which the website says “captures confidential reports, analyzes the resulting aviation safety data, and disseminates vital information to the aviation community.” The Times reviewed instances in which those safety reports mentioned an aircraft’s Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) or a report of a near midair collision (NMAC). [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-09 |
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| Major safety concerns for travelers using Southern California’s airports – Press Telegram |
| The National Transportation Safety Board recently held a public hearing to approve its final report on the deadly January 2025 midair collision over the Potomac River just outside Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people.
During the hearing, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy worryingly warned, “Burbank is one [airport] where commercial airlines have called me to say the next midair [collision] is going to be at Burbank, and nobody at FAA is paying attention to us.” [Article] |
| by , Long Beach Press Telegram. 2026-02-09 |
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| Residents who sued due to putrid Dominguez Channel smell win millions - Los Angeles Times |
| Two dozen people who sued the owners and tenants of a Carson-based warehouse responsible for a putrid smell emanating from the Dominguez Channel waterway, which led to hospital visits and headaches, won a multimillion-dollar verdict Friday.
Those plaintiffs were awarded $6 million in punitive damages along with $2.89 million in compensatory damages in a mass tort lawsuit that dates back to 2021.
“Carson is a working-class community of janitors, barbers, bus drivers and longshoremen,” said attorney Gary Praglin of the Santa Monica-based law firm Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy. “The defendants forced us to trial because they didn’t want to pay these people and this is recognition of their suffering.”
The punitive damages will be split equally among 24 Carson-area residents, amounting to $250,000 for each. The compensatory damages for medical claims ranged between $40,000 and $240,000 per client.
What remains to be seen is what happens to 13,750 additional plaintiffs who are also seeking compensation. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-09 |
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| Judge temporarily blocks California's 'No Secret Police' ban on masked federal immigration agents | LAist |
| A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked California from enforcing a new law that would have banned federal immigration agents from wearing masks during immigration sweeps. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-02-09 |
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| L.A. seeks to dump federal judge overseeing a homelessness settlement - Los Angeles Times |
| One day before a hearing to explore whether the city of Los Angeles misled a federal court on its plan to clear thousands of homelessness encampments, the city’s outside counsel asked an appeals court to remove the judge from the case.
In a brief filed Monday morning, attorneys for the city told the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that U.S. District Judge David O. Carter had made a litany of errors in overseeing the settlement — in which the city committed to providing housing or shelter for 12,915 people and clearing 9,800 tents, vehicles and makeshift shelters — and asked that it reverse many of his rulings
But they said that alone would be insufficient.
“Only the stronger medicine of reassignment will put a stop to the parade of irregular proceedings and rulings...” it said.
Later Monday, the city filed a second brief with the appeals court asking it to stay the hearing scheduled for Tuesday, saying it would not have sufficient time to prepare.
Carter called the hearing Tuesday to focus on a Superior Court ruling that the City Council violated the state’s Open Records Act when it considered the encampment issue in closed session and “potential misrepresentations made to the court regarding the encampment reduction resolution.”
Carter said he was concerned by media reports suggesting the council never actually voted on the plan but represented to the court that the plan — “a critical and material issue before the court” — had been approved. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-09 |
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| Juvenile hall depopulation nearly complete but likely won’t hit goal, says LA County probation chief – Daily News |
| Los Angeles County’s plan to curtail Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall’s population by shifting youths to other facilities is nearly complete, though officials now acknowledge they likely will not reach the original goal of reducing the population to 175. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-02-09 |
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| California subsidized the Tesla Semi, potentially stifling EV innovation in the process |
| A California clean-air program, designed to rapidly electrify the state’s truck and bus fleets, has recently faced intense criticism for reserving its largest-ever tranche of funding to subsidize Tesla’s all-electric semi-truck, a largely unproven vehicle with a dubious production timeline.
In the past year, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and its nonprofit partner CALSTART have set aside nearly 1,000 vouchers, worth at least $165 million, to provide commercial fleets with steep markdowns on the long-delayed Tesla Semi, according to state data obtained by The Times. The battery-powered big rig has been advertised as a groundbreaking freight truck capable of traveling up to 500 miles on a single charge.
But the news of Tesla’s windfall outraged some in the trucking industry, who allege the state provided the world’s wealthiest automaker with preferential treatment for a vehicle that is not ready.
Nearly eight years since Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk unveiled the Tesla Semi as a concept, it still isn’t widely available in stock. It has repeatedly faced production delays and still doesn’t have a publicly advertised retail price.
In fact, some critics argue the Tesla Semi shouldn’t have qualified for government funding at all. At the time Tesla submitted its voucher requests, the vehicle didn’t appear to have the necessary certifications and approvals to be sold and legally driven on California roads.
Still, the 992 state-administered incentives have effectively established the Tesla Semi as the front-runner in the electrified heavy-duty truck class.
“I don’t think it would be an overstatement to say this is market distortion or market manipulation,” said Alexander Voets, general manager at RIZON Truck USA, a commercial electric truck brand. “CARB essentially single-handedly just made Tesla the market leader for electric vehicles for [heavy-duty trucks] without them having [virtually] any vehicles in customer hands.” [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-09 |
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| Fate of billboard returns to Board of Supervisors – Times-Standard |
| The owner of a billboard along U.S. Highway 101 is seeking to keep the sign in place, despite a permit requiring it be torn down by September 2025. The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will hear the request at their Tuesday.
Current regulation prevents new billboards from being constructed on coastal wetlands off U.S. Highway 101. The billboard in question predated these regulations and has been in place since at least 1955, making it legal but nonconforming, according to a staff report.
But this changed after it was blown down in 2019, according to county planning staff.
In 2020, the Supervisors unanimously signed off on a permit for the billboard to be rebuilt after being knocked over, on the condition it would only last five years. It was rebuilt in 2021.
The billboard, currently displaying an ad for Coast Central Credit Union and located on private land in wetlands on the northbound side of the highway near Humboldt Hill in the Lower Elk River area, was then given a special permit requiring it be removed by Sept. 29, 2025. [Article] |
| by , Eureka Times-Standard. 2026-02-09 |
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| LA County supervisors must not rush another tax to the ballot – Daily News |
| On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will begin considering whether to place a new half-cent sales tax on the June 2026 ballot, less than two years after voters last approved a countywide sales tax hike. The supervisors will make their final decision on March 6, which is the deadline for approving June ballot measures. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-02-09 |
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| Torrance residents call for the ban of ‘flesh-eating’ chemical used at refinery - Los Angeles Times |
| Residents and advocates gathered Saturday to demand the ban of a chemical that’s used at a Torrance oil refinery and that they say has the potential to cause a mass casualty disaster.
Hydrofluoric acid is used in about 40 gasoline refineries across the United States, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. The defense council states that “exposing as little as 1% of a person’s skin to HF (about the size of one’s hand) can lead to death. When inhaled, HF can fatally damage lungs, disrupt heart rhythms, and cause other serious health effects.”
The Torrance Refinery uses modified hydrofluoric acid, or MHF, which the refinery considers to be a safer alternative to HF, though the claim is disputed by advocates. Steven Goldsmith, previous president of the Torrance Refinery Action Alliance, which hosted the Saturday event, said that if MHF were to be been released into the air, it would create irreversible health effects within 6.2 miles of the refinery, trickling into other parts of Los Angeles County.
And in 2015, he said, this almost happened.
On Feb. 18, 2015, there was an explosion at the refinery, then operated by ExxonMobil, caused by the rupture of an eroded valve. The incident, which released flammable hydrocarbons, injured four workers and forced 14 schools into lockdown. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-09 |
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| EVs are already making your air cleaner | LAist |
| The logic behind electric vehicles benefiting public health has long been solid: More EVs means fewer internal combustion engines on the road and a reduction in harmful tailpipe emissions. But now researchers have confirmed, to the greatest extent yet, that this is indeed what’s actually happening on the ground. What’s more, they found that even relatively small upticks in EV adoption can have a measurably positive impact on a community. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-02-09 |
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| LA County identifies the ZIP codes hit hardest by ICE. Here’s where they are | LAist |
| A new report from L.A. County offers a closer look at the economic damage to the region caused by federal immigration enforcement — and at the neighborhoods most affected.
The analysis, compiled by the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity and Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, identified the neighborhoods hardest hit by ICE, and found that they were more economically precarious. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-02-09 |
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| Van Nuys businesses say they’re hurting after viral Dr. Oz video alleging health care fraud in area – Daily News |
| The office of a Van Nuys real estate services agency was quiet on a recent work day, void of customers or calls.
That was unusual, said owner Edward Akhparian.
He wasn’t the only one who noticed the change.
Some neighboring business owners said they, too, took a hit after Dr. Mehmet Oz, a top federal health official in the Trump administration, posted a now-viral video in which he talked about alleged rampant health care fraud in Los Angeles County. In the video, Oz stood outside a small shopping center full of Armenian American businesses, including one that he identified as a hospice center. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-02-09 |
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| California Contract Cities Association opposes proposed countywide sales tax, citing affordability and fiscal concerns - PublicCEO |
| The California Contract Cities Association (CCCA) has formally come out in opposition to a proposed countywide sales tax measure, citing concerns about affordability impacts on residents, fiscal strain on cities, and the structure and long-term implications of the tax. [Article] |
| by , Public CEO. 2026-02-09 |
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| Water agencies grapple with climate change and the 'silver tsunami' of an aging workforce | LAist |
| As water agencies across California grapple with the increasingly extreme effects of climate change, they’re also facing another problem: the incoming “silver tsunami.”
That’s the phrase coined by the industry to illustrate the fact that much of the workforce — largely baby boomers — that keeps our water flowing and safe are getting ready to retire. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-02-09 |
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| A gray wolf was found in LA County for the first time in 100 years | LAist |
| Howl about this for the history books? A wolf was found in L.A. County for the first time in a century on Saturday morning.
“It's the furthest south the gray wolves have been documented since their reintroduction into Yellowstone and Idaho just over 30 years ago,” said Axel Hunnicutt, the state gray wolf coordinator for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-02-09 |
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| LA County approves homeless spending plan that reflects nearly $200M in program cuts | LA Local |
| The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve an $843 million homelessness spending plan that includes nearly $200 million in reductions to programs and services in the next budget year. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-02-09 |
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| LAPD sent officers to train in Israel, can't explain what they learned - Los Angeles Times |
| Over the last decade, the Los Angeles Police Department sent employees to Israel to train or be trained by the country’s counterterrorism experts on at least nine occasions.
But officers who attended these training sessions and dozens of other overseas seminars and conferences routinely failed to document what they learned or keep track of who they met with.
Those are among the findings of a new report from the Police Commission’s Office of the Inspector General, which found that the department lacks a system for tracking employees who train with law enforcement agencies from around the world.
The LAPD’s relationship with Israeli security forces has come under scrutiny amid the country’s ongoing military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, which has caused tens of thousands of deaths and drawn allegations of genocide. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-09 |
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| LA County considers sales tax increase to deal with federal funding cut | LAist |
| The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider a proposal to place a plan on the ballot that, if passed, would raise the sales tax by half a cent to address federal funding cuts. The increase would bump the county’s sales tax to 10.25% — the highest allowed by state law. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-02-09 |
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| A national park along the L.A. coast? Here's how you can weigh in - Los Angeles Times |
| Northern California has Point Reyes National Seashore. New York has Fire Island National Seashore. And North Carolina has Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
But should some of L.A.’s most famous beaches also receive such a designation?
Unbeknownst to many Angelenos, the National Park Service is studying the possibility.
The federal agency is embarking on the Los Angeles Coastal Area Special Resource Study, which focuses on the coastline and adjacent areas along Santa Monica Bay from Will Rogers State Beach to Torrance Beach, including areas around Ballona Creek, as well as San Pedro. The study area excludes the Port of Los Angeles north of Crescent Avenue. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-09 |
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