Alissa, Godfrey, and Loraine examine the public health impacts of the Lineage warehouse fire that burned in Boyle Heights for a week. LA’s council votes to end oil extraction (for the second time). LAUSD superintendent Alberto Carvalho resigns amid a federal investigation into an AI chatbot deal as the board dramatically reduces screen time for students. And yet another proposed backroom deal to amend ULA turns into a win for Howard Jarvis.
After one week of burning in Boyle Heights and decimating air quality throughout the region, the Lineage Logistics warehouse fire was finally out
But the impact to the neighborhood won’t be known for some time, reportsCapital and Main: “Short-term consequences for those nearest to the warehouse could be asthma and even heart attacks, but other effects will take time to surface. Much of it has to do with what’s in the smoke, which is hard to trace retroactively.”
Boyle Heights residents are reporting dizziness, eye irritation, headaches, nausea, and chest pain, the Boyle Heights Beat reports. “Smoke has seeped into their homes. It’s all over their clothes and couches. Air purifiers are in high demand. Meanwhile, a particle pollution advisory continues to be extended day after day.”
What better time to end oil extraction in LA City? The Stand LA coalition celebrates the first step towards victory after a similar 2022 ordinance was challenged by oil companies.
Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky made a great video showing how pervasive oil drilling still is in LA
LAUSD superintendent Alberto Carvalho resigned after being put on paid leave during a federal investigation related to the company AllHere, which made an AI chatbot product LAUSD used. Further reporting by the LA Timesrevealed potential ethics violations related to gifts and trips paid for by AllHere that Carvalho failed to disclose on his Form 700
LA Podcast listeners remember a previous Form 700 discussion due to a Vegas trip attended by Councilmember John “City Staffer B” Lee who failed to disclose gifts and was fined by the ethics commission — and is now suing the city and taxpayers are paying for it!
Meanwhile sweeping screen time reforms are passed by the LAUSD board which would dramatically limit how much younger students in particular spend on computers, prioritizing teacher-led instruction, and blocking some platforms like YouTube
Bass commented to Conan Nolan that a deal was being made in Sacramento that would stop a threatened attack on all transfer taxes if legislative reforms were made to cap them. As it turns, the anti-transfer tax measure coalition collapsed due to the intransigence of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
The final deal made by the legislature removes the anti-transfer tax measure from the ballot, so ULA won’t be affected. The entire process ended up reaffirming Prop 13 and became a huge win for Jarvis
And due to Prop 218, also passed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, LA property owners need to vote to raise their streetlight assessments that hadn’t been raised since 1996 — and 80% of the weighted vote said no way, creating yet another huge infrastructural crisis for the city
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The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward
Godfrey Plata is the deputy director of LA Forward and is @godfreyplataon Instagram
Loraine Lundquist is chair of LA Forward’s board, an astrophysicist, and a sustainability policy expert who earned 49.4% of the vote as a candidate for LA City Council
