California

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CARSON, CA - OCTOBER 11, 2021: Overall, shows the Dominguez Channel in Carson as seen from Carson St. A foul odor is emanating from the Dominguez Channel and public health officials are recommending Carson residents keep their doors and windows closed as authorities work to address the odor. The Dominguez Channel is a drain channel that crosses through industrial areas on its way to the Port of Los Angeles. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. County files suit over warehouse fire that led to sickening odor in Dominguez Channel

The lawsuit accuses the warehouse’s owners and tenants of negligence in connection with the storage of hazardous and flammable materials.

Federal prosecutors charge alleged gang members with killing off-duty LAPD officer
Deputy alleges Sheriff Villanueva’s wife derailed her career

Sheriff’s Department recruit loses gun in area of Castaic jail
Lawmakers move to tighten restrictions on sex-offending doctors
Garcetti questions LAPD discipline for out-of-policy police shootings, orders review
Antisemitic fliers found at Santa Monica elementary and middle schools, prompting investigation
Infant dies of COVID, Riverside County’s youngest death from the virus
Woman waiting for bus at Union Station in critical condition after attack
Gov. Gavin Newsom rejects parole for Sirhan Sirhan, convicted of killing Robert F. Kennedy

California Politics

Assemblyman Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) discusses legislation during floor debate at the state Capitol on Aug. 29, 2019.

Column: California single-payer healthcare proposal has even some Democrats skeptical of its survival

Newsom’s latest housing fix: More Californians living downtown
Opinion: Newsom campaigned for single-payer, but that’s not in his budget
California Democrats’ single-payer healthcare plan passes first hurdle
California’s overflowing coffers hand Newsom ‘every politician’s dream’

California: Most read

Federal prosecutors charge alleged gang members with killing off-duty LAPD officer
Winter crowds overwhelm Big Bear as Omicron slams workforce. ‘It’s crazy’
Omicron can make you contagious before you test positive, allowing for rapid spread
For Subscribers

After quitting BLM, co-founder Patrisse Cullors is healing: ‘I really thought I was gonna die’

In Depth

California was supposed to clear cannabis convictions. Tens of thousands are still languishing
Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s new event space is daring — and trapped inside its own head
A street musician spent years building a one-of-a-kind drum kit on wheels. Then, one morning, it was gone
Mourners say goodbye to Valentina Orellana Peralta, girl fatally shot by LAPD officer

Covid-19 Pandemic and Vaccines

NORWALK, CA - JANUARY 12, 2022: Health care workers administer COVID-19 tests at the drive-thru mega testing site on the east side of the Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs Metrolink Station on January 12, 2022 in Norwalk, California.(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

California

California Omicron surge expected to peak within weeks

Some parts of the globe that saw Omicron explode are now seeing the wave recede or flatten. California is expected to follow soon.

Abbott Laboratories' BinaxNOW rapid COVID-19 test

More free rapid COVID tests are coming. Here’s what we know so far

TORRANCE, CA - JANUARY 11: Registered nurse Anh Bui, is working with a Covid19 positive patient in the ICU at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022 in Torrance, CA. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Omicron brings fewer serious illnesses, but California hospitals are overwhelmed as cases soar

Los Angeles, CA - September 30: Kaiser Permanente's Los Angeles Medical Center on Sunset Blvd. on Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021 in Los Angeles, CA. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Omicron causing less severe illness in Southern California patients, study suggests

HERMOSA BEACH, CA - JANUARY 11, 2022 - - Karen Klink sits next to a sign she used in a protest when it was hard to visit her mother in a memory care facility during a three-month lockdown due to COVID-19 in late 2020. Klink wants to keep seeing her mother at the Redondo Beach facility where she lives and she needs to hand over a negative test for the virus before she is allowed to visit. She was photographed in her home in Hermosa Beach on January 11, 2022. In December, as coronavirus cases began to skyrocket with the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant, California ordered nursing homes and other care facilities to require a negative test for COVID-19 for any visitors, even for outdoor visits. To meet the requirement, the test results must be fresh: Visitors must provide a negative result from a PCR test done within two days or an antigen test done within a single day, according to the state order. But many Californians are now facing long waits and sluggish turnaround times for PCR tests as demand has spiked. January 11: in Hermosa Beach on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022 in Hermosa Beach, CA. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Families struggle to get COVID tests to visit loved ones in nursing and senior homes

Blood shortage forced trauma center to close for hours, L.A. County says

Scammers are preying on people desperate for COVID-19 tests. How to protect yourself

Nurses, doctors sick. Ambulances, blood in short supply. Omicron hits L.A. healthcare hard

Riverside County ignored pleas of at-risk worker who died of COVID-19, family’s lawsuit alleges

TORRANCE, CA - JANUARY 11: Registered nurse Giyun Kim, left, works with covid19 patient Marcus Miller, 44, right, of Carson in the covid unit at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022 in Torrance, CA. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

As hospitals reel, California tells coronavirus-positive medical workers to stay on the job

SYLMAR, CA - JANUARY 11: Students returned to campus, and friends, at Olive Vista Middle School in Sylmar on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. Every student needed a negative COVID-19 test result. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Omicron surge anxiety, absences and confusion mark first day of new LAUSD semester

SYLMAR, CA - JANUARY 11: LAUSD Megan K. Reilly visits Sabrina Loesh's class at Olive Vista Middle School in Sylmar on the first day of school on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Newsom signs order to make it easier for schools to hire teachers amid shortages

Santa Monica, California-Jan. 3, 2021-At the Covid Testing Today testing site on Broadway in Santa Monica, the wait was at least 45 minutes long even with an appointment on Monday, Jan. 3, 2021. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. County supervisors move to crack down on COVID-19 testing scams

Education

Chicago teachers accept COVID-19 safety deal, keeping kids in school
Bomb threat shuts down Charles R. Drew medical school in Willowbrook
California schools face funding crisis as student population declines

Housing & Homelessness

PACOIMA, CA-JULY 22, 2019: Josh Morgan, 27, prepares to feed his dog, Shop, at a homeless encampment located under the 118 fwy in Pacoima. Caltrans wants to oust everyone from this location, but it has been delayed due to a legal challenge. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Editorial: With Omicron surging, now is not the time to push homeless people into group shelters

Clearing homeless encampments and sending people into crowded shelters during a drastic surge in COVID is a bad idea from a public health perspective.

Editorial: If state leaders want affordable housing, they have to stop bungling attempts to fund it
L.A. has a new plan for creating more housing. An AIDS nonprofit wants it thrown out
Even in a hot market, L.A. won’t allow rent hikes for most tenants until 2023
Editorial: The VA vowed to house more than 500 homeless veterans by the holidays. How did it do?
Orange County to resume counting homeless people with coronavirus safety measures

Earthquakes

California
Earthquake: 3.9 quake felt near Palm Springs
California
Magnitude 2.6 earthquake hits in Rancho Palos Verdes
California
Magnitude 3.3 earthquake hits near Temecula
California
Pair of earthquakes felt near Bakersfield

More headlines

Ye, a.k.a. Kanye West, under investigation after being accused of punching fan
Brothers arrested, charged with string of retail thefts in Ventura County
Momentum slows for voting rights bills as Sinema, Manchin reject filibuster change
Blood shortage reaches crisis levels at San Diego County hospitals
Here’s how California plans to spend $37 billion fighting climate change
Mice are eating monarch butterflies in Pismo Beach

California
Nearly a third of Asians in San Gabriel Valley report experiencing racism during the pandemic
California
Three dead of suspected overdoses in Woodland Hills apartment
California
Man arrested on suspicion of stabbing, killing 77-year-old stepfather in Playa del Rey
California
Large commercial fire in Adelanto is knocked down after destroying two buildings
California
Two alpacas on the loose in Oakland. What could go wrong?
California
Black Lives Matter activists sue L.A. over protest crackdown outside mayor’s home
California
Real estate heiress settles wrongful-death suit brought by ex-boyfriend’s family
Music
L.A. City Council will consider renaming a street in singer Vicente Fernández’s honor
California
Four arrested in connection with killing of off-duty LAPD officer in South L.A.
California
‘Suspicious’ fire in San Diego scorches home of former legislator Lorena Gonzalez
Music
Full lineup announced for Coachella 2022; Harry Styles, Kanye West and Billie Eilish to headline
Politics
Senate plows ahead on voting rights push with no clear outcome

Columnists

Gustavo Arellano
Wherever there’s a fight for California’s future, this Mexican nerd will be there
Sandy Banks
The forces that shape California and animate our lives
Steve Lopez
Insights from a California native
Frank Shyong
Culture and diaspora
George Skelton
An expert view on California government and politics
Erika D. Smith
People, politics and the quest for a more equitable California

Featured

After 2021 spike in shootings by officers, LAPD will audit its training on use of deadly force
For Subscribers

A neglected California city reinvents itself with electric cars — and plots a road map for the nation
Hundreds died in L.A. traffic crashes in 2021. Is Vision Zero a failure?
Newsom proposes $2.7 billion to expand COVID-19 response efforts
First comprehensive data in two years show big academic setbacks for California students
Harry Reid reshaped the West. His environmental legacy is complicated

Newsletters

Business & Economics

Little India, already struggling before the pandemic, is at a crossroads
Flight cancellations continue at LAX as more bad weather rolls in, Omicron surge worsens
Outbreak at SpaceX yields 132 coronavirus cases; company says number dates to September
Vaccinated California employees face workplace restrictions
California rethinks nursing home funding after ‘appalling’ COVID-19 death toll