latimes--2020-10-16--Court allows Exide to abandon a toxic site in Vernon. Taxpayers will fund the cleanup

A bankruptcy court ruled Friday that Exide Technologies may abandon its shuttered battery recycling plant in Vernon , leaving a massive cleanup of lead and other toxic pollutants at the site and in surrounding neighborhoods to California taxpayers .
The decision by Chief Judge Christopher Sontchi of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of Delaware , made over the objections of California officials and community members , marks the latest chapter in a decades-long history of government failures to protect the public from brain-damaging lead , cancer-causing arsenic and other pollutants from the facility .
The plan ’ s confirmation only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Latino communities across southeast Los Angeles County to chronic and dangerous levels of soil contamination and made the area a symbol of environmental injustice .
Community groups have fought for years with the company and its environmental regulators to restrict harmful pollution , shut down illegal operations and clean up the toxic mess .
The property ’ s abandonment compounds the challenges of addressing ongoing health risks to young children and others living nearby , where thousands of yards remain riddled with lead , a powerful neurotoxin with no safe level of exposure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enraged that Exide is getting away with this , but also by how our system is failing us again and again , ” said Boyle Heights resident Idalmis Vaquero , who lives within the residential cleanup zone surrounding the plant .
“ It ’ s infuriating .
Our federal government is allowing a toxic polluter to walk away , leaving the victims of this contamination to figure out what to do next.
” The decision followed a two-day court hearing with testimony from environmental regulators , company consultants and officers and health experts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the environment and the public from abandoning a hazardous facility with the remediation unfinished .
The recycling operation , located about five miles from downtown Los Angeles , has not been fully demolished and remains partially enclosed in a temporary , tent-like structure designed to prevent the release of lead and other toxic pollutants .
In his verbal ruling , Sontchi concluded it is not an imminent threat to the public .
“ The entire property is not sort of a seething , glowing toxic lead situation , ” Sontchi said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that will cause long-term health effects ” and takes time to accumulate , he said .
“ I don ’ t think any of that indicates there ’ s an imminent , immediate harm to the general public if this property is abandoned.
” State officials blame decades of air pollution from the plant , which melted down used car batteries until its closure five years ago , for spreading lead dust across half a dozen communities , including Boyle Heights , East Los Angeles , Commerce and Maywood .
The area has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cleanup has so far removed contaminated soil from 2,000 residential properties , as well as as well as parks , day-care facilities and schools .
But thousands more have yet to be cleaned in the largest remediation project of its kind in California .
The Trump administration , through the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency , supported Exide ’ s plan , which also leaves behind toxic sites in several other states .
Those sites too remain a threat to public health and the environment .
The Justice Department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public comments in opposition to the proposal , which was released three weeks ago and provided the public eight business days to weigh in .
More than 650 people called in to a five-hour public hearing Tuesday , with 125 people giving oral testimony that was “ universally and strenuously and sometimes emotionally opposed to approval , ” according to a Justice Department filing .
Community outrage did nothing to change the position of the Justice Department , which urged approval of the plan in a court document a day later .
Gov @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the court ’ s decision , which he said would allow Exide to “ evade responsibility for poisoning the homes , playgrounds and backyards ” surrounding its facility .
“ I am outraged that the federal bankruptcy court let Exide and its creditors off the hook today and decided that lead exposure does not pose an imminent or immediate harm to the public , ” Newsom said .
“ That is wrong , it ignores decades of scientific evidence , and it is a dangerous decision that we absolutely intend to appeal.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ settlement , in which the state would receive $ 2.6 million in exchange for a broad release from liability .
The state has already set aside more than $ 270 million toward cleaning thousands of homes surrounding the facility with elevated levels of lead in the soil .
If California had agreed to the plan , the Vernon property would have been placed into an environmental response trust charged with cleaning the site .
Instead , the company moved forward with a “ nonconsensual ” plan that would impose a release of liability @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s ruling , however , required that California be allowed to file an administrative claim .
Under the decision , the property may be abandoned on Oct. 30 , giving the state two weeks to take over the site .
“ If they ’ re unable to transfer this property in the next two weeks , it ’ s because of their own bureaucracy or their own inability to act , ” Sontchi said .
Local elected officials were incensed by the ruling .
“ This blatant disregard for the community by Exide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just another reminder that if you ’ re brown and poor , you ’ re disposable , ” Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia ( D-Bell Gardens ) said in a statement .
“ Today we have witnessed another disturbing injustice , ” State Assemblyman Miguel Santiago ( D-Los Angeles ) said in a statement .
“ We will fight this horrific decision and stop the harm that is being done to our communities.
” The facility , which sits on a 15-acre site , remains half-demolished and partially covered in white plastic sheeting , scaffolding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to prevent the release of lead , arsenic and other hazardous pollutants .
The enclosure requires daily maintenance to prevent tears , according to the state Department of Toxic Substances Control .
Earlier this week the department issued a document saying the Vernon site may pose an “ imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health or welfare or to the environment , ” which officials called a protective measure to give it more power to take steps needed to protect the community from the release of pollution if the site is abandoned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this month in support of abandoning the plant , Exide Chief Restructuring Officer Roy Messing said the site is “ of inconsequential value and burdensome ” because if not sold or abandoned , it would require “ significant expenditures in connection with ongoing decommissioning and remediation obligations ... which would deplete the estate ’ s limited resources while providing no benefit to the estate or its constituents.
” Messing said in the declaration filed with the court that Exide spent more than $ 75 million closing the facility and complying with state Department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and is currently spending about $ 750,000 a month to “ maintain and secure ” the facility .
During the two-day hearing , lawyers for Exide , California and U.S. government sparred over the condition of the site and who would keep the electricity on , pay the contractors maintaining the enclosure around the facility and keep air quality monitors on the facility ’ s perimeter up and running if it were abandoned .
Peter Friedman , an attorney representing the state Department of Toxic Substances Control , said that Exide was foisting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and state regulators .
He said that “ fugitive dust would be free to migrate off site and families living near the Vernon site could not count on being safe , if current safeguards were removed.
” Attorneys for Exide suggested the Department of Toxic Substances Control could use the $ 26.4 million the company was required to set aside to keep the tent intact and prevent pollutants from getting out .
Toxic Substance Control officials said that doing so would burn through the money quickly just maintaining the enclosure , and that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 72 million to make the site safe .
Exide ’ s attorneys argued that the company would soon cease to exist and simply no longer has the money to pay for the cleanup , and that the facility would pose no imminent health threat because the enclosure surrounding it remains intact .
They also pointed fingers back at the Department of Toxic Substances Control for being slow to act on the health risks at the site and for issuing a determination that it posed an imminent threat only three days before the hearing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sontchi asked California ’ s attorney “ how much can the government sit back and not take action to remediate … and then say abandonment is not appropriate because it ’ s an immediate , imminent , threat.
” At one point during the hearing , Sontchi questioned how exposure to a dangerous element like lead that builds up in the body over time “ somehow qualifies as imminent danger when everywhere you go in your life you ’ re exposed to lead .
We all have lead in our bodies .
That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particularly vulnerable to lead because their brains are still developing and can suffer lifelong harm , including lower IQs , learning difficulties and behavioral problems , from even low levels of exposure to contaminated soil and dust , Dr. Gina Solomon , a UC San Francisco professor of medicine and researcher at the Public Health Institute , testified during Thursday ’ s hearing .
The Department of Justice , for its part , said abandonment was a “ last resort ” and sought to blame the outcome on California ’ s refusal to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by other states where Exide lead-smelting operations have left behind contamination , including Indiana , Texas and Pennsylvania .
California regulators let the facility in Vernon operate with only a temporary permit for more than three decades despite repeated violations of air pollution limits and hazardous waste rules .
The plant shut down permanently in 2015 under a deal between Georgia-based Exide and the U.S. Attorney ’ s Office for the Central District of California .
The company , which at the time was undergoing a previous bankruptcy reorganization , admitted to years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agreeing to close and demolish the plant and clean up the pollution .
Exide began working to close and clean the site in 2017 , but stopped in March , citing the COVID-19 pandemic .
The company filed for bankruptcy protection again in May with plans to liquidate its assets .
California regulators have said for years they were building a case and would go after the company and any other responsible parties to recoup funds for the cleanup .
But there will no longer be an Exide to pursue .
There are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sustain the project , including a cleanup fund established in 2016 using fees on lead-acid car batteries like the ones recycled at the Exide plant .
Mark Lopez , co-director of the group East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice , said the community pushed for that fee as a safeguard because they knew that the company was likely to use bankruptcy to avoid its cleanup obligations .
“ We knew we couldn ’ t rely on Exide because the legal tools available advantage them and not us , ” said Lopez , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It ’ s a gut punch , and another strike against us .
And just because it was anticipated doesn ’ t make it hurt any less.
” Environmentalists and community groups have long said a real solution requires comprehensive overhaul of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control , which has a history of slow response to urgent health threats and poor oversight of hazardous waste facilities .
Gov .
Newsom last month vetoed legislation to reform the department .
Jane Williams , who directs the group California Communities Against Toxics , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ waste facilities in California that the Department of Toxic Substances Control has not required to set aside adequate funds for cleanup , and several other sites where lead smelters may have operated in the past .
“ This is going to repeat itself over and over again , ” she said .
“ Exide is just the point of the arrow.
” UCLA law professor Lynn LoPucki , who directs a database of big bankruptcy cases , said California lawmakers are ultimately to blame for the state having “ basically no legal rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through the bankruptcy .
That ’ s because California law puts environmental obligations behind a host of secured creditors , he said .
That ’ s in contrast to a growing number of states , including New York , New Jersey and Michigan , that have adopted laws that give first priority to environmental liens for the cleanup of hazardous waste .
“ If that were true here , then Exide would pay for the cleanup and the creditors would get what was left , ” LoPucki said .
” There would just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it up you have to pay to clean it up.
” The state Legislature can not fix the current predicament with Exide , he said .
“ But they can prevent this from happening in the next case .
And they ’ re not doing that .
”

Portions of the shuttered Exide Technologies facility in Vernon, about 5 miles from downtown Los Angeles, are wrapped in white plastic to prevent the release of lead and other harmful pollutants.
A bankruptcy court ruled Friday that Exide Technologies may abandon its shuttered battery recycling plant in Vernon, leaving a massive cleanup of lead and other toxic pollutants at the site and in surrounding neighborhoods to California taxpayers.
The decision by Chief Judge Christopher Sontchi of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of Delaware, made over the objections of California officials and community members, marks the latest chapter in a decades-long history of government failures to protect the public from brain-damaging lead, cancer-causing arsenic and other pollutants from the facility.
The plan’s confirmation only deepens a fiasco that has subjected working-class Latino communities across southeast Los Angeles County to chronic and dangerous levels of soil contamination and made the area a symbol of environmental injustice.
Community groups have fought for years with the company and its environmental regulators to restrict harmful pollution, shut down illegal operations and clean up the toxic mess. The property’s abandonment compounds the challenges of addressing ongoing health risks to young children and others living nearby, where thousands of yards remain riddled with lead, a powerful neurotoxin with no safe level of exposure.
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Jose Gonzalez, 64, who suffers from 6 cancers. holds the many patient wrist bands he has accrued during treatment as he speaks in front of his Boyle Heights home following a news conference to express their opposition to Exide’s proposed bankruptcy settlement, specifically in regard to the option for Exide to fully abandon the facility in Vernon and its responsibility to clean the environmental damage it caused. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
“I’m frustrated and enraged that Exide is getting away with this, but also by how our system is failing us again and again,” said Boyle Heights resident Idalmis Vaquero, who lives within the residential cleanup zone surrounding the plant. “It’s infuriating. Our federal government is allowing a toxic polluter to walk away, leaving the victims of this contamination to figure out what to do next.”
The decision followed a two-day court hearing with testimony from environmental regulators, company consultants and officers and health experts, much of it about the threats to the environment and the public from abandoning a hazardous facility with the remediation unfinished. The recycling operation, located about five miles from downtown Los Angeles, has not been fully demolished and remains partially enclosed in a temporary, tent-like structure designed to prevent the release of lead and other toxic pollutants.
In his verbal ruling, Sontchi concluded it is not an imminent threat to the public.
“The entire property is not sort of a seething, glowing toxic lead situation,” Sontchi said.
“We have a very dangerous element that will cause long-term health effects” and takes time to accumulate, he said. “I don’t think any of that indicates there’s an imminent, immediate harm to the general public if this property is abandoned.”
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State officials blame decades of air pollution from the plant, which melted down used car batteries until its closure five years ago, for spreading lead dust across half a dozen communities, including Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, Commerce and Maywood. The area has more than 100,000 residents.
A state-led cleanup has so far removed contaminated soil from 2,000 residential properties, as well as as well as parks, day-care facilities and schools. But thousands more have yet to be cleaned in the largest remediation project of its kind in California.
Map of the cleanup zone around Exide Technologies’ lead battery recycling plant. (Los Angeles Times)
The Trump administration, through the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency, supported Exide’s plan, which also leaves behind toxic sites in several other states. Those sites too remain a threat to public health and the environment.
The Justice Department said it received more than 1,000 written public comments in opposition to the proposal, which was released three weeks ago and provided the public eight business days to weigh in. More than 650 people called in to a five-hour public hearing Tuesday, with 125 people giving oral testimony that was “universally and strenuously and sometimes emotionally opposed to approval,” according to a Justice Department filing.
Community outrage did nothing to change the position of the Justice Department, which urged approval of the plan in a court document a day later.
Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statement condemning the court’s decision, which he said would allow Exide to “evade responsibility for poisoning the homes, playgrounds and backyards” surrounding its facility.
“I am outraged that the federal bankruptcy court let Exide and its creditors off the hook today and decided that lead exposure does not pose an imminent or immediate harm to the public,” Newsom said. “That is wrong, it ignores decades of scientific evidence, and it is a dangerous decision that we absolutely intend to appeal.”
California refused to sign on to the settlement, in which the state would receive $2.6 million in exchange for a broad release from liability. The state has already set aside more than $270 million toward cleaning thousands of homes surrounding the facility with elevated levels of lead in the soil.
If California had agreed to the plan, the Vernon property would have been placed into an environmental response trust charged with cleaning the site. Instead, the company moved forward with a “nonconsensual” plan that would impose a release of liability and abandon the property.
Sontchi’s ruling, however, required that California be allowed to file an administrative claim. Under the decision, the property may be abandoned on Oct. 30, giving the state two weeks to take over the site.
“If they’re unable to transfer this property in the next two weeks, it’s because of their own bureaucracy or their own inability to act,” Sontchi said.
Local elected officials were incensed by the ruling.
“This blatant disregard for the community by Exide, the DOJ and the judge is just another reminder that if you’re brown and poor, you’re disposable,” Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) said in a statement.
“Today we have witnessed another disturbing injustice,” State Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) said in a statement. “We will fight this horrific decision and stop the harm that is being done to our communities.”
Fading exterior at Exide Technologies, a lead-acid battery recycling plant located in Vernon. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
The facility, which sits on a 15-acre site, remains half-demolished and partially covered in white plastic sheeting, scaffolding, and a negative pressure system designed to prevent the release of lead, arsenic and other hazardous pollutants.
The enclosure requires daily maintenance to prevent tears, according to the state Department of Toxic Substances Control. Earlier this week the department issued a document saying the Vernon site may pose an “imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health or welfare or to the environment,” which officials called a protective measure to give it more power to take steps needed to protect the community from the release of pollution if the site is abandoned.
In a court filing earlier earlier this month in support of abandoning the plant, Exide Chief Restructuring Officer Roy Messing said the site is “of inconsequential value and burdensome” because if not sold or abandoned, it would require “significant expenditures in connection with ongoing decommissioning and remediation obligations ... which would deplete the estate’s limited resources while providing no benefit to the estate or its constituents.”
Messing said in the declaration filed with the court that Exide spent more than $75 million closing the facility and complying with state Department of Toxic Substances Control requirements since 2017 and is currently spending about $750,000 a month to “maintain and secure” the facility.
During the two-day hearing, lawyers for Exide, California and U.S. government sparred over the condition of the site and who would keep the electricity on, pay the contractors maintaining the enclosure around the facility and keep air quality monitors on the facility’s perimeter up and running if it were abandoned.
Peter Friedman, an attorney representing the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, said that Exide was foisting responsibility for the cleanup onto California taxpayers and state regulators. He said that “fugitive dust would be free to migrate off site and families living near the Vernon site could not count on being safe, if current safeguards were removed.”
Attorneys for Exide suggested the Department of Toxic Substances Control could use the $26.4 million the company was required to set aside to keep the tent intact and prevent pollutants from getting out. Toxic Substance Control officials said that doing so would burn through the money quickly just maintaining the enclosure, and that all told, it will cost $72 million to make the site safe.
Exide’s attorneys argued that the company would soon cease to exist and simply no longer has the money to pay for the cleanup, and that the facility would pose no imminent health threat because the enclosure surrounding it remains intact. They also pointed fingers back at the Department of Toxic Substances Control for being slow to act on the health risks at the site and for issuing a determination that it posed an imminent threat only three days before the hearing to approve the bankruptcy plan.
Judge Sontchi asked California’s attorney “how much can the government sit back and not take action to remediate … and then say abandonment is not appropriate because it’s an immediate, imminent, threat.”
At one point during the hearing, Sontchi questioned how exposure to a dangerous element like lead that builds up in the body over time “somehow qualifies as imminent danger when everywhere you go in your life you’re exposed to lead. We all have lead in our bodies. That’s reality.”
Young children are particularly vulnerable to lead because their brains are still developing and can suffer lifelong harm, including lower IQs, learning difficulties and behavioral problems, from even low levels of exposure to contaminated soil and dust, Dr. Gina Solomon, a UC San Francisco professor of medicine and researcher at the Public Health Institute, testified during Thursday’s hearing.
The Department of Justice, for its part, said abandonment was a “last resort” and sought to blame the outcome on California’s refusal to approve the settlement, which was signed by other states where Exide lead-smelting operations have left behind contamination, including Indiana, Texas and Pennsylvania.
California regulators let the facility in Vernon operate with only a temporary permit for more than three decades despite repeated violations of air pollution limits and hazardous waste rules. The plant shut down permanently in 2015 under a deal between Georgia-based Exide and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. The company, which at the time was undergoing a previous bankruptcy reorganization, admitted to years of environmental crimes but avoided prosecution by agreeing to close and demolish the plant and clean up the pollution.
Exide began working to close and clean the site in 2017, but stopped in March, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. The company filed for bankruptcy protection again in May with plans to liquidate its assets.
California regulators have said for years they were building a case and would go after the company and any other responsible parties to recoup funds for the cleanup. But there will no longer be an Exide to pursue.
Terry Gonzalez-Cano, 48, speaks outside her Boyle Heights home following a press conference as state and local elected leaders held a news conference at Resurrection Church in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles to express opposition to Exide’s bankruptcy plan. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
There are some existing funding sources that could help sustain the project, including a cleanup fund established in 2016 using fees on lead-acid car batteries like the ones recycled at the Exide plant.
Mark Lopez, co-director of the group East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, said the community pushed for that fee as a safeguard because they knew that the company was likely to use bankruptcy to avoid its cleanup obligations.
“We knew we couldn’t rely on Exide because the legal tools available advantage them and not us,” said Lopez, who lives in East Los Angeles. “It’s a gut punch, and another strike against us. And just because it was anticipated doesn’t make it hurt any less.”
Environmentalists and community groups have long said a real solution requires comprehensive overhaul of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, which has a history of slow response to urgent health threats and poor oversight of hazardous waste facilities. Gov. Newsom last month vetoed legislation to reform the department.
Jane Williams, who directs the group California Communities Against Toxics, said there are dozens of other hazardous waste facilities in California that the Department of Toxic Substances Control has not required to set aside adequate funds for cleanup, and several other sites where lead smelters may have operated in the past.
“This is going to repeat itself over and over again,” she said. “Exide is just the point of the arrow.”
UCLA law professor Lynn LoPucki, who directs a database of big bankruptcy cases, said California lawmakers are ultimately to blame for the state having “basically no legal rights” to recoup funds for the cleanup through the bankruptcy.
That’s because California law puts environmental obligations behind a host of secured creditors, he said. That’s in contrast to a growing number of states, including New York, New Jersey and Michigan, that have adopted laws that give first priority to environmental liens for the cleanup of hazardous waste.
“If that were true here, then Exide would pay for the cleanup and the creditors would get what was left,” LoPucki said. ”There would just be an understanding that if you mess it up you have to pay to clean it up.”
The state Legislature cannot fix the current predicament with Exide, he said. “But they can prevent this from happening in the next case. And they’re not doing that.”


latimes--2020-10-16--Lodwrick Cook, epitome of L.A.'s bygone era of corporate engagement, dies

From his office on the 51st floor of the gleaming black building at Flower and 5th streets , Lodwrick M. “ Lod ” Cook watched below as smoke enveloped the iconic pyramid crowning the Los Angeles Central Library .
For the chairman and chief executive of Arco , the April 29 , 1986 , arsonist ’ s fire that heavily damaged the quirky and beloved architectural landmark was not just a tragedy .
It was a call to action that would engage Cook for years .
Arco , then a leader among the dwindling ranks of corporate giants headquartered in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its twin towers for displaced library staff , and Cook joined then-Mayor Tom Bradley in leading Save the Books , a campaign to raise money for the library ’ s restoration .
He set up a store in Arco Plaza to benefit the library , dispatched Arco employees to the massive effort to restore hundreds of thousands of damaged books and periodicals and leaned on friends and other executives to contribute .
Over two years , the effort raised more than $ 10 million .
Such was Cook ’ s commitment to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ zaniest of charity telethons in L.A. history , he donned cowboy boots and a hat and danced to “ Just a Gigolo.
” For the next half-hour , calls poured in from around the country , bringing in $ 100,000 .
He later told The Times ’ Nita Lelyveld that a friend called in offering $ 1,000 if he would stop dancing .
Cook , whose 1995 retirement as Arco ’ s CEO presaged the end of an L.A. era of corporate philanthropy and civic engagement , died Sept. 28 in Sherman Oaks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Louisiana native and Louisiana State University graduate was confirmed by the New Orleans Times-Picayune .
Cook spent 39 years at Arco , starting in 1956 as a management trainee .
As CEO , he carried on the tradition of civic leadership established by his predecessor Robert O. Anderson .
In a 1999 essay , UCLA political scientist Xandra Kayden wrote that Arco , more than a leading oil company on the West Coast , was a leading citizen .
“ It consciously defined ‘ corporate citizenship ’ for many U.S. companies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well.
” Zev Yaroslavsky , who was a councilman and county supervisor during Cook ’ s years in L.A. , remembered him as a folksy man from the Deep South with an uncommon devotion to civic betterment .
“ He was a throwback to the old way where you had a couple of dozen companies and corporations whose leaders , when the mayor or governor had to get some heft behind a civic project , that ’ s who they would turn to , ” Yaroslavsky said .
“ Lod was one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dome Village for the Homeless , the building named for Anderson at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art , and Arco Plaza at the Museum of Contemporary Art .
More important , the company ’ s diligence in evaluating applications made an Arco ’ s grant a “ good philanthropist ’ s stamp of approval ” that gave credibility to new groups and initiatives , Kayden said .
It was a time , Cook said in a 2005 interview , when a small group of corporate leaders met occasionally to discuss the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wish Arco was still here , ” he told Lelyveld .
“ Now we ’ ve lost a lot of our corporate headquarters , and that ’ s a sad thing , because you don ’ t have that push.
” When the expanded library opened in 1993 , the rotunda was named for Cook , who also helped create and was the first chairman of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles , which now raises private donations .
He was also a chairman of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and a board @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Presidential Library Foundation .
After the 1992 riots , he served as a chairman of Rebuild L.A. Cook graduated from high school in Grand Cane , La.
, in a class of just five students .
He earned bachelor ’ s degrees from Louisiana State University in mathematics and engineering .
He had a business degree from Southern Methodist University .
After retiring from Arco , Cook became co-chairman of Global Crossing , which built a global fiber-optic telecommunications network , and most recently was chairman of NeuroSigma Inc. , a medical device @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 35 years , Carole died in 2010 .
He is survived by five children , and 10 grandchildren .

L.A. business and civic leader Lodwrick Cook, back center, with Sarah Ferguson and her husband, Prince Andrew, right, at a 1988 gala.
From his office on the 51st floor of the gleaming black building at Flower and 5th streets, Lodwrick M. “Lod” Cook watched below as smoke enveloped the iconic pyramid crowning the Los Angeles Central Library.
For the chairman and chief executive of Arco, the April 29, 1986, arsonist’s fire that heavily damaged the quirky and beloved architectural landmark was not just a tragedy. It was a call to action that would engage Cook for years.
Arco, then a leader among the dwindling ranks of corporate giants headquartered in Los Angeles, immediately provided space in its twin towers for displaced library staff, and Cook joined then-Mayor Tom Bradley in leading Save the Books, a campaign to raise money for the library’s restoration.
He set up a store in Arco Plaza to benefit the library, dispatched Arco employees to the massive effort to restore hundreds of thousands of damaged books and periodicals and leaned on friends and other executives to contribute. Over two years, the effort raised more than $10 million.
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Such was Cook’s commitment to the library project that in one of the zaniest of charity telethons in L.A. history, he donned cowboy boots and a hat and danced to “Just a Gigolo.” For the next half-hour, calls poured in from around the country, bringing in $100,000.
He later told The Times’ Nita Lelyveld that a friend called in offering $1,000 if he would stop dancing.
Cook, whose 1995 retirement as Arco’s CEO presaged the end of an L.A. era of corporate philanthropy and civic engagement, died Sept. 28 in Sherman Oaks. He was 92.
The death of the Louisiana native and Louisiana State University graduate was confirmed by the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Cook spent 39 years at Arco, starting in 1956 as a management trainee. As CEO, he carried on the tradition of civic leadership established by his predecessor Robert O. Anderson. In a 1999 essay, UCLA political scientist Xandra Kayden wrote that Arco, more than a leading oil company on the West Coast, was a leading citizen. “It consciously defined ‘corporate citizenship’ for many U.S. companies, and many U.S. communities, as well.”
Advertisement
Zev Yaroslavsky, who was a councilman and county supervisor during Cook’s years in L.A., remembered him as a folksy man from the Deep South with an uncommon devotion to civic betterment.
“He was a throwback to the old way where you had a couple of dozen companies and corporations whose leaders, when the mayor or governor had to get some heft behind a civic project, that’s who they would turn to,” Yaroslavsky said. “Lod was one of them.”
Among its works were the Dome Village for the Homeless, the building named for Anderson at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Arco Plaza at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
More important, the company’s diligence in evaluating applications made an Arco’s grant a “good philanthropist’s stamp of approval” that gave credibility to new groups and initiatives, Kayden said.
It was a time, Cook said in a 2005 interview, when a small group of corporate leaders met occasionally to discuss the city’s needs.
“I wish Arco was still here,” he told Lelyveld. “Now we’ve lost a lot of our corporate headquarters, and that’s a sad thing, because you don’t have that push.”
When the expanded library opened in 1993, the rotunda was named for Cook, who also helped create and was the first chairman of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, which now raises private donations.
He was also a chairman of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and a board member and trustee of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation.
After the 1992 riots, he served as a chairman of Rebuild L.A.
Cook graduated from high school in Grand Cane, La., in a class of just five students. He earned bachelor’s degrees from Louisiana State University in mathematics and engineering. He had a business degree from Southern Methodist University.
After retiring from Arco, Cook became co-chairman of Global Crossing, which built a global fiber-optic telecommunications network, and most recently was chairman of NeuroSigma Inc., a medical device maker.
Cook’s wife of 35 years, Carole died in 2010. He is survived by five children, and 10 grandchildren.


latimes--2020-10-16--Is someone really flying around LAX in a jet pack? Trying to solve an aviation mystery

It was an otherwise quiet Sunday night at the Los Angeles International Airport control tower when an American Airlines pilot radioed in with an unbelievable report .
“ Tower , American 1997 .
We just passed a guy in a jet pack , ” the pilot said .
Minutes later came another report , this time from a pilot approaching LAX in a Jet Blue airliner : “ We just saw the guy pass us by in the jet pack.
” So began one of the most intriguing aviation mysteries Los Angeles has confronted in years .
Those sightings occurred @ @ @ @ @ @ @ twist Wednesday when a China Airlines pilot approaching LAX reported seeing a jet pack flying at an altitude of 6,000 feet .
That ’ s more than a mile up .
The FBI is on the case , as is a good chunk of L.A. ’ s aviation community , which has been buzzing about the sightings .
Though jet packs make frequent appearances in popular culture and movies — think Sean Connery ’ s James Bond and Disney ’ s “ The Rocketeer ” — they are actually very rare .
There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world that make jet packs , including a winged device created by former Swiss air force pilot Yves Rossy , which requires him to be hoisted in the air by a helicopter or balloon before he can take off .
There is also a type of hoverboard made by French firm Zapata and flown only by its inventor , Franky Zapata .
Locally , Chatsworth-based JetPack Aviation has created five jet packs that are worn like backpacks .
But they ’ re not for sale , and Chief Executive David Mayman said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sold to consumers , either .
It ’ s possible that Wednesday ’ s sighting near LAX was indeed a person flying with a jet pack .
But the reported altitude makes such a flight seem “ highly unlikely , ” said Mike Hirschberg , executive director of the Vertical Flight Society , a nonprofit professional organization .
Mayman said his company ’ s jet packs are technically capable of soaring to heights of 15,000 feet .
But because of fuel constraints , they can actually reach only about 1,000 or 1,500 feet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fly up to 6,000 feet from the ground , to fly around long enough to be seen by China Airlines and then to descend again , you ’ d be out of fuel , ” he said .
Mayman said he knows it wasn ’ t any of his company ’ s jet packs because he knows exactly where they are — plus , they are disabled when not in use , so grabbing a pack out of storage wouldn ’ t be possible .
Instead , he suggests a more likely scenario @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a mannequin attached .
Thomas Anthony , director of the USC Aviation Safety and Security Program and a former Federal Aviation Administration criminal investigator , said the strongest evidence that the LAX sightings is a person with a jet pack — as opposed to a balloon or drone — came from the American Airlines pilot , who reported seeing the object at 3,000 feet over Cudahy .
The pilot stated he saw “ a guy in a jet pack ” 300 yards to his left and flying at about the plane ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Anthony said .
He said federal investigators would immediately look at the limited number of jet packs that exist in the U.S. and overseas .
“ People in that community will know who has bought these packs , ” he said .
“ If someone is doing this , they are going to have to take off and land somewhere , and there is going to be noise.
” Anthony said he doubts the culprit is using an airport to take off and that investigators should look to out-of-the-way industrial spots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jet pack was flying in a section of Southeast Los Angeles County near Cudahy and Vernon that is dotted with commercial and manufacturing businesses .
The flying range of jet packs is pretty limited , Anthony added , so it ’ s unlikely it traveled any great distance .
After the China Airlines pilot ‘ s report Wednesday , the LAX control tower called in a law enforcement aircraft to investigate .
The aircraft was flying about seven miles from where the pilot said he ’ d seen the jetpack , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arrived , no signs of the jet pack remained .
A jet pack could be operated as an ultralight — meaning it would not be registered and its operator wouldn ’ t need a pilot ’ s license if it meets fuel capacity , weight and speed requirements , according to the FAA .
Ultralight aircraft are permitted to fly only during the day and are barred from flying over densely populated areas or in controlled aerospace without FAA approval .
Anthony and others say it ’ s imperative that the FBI investigate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does represent a very significant compromise of the airspace , ” he said .
If a rogue pilot were flying at 6,000 feet without a transponder or radio , Anthony said , that would put him or her in the path of commercial airlines maneuvering over Los Angeles .
Airliners are designed to withstand getting hit by small objects .
But a big metal object is another matter , especially if it were sucked into an engine .
“ The engines aren ’ t designed to consume something large and metal , or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to burn or explode , ” Hirschberg said .
“ That could be potentially catastrophic for an airplane .
You could potentially have an engine explode and bring down the airliner and potentially hundreds of people could die.
” So is what has been reported near LAX really a jet pack ?
Some experts say it ’ s possible .
In February , a pilot in Dubai reached an altitude of 5,900 feet flying a Jetman jet pack powered by four mini jet engines with carbon-fiber wings .
The pack ’ s builders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 250 mph .
After a number of dip and roll maneuvers , the Dubai pilot descended to the ground using a parachute .
Others , though , are more skeptical .
Hirschberg said the apparatus seen near LAX could have been a balloon , particularly because the China Airlines pilot noted that the flying object was shiny .
Or it could have been a drone , he said .
In recent years , some airports have had to halt flights after drone sightings .
In 2018 , London ’ s Gatwick Airport closed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drone sightings .
Drones comes in many shapes and sizes .
In August 2019 , an inventor demonstrated a flying man drone at a German remote control show .
The drone was made to look human with a flight suit stuffed with bubble wrap with boots and a lightweight visored helmet attached to a battery-powered drone .
In the U.S. , recreational users are not allowed to fly their drones higher than 400 feet , can not fly over people or moving vehicles and are prohibited from interfering with crewed aircraft .
L.A. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Back in 1982 a guy took flight over Long Beach in a lawn chair lifted aloft by helium-filled balloons .
Pilots reported seeing him too .
As for the jet pack sightings , the FBI has so far been tight-lipped about its investigation .
But on the late August night when the mystery began , the air traffic controller summed up the feelings of many : “ Only in L.A .
”

David Mayman, founder of Chatsworth-based JetPack Aviation, suits up in his company’s JB11 JetPack in 2018 in England.
It was an otherwise quiet Sunday night at the Los Angeles International Airport control tower when an American Airlines pilot radioed in with an unbelievable report.
“Tower, American 1997. We just passed a guy in a jet pack,” the pilot said.
Minutes later came another report, this time from a pilot approaching LAX in a Jet Blue airliner: “We just saw the guy pass us by in the jet pack.”
So began one of the most intriguing aviation mysteries Los Angeles has confronted in years.
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Those sightings occurred Aug. 30. The case took another twist Wednesday when a China Airlines pilot approaching LAX reported seeing a jet pack flying at an altitude of 6,000 feet. That’s more than a mile up.
The FBI is on the case, as is a good chunk of L.A.’s aviation community, which has been buzzing about the sightings.
Though jet packs make frequent appearances in popular culture and movies — think Sean Connery’s James Bond and Disney’s “The Rocketeer” — they are actually very rare.
There are only a handful of companies around the world that make jet packs, including a winged device created by former Swiss air force pilot Yves Rossy, which requires him to be hoisted in the air by a helicopter or balloon before he can take off. There is also a type of hoverboard made by French firm Zapata and flown only by its inventor, Franky Zapata.
Locally, Chatsworth-based JetPack Aviation has created five jet packs that are worn like backpacks. But they’re not for sale, and Chief Executive David Mayman said none of his competitors’ products are sold to consumers, either.
It’s possible that Wednesday’s sighting near LAX was indeed a person flying with a jet pack. But the reported altitude makes such a flight seem “highly unlikely,” said Mike Hirschberg, executive director of the Vertical Flight Society, a nonprofit professional organization.
Mayman said his company’s jet packs are technically capable of soaring to heights of 15,000 feet. But because of fuel constraints, they can actually reach only about 1,000 or 1,500 feet off the ground safely.
“To fly up to 6,000 feet from the ground, to fly around long enough to be seen by China Airlines and then to descend again, you’d be out of fuel,” he said.
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Mayman said he knows it wasn’t any of his company’s jet packs because he knows exactly where they are — plus, they are disabled when not in use, so grabbing a pack out of storage wouldn’t be possible.
Instead, he suggests a more likely scenario, an electric drone — perhaps with a mannequin attached.
Thomas Anthony, director of the USC Aviation Safety and Security Program and a former Federal Aviation Administration criminal investigator, said the strongest evidence that the LAX sightings is a person with a jet pack — as opposed to a balloon or drone — came from the American Airlines pilot, who reported seeing the object at 3,000 feet over Cudahy.
The pilot stated he saw “a guy in a jet pack” 300 yards to his left and flying at about the plane’s altitude.
“That is quite close,” Anthony said.
He said federal investigators would immediately look at the limited number of jet packs that exist in the U.S. and overseas.
“People in that community will know who has bought these packs,” he said. “If someone is doing this, they are going to have to take off and land somewhere, and there is going to be noise.”
Anthony said he doubts the culprit is using an airport to take off and that investigators should look to out-of-the-way industrial spots for clues. The FBI suggested the jet pack was flying in a section of Southeast Los Angeles County near Cudahy and Vernon that is dotted with commercial and manufacturing businesses.
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The flying range of jet packs is pretty limited, Anthony added, so it’s unlikely it traveled any great distance.
After the China Airlines pilot‘s report Wednesday, the LAX control tower called in a law enforcement aircraft to investigate.
The aircraft was flying about seven miles from where the pilot said he’d seen the jetpack, according to radio communications.
But when the craft arrived, no signs of the jet pack remained.
A jet pack could be operated as an ultralight — meaning it would not be registered and its operator wouldn’t need a pilot’s license if it meets fuel capacity, weight and speed requirements, according to the FAA. Ultralight aircraft are permitted to fly only during the day and are barred from flying over densely populated areas or in controlled aerospace without FAA approval.
Anthony and others say it’s imperative that the FBI investigate the sightings for safety.
“This does represent a very significant compromise of the airspace,” he said.
If a rogue pilot were flying at 6,000 feet without a transponder or radio, Anthony said, that would put him or her in the path of commercial airlines maneuvering over Los Angeles.
Airliners are designed to withstand getting hit by small objects. But a big metal object is another matter, especially if it were sucked into an engine.
“The engines aren’t designed to consume something large and metal, or something with fuel that’s going to burn or explode,” Hirschberg said. “That could be potentially catastrophic for an airplane. You could potentially have an engine explode and bring down the airliner and potentially hundreds of people could die.”
So is what has been reported near LAX really a jet pack?
Some experts say it’s possible.
× Jetman pilot Vince Reffet launched himself 1,800 meters in Dubai, Friday, February 14.
In February, a pilot in Dubai reached an altitude of 5,900 feet flying a Jetman jet pack powered by four mini jet engines with carbon-fiber wings. The pack’s builders say it can reach speeds of nearly 250 mph. After a number of dip and roll maneuvers, the Dubai pilot descended to the ground using a parachute.
Others, though, are more skeptical. Hirschberg said the apparatus seen near LAX could have been a balloon, particularly because the China Airlines pilot noted that the flying object was shiny.
Or it could have been a drone, he said. In recent years, some airports have had to halt flights after drone sightings. In 2018, London’s Gatwick Airport closed for more than a day after repeated drone sightings.
Drones comes in many shapes and sizes. In August 2019, an inventor demonstrated a flying man drone at a German remote control show. The drone was made to look human with a flight suit stuffed with bubble wrap with boots and a lightweight visored helmet attached to a battery-powered drone.
In the U.S., recreational users are not allowed to fly their drones higher than 400 feet, cannot fly over people or moving vehicles and are prohibited from interfering with crewed aircraft.
L.A. airspace is no stranger to unexpected sights. Back in 1982 a guy took flight over Long Beach in a lawn chair lifted aloft by helium-filled balloons. Pilots reported seeing him too.
As for the jet pack sightings, the FBI has so far been tight-lipped about its investigation.
But on the late August night when the mystery began, the air traffic controller summed up the feelings of many: “Only in L.A.”


latimes--2020-10-16--California is slowly gaining jobs, but unemployment remains grim

California ’ s unemployment rate ticked down last month as the state slowly recouped some of its lost jobs , even as the state continued to rack up coronavirus cases .
September joblessness was 11 % , down from 11.2 % in August , state officials reported Friday .
That compares with just 3.9 % in September of last year .
California has regained 38 % of the 2.6 million jobs lost in March and April as the pandemic devastated the economy .
In September , payrolls grew by 96,000 non-farm jobs to 15.98 million , below August ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the state counted 17.41 million non-farm jobs .
“ California ’ s labor market recovery is clearly decelerating , ” said Scott Anderson , chief economist of the Bank of the West in San Francisco .
“ Virus cases are on the rise , wildfires are decimating California communities , and federal government support is running dry.
” The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to spread across California , with experts saying the true number of people infected is unknown and likely much higher than official tallies .
Confirmed cases statewide since the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Friday .
The death toll exceeded 16,800 .
The nationwide job market was considerably brighter than California ’ s last month .
The U.S. unemployment rate at 7.9 % in September was lower than California ’ s .
Since February , California has lost 9.2 % of its payroll jobs , compared with 7 % nationwide .
More than 2 million Californians were counted as unemployed in September , but that doesn ’ t include hundreds of thousands of discouraged workers who have dropped out of the job market .
The labor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and job seekers , has shrunk by 850,000 people since February — pushing down the state ’ s official unemployment rate .
Many California businesses remain closed , and economists warn that the job market will not strongly recover until the virus is under control .
“ If we keep adding jobs at September ’ s rate , the state will not return to February ’ s level of employment until sometime in 2022 , ” said Taner Osman , research manager at Beacon Economics , a Los Angeles consultancy .
“ That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have lost work since the outbreak of the pandemic.
” The discouraging jobs report comes as negotiations between the Trump administration and Congressional Democrats over renewing federal unemployment benefits , along with aid to local and state governments , have broken down .
Democrats want a larger stimulus package than Republican are willing to approve .
The $ 600 weekly federal supplement for unemployed workers expired at the end of July , and a $ 300 replacement for some workers ran out last month .
An emergency benefit for the self-employed and for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for state unemployment aid , is slated to end in December .
State and local governments are facing a deep slump in tax revenue .
California was counting on a federal stimulus to reverse $ 11 billion in budget cuts in education , housing and government payrolls .
With no aid forthcoming , the state is instituting pay cuts for most of its 230,000 employees .
“ Furloughs are turning into permanent layoffs , ” said Sung Won Sohn , an economist at Loyola Marymount University .
“ California may have to brace @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Job postings in California are down 24.8 % since January and there has been no uptick since August , according to Michael Bernick , a former director of the state Employment Development Department .
“ Small businesses are not reopening in significant numbers nor are revenues increasing , in comparison with the recovery among large employers , ” he added .
“ The state ’ s 45 local workforce boards are reporting very little new hiring.
” Still , seven of California ’ s 11 industry sectors reported modest gains last month @ @ @ @ @ @ @ increase : It grew by 48,400 jobs , mainly in hotels and restaurants , some of which have set up outdoor dining and stepped up deliveries .
But the sector , which has shrunk 28.5 % in a year , has a long way to go before it is fully recovered .
Many entertainment venues have yet to reopen .
Walt Disney Co. announced in late September that it would lay off 28,000 U.S. workers , largely at its theme parks , cruise line and retail stores .
Other sectors hiring in September @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) , healthcare ( up 11,100 ) , and “ other services , ” which includes businesses such as auto repair and dry cleaning ( up 10,900 ) .
Government jobs posted the largest decline last month : The sector shed 14,300 positions , mainly federal census workers .
Regionally , Orange County , with an unemployment rate of 9 % , saw the largest job gain , adding 21,000 positions for a total of about 1.57 million .
Unemployment in Riverside and San Bernardino counties was 10.4 % in September , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Angeles County , with a jobless rate of 15.1 % , gained just 5,600 positions for a total of about 4.94 million .
“ Across the state , the unemployment rate correlates with the prevalence of COVID-19 , ” said Fernando Lozano , a Pomona College economist , adding that the five counties with the highest joblessness are among the 10 counties with the most cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 inhabitants : Imperial , Kern , Tulare , San Joaquin and Los Angeles .
“ Households and firms adapt their economic decisions to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
When they feel at higher risk , “ people stay at home , stop going to malls and restaurants.
” The September jobs report is based on two federal surveys , one of 5,100 California households and one of 80,000 businesses in the state , conducted the week of Sept. 12 .

California’s unemployment rate ticked down last month as the state slowly recouped some of its lost jobs, even as it continued to rack up coronavirus cases.
September joblessness was 11%, down from 11.2% in August, state officials reported Friday. That compares with just 3.9% in September of last year.
California has regained 38% of the 2.6 million jobs lost in March and April as the pandemic devastated the economy. In September, payrolls grew by 96,000 nonfarm jobs to 15.98 million, less than August’s gain of 113,800. A year earlier, the state counted 17.41 million nonfarm jobs.
“California’s labor market recovery is clearly decelerating,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist of the Bank of the West in San Francisco. “Virus cases are on the rise, wildfires are decimating California communities, and federal government support is running dry.”
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The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to spread across California, with experts saying the true number of people infected is unknown and probably much higher than official tallies. Confirmed cases statewide since the start of the outbreak topped 869,000 as of Friday. The death toll exceeded 16,800.
The nationwide job market was considerably brighter than California’s last month. The U.S. unemployment rate at 7.9% in September was lower than California’s. Since February, California has lost 9.2% of its payroll jobs, compared with 7% nationwide.
More than 2 million Californians were counted as unemployed in September, but that doesn’t include hundreds of thousands of discouraged workers who have dropped out of the job market. The labor force, which includes both job holders and job seekers, has shrunk by 850,000 people since February — pushing down the state’s official unemployment rate.
Many California businesses remain closed, and economists warn that the job market will not strongly recover until the virus is under control.
“If we keep adding jobs at September’s rate, the state will not return to February’s level of employment until sometime in 2022,” said Taner Osman, research manager at Beacon Economics, a Los Angeles consultancy. “That’s sobering news for those who have lost work since the outbreak of the pandemic.”
The discouraging jobs report comes as negotiations between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats over renewing federal unemployment benefits, along with aid to local and state governments, have broken down. Democrats want a larger stimulus package than Republican are willing to approve.
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The $600 weekly federal supplement for unemployed workers expired at the end of July, and a $300 replacement for some workers ran out last month. An emergency benefit for the self-employed and for independent contractors, who do not qualify for state unemployment aid, is slated to end in December.
State and local governments are facing a deep slump in tax revenue. California was counting on a federal stimulus to reverse $11 billion in budget cuts in education, housing and government payrolls. With no aid forthcoming, the state is instituting pay cuts for most of its 230,000 employees.
“Furloughs are turning into permanent layoffs,” said Sung Won Sohn, an economist at Loyola Marymount University. “California may have to brace for a long period of economic doldrums.”
Job postings in California are down 24.8% since January and there has been no uptick since August, according to Michael Bernick, a former director of the state Employment Development Department. “Small businesses are not reopening in significant numbers nor are revenues increasing, in comparison with the recovery among large employers,” he added. “The state’s 45 local workforce boards are reporting very little new hiring.”
Still, seven of California’s 11 industry sectors reported modest gains last month. Leisure and hospitality had the largest increase: It grew by 48,400 jobs, mainly in hotels and restaurants, some of which have set up outdoor dining and stepped up deliveries. But the sector, which has shrunk 28.5% in a year, has a long way to go before it is fully recovered.
Many entertainment venues have yet to reopen. Walt Disney Co. announced in late September that it would lay off 28,000 U.S. workers, largely at its theme parks, cruise line and retail stores.
Other sectors hiring in September were retail trade (up 27,400 jobs), healthcare (up 11,100), and “other services,” which includes businesses such as auto repair and dry cleaning (up 10,900).
Government jobs posted the largest decline last month: The sector shed 14,300 positions, mainly federal census workers.
Regionally, Orange County, with an unemployment rate of 9%, saw the largest job gain, adding 21,000 positions for a total of about 1.57 million.
Business ‘Tsunami’ of hotel closures is coming, experts warn The Luxe Rodeo Drive is the first L.A.-area luxury hotel to go out of business because of the pandemic. An unusually high loan delinquency rate may mean more hotel closures are likely to follow.
Unemployment in Riverside and San Bernardino counties was 10.4% in September, and payrolls there gained 7,500 jobs.
Los Angeles County, with a jobless rate of 15.1%, gained just 5,600 positions for a total of about 4.94 million.
“Across the state, the unemployment rate correlates with the prevalence of COVID-19,” said Fernando Lozano, a Pomona College economist, adding that the five counties with the highest joblessness are among the 10 counties with the most cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 inhabitants: Imperial, Kern, Tulare, San Joaquin and Los Angeles.
“Households and firms adapt their economic decisions to the pandemic risk,” Lozano said. When they feel at higher risk, “people stay at home, stop going to malls and restaurants.”
The September jobs report is based on two federal surveys, one of 5,100 California households and one of 80,000 businesses in the state, conducted the week of Sept. 12.


latimes--2020-10-16--Laguna Beach Unified School District rolls out COVID-19 online 'dashboard'

The Laguna Beach Unified School District rolled out an online COVID-19 “ dashboard ” this week , a measure intended to provide transparency as it relates to the number of confirmed cases among staff and students at its schools .
El Morro Elementary and Top of the World Elementary , the district ’ s two elementary schools , as the district commenced with its hybrid learning model on Oct. 5 .
The district also has two — Thurston Middle School and Laguna Beach High School — both of which continue to conduct distance learning .
The online shows the total @ @ @ @ @ @ @ school , the confirmed positive cases among students and staff over the previous two weeks , the percentage of a school ’ s population that its cases make up during the same two-week period and the cumulative total cases at each school since Aug. 24 .
Within the past two weeks , the school population of Top of the World Elementary and Laguna Beach High have each had one confirmed positive test .
Voluntary testing for COVID-19 , the disease caused by the coronavirus , has been offered by the district .
District @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a confirmed positive test , the district will work with the Orange County Health Care Agency to conduct contact tracing for those who have been in close contact , within six feet of the infected individual for 15 minutes or more .
Those considered to be close contacts of a confirmed positive case will be given directions for self-isolation .
If a student has tested positive for COVID-19 or is showing symptoms , the district is asking parents to keep their child at home and contact their school ’ s nurse .
Best @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wearing a face covering are also encouraged .
The Orange County Health Care Agency reported 31 coronavirus deaths and 153 new infections in its latest numbers released on Thursday .
Among the reported deaths were those of 17 skilled nursing facility residents and two assisted living facility residents .
The county ’ s death toll due to the virus rose to 1,391 .
The cumulative cases seen in the county is 56,436 .
Currently , there are 164 hospitalized because of the virus , and 66 of those patients are being treated in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tests for COVID-19 were reported within the last day , bringing the total number of tests administered to 970,212 .
Approximately 50,459 people in the county have recovered from the virus , the healthcare agency estimated .
The county resides in the second , red tier , possessing seven-day averages of 4.6 daily new cases per 100,000 residents and a testing positivity rate of 3.5 % .
Those numbers come with a seven-day lag .
Below are the coronavirus case counts and deaths for select cities in Orange County : Updated figures are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tested , visit .

A student arrives on the bus as kids return for in-person learning at Top of the World Elementary School in Laguna Beach.
The Laguna Beach Unified School District rolled out an online COVID-19 “dashboard” this week, a measure intended to provide transparency as it relates to the number of confirmed cases among staff and students at its schools.
El Morro Elementary and Top of the World Elementary, the district’s two elementary schools, welcomed students back on campus as the district commenced with its hybrid learning model on Oct. 5.
The district also has two secondary schools — Thurston Middle School and Laguna Beach High School — both of which continue to conduct distance learning.
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The online dashboard shows the total number of students and staff at each school, the confirmed positive cases among students and staff over the previous two weeks, the percentage of a school’s population that its cases make up during the same two-week period and the cumulative total cases at each school since Aug. 24.
Within the past two weeks, the school population of Top of the World Elementary and Laguna Beach High have each had one confirmed positive test. Voluntary testing for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has been offered by the district.
District officials indicated that in the event of a confirmed positive test, the district will work with the Orange County Health Care Agency to conduct contact tracing for those who have been in close contact, within six feet of the infected individual for 15 minutes or more.
Those considered to be close contacts of a confirmed positive case will be given directions for self-isolation.
If a student has tested positive for COVID-19 or is showing symptoms, the district is asking parents to keep their child at home and contact their school’s nurse. Best practices of handwashing, physical distancing and wearing a face covering are also encouraged.
The Orange County Health Care Agency reported 31 coronavirus deaths and 153 new infections in its latest numbers released on Thursday.
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Among the reported deaths were those of 17 skilled nursing facility residents and two assisted living facility residents. The county’s death toll due to the virus rose to 1,391. The cumulative cases seen in the county is 56,436.
Currently, there are 164 hospitalized because of the virus, and 66 of those patients are being treated in intensive care units.
An additional 6,623 tests for COVID-19 were reported within the last day, bringing the total number of tests administered to 970,212. Approximately 50,459 people in the county have recovered from the virus, the healthcare agency estimated.
The county resides in the second, red tier, possessing seven-day averages of 4.6 daily new cases per 100,000 residents and a testing positivity rate of 3.5%. Those numbers come with a seven-day lag.
Below are the coronavirus case counts and deaths for select cities in Orange County:
Santa Ana: 10,843 cases; 301 deaths
Anaheim: 9,640 cases; 301 deaths
Huntington Beach: 2,493 cases; 81 deaths
Costa Mesa: 1,917 cases; 41 deaths
Irvine: 1,774 cases; 13 deaths
Newport Beach: 1,182 cases; 26 deaths
Fountain Valley: 533 cases; 19 deaths
Laguna Beach: 236 cases; fewer than five deaths
Updated figures are posted daily at occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/coronavirus-in-oc . For information on getting tested, visit occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/covid-19-testing .
Turner writes for Times Community News.


latimes--2020-10-16--Election of a board majority will shape the nation's largest community college district

With a dizzying 33 candidates , the election of four seats on the seven-member Los Angeles Community College District board has brought into focus the basic needs of some of the poorest college students in California amid the pandemic , as well as issues of declining enrollment , budget oversight and accountability over the chancellor .
Voters within a 900-square-mile area of Los Angeles County , from San Pedro to San Fernando and Malibu to Monterey Park , will choose whether to elect candidates backed by labor , newcomers marshaled by students , trustees who have run before , homeless @ @ @ @ @ @ @ system .
Each seat is elected at large and there is no primary , just the general election .
“ This is the largest community college district in the country , ” said Fernando Guerra , professor of political science and director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University .
“ It is oftentimes a trendsetter .
If it takes on issues and is successful — whether it ’ s online education , whether it ’ s student housing , whether it ’ s certain standards — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nation.
” These are among the issues the newly elected board will face : Declining enrollment .
Years in the making , the enrollment decline has been exacerbated by COVID-19 , as students have struggled to complete classes online and faced economic uncertainties and other stressors at home .
Districtwide enrollment this fall is down to 87 % of where it was last year .
State revenue is based largely on student enrollment .
Poor student outcomes .
According to state data , out of roughly 120,000 students who enrolled at an LACCD @ @ @ @ @ @ @ earning a two-year and/or four-year degree , about 14 % completed 12 or more units in the fall , and only 4 % completed transfer-level math and English within their first year — both important predictors of success .
Just 8,000 students previously enrolled in a community college successfully transferred into a four-year institution the following year .
Student basic needs crisis .
Before the pandemic , an estimated 62 % of students in the LACCD were food-insecure and 55 % were housing-insecure .
COVID-19 has deepened those insecurities , and access to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a basic need , with an enormous digital divide .
Oversight of the chancellor .
The election outcome will determine whether the LACCD ’ s chief administrator , Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez , stays or goes .
In December the board voted 5 to 2 to renew his contract for just one year , to 2021 .
Board member Scott Svonkin , who voted no , said at the time that Rodriguez had done too little to counter the district ’ s declining enrollment and low graduation and transfer rates , allowed student information @ @ @ @ @ @ @ system and failed to prevent mismanagement of funds .
Oversight of the bond program .
Out of the district ’ s $ 5.4-billion budget for 2020-21 , $ 3.9 billion is from voter-approved bond measures for building .
After The Times ran a series detailing massive waste in the program , the district put in place a bond oversight monitor , but questions have persisted about how the money is being spent .
In one well-funded candidate group , current board President Andra Hoffman and incumbents David Vela and Mike Fong have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Guild , the union that represents community college faculty members , and the L.A. County Democratic Party , as has newcomer Nichelle Henderson , a teacher at Cal State L.A .
Faculty guild President Joanne Waddell said Hoffman has been a successful board president and commended her for supporting child development centers and ensuring student workers continued to get paid after the pandemic hit .
Vela is a public affairs consultant who has worked for former L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina and former Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg , who is now on the L.A. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the LACCD board in 2018 amid vigorous protests to fill the seat of Sydney Kamlager when she was elected to the state Assembly .
Fong , who has a background in workforce development , chairs the board ’ s committee on institutional effectiveness and student success and has earned a reputation as someone who tries to find and tread middle ground .
The guild is hoping that Henderson , a faculty advisor and lecturer in a teacher credentialing program , can garner enough votes to unseat Svonkin .
“ She is pro-public higher @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she is pro-student , ” Waddell said .
She would also bring diversity to the trustees as a Black woman .
Svonkin , who has fought for transparency and accountability on the board , to the point of agitating other members , worked to reform the bond program and ensure a healthy financial reserve .
With L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and other board members , he helped create L.A. College Promise , a free-tuition and support program for students from the Los Angeles Unified School District .
Garcetti , Sen. Kamala Harris , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his backers .
Campaign finance records show that the guild and a committee tied to it spent $ 1.66 million in its bid to remove Svonkin and elect its four preferred candidates .
Most of the money was spent on political mailers and phone banking .
“ Faculty … are the most significant players in community college elections , and of course that ’ s problematic , ” Guerra said .
“ They are selecting their bosses , which will determine their salaries and benefits.
” Another group of four candidates nicknamed the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hernandez , Ruffin Patterson , Cory Butler and Michelle Manos — were handpicked by student leaders to focus on student priorities : grants for basic needs , health services , culturally relevant support programs for Black and Latino students , and a rethinking of the campuses ’ relationship with law enforcement .
Hernandez , an immigrant who has talked at candidate forums about her experience relying on food pantries as a child , earned a master of education degree at UCLA , crediting her start at L.A. Pierce College .
Patterson , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a high school teacher and athletic coach who also struggled to access adequate food , shelter and clothing .
Butler , who was raised in South L.A. , graduated from the University of Utah and served this summer as a site coordinator at a leadership program for high school students in the same public housing development where he grew up .
And Manos , a homeless services provider with the organization Shower of Hope , was recently arrested while protesting the police shooting of community college student Andres Guardado .
She has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Democratic Action .
“ We gathered a slate of grass-roots candidates who haven ’ t had a lot of political experience but who understand what ’ s at stake , ” former student trustee and organizer Alfredo Gama said .
The Justice Squad has raised little money for political advertising , but it does have a small army of dedicated students and faculty members who are volunteering to text , call and leave fliers at voters ’ homes , Gama said .
Others within the crowded field include Gerald Anderson , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ L.A. College and L.A. City College ; Anthony Danna , a senior vice president at Sony Pictures Television Networks ; Cynthia Gonzalez , a high school principal who recently ran for a seat on the L.A. school board ; Chris Han , a lawyer and adjunct instructor at L.A. Mission College ; and Nancy Pearlman , a former longtime board member who has taught anthropology and communications in the LACCD system and was a staunch advocate of the district ’ s bond program .
The full list of names can be found beginning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of qualified candidates , available on the website of the L.A. County registrar-recorder ’ s office .

Four at-large seats on the seven-member Los Angeles Community College District board are up for grabs in the November election. Above, the closed campus of L.A. City College.
With a dizzying 33 candidates, the election of four seats on the seven-member Los Angeles Community College District board has brought into focus the basic needs of some of the poorest college students in California amid the pandemic, as well as issues of declining enrollment, budget oversight and accountability over the chancellor.
Voters within a 900-square-mile area of Los Angeles County, from San Pedro to San Fernando and Malibu to Monterey Park, will choose whether to elect candidates backed by labor, newcomers marshaled by students, trustees who have run before, homeless advocates or others to oversee the nine-college system. Each seat is elected at large and there is no primary, just the general election.
“This is the largest community college district in the country,” said Fernando Guerra, professor of political science and director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. “It is oftentimes a trendsetter. If it takes on issues and is successful — whether it’s online education, whether it’s student housing, whether it’s certain standards — it will reverberate throughout California and the nation.”
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These are among the issues the newly elected board will face:
Declining enrollment. Years in the making, the enrollment decline has been exacerbated by COVID-19, as students have struggled to complete classes online and faced economic uncertainties and other stressors at home. Districtwide enrollment this fall is down to 87% of where it was last year. State revenue is based largely on student enrollment.
Poor student outcomes. According to state data, out of roughly 120,000 students who enrolled at an LACCD college in 2017-18 with the goal of earning a two-year and/or four-year degree, about 14% completed 12 or more units in the fall, and only 4% completed transfer-level math and English within their first year — both important predictors of success. Just 8,000 students previously enrolled in a community college successfully transferred into a four-year institution the following year.
Student basic needs crisis. Before the pandemic, an estimated 62% of students in the LACCD were food-insecure and 55% were housing-insecure. COVID-19 has deepened those insecurities, and access to laptops and high-speed internet has also become a basic need, with an enormous digital divide.
Oversight of the chancellor. The election outcome will determine whether the LACCD’s chief administrator, Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez, stays or goes. In December the board voted 5 to 2 to renew his contract for just one year, to 2021. Board member Scott Svonkin, who voted no, said at the time that Rodriguez had done too little to counter the district’s declining enrollment and low graduation and transfer rates, allowed student information to be compromised with a broken IT system and failed to prevent mismanagement of funds.
Oversight of the bond program. Out of the district’s $5.4-billion budget for 2020-21, $3.9 billion is from voter-approved bond measures for building. After The Times ran a series detailing massive waste in the program, the district put in place a bond oversight monitor, but questions have persisted about how the money is being spent.
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In one well-funded candidate group, current board President Andra Hoffman and incumbents David Vela and Mike Fong have been endorsed by the Los Angeles College Faculty Guild, the union that represents community college faculty members, and the L.A. County Democratic Party, as has newcomer Nichelle Henderson, a teacher at Cal State L.A.
Faculty guild President Joanne Waddell said Hoffman has been a successful board president and commended her for supporting child development centers and ensuring student workers continued to get paid after the pandemic hit.
Vela is a public affairs consultant who has worked for former L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina and former Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, who is now on the L.A. school board. He was appointed by the LACCD board in 2018 amid vigorous protests to fill the seat of Sydney Kamlager when she was elected to the state Assembly.
Fong, who has a background in workforce development, chairs the board’s committee on institutional effectiveness and student success and has earned a reputation as someone who tries to find and tread middle ground.
The guild is hoping that Henderson, a faculty advisor and lecturer in a teacher credentialing program, can garner enough votes to unseat Svonkin. “She is pro-public higher education, she is pro-labor, and she is pro-student,” Waddell said. She would also bring diversity to the trustees as a Black woman.
Svonkin, who has fought for transparency and accountability on the board, to the point of agitating other members, worked to reform the bond program and ensure a healthy financial reserve. With L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and other board members, he helped create L.A. College Promise, a free-tuition and support program for students from the Los Angeles Unified School District. Garcetti, Sen. Kamala Harris, and firefighters and nurses unions are among his backers.
Campaign finance records show that the guild and a committee tied to it spent $1.66 million in its bid to remove Svonkin and elect its four preferred candidates. Most of the money was spent on political mailers and phone banking.
“Faculty … are the most significant players in community college elections, and of course that’s problematic,” Guerra said. “They are selecting their bosses, which will determine their salaries and benefits.”
Another group of four candidates nicknamed the “LACCD Justice Squad” — Karen Hernandez, Ruffin Patterson, Cory Butler and Michelle Manos — were handpicked by student leaders to focus on student priorities: grants for basic needs, health services, culturally relevant support programs for Black and Latino students, and a rethinking of the campuses’ relationship with law enforcement.
Hernandez, an immigrant who has talked at candidate forums about her experience relying on food pantries as a child, earned a master of education degree at UCLA, crediting her start at L.A. Pierce College. Patterson, who grew up in South Los Angeles, is a high school teacher and athletic coach who also struggled to access adequate food, shelter and clothing. Butler, who was raised in South L.A., graduated from the University of Utah and served this summer as a site coordinator at a leadership program for high school students in the same public housing development where he grew up.
And Manos, a homeless services provider with the organization Shower of Hope, was recently arrested while protesting the police shooting of community college student Andres Guardado. She has been endorsed by the liberal group Americans for Democratic Action.
“We gathered a slate of grass-roots candidates who haven’t had a lot of political experience but who understand what’s at stake,” former student trustee and organizer Alfredo Gama said.
The Justice Squad has raised little money for political advertising, but it does have a small army of dedicated students and faculty members who are volunteering to text, call and leave fliers at voters’ homes, Gama said.
Others within the crowded field include Gerald Anderson, a business consultant and adjunct instructor at West L.A. College and L.A. City College; Anthony Danna, a senior vice president at Sony Pictures Television Networks; Cynthia Gonzalez, a high school principal who recently ran for a seat on the L.A. school board; Chris Han, a lawyer and adjunct instructor at L.A. Mission College; and Nancy Pearlman, a former longtime board member who has taught anthropology and communications in the LACCD system and was a staunch advocate of the district’s bond program.
The full list of names can be found beginning on page 92 of the final list of qualified candidates, available on the website of the L.A. County registrar-recorder’s office.


latimes--2020-10-16--With dry La Niña conditions, persistent Western drought looms large in winter outlook

The forecast looks warm and continued dry this winter in California and the Southwest , which raises the disturbing prospect of a perpetual fire season .
More than 45 % of the continental U.S. is experiencing drought right now , especially in the West .
With a La Niña climate pattern well established and expected to persist , the drought may expand and intensify in the southern part of the country during the winter ahead , the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted .
The official outlook from NOAA ’ s Climate Prediction Center , released Thursday , favors warmer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the U.S. and cooler , wetter conditions in the north , consistent with an ongoing La Niña .
A La Niña occurs when the sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific are below average .
Easterly winds over that region strengthen , and rainfall usually decreases over the central and eastern tropical Pacific and increases over the western Pacific , Indonesia and the Philippines .
Forecasters now are expecting a strong La Niña with about an 85 % chance of it persisting through the winter .
If this scenario @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Arizona , Colorado , Utah , New Mexico and California , and worsen the wildfire outlook for the remainder of 2020 and into 2021 .
California is already experiencing its worst fire season on record .
After a disappointing rainfall season , much of Northern California is classified as being in severe or extreme drought , according to the U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday .
Much of the rest of the state is in moderate drought or is abnormally dry .
To the east , big portions of Nevada , Utah , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Texas are in extreme or exceptional drought .
The Southwest has been parched because of a disappointing monsoon season last year and a monsoon that was essentially a no-show this year .
Mike Halpert , deputy director of NOAA ’ s Climate Prediction Center , told reporters in a briefing Thursday morning that forecasters don ’ t know exactly why the 2020 Southwestern monsoon failed so spectacularly .
Arizona and California experienced their warmest April-to-September period in 126 years , according to the U.S. Drought Monitor .
New Mexico and Nevada had their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recorded their driest period ever during that same six-month stretch .
New Mexico had its second-driest and Colorado had its third-driest .
Arizona ’ s newly established statewide precipitation record came in more than 2 inches drier that the previous record .
But since it was one of the driest summers on record , it ’ s not surprising that it was so hot , David Miskus , meteorologist and drought expert with NOAA points out .
There was a lack of moisture and rain to suppress the temperatures during what is normally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ People in Southern California count on water from the Colorado River , so drought in the Four Corners region hits home on the West Coast .
Miskus was asked if a dry winter , possibly extending into the Great Basin , will mean a likelihood of more Santa Ana winds through the winter in Southern California .
“ Since we are forecasting subnormal precipitation and above-normal temperatures in the Southwest and Great Basin , if high pressure sets up over the Great Basin this fall and early winter — which is possible if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Northwest — I could see a possibility for more and longer Santa Anas in California , ” Miskus said .
“ But it will matter where that high pressure center sets up , how strong , and if it persists.
” If it ’ s dry , Santa Anas blowing across dry fuels in the Southland will elevate the fire danger .
And cold wintertime Santa Anas are often the most powerful .
Most areas of the West continued to have warmer-than-normal temperatures over the last week , with many areas 3 to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. Drought Monitor .
Extreme northwest California , western Washington and Oregon received some precipitation , but the southern portion of the West saw no relief .
Severe and extreme drought increased in southwest Oregon , and extreme drought increased in west-central Nevada .
The Southwest is one of the regions where NOAA predicts the greatest chances for drier-than-average conditions this winter .
“ La Niña tends to starve Southern California of its rainfall , but Northern California still has the potential for normal precipitation .
So La Niña isn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bill Patzert said .
“ Sea surface temperatures at the equator are starting to drop rapidly , and this emerging footprint of La Niña should have a large impact throughout the United States as well as across the Pacific , ” Patzert said .
“ The prospect of continuing dryness and expanding drought in the American West and Southwest could be counterbalanced by yet another year of excessive rainfall in the upper Midwest , where record water levels in the Great Lakes have caused considerable damage for the last few years , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of the largest signals in the climate system , ” Patzert said .
“ It usually doesn ’ t get as much press as its wet sibling , El Niño , but its impact shouldn ’ t be underestimated .
”

The forecast looks warm and continued dry this winter in California and the Southwest, which raises the disturbing prospect of a perpetual fire season.
More than 45% of the continental U.S. is experiencing drought right now, especially in the West. With a La Niña climate pattern well established and expected to persist, the drought may expand and intensify in the southern part of the country during the winter ahead, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted.
The official outlook from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, released Thursday, favors warmer, drier conditions across the Southern tier of the U.S. and cooler, wetter conditions in the north, consistent with an ongoing La Niña.
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A La Niña occurs when the sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific are below average. Easterly winds over that region strengthen, and rainfall usually decreases over the central and eastern tropical Pacific and increases over the western Pacific, Indonesia and the Philippines. Forecasters now are expecting a strong La Niña with about an 85% chance of it persisting through the winter.
If this scenario unfolds, it would exacerbate drought conditions in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and California, and worsen the wildfire outlook for the remainder of 2020 and into 2021.
Latest U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday. (Paul Duginski / Los Angeles Times)
California is already experiencing its worst fire season on record. After a disappointing rainfall season, much of Northern California is classified as being in severe or extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday. Much of the rest of the state is in moderate drought or is abnormally dry.
To the east, big portions of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas are in extreme or exceptional drought.
The Southwest has been parched because of a disappointing monsoon season last year and a monsoon that was essentially a no-show this year.
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Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, told reporters in a briefing Thursday morning that forecasters don’t know exactly why the 2020 Southwestern monsoon failed so spectacularly.
NOAA’s outlook for the 2020-21 winter (Paul Duginski / Los Angeles Times)
Arizona and California experienced their warmest April-to-September period in 126 years, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. New Mexico and Nevada had their second-warmest such period. Utah and Arizona recorded their driest period ever during that same six-month stretch. New Mexico had its second-driest and Colorado had its third-driest. Arizona’s newly established statewide precipitation record came in more than 2 inches drier that the previous record.
But since it was one of the driest summers on record, it’s not surprising that it was so hot, David Miskus, meteorologist and drought expert with NOAA points out. There was a lack of moisture and rain to suppress the temperatures during what is normally the warmest time of the year.
People in Southern California count on water from the Colorado River, so drought in the Four Corners region hits home on the West Coast.
Miskus was asked if a dry winter, possibly extending into the Great Basin, will mean a likelihood of more Santa Ana winds through the winter in Southern California.
The outlook is for the drought in California the West to continue. (Paul Duginski / Los Angeles Times)
“Since we are forecasting subnormal precipitation and above-normal temperatures in the Southwest and Great Basin, if high pressure sets up over the Great Basin this fall and early winter — which is possible if the main storm track is across the Northwest — I could see a possibility for more and longer Santa Anas in California,” Miskus said. “But it will matter where that high pressure center sets up, how strong, and if it persists.”
If it’s dry, Santa Anas blowing across dry fuels in the Southland will elevate the fire danger. And cold wintertime Santa Anas are often the most powerful.
Most areas of the West continued to have warmer-than-normal temperatures over the last week, with many areas 3 to 9 degrees above normal, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Typically, La Niñas mean warm and dry winters in the Southern tier of the U.S. (Paul Duginski / Los Angeles Times)
Extreme northwest California, western Washington and Oregon received some precipitation, but the southern portion of the West saw no relief. Severe and extreme drought increased in southwest Oregon, and extreme drought increased in west-central Nevada.
The Southwest is one of the regions where NOAA predicts the greatest chances for drier-than-average conditions this winter.
“La Niña tends to starve Southern California of its rainfall, but Northern California still has the potential for normal precipitation. So La Niña isn’t necessarily a total bust,” climatologist Bill Patzert said.
“Sea surface temperatures at the equator are starting to drop rapidly, and this emerging footprint of La Niña should have a large impact throughout the United States as well as across the Pacific,” Patzert said. “The prospect of continuing dryness and expanding drought in the American West and Southwest could be counterbalanced by yet another year of excessive rainfall in the upper Midwest, where record water levels in the Great Lakes have caused considerable damage for the last few years,” he said.
“La Niña is one of the largest signals in the climate system,” Patzert said. “It usually doesn’t get as much press as its wet sibling, El Niño, but its impact shouldn’t be underestimated.”