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is a general assignment reporter. She covers the news that shapes Los Angeles and how people change the city in return. The Los Angeles City Council is moving forward with a contentious plan to roll back minimum wage increases for tourism workers, as the city faces the looming prospect of a measure to repeal the business tax that could financially ruin the city landing on the November ballot.
The move, approved in a 10-5 vote Wednesday, is an about-face for the council, which voted just last year to increase the minimum wage for airport and hotel workers in the city to $30 an hour by 2028. Now, the council is considering a plan to delay that boost until 2030, slowing down the pace of annual increases to the minimum wage.
City leaders are hoping to stave off a tax repeal that would slash the city budget and lead to major cuts and lay-offs. Business leaders behind that ballot initiative garnered enough signatures to get it placed on the ballot, but could still withdraw it. They've indicated that they might if the council delays minimum wage boosts.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said Wednesday the city was in ongoing discussions with labor and business leaders to broker a compromise, and that he expected that the proposal the council was considering would change as those discussions continue. The Los Angeles City Council is considering a contentious plan to roll back minimum wage increases for tourism workers, as the city faces the looming prospect of a measure to repeal the business tax that could financially ruin the city landing on the November ballot.
The move, approved in a 10-5 vote Wednesday, is an about-face for the council, which voted just last year to increase the minimum wage for airport and hotel workers in the city to $30 an hour by 2028. Now, the council is considering a plan to delay that boost until 2030, slowing down the pace of annual increases to the minimum wage.
City leaders are hoping to stave off a tax repeal that would slash the city budget and lead to major cuts and layoffs. Business leaders behind that ballot initiative garnered enough signatures to get it placed on the ballot but could still withdraw it.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said Wednesday the city was in ongoing discussions with labor and business leaders to broker a compromise and that he expected the proposal the council was considering would change as those discussions continue.
" There is a commitment on both sides to continue to negotiate," Harris-Dawson said. "It's our role as a council to mediate between two opposing forces: the people who work for us and are residents of this city and the people who have businesses and who, in many cases, are residents of this city.
" It's a maneuver hotel workers called a"shakedown" at the City Council meeting, where public comment lasted more than two hours, as dozens of people implored the council not to delay wage increases. " I would expect my councilmember to stand up for working Angelenos, not help giant companies take money out of our pockets," said Jordan Long, a bartender at LAX who said he lives in Harris-Dawson's district.
" Do not be fooled by corporate threats against the city budget. " Business leaders behind the measure to repeal the business tax told LAist they were open to pulling the measure off the ballot if the council goes through with delaying pay bumps. " This is a huge step in that direction," said Nella McOsker, president of the Central City Association, one of the backers of the measure.
Stuart Waldman with the Valley Industry & Commerce Association told LAist that business groups decided to advance their ballot measure after unions wouldn't broker a deal with them directly. Council members Eunisses Hernandez, Ysabel Jurado, Nithya Raman, Hugo Soto-Martinez and Katy Yaroslavsky voted against the motion.
"We're talking about some of the lowest paid workers in one of the most expensive cities in America," Hernandez said. "This motion sends a terrible message that corporate pressure matters more than workers' lives. " The council has directed the city attorney to draft an ordinance to delay minimum wage increases, and will have to vote again on the proposal. Council President Harris-Dawson noted multiple times that negotiations are ongoing and the proposal could change.
The ordinance to raise minimum wages for tourism workers was celebrated as the"Olympic Wage" and was pegged to the arrival of the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. But a battle to upend it started as soon as the city council passed it last year. Unite Here Local 11 responded with its own raft of ballot measures, including raising the minimum wage citywide and requiring Angelenos to vote on building new hotels and event center developments.
That's when business interests introduced their ballot measure to repeal the city's business tax, except for cannabis businesses. That measure gathered enough votes to make the ballot. The ballot initiative would eliminate the city's gross receipts tax, except for cannabis businesses. That tax is a major revenue source for the city, and will bring in more than $800 million this fiscal year.
The tax makes up 10% of the city's general fund, according to a report by the city administrative officer. If passed, tax cut would take effect in 2028. City Administrative Officer Matthew Szabo warned Wednesday that the council in a report that the measure could send the city into fiscal ruin and lead to major cuts.
"The City would be forced to implement austerity measures far more severe than those seen during the Great Recession or the COVID-19 pandemic," Szabo said. "This would cause an economic apocalypse for the city," she said to her colleagues. While the city weighs its options, some workers told the council that their financial plans would be derailed if expected wage increases are delayed.
" I am counting on the wage increase this summer to help me provide for my daughter," said Erick Cruz, a cook at LAX. "That increase is not extra money. It is money for rent, diapers, food, gas, and basic things a young family needs to survive.
"Military life has always involved some degree of uncertainty. But for many families, the war in Iran is the first time they are navigating the fear and unknowns that come with having a loved one deployed to an ongoing conflict.
NPR spent time with the Los Angeles family of an Army reservist and got a close look at how the war — with its bursts of fighting, shaky truce and slow-moving peace talks — has reshaped life at home thousands of miles away. Jessica Serrato's partner is expected to return to Los Angeles this summer but she's skeptical. His return date has already been delayed a month. — meaning he'll miss Laylah's birthday.
About 50,000 American troops are currently deployed across the Middle East as hostilities between the U.S. and Iran grind into a third month. The two nations are once again at an impasse — with President Trump on Monday calling Iran's latest demands"garbage" and warning that the ceasefire was on"massive life support.
": A unique aspect to the current conflict is that many service members are being deployed on short notice, according to Shannon Razsadin, the CEO of the Military Family Advisory Network. A monthslong deployment typically requires a lot of prep work for military families, such as managing finances and arranging child care. During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Razsadin said most families had months to prepare.
But under Operation Epic Fury, many service members were sent off in a matter of days. Serrato's partner had a few months' notice before he left. But for families of National Guard members or reservists, deployments can be especially challenging because they often don't live near or on military bases — as in Serrato's case — making it harder to access resources and support networks.
LOS ANGELES — When Jessica Serrato's boyfriend called a few hours into her morning, she was finally able to breathe. His call meant the internet at his military base wasn't disrupted by any Iranian strikes. It meant that his unit wasn't relocating for their safety like they have before. Most importantly, it meant that he's still alive.
As she whisked pancake batter, Serrato cradled the phone on her shoulder and ran through her routine questions:No matter how busy the mother of two kids was, Serrato always answered her partner's call. She missed him. But since the war with Iran broke out, Serrato's need to hear his voice was also driven by worry. About 50,000 American troops are currently deployed across the Middle East as hostilities between the U.S. and Iran grind into a third month.
The two nations are once again at an impasse — with President Trump on Monday calling Iran's latest demands"garbage" and warning that the ceasefire was on"massive life support.
" Military life has always involved some degree of uncertainty. But for many families, including Serrato's, the war in Iran is the first time they are navigating the fear and unknowns that come with having a loved one deployed to an ongoing conflict.a close look at how the war — with its bursts of fighting, shaky truce and slow-moving peace talks — has reshaped life at home thousands of miles away.
The family asked NPR to not name the soldier because they say he fears retribution for being featured in a media story. In their separate worlds, Serrato and her partner both anxiously looked for signs that the war was winding down.
" If I find out something, I'll let you know," she said over the phone. "If you find out something, let me know? " To which he agreed. As she whipped up the pancakes, Serrato listened carefully to the tone of her partner's voice — trying to discern if he was stressed or overwhelmed, which can be hard for him to admit on his own.
He confirmed that he was all right and so Serrato's focus swung back to her children. She could have pried more but she doesn't like to discuss the war in front of her two kids, who are from a previous marriage. At the start of the conflict, Serrato said her 11-year-old daughter Laylah had difficulty concentrating in class, consumed with worst-case scenarios. Serrato continued the call from her car.
For a few moments, the conversation flowed like he was there — until Serrato mentioned that Laylah had a dance performance in the afternoon. Serrato's partner is expected to return to Los Angeles this summer but she's skeptical. His return date has already been delayed a month — meaning he'll miss Laylah's birthday. Now, the hope is to reunite by August, which is Laylah's first day of sixth grade.
After Serrato dropped off her children at school, she and her partner finally had their first moment truly alone that morning. In a soft voice, he told her that he wanted to come home. When Serrato's partner volunteered to go on a nine-month deployment to the Middle East, he mainly thought about the extra pay and how it could help buy their first house, she said.
Serrato, who's an assistant at a law firm, reminded herself that they had managed long distance before, when he was deployed to Europe a few years ago. They could do it again, she thought. His most recent deployment began in October. Come late February, the U.S. and Israel had launched airstrikes in Iran, setting off a series of back-and-forth attacks across the region.
Serrato had no idea what was happening until her partner called in the middle of the night. She said she could hear sirens from his end of the line.
"I love you. Look out for yourself. Be aware of your surroundings," she replied, trying her best to sound strong and calm. But as soon as the call ended, Serrato said she broke down.
Left: Serrato holds her partner's dog tags. Right: Serrato doesn't know when her partner will come back home to Los Angeles. His return date has already been delayed a month. Over the next few weeks, Serrato and her partner's parents were glued to the news — constantly searching for updates on additional strikes or a potential truce between the U.S. and Iran.
"I would bring up one thing and another thing. 'Did you hear about this? Did you hear anything about that? Did they mention this?
'"Serrato said. "And he would tell me the same thing, 'I don't know. '" But as the conflict dragged on, Serrato couldn't read the headlines anymore — they only added to her stress. She said it was difficult trying to keep up with the rapidly evolving political situation, which would bring moments of hope, quickly dashed by disappointment.
"How many times have they said there's a deadline? How many times have they said, 'OK, there's a ceasefire right now. We're gonna work something out?
'"She said, referring to U.S. officials. "I just can't believe anything that they say. "A unique aspect to the current conflict is that many service members are being deployed on short notice, according to Shannon Razsadin, the CEO of the Military Family Advisory Network. A monthslong deployment typically requires a lot of prep work for military families, such as managing finances and arranging child care.
During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Razsadin said most families had months to prepare. But under Operation Epic Fury, many service members were sent off in a matter of days.
"During the global war on terror, people had a lot of lead time before their deployments," she said. " Commands were able to help the full family get ready for the deployment so that they knew what to expect when that happened. We don't really have that right now.
" Serrato's partner had a few months' notice before he left. But for families of National Guard members or reservists, deployments can be especially challenging because they often don't live near or on military bases — as in Serrato's case — making it harder to access resources and support networks, Razsadin added.
Kathy Roth-Douquet, CEO of Blue Star Families, said as a result of these sudden deployments, some spouses have had to cut back on their work hours or quit their jobs to hold down the home front.
" This is an extra burden of military service, of the sacrifice that the whole family makes to do the nation's bidding," she said. "And it's even more reason why it's incumbent upon the rest of us to really help support these folks. "That's how Yadira Dessaint, the mother of the Army reservist, asks her son if he's seen any missiles or drones in the sky. She can't utter those exact words without getting emotional.
Dessaint's son was only a kid when the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan broke out, but she remembers how many men and women lost their lives in the same region that her only child was heading to. When he told her about his deployment, Dessaint texted him"I'm so proud of you" before she stepped away from work, sat in her car and bawled.
The hardest moment for Dessaint came March 1 when the Pentagon identified the first U.S. service members killed in the war. The U.S. military death toll has since risen to 14. That same day, Dessaint's son told her and Serrato that his military base was under attack. The two women immediately called one another and wept.
Their bond has been a silver lining. A week later, Serrato and her children moved into Dessaint's home. The two have since built an unspoken connection, each knowing when the other is feeling especially bogged down by the conflict. Dessaint and Serrato have started a new tradition in the waiting.
Before bed, they light a candle for St. Michael the Archangel and lower their heads. This evening, her children joined them — setting aside their homework and video games to pray. Left: A framed photo of Serrato's partner hangs at his parents' home. Right: A shrine with a candle Serrato lit for her partner while he is deployed.
She was praying not only for her partner's physical protection — but also his mental well-being. As agonizing as it has been at home, Serrato knows it has been tougher for him overseas.
"I can hear it in his voice. Like, I can hear how sad he feels," she said.
"I just miss him feeling OK. " It's why her phone is always within reach. Serrato wants to be a steady presence — someone her partner can count on during a war that's unpredictable.
" When I don't know what to say, he just tells me, 'Just be there for me, baby. Just tell me you love me and everything's gonna be OK,'" she said. Published May 13, 2026 1:51 PM Guests will be able to walk around the outside and inside of part of a Boeing 747-400, including the cockpit.
As of this week, the front portion of a Boeing 747-400 towers over the ground floor of the Korean Air Aviation Gallery, one of three main spaces in the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center. Once open to the public, the center will be the only place in the world to see an authentic space shuttle in itsThe new center, which recently completed construction, is built around a towering centerpiece: space shuttle Endeavour in its 20-story vertical launch position.
Jeffrey Rudolph, president and CEO of the California Science Center, said museum officials are working to announce an opening date for the center within the next several weeks. As of this week, the front portion of a Boeing 747-400 towers over the ground floor of the Korean Air Aviation Gallery, one of three main spaces in the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.
The new center, which recently completed construction, is built around a towering centerpiece: space shuttle Endeavour in its 20-story vertical launch position. Once open to the public, the center will be the only place in the world to see an authentic space shuttle in itsWalter Cho, chairman of Korean Air, said the airline’s namesake gallery is all about inspiring future generations to dream big.
“We want them to see more than airplanes, but the science, engineering and imagination behind them,” Cho said during a news conference Tuesday. “And most importantly, we want them to think, ‘I can do that, too. ’” Jeffrey Rudolph, president and CEO of the California Science Center, said museum officials are working to announce an opening date for the center within the next several weeks. He told LAist that people will be able to visit “well before” the 2028 Olympics.
The California Science Center unveiled the first few aircraft on display in the Korean Air Aviation Gallery about six months after offering The galleries will guide guests through hundreds of exhibits and authentic artifacts focused on the exploration of the universe — including rocket ships that carried humans into space and telescopes used to view stars and galaxies beyond our reach, according to museum officials. The Korean Air Aviation Gallery has three themes — learning to fly, everyday flight and advanced aviation, according to the museum.
It’s designed to explore the four forces that affect every aircraft: lift, thrust, weight and drag.
“That basically shapes the aircraft, tells you what it has to look like in order to accomplish whatever mission you have,” said Kenneth Phillips, the curator of aerospace programs. The roughly 20 aircraft that’ll be displayed — some already suspended from the ceiling — were selected by the California Science Center for the engineering principles they can teach. The 747, at least the front 70 feet of it, was moved to L.A. last year.
After taking thousands of flights under Korean Air for two decades, it was rescued from an “aircraft graveyard” in Arizona, Rudolph said. Officials said the 747 played a significant role in aviation, helping take the technology from daredevils testing the limits to a regular part of global travel. Visitors will be able to explore the inside of the aircraft and take a simulated five-minute flight from LAX to Seoul.
Walter Cho, chairman of Korean Air, celebrated the first aircraft installed in the Korean Air Aviation Gallery, including the front of a real Boeing 747-400 that was built for the airline in 1993. A rendering of the final vision for the Korean Air Aviation Gallery in the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.
The other roughly 20 aircraft that’ll be on display — some are already suspended from the ceiling — were selected for the engineering principles they demonstrate, according to Rudolph. For example, the section on speed will feature a F-106A Delta Dart, the fastest turbo-jet powered airplane with a single-engine, according to officials. The museum is also working on displaying an F-100D Super Sabre, theThis Northrop T-38 Talon was built around 1959 and joined NASA's fleet a few decades later.
It was used for air force and astronaut training, according to the museum. A de Havilland Vampire T.35 was the first jet to land on and take off from an aircraft carrier, according to the California Science Center. Perry Roth-Johnson, curator of science and technology, told LAist he wants visitors to be able to explore the autonomous tech you can already see in L.A. today through self-driving cars like Waymo.
“We want to give people a little cityscape where they can fly drones on sample missions around the city and get a sense of how this technology works,” Roth-Johnson said in an interview. Officials are hoping to announce in the coming weeks an opening date — once the “intensive phase” of installing the historic artifacts and interactive exhibits is further along, according to the museum.
The process was well underway by mid-April and was expected to continue for several more months. The project has been financially supported by several names you may see in the center, including the Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Oschin Family Foundation, Korean Air and the Kresa Family Foundation. The California Science Center is still looking to raise about $57 million more for the $450 million project before it opens.
You can learn more about the “EndeavourLA” fundraising campaign and how to sponsor one of the space shuttle's thermal tilesConstruction of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center was completed last month, nearly four years after the California Science Center broke ground. The expansion’s curved stainless-steel design stands out from the museum’s mostly copper-colored exterior. Construction of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center was completed last month, bringing the expansion closer to welcoming visitors.
According to officials, it was inspired by the aerodynamic geometry of the space shuttle. Endeavour itself is hidden beneath a 2,000 ton diagrid structure, peaking at 200-feet-tall, that offers unobstructed views of the artifacts inside. Steven F. Matt, chairman of MATT Construction — which built the expansion — said that construction was completed successfully without a scratch on the space shuttle.
“This project stands as a tribute to the generations who built our aerospace legacy and will continue to inspire children for decades to come,” Matt said in an April statement. Amie Nulman, a structural engineer and principal with Arup, which engineered the building, told LAist previously that one of the challenges was making sure the design could withstand earthquakes without damaging the space shuttle.
She said the shuttle’s support system is on base isolation, meaning it’s going to glide around when the ground starts to shake.
“The stack is going to be moving different to the building, and so we did a lot of studies to make sure they did not get too close to each other during earthquakes,” Nulman said in a 2024 interview. If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
The leadership of the Los Angeles Police Commission experienced a significant shakeup Tuesday during a regularly scheduled meeting, when it was announced that Teresa Sánchez-Gordon had stepped down as president of the police oversight body. Los Angeles Police Commissioner Teresa Sánchez-Gordon is leaving the city’s police oversight body after saying she and her family received threats, she told The LA Local. This comes weeks after she stepped down as the commission’s president.
At Tuesday’s meeting, a member of The LA Local’s Documenters program heard Sánchez-Gordon saying today was her last day to several police department employees. When asked for more information, she said she had experienced several incidents in which she and her family had been threatened but declined to specify the nature of the threats or who was responsible.
“I have to focus on my girls and their security and my security – it’s been very difficult,” Sánchez-Gordon told The LA Local. Los Angeles Police Commissioner Teresa Sánchez-Gordon is leaving the city’s police oversight body after saying she and her family received threats, she told The LA Local. This comes weeks after she stepped down as the commission’s president. heard Sánchez-Gordon saying today was her last day to several police department employees.
When asked for more information, she said she had experienced several incidents in which she and her family had been threatened but declined to specify the nature of the threats or who was responsible.
“I have to focus on my girls and their security and my security – it’s been very difficult,” Sánchez-Gordon told The LA Local. “I’m going to miss the commission. It’s very important work that we do. ” She declined to comment on her work during her time on the commission or whether any specific policy positions factored into the threats.
Mayor Karen Bass told The LA Local in a statement it was “appalling” that Sánchez-Gordon felt compelled to step down over safety concerns and thanked her for her service to the city. She said she was in contact with the commissioner and has asked the LAPD to further investigate the matter. Sánchez-Gordon’s departure marks another surprise move during her nearly two-year tenure on the board, which is tasked with setting policy and providing oversight of the city’s police department.
In April, she did not cite a reason when sheSánchez-Gordon served during a turbulent period in the department’s history. Last year, first responders were challenged by the city’s devastating fires. More recently, the department has faced scrutiny over its role amid federal immigration enforcement actions and protests against them. In recent months, Sánchez-Gordon was among the commission’s most outspoken members during discussions about immigration enforcement policies and the department’s practices.
At Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners heard presentations from immigrant rights advocates and police officials on how the department should respond to federal immigration enforcement. Sánchez-Gordon emphasized the importance of allowing immigrant advocacy groups to directly communicate their concerns to the commission. LAPD did not respond to questions about if the threats were being investigated or if any arrests have been made.
The Police Commission’s spokesperson, Sarah Bell, also declined to provide details about the threats or if there are any outstanding safety concerns for the other commissioners. When asked how long Sánchez-Gordon had been planning to step down, Bell responded: “I have no idea. ” Mayor Karen Bass said no public servant should feel unsafe while doing their job, adding that while policy disagreements are part of democracy, “people’s homes and families are off limits.
”LA Documenter Martin Romero contributed reporting for this story. LA Documenters trains and pays LA residents to take notes at local government meetings around Los Angeles. You can find meeting notes and audio atSomething is killing birds all along California beaches, from Orange County to San Diego and up the coast toward Ventura County and beyond. Around March 1, the team at International Bird Rescue started receiving four times the usual number of calls from residents across Southern California.
They’ve all been about dead birds. Calls to their helpline went from 10 calls a day about dead birds to 40. There are currently no hard facts explaining what is causing dead birds to wash up along the coast of Long Beach and Southern California. But so far, the CEO of International Bird Rescue, JD Bergeron, says the strongest theory is the birds are starving because of climate change.
According to the NOAA IEA Program, an oceanic heat wave known as “The Blob” has been present in the Pacific Ocean for the past seven years.
“The Blob” is a mass of water with elevated temperatures moving around the Pacific Ocean. Fish dislike warm water, so when “The Blob” moves into specific regions, fish either dive deeper into colder temperatures or move farther away into colder waters. As we walked and talked, we saw the usual suspects — abandoned toothbrushes, deodorant sticks and empty laundry detergent containers blowing like tumbleweeds.
The cleaning products dirtying the stretch of sand didn’t make me want to put on my shoes, but the birds did.
“Is that a seagull? ” I asked. It was dead. A few more steps and we saw a cormorant, one of those black, glossy birds that are always sunbathing with their wings out.
Dead. A few more steps. Another seagull. Dead.
More steps. Then another cormorant. Along a 1.5-mile stretch, I saw eight dead birds. At first, I was sad.
Then I was overwhelmed. But eventually, I got curious and decided to look into it. It was shocking to see that something was killing birds all along California beaches, from Orange County to San Diego and up the coast toward Ventura County and beyond. A user in Santa Barbara summed up the situation succinctly, if without proper grammar: “Was at Ellwood Beach yesterday, counted 14 dead birds, spaced about one every 30-40 feet.
” There was nothing specifically about Long Beach that I could find, though I did learn there’s a bar in Japan called “Little Long Beach” in the r/longbeach Reddit community. I got an answering machine with prerecorded instructions: If you see a bird that needs help, find a box, place the bird in the box, put a cloth over the bird, put the bird in a specific area and do not offer it food or water.
Next, I called the Long Beach Lifeguards Headquarters and spoke to someone on background — they weren’t authorized to speak to me — who told me finding dead birds was nothing new, but the number of dead birds they’re seeing was anything but normal. Then they told me I should talk to the people I called first, International Bird Rescue, because that’s who they called when they found 30 birds dead on the beach one day.
The man with the metal detector A few days later, I went back to the scene of the crime — for lack of a better term — and saw a man with a metal detector scanning the sand along Long Beach City Beach. I noticed a few things: He was built like a wrestler — tall and dense — and was wearing camouflage shorts, a matching hat and a white shirt and, this will be important later, he was not carrying a shovel.
He also told me the dead birds I saw were a drop in the ocean compared to what he’s been seeing lately.
“Every time I go to a beach, I see about 10 dead birds. Maybe that’s natural, but I think it’s a lot. ” When he spots the birds, he doesn’t do what I do, which is gasp and move on. He puts on a pair of gloves and buries them with his hands.
“You’ll never know it’s there. Unless your kids start digging in the sand,” he said. The man with the metal detector declined to give me his name because he didn’t trust the media. But he did tell me the theory he had about how the birds died.
Across the ocean, about 2,000 feet in front of us, was an island with a beige concrete tower wrapped in blue lines. He pointed to it.
“That one, right in front of us. That’s an oil rig,” he told me.
“All these islands out here that look all pretty are oil rigs. ” His theory is that oil is being pumped into the ocean and when seabirds dive for food, they get oil all over themselves. That’s why they wind up on the shore. The man with the metal detector was pointing at the THUMS Islands, an acronym for Texaco, Humble, Union, Mobil and Shell.
In the 1960s, those five companies leased multiple oil fields together off the coast of Long Beach and produced 150,000 barrels a day at their peak. But recently, production shrunk from 15,000 to 8,000 barrels a day. The city of Long Beach“These birds were not oiled,” JD Bergeron, the CEO of International Bird Rescue, told me a few days later in a phone interview.
Bergeron is based in the Bay Area, but his organization also has a wildlife center in San Pedro. Around March 1, Bergeron and his team at International Bird Rescue started receiving four times the usual number of calls from residents across Southern California. They’ve all been about dead birds. He told me their helpline went from 10 calls a day about dead birds to 40.
“When the numbers start to come in more rapidly, we get nervous,” Bergeron said, adding that his organization is exploring several causes for the uptick in dead birds. But he reiterated that none of the dead birds had been covered in oil.
“I don’t know exactly why the birds are dying,” Long Beach resident Adam Novak told me. Novak has been walking the beach almost every day for 15 years.
“I’m sure it’s probably eating the trash. It’s pretty dirty out here. ” I let Novak get on with his day and walked 1.5 miles from Junipero Beach to Rosie’s Dog Beach. I passed the Belmont Pier, the Belmont Plaza Pool and multiple moms with kids buying fruit in plastic containers and individually wrapped ice cream from various futeros and paleteros.
Along the shoreline, I stepped over every size of trash imaginable, from small salsa containers to an abandoned pair of mismatched white Pumas to a large black suitcase you would definitely have to check on an airplane. At one point, I spotted a dark figure 100 feet away floating in the water and debated whether it was a cute seal bobbing around or a mattress. But Novak’s trash theory is not on International Bird Rescue’s list of causes to explore.
When one of the first carcasses was found this year, Bergeron said they had to rule out the worst-case scenario for the cause of death: bird flu. Bergeron compared bird flu to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s highly contagious and incurable, and it was the reason Thankfully, when the bird flu test came back, it was negative. Bergeron and his partners had to go back to the drawing board, but at least they could exhale.
The next theory International Bird Rescue had to rule out was harmful algal blooms called red tide that are caused by fertilizer run off into the ocean. The fish eat the algae, and then the birds eat the fish, potentially causing the birds to die.in Long Beach in 2022.
But Bergeron’s team wan’t able to link it directly to the surge in dead birds.drone crashedBut so far, they hadn’t found an isolated freak incident like that, which led Bergeron to his strongest theory: The birds are starving because of climate change. , an oceanic heat wave known as “The Blob” has been present in the Pacific Ocean for the past seven years.
“The Blob” is a mass of water with elevated temperatures moving around the Pacific Ocean. Fish dislike warm water, so when “The Blob” moves into specific regions, fish either dive deeper into colder temperatures or move farther away into colder waters. Even though Bergeron was hesitant to wholeheartedly point to “The Blob” as the single contributing factor, he admitted it outweighs all the others.
“From my perspective, it’s hard to see any version of this in which the temperature of the water is not a factor. ” The truth is that there are currently no hard facts explaining what is causing dead birds to wash up along the coast of Long Beach and Southern California.
But there is one fact that cannot be ignored: As we head into the summer months, when families and tourists flock to the beaches, the dead birds will be there. Some seen and some buried in the sand. Maybe, then, the question isn’t what is causing their deaths, but who is responsible for cleaning them off the beach?
“I wish I had a good answer there,” Bergeron said. “I don’t think that there is necessarily anyone whose responsibility it is to pick up dead birds. ” Residents who see a dead bird can call City of Long Beach Animal Care Services at 562-570-7387. But someone there told me they consider “dead animal pick-ups an non-emergency.
” It may take the city 24 to 72 hours to respond. By then, the tide may have shifted, and who knows where the dead bird will be. Or they can do what an unassuming retired man with a metal detector does: put on some gloves and dig.
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Residents raise concerns over speeding, crashes along Olympic Parkway in ChulaRecent crashes along Olympic Parkway in Chula Vista have residents speaking out about persistent speeding in the area.
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Emmanuel Macron joins two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge for morning run in NairobiFrench President Emmanuel Macron joined legendary Kenyan marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge for an early morning jog in Nairobi on Monday.
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Olympic Gold Medalist Takes New Gig Paying Just $34.10 an HourThe athlete has been in and out of controversy for years before taking on his new job.
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5 new mules set to patrol Olympic National ParkLaura is a science news writer, covering a wide variety of subjects, but she is particularly fascinated by all things aquatic, paleontology, nanotechnology, and exploring how science influences daily life. Laura is a proud former resident of the New Jersey shore, a competitive swimmer, and a fierce defender of the Oxford comma.
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