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Wednesday, the International Energy Agency announced member nations would release a total of 400 million barrels from their strategic reserves of oil as the war in Iran continues to cause the worst disruption to energy markets in decades.
The unanimous decision by the members of the IEA, which represents some of the world's biggest oil-consuming nations, is meant to address the acute disruption in oil trade caused by the war.It's the largest release of crude oil the IEA has ever coordinated, and only the sixth time the group has released oil to balance crude markets The unanimous decision by the members of the IEA, which represents some of the world's biggest oil-consuming nations, is meant to address the acute disruption in oil trade caused by the war. It's the largest release of crude oil the IEA has ever coordinated, and only the sixth time the group has released oil to balance crude markets. IEA executive director Fatih Birol said on Wednesday that the decision by IEA members, who together control some 1.8 billion barrels of stockpiled oil, is a"major action" meant to alleviate the disruption of oil markets. "But to be clear, the most important thing for a return to stable flows of oil and gas is the resumption of transit through the Strait of Hormuz," he said. Details about the timing and the amounts of oil each country will contribute have not yet been announced.first reported about the pending IEA recommendation, but were hovering just under $90 after Birol spoke on Wednesday morning. That price had been around $70 before the war began,The IEA was formed in the wake of the oil crisis of the 1970s. It serves as a sort of counterpart to OPEC, the group of oil-producing nations that work together to coordinate production. While OPEC represents the interests of oilIt coordinates national stockpiles to create a buffer in the case of an extreme shock to global oil supplies — precisely like the one the world is experiencing today. The group has 32 member countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Japan, Korea and most nations in Europe. More than a dozen countries are affiliated with the IEA as"association countries," including China, India, Thailand and Kenya. All together, the IEA estimates that its countries account for 80% of global energy demand. A requirement for membership in the IEA is that countries must commit to maintaining substantial reserves of crude oil or distilled petroleum products, enough to cover at least 90 days of that country's exports, as well as undertake programs to reduce dependency on oil.producing more oil than they need. That means under IEA rules they aren't required to keep stockpiles. But the U.S., which is both the world's largest consumer of oilThe U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves were last tapped in 2022, during the most recent IEA-coordinated release of oil, in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It was only the fourth time the SPR had ever been tapped. Both the Biden administration and then the Trump administration have signaled plans to refill the SPR, but officials have reported that damage to the underground salt caverns that hold the oil hasOil prices have swung wildly over the past week, as ship traffic came to a near-standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which approximately 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas typically travels. Iran's closure of the strait is blocking millions of barrels of oil per day from reaching markets. And it's having knock-on effects; countries like Iraq and Kuwait have had to stop producing oil in some fields because with storage tanks full and no ability to send ships through the strait, there is simply nowhere to put the oil. Some oil is being redirected, including through a pipeline Saudi Arabia can use to send oil to the Red Sea for export. The U.S. has waived sanctions on Russian crude to ease pressure on markets. Now, IEA members are also helping rebalance markets by tapping their stockpiles However, the oil in those stockpiles cannot all be pulled out immediately; there is a physical limit on how quickly it can flow. And oil analysts agree that, as Birol acknowledged, that all the world's responses put together cannot fully compensate for the disruption created by the Iran war. "There is simply no substitute for restoring access through the Strait of Hormuz," Angie Gildea, the global oil and gas leader for accounting giant KPMG, told NPR in a statement sent by email earlier this week."The tools at our disposal, including strategic reserves, rerouting some exports and floating inventories, can provide some relief at the margins, but they are not structural solutions."The leader of the Los Angeles Unified School District says he acted lawfully and has asked to be restored to his position. Alberto Carvalho issued his first public statement since federal agents searched his home and office in late February through a law firm.Federal agents searched Carvalho’s San Pedro home and district offices on Feb. 25. The reason for the searches is unknown. A Department of Justice spokesperson said the agency has a court-authorized warrant, but declined to provide additional details. The FBIon paid administrative leave “pending investigation,” and appointed longtime administrator Andres Chait as acting superintendent. In response to LAist’s questions about Carvalho’s desire to be reinstated, an LAUSD spokesperson wrote, “The Los Angeles Unified Board of Education respects his right to defend himself.”Carvalho’s statement states that while the investigation is ongoing, there has been no evidence presented showing he violated federal law. “Mr. Carvalho respects the rule of law and the investigative process and has always acted in the best interests of students and within the bounds of the law,” the statement from Holland & Knight LLP states. “Mr. Carvalho remains confident that the evidence will ultimately demonstrate that he acted appropriately and in the best interests of students. We hope the School Board reinstates him promptly to his position as superintendent.”The suspended leader of the Los Angeles Unified School District says he acted lawfully and has asked to be restored to his position.The reason for the searches is unknown. A Department of Justice spokesperson said the agency has a court-authorized warrant, but declined to provide additional details. The FBIon paid administrative leave “pending investigation,” Carvalho’s statement states that while the investigation is ongoing, there has been no evidence presented showing he violated federal law. “Mr. Carvalho respects the rule of law and the investigative process and has always acted in the best interests of students and within the bounds of the law,” the statement from Holland & Knight LLP states. “Mr. Carvalho remains confident that the evidence will ultimately demonstrate that he acted appropriately and in the best interests of students. We hope the School Board reinstates him promptly to his position as superintendent.” In response to LAist’s questions about Carvalho’s desire to be reinstated, an LAUSD spokesperson wrote, “The Los Angeles Unified Board of Education respects his right to defend himself.”Orange County has filed a lawsuit accusing its mental health services partner — Mind OC — of squandering more than $60 million in public funds. And one of the allegations links back to the office of disgraced former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do, now serving a federal prision term.The county says the nonprofit group, commonly known as Be Well OC, fraudulently billed millions for services it didn’t provide, routinely put its own financial interests ahead of the vulnerable populations it was supposed to protect, and even violated patient privacy by improperly installing cameras in"sensitive areas."The allegations came Tuesday in a cross-complaint filed against Mind OC in a bitter legal dispute over what was supposed to be a model public-private mental health campus in the city of Orange. A representative for Mind OC said it was not surprised by the lawsuit, and was reviewing it carefully.Orange County has filed a lawsuit accusing its main mental health partner, Mind OC, of squandering more than $60 million in public funds.Fraudulently billed millions for services it didn’t provide.a bitter legal dispute LAist reached out to Mind OC for a response. A representative said they were not surprised by the lawsuit, and were reviewing it carefully. They also called the county’s counter-complaint “reactionary,” and said it was the county who breached its agreement with Mind OC at the Orange health campus, causing the nonprofit “significant damages.” In all, the county is seeking the return of up to $64.5 million in public funds and property it says it entrusted to the organization, according to the complaint. The county also wants to wrest control of the Orange campus from the nonprofit.Mind OC, which does business as Be Well OC, was launched in 2017 with the goal of creating a world class mental health system in Orange County, including two campuses where, they hoped, patients using public services and those with private insurance would both seek care.The first campus opened in Orange in 2021. The initial agreement between Mind OC and the county called for granting the organization a 60-year lease for $1 per year in exchange for Mind OC designing and overseeing construction of the mental health campus in Orange. But the relationship soon soured. The county claimed in 2024 that Mind OC was in default, and then canceled the organization’s lease in February 2025. In the middle of the two actions, Mind OC sued. A second Be Well OC campus was scheduled to open in Irvine last year, but has been held up, largely stemming from the disputes between Mind OC and the county. On Tuesday afternoon, just hours after the county filed its complaint, Irvine held a special meeting where the City Council voted 5 to 2 to support the immediate opening of the Irvine Be Well campus — with Mind OC as the operator. The nonprofit took in $50 million in revenue last year from providing mental health services in Orange County, and has $182 million in assets, according to itsThe county alleges that Mind OC fraudulently billed the county $7.4 million for services it didn’t fully deliver. The county gave Mind OC a $7.7 million no-bid contract in 2019 to design an innovative mental health system. In the county’s complaint, it says Mind OC didn’t document its work, properly maintain records, or justify its invoices on the project. The county also alleged that Mind OC sought to turn in, as its primary deliverable, a document authored by county staff. Ultimately, the county paid Mind OC $7.4 million of the contract. The county also alleges that Mind OC charged excessive rents to the county’s service providers at the Be Well campus in Orange in violation of its lease agreement. The county claims that Mind OC misused taxpayer funds by charging the county’s service providers on the campus rent that equated to “approximately double Mind OC’s operating expenses and well beyond market rate.” Mind OC said in its prior legal complaint that the county “approved the subleases it now complains about.” The county claims there was a conflict of interest when Mind OC subcontracted with a person with ties to Do. Mind OC subcontracted in 2020 with the then-girlfriend of Do’s chief of staff, Chris Wangsaporn. She failed to deliver, as previously reported by LAist. In its complaint, the county saidto run community listening sessions and submit reports to help the county increase access to publicly-funded mental health services. County officials say the work was never turned in. In its complaint this week, the county said “Mind OC promised an investigation into the misappropriation, a promise that, to date, has gone unfulfilled.” Other complaints laid out in the lawsuit against Mind OC include allegations that the nonprofit violated patient privacy on the Orange health campus by installing cameras in service provider areas and having property management staff check in patients and screen phone calls. The county also said Mind OC failed to meet a major goal of the Be Well campus — to have a quarter of all patients served come with their own private insurance, according to the lawsuit and a “Mind OC, a non-profit, took positions designed to maximize its profits at the expense of County taxpayers and residents in dire need of affordable mental health services,” a county spokesperson wrote in a news release.One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay attention. Your City Council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community. The Orange County Board of Supervisors meets on alternating Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. at 400 West Civic Center Drive, Santa Ana. You can check out the 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.covers Orange County and its 34 cities, watching those long meetings — boards, councils and more — so you don’t have to.It's not a SoCal Eid without donuts. Volunteers hand out Krispy Kreme glazed donuts to people at the Islamic Society of Southern California's Eid prayers in 2023.Typically on the morning of Eid-ul-Fitr, the festival that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims wear their best clothes and head to parks or convention centers across Southern California. After the prayer and special sermon, there is another revered tradition to be followed: eating donuts. Some mosques give out thousands of them at one time.Sweet treats are a staple of Eid across the world. When family and friends stop over, they are greeted with tables laden with sweet dishes, often specific to each community. In SoCal, with Muslims from many different backgrounds, deciding what a mosque should serve after prayers on Eid can be tricky. A donut is a neat, unifying solution and also is a way for their American identity to come to the fore.Aliya Amin's earliest memories of the donut lines after Eid prayers goes back to when she was 9 years old. Now, the 29-year-old still believes it's not Eid without donuts. But in her specialty microbakery, Bakes by Aliya, she takes the humble food and adds a creative, South Asian twist. Her version, the Gulab Jamun Donut, is inspired by a gulab jamun, a fried dough ball that is soaked in a cardamom and saffron sugar syrup.Typically on the morning of Eid-ul-Fitr, the festival that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims wear their best clothes and head to parks or convention centers across Southern California.As in, glazed donuts. Hundreds and hundreds — even thousands — of them are handed out by volunteers as people line up. The donut of choice? Krispy Kremes, although it’s not mandated.When family and friends stop over, they are greeted with tables laden with different sweet dishes. In South Asian households, gulab jamun take pride of place. Arab families make maamoul, a date mixture pressed between shortbread cookie dough. Cookies, called kuih, are popular in Southeast Asian households, and in Somali homes, halwa is served. In SoCal, a region with Muslims from many different backgrounds, deciding what a mosque should serve after prayers can be tricky. A donut is a neat solution. “ We have a very diverse community, so some of the desserts can become a little too ethnic for one group versus the other,” said Alam Akhtar, chairman at the Islamic Society of Southern California. “Donut is that one food that just cuts across all ethnicities and all taste buds.”In recent years, the Islamic Society of Orange County has switched to donuts from small businesses that pepper the Little Saigon area. Food, Akhtar said, has a way of uniting people from different cultures and plays an important role in celebrations. ”Feeding people in general is considered a very spiritual act,” he said. “It brings people together. More hands in a plate has more blessings.” Last year, the Islamic Society of Orange County mosque in Garden Grove — affectionately called the “mother mosque” of Southern California — decided to change things up a bit and bought pastries from Porto’s Bakery."This year, we're going to aim for donuts again, based on popular demand and the request from the crowd,” said Hassan Mukhlis, the mosque president.Krispy Kreme has been the mosque’s go-to vendor for the past decade or so, but in recent years, it has looked to support a local, small business to buy the 3,000 donuts needed to feed the crowd that gathers. The mosque is located in Little Saigon, an ethnic enclave with predominantly Vietnamese immigrants, so it plans to order from a Vietnamese bakery.Aliya Amin grew up attending the Islamic Society of Orange County and went on to teach at its weekend school. She now supplies desserts to the cafe on the mosque’s premises, Barakah Cafe.Her earliest memory of the donut lines after Eid prayers were when she was 9 years old. Now, the 29-year-old still says it's not Eid without the donuts. In her specialty microbakery, Bakes by Aliya, she takes the humble food and adds a creative, South Asian twist Her version, Gulab Jamun Donut, is inspired by a gulab jamun, a fried dough ball that is soaked in a cardamom and saffron sugar syrup. “ I essentially make a cake donut, which is cardamom cake flavored, and I have the gulab jamun sitting in the middle, and it's like the perfect balance of spiced but sweet,” Amin said.Donuts are for every age group, she said.Kevin TidmarshThe mutual aid nonprofit Community Solidarity Project has long operated out of repurposed spaces, including the landmark Johnie’s Coffee Shop, which it will have to leave later this spring.The small team behind the Community Solidarity Project has run a community space near Museum Row called Bernie’s Coffee Shop for years. Its footprint expanded last year to include a mutual aid distribution site next door at the former 99 Cents Only store on Wilshire and Fairfax, which distributed food, hygiene supplies and even books and furniture to people affected by the L.A. fires, immigration raids and more.The owners of the former 99 Cents Only store and Johnie’s Coffee Shop buildings are now taking on paid leases.The Community Solidarity Project’s members told LAist they’re grateful they got to use the space for as long as they did and that they were aware the informal agreement allowing them to use the spaces might come to an end at any time. “Part of the fantastical part to me is that we're a group of poor people that has found a way to be extraordinarily generous, and it's not something that we could have done alone,” founder Michelle Manos said.The Community Solidarity Project is looking for donations to help it secure a new location to continue its work as a community hub and mutual aid distribution center.This spring marks the end of an era for the Community Solidarity Project, a mutual aid nonprofit with a longstanding footprint in Mid-Wilshire. It will no longer run Bernie’s Coffee Shop, a community space located in the historic landmark Johnie’s Coffee Shop, famous for appearing inThis year, the organization also stopped running a free supply center called the “Really Really Free 99 Store.” The Community Solidarity Project has provided mutual aid to Angelenos for years and started the distribution center last year to help those affected by the L.A. fires and immigration raids. Co-founder Michelle Manos is the first to admit she had no idea any of her organization’s projects would last as long as they did. “If you would've told me in 2016 that we would have a 10-year run here, I might have looked at you like you're crazy or I might have died of shock right there on the spot,” Manos said.Manos has been a steward of Johnie’s Coffee Shop ever since she helped throw a one-night takeover during Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign . From then, she started a partnership with the Gold family to continue to use the space — first as a campaign center, then as a hub for organizers’ meetings, mutual aid distribution, art events and even on-location shoots with student filmmakers. Manos said she is “ extraordinarily grateful” for their time in the space, as the Community Solidarity Project looks to extend its work running a free, volunteer-run, large-scale mutual aid distribution site. In order to do so, it isThe “Really Really Free 99” project started at the beginning of last year, as Los Angeles was reeling from the impact of the L.A. fires. The team at the Community Solidarity Project immediately pivoted to providing mutual aid for fire victims, since it had built up the experience during events like the COVID-19 pandemic. Following those distribution drives, the Community Solidarity Project connected with a multinational mutual aid organization that had an extra tractor trailer’s worth of resources to donate. At that moment, with the then-vacant location of the 99 Cents Only store right next door, Manos realized there was an opportunity. The coffee shop and the adjacent store are owned by the family of Dave Gold, the founder of the 99 Cents Only chain. “I reached out to our partners in the Gold family, and I asked for and received permission to be able to start storing those items inside the 99 next door, which is the original 99 Cents store here at Wilshire and Fairfax,” she said. From there, the organization started to focus on giving out these supplies and finding more about what residents needed. The Community Solidarity Project’s Ralph Green maintains many of the organization’s relationships with suppliers, including building partnerships with brands and big stores that might otherwise throw out materials.Green said the Community Solidarity Project also partners with mutual organizations across Southern California in order to share and trade the resources they’ve been given. “My personal philosophy as an organizer has always been to say yes to resources and opportunities and then figure it out,” Manos said. That often means the organization’s members and volunteers end up dedicating large amounts of time to ensuring resources get shared — like one day when Rosalind Jones traversed L.A. County for 14 hours to distribute about 10 pallets’ worth of plant-based ice cream. “When I tell people our core team is like six or seven people, they're like, ‘That sounds impossible. How did you do that?’” said Jones, who ran the Free 99 distribution center. “I don't know. It just happened. We just started moving things and doing stuff, and then it all came together.” Some displays at the distribution center, like this one, even resembled a free version of the 99 Cents Only store.As more and more donations came into the Free 99, it distributed food, hygiene products and other necessities, plus other goods like family-planning supplies and hot meals when available. Eventually, it was able to accept donations of beds, desks and bookcases so people displaced by the Eaton Fire could refurnish their apartments for free with quality furniture.Karla Estrada, who ran the organization’s furniture distribution program, said they were able to give out more than 150 pieces of furniture to 70 families. She said one woman who came in for furniture even showed her pictures of a new apartment, excited to show off where everything would be going. Estrada said when the woman was saying goodbye, she said, “Thank you for saving the world.” “That is why we do the things that we do,” Estrada said. “It's because we love our communities. That itself is the gift for me, and I'm very proud of that work.” Rosalind Jones said many people who came into the distribution center couldn’t believe they weren’t being charged. Some even came up to the checkout counter with bills in hand, ready to pay. She says she personally assisted people who came in, including an unhoused trans woman who distributed supplies to others in her encampment and a mother whose husband was detained by immigration agents and needed help taking care of her two children.As of last month, the “Really Really Free 99” project has ended after the landlord began taking on paid leases, starting with a. The Community Solidarity Project’s leadership was aware of the possibility and had been bracing no longer to have access to the space. Still, the Free 99 store being asked to leave turned into a flashpoint on social media, as commenters panned the art show for seemingly pushing out the mutual aid group, a situation Manos called “unfortunate.” ”We never had any issue with the gallery itself or the artists themselves, especially the local, smaller artists who had the opportunity to work with some of the larger artists that were participating in organizing that gallery,” Manos said. “We're well aware that when a local artist sells a piece of art, they use it to feed their family, they use it to make a repair on their car.” Manos said she also saw value in how the pop-up gallery provided a third space for people to gather, which is also part of the Community Solidarity Project’s mission with spaces like Bernie’s Coffee Shop.“If we can find more ways to use spaces that are empty around our city to build community, to build the arts, those things are important,” Manos said. Manos said vacating the space was difficult, especially since community members — many of whom they didn’t have contact information for due to privacy concerns — needed to be notified, and the store’s stock needed to be moved out quickly. The Community Solidarity Project now is being asked to leave that space as Metro prepares to open a nearby D-Line stop — no word yet on what it’ll be replaced by — but its members are optimistic they can build on that work as a proof of concept wherever they land next. “Part of the fantastical part to me is that we're a group of poor people that has found a way to be extraordinarily generous, and it's not something that we could have done alone,” Manos said.Manos said now that the organization is starting a new chapter, it is hoping to raise funds — at least $30,000 — to secure a new, more permanent location. Long before running the Free 99 store, the Community Solidarity Project organized other kinds of mutual aid, like mask giveaways.“We would hope to be able to continue a version of the free store, as well as a version of the community gathering space,” Manos said. “That has been the magical part, when the community is here and when we're able to pay it forward.” In addition to monetary donations, the organization also is looking for volunteers to help coordinate mutual aid and staff events, including its annual Queer Fair. “We're not exceptional in that we thought of something that's never been done before,” Jones said. “We just did something that seemed like it was really hard and seemed like it might even be impossible with the resources and the amount of people we had. But we did it.”
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