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LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network. For the latest national news from NPR and our live radio broadcast, visitlast week — is asking a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to seal 80 photos that show inside its Vernon facility, along with court documents that describe the images and how they were obtained.
is granted Friday at a scheduled hearing, the photos and documents would only be available to the judge and attorneys. Not the public.Last year an AQMD hearing judge said of Baker’s argument: “It's mind-boggling to sit here and see anyone try to defend this position when we're all looking at these pictures with our eyes.”last week — is asking a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to seal 80 photos that show inside its Vernon facility, along with court documents that describe the images and how they were obtained.the rendering company, which recycles expired meat and animal carcasses, in September 2022, citing multiple violations of a rule that’s meant to keep odors from seeping into neighboring communities. Soon after, Baker filed a lawsuit against the agency and its hearing board, calling for $200 million in damages and for the shutdown order to be tossed out. Baker has since been allowed to partially reopen in a limited capacity doing trap grease and wastewater treatment. The case is still pending.is granted Friday at a scheduled hearing, the photos and documents would only be available to the judge and attorneys. Not the public. Baker’s attorneys also say in the motion that if the court grants their request, they will ask to have the images “redacted or removed” from videos that are publicly available on AQMD’s LAist published photos shown in some of those videos last week, which also appear at in a gallery at the top of this story.The new motion comes after Baker’s failed attempt to keep photos from public view that were taken by an AQMD inspector who visited the facilities throughout 2022. Last October, the company’s lawyers filed anThen and now, Baker’s attorneys argue that the photos contain “highly proprietary, competitively sensitive trade secret information that, if publicized, would impair Baker’s ability to effectively compete.” They also maintain that the inspector took the photos without permission. Baker’s lead attorney and a spokesperson for the company did not respond to a request for comment. AQMD told LAist it cannot comment on pending litigation. Many of the images in the videos are difficult to look at — the graphic photos showed a waste bin overflowing with hooves, as well animal bones scattered across the floor. Here’s how a former AQMD hearing board member described them at aBaker lawyers at that hearing made the argument that the photos included trade secrets and that they hadn’t broken the odor mitigation rule. Bernstein responded: “It's mind-boggling to sit here and see anyone try to defend this position when we're all looking at these pictures with our eyes.”, AQMD’s attorneys say their inspector Dillon Harris was granted permission to take photos from a handful of people at the Vernon facility, including two managers. Harris also testified that he was accompanied by Baker staff during his inspections, but “nobody from Baker informed him that the photographs constituted trade secrets or needed to be kept confidential.”David Pettit, senior attorney at Natural Resources Defense Council, said restricting access to the photos could “make it harder for the public to understand the basis or the validity” of AQMD’s decision to shut down the rendering company. Pettit said it’s not unusual for a court to seal documents where trade secrets are involved. During the past year of litigation over Baker’s shutdown, attorneys for AQMD have argued trade secrets weren’t violated because the company “made no attempt to designate the photographs as trade secret until the hearing," among other reasons. David Loy, legal director of the California First Amendment Coalition, agreed that there can be exceptional trade secret claims. But he said that they should not be “abused to deprive the public of information that it would otherwise be entitled to.” “The public has a right to monitor and oversee and verify. And it can't do that without access to the evidence,” he said.Read our full guide for more tips. We are here to investigate abuse of power, misconduct and negligence in government, business, and any venue where the public is affected.A $38.3 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration will build a bridge at a busy and dangerous Metro crossing in Glendale. Once complete, the bridge will separate trains from vehicles and pedestrians on Doran Street and San Fernando Road.About 90 trains pass through the Doran Street crossing each day, and it has one of the highest number of safety-related incidents in L.A. County. Supervisor Kathryn Barger represents the area and said each passing train can be dangerous because of the layout. The road curves under the 134 Freeway, and Barger said there is a blind spot around the signal and train tracks on Doran Street. “If a car gets stuck, or a car thinks it's going to beat the signal, they're on the train tracks, and the fatalities have been horrific,” she said. Barger said the project has been a priority for years, but Measure R was a game changer. L.A. County voters approved the measure in 2008, which added a half-cent sales tax to fund new transportation projects and programs. Barger said it was a big ask for voters to tax themselves for transportation, but the Measure R funds are what’s getting this bridge across the finish line.Barger said this project has been in the making for at least 15 years. In 2001, the crossing got a $6 million upgrade for better signals, new gates, and a bigger intersection because it was deemed dangerous.Astronaut Doug Hurley stands for photos with a group of students as the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motors are transported down Figueroa Street to the California Science Center to complete the Solid Rocket Booster and be stacked in a vertical display with NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour in Los Angeles on Oct.11, 2023.Two solid rocket motors were transported from the Mojave Air & Space Port to the California Science Center on Wednesday, completing a two-day journey. They will be installed vertically alongside the Endeavour space shuttle in the new"Go for Stack" exhibit once the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is completed in 2025.Wednesday's arrival marks their final journey from the Mojave Air & Space Port to Exposition Park and is the latest milestone in the"Go for Stack" project, which will be part of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.: The Endeavor shuttle is on a mission to go from its horizontal position to a vertical one as part of a new exhibit. To complete it, Northrop Grumman donated the rockets to the science center in 2020.: The current horizontal iteration of the Endeavour shuttle will be available for public viewing until Dec. 31. After that, both the motors and the shuttle will not be seen until construction for the new exhibit is completed in 2025.A pair of solid rocket motors closed roadways on Wednesday as they carefully made the final leg of their journey to the California Science Center — and they lit up social media in the process.“Eleven years after Endeavour’s memorable crosstown journey we’re delighted to invite the public to join us once again to be a part of this next historic arrival,” said Jeffrey Rudolph, president and CEO of the science center. The current horizontal iteration of the Endeavour exhibit will remain in place at the Samuel Oschin Pavilion until Dec. 31. The motors were donated by Northrop Grumman. They've been housed at the Mojave Air & Space Port about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. The airfield also posted the travel itinerary and navigation route the caravan took to arrive at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.The Mojave Air & Space Port wrote on Facebook,"the SRMs are big enough to take up a full lane. They are probably trying to make sure if anything happens they aren’t shutting down a good portion of the major freeways." The two-day trip was captured by some lucky motorists on the highways. The California Highway Patrol showed the caravan in an Instagram Reel, advising drivers to give the engines space.According to the California Science Center, the two motors will be installed in the Shuttle Gallery of the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center. Once stacked,"these elements will complete the Solid Rocket Boosters ."Space enthusiast Rich Par spotted their overnight rest area along the 605 South in Irwindale on Tuesday and posted about it on X, formerly Twitter.Endeavour's solid rocket boosters are currently parked on the shoulder of the 605 South freeway...in the city of Irwindale. 🙂It was a relatively quick trip from Irwindale into Los Angeles, and many spectators and photographers were able to snap the motors entering into LA in the wee hours of the morning. X user Russ Vandeveerdonk spotted workers moving the motors along Figueroa Boulevard this morning.This morning, I had the opportunity to witness something truly magical through the eyes of our local children as two massive Solid Rocket Motors arrived at the California Science Center in District 9.Finally, a big crowd greeted the solid rocket motors as they were delivered to the California Science Center around 9 a.m. Wednesday. L.A. City Councilman Curren Price Jr., who represents Council District 9 where the California Science Center resides, was there with local schoolchildren as the massive cargo pulled into its final destination.Five L.A. County Libraries are offering free doses of naloxone, otherwise known as Narcan, starting Wednesday. People can pick up one dose of the opioid overdose treatment after watching a brief video on how to use it. They will not be asked for ID, proof of insurance, or payment.Narcan can be used to reverse an opioid overdose, including from heroin, fentanyl, and prescription medications. It’s quickly administered through a nasal spray and works almost immediately.. People who are prescribed high-dose opioid medications and people who use drugs should carry the medication, according to the California Department of Public Health. Family and friends are also encouraged to carry Narcan and keep a dose at home. A single dose can reverse an overdose and help with breathing within a few minutes. A second dose can be administered if the person doesn’t respond. Narcan is not addictive.. Skye Patrick, the director of L.A. County Library, said library staff will be treating the clinic like any other service they provide. “The public library and its team are probably some of the most non-judgmental people to work here in Los Angeles County,” she said. “There will be no judgment or any preconceived notions from our team. Just ask for it.”The clinics were created in response to a board motion from L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn. Drug overdose deaths in L.A. County have skyrocketed over the last few years. 2,741 people died of an overdose in 2021. More than half of those deaths were fentanyl overdoses, according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health. “Narcan is easy to use, anyone can carry it, and it saves lives,” Hahn said in a statement last fall. “Fentanyl poisonings are on the rise, and we should make sure Narcan is at our County Libraries where so many young people spend time after school. Parents are scared and want to know how they can get Narcan to keep in case of an emergency so I want to explore making our libraries Narcan kit distribution sites.”The libraries have a limited supply, which is why the program is only available for a few weeks. Patrick said the clinics could be extended if the first round goes well.In 1932, the great Mexican artist David Siqueiros painted a mural on Olvera Street called"América Tropical," but it was quickly whitewashed for its political message. A new documentary tells its story.... for the background on the mural, its destruction and restoration, and how to see it today. Plus, how to viewA little piece of Los Angeles history is hiding in plain sight on L.A.'s Olvera Street. It's a mural by the great Mexican artist David Siqueiros, and it's called"América Tropical." The work was painted by Siqueiros in 1932, but less than a year later, it was whitewashed because of its political message. Now the mural has since been restored. A new documentary that debuts today looks at this history and the legacy of"América Tropical." It's calledNic Cha Kim is the senior producer of arts and culture at KCET and one of the producers of the film. LAist's Nick Roman interviewed him about the documentary. This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.Siqueiros was one of three great Mexican muralists, along with Diego Rivera and José Orozco. What brought Siqueiros to Los Angeles?Well, he was invited, actually, to paint this mural. There was an entrepreneur by the name of Christine Sterling, who had envisioned Olvera Street kind of as a theme park for locals and tourists to almost visit Mexico without having to go visit Mexico. So they asked Siqueiros to paint this mural — like a tropical setting — as a way to attract visitors in time for the upcoming Olympics of 1932.Describe América Tropical. I mean, it gets painted, it's there, and then someone decides to whitewash it. What was behind that decision?That's right. Originally, they thought that he would paint something that would attract tourists. Something tropical, so to speak. But in secret, he really wanted to paint something else. Something that had a message. What he did was he painted an image of an Indigenous Native being crucified on a cross, and there was an American eagle above him. And off to the side, there are these snipers, assassins, with their rifles pointed directly at them. And it's immediately clear when you view the mural that it's a message against imperialism and capitalism. And when Christine Sterling saw this, she understood right away that it was not something that she originally wanted. So that's what happened.And then it gets whitewashed. It's it's out of sight for many decades. Then it's rediscovered. It's restored. Tell us about that process.It's a decades long process actually, you know during the Chicano movement in the 60s. There was a lot of activity. There was a lot of interest in the mural. They wanted to restore it, actually. They wanted to remove the whitewash. They wanted to repaint it. But Siqueiros actually put a stop to that, because he understood the power of showing what happened to it, the erasure of it. So he forbade them from repainting over what happened to his mural. So that's in the 60s. Now in '88, the Getty gets involved. They decide,"Well, we can't repaint it, but let's preserve what's there. Let's bring it back out." So they painstakingly study the mural and figure out what they can do. So they built a shade structure. They look at the infrastructure of the building and they also build a museum two buildings down that they call the América Tropical Interpretive Center. And they built a viewing deck so visitors can just come for free, climb up to the rooftop, and actually see the mural for themselves in its current state. It's like a ghostly image because it's no longer vibrant. You can just barely see it, but you do see it.That's actually a big part of the story. What we do is we meet with contemporary muralists working today. We meet with a group called What's interesting about what Siqueiros did is he actually pioneered the use of spray paint. That's something that's very common nowadays with muralists, but that kind of technology didn't exist back then. He was using paint sprayers. He was using projection systems, projectors that he had borrowed from MGM Studios. And that was very controversial back then. Muralists or artists would say,"That's cheating." But nowadays that's very common. That's something that muralists do all the time. The most important thing is the idea of a mural as an art form that conveys history. They tell stories — it isn't just a pretty image. There's always a message behind a mural. And that's what these artists, when they study Siqueiros, that's what they try to incorporate in their own work.premieres Wednesday, Oct. 11, at 9 p.m. on KCET / Friday, Oct. 13, at 8 p.m. on PBS SoCal.Cynthia Cannady, left, chairperson of the grassroots coalition Pasadena 100, speaks at a rally outside Pasadena City Hall on June 21, 2023.Earlier this year, a grassroots group of Pasadena residents successfully pushed the city to pass a policy goal of getting 100% of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2030. On Tuesday, a city committee took a significant step to figuring out exactly how to do that.: At Pasadena’s Municipal Services Committee meeting on Tuesday evening, city officials presented a draft Integrated Resource Plan. The IRP, a document all cities are required to submit to the state, shows how they'll maintain reliable electricity and work to meet California’s clean energy mandates. Staff went through the pros and cons of how to achieve the city’s carbon-free goal, but community members said the plan focused too much on the cons, like how much it will cost customers.The committee decided not to vote on whether to pass the city’s draft IRP. Instead, heeding the demands of a broad coalition of local residents, committee members asked officials to return in coming weeks with a more detailed plan for overcoming hurdles to the carbon-free goal.Burning fossil fuels for our energy is the single-largest driver of global heating. Pasadena has gotten nearly half its energy from coal most years due to a long-term contract with a coal plant in Utah. Now, cities across the Southland — and the world — are grappling with tough decisions about how to transition their energy supplies to cleaner power without spiking utility bills.Pasadena’s 40-year contract with the Utah coal plant ends in 2025, at which point the city’s main energy supply switches to methane gas through at least 2027. The city’s challenge in the meantime is building up enough renewable sources of energy, such as wind, solar and geothermal energy to become carbon-free by 2030. A Grassroots Coalition Is Pushing Pasadena To Stop Getting Its Power From Coal. It Seems To Be WorkingNASA is about to launch a spacecraft on a nearly six-year journey to a strange asteroid that, unlike most space rocks, seems largely to be made of metal.It will be the first time a mission visits a world that has a metal surface — most worlds are made of rock or gas or ice.It could help scientists understand how violent collisions and events in the solar system's early years led to the formation of planets that have metal-rich cores, including Earth.NASA is about to launch a spacecraft on a nearly six-year journey to a strange asteroid that, unlike most space rocks, seems largely to be made of metal.of Arizona State University, the principal investigator for this mission, who notes that previous NASA efforts have looked at worlds made of rock or ice or gas.— it could help scientists understand how violent collisions and events in the solar system's early years led to the formation of planets that have metal-rich cores, including Earth. Psyche was discovered back in 1852. It's about the size of Massachusetts and likely shaped like a potato, says Elkins-Tanton. Because it's unusually dense, researchers believe around 30 to 60% of it is metal.should send images back once it arrives at the asteroid in August of 2029. The probe, which is named after Psyche, will blast off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX rocket, and its first opportunity to launch comes Thursday morning at 10:16 a.m. EDT. Researchers believe the asteroid might have craters that are ringed with iron spikes, says Elkins-Tanton, because an impact might send up streams of molten metal that then solidify. The asteroid might also have huge metal cliffs, and the remnants of greenish-yellow lava flows. This artist's conception shows what a metal-rich asteroid like Psyche might look like, but scientists really aren't sure what they'll see.For now, all planetary scientists can do is imagine, because telescopes see the asteroid as just a point of light. At its closest approach to Earth, Psyche is over 150 million miles away, in the outer part of the main asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. Since asteroids are leftovers from when the planets formed, Elkins-Tanton says Psyche is like an exposed version of what lurks at the center of rocky planets. "We're trying to understand about the metal core of the Earth," she says, noting that Mars and Venus and Mercury also have metal cores."We are never, ever going to go to those cores — way too hot, way too deep — so this is our one way to see a core." There are other metallic asteroids that represent this kind of planetary building block, she says,"but Psyche is by far the largest, and the one that is most likely to tell us the most about cores." The planet Mercury has an unusually high amount of iron beneath a rocky shell, and there are some planets outside the solar system, around distant stars, that also seem to mostly be made of metal, saysSo even though Psyche's metal-rich nature makes it an unusual asteroid, he says,"it's also kind of representative of a diverse range of bodies that we think are maybe metal worlds.""Because we don't know what its surface looks like, we're not ready to land. We're not ready to sample," says Elkins-Tanton."We have to have some sense of what this object is like before we can take that next step."America's regional theaters are in crisis. Some SoCal organizations have joined a national effort to seek aid from the federal government.Regional theaters are more than just performance spaces — they incubate new talent and offer programming and education for their communities.American regional theaters were hit hard during the pandemic. Audiences have yet to return to pre-COVID levels and the cost of production has risen sharply, resulting in budget shortfalls at theaters across the country. Los Angeles’s rich and storied theater scene is not immune to the crisis. This past summer, Center Theatre Group announced that it would be laying off approximately 10% of its staff and pressing pause on programming for its most theatrically adventurous space, the Mark Taper Forum. Snehal Desai, artistic director of Center Theatre Group, and Danny Feldman, producing artistic director of the Pasadena Playhouse, joined LAist’s daily news program,. Desai and Feldman went to Washington last month with other theater-makers from across the country to lobby for federal support alongside famous faces Lin-Manuel Miranda and Phylicia Rashad. “We were able to talk about the impact of the arts, not only just in terms of the cultural life of this country and our communities, but also the economic impact when our theaters are closed, how it impacts businesses that are in the area in terms of restaurants, bars and dry cleaners,” Desai said. The PNTC is pushing for the passage of the Supporting Theater and Generating Economic Activity Act that would grant theaters $500 million annually over five years. “We're realizing it's going to take us another three to five years to come back," Desai said."So what we're asking for is support at scale to support us.” Reception on Capitol Hill was warm, Desai said. “It's a bipartisan issue because theaters are in every community in our country.”“We aren't just entertainment venues,” Feldman said. “We see ourselves as service organizations to our communities.” Regional theaters serve as incubators for up-and-coming artists, as well as arts education centers for young people, with student matinees and educational outreach a vital part of many theaters' missions. As Feldman sees it, in addition to a good night out, theaters start conversations. “That is what we do best, is bringing people together to open their minds in a certain way and to have a dialogue,” he added.“We're at a turning point now where we have to determine our future and where we're going. It is not sustainable in the way it used to be. We need to find new models moving forward,” Feldman said. According to Desai, theaters also have to figure out to better connect with young people. “I don't know that the next generation has always felt welcome in our spaces and in our theaters…What are we gonna do to change that?” “Ultimately,” Feldman added, “people have been saying theater's dying for thousands of years, so I'm not particularly worried about it. We're the cockroaches of the entertainment industry. We'll be around for a long time.”Biden Voices Support for Israel, Bass Joins Homelessness Commission, & New Arrival for Science Center — The P.M. Edition Educators are concerned about what artificial intelligence technology like ChatGPT means for learning.This morning we will see more low clouds, but those will clear by the afternoon. Along the coast, highs will be in the low 70s, and up to 76 in downtown Los Angeles with low clouds this morning. The valleys will continue to experience a major cooldown, with highs in the upper 70s, and the hottest parts reaching up to 83 — perfect for a walk in the park. Inland, temperatures have dropped with the highs in the mid 70s for Riverside and San Bernardino counties. In Orange County, expect highs in the mid 70s, and low 70s for coastal areas.About those advisoriesIn the western San Fernando Valley, Eastern Santa Monica mountains and the Santa Clarita Valley, expect wind gusts between 40 to 45 mph starting at 5 p.m. until 12 p.m. Thursday. Along the Malibu coasts, it will be very windy at night, with speeds between 20 to 30 mph and local gusts up to 40 mph from 9 p.m. until 12 p.m. Thursday. You can expect northwest winds between 25 and 35 mph, gusts up to 55 mph along the Interstate 5 and Highway 14 corridors and western San Gabriel mountains. These local gusts will continue until 12 p.m. Thursday. In the Antelope Valley, gusty winds up to 50 mph will be felt along the western foothills. Those winds will continue to blow through the area until to 8 p.m. tonight. In the Riverside and San Bernardino County mountains, wind gusts up to 60 mph will occur until 5 p.m. today.Ah, magnifique 🌀🫶 This low pressure system will first bring gusty west winds and cooler weather as it comes toward us through Wednesday. As it leaves Thursday, winds will flip around from the north/east with some places a touch warmer. On this day in 2012, waterspouts were seen off Newport Beach and San Clemente. You can see what they looked like21st Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles : This year, the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles screens 24 films from 13 countries and in 14 languages, including the world theatrical premiere of Vishal Bhardwaj’s
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