Category: Los Angeles County

Train Burglaries Cause Union Pacific, Shipping Companies to Consider Avoiding LA

Instead of making train robbers think twice by threatening jail time, Los Angeles County has made Union Pacific reconsider sending its goods through the area, a letter from the company states. Union Pacific (UP), the nation’s largest rail freight company, sent a letter to Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon stating that train robberies in…


Amazon, UPS, and FedEx Packages Ransacked and Stolen From Los Angeles Trains

According to recent reports, thieves have been looting cargo containers aboard trains near downtown Los Angeles. The majority of the packages being stolen are from Amazon.com Inc., United Parcel Service Inc., and FedEx Corporation. Amazon said it was directing inquiries to the police. Union Pacific Corporation, the railroad company which owns the tracks, estimates more than 90…


LA County Cargo Trains Raided by Thieves, See 160 Percent Increase in Rail Thefts

Thieves are raiding cargo trains carrying packages in Los Angeles County and littering the railroad with thousands of opened, discarded boxes. The issue of abandoned stolen goods went viral with nearly 50,000 likes and 40,000 combined shares on Twitter on Jan. 14 by CBS 2 photojournalist John Schreiber after posting videos of thousands of discarded packages…


LA County 2022 Homeless Count Postponed to Feb. 22–24

LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) announced on Jan. 14 that its annual homeless count will be postponed for one month due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, now taking place Feb. 22–24. The effort, known as the point-in-time count or Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, is essential to understanding how large the region’s…


LA County Hit Hard by Blood Shortage Amid COVID-19 Surge

Los Angeles County officials are urging residents to donate blood as the national blood shortage crisis is impacting local hospitals—to the point of prompting an hours-long shutdown of a trauma center by the county’s Department of Health Services earlier this week. Harbor-UCLA Medical Center’s trauma center had to stop accepting new patients for over two…


Colleges in LA County Extend Remote Instruction Amid Omicron Surges

With the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County, colleges and universities have started their school year online. Schools are expecting a significant number of students testing positive for COVID-19 and require isolation. To give students more time to get tested or recover from COVID-19, many schools have either postponed the date for…


LA County to Investigate Sewage Spill as Residents Call for Better Infrastructure, Leadership

CARSON, Calif.—Los Angeles County will investigate the cause of the 8.5-million-gallon sewage spill in Carson, as well as evaluate the condition of the county’s sewer systems amid residents’ calls for better leadership and infrastructure in the city. On Jan. 11, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion (pdf) introduced by Supervisors Holly J….


Parents Call for Schools to Remain Open Amid Omicron Surge

After a wave of school closures due to COVID-19, parent advocate groups across the U.S. request schools to remain open. “Despite an uptick in Covid-19 cases and the surge of the Omicron variant, schools are safe, essential and must remain open for in-person learning,” a parent groups’ open letter read. Several California and Los Angeles-based…


62,000 LAUSD Students and Staff Test Positive for COVID-19 as In-Person Classes Resume

LOS ANGELES—Students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will return to campus on Jan. 11 amid a surge in COVID-19 cases—with 62,000 LAUSD students and employees testing positive for the virus as of Jan. 10. All students and staff are required to upload proof of a negative COVID-19 test to the Daily Pass…


LA County Pauses Free At-Home COVID-19 Testing Program

LOS ANGELES—Shortly after the at-home COVID-19 testing program was launched again amid the recent COVID-19 surge, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services announced a temporary pause on the program beginning Jan. 5. The Los Angeles County Home Test Collection program offers at-home COVID-19 nasal swab test kits to all county residents for free via…