Do proposed rules to curb CA port pollution go far enough?

Southern California’s Long Beach and Los Angeles ports move millions of tons of cargo a year, handling 40% of the country’s imports and exports. They shuffle goods including produce, electronics and pharmaceuticals, and are critical to the state and national economies, writes CalMatters’ Alejandra Reyes-Velarde.

But with diesel trucks, trains, ships and cargo equipment coming in and out, they are also the region’s largest single sources of air pollution — responsible for about a fifth of the region’s nitrogen oxides, which help form smog. 

Local air quality regulators are trying to limit emissions and other pollutants such as soot, which are linked to respiratory illnesses. The South Coast Air Quality Management District drafted a proposal requiring the two ports to develop a plan by 2027 to electrify trucks, vessels and diesel equipment by building charging and fueling stations. 

The proposal aligns with goals set in 2017, when the ports aimed to convert all of their 60-foot cranes, tractors and other equipment to zero emissions by 2030. Changing the Port of Long Beach alone is estimated to cost at least $1 billion.

But environmentalists say the plan doesn’t go far enough. They argue the air district needs to develop more enforceable targets to reduce other sources of port pollution, and deadlines must be sped up for trucks and equipment to convert to zero emissions — especially since cargo volumes are projected to double at the ports by 2040.

Even if the ports reached their goals, however, the ports’ smog-forming emissions would be reduced only by 14%, according to air quality officials. Also complicating matters: In January California’s state regulators walked away from their plan to phase out diesel trucks statewide, citing opposition from President Donald Trump’s administration.

Read more here.

With the Legislature considering at least 30 bills this session related to regulating artificial intelligence, a new set of recommendations issued by leading AI experts is likely to have a major influence on shaping AI-related measures in California.

As CalMatters’ Khari Johnson explains, after vetoing a high-profile AI bill last year on the grounds that it would curtail innovation, Gov. Gavin Newsom formed a group last fall called the Joint California Policy Working Group on AI Frontier Models. Tasked with developing a framework to govern AI “frontier models” — the most cutting-edge forms of AI — the group issued a draft report Tuesday to help lawmakers bring greater transparency to AI development. Some key suggestions include:

• Have an independent party evaluate advanced AI models;
• Consider passing laws that protect whistleblowers;
• Look into a potential system that flags the government when private companies develop dangerous AI tools.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, the San Francisco Democrat who authored the bill Newsom vetoed, praised the report and said he is considering incorporating its recommendations into a narrower version of his proposal, now known as Senate Bill 53.

The report is expected to be finalized this summer after a period of public comment that ends April 8.

Read more here.

Years after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools across the country, including in California, continue to struggle with chronic absenteeism, slow gains in standardized test scores, persistent teacher turnover and high rates of anxiety and depression among students.

But schools in one small Kern County town appear to be the exception, reports CalMatters’ Carolyn Jones. In Delano, its elementary school district is one of at least 100 districts in the country where student math and reading scores have rebounded from the pandemic. Its rate of chronic absenteeism is also among the state’s lowest. 

At Delano’s Cesar E. Chavez High School, its graduation rate, attendance rate and percentage of students meeting the course requirements for admission to the University of California and California State University all exceed the state average. The school was also selected by the state’s education department as a national “distinguished school.”

Unlike many nationally acclaimed schools, however, Delano schools aren’t wealthy or elite. Located in the San Joaquin Valley, it teaches mostly low-income, Latino or Filipino students whose parents are farmworkers. At some schools, half are English learners.

Find out how Delano schools recovered from the pandemic.

States across the country, including California, have accused major oil companies of knowing their products fuel climate change and misleading the public. CalMatters climate reporter Alejandro Lazo and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on the legal battles to sue Big Oil for climate disasters as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

And check out another video by CalMatters Inland Empire reporter Deborah Brennan and Robert about how some tow companies, in the wake of the Los Angeles County wildfires, fraudulently took vehicles and demanded steep fees for their return. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.