Californians could be breathing this toxic gas

A CalMatters investigation of facilities emitting methyl bromide in Los Angeles County has found that local air quality officials won’t be monitoring the air or taking any immediate steps to protect people in nearby homes and schools.

As Alejandra Reyes-Velarde explains, methyl bromide is a highly toxic gas used to kill pests on imported produce. California health officials have classified the chemical as a reproductive toxicant, which means it can harm developing babies in the womb. High levels of short-term exposure can cause headaches and nausea, while exposure lasting a year or more can lead to neurological effects such as learning and memory difficulties.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District has reported that five fumigation facilities in Long Beach, Compton and the L.A. neighborhood of San Pedro may pose a health risk based on a preliminary review. 

In response to a public outcry in Long Beach, the county’s agricultural commissioner, which issues permits to the fumigation companies, required new permit conditions that aim to reduce emissions from the two Long Beach plants.

But permits obtained by CalMatters for three facilities in Compton and San Pedro show that they use much larger volumes of methyl bromide than the Long Beach facilities — yet their permit conditions remain unchanged.

In a letter to regulatory agencies, Democratic U.S. Reps. Nanette Barragán, Maxine Waters and Robert Garcia called for monitors to be installed near all L.A. County fumigation facilities, health assessments for affected communities and the public disclosure of inspection records.

But the South Coast air district does not plan to install air monitors or hold meetings with residents to notify them of potential risks. It is, however, screening facilities to determine whether a full analysis of their health risks is necessary. But even if that analysis is greenlit, the agency said companies would only be required to reduce their emissions if they emit the chemical at concentrations three times higher than the amount deemed a health risk by the state.

• Sarah Rees, South Coast’s deputy executive office for planning, rule development and implementation: “We don’t want to go out and unnecessarily concern folks if there isn’t (a health concern), but we are actively investigating this right now.”

Edvin Hernandez, a father whose son attends an elementary school near the Compton facility, told CalMatters there appears to be “no interest from the government to protect our health.”

“We’re surviving by the hand of God,” he said.

Read more here.

As California struggles to find stable housing for its 187,000 homeless residents, it must also contend with training and employing the people it needs to provide front-line homelessness services, write CalMatters’ Marisa Kendall and Adam Echelman.

Jobs that require face-to-face interaction with unhoused people — such as doing outreach in encampments, working at homeless shelters and being case managers — struggle to recruit and retain staff.

To meet the demands of L.A. County’s homeless population, Santa Monica College began a program last year to train prospective homeless service workers. A state fund provided the program with about $750,000, but once the money runs out, it’s unclear what will happen to the program. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed state budget in January did not include any money for the fund.

Compounding the situation is the fact that the L.A. Homeless Services Authority — the agency that funds the college’s training program — is experiencing its own turmoil. After a scathing audit, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted earlier this month to pull its money out of the agency. The city is also considering doing the same.

Read more here.

On the topic of homelessness: Encampment sweeps in San Diego have become more frequent since the city reduced its warning notice from 72 hours to 24. Marisa and CalMatters video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on how these sweeps displace unhoused Californians as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

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

Though debuting months behind schedule, a new statewide education data system to track student progress officially launched Tuesday, reports CalMatters’ Adam Echelman.

Championed by Gov. Newsom, the Cradle to Career Data System gathers data from roughly 3.5 million California public high school graduates and discloses where students enrolled in college; what kinds of degrees they earned; and the wages they earned after receiving a college diploma or certificate. 

Similar tools have been developed by the state in years past, but the new database is more widely accessible to the public and collects data from more schools and state agencies. 

In its current form, the dashboards reveal just a small segment of the state’s education and workforce data. Officials say they will roll out updates to the database, though no specific timelines were given. 

For instance, information about students who attended private or out-of-state colleges will be integrated, as well as students who didn’t graduate high school. The state has also pledged to release other data as part of the Cradle to Career Data System, such as information about early childhood education and teachers’ training and retention.

Read more here.

At a hearing Tuesday, officials at the University of California gave the strongest indication yet that the budget cuts state lawmakers are proposing may limit the ability of new students to enter California’s public universities. Find out more from CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn.