Science
Pressure is mounting for soil testing post-fire cleanup. The Newsom administration is downplaying the concerns
Elected officials in California are calling on the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Newsom administration to pay for soil testing on properties destroyed in the Eaton and Palisades wildfires, underscoring the public health risk and financial burdens that could be faced by survivors seeking to rebuild in Altadena and Pacific Palisades.
FEMA, the agency leading the wildfire recovery efforts, has come under heavy criticism for its decision not to test properties for contaminants after removing wreckage and up to 6 inches of top soil. That policy differs from how California has handled virtually all wildfire recoveries in the recent past.
After every major wildfire since 2007, federal and state disaster agencies have conducted soil sampling to ensure that debris-cleared properties do not contain unhealthy levels of lead and other toxic metals. In these cases, at properties where agencies detected high levels of contaminants, they typically deployed cleanup crews to remove another layer of soil, and then would perform another round of soil testing. This would be repeated until testing showed that the soil met state standards.
Following the 2025 L.A. wildfires, however, FEMA has repeatedly refused to pay for soil testing, contending that removing wildfire debris and up to 6 inches of topsoil from portions of destroyed homes is sufficient to eliminate any immediate health threats.
This month, U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Pasadena) led a contingent of 28 federal legislators in writing a letter demanding that FEMA reassess its decision. The letter, sent June 3, calls for federal funding for soil testing and for further remediation at properties with soil contamination above California’s standards.
In a separate letter, sent Thursday, state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Barbara) and three other state legislators urged California environmental regulators to step in and conduct soil sampling if federal disaster agencies continue to resist soil testing protocols. The letter recommends that state officials tap a $2.5-billion emergency relief package signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in January, which includes funding for debris cleanup and post-fire assessments.
Allen’s letter said the state’s decision to leave burned-down homes untested “will reverse precedent and lower standards for future disasters.” Without comprehensive government-led soil testing, the letter argued, homeowners would be left to pay for soil sampling themselves or risk returning to a property with unsafe levels of contamination.
“It is deeply unjust that this responsibility has fallen to fire survivors — already burdened by the challenges of total loss recovery — simply because federal partners like FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have failed to lead,” write Allen and his co-signatories in the letter. “The State of California now has the opportunity to fill that gap with leadership that centers science, transparency, and community needs.”
In February, the Newsom administration asked FEMA to reconsider its decision not to conduct post-cleanup soil testing, stressing that fire-related contamination can remain undetected and pose public health risks, even after cleanup crews finish their first pass at a property. But federal officials swiftly rejected the request, and instead suggested that state and local officials should perform this work.
Since then, the pressure has continued for California officials to step up.
Last month, a coalition of environmental researchers wrote a letter to the Newsom administration, urging state agencies pay for soil testing.
The Newsom administration appears to be walking back its concerns about lingering fire-related contamination. In a June 6 letter replying to those researchers, CalEPA Secretary Yana Garcia downplayed the risks of lingering contamination from the Eaton and Palisades wildfires.
Although air quality and soil testing have found high levels of lead downwind of the Eaton fire, Garcia said that some of this soil contamination could have resulted from the historical use of leaded gasoline in cars and heavy industry.
“It is in this environment, not a clean slate, that the Palisades and Eaton Fires occurred,” she wrote in her letter.
Soil testing carried out by Los Angeles Times journalists in March provided the first evidence that homes cleaned by federal cleanup crews still contained elevated levels of lead and arsenic. Soon after, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health also published preliminary data finding 27% of soil samples collected at already-cleaned homes still had lead above state standards for residential properties.
Despite these soil sampling results, Garcia signaled she is satisfied with the federal cleanup.
“Sampling results so far are demonstrating the effectiveness of the existing clean-up approach,” Garcia wrote in the letter.
(The health department denied an L.A. Times public records request seeking the raw data showing the extent of the soil contamination detected, saying the results had yet to be finalized. The department also declined requests for a copy of its contract with Roux Associates, including how much the county had paid the consultant to perform the soil sampling.)
Garcia stressed that blood testing around the wildfire-affected communities showed overall exposure was low. She did not directly respond to the researchers’ request to pay for soil testing for the L.A. wildfires.
Sen. Allen and the three state legislators who cosigned his public letter are seeking more answers from state environmental agencies. The letter calls for state environmental agencies to convene a public meeting by the end of June to discuss post-wildfire soil testing protocols and plans for the L.A. wildfires.
CalEPA officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Our universe might be chock-full of cosmic wonder, but you can observe only a fraction of astronomical phenomena with the naked eye. Meteor showers, natural fireworks that streak brightly across the night sky, are one of them.
The latest observable meteor shower will be the Lyrids, which has been active since April 14 and is forecast to continue through April 30. The shower reaches its peak April 21 to 22, or Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
According to NASA, the Lyrids are one of the oldest known meteor showers, and have been enjoyed by stargazers for nearly 3,000 years. Their bright, speedy streaks are caused by the dusty debris from a comet named Thatcher. They appear to spring from the constellation Lyra, which right now can be seen in the eastern sky at night in the Northern Hemisphere.
The moon will be about 27 percent full tonight, appearing as a thick crescent in the sky, according to the American Meteor Society.
To get a hint at when to best watch for the Lyrids, you can use this tool, which relies on data from the Global Meteor Network. It shows fireball activity levels in real time.
And while you gaze at the heavens, keep an eye out for other stray meteors streaking across the night sky. Skywatchers are reporting that the amount of fireballs is double what is usually seen by this point in the year.
Where meteor showers come from
There is a chance you might see a meteor on any given night, but you are most likely to catch one during a shower. Meteor showers are caused by Earth passing through the rubble trailing a comet or asteroid as it swings around the sun. This debris, which can be as small as a grain of sand, leaves behind a glowing stream of light as it burns up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Meteor showers occur around the same time every year and can last for days or weeks. But there is only a small window when each shower is at its peak, which happens when Earth reaches the densest part of the cosmic debris. The peak is the best time to look for a shower. From our point of view on Earth, the meteors will appear to come from the same point in the sky.
The Perseid meteor shower, for example, peaks in mid-August from the constellation Perseus. The Geminids, which occur every December, radiate from the constellation Gemini.
How to watch a meteor shower
Michelle Nichols, the director of public observing at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, recommends forgoing the use of telescopes or binoculars while watching a meteor shower.
“You just need your eyes and, ideally, a dark sky,” she said.
That’s because meteors can shoot across large swaths of the sky, so observing equipment can limit your field of view.
Some showers are strong enough to produce up to 100 streaks an hour, according to the American Meteor Society, though you probably won’t see that many.
“Almost everybody is under a light-polluted sky,” Ms. Nichols said. “You may think you’re under a dark sky, but in reality, even in a small town, you can have bright lights nearby.”
Planetariums, local astronomy clubs or even maps like this one can help you figure out where to go to escape excessive light. The best conditions for catching a meteor shower are a clear sky with no moon or cloud cover, sometime between midnight and sunrise. (Moonlight affects visibility in the same way as light pollution, washing out fainter sources of light in the sky.) Make sure to give your eyes at least 30 minutes to adjust to seeing in the dark.
Ms. Nichols also recommends wearing layers, even during the summer. “You’re going to be sitting there for quite a while, watching,” she said. “It’s going to get chilly, even in August.”
Bring a cup of cocoa or tea for even more warmth. Then lie back, scan the sky and enjoy the show.
Where weather is least likely to affect your view
Storm systems sweep across the country in early spring, and some will be obscuring skies tonight. But there will still be plenty of areas with clear skies, particularly in parts of the central United States.
“The best spot is going to be in the Upper Midwest,” said Rich Bann, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center.
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa will offer especially good sky-viewing weather and a beach on the Great Lakes could be a nice spot to look up at the stars.
But don’t expect to view the show from Chicago, as Illinois could see some thunderstorms. The weather will be better in the Northern and Central Plains, particularly the eastern Dakotas.
High, wispy clouds are expected over the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and into parts of the Mid-Atlantic. But, Mr. Bann said, “you may be able to see some shooting stars through thin clouds.”
Clouds will be draped across much of the Southeast and the Northeast, though there could be some clearing in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia. Remember, the meteors could be visible all night long. If you look outside and see clouds, try again later.
Catching the spectacle will be challenging across much of the West, particularly from Washington into Northern California, where a storm system is bringing rain and snow. That system will move east overnight.
There are likely to be some pockets of clear skies at times across southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southwest Utah, Mr. Bann said.
Amy Graff contributed reporting.
WASHINGTON — Amid growing national security concerns, the FBI said Tuesday that it has launched a broad investigation in the deaths or disappearances of at least 10 scientists and staff connected to highly sensitive research, including four from the Los Angeles area.
“The FBI is spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists. We are working with the Department of Energy, Department of War, and with our state and state and local law enforcement partners to find answers,” the agency said in a statement.
The FBI’s announcement comes after the House Oversight Committee announced that it would investigate reports of the disappearance and deaths of the scientists, sending letters seeking information from the agencies involved in the federal inquiry as well as NASA, which owns the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, where three of the missing or dead scientists worked.
“If the reports are accurate, these deaths and disappearances may represent a grave threat to U.S. national security and to U.S. personnel with access to scientific secrets,” Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the committee, and Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) wrote in the letters.
President Trump told reporters last week that he had been briefed on the missing and dead scientists, which he described as “pretty serious stuff.” He said at the time that he expected answers on whether the deaths were connected “in the next week and a half.”
Michael David Hicks, who studied comets and asteroids at JPL, was the first of the scientists who disappeared or died. He died on July 30, 2023, at the age of 59. No cause of death was disclosed.
A year later, JPL physicist Frank Maiwald died at 61, with no cause of death disclosed.
Two other Los Angeles scientists are part of the string of deaths and disappearances.
On June 22, 2025, Monica Jacinto Reza, a materials scientist at JPL, disappeared while on a hike near Mt. Waterman in the San Gabriel Mountains.
On Feb. 16, Caltech astrophysicist Carl Grillmair was fatally shot on the porch of his Llano home. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department arrested Freddy Snyder, 29, in connection with the shooting. Snyder had been arrested in December on suspicion of trespassing on Grillmair’s property.
Snyder has been charged with murder.
There is no evidence at this point that the deaths and disappearances, which occurred over a span of four years, are connected.
A spokesperson for NASA, which owns JPL, said in a statement on X that the agency is “coordinating and cooperating with the relevant agencies in relation to the missing scientists.
“At this time, nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat,” agency spokesperson Bethany Stevens wrote. “The agency is committed to transparency and will provide more information as able.”
Representatives from Caltech, which manages JPL, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The sun had barely risen over the Pacific Ocean when a small motorboat carrying a team of Indigenous artisans and Mexican biologists dropped anchor in a rocky cove near Bahías de Huatulco.
Mauro Habacuc Avendaño Luis, one of the craftsmen, was the first to wade to shore. With an agility belying his age, he struck out over the boulders exposed by low tide. Crouching on a slippery ledge pounded by surf, he reached inside a crevice between two rocks. There, lodged among the urchins, was a snail with a knobby gray shell the size of a walnut. The sight might not dazzle tourists who travel here to see humpback whales, but for Mr. Avendaño, 85, these drab little mollusks represent a way of life.
Marine snails in the genus Plicopurpura are sacred to the Mixtec people of Pinotepa de Don Luis, a small town in southwestern Oaxaca. Men like Mr. Avendaño have been sustainably “milking” them for radiant purple dye for at least 1,500 years. The color suffuses Mixtec textiles and spiritual beliefs. Called tixinda, it symbolizes fertility and death, as well as mythic ties between lunar cycles, women and the sea.
The future of these traditions — and the fate of the snails — are uncertain. The mollusks are subject to intense poaching pressure despite federal protections intended to protect them. Fishermen break them (and the other mollusks they eat) open and sell the meat to local restaurants. Tourists who comb the beaches pluck snails off the rocks and toss them aside.
A severe earthquake in 2020 thrust formerly submerged parts of their habitat above sea level, fatally tossing other mollusks in the snail’s food web to the air, and making once inaccessible places more available to poachers.
Decades ago, dense clusters of snails the size of doorknobs were easy to find, according to Mr. Avendaño. “Full of snails,” he said, sweeping a calloused, violet-stained hand across the coves. Now, most of the snails he finds are small, just over an inch, and yield only a few milliliters of dye.
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