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A Los Angeles County judge ordered the owners of a troubled metal recycling facility to pay $2 million in penalties and permanently cease operations next door to a Watts high school, ending decades-long fears over industrial pollution and dangerous mishaps.

S&W Atlas Iron & Metal had processed scrap metal in Watts since 1949, shredding and baling aluminum cans, steel rims and copper wire. Over that time, students and staff at Jordan High School complained that the facility’s operations coated their campus in toxic dust, occasionally pelted outdoor areas with shrapnel and disrupted classes with explosions.

Atlas, along with its father-and-son owners Gary and Matthew Weisenberg, were arraigned two years ago on numerous criminal charges in connection with illegal dumping and handling of hazardous waste from July 2020 and August 2022. A little more than a year later, a compressed gas canister ignited at the scrap yard, causing a fiery explosion on the first day of school, after which the district attorney’s office filed additional charges against the defendants.

The company and the Weisenbergs eventually pleaded no contest to several charges.

During sentencing on Oct. 21, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Terry Bork directed the company to shut down the scrap yard for good and sign a land covenant that would prohibit future recycling on the site. The owners were also placed on two years of probation and must perform 200 hours of community service.

Bork also ordered Atlas to pay $2 million in fines and penalties, including $1 million in restitution to Los Angeles Unified School District. In addition, Atlas will be required to give the school district and city of L.A. the first opportunity to purchase the property, if it decides to sell.

“This sentencing delivers long-overdue justice to a community that has lived in the shadow of this dangerous facility for generations,” L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “For too long, children at Jordan High School and families in Watts were put at risk by a company that placed profits over safety. My office will continue to hold accountable any business that endangers our children or our communities.”

An attorney and public relations firm representing the Weisenbergs did not respond to a request for comment.

The sentence concludes a long-running saga of dangerous mishaps and close calls in and around school grounds.

In 2002, in perhaps one of the most ignominious episodes, the recycling center was dismantling Navy artillery shells — that were supposedly inert — when one exploded and a chunk of metal launched onto Jordan High’s campus. No one at the school was hurt, but one person visiting the Atlas yard suffered a minor injury.

L.A. Unified School officials urged the court to impose “a strong and appropriate” sentence that would deter future environmental hazards.

“For decades, Jordan High School students and educators have borne the consequences of Atlas’ reckless disregard for safety,” an L.A. Unified School District spokesperson said in a statement. Accountability is essential to ensure this community is not subjected to any further harm.”

Earlier this week, Supt. Alberto Carlvaho echoed those sentiments.

“For far too long, our students and educators in Watts have carried the burden of others’ negligence, yet they have met every challenge with strength, grace and unity,” Carvalho said in a statement on social media. “Schools must always be sanctuaries, free from environmental harm. Environmental justice is educational justice, and Los Angeles Unified remains unwavering in our commitment to a safer, healthier future for every student.”

As an additional requirement of the sentence, Atlas must conduct an environmental cleanup of the site as mandated by the Department of Toxic Substances Control. School district officials expect the grounds to contain elevated levels of lead, which can cause permanent cognitive impairments in children.

Timothy Watkins, president of Watts Labor Community Action Committee, had mixed emotions when hearing of the court decision. On one hand, he said, he’s glad that Atlas is finally closing. But, he worries the devastating effects of lead from Atlas may have inflicted a lasting harm to generations of children that cannot be undone.

“Atlas Metal created a wound in the community, and salt goes into that wound every day it remains contaminated,” Watkins said. “Who says they are going to clean it to the extent that it needs to be clean? And even if they do, they still have profited from the exploitation of our community.”

For the last several months, the neighborhood has been much quieter. The scrap yard ceased operating in May. Atlas workers dismantled a makeshift wall of shipping containers between the scrap yard and school, which was intended to prevent sharp metal shards and other debris from flying onto the school yard.

Watkins said the community will continue to be involved until the environmental risks are gone.

“We’re not done,” he said. “By no means are we finished.”

There’s been a long-standing belief that urinary tract infections are largely caused by poor personal hygiene. New research, however, suggests that many cases may actually be caused by infections of E. coli bacteria from contaminated meat purchased in grocery stores.

UTIs are common — globally there are 400 million cases a year — and can occur when bacteria enter the urethra and infect the urinary tract, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Though public health agencies including the CDC have made clear that E. coli can cause UTIs, the information they provide is often vague. Usually, when E. coli comes up on agency websites, it’s in the context of the strains that cause diarrhea.

A new study published on Thursday in the science journal American Society for Microbiology puts the spotlight on the strains of E. coli that cause UTIs.

Between 2017 and 2021, researchers from George Washington University and Kaiser Permanente Southern California collected more than 5,700 urine samples that tested positive for E. coli from U.S. patients with UTIs who resided in Southern California, from Bakersfield to San Diego.

The researchers also took samples from meats (including turkey, chicken, pork and beef) being sold at retail locations in the neighborhoods where those patients lived.

By comparing the those two sets of samples, the researchers determined that approximately one in five of those infections could be tied to exposure to E. coli from contaminated meat that was purchased in the U.S.

“Urinary tract infections have long been considered a personal health issue, but our findings suggest that they are also a food safety problem,” said Lance Price, senior author of the study and professor of environmental and occupational health at George Washington University.

Among the meat samples, E. coli contamination was highest in chicken (found in 38% of samples collected) and turkey (36%), followed by beef (14%) and pork (12%).

According to the study, food-borne UTIs disproportionately affect women, as well as people living in lower-income areas.

Women are much more prone to the infection in general because of their anatomy. Women have a shorter urethra — the tube that carries urine from the bladder to outside the body — and the short distance makes it easier for bacteria to travel up the urethra and into the bladder. It’s unclear, however, why food-borne UTIs would affect women more than men.

It’s also uncertain why there is such a strong correlation between food-borne UTIs and people who live in high poverty areas. However, the study did find that E. coli contamination was more common in “value packs” of meat; i.e. products that contain larger quantities of meat sold at a lower price per pound.

“My own experience of actually going to grocery stores in more affluent communities versus low-income neighborhoods is that the quality of the products are lower” in the latter, Price said.

The study also suggested that factors including storage at improper temperatures, lack of proper safety and hygiene practices during handling, and production in unsanitary conditions could all have contributed to E. coli contamination.

Price said he and his team sometimes saw packages of chicken that were “bloated with saline.” The extra water could have been the culprit of the E. coli contamination if it leaked onto check-out conveyor belts and contaminated other grocery items.

While Price believes that our food supply chain could do more to lower the risk of food-borne UTIs, consumers can practice safe handling of foods to lower their risk of exposure. That includes:

• Purchasing meat and poultry that is securely sealed to prevent leakage onto other groceries.
• Thoroughly cooking all meat and poultry products. A complete list of recommended temperatures for whole cuts of beef, ground meats and poultry can be found on the CDC website.
• Avoiding cross-contamination in the kitchen.
• Washing hands and kitchen surfaces after preparing raw meat.