Science
State moves to suspend licenses of troubled L.A. nursing home companies
The California Department of Public Health is moving to suspend the licenses of seven Southern California nursing facilities that have been repeatedly cited in recent years for contributing to patients’ deaths.
The state health department sent letters last month to seven companies in Los Angeles County that received at least two “AA” violations within the last two years, indicating a failure that contributed substantially to the death of a resident.
The facilities include Ararat Nursing Facility, a Mission Hills nursing home cited last year over lapses related to two residents’ deaths less than three months apart.
Mark E. Reagan, an attorney for Ararat, said the facility plans to appeal the suspension.
“Not only is any action for suspension unwarranted, it is also not in the best interests of the community or residents of the facility,” Reagan said. “The facility’s top priority is and always has been the safety and well-being of its residents.”
In addition to Ararat, the state said other facilities targeted for license suspension were Antelope Valley Care Center in Lancaster, Brier Oak on Sunset in Hollywood, Golden Haven Care Center in Glendale, Kei-Ai Los Angeles Healthcare Center in Lincoln Park, Santa Anita Convalescent Hospital in Temple City and Seacrest Post-Acute Care Center in San Pedro.
None of those facilities sent letters by the state responded to requests for comment Thursday.
An AA violation is a relatively rare penalty within state enforcement. Only 99 have been issued to the more than 1,200 skilled nursing facilities in California since the start of 2020, according to state data.
According to California law, the state can move to suspend or revoke a nursing home’s license once the facility gets two such violations within two years.
In practice, the AA citation has been issued so infrequently that few facilities crossed that threshold, said Tony Chicotel, a senior staff attorney with California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.
Chicotel said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the state’s recent vigor in issuing AA violations and moving forward with license suspensions.
“As far as I know — and I’ve been doing this a long time, a couple decades — this is new,” Chicotel said.
Representatives from the state public health department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
In each case, state investigations found failures and oversights that contributed directly to residents’ deaths.
At Golden Haven in Glendale, which previously operated as Glenoaks Convalescent Hospital, an investigation revealed that staff withheld a diabetic resident’s insulin and failed to monitor the person’s blood sugar for 61 days, resulting in the patient’s hospitalization and death in April 2024, according to the state’s report.
At Brier Oak on Sunset, a resident died in August 2024 after rolling off a bed while her nurse was tending to a different patient, the state said in its citation report, which noted that paramedics found the woman lying on the floor in a pool of blood.
Facilities in violation frequently resolve citations through appeals, settlements or other alternate routes that lower the severity level of their violation, their fine amount or both, Chicotel said.
All seven of the companies cited were informed by letter that their license would be suspended in 30 days from the sending date if they did not exercise their right to appeal. Advocates said they expected all of them to appeal.
Rachel Tate, vice president of ombudsman services at the nonprofit Wise & Healthy Aging, said she was troubled by the fact that many facilities recorded multiple patient deaths before the state took action.
“I understand that we need to be giving facilities due process and these other opportunities, but it seems we are sacrificing patient care in the process,” Tate said. “How many people are you allowed to kill and still get to appeal and keep your license? That’s very concerning.”
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.
-
Idaho4 minutes ago11-year-old from Idaho competing for $20K, national spotlight – East Idaho News
-
Illinois10 minutes agoGOP Rep. Ryan Spain opposes Illinois redistricting changes
-
Indiana16 minutes agoSuspects flee robbery at Chase Bank in Plainfield
-
Iowa22 minutes agoIowa State football lands 2027 3-star linebacker commit Keaton Wollan
-
Kansas28 minutes agoPBS Kansas remembers employee killed in Wichita shooting; estranged husband charged
-
Kentucky34 minutes agoKentucky transfer Collin Chandler speaks out on why he returned to BYU basketball
-
Louisiana40 minutes agoFederal appeals court upholds Texas’ Ten Commandments law. What does it mean for Louisiana?
-
Maine46 minutes agoMaine Republican candidates are upset about their own party’s online poll