California

Drinking water warning issued for California schools: “Poisoning” students

Published

2 years ago

August 19, 2024

Drinking water warning issued for California schools: “Poisoning” students

A teacher is accusing the Oakland Unified School District’s water supply of “poisoning” students in California after staff learned that lead amounts far surpassing legal limits were present in the district’s water supply.

Reports documenting the lead amounts were allegedly available in the spring, KRON4 reported, but the district didn’t notify teachers and parents of the situation until this month, meaning that some students—such as those present in the schools for summer classes—were exposed to the water.

Teachers are now questioning why it took so long to notify the impacted parties about the dangerous water and demanding that OUSD remedy the situation.

A stock image of a water fountain. Some of Oakland Unified School District’s water fixtures tested for high amounts of lead.

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“How could we be poisoning our students for so many months?” teacher Stuart Loeble said, according to the KRON4 report.

Loeble went on to say it was “criminal” that students were exposed to lead without knowing, and the district admitted to poor communication in a message sent to district families on Monday morning.

“Despite our attention to detail and care for our sites, we did not communicate effectively to the members of each school community as the testing launched, as we received the results, and as fixes were being implemented,” the district said. “We are putting systems in place to ensure a lack of effective communication does not occur again, and that school communities receive quick notice when this kind of testing is taking place on their campuses.”

When reached for comment, an OUSD spokesperson directed Newsweek to the district’s message. In it, OUSD encouraged parents to send their child to school with a reusable water bottle to use at filtered water stations.

The statement also explained that the district’s limit of allowable lead concentration in water is much stricter than state and federal limits.

“In most cases, the fixtures tested under the District’s limit,” the statement said.

More than 10 percent of the district’s water fixtures—such as faucets and water faucets—tested below the state limit but above the district limit. More than 6 percent of fixtures tested above the state limit. Any fixtures testing under the district’s limit remain in service, with all others taken out of service until repaired and retested.

“A total of 61 fixtures have been fixed so far, and are now waiting to be retested before being brought back on line,” the district said. “We anticipate that remediation process will take approximately three weeks.”

The concerning discovery comes several months after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an additional $3 billion from President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda to aid states and territories in identifying and replacing lead service lines. The project aims to prevent exposure to lead in drinking water.

“Lead can cause a range of serious health impacts, including irreversible harm to brain development in children,” the EPA announcement said. “To protect children and families, President Biden has committed to replacing every lead pipe in the country.”

In 2023, the EPA released data that shows Florida as having the most lead service lines in the country at 1.16 million lines, more than 12 percent of the total number of service lines in the state. Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and New York also have a higher percentage of lead lines.

California, however, tested as one of the states with the least percentage of lead service lines, according to the EPA data. At that time, there were 13,476 lead service lines, accounting for .15 percent of the total number of service lines in the state.

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California

California sheriff running for governor seizes over 650,000 ballots from 2025 election

Published

1 day ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

California sheriff running for governor seizes over 650,000 ballots from 2025 election

A California sheriff who is running as a Republican for governor has seized more than 650,000 ballots from last year’s election, escalating an ongoing conflict with state officials.

Chad Bianco, Riverside county’s sheriff, says he is carrying out an investigation into allegations that ballots were unlawfully cast in last year’s election that resulted in the passage of Proposition 50. The proposition redrew congressional districts to help gerrymander the state in favor of Democrats, in response to similar measures in Republican states like Texas.

Election officials and the California attorney general, Rob Bonta, have both dismissed those allegations. The discrepancy between the machine count and the final count submitted to the state is only 103 votes, according to the Riverside Record.

Bianco’s investigators obtained the ballots after serving the registrar of voters with search warrants last month, he said Friday at a press conference. A Riverside superior court judge appointed a special master to count the ballots, Bianco said.

“This investigation is simple: physically count the ballots and compare that result with the total votes recorded,” Bianco said.

Bianco has pushed the investigation for months, after a group called the Riverside Election Integrity Team, composed of local residents, contended that a discrepancy of 45,896 votes exists between the final vote count and handwritten records that tallied hand-counted ballots.

“There is no indication, anywhere in the United States, of widespread voter fraud,” Bonta said in a statement, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Counts, recounts, hand counts, audits, and court cases all support this.”

Bonta, a Democrat, called Bianco’s move unprecedented and says it is designed to sow distrust in elections.

Bianco is one of the two most prominent Republicans running in California’s crowded gubernatorial primary that includes more than half a dozen Democrats. California runs a top-two primary system that puts all candidates on the same ballot, regardless of party, and sends the two candidates who get the most voters on to the November general election.

Bonta has repeatedly sent letters to Bianco’s office over the last two months saying his staff is not qualified to conduct a recount. In one of the letters, Bonta wrote that the ballot seizure was “unacceptable” and “sets a dangerous precedent and will only sow distrust in our elections”.

California voters last year decisively passed the redistricting ballot initiative championed by Gavin Newsom, the state’s governor, in response to Donald Trump’s attempts to gerrymander new conservative seats in red states. California Republicans, joined by the Trump administration, challenged the measure, but the US supreme court denied an emergency petition to keep the new maps from moving forward.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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California

California warns against Fresno company’s raw cheddar after multistate E. coli outbreak

Published

3 days ago

March 21, 2026

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California warns against Fresno company’s raw cheddar after multistate E. coli outbreak

Saturday, March 21, 2026 11:35PM

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — The California Department of Public Health is advising consumers and businesses not to eat, serve, or sell raw cheddar cheese manufactured and distributed by Fresno-based company ‘RAW FARM.’

The products involved are “RAW FARM” block and shredded varieties from the facility located on Jameson Avenue.

The Food and Drug Administration says at least seven people total have gotten sick in Texas, California, and Florida. More than half of the illnesses are in children.

The FDA has suggested that the farm remove its raw cheese products from the market. The CDC is suggesting people consider not eating the cheese.

However, the company has declined, while also refusing to comply with a mandatory recall.

More information on the outbreak can be found on the FDA’s and CDC’s websites.

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California

I booked a bedroom and a roomette on the same overnight Amtrak train. The bedroom is worth the splurge for longer rides.

Published

3 days ago

March 21, 2026

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I booked a bedroom and a roomette on the same overnight Amtrak train. The bedroom is worth the splurge for longer rides.

If you’re traveling somewhere between Chicago and San Francisco, I highly suggest making a trip of it by taking the California Zephyr, an incredibly scenic overnight Amtrak train through the American West.

I’ve ridden it twice. In January 2025, I took a 15-hour leg of the route from Denver to Salt Lake City and booked a roomette for $400. Then, in February 2026, I took the entire 53-hour journey from Chicago to Emeryville, California, and booked a bedroom for $2,200.

If you’re wondering if the bedroom was worth the upgrade, I think it depends on how long your trip is. But I’ll give you all the details so you can decide for yourself.

I’ve taken two overnight train trips aboard the California Zephyr.

A parked double-decker Amtrak train on a platform with a mountain in the background — The California Zephyr stopped at a platform in Colorado.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

The California Zephyr is a double-decker Amtrak Superliner train that runs between Chicago and Emeryville, California.

The train has coach cars with regular seating and sleeper cars with private cabin accommodations — roomettes (the lowest tier), bedrooms, and bedroom suites (two joined bedrooms). There are also larger, family-sized bedrooms and accessible bedrooms.

First, I stayed in a roomette for a 15-hour trip from Colorado to Utah.

The author sits with her feet up in an Amtrak roomette looking out a window to the left — The author relaxes in a roomette on the California Zephyr.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

For the shorter journey from Denver to Salt Lake City, I booked a roomette for $400. With two seats and two beds, the roomette sleeps up to two passengers, though I was traveling alone.

Then I booked a bedroom for a 53-hour trip from Illinois to California.

The author standing smiling in the Amtrak bedroom with a bunk bed in the background — The author enjoys a bedroom in the California Zephyr.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

I booked a bedroom for the full journey from Chicago to Emeryville for $2,200. The bedroom is roughly twice the size of a roomette and also includes a full bathroom. The bedroom also sleeps two, but again, I was traveling solo.

At 50 square feet, the bedroom was more than twice the size of the roomette.

Inside an Amtrak bedroom with two seats across from eachother in front of a wide window — Inside the bedroom accommodation.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

The bedroom had a couch and a seat facing each other, with a table between them. I appreciated having a couch for the longer trip because I could stretch out and relax during the day.

I also liked that there was a bit more floor space in the bedroom.

In the roomette, the two chairs folded down to form a lower bunk.

A composite image of two train seats converted into a bed with a blue blanket — Seats in the roomette folded down into a bed.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

The bed was cushy and wide enough to snuggle up comfortably.

In the bedroom, the couch folded down to form a cot that appeared to be slightly wider than the roomette bunk.

A composite image of the bottom bunk in the Amtrak bedroom with sheets and a blue blanket on top, and the author lying in bed looking out the window — The author rests in the lower bunk in the bedroom.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

The lower bunk in the bedroom felt more spacious than the one in the roomette.

Both rooms also had a top bunk that pulled down from the ceiling.

The author lays on the top bunk in an Amtrak bedroom. There's a couch below and a ladder on the left — The author relaxes in the bedroom’s top bunk.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

Since I had two nights in the bedroom, I spent one night in each bunk.

The bedroom had a full en suite bathroom.

A composite image of a toilet behind a shower and a sink and vanity with a storage cabinet on the right in an Amtrak bedroom — The bathroom inside the bedroom.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

Inside the bedroom, there was a sink and vanity with a built-in cabinet where I found hand towels, soaps, toilet paper, and space to store my own toiletries. The toilet and shower were in a tiny space separated by a door.

For two nights on a train, I was thankful to have my own shower.

Roomette passengers shared a bathroom and a shower with other sleeper cabin passengers.

A composite image of a glass shower door with a skyline etching on it and the inside of the shower — The shared shower in the sleeper car.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

Since I only spent 15 hours in the roomette, I didn’t mind not having a bathroom in my room. I didn’t use the shared shower; instead, I washed up once I arrived at my destination.

The bedroom had more storage space than the roomette.

A composite image of luggage storage in the roomette and bedroom — Storage in the roomette (left) and bedroom (right).

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

Each room had a mini closet with two hangers inside, as well as a shelf that appeared to be for storing luggage. In the roomette, the shelf was only large enough for my backpack, but in the bedroom, it held my carry-on suitcase.

On both trips, I also had access to shared luggage storage space in the train car.

The bedroom also had a larger mirror.

A composite image of the author in mirrors in the roomette and bedroom — The mirror in the roomette (left) and the bedroom (right).

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

Both rooms had mirrors, but the roomette mirror was shorter and thinner. So I appreciated the wide, full-length mirror in the bedroom. It wasn’t just convenient for getting ready — it also made the space feel larger.

Both bookings included meals.

Inside an empty train dining car with blue booths — Inside the dining car on the California Zephyr.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

Passengers had the option of eating in the dining car or in their rooms.

I think I booked the right room for each trip.

A composite image of the author sitting in a seat inside an Amtrak train's roomette accommodation, looking out a window on the left, and the inside of an Amtrak bedroom with a sofa and closet on the left, a sink on the right, and a sliding door with a curtain in the middle — The author in the roomette (left) and a peek inside the bedroom (right).

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

The bedroom served me well for the two-night journey, and I would splurge on it for any Amtrak trip 24 hours or longer. I think it’s worth the added price for the extra space and full bathroom.

At the same time, I’m glad I booked the roomette for the 15-hour journey. It was a short trip compared to other overnight rides, so sacrificing some comforts and privacy to save money was a good move for me.

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