prevent

In recent months, federal agents camped out in the lobby of a Southern California hospital, guarded detained patients — sometimes shackled — in hospital rooms, and chased an immigrant landscaper into a surgical center.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents also have shown up at community clinics. Health providers say officers tried to enter a parking lot hosting a mobile clinic, waved a machine gun in the faces of clinicians serving the homeless, and hauled a passerby into an unmarked car outside a community health center.

In response to such immigration enforcement activity in and around clinics and hospitals, Gov. Gavin Newsom last month signed SB 81, which prohibits medical establishments from allowing federal agents without a valid search warrant or court order into private areas, including places where patients receive treatment or discuss health matters.

But while the bill received broad support from medical groups, health care workers and immigrant rights advocates, legal experts say California can’t stop federal authorities from carrying out duties in public places like hospital lobbies and general waiting areas, parking lots and surrounding neighborhoods — places where recent ICE activities sparked outrage and fear. Previous federal restrictions on immigration enforcement in or near sensitive areas, including health care establishments, were rescinded by the Trump administration in January.

“The issue that states encounter is the supremacy clause,” said Sophia Genovese, a supervising attorney and clinical teaching fellow at Georgetown Law. She said the federal government has the right to conduct enforcement activities, and there are limits to what the state can do to stop them.

California’s law designates a patient’s immigration status and birthplace as protected information, which like medical records cannot be disclosed to law enforcement without a warrant or court order. And it requires health care facilities to have clear procedures for handling requests from immigration authorities, including training staff to immediately notify a designated administrator or legal counsel if agents ask to enter a private area or review patient records.

Several other Democratic-led states also have taken up legislation to protect patients at hospitals and health centers. In May, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed the Protect Civil Rights Immigration Status bill, which penalizes hospitals for unauthorized sharing of information about people in the country illegally and bars ICE agents from entering private areas of health care facilities without a judicial warrant. In Maryland, a law requiring the attorney general to create guidance on keeping ICE out of health care facilities went into effect in June. New Mexico instituted new patient data protections, and Rhode Island prohibited health care facilities from asking patients about their immigration status.

Republican-led states have aligned with federal efforts to prevent health care spending on immigrants without legal authorization. Such immigrants are not eligible for comprehensive Medicaid coverage, but states do bill the federal government for emergency care in certain cases. Under a law that took effect in 2023, Florida requires hospitals that accept Medicaid to ask about a patient’s legal status. In Texas, hospitals now have to report how much they spend on care for immigrants without legal authorization.

“Texans should not have to shoulder the burden of financially supporting medical care for illegal immigrants,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in issuing his executive order last year.

California’s efforts to rein in federal enforcement come as the state, where more than a quarter of residents are foreign-born, has become a target of President Trump’s immigration crackdown. Newsom signed SB 81 as part of a bill package prohibiting immigration agents from entering schools without a warrant, requiring law enforcement officers to identify themselves, and banning officers from wearing masks. SB 81 was passed on a party-line vote with no formal opposition.

“We’re not North Korea,” Newsom said during a September bill-signing ceremony. “We’re pushing back against these authoritarian tendencies and actions of this administration.”

Some supporters of the bill and legal experts said California’s law can prevent ICE from violating existing patient privacy rights. Those include the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits searches without a warrant in places where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Valid warrants must be issued by a court and signed by a judge. But ICE agents frequently use administrative warrants to try to gain access to private areas they don’t have the authority to enter, Genovese said.

“People don’t always understand the difference between an administrative warrant, which is a meaningless piece of paper, versus a judicial warrant that is enforceable,” Genovese said. Judicial warrants are rarely issued in immigration cases, she added.

The Department of Homeland Security said it won’t abide by California’s mask ban or identification requirements for law enforcement officers, slamming them as unconstitutional. The department did not respond to a request for comment on the state’s new rules for health care facilities, which went into immediate effect.

Tanya Broder, a senior counsel with the National Immigration Law Center, said immigration arrests at health care facilities appear to be relatively rare. But the federal decision to rescind protections around sensitive areas, she said, “has generated fear and uncertainty across the country.” Many of the most high-profile news reports of immigration agents at health care facilities have been in California, largely involving detained patients brought in for care.

The California Nurses Assn., the state’s largest nurses union, was a co-sponsor of the bill and raised concerns about the treatment of Milagro Solis-Portillo, a 36-year-old Salvadoran woman who was under round-the-clock ICE surveillance at Glendale Memorial Hospital over the summer.

Nurses say immigration agents brought a patient to California Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles and stayed in the patient’s room for almost a week.

(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Union leaders also condemned the presence of agents at California Hospital Medical Center south of downtown Los Angeles. According to Anne Caputo-Pearl, a labor and delivery nurse and the chief union representative at the hospital, agents brought in a patient on Oct. 21 and remained in the patient’s room for almost a week. The Los Angeles Times reported that a TikTok streamer, Carlitos Ricardo Parias, was taken to the hospital that day after he was wounded during an immigration enforcement operation in South Los Angeles.

The presence of ICE was intimidating for nurses and patients, Caputo-Pearl said, and prompted visitor restrictions at the hospital. “We want better clarification,” she said. “Why is it that these agents are allowed to be in the room?”

Hospital and clinic representatives, however, said they already are following the law’s requirements, which largely reinforce extensive guidance put out by state Attorney General Rob Bonta in December.

Community clinics throughout Los Angeles County, which serve more than 2 million patients a year, including a large portion of immigrants, have been implementing the attorney general’s guidelines for months, said Louise McCarthy, president and chief executive of the Community Clinic Assn. of Los Angeles County. She said the law should help ensure uniform standards across health facilities that clinics refer out to and reassure patients that procedures are in place to protect them.

Still, it can’t prevent immigration raids from happening in the broader community, which have made some patients and even health workers afraid to venture outside, McCarthy said. Some incidents have occurred near clinics, including an arrest of a passerby outside a clinic in East Los Angeles, which a security guard caught on video, she said.

“We’ve had clinic staff say, ‘Is it safe for me to go out?’” she said.

At St. John’s Community Health, a network of 24 community health centers and five mobile clinics in South Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, chief executive Jim Mangia agreed the new law can’t prevent all immigration enforcement activity, but said it gives clinics a tool to push back with if agents show up, something his staff has had to do.

Mangia said St. John’s staff had two encounters with immigration agents over the summer. In one, he said, staff stopped armed officers from entering a gated parking lot at a drug and alcohol recovery center where doctors and nurses were seeing patients at a mobile health clinic.

Another occurred in July, when immigration agents descended upon MacArthur Park on horses and in armored vehicles, in a show of force by the Trump administration. Mangia said masked officers in full tactical gear surrounded a street medicine tent where St. John’s providers were tending to homeless patients, screamed at staff to get out and pointed a gun at them. The providers were so shaken by the episode, Mangia said, that he had to bring in mental health professionals to help them feel safe going back out on the street.

A DHS spokesperson told CalMatters that in the rare instance when agents enter certain sensitive locations, officers would need “secondary supervisor approval.”

Since then, St. John’s doubled down on providing support and training to staff and offered patients afraid to go out the option of home medical visits and grocery deliveries. Patient fears and ICE activity have decreased since the summer, Mangia said, but with DHS planning to hire an additional 10,000 ICE agents, he doubts that will last.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

Among my many memories of hiking around Southern California, I have a few that haunt me.

The time I got briefly lost around Mt. Waterman, where I’d been several times. When I ran out of water hiking Strawberry Peak on an unseasonably hot day. When I was dressed appropriately for a long day hike until I fell into the river and was uncomfortably cold for the rest of the day. When I thought I was on trail only to realize I was kind of stuck on a steep, unstable hillside.

Each time, I was underprepared. Each bad experience was preventable. That’s the lesson of today’s Wild.

I spoke to Dr. Rob Scanlon, author of the newly published “Surviving the Trail” (Falcon Guides), a guide book that lays out how we can prevent the most common hiking emergencies by slowing down and planning long before we hit the trail.

Scanlon said he sees his work as less of a “hiker safety” book and more of a “hiker empowerment” book.

“I’m hoping people will recognize that this is intrinsically a dangerous place to be,” said Scanlon, who is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonology, critical care and sleep medicine. “Being a little bit anticipatory, and certainly concentrating on the simple things you can control, will really lead to an almost near guarantee that you will not end up the subject of a news headline.”

I never want to write about any of you, dear Wilders, unless it’s to amplify the great work you’re doing in the outdoors. I do, however, want to help us all learn — through a thoughtful, not sensationalist, approach — how we can make the kinds of memories we enjoy reflecting on.

The subtitle to Scanlon’s book is “Five Essential Skills to Prepare Every Hiker for Adventure’s Most Common Perils.” Let’s dive into what those are.

On a hot day, it’s important to stay hydrated, including on hikes that lack shade, like this one in Griffith Park.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

1. Dehydration 🥵

Long before 7-Eleven, Buc-ee’s and (as an Okie, I must mention) QuikTrip, humans had to actually plan for hydration. Today, if you’re out and about and you’re thirsty, there are generally “20 places you could stop within a rock-throwing distance where you could grab something to drink,” Scanlon said. “We’re more acting in real-time in our off-trail lives, not anticipatory like it used to be.”

This mindset can lead to a lack of planning around hydration. And it shows in the data, as Scanlon notes in his book. “Thousands of hikers” require rescue every year because of issues around dehydration, he wrote.

In his book, Scanlon outlines not only how to determine whether you’re dehydrated on the trail but also, arguably more important, how to plan out your fluid needs. The key factors for determining how much water you should pack are: how fast you’ll be hiking, the terrain you’re traversing, the temperatures you’ll encounter and how humid it’ll be.

Scanlon outlines this in a handy chart, which I used to determine I’m generally bringing enough water: about 32 ounces an hour, given I’m going about 2.5 mph, gaining between 1,200- and 2,000-feet elevation and hiking in moderate temperatures.

“I try to stress strategy. Stopping at the local gas station on the way to the trailhead and grabbing a 12- or 16-ounce bottle of [water] is not a strategy,” said Scanlon, who lives in Georgia. “The strategy begins before the hike.”

Wild writer Jaclyn Cosgrove and dog Bonnie enjoy a frolic in the snow near Buckhorn Campground last winter.

(Mish Bruton)

2. Perilous weather ☀️❄️

As we head into colder temperatures here in Southern California — we just got snow in our mountains! — it is crucial to layer appropriately, including with the right materials.

Any hiker has experienced the phenomenon of bundling up at the car and then needing to shed at least one layer at the start of the hike. Scanlon said as we move and generate heat, we need to either shed or open layers, aiming to maintain feeling a little on the cool side.

My favorite cool-weather layering approach is a merino wool base layer with a puffer vest on top. Sometimes I add gloves, but it really depends on the wind temperature. I often wear either fleece-lined hiking pants, especially if I will be around snow, or thick leggings. And I almost always have on these socks, which all my friends are tired of hearing about. In my pack, I carry extra socks and another base layer that I often change into at my destination. I also like to have my rain jacket (with pit vents!) in case it’s windy at the summit.

All of this is informed by one basic thing I do before hiking: I extensively check the weather, which is not always a straight-forward process.

“Most only look at the weather forecast before traveling, but it often changes as hike time approaches and may not apply to whether the hike will actually take place,” Scanlon wrote. “Forecasts often pertain to the conditions in the nearest city center or local airport and not necessarily those in the hiking areas and surrounding mountains.”

Scanlon outlines great resources to be better prepared for mountain conditions, including this website.

Mish, a friend of The Wild, crosses a stream via logs on the Trail Canyon Falls hike.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

3. Crossing rivers and creeks

Drowning is the most common cause of death in national parks, including misunderstanding how to safely swim in or cross a river. Even the experts struggle with that, which emphasizes just how challenging — and dangerous — it can really be.

Scanlon told me about a five-day backpacking trip he took to the majestic Banff National Park. There was a man-made bridge over every creek crossing, except for one. The trail directed Scanlon and his friends to cross a wide, swift, deep river, and despite scouting other options, they found there was no good spot to cross elsewhere.

At first, Scanlon felt safe, knowing how to cross a river, including facing upstream

Scenes from James Murren’s story, “How to plan a bikepacking trip across Catalina.”

(James Murren / For The Times)

, leaning into the oncoming water flow and shuffling slowly, moving through stable sidesteps.

But as he entered the outside curve, which he knew would be the fastest and deepest part, he was in water almost to his hips, “which is the no-go zone.”

“But I was almost there, and I got pretty close to getting toppled over, but I leaned into the oncoming water extra hard to counterbalance it and somehow got through,” he said. “Even when you do it right, you can still have issues, but I think the majority of times it’s not knowing the technique, not knowing where it’s best to cross and maybe the hubris factor.”

4. Falling from high places

People are increasingly getting too bold in high places, especially in the name of selfies and social media posts, Scanlon said.

The way to get ahead of this problem on your own journey is to decide yourself and within your group that you will not let the glory ahead of you influence your behavior.

I did similar on a recent trip to Taft Point, where multiple travelers have fallen to their deaths. I’d seen the gorgeous images of hikers sitting or posing on a rock that juts out dramatically over Yosemite Valley, and I’d told myself, “Maybe not.” Instead, my dear friend Patrick captured my image safely from a lookout point (which, per optical illusion, looks like I’m much closer to the edge than I am).

It can be hard to fight against this FOMO, but going beyond safety rails or going off-trail for better views or trying to impress our friends can all lead to deadly outcomes.

“There are certainly people who’ve fallen from unstable ground beneath them, and that you can’t necessarily prepare for,” Scanlon said. “But the majority of [accidents] are bad behaviors, like poorly executed selfies and [people] doing things they really shouldn’t. We should not be doing our first handstand ever on an 800-foot cliff.”

A trail sign at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area reminds guests of one of the most important tenants of hiking: Stay on the trail.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

5. Getting lost

This is arguably both the most important chapter (Skill 5: Land Navigation) of Scanlon’s book and the most important thing you can understand outside of hydrating appropriately.

Because, as Scanlon pointed out to me, understanding the factors around how we get lost “is extraordinarily important to nail down because getting lost is the gateway to the other perils.”

So, how do we not get lost?

In an estimated 40% of cases, a hiker got lost because they wondered off-trail, Scanlon wrote. This could be because they accidentally followed a spur or game trail, thinking it was the true trail. Another 17% of cases involve bad weather striking, and hikers moving off-trail to seek shelter.

Scanlon goes into extensive detail — just over 100 pages — about how to navigate in the wilderness, including how to use the different types of compasses, understanding the different parts of the compass and more.

One of his suggestions is easy enough to follow: “Before venturing out on any day hike or backpacking trip, study the map ahead of time and identify the nearest safety point,” whether that be a nearby road, railway, local airport or nearby town. Whatever you choose, it should hold the highest potential for seeing other people who can help and have the fewest visible obstacles on the map to arrive there.

“Navigating to this safety point will be our fallback plan when we have become lost and all else fails to get us back to the trail or trailhead,” Scanlon wrote.

I hope you can take this knowledge and apply it to your next hike. I know I will (and probably also pack Scanlon’s book in my backpack), along with carrying this mindset with me on the trail:

“The No. 1 goal is everyone gets home in one piece, and the secondary goal to get to the summit” or wherever you’re headed, Scanlon told me. “As long as you start out with the predetermined goal that everybody gets home, I think everything you prepare for and every on-trail decision you make should be serving that goal.”

The views from the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook include Culver City and the surrounding L.A. area.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

3 things to do

1. Roast marshmallows in the Baldwin Hills
The Nature Nexus Institute and California State Parks will host a campfire stroll from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. Families can participate in hands-on activities, listen at storytime and roast marshmallows for s’mores by the campfire. Register using the park’s Google form.

2. Heal the land in Elysian Park
Volunteers are needed in two shifts Friday at Elysian Park to help maintain native plant life. From 8 to 10 a.m., volunteers will work at the burn plot, an experimental restoration garden. Later in the day, volunteers will prune and water plants from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Learn more about the morning event at testplot.info and the afternoon event here.

3. Document flora and fauna in Pacoima
L.A. city’s junior urban ecologist Ryan Kinzel will host a community science-focused hike from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday at Hansen Dam (10965 Dronfield Ave., Pacoima). Kinzel will lead guests in participating in the L.A. Nature Quest by using app iNaturalist to document plant and animal life as the group hikes. Learn more at the parks department’s Instagram page.

The must-read

Scenes from James Murren’s story, “How to plan a bikepacking trip across Catalina.”

(James Murren / For The Times)

There are so many ways to experience Catalina Island, including bikepacking. Times contributor James Murren took a two-day trip from East End to Little Harbor Campground and back to Avalon, covering 40-plus miles and about 5,000 feet of elevation. In his guide on how to bikepack the island, Murren writes about not only the beauty but also the surprising solitude he found there. “I had not seen another person for quite a while as I biked deeper into the hinterlands of the island, connecting to East End Light Road,” Murren wrote. “Along the ‘backside’ of the southern end of Catalina, it felt even more remote. East End afforded stunning views of the ocean and San Clemente Island to the south.” What a remarkable opportunity — and it’s only a ferry ride away!

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

Birders off the coast of Sonoma and Marin counties got quite the surprise last week when they spotted the critically endangered waved albatross, the largest bird in the Galapagos! It’s believed to be the first sighting of the bird north of Costa Rica, and it remains unclear what brought it more than 3,000 miles north of its homeland. Those lucky enough to see it included a seabird tour. “The excitement level on the boat when the bird was first identified was intense, with much screaming and shrieking, followed by beatific smiles from a dream come true,” passenger Glen Tepke told a Press Democrat reporter. Ah, the mystery and surprise that each new adventure brings!

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

Amazon has slashed the price of a dehumidifier we tested, which also has hundreds of five-star reviews.

The Devola 12L/day Low Energy Dehumidifier has been slashed from £139.99 to £124.99, saving £15 off.

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Devola 12L/day Low Energy Dehumidifier
£124.99 (was £139.99)

As temperatures drop, the contrast in indoor and outdoor temperatures often causes unwanted condensation.

Most often appearing as dripping water on windows, damp weather can also cause damage to walls, especially if it’s left to build up.

Dehumidifiers have been designed to tackle the problem, but are also a preventative measure for stopping damp in its tracks.

The Devola 12L/day Low Energy Dehumidifier is a mid-range option, which featured in our best dehumidifiers round-up.

We gave the gadget a high rating of 4.5/5, especially for how quickly it worked: ‘’it reduced the humidity from well over 70% (classed as “too high”) to under 60% (classed as “okay”) in under half an hour.’’

The 12-litre capacity is ideal for small to medium-sized rooms, but there are 20L and 25L options for larger or open plan spaces.

Like all dehumidifiers, the Amazon model pulls in humid air, cools it, and it’s then collected as water, which can be emptied.

One of the most handy uses for a dehumidifier in the colder months is to dry laundry.

As it can reduce moisture, placing it beside a drying rack is great for speeding up the time it takes to dry – and the laundry mode is an easy way to do it.

According to Amazon, it costs around 5p per hour to run, which would likely make it cheaper to run than a tumble dryer – which is a very costly appliance to run.

Amazon shoppers are praising the dehumidifier, and with over 800 people already having bought it, now’s a good time to invest ahead of winter.

One shopper said: ‘’Amazing!

‘’I have a basement flat and you can tell the difference it has made in just a week.

‘’No more damp smell. 

‘’Very good at drying clothes too.’’

Another shopper commented: ‘’This has transformed the way I dry my washing, wish I had bought one years ago.

‘’Speeds up dry time and stops the house being full of condensation.

‘’Not too big, sits in the corner of the room, not noisy, cheap to run.’’

Devola 12L/day Low Energy Dehumidifier
£124.99 (was £139.99)

If you’re still making up your mind on which dehumidifier to buy – check out our list of the best dehumidifiers to see what we thought of some of the top brands.

We’ve put the best air purifiers to the test too, trying 11 devices that clean, filter and remove odours from your home.

A federal judge Saturday said it appeared the Trump administration was making an “end run” around U.S. court orders prohibiting five African immigrants to be deported to their home countries by sending them first to Ghana, which was poised to then relocate them to countries where they could face torture or death.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered the government to detail Saturday night how it was trying to ensure Ghana would not send the immigrants elsewhere in violation of domestic court orders. One of the plaintiffs has already been shipped from Ghana to his native Gambia, where a U.S. court found he could not be sent, Lee Gelernt of the ACLU told Chutkan.

Elianis Perez of the Department of Justice acknowledged that she told Chutkan in court Friday that Ghana had pledged that wouldn’t happen. But she argued that Chutkan had no power to control how another country treats deportees. She noted the Supreme Court this summer ruled the administration could continue sending immigrants to countries they are not from, even if they hadn’t had a chance to raise fears of torture.

Gelernt, however, compared the case to that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man the Trump administration mistakenly deported to El Salvador despite a court order prohibiting it, then argued it couldn’t get him back. After multiple courts directed the administration to “facilitate” his return, Abrego Garcia came back to the U.S., where he is now fighting human-trafficking charges and another Trump administration push to deport him.

“This appears to be a specific plan to make an end run around these obligations,” Chutkan said of the administration shipping the immigrants to Ghana. “What does the government intend to do? And please don’t tell me you don’t have any control over Ghana, because I know that.”

Chutkan later issued an order giving the administration until 9 p.m. Eastern Time to file a declaration detailing how they were trying to ensure the other immigrants weren’t improperly sent to their home countries from Ghana.

Riccardi writes for the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose case has come to encapsulate much of President Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda, wants to seek asylum in the United States, his lawyers told a federal judge Wednesday.

Abrego Garcia, 30, was detained Monday by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement in Baltimore after leaving a Tennessee jail on Friday. The Trump administration said it intends to deport him to the African country of Uganda.

Administration officials have said he’s part of the dangerous MS-13 gang, an allegation Abrego Garcia denies.

The Salvadoran national’s lawyers are fighting the deportation efforts in court, arguing he has the right to express fear of persecution and torture in Uganda. Abrego Garcia has also told immigration authorities he would prefer to be sent to Costa Rica if he must be removed from the U.S.

A request for asylum in 2019

A U.S. immigration judge denied his request for asylum in 2019 because he applied more than a year after he had fled to the U.S. He left El Salvador at the age of 16, around 2011, to join his brother, who had become a U.S. citizen and was living in Maryland.

Although he was denied asylum, the immigration judge did issue an order shielding Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he faced credible threats of violence from a gang there that had terrorized him and his family. He was granted a form of protection known as “withholding of removal,” which prohibits him from being sent to El Salvador but allows his deportation to another country.

Following the 2019 ruling, Abrego Garcia was released under federal supervision and continued to live with his American wife and children in Maryland. He checked in with ICE each year, received a federal work permit and was working as a sheet metal apprentice earlier this year, his lawyers have said.

But in March, the Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia to a notorious El Salvador prison, alleging he was a member of MS-13.

The allegation stems from a day in 2019 when Abrego Garcia sought work as a day laborer at a Home Depot in Maryland. Authorities had been told by a confidential informant that Abrego Garcia and other men could be identified as members of MS-13 because of their clothing and tattoos. He was detained by police, but Abrego Garcia was never charged — and has repeatedly denied the allegation. He was turned over to ICE and that’s when he applied for asylum for the first time.

Wrongful deportation and return

The Trump administration’s deportation of Abrego Garcia in March violated the immigration judge’s 2019 order barring his removal to El Salvador. Abrego Garcia’s wife sued to bring him back. Facing mounting pressure and a U.S. Supreme Court order, the Trump administration returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S. in June, where he was charged with human smuggling, a federal offense.

Abrego Garcia is accused of taking money to transport people who were in the country illegally. He has pleaded not guilty and asked the judge to dismiss the case, saying it was filed to punish him for challenging his deportation.

The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding in Tennessee. There were nine passengers in the SUV and Abrego Garcia had $1,400 in cash on him. While officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling, he was allowed to drive away with only a warning.

A Homeland Security agent testified that he didn’t begin investigating until this April, when the government was facing mounting pressure to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. The trial is set for January.

A federal judge in Tennessee released Abrego Garcia from jail on Friday after ruling that he was not a flight risk or a danger. The Trump administration moved to deport Abrego Garcia again on Monday, alleging he is a danger.

Abrego Garcia then stated his intent to reopen his immigration case in Maryland and to seek asylum again, his lawyers said Wednesday. Asylum, as defined under U.S. law, provides a green card and a path to citizenship. Abrego Garcia can still challenge his deportation to Uganda, or any other country, on grounds that it is unsafe.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers say sending him to Uganda would be punishment for successfully fighting his deportation to El Salvador, refusing to plead guilty to the smuggling charges and for seeking release from jail in Tennessee.

Judge keeps Abrego Garcia in the U.S., for now

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have filed a federal lawsuit to ensure that he can exercise his constitutionally protected right to fight deportation. He is entitled to immigration court proceedings and appeals, his lawyers say.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland, who is overseeing the lawsuit, has ruled that the U.S. government cannot remove Abrego Garcia from the country as the lawsuit plays out.

Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign said the government disagrees with the court’s order not to remove him while the lawsuit is pending but that it will comply.

Xinis will not rule on whether Abrego Garcia receives asylum or is deported, but will determine whether he can exercise his right to contest deportation. His asylum case will be heard by a U.S. immigration judge, who is employed by the Department of Justice under the authority of the Trump administration.

The nation’s immigration courts have become a key focus of Trump’s hard-line immigration enforcement efforts. The president has fired more than 50 immigration judges since he returned to the White House in January.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have said he’ll be able to appeal immigration court rulings to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Kunzelman and Finley write for the Associated Press. Finley reported from Norfolk, Va. AP writer Elliot Spagat contributed to this report.

THERE is a way you can possibly prevent mould & condensation this autumn.

Lidl has released a gadget for under £5 which is absolutely essential when when drying your wet clothes indoors.

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Costing just £4.99, the budget supermarket has released a pack of thermometers and hygrometers.

The set of three items is meant to be used to monitor indoor climate so you can prevent mould taking hold.

The hygrometer takes a measurement of the indoor humidity and it also comes with a display for comfort level.

Three steps are shown on the screen indicated by a smiley face, which are dry, comfortable and high humidity.

This is measured in percentages from 10% all the way to 99% with a temperature range of -10°C to 50°C.

How easy is it to use?

Lidl has advertised the product as being very easy and convenient to use, perfect for your wet washing.

The gadget can be mounted on a wall or it can be freestanding in any utility room.

There is also a magnetic attachment and a foldable stand for extra benefit and ease.

Batteries and instructions are included with the product which also has a three-year warranty period.

Cheaper than Screwfix

In comparison, Screwfix has released its own version at a much higher price point.

At a price of £16.99, a gadget from brand Forge Steel measures temperatures in both Celsius and Fahrenheit.

It is advertised as providing an accurate and rapid response and is pocket sized.

The easy-to-read digital display screen will display the temperature and humidity levels.

It does have the same temperature range of -10 to 50°C but it has a smaller humidity range of 20-99%

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THE world’s first smartphone test for type 2 diabetes has launched in the UK.

The app-based check is designed to make it easier for people to spot their risk and could help cut complications such as heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease, which are often linked to diabetes.

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Patients place a drop of blood from a finger-prick onto a chip, which is then scanned by the PocDoc app to give results almost instantly.

NHS trusts in Cumbria and the North East are the first to roll it out, with a nationwide launch planned later this year.

The Government has hailed the app as a “potential game-changer” in the fight against diabetes as results come in within minutes, instead of the days or weeks it can currently take.

Around 5.2 million people in the UK have type 2 diabetes, with cases still rising – and a further 1.3 million thought to be undiagnosed.

“Enabling screening for type 2 diabetes risk including blood biomarkers via a smartphone app is something that has never been done before,” said PocDoc chief executive Steve Roest.

Professor Julia Newton, medical director at HI NENC, said the test could reach people who struggle with conventional health checks.

“Most people over the age of 40 are invited for an NHS health check every five years, but depending on where you live a large chunk don’t attend,” she said.

“One of the reasons we’ve found is accessing a health check in a conventional setting.

“So if those tests are made more easily available, which this test does, then we have the opportunity to reach far more people.”

She added: “If you consider the number of people with diabetes who go onto have heart attacks and strokes, if we can manage their risk before it becomes a problem that will reduce admissions to hospital, reduce mortality, and reduce complications from diabetes, such as kidney disease, heart disease, and stroke disease.”

The HbA1c finger-prick test is considered the gold standard blood test. This is because it shows average blood sugar levels over the past two to three months, giving a clearer picture than daily checks.

Steve said the app fits directly with Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s 10-year NHS plan, spotting illnesses earlier, tailoring care, and shifting more testing and diagnosis into homes and communities.

“There’s a huge gap in screening for preventable diseases,” he said.

“Right now, the system, not just in the UK but worldwide, cannot find, assess, and diagnose enough people to make a dent in tackling heart attacks, strokes, and type 2 diabetes.”

Health minister Stephen Kinnock told The i Paper that the app rollout was important because type 2 diabetes is on the rise across England.

“This is a potential game-changer and exactly the type of technology we want to see in the NHS as part of the 10 Year Health Plan – bringing our health service firmly into the 21st century and care directly into people’s homes.

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“We will make using the NHS as simple and convenient as online banking or shopping, while helping companies bring new technology into the health service more quickly.”

The seed of the device was planted 30 years ago when Steve was a teenager and witnessed his father having a catastrophic stroke in his early forties, due to undiagnosed cardiovascular disease (CVD).

“Using smartphones to deliver diagnostics is exactly what could have saved my dad from having so many [health] problems. He’s cost the NHS a fortune,” Steve said.

Around £9bn is spent on treating complications arising from diabetes, such as heart disease, kidney problems, and nerve damage.

Studies suggest that the annual cost of the disease could increase to £16.9 bn in the next 25 years.

The app’s launch comes 24 hours after the Government announced the biggest shake-up of diabetes care in a decade.

Around 750,000 patients with CVD or early-onset diabetes would benefit from fat jabs sooner, rather than keeping them for the later stages of treatment, new guidance states.

The US agency harshly criticised Boeing’s safety culture as well as ineffective oversight by the FAA.

Boeing failed to provide adequate training, guidance and oversight to prevent a midair cabin panel blowout of a new 737 MAX 9 flight in January 2024, which spun the planemaker into a major crisis, the United States National Transportation Safety Board has said.

The board on Tuesday harshly criticised Boeing’s safety culture and its failure to install four key bolts in a new Alaska Airlines MAX 9 during production, as well as the ineffective oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said at a board meeting that the incident was entirely avoidable because the planemaker should have addressed the unauthorised production that was identified in numerous Boeing internal audits, reports and other forums for at least 10 years.

“The safety deficiencies that led to this accident should have been evident to Boeing and to the FAA,” Homendy said. “It’s nothing short of a miracle that no one died or sustained serious physical injuries.”

Boeing’s on-the-job training was lacking, the NTSB said, adding that the planemaker is working on a design enhancement that will ensure the door plug cannot be closed until it is firmly secured.

The accident prompted the US Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation and declare that Boeing was not in compliance with a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement. CEO Dave Calhoun announced he would step down within a few months of the midair panel blowout.

Homendy praised new Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, but said, “He has his work cut out for him, a lot of challenges to address, and that’s going to take time.”

Boeing said it regretted the accident and was continuing to work on strengthening safety and quality across its operations.

The FAA said on Tuesday that it has “fundamentally changed how it oversees Boeing since the Alaska Airlines door-plug accident and we will continue this aggressive oversight to ensure Boeing fixes its systemic production-quality issues”.

Damaged reputation

The incident badly damaged Boeing’s reputation and led to a grounding of the MAX 9 for two weeks as well as a production cap of 38 planes per month by the FAA, which still remains in place.

“While Boeing is making progress, we will not lift the 737 monthly production cap until we are confident the company can maintain safety and quality while making more aircraft,” the FAA added.

Boeing created no paperwork for the removal of the 737 MAX 9 door plug – a piece of metal shaped like a door covering an unused emergency exit – or its re-installation during production, and still does not know which employees were involved, the NTSB said on Tuesday.

Then-FAA administrator Michael Whitaker said in June 2024 that the agency was “too hands off” in Boeing oversight and has boosted the number of inspectors at Boeing and the MAX fuselage manufacturer’s, Spirit AeroSystems, factories.

Boeing agreed last July to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge after two fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. But it last month struck a deal with the US Justice Department to avoid a guilty plea.

The Justice Department has asked a judge to approve the deal, which will allow Boeing to avoid pleading guilty or facing oversight by an outside monitor.

Earlier this month, Boeing’s problems resurfaced when an Air India flight crashed soon after takeoff from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, killing all but one on board. The aircraft being flown was a nearly 12-year-old Dreamliner. Investigations behind that crash are currently under way.

Welcome to June. We’re halfway through this tumultuous year and there’s only one thing I can say for certain about 2025: It’s moving fast.

I have lots to share in this newsletter, including a long list of plant-related events and activities, but let’s start with goats, sheep and this question: What’s the best way to clear highly flammable weeds from L.A.’s steep urban slopes?

Clearing those hills with weed whackers to knock down black mustard and oats, two invasive plants that burn easily once they’re dry, is noisy, difficult work, and hiring others to do it is expensive.

It is much easier to instead use goats and sheep to nimbly devour all the offending plants, leaving fresh fertilizer (a.k.a. manure) along the way to enrich the soil and give native plants a running chance to reappear. And it is wonderful to see a fluid herd moving slowly along the hill, with little lambs and kids frisking behind their mothers, making sweet bleating sounds instead of the polluting, teeth-grinding whine of gasoline-powered weed whackers.

Goats and sheep seem unbothered by the steep grade on Kite Hill in Mount Washington as they chow down on invasive oat grass.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

A group of Mount Washington small-parcel landowners banded together this spring to create such a pastoral scene, drawing small crowds of delighted neighbors. The goats and sheep got rave reviews, and everyone hopes to see it happen again next year.

Except (you knew this was coming) here’s the problem:

Between transportation and labor costs, the job was a money-losing proposition for the herder, said Brittany “Cole” Bush, owner of Shepherdess Land & Livestock in Ojai and program director of the nonprofit Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council.

Bush agreed to bring 100 of her nearly 600 head of goats and dorper sheep (a.k.a. hair sheep that molt their coats) to Mount Washington as an experiment this spring. Neighbors who own small parcels from a quarter acre to 6 acres banded together to make it happen. Many of those parcels are adjoined, so if enough landowners came together to cover the cost, it seemed like a win-win for everyone.

But there weren’t enough collaborators to make the project pencil out, Bush said, and without a firm partnership, “it’s just not economically viable for small landowners to hire us.” Her company, she said, needs at least $10,000 to clear at least 10 acres before it can cover all its considerable costs.

For example, Bush said she can comfortably fit 100 animals in one of her 24-foot-long double deck trailers, but big rigs like that can’t navigate narrow windy roads, “and the roads around Mount Washington are absolutely bonkers, so we had to use an 18-foot trailer and make three 100-mile round trips to get all the animals we needed up there, about 101 goats and sheep.”

Pliable, solar-powered electric fences have to be erected even on the steepest hills to keep grazers out of yards and both two-legged and four-legged predators away from the herd.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

And then it takes a day for a shepherd to set up 1,000 to 2,000 feet of pliable, solar-powered electric fences around the grazing area, something they must do repeatedly as the herd moves to new grazing areas. And the shepherds must be on guard 24 hours a day to protect the herd from predators like coyotes, neighborhood dogs and humans who think they’re tasty, or just think it would be fun to knock down the fence to watch the whole herd wander out onto a street, which happened in Santa Clarita in April.

So if you have a landowner with just a small parcel, say a quarter or half acre, they only want to pay around $500, Bush said, “but $500 doesn’t cover my cost for the day. For small acreage it would need to be closer to $2,000 an acre for it to work.”

The solution, she said, will require more cohesive partnerships between small landowners, nonprofits and public entities such as fire safe councils (there are several around L.A. County), resource conservation districts and even county parks and recreation programs to go after state grant money that, thanks to a new law, can now be used to help pay for prescribed grazing.

There is an L.A.-based company that uses goats to clear small parcels of land, typically an acre or less, but even for Party Goats LA, those costs typically run around $1,200 to $2,000 for a parcel under an acre, said owner Scout Raskin, with the cost largely dependent on how much fencing she has to use to contain the herd.

A billy goat munches on a tall, slender stalk of invasive black mustard at the top of Kite Hill in Mount Washington.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Raskin has been raising and training a small herd of goats and sheep for seven years, renting them out for parties, films and other special events, but when she lost her job as a television animation producer in 2023, she turned her side hustle into a full-time gig by adding brush clearance to their duties.

She had to increase her flock first, to 28 goats and eight sheep, all of whom she bottle fed, trained and named, and get some lessons in rolling out electric fencing on near-vertical slopes. But the phone has been ringing off the hook this year, she said.

It’s a lot of work, Raskin said, “but the benefits of grazing are insane, because the goats eat the seeds, so the vegetation density goes down every year because the seeds don’t germinate … and they’re depositing their nutrient-rich manure into the soil.”

Final bonus point, said parcel owner Michael Tessler, is the camaraderie and happiness that came with the grazers. Tessler, an architect, bought his small, unbuildable parcel on Kite Hill, a few blocks from his home, to encourage the growth of more native walnut trees and other native shrubs on the steep slope. Grazing wasn’t cheaper than hiring a weed-whacking team to do the work, he said, but the benefits are so much greater.

“I’ve met more neighbors in the past two and a half weeks than I have in the last 15 year of living here,” Tessler said. “People tend to be guarded on a day-to-day basis, but they see a sheep and something changes in them.”

Then bring on the sheep, I say, or as Tessler said more beautifully, “Put joy in the world where you can.”

Two other notes:

Project Phoenix, a joint project of UCLA and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, needs your help to understand how wildfire smoke is affecting birds in California, Oregon and Washington.

Program director Olivia Sanderfoot is looking for volunteers — community scientists — to watch birds in the same specific location for 10 minutes once a week, and report what they see. You can observe multiple locations, just make sure you fill out a separate form for each spot, even if one spot is in your front yard and another is in your back. Signing up is easy, and you’ll be automatically enrolled in online training. I’ll be watching from my front yard, where I have lots of native plants, and my back, where most of my veggies are planted.

An early morning fire at Arlington Garden in Pasadena on May 21 destroyed the garden’s storage shed and all the tools, event furniture and other equipment stored inside, as well as the electricity that powered its extensive drip irrigation system. The fire is still under investigation, but South Pasadena Fire Investigator John Papadakis said arson wasn’t the cause.

In the meantime, the garden is closed until the area can be cleared, said Executive Director A.J. Jewell. The board has started a $40,000 fundraiser to help replace the shed and other items destroyed in the fire.

Upcoming events

Through Dec. 31
Free soil testing for lead for certain properties downwind of the Eaton fire burn area, provided by the County of Los Angeles Public Health Department. Enter your address on the website to see if your property qualifies. Test results take about a week and measure lead levels in the soil only. Instructions for collecting soil samples are on the website. publichealth.lacounty.gov

June 1
San Gabriel Valley Chrysanthemum Society Chrysanthemum & Plant Sales, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Los Angeles County Arboretum’s Ayres Hall in Arcadia. Admission to the sale is free with $15 ticket to the garden ($11 seniors 62+ and students with ID, $5 children ages 5-12, members and children 4 and younger enter free). arboretum.org

June 6
Propagating California Native Plants From Cuttings, a hands-on class taught by Theodore Payne Foundation Horticulture Director Tim Becker, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the foundation in Sun Valley. Participants will leave with a flat of 50 starts. All materials provided. Tickets are $92.55 ($81.88 members). eventbrite.com

June 7
Monrovia Community Garden Volunteer Day, 9 a.m. to noon in Monrovia. Volunteers will help with a variety of activities, including weeding and garden maintenance. Participation is free but registration is required. portal.caclimateactioncorps.org

Compost Workshop at Apricot Lane Farms, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the farm in Moorpark. A hands-on workshop about how the farm creates compost and uses it to enrich its soil. Tickets are $80.52. eventbrite.com

June 8
California Botanic Garden’s Introduction to the Sunflower family (Asteraceae), an introductory hands-on class taught by Samantha Ingram, the garden’s botany program graduate student, 1 to 4 p.m. at the garden in Claremont. Register online, $55 ($45 members). calbg.org

Community Habitat Restoration work around the Audubon Center, 8:15 to 10:45 a.m. at Ernest E. Debs Regional Park in Montecito Heights. Volunteers will help remove invasive species and water new native plantings. Participation is free but you must register online. act.audubon.org

June 13
Comprehensive Irrigation for California Native Plants, a hands-on class taught by Theodore Payne Foundation Horticulture Director Tim Becker, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the foundation in Sun Valley. Learn how, when and why to irrigate California native plants in a landscape. Tickets are $71.21 ($60.54 members). eventbrite.com

June 14
Planting for Pollinators at San Clemente State Beach, 9 a.m. to noon in San Clemente, one of many activities planned statewide in honor of California State Parks Week June 11-15. The goal of the San Clemente State Parks event is to create a community garden, path and educational area and to enhance habitat for the overwintering Western monarch. The beach is one of only 50 designated coastal overwintering sites for the endangered butterfly. Participants will help with planting, weeding and watering while learning how to identify pollinators and the native plants they need to survive. Activities also include crafts, storytelling and an art installation giving participants a chance to paint a pre-drawn mural. All ages welcome, ADA accessible. Participation is free but registration is required. castateparksweek.org

Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts Carnivorous Plant Show & Sale, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sherman Library & Gardens in Corona del Mar. The show includes a talk and Q&A about carnivorous plants at 11:30 a.m. and a guided tour of the garden’s carnivorous bog at 1:30 p.m. led by Horticulture Director Kyle Cheesborough. Free with $5 admission to the garden (members and children 3 and younger enter free.) Military ID holders also enter free with up to five family members through Labor Day (Sept. 1) as well as on Veterans Day (Nov. 11). thesherman.org

Black Thumb Farm Native Plant Stewarding and Propagation, 12:30 to 2 p.m. at the farm in Panorama City. Learn how to identify plants, their role in the ecosystem and how to propagate native plants found around the farm. Participation is free, but registration is required. portal.caclimateactioncorps.org

Summer Rose Care Class, a free class about how to care for roses during the summer to prolong your blooms into the fall, 10 to 11 a.m. at Otto & Sons Nursery in Fillmore. ottoandsonsnursery.com

Nature Club for Kids: Butterflies With the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, a free introduction to the butterflies living on the peninsula, with crafts and a butterfly hike for ages 3 to 10 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the White Point Nature Education Center in San Pedro. pvplc.org

Guided Nature Walk at Alta Vicente Reserve, a moderate to strenuous walk exploring coastal sage scrub habitat with views of Catalina Island and a chance to spot rare birds such as coastal cactus wrens, 9 to 11:30 a.m. in Rancho Palos Verdes. Free, but registration is required. pvplc.org

June 14-15
Los Angeles International Fern Society Annual Fern & Exotic Plant Show & Sale, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on June 14, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 15 at the Los Angeles County Arboretum’s Ayres Hall in Arcadia. Admission is free with $15 ticket to the garden ($11 seniors 62+ and students with ID, $5 children ages 5-12, members and children 4 and younger enter free). arboretum.org

June 14 and 28
Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy’s Native Plant Sales 10:30 a.m. to noon both days at the George F. Canyon Nature Preserve in Rancho Palos Verdes on June 14 and the White Point Nature Education Center in San Pedro on June 28. Plants are grown at the conservancy’s nursery. pvplc.org

June 14, 21 and 28th
Three-Part California Native Garden Design class taught by landscape designer Mari Taylor of Deerbrush Design, 1 to 5 p.m. each day at the Theodore Payne Foundation classroom in Sun Valley. Learn how to evaluate your existing garden, use or convert irrigation systems and basic design approaches. The introductory, online Right Plant, Right Place class on June 10 from 6 to 8 p.m. ($35, or $25 members) is a prerequisite for this course. Tickets are $348.65 ($295.29 members) or $412.67 for couples ($359.32 members). eventbrite.com

June 20-22
Grow Native Nursery Milkweed Fest & End-Of-Season Plant Sale, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 20-21, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on June 22 at the California Botanic Garden. The nursery is celebrating monarch butterflies with the sale of seven different regional species of milkweed, the plant their larva (caterpillars) require to survive, as well as many other California native plants popular with pollinators. This is the last weekend the nursery will be open until the fall. The sale begins June 20. The Milkweed Fest on June 21 will include information about butterfly gardening, the monarch count in Los Angeles and Orange counties and milkweed mapping with vendors from the Xerces Society and Monarch Watch. On June 22, the festival ends with the Butterflies and Brews happy hour from 3:30 to 6 p.m. with drinks, music and socializing. calbg.org

June 21
Fire-Resilient Gardens: A Maintenance Walk and Talk with Theodore Payne Foundation educator Erik Blank, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the foundation in Sun Valley. Learn how to prune and maintain your garden for wildfire safety. Tickets are $39.19 ($28.52 members). eventbrite.com

June 21, 22, 28 or 29
Early Summer Tours of Apricot Lane Farms, the famed organic Moorpark farm behind the documentary film “The Biggest Little Farm,” at 9 to 11 a.m. or 1 to 3 p.m. each day. Participants must be able to walk at least 1.5 miles on a tour that includes several hill climbs. Tickets are $64.69, children 5 and younger enter free with a ticketed adult. eventbrite.com

June 27
Propagating California Native Plants From Seed During the Warm Season, a class taught by horticulturist Ella Andersson, the Theodore Payne Foundation‘s chief botanical technician, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the foundation. Participants will help plant 10 species of warm-season seeds, which they can take home. All materials are included. Tickets are $92.55 ($81.88 members). eventbrite.com

June 28
Los Angeles Chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers Humongous June Plant Sale, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Sepulveda Garden Center in Encino. The sale includes a variety of rare and unusual plants, including fruit trees, vines, berries, roses, flowers and succulents, and an expert on hand to answer questions about their care. Proceeds from the sale will go to support the chapter’s agricultural education programs. crfg-la.org

Botany of Oaks: A walk and talk native tree workshop with arborist Alison Lancaster, 9:30 a.m. to noon at the Theodore Payne Foundation grounds in Sun Valley. Learn how to recognize the many varieties of oaks during an outdoor walk followed by studying oak leaves under a microscope in a classroom. Tickets are $39.19 ($28.52 for members). eventbrite.com

Queer Ecology Walk and Mixer led by naturalist and educator Jason “Journeyman” Wise, 1 to 4 p.m. at the Theodore Payne Foundation’s gardens in Sun Valley. “Explore California’s native plants and ecosystems through the lens of queer ecology: the study of everything in nature that subverts our Western cultural expectations about how the natural world ‘should’ work,” according to the event description. Complimentary refreshments provided at the end of the walk, participants must be 21 or older. Tickets are $44.52 ($33.85 members). eventbrite.com

What we’re reading

It took a while, but I was finally able to update my best public gardens list for Southern California, first compiled in 2021. This new list includes all the old favorites plus 10 new botanic gems I’d never visited before.

Tall, lanky and infinitely gracious, Dan Bifano is known as the gardener to the stars, building huge rose gardens for wealthy, famous SoCal clients like Barbra Streisand and Oprah. His clients can be notoriously picky, but that doesn’t seem to faze Bifano, who keeps his standards simple: perfection.

Once you make your beautiful yard, you’ll need a few chairs and tables to sit on, right? Here’s a list of 10 great places to shop for patio furniture in L.A.

There are lots of reasons to visit California’s largest city park, and surprise! We’re not talking about Griffith Park.

May 30 (UPI) — Scientists at the University of Concepción in Chile have developed the world’s first patented probiotic designed to prevent gastric cancer. The oral supplement is 93.6% effective and targets Helicobacter pylori, a key bacterial factor in the disease.

The probiotic forms a protective coating along the stomach lining, preventing the bacteria from attaching when contaminated food or water is consumed. The supplement is approved for use starting at age 8 and also functions as an immunobiotic, helping regulate the body’s immune response.

Chilean biochemist and Ph.D. in biological sciences Apolinaria García led the research, using Lactobacillus fermentum as the base of the probiotic compound.

Gastric cancer is among the most common cancers worldwide and ranks as the fourth-deadliest. Often called a “silent killer,” its early symptoms are difficult to distinguish from more common and benign digestive conditions.

Helicobacter pylori is found in about half the global population and is linked not only to gastric cancer but also to precursor conditions such as stomach ulcers and MALT lymphoma.

In the United States, the American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 30,000 new stomach cancer cases will be diagnosed in 2025, with more than 10,000 deaths expected.

In Latin America, countries such as Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia report some of the highest incidence rates and lowest survival rates for gastric cancer, said Dr. Patricio Mardónez, president of Chile’s National Health Network.

He noted that countries like Japan and South Korea have significantly reduced mortality through widespread early detection and screening programs.

“Regionally, what was once a cancer seen mostly in people over 65 is now being detected in patients under 50,” Mardónez said.

While the exact causes behind the rise in gastric cancer diagnoses among younger people are still under investigation, several hypotheses have been proposed.

Changes in diet and lifestyle may be contributing, including increased consumption of highly processed foods high in sodium and low in fresh fruits and vegetables. Sedentary behavior and obesity are also risk factors, along with prolonged use of medications such as proton pump inhibitors (PPI), commonly prescribed for acid reflux.

Fatalities are rare in motorbike racing, but unfortunately not unheard of.

British Superbikes rider Chrissy Rouse died after a crash at Donington Park in 2022.

Superbikes can reach speeds of up to 200mph, and the bikes used in Supersport regularly clock well in excess of 100mph.

Former rider and MLav Racing owner Michael Laverty told BBC Sport that the riders were probably reaching speeds of “about 90 to 100mph” when they crashed on the opening corner of Oulton Park on the first lap.

McLaren-Wood, who races for Josh Davis Motorsport By UGGLY & Co Kawasaki, expects the incident to impact some of the riders, but insisted they all enter the sport knowing the risks.

“I think it will affect a few people,” McLaren-Wood said.

“Most of us out there know it’s the sport we love to do and we will go out there fighting again, and avoid anything like that happening again.”

Motorsport Vision Racing (MSV), who are responsible for circuit operations at Oulton Park, and the Motorcycle Racing Control Board (MCRCB) said on Monday they are “investigating the full circumstances of the incident in conjunction with the Coroner and Cheshire Constabulary”.

“I think there are always ways to improve in safety in elite sport,” McLaren-Wood said when asked what the sport could learn.

“Maybe there were too many riders out there, I don’t really know. I’m not a safety expert, but I think it was mostly a tragedy.”

The Oulton Park event marked the beginning of the 2025 British Superbikes season, with a further seven rounds set to take place across the UK before three ‘showdown’ events.

The Supersport Championship is a support class to the main British Superbike series.

The next event of the British Supersport Championship season takes place at Donington Park on 16-18 May.

A GARDENING expert says there’s a better way to beat weeds without relying on harsh tricks or chemical sprays.

In gardens across the UK, weeds are a common headache.

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They sprout in patio cracks, creep through flower beds, and quickly take over any unattended patch of soil.

But before you grab the kettle or a bottle of vinegar, it might be time to take a gentler, smarter approach.

Melissa Quinney, gardening expert at Cabin Master, says the key to weed-free spaces is rethinking how we manage our gardens, and letting nature do more of the work.

“A high-maintenance garden is often a cluttered one,” she explains.

“If you’re always weeding and clearing, consider planting ground cover like creeping thyme or clover.

“These plants suppress weeds by covering the soil, reducing the space and sunlight weeds need to grow.”

Creeping thyme is a top choice for sunny borders and garden paths.

It spreads low and wide, smells lovely when stepped on, and adds beauty as well as function.

It’s also tough and low-maintenance, perfect for busy gardeners.

Clover, meanwhile, not only stops weeds but also boosts your garden’s health.

“It improves soil by fixing nitrogen,” says Melissa.

“That means your other plants will benefit, too, and you don’t need chemical fertilisers.”

Also avoid disturbing the soil too much.

Many gardeners make the mistake of constantly digging or turning over flower beds, thinking it helps.

But it can actually bring buried weed seeds to the surface, giving them a better chance to grow.

Melissa recommends a “no-dig” approach instead.

“If you’ve got piles of fallen leaves, leave them in place,” she advises. “Let them break down into mulch.

“It’s free, it locks in moisture, and it helps stop weed seeds from taking hold.”

She adds: “Nature has a way of tidying itself if we let it.

“The more you work with it, the less time you spend battling weeds — and the more time you get to enjoy your garden.”

Many people see boiling water as a chemical-free fix for weeds.

It’s quick, cheap and easy, just pour it on and watch the leaves shrivel up.

But this method can cause more harm than good.

Boiling water damages plant cells on contact, but it rarely kills the root completely.

That means the weed can return within days, often tougher than before.

Worse still, it’s hard to control. A splash too far and you could scald nearby plants or damage your lawn.

It’s especially risky in flower beds, borders or vegetable patches.

White vinegar is another popular option, but it’s acidic and can alter your soil’s pH, which may affect future plant growth.

Instead of using harsh methods, Melissa says to think long-term.

“With the right ground cover, smart soil care and less digging, you’ll spend far less time pulling weeds and far more time enjoying your space.”

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