Hundreds of Thousands of Students Return to Schools in Los Angeles

Los Angeles Unified School District, the largest in the state, reopens Monday for in-person instruction. Students and staff will be required to wear masks indoors and undergo weekly COVID-19 testing, regardless of their vaccination status. There's concern that the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in San Joaquin County could spread to some neighboring areas. The brunt of this latest wave is hitting younger people who are not fully vaccinated. Reporter: Lesley McClurg, KQED A new investigation from the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and an environmental news collaboration called Floodlight has found that in 2017, an industry group hired Southern California residents to push for natural gas alternatives to diesel trucks, which are stoking pollution around LA’s hyper-busy port complex. The group paid advocates who say they believed they were working with an environmental campaign, and were told natural gas was the “sustainable solution” -- even as environmentalists were pushing for electric vehicles. Guest: Miranda Green, Reporter Researchers know wildfire smoke can make people more vulnerable to severe lung infection. A new study from Harvard University estimates that inhaling wildfire smoke contributed to the additional deaths of hundreds of Californians due to COVID-19 last year. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED With population data from the 2020 census just out, we’re starting to get a look at how California has changed over the past decade. The data now jump-starts the work of redistricting -- drawing the maps that will define legislative districts for the next decade. Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices