UCLA in the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. Some articles may require registration or a subscription. See more UCLA in the News.
L.A. fires: Homes’ air quality worsened | Southern California News Group
A UCLA study released Friday, Jan. 2, found that homes that survived the Eaton and Palisades fires but were exposed to ash or smoke saw worsening air quality over time. According to the study, concentrations of volatile organic compounds, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes, remained significant or even increased after the fires were controlled and outdoor air quality recovered. Researchers began collecting samples on the second day of the fires and concluded on Feb. 18. (UCLA’s Michael Jerrett and Yifang Zhu were quoted. Also: The Conversation, City News Service, Pasadena Now, Spectrum News 1, KCBS-TV, KNBC-TV, KTLA-TV – approx. 5:05 mark, KABC-TV, KTTV-TV, KNX-FM, KCRW-FM and LAist 89.3-FM.)
Wildland firefighters open to respirator use | Santa Monica Daily Press
Wildland firefighters across California are willing to wear respiratory protection despite concerns about mobility and safety, UCLA researchers found. The study comes as firefighters face increasing exposure to carcinogens and toxins from wildfires affecting the Los Angeles region. (UCLA’s Rachael Jones was quoted.)
Schools mourn losses, celebrate progress on fire anniversary | EdSource
Within three months of the fire, 36 students had relocated outside the area, moving an average of 16 miles away, according to an analysis by the UCLA Pritzker Center, a research center focusing on youth in the child welfare system. As recovery continues, Taylor Dudley, the center’s executive director, noted that while some school-based services, such as support for students with disabilities, were initially delayed as schools took account of the losses, they were eventually provided more consistently as schools stabilized. But, she is concerned that students may begin to see other services “drop off” with time.
Grants bring boost to affected businesses | Los Angeles Business Journal
“Most businesses were inside the fire perimeters, and up to half of the exposed businesses were destroyed,” a research report from UCLA’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute and Center for Neighborhood Knowledge found. “Microbusinesses account for most losses because they dominate the local base,” the report continued. “Small businesses are the backbone of our local economies, yet they are often invisible in disaster recovery,” said Silvia González, director of research at Latino Policy and Politics Institute.
Environmental cleanup laws have made a huge difference | The Conversation
(Commentary by UCLA’s James Salzman) Growing up in the 1970s, I took for granted the trash piles along the highway, tires washed up on beaches and smog fouling city air. The famed “Crying Indian” commercial of 1971 became a symbol of widespread environmental damage across the United States. That’s why the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, energized the nation.
AI data centers are forcing ‘peaker’ power plants back into service | Reuters
A 2022 study of formerly “redlined” U.S. communities, which were cut off from financial services like mortgages for being predominantly Black or immigrant, found that residents were 53% more likely to have had a peaker plant built nearby since the year 2000 than in non-redlined areas. “If you were a redlined neighborhood, you were more likely to have a fossil fuel power plant built nearby, and we saw that relationship was even stronger for peaker plants,” said UCLA professor of environmental health sciences Lara Cushing, who led the study.
AI is scoring college essays and conducting interviews | Los Angeles Times
“I don’t think it’s as black and white as saying using AI in college admissions is either good or bad in any kind of blanket way,” said Gary Clark, UCLA’s associate vice chancellor of enrollment management. “It has a role to play, and that role may evolve in the future but, for us in terms of the reviewing of applications and the selection process, we’ve kept that pretty tight and focused on a human process.”
Woman mariachi | LAist
From its start over 200 years ago in central Mexico to the late 20th century, the mariachi genre was traditionally dominated by all-male groups. Until Rebecca Gonzales helped bust open the door. “It was very difficult for me in the very beginning,” Gonzales said in a recorded interview now available as part of UCLA’s oral history project, “Mariachi Music in Los Angeles and beyond”. “I felt like all the eyes were on me.” (UCLA’s Jane Collings was quoted.)
Venezuelan asylum seekers worry about what comes next | New York Times
Legal challenges to the Trump administration’s efforts to rescind the [Temporary Protected Status] program have been led by the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law. Ahilan Arulanantham, a lawyer with the center, said the instability in Venezuela underscored why [Temporary Protected Status] holders should be allowed to remain in the United States.
How will California counties pay for the uninsured? | Los Angeles Times
“This is the moment where a lot of hard decisions have to be made about who gets care and who doesn’t,” said Nadereh Pourat, director of the Health Economics and Evaluation Research Program at UCLA. “The number of people who are going to lose coverage is large, and a lot of the systems that were in place to provide care to those individuals have either gone away or diminished.”
Is it healthy to take aspirin every day? | New York Times
The only people who are categorically recommended to take aspirin every day are those who have a history of cardiovascular disease, meaning they’ve previously had a heart attack, ischemic (nonbleeding) stroke or peripheral artery disease, a condition in which narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to the arms or legs, said Dr. John Mafi, a primary care physician at the University of California, Los Angeles. This is because the risk-to-benefit ratio is in favor of taking aspirin in this group, he added.
Tangled scar tissue may set stage for placenta condition | Medical Xpress
The strongest and most common risk factor is a previous cesarean delivery, as scarring from prior cesarean births can change how the placenta attaches in future pregnancies. New research led by UCLA Health suggests that how this scar tissue heals could be the key to better understanding how PAS develops, who is at risk and why the placenta attaches abnormally. (UCLA’s Dr. Yalda Afshar was quoted.)
Enter 2026 stronger than ever | USA Today
If you’re hitting the reset button on your fitness routine, start small and choose an exercise you enjoy, says Dr. Kimberly Burbank, a primary care sports medicine fellow and team physician at UCLA Athletics. You don’t necessarily need to do the movements traditionally associated with exercise to get a good workout in, either. “I really encourage people to choose (a movement) they actually enjoy doing, because they will probably stick with it more,” she says.
A beginner’s guide to exercising at home | USA Today
Having a dedicated space to practice weight-bearing exercises at home, or heading outside for a quick 10 minute walk, is a great place to start, says Dr. Kyle Lau, a primary care sports medicine fellow and team physician for UCLA Athletics. “It’s been shown that even just a short walk after meals can really be helpful to regulate your blood sugar and also benefit your health” he says.
Flu cases on the rise across the United States | KLTA-TV
“This is actually following a very common pattern that we see generally every year, and actually really consistent with what we saw in the Southern Hemisphere,” said UCLA’s Anne Rimoin.
Court says California open-carry ban is unconstitutional | New York Times
Adam Winkler, a constitutional law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the ruling from the Ninth Circuit “pushes the boundaries of the Second Amendment” by recasting the prior interpretation that states can bar either open or concealed carry, as long as they don’t prohibit both.
Why Americans are leaving some states and flocking to others | TheStreet
“It is interesting to see that in general, population movement continues from North/Midwest regions to Southern states — and again top inbound locations dominated by smaller to medium-size metro areas,” Michael Stoll, economist and professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a statement.
