At the height of the Los Angeles County wildfires, atmospheric concentrations of lead, a neurotoxin, reached 100 times average levels even miles from the flames, according to early detailed measurements obtained by The New York Times. Levels of chlorine, which is also toxic at low concentrations, reached 40 times the average. The spiking levels underscore … Read more
The Push and Pull of Los Angeles: Beauty and Danger By Somini Sengupta Somini Sengupta is a climate reporter who has lived across Los Angeles. Often when you’re visiting Los Angeles, you walk up the 282 steps to the Baldwin Hills scenic overlook. You pass the sagebrush and the primrose. The high rises of downtown … Read more
Donna and Bob Williamson call the strange souvenirs pulled from the ashes of their home their Museum of Misery. There is the green wine bottle that melted, its glass neck drooping, that looks like it was pulled from a Salvador Dalí painting. Silver forks that fused into a thick, lumpy utensil, its prongs fanning out … Read more
When two hijacked jetliners struck the World Trade Center towers in New York City on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani became the face of a city struggling with tragedy, a ubiquitous presence projecting authority, assurance and control. The reputation he forged that day would be tarnished with time, but it became … Read more