Latest news with #CaliforniaNationalGuard
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Officials look to quell Pacific Palisades residents' security concerns after PCH fully reopens
In the wake of the Palisades Fire in January, Pacific Coast Highway between L.A. and Malibu was shut down for months – except for local residents, businesses and emergency crews – due to damage from the fire and subsequent mudslides, and now that the critical stretch of coastal highway is open, those living in the area are worried about security. Officials, however, are ensuring that all precautions are taken as more and more people travel through the area. PCH officially reopened on Friday, ahead of schedule and just in time for Memorial Day weekend. Up to two lanes are open in each direction with a 25-mile-per-hour speed limit through active work zones, and security checkpoints along the highway have been removed as the California National Guard demobilizes from the area. As PCH reopens, Malibu urges beachgoers to be safe and respectful Speed limits and worker safety aren't the only things on residents' and officials' minds. Burglaries and thefts in wildfire-affected areas have increased (including in the Eaton Fire burn zone in Altadena, where officials say burglaries are up 'several hundred percent'), and now that the general public is back in the area, concerns are heightened. One way that local leaders are looking to ease those concerns is the decision to hire a private security firm that will provide 24/7 armed patrols in neighborhoods affected by both the Palisades and Franklin fires, officials announced. Approved on May 21 by the Malibu City Council, Covered 6 was chosen since the firm has 'extensive experience patrolling neighborhoods' and that they have worked with local deputies in the past. The service will cost roughly $260,000 per month. Speaking on the price tag at the city council meeting, one resident opined that 'it's a lot of money to spend…but I think it's a time to spend it.' Los Angeles officials tout record progress in Palisades Fire recovery as homes start to be rebuilt 'The patrols are intended to supplement law enforcement efforts by the LASD Malibu-Lost Hills Station and ensure continuous public safety coverage during a critical recovery phase,' Malibu officials said on May 22. 'Fire-damaged areas face heightened risks of burglary, vandalism, theft – particularly of construction materials – as many properties remain vacant during rebuilding.' 'Looter suppression efforts will be intensified, with zero-tolerance to crime and traffic violations,' officials added, piggybacking off Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman's policy on wildfire looters. During the May 21 Malibu City Council meeting, Scott Wagenseller, the founder and CEO of another private security firm, Gates Security, said that on the previous day, officers with his company found a man with a gun in the backyard of one of their clients' homes. Another man was found with a knife, and a 'squatter issue' involving a man on a previously burned property had recently been resolved. 'These are transients walking into the environment,' Wagenseller said. 'Raise Pali' golf tournament supports wildfire recovery efforts for local high school Residents are encouraged to 'take an active role' in protecting their properties by filling out a Letter of Agency at the Malibu-Lost Hills LASD station; the document authorizes deputies to enforce trespassing laws on private property in the owner's absence and officers to take action against unauthorized individuals without contacting the property owner first, the Malibu City Council said. Property owners are also asked to secure their property by ensuring that gates, doors and windows are locked. Any suspicious activity should be reported to authorities. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Pacific Coast Highway reopens early following Palisades Fire closure
Pacific Coast Highway reopened to all traffic Friday morning, marking a major recovery milestone following months of closure due to the devastating Palisades Fire. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced earlier this week that the iconic highway would reopen at 8 a.m. Friday, just in time for the Memorial Day weekend and ahead of the end-of-May target set last month. Up to two lanes are now open in each direction, with a 25 mph speed limit through active work zones. The reopening restores access to Malibu's beaches and communities after months of limited mobility along the coast. PCH had been closed since January, when mudslides and fire debris rendered it impassable in key segments. The early reopening was made possible through coordinated efforts among Caltrans, the California National Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers, and Los Angeles County agencies, officials said. 'The reopening of Pacific Coast Highway marks an important step in Malibu's ongoing recovery from the recent wildfires,' Malibu Mayor Marianne Riggins said Thursday. 'The City remains focused on ensuring public safety as we enter the summer season.' Highway 27/Topanga Canyon Boulevard also reopened to the public Friday morning from PCH to Grand View Drive. Access is limited from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with construction remaining ongoing. Flaggers will be on site to direct one-way traffic, and delays are expected. Traffic signals at several PCH intersections, including Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Big Rock Drive, are operating in flashing red mode, requiring drivers to treat them as all-way stops. Additional work continues on the southbound side of PCH, where the right lane may close between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. for debris removal. Visitors are advised to plan ahead, expect delays, and use alternate routes like Malibu Canyon and Kanan Dume roads when possible. City officials also urge travelers to avoid stopping in burn areas and to respect local residents still recovering from the fire. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
As PCH reopens, Malibu urges beachgoers to be safe and respectful
Pacific Coast Highway will reopen to the public Friday morning, just in time for Memorial Day weekend, and as Malibu prepares for the summer season with new safety and enforcement measures in place. The highway will open at 8 a.m. with no pass requirements, restoring a major coastal route that had been closed due to wildfire recovery efforts. Up to two lanes will be open in each direction with a 25 mph speed limit through active work zones, officials said. 'The reopening of Pacific Coast Highway marks an important step in Malibu's ongoing recovery from the recent wildfires,' said Mayor Marianne Riggins. 'While significant challenges remain, this development helps restore limited access for residents and travelers along the coast.' Traffic signals will operate on flashing red at several intersections including Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Big Rock Drive, with normal operation resuming elsewhere. Southbound PCH will see intermittent lane closures between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. for debris removal. Stopping in the burn areas remains prohibited. As the city expects an influx of visitors, it's encouraging people to consider alternate routes such as Malibu Canyon and Kanan Dume roads to avoid congestion. The City Council has also approved private armed security patrols beginning Memorial Day weekend to help protect fire-damaged properties as the California National Guard ends its deployment. Visitors are asked not to interfere with cleanup efforts or enter private property. The City will also reopen its summer impound yard at Malibu High School starting Saturday to help tow illegally parked vehicles on weekends and holidays. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will return with its Summer Beach Enforcement Team to crack down on public drinking and help prevent impaired driving. Officials are reminding beachgoers to park safely, dispose of trash and respect private property. Dogs, alcohol and fires are prohibited on Malibu beaches, and visitors are urged to use caution on beaches without lifeguards. More details are available at Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
A New Study Adds to the Evidence That Drug Busts Result in More Overdose Deaths
Prohibition makes drug use more dangerous by creating a black market in which quality and potency are highly variable and unpredictable. Ramped-up enforcement of prohibition magnifies that problem, as dramatically demonstrated by the deadly impact of restricting access to pain medication at the same time that illicit fentanyl was proliferating as a heroin booster and substitute. That sort of perverse effect pervades drug law enforcement, as illustrated by a new study that found drug seizures in San Francisco were associated with a substantial increase in overdose risk. The study included 2,653 drug seizures and 1,833 opioid-related deaths from 2020 to 2023. "Within the surrounding 100, 250, and 500 meters," RTI International researcher Alex H. Kral and his two co-authors reported in JAMA Network Open on Wednesday, "drug seizures were associated with a statistically significant increase in the relative risk for fatal opioid overdoses." That is not the result that local authorities expected. "Since fentanyl entered the unregulated drug supply in San Francisco, California, around 2019, overdose mortality rates have reached record highs," Kral et al. note. "This has sparked increased enforcement of drug laws." In December 2021, then-Mayor London Breed "declared a state of emergency in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco to enable 'more coordinated enforcement and disruption of illegal activities.'" District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who took office in July 2022, "made combatting open-air drug markets and holding drug dealers accountable a top priority of her administration," her office brags. In May 2023, Kral et al. note, Gov. Gavin Newsom "authorized the assignment of California Highway Patrol and California National Guard personnel to a new multiagency operation with the San Francisco Police Department aimed at 'targeting fentanyl trafficking, disrupting the supply of the deadly drug in the city, and holding the operators of drug trafficking rings accountable.'" How did all of that work out? The day after cops busted drug dealers, Kral et al. found, the risk of fatal overdoses rose by 74 percent, on average, within 100 meters. The increase in risk persisted for as long as a week, falling to 55 percent after two days, 45 percent after three days, and 27 percent after seven days. That pattern reinforces the conclusion that these police interventions, which aimed to reduce drug-related deaths, had the opposite effect. Why? When regular opioid users are cut off from their usual suppliers and begin "experiencing withdrawal symptoms," Kral et al. note, "many will go to great lengths to urgently procure and use opioids to stave off these symptoms." They may therefore be less cautious, even as they are forced to rely on unfamiliar dealers whose products may be less reliable or more potent. Based on interviews with 51 drug users, a study published by the International Journal of Drug Policy in 2020 concluded that "interpersonal relationships between individuals who use drugs and their suppliers strongly influence the risk and protective factors experienced by people who use drugs." Many of the subjects "indicated that long-term relationships with trusted dealers represent a key strategy" for reducing drug-related risk. They cited those dealers' "alleged adoption of consumer protection strategies," such as "refusing to sell fentanyl," and "quality assurance measures," such as "testing batches of drugs for fentanyl prior to sale." Since disrupting local drug markets interferes with these relationships, it tends to increase drug risks. As a result of drug busts, the Cato Institute's Jeffrey Singer suggests, "people who use drugs in those neighborhoods had to turn to unfamiliar and potentially less trustworthy suppliers. Without an established relationship, they couldn't be certain about the strength or purity of the drugs they purchased." He adds that "disruptions caused by the seizures may have compelled dealers to alter their supply chains, leading them to change formulations or adjust doses." Both of those factors, he says, "could contribute to an increase in overdoses following drug enforcement actions." Kral et al.'s findings are consistent with the results of a study that the American Journal of Public Health published in 2023. As Reason's Elizabeth Nolan Brown noted at the time, the authors of that study found that drug seizures in Marion County, Indiana, were associated with increased overdoses in their vicinity. The researchers concluded that "supply-side enforcement interventions and drug policies should be further explored to determine whether they exacerbate an ongoing overdose epidemic and negatively affect the nation's life expectancy." Kral et al. reach similar conclusions. "The findings of this cross-sectional study suggest that the enforcement of drug distribution laws to increase public safety for residents in San Francisco may be having an unintended negative consequence of increasing opioid overdose mortality," they write. "To reduce overdose mortality, it may be better to focus on evidence-based health policies and interventions." The alternatives that Kral et al. mention include "medications for opioid use disorder" (MOUD), which replace iffy street drugs with reliably dosed buprenorphine or methadone. For people who stick with it, MOUD—also known as "medication-assisted treatment" (MAT)—substantially decreases overdose risk. According to a 2019 review of the evidence published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, opioid users are "up to 50 percent less likely to die when they are being treated long term with methadone or buprenorphine." Although buprenorphine and methadone currently are the only drugs approved for MAT in the United States, there are other possibilities. Kral et al. note that "randomized clinical trials have shown that providing a regulated supply of diacetylmorphine (the active ingredient in heroin) to people dependent upon opioids is a more effective way to retain people in treatment and to reduce their involvement in illicit drug use and other criminal activities than standard methadone treatment." Kral et al. also mention supervised drug consumption sites, which offer a safe setting where clean injection equipment and medical assistance are available, and Portugese-style decriminalization, which "brought down overdose mortality and HIV rates in Portugal without raising crime rates." While both of those approaches can reduce drug-related harm, they do not directly address the hazards inherent in consuming black-market drugs of uncertain composition. That problem was illustrated by what happened after Oregon decriminalized low-level drug possession in 2020. Although voters approved that reform by a 17-point margin, public opinion soon turned against decriminalization, and state legislators restored criminal penalties for drug possession last year, largely because overdose deaths in Oregon were still rising. But that was not surprising, because decriminalization did not make black-market drugs any safer. In particular, decriminalization did not address the proliferation of illicit fentanyl, which made potency even less predictable, increasing the risk of lethal dosing errors. That hazard emerged in Western states like Oregon relatively late, which explains the overdose trends that opponents of decriminalization cited as evidence that the policy had been a failure. The problem was not that decriminalization went too far; it was that decriminalization did not go far enough. The central danger that prohibition poses to drug users (aside from the risk of arrest and incarceration) is that they typically do not know exactly what they are consuming. That danger will persist as long as politicians insist on dictating which psychoactive substances people may consume. Attempts to enforce those pharmacological prejudices cannot resolve this situation, but they can always make it worse. The post A New Study Adds to the Evidence That Drug Busts Result in More Overdose Deaths appeared first on
