The Los Angeles Times reported on the status of SkyLink, the LAX-based automated people mover slated to open in 2023. Three years later, the system shows no signs of launching as thousands of FIFA World Cup spectators arrive in LA. Jacob Wasserman, UCLA Institute of Transportation research program manager, cautioned that SkyLink wouldn’t be a fix-all solution to the snarl of congestion that surrounds LAX. Rather, it “offers an alternative,” he said. “You can choose to avoid the traffic.” Read more about UCLA in today’s CalMatters, Associated Press and others.

More highlights from UCLA in the News: June 24, 2026

Is Hollywood done catering to diverse audiences? | Los Angeles Times

White audiences have stopped going to the theaters in the same numbers they used to, yet the vast majority of movies spotlight white leads despite there being no evidence that audiences prefer them. In fact, for years, UCLA has published a detailed annual Diversity Report showing the opposite. Of course, the vast majority of film executives, writers and directors are also white.

Single-payer Calif. healthcare may be possible — with difficult choices | CalMatters

The answer appears to be that, while such a pathway may be possible, hacking it through the thicket of healthcare economics and politics would require dozens — or even hundreds — of difficult choices. That’s the gist of a 181-page report from a team of University of California researchers that was charged with defining the factors to be resolved before such a system could be implemented. Last week the research team, organized by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, outlined the report’s findings and fielded questions during a webinar. Its responses about the specifics of a unified system generally boiled down to maybe yes, maybe no.

Trump turns America 250 kickoff into a campaign-style rally | Associated Press

“It’s clear that Trump’s preoccupations in his second term — from Iran to the Washington reflecting pool — are not those of most members of his base, let alone other Americans,” said Daniel Treisman, a politics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “That explains his unusually low approval ratings.”

California extended a lifeline to aging mobile home parks. Did it work? | CalMatters

“These systems tend to be run by whoever runs the park, which may be an absentee owner or a property manager,” said Gregory Pierce, a UCLA researcher who studies urban planning and water insecurity. “Even if they have the best of intentions, that person may not be well-equipped to run a water system.”