City News Service reported on a UCLA study that found smoke from the 2025 Eaton fire sent toxic airborne contaminants soaring downwind — including lead levels up to 250 times above normal — but pollution returned to background levels within roughly six days after the flames were extinguished. (UCLA’s Suzanne Paulson and Catherine Banach were quoted. Also: Phys.org, KNBC-TV, KTLA-TV, KABC-TV and KCAL-TV.) Read more about UCLA in today’s USA Today, Los Angeles Times and others.
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More highlights from UCLA in the News: September 25, 2026
COVID cases are rising in some states. See the map | USA Today
“Right now, the picture is quite different depending on where you are: The West is seeing a substantial increase, activity is also rising in parts of the Midwest and Northeast, while the South appears to be further along in its wave,” said Anne Rimoin, professor of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and director of the Center for Global Health Security.
Latino men: The future of democracy hangs on your vote | Los Angeles Times
A study released this month by UCLA’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute basically paints Latino men as little better than MAGA minions, trumpeting a gender gap on standing up to this administration’s deportation deluge, defending democracy and “fighting the Trump agenda.” To the media and to outraged internet commentators, it didn’t matter that two-thirds of Latino men had responded that each of those three issues was “very important” or “somewhat important.”
Census proposal could cost California House seats, erase Latino data | Latin Times
The 2020 census missed almost 5% of Latinos, according to the bureau’s own quality check, a rate more than triple the 2010 figure. UCLA professor Matt Barreto, whose research figured in the litigation over the 2020 citizenship question, told CapRadio that mixed-status households kept omitting members even after a 2019 court order kept that question off the form. The result, he said, is that “we’re not actually getting a true count.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters rally during UN speeches | CNN
“That was for a domestic audience. That was for the Israeli electorate back home. Elections are a little bit more than a month away. It was clearly targeted towards them. The position he took on flipping the genocide claims back at those who were making it, and also his criticisms of Qatar were pretty sharp, too,” said UCLA’s Benjamin Radd.
Could better self-driving tech mean more danger on the road? | LAist’s “AirTalk”
“I do have some concerns. Let me start by saying that I agree with Jack, that the technology is quite remarkable. It’s remarkable in the same way that really full self-driving, like Waymo vehicles, are remarkable. But there is this irony, that the better the autopilot or full self-driving gets, the less likely human drives are to pay attention,” said UCLA’s Ann Carlson (approx. 9:00 mark).
