The Los Angeles Times cited a new UCLA study showing that thefts of certain Kia and Hyundai models lacking engine immobilizers could plague Los Angeles through 2042, according to lead author Jeffrey Brantingham. The study comes as a federal appeals court has ordered the reopening of a case in which U.S. insurance companies are seeking reimbursement from the automakers for more than $1 billion in theft-related claims. (Also: KTLA-TV, LAist, Radio Seoul, Chosun Biz and Heise.) Read more about UCLA from New York Times, LAist and others.

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More highlights from UCLA in the News: September 16, 2026

UCLA once again ranked the best public college by Niche | SFGate

UCLA’s return to the No. 1 spot in Niche’s 2027 Best Colleges in America rankings comes after it fell to No. 2 last year behind University of Michigan. Niche, a popular data analysis site, considers several factors in its rankings, including academics, financial payoff, campus life, diversity, professors, student success, student life, student surveys, safety and the local area, according to its website.

OpenAI breakthrough triggers ‘existential crisis’ in math | Science

To many, though, the episode showed how individual researchers could be steamrolled by large tech firms. “We have now seen that even the rumor of someone working on a problem can trigger a massive amount of AI-powered effort to flatten it,” University of California, Los Angeles, mathematician Terence Tao wrote on the social media platform Mastodon.

The slow disappearance of Black studies on college campuses | Capital B

Marcus Anthony Hunter, the department chair for Sociology and African American Studies at Howard University and a UCLA professor, said colleges often use the argument about declining interest in certain majors and minors to dismantle ethnic studies. However, he argues these programs’ impact goes far beyond enrollment numbers.

The University of California dumped the SAT. Let’s not bring it back | New York Times

When the University of California eliminated the SAT requirement for admission in 2021, UCLA saw a significant jump in applications from high-achieving Black and Latino students, for whom the standardized tests had been a barrier. “We are enrolling one of the most academically accomplished and diverse classes in our history,” the admissions director wrote. Since then, applications have risen at all nine undergraduate campuses, the most prestigious have become increasingly selective, and the university retains and graduates students at record rates.

Deep in Trump country, one movement could reshape political spending | Reuters

Richard Hasen, a UCLA law professor, is more skeptical of the effort — calling it “an end run” around Citizens United that ‌is likely to be rejected by the court’s conservative majority. (Hasen was also quoted by the Latin Times.)

Hurricane Marie reshaped local coastline last week. El Niño could be far worse | LAist

“ Boy, if you have enough water level to support those waves so they dump right on your coast, they’re right there,” said Timu Gallien, a UCLA environmental engineering professor who studies coastal erosion. “Now they’re coming through your window, now they’re on your front porch, quite literally, for the beachfront homes.”

Do you need to filter U.S. tap water? | The Guardian

Well water “doesn’t necessarily go through a water treatment facility,” said Yoram Cohen, a distinguished professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, who runs a leading research program in remotely monitored reverse-osmosis water purification.