UCLA In the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. Some articles may require registration or a subscription to view. See more UCLA In the News.
The climate scientist who is demystifying extreme weather | Vice
For Daniel Swain, climate scientist at UCLA, weather is an obvious inroad into engaging people on climate change, as people are way more likely to respond to a fire or flood at their doorstep than a chart of rising emissions. “People talk about the weather day to day, but they don’t talk about climate change day to day,” Swain said.
California’s climate policy goes national | The New Republic
“One of the things that California has been so important for is really experimenting and demonstrating what works … so there’s a lot of opportunity for learning from those experiences,” said Ann Carlson, a professor of environmental law at UCLA. “That’s sort of the hallmark of federalism. States are laboratories, and no state has been a bigger laboratory for climate policy than California.”
Homeless housing project became a sink hole for public money | KCRW-FM’s “Greater LA”
“I’m just sort of stunned at how thin it is in terms of supporting this $30 million valuation that seems to be almost pulled out of the ether,” said Eric Sussman, who teaches real estate and accounting at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. He noted a lack of relevant comparable sales or financial analysis in the appraisal, but also pointed to the building photos. “There are no amenities, no common areas. It looks like a very rundown motel. It doesn’t even pass the smell test at a very superficial level.”
L.A. County coronavirus surges hit upscale suburbs and inner city | Los Angeles Times
“I’m not quite sure what’s going on there. I’d want to probably look at the trend over a period of time,” said [UCLA’s] Dr. Paul Simon, the chief science officer for the L.A. County Department of Public Health. (Simon was also quoted in the Los Angeles Daily News.)
Many Hispanic and Black are skeptical about vaccine | NPR’s “All Things Considered”
“Concern about being a guinea pig, concerns about pharma and the federal government - and then there’s lots of social media messaging downplaying the importance of coronavirus,” said UCLA’s Dr. Keith Norris.
Report shows who’s getting infected with COVID-19 | KNBC-TV
“In the construction industry, people may still be coming to work if they have symptoms because there’s no paid sick leave,” said Dr. Jeff Klausner of UCLA School of Public Health, who is also Curative’s medical director.
Vaccine questions remain for high-risk populations | KCBS-TV
But Dr. Rashmi Rao, a high-risk obstetrician-gynecologist at UCLA, contends pregnant women should have been included in the initial Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca trials. “This whole thing about theoretical risk for fetal harm is actually quite low,” she said. “This whole protection by exclusion, it actually ultimately ends up being harmful. In fact our society for maternal fetal medicine has advocated for pregnant healthcare workers who are at high risk to get the vaccine.”
COVID has ‘cut life expectancy in England and Wales by a year’ | Guardian (U.K.)
Patrick Heuveline, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles, who recently produced a still-to-be peer-reviewed paper on the sharp fall in life expectancy in the US, conducted a similar analysis for the UK at the request of the Guardian.
San Diego to fight ruling letting strip clubs stay open | Associated Press
Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said when the judge issued his order last month, comedy and music performances were still happening. “My expectation is the judge is going to say look now that all these places have been shut down at least for the duration of the lockdown that strip clubs should also be shut down too,” he said.
Five things to know about the first COVID-19 vaccine | BuzzFeed News
“I had adverse effects, and I would still tell people go get a shot,” said UCLA nursing professor Kristen Choi, who participated in the Pfizer clinical trial and had a high fever, nausea, and dizziness the day after her second injection. “You might plan to take the day off after getting the shot.” (Also: Wall Street Journal and Univision.)
Digital divide widens disparities for minority, low-income students | City News Service
While students’ access to computers and the internet improved during the pandemic-plagued and largely remote fall school term, a clear digital divide persists, especially among Black, Hispanic and low-income students, according to a new report released today by the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge. “It appears that the lack of access has become less severe this fall than it was last spring, as schools have made adjustments to support remote learning,” said Paul Ong, the center’s director and an author of the report. “But it is also clear that a lack of access and real and troubling divide remains.” (UCLA’s Tina Christie was also quoted. Also: MyNewsLA.)
Looking at Biden’s big promises on juvenile justice | National Public Radio
David Stein, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California Los Angeles studying how economic policy shaped mass incarceration, is skeptical of Biden’s plan. He added that the investment in criminal justice reform might only influence local police spending. “Historically, Joe Biden has really promoted the idea that the problem with policing is inadequate professionalism and thus the solution to that problem is increased resources,” Stein said — in other words, money.
UCLA receives grant to study Medicaid COVID-19 response | MyNewsLA
The grant will expand on efforts to evaluate Whole Person Care, a Medicaid program launched in 2016 by the California Department of Health Care Services, which aims to provide coordinated health care and social services for patients with complex needs, such as those who are homeless, have mental health and chronic conditions, or have been recently incarcerated. (UCLA’s Nadereh Pourat was quoted.)
Evictions during pandemic could have caused nearly 11,000 deaths | Vox
Kathryn Leifheit, a postdoctoral researcher at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and her research team found an association between the increased number of Covid-19 cases and deaths and states lifting eviction moratoriums. She and her fellow researchers looked at the 43 states (and the District of Columbia) that instituted a moratorium between March 13 and April 30. Then they looked at what happened in states where the state government lifted moratoriums, compared to those that imposed them and left them in place.
Don’t schedule your operation on your surgeon’s birthday | HealthDay News
“Our study was the first to show the association between a surgeons’ birthday and patient mortality, but further research is needed before we make a conclusion that birthdays indeed have a meaningful impact on surgeons’ performance,” said researcher Dr. Yusuke Tsugawa, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles.
Years after gas leak, residents want Aliso Canyon facility closed | KCRW-FM’s “Greater LA”
“However, there [is] … peer-reviewed literature that has found health impacts below one part per billion,” said Diane Garcia-Gonzales, a UCLA climate researcher who studied air quality during the blowout. She looked for extra air pollutants and found them. “We did come to the conclusion that this event was associated with chemicals and constituents that could have adverse health impacts,” she said.