UCLA in the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. Some articles may require registration or a subscription. See more UCLA in the News.
History of deadly street drug xylazine in L.A. | Los Angeles Times
Drug experts in Los Angeles were taken aback to learn that there had been indications of the drug’s presence in local drug supplies for so long. “I am surprised that it has been showing up for multiple years,” said Chelsea Shover, an epidemiologist and health services researcher at UCLA. “But it is consistent with the other anecdotal evidence I’ve heard.” Steven Shoptaw, a professor in family medicine at UCLA who studies drug abuse, echoed Shover’s response. “I’m literally shocked,” he said.
California bill would ban sales of Skittles | Los Angeles Times
Dana Hunnes, a clinical dietitian at UCLA Medical Center and assistant professor at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, said she supported the ban but acknowledged the debates that have swirled around some of the additives. “Certainly some of [the chemicals] are probably more dangerous than some of the others,” Hunnes said in an interview with The Times. “We know parabens, for example, are endocrine disruptors [which affect hormones]. We know red dyes are carcinogenic.”
Echo Park Lake’s anti-camping fence coming down | Los Angeles Times
At one point, Garcetti’s office reported that nearly 200 people had accepted interim housing, with about two-thirds agreeing to move into the L.A. Grand and the Mayfair hotels. Those efforts were overshadowed by late-night clashes between protesters and police, who arrested about 180 people, including journalists. A year later, UCLA’s Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy concluded that only a tiny fraction of those moved from the lake received long-term housing.
Workers demand more to meet rising cost of living | Los Angeles Times
“We’ve seen a huge rise in workers’ organization and protesting,” [UCLA’s Kent Wong] said, pointing to a historic strike by University of California workers launched in November that lasted weeks and led to wage gains. “During the pandemic, we had such a contradiction where people were being celebrated as essential workers on the front lines, yet they were making poverty wages. Now, this is a moment in time when workers are really demonstrating their dissatisfaction.”
Should high schools give out condoms? | USA Today
“I would call it a no-brainer,” said Paula Tavrow, an adolescent reproductive health expert and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. All available research shows making condoms accessible in schools increases condom use, Tavrow said. At the same time, data shows the measures do not cause students to have more sex, more sexual partners or start having sex at a younger age, she said.
Recent rains’ effect on California’s drought | New York Times
And, as Alex Hall, the director of the Center for Climate Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, pointed out to me, disputes over the dwindling Colorado River still loom. Seven western states, including California, depend on the river for water, but those states have struggled to reduce their water use even as the river’s flow has plummeted because of climate change, drought and population growth.
Your Trump case questions answered | CNN
These questions are mostly concerned with Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s potential indictment of Trump over a hush-money payment scheme … The most-asked question is also the easiest to answer. Can Trump still run for president if he is indicted of convicted? “Nothing stops Trump from running while indicted, or even convicted,” the University of California, Los Angeles law professor Richard Hasen told me in an email.
Grand jury takes break from Trump hush money probe | MSNBC
We’re looking at two days of delay, possibly, now, the grand jury reconvening come Monday on the Trump case … What do you make of all of this? “We’re talking about a special grand jury … that is a foot from the finish line. Why they would be switching directions and going on a case unrelated — it might be one thing if [Manhattan DA] Bragg wanted them to hear testimony in another case that somehow tied up a loose end in this one, but I am really perplexed,” said UCLA’s Harry Litman. (approx. 1:55 mark)
Bay Area storm leaves flood risk, thousands in dark | Bloomberg News
“This was a violent, sudden windstorm,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles. “We’re seeing impacts probably that are similar to a strong tropical storm or a weak hurricane.”
School closures: Learning opportunity for students? | Daily Breeze
But the strike could present opportunities for learning as well, said John Rogers, a professor of education at UCLA. “To the extent young people come away from these three days feeling like ‘I’ve seen how people come together to collectively take action to change the conditions of their lives and the lives of people in their communities,’ that’s an important learning opportunity,” Rogers said.
Why do fewer women die of COVID? | Salon
According to a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Immunology, the answer could simply lie in a chromosomal difference. In those without chromosomal abnormalities, males have XY chromosomes, females have XX. Could there be something more protective about having the extra X chromosome? Mandy Cheng, PhD, lead author and a postdoctoral student in molecular biology at University of California, Los Angeles, told Salon she and her colleagues were interested in understanding the main immune responsive differences between males and females. (UCLA’s Dr. Timothy O’Sullivan and Dr. Maureen Su were also quoted.)
Oral COVID-19 vaccine effective in hamsters | Medical Xpress
A UCLA-led team has developed an inexpensive, universal oral COVID-19 vaccine that prevented severe respiratory illness and weight loss when tested in hamsters, which are naturally susceptible to SARS-CoV-2. It proved as effective as vaccines administered by injection or intranasally in the research. (UCLA’s Dr. Marcus Horwitz was quoted.)
