Ships and trucks stuck at SoCal ports are adding to air toxicity

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Cargo trucks haul shipping containers through West Long Beach at the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Fe Avenue. Toxic emissions from trucks, trains and ships related to port activity were up in 2021. December 15, 2021. Photo by Megan Jamerson/KCRW.

The supply chain backlog increased toxic emissions at the ports in 2021. There’s a plan to clean things up, but residents worry it’s not moving fast enough. 

The current COVID surge is “short, sharp, and fast,” says microbiology and immunology professor Paula Cannon. She adds that it’s moving toward “endemic” status, like measles and mumps.

After less than six months on the job, Mater Dei High School’s president has resigned. The OC campus made headlines for a football hazing controversy that left a student severely injured.