Good evening, SoCal. We're wrapping up the day for you with the most important stories you need to know and your weather outlook.
Your Weather Planner
It will be another hot day well inland Thursday but record high temperatures should stay safe for most, except maybe in Ontario.
Temperatures will remain well above average for the valleys and deserts and about 5 degrees above average for the basins.
Marine layer clouds will try to make a comeback, and patchy clouds will likely form again for the Orange County and San Diego County coastlines. There will be more cloud cover this weekend at the beaches.
Tomorrow's Highs
Get your 7-day forecast: LA West | LA East | San Fernando Valley/Ventura County | Orange County
Today's Big Stories
1. OC school board to sue Newsom over mask rule for students
The Orange County Board of Education plans to sue Gov. Gavin Newsom over the state's mandate that K-12 students must wear masks indoors for the upcoming school year.
The board voted Tuesday night to pursue a legal challenge to Newsom's ongoing assertion of emergency rule-making powers due to the coronavirus pandemic, specifically the school mask mandate, which was issued last month.
"When necessary, the board will fight to protect the health, safety and welfare of our county's kids at school. Unfortunately, with the governor's most recent action to force Orange County's children, even those as young as 5 and 6 years old, to endure an academic year covering their faces for hours on end, the time to fight has come again," according to a statement posted on the board's website.
Newsom's office did not immediately return a request for comment. He has been adamant about ensuring the safety of students and staff returning to in-person instruction — including through mask-wearing.
Dr. Dan Cooper of UC Irvine's Institute for Immunology, who has been active in the university's COVID-19 pandemic research, disputed the board's statement that children are not at risk from the coronavirus.
"That's a falsehood, that's incorrect," the pediatrician told City News Service. "We've learned that children are at risk of COVID. Yes, it's a milder disease, but to say they're not at risk is a crime. It's a lie."
2. Orange County's COVID-19 hospitalizations keep climbing
Orange County reported more than 40 additional COVID- 19 patients Wednesday as the Delta variant of the coronavirus fuels a surge among unvaccinated residents.
Hospitalizations due to the virus increased from 333 on Tuesday to 375 on Wednesday, with the number of intensive care unit patients increasing from 62 to 68, the same number as reported on Monday. The county had 24% of its intensive care unit beds available and 73% of its ventilators.
The last time the county had this many people hospitalized with the virus was March 3, and ICU numbers have not been this high since mid-March.
"Monday the hospitalizations were up considerably and Tuesday they were up but not by as much and now it looks like they are up more and so I'm not liking this," said Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist and UC Irvine professor of population health and disease prevention.
3. LA City Council to consider requiring vaccinations to enter indoor spaces
Proof of at least partial vaccination against COVID-19 would be required to enter public indoor spaces in the city of Los Angeles, including restaurants, bars, gyms, concert venues, movie theaters and even "retail establishments," under a proposal introduced Wednesday by City Council President Nury Martinez.
"Enough is enough already," said Martinez, who co-introduced the motion with Councilman Mitch O'Farrell. "Hospital workers are exhausted, moms who have put aside their careers are tired, and our kids cannot afford the loss of another school year. We have three vaccines that work and are readily available, so what's it going to take?"
The proposal is similar to a policy announced this week in New York City, but it would be more restrictive with the inclusion of retail establishments, potentially limiting access to some basic necessities. The New York policy restricts access only to more entertainment-oriented venues such as indoor restaurants, fitness centers and theaters.
4. Fauci fears COVID-19 variant worse than delta is possible
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise nationwide, fueled largely by the highly contagious delta variant, the nation's top infectious disease expert warned in a new interview that an even more deadly strain could be possible.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to the president, said in an interview with McClatchy Wednesday that the virus is being given "ample" time to morph into a more dangerous variant.
"If another one comes along that has an equally high capability of transmitting but also is much more severe, then we could really be in trouble," Fauci said. “People who are not getting vaccinated mistakenly think it’s only about them. But it isn’t. It’s about everybody else, also.”
As the virus continues to spread in unvaccinated parts of the country, it has more opportunities to mutate, opening up the possibility that it could evade vaccines.
5. Psaki defends legality of new 60-day eviction ban for most of U.S.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki sought to defend the legality of the Biden administration’s new, 60-day eviction moratorium on Wednesday, stressing that the effort was temporary and narrower in scope than the previous federal iteration, which expired last weekend.
“The president would not have supported moving forward if he did not support the legal justification,” Psaki said Wednesday. “He’s old-school in that way.”
Her remarks come after the CDC on Tuesday announced a 60-day eviction moratorium that protects renters in communities with "substantial" and "high" levels of COVID-19 transmission. That moratorium, slated for expiration on Oct. 3, currently protects 80% of U.S. counties and 90% of the population, according to data from the CDC.
Your Notes for Tomorrow
- President Biden will meet with Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community leaders
- The Tokyo Olympics to continue
- A New York State Republican Party fundraiser will take place with former President Donald Trump
- Tony Bennett will perform in New York for the last time, teaming up with Lady Gaga
In Case You Missed It
Port of LA setting records for cargo traffic
After business dropped 19% during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Port of Los Angeles is now busier than it's ever been in its 114-year history.
"From summertime of 2020 until now, we’ve been averaging more than 900,000 container units every month," said Port of LA Executive Director Gene Seroka. "That used to be a strong month in the peak season."
Seroka explained that LA was the first port in the Western hemisphere to break 1 million container units in May.
"If stacked end to end, that line would go from LA to NY and halfway back across the country," he said.