LAist • May 27th, 2026

Detained and facing deportation: A father leaves his 4-year-old son back in LA

Axel Pecero, who's been in the U.S. since he was 3 years old, was detained amid the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign. After months of detention, he felt as if he had little choice but to voluntarily depart, leaving his 4-year-old son behind.

LAist • August 15th, 2025

Toxic soil lingers at Pasadena Unified schools — and removal hasn't started at many

Seven months after the Eaton Fire, Pasadena Unified School District still hasn't removed toxic soil as school begins in a week.

LAist • September 20th, 2023

California Nursing Homes Are Becoming ‘De Facto Mental Health Centers’

All over California, people with serious mental illness are living in nursing homes that experts say weren’t meant to care for them — an investigation by LAist reveals. Some call it "warehousing" and say the practice might violate federal laws. The consequences have been deadly.

LAist • June 22nd, 2020

Immigrant Detainees At Adelanto Say Officers Pepper-Sprayed Them For Peacefully Protesting

Immigrant detainees at Adelanto Detention Center say they were injured or left struggling to breathe after officers in riot gear shot pepper bullets and discharged pepper spray at them earlier this month in an incident that until now has gone unreported.

LAist • February 24th, 2026

California invested billions into a new grade for 4-year-olds — without a plan to evaluate it

California spent billions implementing a new grade for 4-year-olds in public schools called transitional kindergarten — but the state hasn’t set aside money to evaluate how it’s going.

LAist • November 24th, 2025

How an overloaded homelessness system left this LA family living in their car

Following up on my story revealing how homelessness among children and families was rising, I spoke to one local family who had to live in their car. After the story published, readers were able to help the family secure housing.

LAist • August 1st, 2025

Homelessness is down in the LA region — but not for children and families

LA County and city officials touted the 2025 homeless count as a win -- that it showed homelessness was down two years in a row. But an LAist review found homelessness among children and families was rising.

LAist • May 3rd, 2022

Medical Parole Got Them Out Of State Prison. Now They're In A Decertified Nursing Home

Medical parole patients are among the most vulnerable in the California's corrections system -- paraplegics, quadriplegics and stroke patients. The state quietly moved them all to a nursing home that the federal government stripped of certification due to its troubled track record of care.

LAist • April 6th, 2021

Immediate jeopardy: Death and neglect inside a troubled California nursing home chain

This investigation revealed how California allowed a nursing home company to operate facilities even after the state denied the company a license. It spurred the passage of a new law aimed to close the loophole.