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2 weeks ago | 
lapublicpress.org | Alfredo Santana
Immigration raids carried out Friday at two Ambiance Apparel sites in Los Angeles, which manufacture and sell women’s clothing, stoked fear among customers and workers across the Fashion District, and sent sales plunging. Several business owners said Monday that foot traffic has dropped to a trickle. They said they fear sales might not pick up unless shoppers regain confidence that workplace raids are over.
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1 month ago | 
lapublicpress.org | Alfredo Santana
The cleanup of front and back yards at residential properties fouled with lead released by the former Exide Technologies plant would get a $35 million allocation if California legislators approve Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised budget proposal for the next fiscal year. But that won’t be enough to cover all the remaining remediation that still needs to be conducted in communities around Exide.
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1 month ago | 
lapublicpress.org | Alfredo Santana
Reyna Bernal wakes up at 4 a.m. seven days a week to begin a routine she started 14 years ago: packing and buying supplies to prepare for a full workday slicing fresh fruit, which she sells from wheeled carts under big rainbow umbrellas. Under the name Reyna’s Fruit, Bernal and her husband operate two aluminum-frame carts in Northeast Los Angeles.
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1 month ago | 
lapublicpress.org | Alfredo Santana
Rafael Abrego said a month ago he purchased three small avocados for $1. Now, they are sold two for a dollar. He has President Donald Trump’s new tariffs to thank for that. “There are products [that are] much more expensive,” said Abrego, a gardener living in Highland Park who drove to the neighborhood El Super grocery store in his white cargo van after work.
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Mar 25, 2025 | 
lapublicpress.org | Alfredo Santana
Inside La Asunción Family Restaurant in North Hills, a large wall canvas depicts the Lady of Solitude in front of a church named in her honor inOaxaca. It welcomes customers to dive into dishes like mole negro, tlayudas, and tamales Oaxaqueños. While La Asunción owner Dolores De Los Santos dishes warm and aromatic foods under the protection of the Lady of Solitude, serving the North Hills community has become more difficult.
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Feb 28, 2025 | 
boyleheightsbeat.com | Alfredo Santana
This article was first published by the nonprofit newsroom LA Public Press on Feb. 28, 2025 and is republished here with permission. The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday at a community meeting that a toxin found at the former Exide Technologies battery smelter in Vernon was not generated by the plant, dealing a serious blow to calls from residents and elected leaders to designate the site as a Superfund.
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Jan 29, 2025 | 
lapublicpress.org | Alfredo Santana
Maria Ramirez knows a thing or two about hazardous cleanups. Two weeks ago, her home on Esperanza Street in Boyle Heights with a chain-link fence and a large front yard was detoxified from the lead and arsenic that blanketed this area from the former Exide Technologies plant. And Ramirez had a few pieces of advice for the homeowners starting to return to their burnt-out properties in the Eaton and Palisades fire: bring in the experts.
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Oct 15, 2024 | 
boyleheightsbeat.com | Alfredo Santana
This article was first published by the nonprofit newsroom LA Public Press on Oct. 10, and is republished here with permission. Following requests from environmental justice organizers, residents who live near the former Exide Technologies plant in Vernon now have until December 4to submit public comments regarding the proposed addition of the site to the federal Superfund National Priority List (NPL) for cleanup — a 30-day extension.
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Oct 10, 2024 | 
lapublicpress.org | Alfredo Santana
Following requests from environmental justice organizers, residents who live near the former Exide Technologies plant in Vernon now have until December 4to submit public comments regarding the proposed addition of the site to the federal Superfund National Priority List (NPL) for cleanup — a 30-day extension. The Exide site has landed itself on the fact-track to Superfund designation following the June publication of a 111-page report by the engineering firm Weston Solutions.
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Sep 4, 2024 | 
boyleheightsbeat.com | Alfredo Santana
This article was first published by the nonprofit newsroom LA Public Press on Aug. 30, and is republished here with permission. Soil cleanups of more than 6,400 parkways tainted with toxic lead levels spewed by the former Exide Technologies battery smelter are scheduled to start in September. That’s according to state officials at a informational meeting for residents organized by the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) in August.
