Students in the Floriculture class at Sylmar Charter High School work on their corsages for prom.(Ashley Balderrama) The week before prom is crunch time for Sylmar Charter High School's floriculture students. On Wednesday, students poke green foliage — lemon and leather leaf — into foam rings that have been soaked in water. Senior Jamie Hernandez walks out to the garden to pluck green and white pittosporum leaves for her prom date’s boutonniere. “Personally, I view it as it looks more elegant,” she says. Hernandez contemplates whether weaving in the twisting tendrils of the sweet pea will matc ..read more

Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine photographed at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, NY in 1956.(Getty Images) Topline: Former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine has died. He was the last surviving member of the Dodgers “Boys of Summer” team that broke baseball’s racial barrier with Jackie Robinson in the 40’s. The Dodgers in a statement said Erskine died in his hometown of Anderson, Indiana. He was 97. A hero on and off the field: Erskine had two career no-hitters and won a World Series with the Dodgers in 1955. But many remember his friendship with Jackie Robinson at a time when segregation w ..read more

Outside of the CSUN Student Health Center.(Ashley Balderrama) To raise awareness about access to abortion pills at California’s public universities, a state agency is calling for nearly $2.2 million in spending to address gaps on campuses identified in an LAist investigation. That investigation reported that more than a year after state law required public universities to provide the pills to students at campus health clinics, many were not letting the students know about them. LAist reporting identified numerous campuses that failed to provide information about medication abortions on their w ..read more

The contract for weekly COVID-19 testing of Santa Ana Unified students and staff was one of the most lucrative pandemic-era school testing contracts in California. ( Illustration by Olivia Hughes) The FBI has been conducting a criminal investigation into the Santa Ana Unified School District's agreements with several companies that provided weekly COVID-19 testing to students and staff during the pandemic, according to documents obtained by LAist. The contract at the center of the FBI inquiry, for the 2021-2022 school year, was among the largest pandemic-era school testing contracts in the sta ..read more

Transfer student Marilyn Martinez, with her parents, Rosy Rodriguez and Rigoberto Martinez, at UCLA's Royce Hall.(Courtesy of Marilyn Martinez ) Marilyn Martinez said she graduated high school wondering if she was “good enough.” She was one of a handful of Latino students at a predominantly white campus, where many of her classmates’ parents had careers in law and medicine. No one in Martinez’s family had gone to college. Her teachers steered her away from Advanced Placement courses. Compared with her classmates, Martinez often felt she was lacking. “I was doing well,” she recalled. “But I wa ..read more

Several people are gathered around or in the circular water fountain in South Park circa 1962. Beyond it lies a road lined with high palm trees and an equally lone line of street lamps.(From the collection of Ernest Marquez courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library Tessa archives ) L.A. is known for a lot of unique things: Our people and communities, our food, our entertainment scenes, our beautiful hikes and access to nature. But one thing we're not really that known for — or may know about — is our rich historical architecture. Yes, we have a nice list of Victorian and Queen Anne homes in ..read more

Beatriz Rafael, the academic advisor at InnerCity struggle, shows high school senior Kristen Roman how to strengthen her application. (Julia Barajas/LAist) Millions of people each year fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in hopes of receiving money to pay for college. The majority of students enrolled at many California universities receive financial aid, which is often the key to unlocking a person’s path to a college degree. A significant number of those students live in families in which a member is not authorized to live in the United States. Amid ongoing problems ..read more

Bruce Miller at the “Understanding Money: Financial Literacy Workshop” class for students at Los Angeles City College. (Cassandra Nava) On a recent spring afternoon, about a dozen students gathered in Los Angeles City College’s multipurpose room for a free financial literacy workshop. Some of those students are majoring in business administration or finance. A few are working on a second degree. One attended with her child. The students have unique personal goals, but all of them want greater control over their financial futures. The lunchtime event was the second of two 90-minute sessions, wh ..read more

Rose Liebermann stands in front of the accessory dwelling unit that allows her to live next to her adult daughter, now raising kids of her own.(David Wagner/LAist) When new parents say they feel like buying a house in Los Angeles is becoming increasingly impossible, they’re not exaggerating. Federal data shows they’re right. No American city shuts millennials with kids out of homeownership more than L.A. Millennial parents in Los Angeles own less than 10% of family-sized homes — those with at least three bedrooms. Instead, large homes in L.A. are two-and-a-half times more likely to be owned b ..read more

Jasmine Delgado looks into her infant son’s crib while her mother’s photo hangs over her bed.(David Wagner) Jasmine Delgado flips through an old family photo album at the dining room table of her childhood home. One snapshot from the 1960s shows Delgado’s dad posing near the Venice Beach Boardwalk, not far from where she grew up along the border of Culver City and L.A. Another photo captures farm workers on strike in the 1930s. Her grandfather picked celery back when much of the state’s crop was grown in Venice. Now, Delgado worries she and her infant son Theo may have to sever family roots g ..read more