Critics of a vast new development in Hollywood are suing the city, arguing that it violated the California Environmental Quality Act and other laws when city leaders gave the green light for the Crossroads Hollywood project.

The Los Angeles City Council voted last month to approve the planned project,...

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Wednesday, Feb. 20, and here’s what’s happening across California:

TOP STORIES

Research claiming that low-dose exposure to toxic chemicals is good for humans could help shape Environmental Protection Agency policy. This disputed...

A scientist’s disputed theory that low doses of toxic chemicals are good for people could become U.S. policy.

TOP STORIES

The Toxic Defender

Are low levels of pollution and radiation good for you? For decades, Massachusetts toxicologist Ed Calabrese has agitated for a public health standard suggesting...

By midmorning, a line snaked out the door of AID Atlanta’s Midtown clinic. It was National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and the waiting room was packed with people — a worker in an orange safety vest, a mother cradling a toddler, a man in a navy suit — waiting to be tested.

Downstairs, Ted Krug,...

As President Trump pushes Mexico further away, declaring a national emergency to force the construction of a wall along the border, Gov. Gavin Newsom and California lawmakers have made clear they want to draw the country closer.

Along with a commitment to reopen a trade office in Mexico City, the...

Many women don't consider how feminine hygiene products are made. If the brand says cotton on the label, most automatically think it's safe. Since feminine hygiene products are classified as medical devices, companies do not have to release materials used in the product. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only regulates tampon absorbency, so all must meet the same guidelines.

Public health officials grappling with record-high syphilis rates around the nation have pinpointed what appears to be a major risk factor: drug use.

“Two major public health issues are colliding,” said Dr. Sarah Kidd, a medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and lead...

A Los Angeles city commission backed plans Thursday for a new complex with hundreds of hotel rooms, shops, restaurants and housing near USC, overriding opponents who complained it would drive out longtime tenants and destroy a historic district.

The Fig would bring seven-story buildings to a 4.4-acre...

Are there heavy metals lurking in your fruit juice?

Yes, according to a recent analysis by Consumer Reports (CR). CR tested 45 fruit juices in four popular flavors—apple, grape, pear and fruit blends—sold in the U.S. and found “elevated levels” of arsenic, cadmium and lead.

The levels were “concerning,” according to CR. Even more worrisome? Toxic heavy metals were found in nearly half of the juices tested.

The GND twin resolutions, introduced February 7, 2019, call for all Americans to have access to healthy food, clean water and clean air. The GND also proposes to provide “economic security,” jobs and good wages to all who want to participate in the new green economy.

For consumers, healthy food (and clean water and clean air, for that matter) mean transitioning away from an industrial agriculture model that poisons our food and pollutes our environment.

For farmers, any promise of “economic security” must include the return to an economic agriculture model based on providing farmers a fair price for the products they produce—or as the agriculture industry calls it, “parity pricing.” Only then, will the GND fulfill its promise to clean up our food system, clean up our environment and provide a “fair and just transition for all communities and workers.”