Greater LA

Despite being stuck in a pandemic and the isolation that comes with it, a subsection of Angelenos are making their dating lives work. Using apps like Hinge and Bumble, prospective dating partners are meeting up in real life. For others, the pandemic has served as a time for self-reflection.

A few weeks ago, Los Angeles city and county officials were in the process of ending Project Roomkey, a program that places older and medically vulnerable people experiencing homelessness in empty hotel rooms. Now the promise of new federal funding from the Biden administration is bringing it back to life — if local government can find a way to front the costs.

Construction waste comprises almost a third of our landfills. That’s partly because the way we make buildings hasn’t changed much in more than a century. But now several construction startups are building homes quickly and affordably while creating minimal waste, with the help of giant 3D printers.

Northridge’s long-time Skateland roller rink will reopen as a homeless shelter by November 2021, if all goes according to plan. Hope of the Valley, a service provider for the unhoused, aims to provide around 100 beds, plus case managers, storage space, mental health services, and recovery programs on-site. More than 700 people are unhoused in the northwest San Fernando Valley, according to the latest count in January. Some community members are also concerned, but for different reasons.

Electronics have become the largest source of toxic waste in the U.S. But many devices and their parts are still usable. That’s why Homeboy Electronics Recycling is refurbishing, repurposing and reselling tens of thousands of pounds of electronics every week, all while employing formerly incarcerated and gang-affiliated people to do it.

Governor Gavin Newsom is pushing to get kids back in schools this month. Some parents, especially whose kids have special needs, say it’s about time. But LAUSD is pushing back, saying case rates are too high and school staff must be vaccinated first. It wasn’t until one teacher and her children got COVID that she agreed with the district.

In Los Angeles County, COVID-19 has exacerbated racial and economic inequality. Latino residents face the deadliest risk from the disease, while Black and Asian residents are also dying at higher rates than white residents. And the poorer you are, the greater your risk of dying from the virus. Housing is one part of what’s behind these disparities.

LA District Attorney George Gascón is getting intense blowback from prosecutors in his office. The union representing them says his sentence enhancement prohibition violates California’s three strikes law, which requires prosecutors to seek longer sentences for defendants with previous convictions. But Gascón stands by the legality of his new directives.

There’s a bit of optimism on the pandemic front. Cases are trending down, and projections show ICU capacity increasing in the coming weeks. Through the darkest days of the holiday season surge, rapid response nurse Erin McIntosh recorded audio diaries logging her thoughts and experiences as deadly records were set daily. Her hospital, Riverside Community, was one of the most overwhelmed. In a compilation of her entries, KCRW hears about the fear patients are struck with when they know the end is near, the family toll nurses deal with, and small moments of gratitude that still find a way to bubble up in dark times.

Nearly half of food grown in the United States gets thrown out. More food is tossed once it reaches a household fridge than at any other point in the supply chain. With every strawberry that doesn’t get eaten comes the wasted water to grow it, the wasted gas to transport it, the methane it emits while it rots, and crowded landfills.