Jacob Margolis
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Articles by Jacob Margolis
How to turn food waste into fertilizer in record time — with maggots
One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today . They’ll eat anything: Fruits, vegetables, compostable plastic bags and a rotisserie chicken carcass — which they destroyed in two days — are all fair game for the enthusiastic little larvae. They’re changing: Now that it’s been about three weeks, they’re going from white and juicy to grey and stiff, as they start to pupate.
Noticing more lizards running around? Here's the likely reason
If you value independent local news, become a sustainer today . Your gift could help unlock a $1M challenge. Why now: Lizards are cold-blooded, meaning their activity and metabolism is tied to the temperature around them. Normally, lizards remain in a state of torpor from around late October to the middle of April, until temperatures warm. The risk: When they emerge from their semi-hibernation, females are often looking to bulk up so that they can successfully lay eggs.
‘Unprecedented’ March heat wave could bring highs near 100 and last about a week
This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. That’s the word that the National Weather Service is using to describe the upcoming heat wave, which could bring near-triple-digit temperatures to the coastal areas of Southern California over the next week. Temperatures could be high enough to make this the hottest March on record, even though we’re only 10 days into the month.
Composting can be wildly frustrating. Maggots to the rescue
This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. Do you hate composting as much as I do? Even though I know it has benefits for both my garden and the environment, I hate turning the pile and worrying about the right ratio of greens to browns and whether it’s too wet or too dry.
Composting can be wildly frustrating. Maggots to the rescue
2 days ago Rats "the same size as a rabbit" have infested a city street where fly-tipping is an ongoing problem, residents say. People living on Pottery Road in Pillgwenlly, Newport, say it has become a "dumping ground" for bagged waste and discarded household items, while the disused and overgrown sections of …
More rain headed for Southern California; cold storm to bring snow to mountains
A vehicle plows through a stream of water in the parking lot of Rosie's Dog Beach after a major rainstorm in Long Beach, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova. Topline: Several days of rain are forecast to kick off Sunday as a series of storms rolls through, one after another. It’ll be one of the coldest weather systems we’ve seen so far this year, bringing a whole lot of much-needed snow to California, according to the National Weather Service.
More rain headed for Southern California; cold storm to bring snow to mountains
Rainfall timing: The heaviest rain is expected to fall on Monday, with 2 to 4 inches possible in the Los Angeles area. Then, there will be on-and-off precipitation for the remainder of the week, though there’s a lot of uncertainty about exactly when you’ll need to have your umbrella handy. Thunderstorms could bring isolated pockets of heavy rainfall, potentially causing debris flows. Things should dry out by late next week.
SoCal's beloved mountain lions get state Endangered Species Act protections
The problem: Genetically distinct populations of mountain lions across the state — from the Central Coast south of San Francisco Bay all of the way to the Mojave Desert — are struggling. Development has shrunk their natural habitats and severed connections between open spaces. Their populations have dwindled as they’ve become increasingly isolated, leading to inbreeding. Depredation, rodenticides and car strikes are also ongoing threats to their survival.
After persistent dry and hot weather, two storms are bringing rain to Southern California
Two storms: The first storm will roll into the area late Tuesday and wrap up early Wednesday, likely dropping less than an inch of rain. Another storm is expected to arrive late Saturday or early Sunday and will be much cooler. We could see multiple inches of rain fall across the region, and snow falling on our mountains and deserts. The storm will likely wrap up by Feb. 18. Hazards ahead: The second storm could cause flooding, particularly in recently burned areas.
Scientists want to know about the birds in your backyard, even common ones. Here's how to help
This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. Power in numbers: ”You spend 15 minutes really trying to understand what's there, and you multiply that over millions of people, you've got a lot of very powerful data,” said John McCormack, director of the Moore Laboratory of Zoology at Occidental College.
Thousands of mule deer will be killed on Catalina Island as part of restoration plan
The city of Avalon nestled into the the hills of Catalina Island's northern coast, Friday, May 7, 2021. Photo by Brandon Richardson. This article was originally published by LAist on Feb. 4, 2026. Topline: The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has approved a plan to kill and sterilize roughly 2,200 mule deer on Catalina Island as part of a large-scale restoration effort.
Thousands of mule deer will be killed on Catalina Island as part of restoration plan
This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. Mule deer removal: Professionals will likely use drones, thermal technology and dogs to detect the deer before shooting them, primarily at night. Some deer will also be caught, sterilized and tracked in an effort to draw out any last deer. The efforts are estimated to be completed by 2032.
A dry January has created dire conditions for California's snowpack
This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. On a clear January day about a week ago, California water resources engineer Jacob Kollen jammed a blue Mt. Rose sampler deep into the snow at Phillips Station, near Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada.
Decades of delay: How California got massively behind in learning from disasters
This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. On a fall morning 34 years ago, a fire, rekindled and supercharged by Diablo winds, began its assault on the East Bay hills. Many times since, Californians have lived through similar disasters. The fire then was fueled by brush — desiccated by both long-term drought and days of 90-degree heat during the peak of California’s fire season.
Calabasas loses court case to stop LA County from sending fire debris to its landfill
This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. The Calabasas case: The landfill, owned by L.A. County, is a Class III site, which isn't permitted to accept hazardous materials. Calabasas argued that those could be present in fire debris. So the city ran multiple soil tests — on four trucks and one damaged property — and found elevated levels of copper and zinc in two of the samples.
The LA fires burned Angelenos' wild havens. A year later, nature is starting to recover
This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. The destruction of last year’s January fires was devastating. Not just in how they leveled more than 16,000 structures and took at least 31 lives, but also how they stripped bare landscapes that many Southern Californians had become familiar with and had found solace visiting for decades.
Latest snowpack measurements show California water supplies in decent shape
Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your tax-deductible donation now. Sierra snowpack: The northern Sierra is at 61% of normal, while the central Sierra is at 93%. The southern Sierra is at 114%. Large amounts of Southern California's water come from the Sierra Nevada.
Southern California can breathe a sigh of relief: Fire season is all but over
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today. Expert assessment: "Basically, we're out of fire season across all of Central and Southern California," said Matt Shameson, meteorologist with the U.S. Forest Service's South Ops Office, which regularly assesses wildfire conditions.
Palisades Fire suspect will remain in custody as he awaits trial, judge rules
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today. Where things stand: Rinderknecht was indicted by a federal grand jury in October and is charged with one count of arson, one count of timber set afire and one count of destruction of property by means of fire.
November deluge breaks rainfall records. New storm will bring snow to Southern California
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today. Daily records broken: On Saturday, the 1952 rainfall record of 1.64 inches was broken by a hundredth of an inch (1.65 inches) in downtown L.A. At the Oxnard offices of the National Weather Service, the 1934 record of 1.8 inches was smashed, with 3.18 inches of rain.
Mudslides, flash floods and tornadoes in the forecast: Here's the latest on the SoCal storm
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today. This story will be updated. Check back for details. A strong storm has started to make its way into Southern California, kicking off what could be a perilous four days for the region.
Brace for unpredictable and heavy rain. Evacuation warnings already issued for parts of SoCal
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today. A weatherman's woe: Forecasters were struggling Wednesday to pin down the exact timing, location and rainfall totals, according to the National Weather Service. The storm is difficult to predict because it's a low pressure system that has detached from the more predictable jet stream.
Heavy rain and then perfect weekend weather are in store for SoCal
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today. Snowfall: When the rain arrives on Thursday, snow levels will be around 9,000 feet (above resort level), but will fall to around 6,000 feet as the colder part of the storm moves in late Thursday into Friday.
The 2024 Mountain Fire was likely a holdover fire, similar to Palisades
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today. The Balcom Fire: A tractor operator was clearing brush on private property on Oct. 30, 2024, when he noticed a fire in the engine compartment and immediately called 911.
Trump could play politics with California disaster relief, emergency experts warn
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today. When or another major disaster hits California, the emergency response will need to be massive. Fixing roads and other infrastructure; restoring power and cellphone service; providing food, shelter and and other essentials.
How much crime was there during the Palisades Fire? New report has numbers
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today . LAPD crime response: The report notes that thousands of homes were left unattended because of the mandatory evacuation. “To prevent looting and other criminal acts, crime suppression squads were assigned to specific ...
Bass calls for investigation into LAFD handling of fire that reignited to become the devastating Palisades Fire
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today . The background: Federal prosecutors that Jonathan Rinderknecht, who had been driving for a ride-sharing app, started the Lachman Fire in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Did Climate Change Make the LA Fires Worse? It’s Complicated
A new study addresses the question, concluding that climate change increased the likelihood of the fires and boosted the amount of land that burned. Flames from the Palisades Fire burn a home in January. The windstorm that propelled the fire capped what had so far been a dry winter. | (Apu Gomes/Getty Images) This article was first published by the nonprofit newsroom LAist on October 22, 2025 and is republished here with permission.
The Santa Ana winds are back, bringing wildfire threat, heat and dryness
At LAist, we believe in journalism without censorship and the right of a free press to speak truth to those in power. Our hard-hitting watchdog reporting on local government, climate, and the ongoing housing and homelessness crisis is trustworthy, independent and freely accessible to everyone thanks to the support of readers like you. But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country.
Explosive methane pipped out from under Newport Beach home after prompting evacuations
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today during our fall member drive. The leak: City officials aren’t sure exactly where the methane is coming from, but the leading theory is that it’s seeping from an orphaned oil well that was capped in 1929.
Should plants be allowed right next to your home? California may soon say no
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today during our fall member drive.
Did climate change make the LA fires worse? It’s complicated
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today during our fall member drive. Strong winds, warm weather, dry brush and a lack of rain: All of those factors and more came together to make L.A.’s January wildfires some of the worst on record. But were those conditions made worse by climate change?
Go somewhere dark and look up! The Orionid meteor shower is peaking
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today during our fall member drive. You can’t see Halley’s Comet from Earth for another 36 years — but you can see bits and pieces of it burning up in our atmosphere Monday and Tuesday night.
JPL announces that hundreds of employees will be laid off Tuesday
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today. We've been here before: There were two rounds of large layoffs in 2024, with roughly 900 people let go. The justification: The reorganization has been going on since July, JPL Director Dave Gallagher wrote in a post on the lab's website.
Chaos, conflict and drones: 10 takeaways from LAFD’s report on the Palisades Fire
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today. The Los Angeles Fire Department’s after action report — released Wednesday — details the challenges the department faced and the ways its response failed during the Palisades Fire in January.
Los Angeles releases internal report on response to Palisades Fire
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today. Staffing issues: Inadequate resources were dedicated to the initial firefight, the report says. At the same time, many firefighters worked more than 36 hours straight, compromising their safety.
How could the Palisades Fire have reignited after a week? Experts explain
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today. At around midnight on Jan. 1, 2025, Jonathan Rinderknecht started the Lachman Fire in the hills of the Pacific Palisades, according to a federal indictment released Wednesday.
Man charged in connection with starting the Palisades Fire
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
When the next fire hits, you may be on your own. These are the issues that plague LA County’s emergency response
Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism . Each new disaster feels uniquely terrible. And each time a fast-moving wildfire strikes Southern California, we’re often surprised by the devastation. But the conditions that drive many of the worst blazes are the same: dry brush and strong winds.
Fire season is here. Make sure you’re signed up for these alerts
Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism . Quite often during wildfires in California, government agencies struggle to communicate with the public, as was the case during the Woolsey Fire in 2018 and the Eaton and Palisades fires this year.
LA County report on Eaton and Palisades fires finds failings in emergency response
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Need money to help retrofit your home against earthquakes? Time is running out
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
After weeks of warm and muggy weather in SoCal, rain is coming, followed by a cool down
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Toddler missing and homes damaged as heavy rain causes flooding and mudslides
Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism . Heavy rain caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Mario resulted in flooding and mudslides on Thursday in San Bernardino County.
Rare September rain is on the way to Southern California
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Ancient microbial life could explain minerals detected on Mars, new study finds
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Waste dumped off SoCal coast has drastically altered life on the sea floor, study finds
Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism . Between the 1930s and 1970s, companies dumped barrels of toxic waste, including DDT, off the coast of Southern California, from Santa Cruz Island south to Mexico.
'Completely backed' - Tottenham fans get exciting update straight from ownership
With the departure of long-time Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, supporters are wondering where the club is headed next. After nearly 25 years of executive leadership in North London, Tottenham’s now former- chairman Daniel Levy is partying ways with the organization. In the wake of the departure, along with rotation of managers and player personnel, fans are likely wondering what sort of impact these new decision-makers will have on the club’s trajectory.
Injured Tottenham star provides positive update on recovery progress
Over the summer, technical Director Johan Lange was able to bolster the squad's attacking options through a few key signings, including negotiating permanent contracts for Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons, as well as a last-minute loan acquisition of Randal Kolo Muani. The club's management have also been busy at work beyond North London's borders, investing in the team's future through loan spells for youth academy prospects.
Tottenham forward's Champions League absence "not a reflection on him," reports
Spurs fans are writhing with excitement ahead of the club's 25-26 Champions League campaign, and for good reason. Coming off of an excellent performance in the Europa League, and under the guidance of new management, Tottenham seem geared up to carry their momentum into the coming months of competitive gameplay.
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