LA Squawk Box for Friday, July 31, 2026

LA city candidates in Nov. general to report fundraising hauls, the ozone hangs a bit too low, an iconic port bridge could be put to pasture, a sweep targets an encampment in Palms, and more.

What’s happening today?

LA city candidates heading into the November general election have until the end of today to report how much money they’ve raised as of June 30. The report actually covers a six-month span, and is called a semi-annual report, but it includes just the first three or so weeks of the November general election cycle. While many of the city races were settled in the primary, the LA city mayor and city attorney’s races have runoffs in November, and two of the council district races also got extended into November. Those council contests are the 3rd district race between Tim Gaspar and Barri Worth Girvan in the southwest San Fernando Valley area now represented by Council member Bob Blumenfield, and the 9th district race between Estuardo Mazariegos and Jose Ugarte in South Los Angeles area now represented by Council member Curren Price. The semi-annual reports give a sense of whether the campaigns are getting off to a good start or not, but it’s early days, with more than 90 days left until Nov. 3, when polls close. The campaign finance reports are post here. It’s like a little health check.

Be lazy today. Speaking of health, the LA County Department of Public Health issued an “ozone advisory” today, saying that the South Coast Air Quality Management District thinks that with the ozone hanging a bit too low over the next few days, the smog will be bad amid the latest heat wave bearing down on Southern California. Public health officials are recommending people to not engage in vigorous physical activity, to stay indoors and to keep the windows closed, and to in general take it easier on yourself. They suggest going to hang out at the library, mall or wherever else there is air conditioning. They also advise to not use up too much energy, including not blasting your own air-conditioning, or doing anything that contributes to the smog, such as operating a gas-powered lawnmower until at least the evening.

What just happened?

Iconic bridge serving the Port of Los Angeles could be put to pasture

The Vincent Thomas Bridge, which opened in at the Port of Los Angeles San Pedro in 1963, generates nostalgic feelings for people, so an agreement with Caltrans to look at replacing it could be a “painful” undertaking for the San Pedro community, according to Donna Littlejohn, the longtime South Bay reporter at the Daily Breeze.

Ships are typically taller now and many can’t pass under the Vincent Thomas Bridge. It’s estimated about 40% of the ships are too tall for this bridge. Littlejohn reports that while it’s still possible officials will decide to make modifications to the bridge instead, but she noted that they sounded much more gung-ho about replacing the bridge, during a Thursday news conference in which Mayor Karen Bass joined Port of LA and Caltrans officials to announce an MOU that starts the process to study what to do about the conundrum of a bridge that’s slung too low for our times.

Meanwhile, the Port of Long Beach appeared to have started keeping up with the movement of time, and aready put an older bridge, the Gerald Desmond Bridge, to pasture, and replaced it with the Long Beach International Bridge that opened in 2020. As for the future of the Vincent Thomas, things are still in the early stages, because officials have yet to begin formally researching what to do, conducting the community meetings and identifying the all-important funding for the project.

A few more things… The fire that broke out at a Vernon warehouse on Thursday, near where the Lineage fire was, ended up getting put out just a few hours later. City News Service reports that attorneys for the city of Los Angeles are pushing back against an effort by attorneys to initiate a retrial on a lawsuit by the family of a girl killed in 2021 by an LAPD officer at the Burlington Coat Factory in North Hollywood. Unrig LA flags early campaign filings in the City Attorney’s race showing that Marissa Roy had a bigger haul than opponent John McKinney, as things get going in the runoff election. And the LA City Sanitation Department conducted a sweep on Thursday at Venice Boulevard and Glendon in Palms, reports Palms Unhoused Mutual Aid.