CSUN On Point

From unsolved mystery cases, to confession tapes, and investigations. America’s appetite for true crime content is exploding.  

For many years, true crime has been the subject of books, TV shows, movies, documentaries — and now podcasts — with a huge consumer base and significant influence. And now the true crime genre has moved into podcasting.

According to a YouGov survey, nearly half of Americans say they enjoy true-crime content and one-third consume it at least once a week.

“There’s something about true crime, much like horror, which can elicit a response in us that is almost like going on a roller coaster,” said podcaster and forensic psychologist who goes by the name “Dr. Scott” on his true crime podcast, L.A. Not So Confidential. “This idea of curiosity about human behavior and not only the human behavior we see criminals perpetrating on their victims but also the darker side of ourselves … 

“We are curious about how people would do that,” Dr. Scott continued, “how could they be in a place where they would do something to another person, ‘Am I capable of doing something?’ All of those factors have really contributed to the popularity of this media.” 

“It’s not just a morbid curiosity, it’s about human beings and human nature,” said Dr. Richard Lettieri, a forensic neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst. “Part of the true crime is a way of understanding that piece of other people and themselves. You can get obsessed with it but it’s almost like a survival mechanism to get a better handle on how to understand the risks.”  

But some worry true crime stories can be retraumatizing to survivors and desensitizing to viewers.

“True crime as it is not going anywhere,” said Kim Goldman, a victim advocate whose brother Ron was killed alongside O.J. Simpson’s estranged wife in 1994. “So now we need to educate people on how to be consumers and how to be sensitive and respectful knowing that you are consuming someone’s most horrific moments unfold for your own personal entertainment.”

According to the New Yorker, this fascination is actually centuries old. In the 1800s, newspapers printed detailed accounts of murder inviting readers to evaluate the evidence for themselves.

In more modern times, podcasting has become a new medium for true crime.

True crime fan Selena Sekulic finds the backstory behind these stories fascinating.  

“I think there are a lot of commonalities behind a lot of these criminals in terms of their upbringing and their mental health,” Sekulic said. “I think it’s interesting to see the sequencing of events and how it’s all unfolded.” 

“I started listening to true crime podcasts ever since I can remember,” said Cindy Abarca, a student at California State University Northridge. “I have always found that subject very interesting to me. Though I would never watch an unsolved one because it leaves me unsettled because the serial killer can still be out there and we don’t know who it is.” 

According to Rolling Stone, ten years ago podcasts were obscure. Now, podcasts are an integral part of the media landscape, whether they cover a new case every episode or present a story over the course of a season.

One example: the first season of Serial, a 2014 podcast that investigated the case of Adnan Syed, who maintained his innocence despite being convicted of murdering his former girlfriend Hae Min Lee.

“Serial’s changed the game, racking up hundreds of millions of downloads worldwide, renewing the true-crime genre and transforming a rising digital format that was both commercially unproven and journalistically untested,” reporter Daniel Arkin wrote for NBC News.

In the show’s first season, Serial host Sarah Koenig re-investigated the case of Lee’s murder, raising urgent questions about the justice system. Eventually, a court threw out Syed’s conviction in that case, prosecutors in Baltimore dropped charges against him, and Syed was released from prison after  22 years — and the podcast was a big reason why. 

Steve Kelly, a lawyer for the Lee’s family, said the victim’s relatives are  “very hopeless about any justice for Hae.”

“They feel like Adnan Syed is an international celebrity,” Kelly told People Magazine. “The story is about him. He’s been made to be a hero in the media. And Hae Min Lee is not part of that narrative.”

Casey Fiesler/Flickr/Creative Commons

Lee’s family isn’t alone. Advocates worry that the producers of true crime content are insensitive to the concerns of victims or their families.

“We have never been able to consume true crime in a way we are able to consume it now — and it’s 24/7,” said Renee Williams, who serves as the executive director for the National Center for Victims of Crime. “It’s leading a drive to look for more salacious material to be constantly putting things out and that’s a dangerous place to be.”  

Kim Goldman co-chairs the board for the National Center for Victims of Crime. O.J. Simpson was charged but later acquitted of murder charges in her brother’s killing. 

Kim also authored a book,  Media Circus, which later became the title of her podcast. Goldman gives her podcast platform to victims and their families, allowing them to tell their stories in their own words and terms to change the narrative surrounding true crime storytelling. 

“The victims and survivors are often cast aside when we do storytelling about high crime or true crime,” said Goldman. “So it’s important for me to give voice back to the people whose story everyone is consuming and give us the control that was taken from us when our loved ones were killed. It’s important for me to make sure that we are always paying attention to victims and survivors”

Goldman says there needs to be a shift as consumers of true crime stories need to be respectful and sensitive to the victims and their families. 

People who haven’t been victims of crime themselves “get to turn that off and you get to click on the next story [while] we are still sitting in our stuff,” Goldman said. “I think if we start to shift the narrative in terms of how you can be a discerning listener, more productive in your community, how you can be a volunteer, how to be more involved, and advocacy then we can start to allow ourselves to be more responsible as consumers.”  

Williams says true crime storytelling has undergone a shift, but you should still respect victims and their families when they have had enough, as they are not characters from a story. 

“True crime can be productive and it’s not going away,” said Williams. “There has been a shift recently to focus less on the perpetrators and to romanticize the perpetrators and that’s a good thing,” said Williams.”

“I also think we forget,” Williams added, “for the victims and the victims’ families that they are humans and they’re not characters in a story.”

This story was produced by Giovani Reyes, Reyna Torres and Jennifer Valdez

People with disabilities often need assistance finding specialized therapies, housing, employment, training for independent living or with specialized equipment like wheelchairs.

Under California law, the agencies that provide these services are called regional centers.

However, critics say regional centers continue to underserve people of color, even after millions in state spending meant to correct racial gaps plaguing the system.

A report by the legal advocacy group Public Counsel found that, in 15 of the 19 regional centers across the state, Asian and Latino citizens are more likely to receive no services. Measured by dollars, regional centers also spend less on services for Asian and Latino clients — about 68 cents for every dollar they spend on white clients, Public Counsel found.

“You can just look within the four walls of one regional center. There is a startling difference between Whites, African Americans, Asians and Latinos,” said Brian Capra, a senior staff attorney with Public Counsel’s Children’s Rights Project.

“It’s no secret that there are racial and ethnic disparities in regional centers,” said Nina Spiegelman, director of Policy at the advocacy organization Disability Voices United. “Unless you go to each regional center, one by one, it’s hard to get a sense of what’s really going on.”

Each of California’s 21 regional centers oversee services within a geographic territory — and the racial disparities vary in each of these regions.  The regional center serving central Los Angeles, Hollywood, Glendale and Pasadena spent $8,561 less on the average Latino client  — the biggest gap in the state, according to the L.A. Times. 

In its own report, Disability Voices United expanded on the Public Counsel’s findings by adding adults into the equation. 

Average spending on adults across regional centers ranges from a high of $60,347 per client at Golden Gate in San Francisco to a low of $26,409 at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. 

from the state’s Department of Developmental Disability Services issued $22 million in grant funding meant to substantially reduce shortfalls in spending on Latinos at regional centers. 

However, Disability Voices United has found that no regional center successfully utilized the grant money. In fact, according to the Disability Voices United report, after 5 years of the grants being in place, the majority of regional centers saw more than a 50% increase in the gap between Whites and Latinos. 

The report also outlines recommendations that these agencies can make to address these issues. They include understanding a person’s identity and culture, creating an ongoing satisfaction survey for the Department of Developmental Disability Services, investigating allegations of mistreatment and increased public access to data about the  racial disparities in services.

In a statement to the L.A. Times, the state’s Department of Disability Services acknowledged the disparities and said that while officials have attempted to address them, “there still is much room for improvement.” 

This show was produced by Lupita Baltazar, Justin Borses and Sade Pullen

The National Coalition Against Domestic Abuse says that in the U.S., one in four women and one in nine men have been physically abused, sexually abused or stalked by an intimate partner.

And the onset of COVID-19 caused a rise in domestic violence.

One Harvard expert said that at the very beginning of the pandemic, calls to domestic violence hotlines slowed way down because many people on the receiving end of abuse didn’t have a safe, private place to make the call.

But pandemic or not, many survivors are often afraid to seek help, or to speak about their experience with domestic violence. 

“Most people are fearful of talking about it for multiple reasons: one, that they’re afraid of their partner; fear of being judged; and once you keep a secret it’s hard to come out and tell the secret,” said Christine Ramos, operations director with the Family Service Agency, a Burbank non-profit that provides services for domestic violence victims.

“Unfortunately it has to do a lot with secret-keeping,” Ramos added, “the inability to talk about things that are going on in your home, in a place where you should feel safe.” 

Domestic violence does not only impact partners. Children are often considered as “hidden victims”. Studies have estimated that 10 million children witness domestic violence each year.

(Sydney Sims/Unsplash Images)

There’s a persistent belief that domestic violence cases often rise during the holiday season.

Some advocacy organizations contend there’s not much data to back up the claim that abuse reports increase over the month.

One study does suggest domestic violence spikes on certain days, like New Years’ and Memorial Day. On other holidays, like Christmas and Thanksgiving, there are fewer domestic violence incidents.

Anecdotally, Shannon Carter, an assistant city attorney in Burbank, said her office does seek a “spike” during the holidays.

“I would say it’s less because people are spending time together and more because holidays are very stressful,” said Carter, whose office also works with the Family Service Agency in Burbank.

“We love spending time with loved ones,” Carter added, “but there’s a lot of pressure around the holidays to get together with people who you don’t normally see.” 

Carter added that extended family members often report child abuse when they reunite during the holidays after a long time apart and realize something is wrong.

Overall, the best evidence is that domestic violence is an ongoing issue no matter the time of year. 

Ramos mentions that she encourages anyone experiencing domestic violence to seek help from a program. 

Domestic violence counselors “have the time usually to sit with them and help them to safety plans and figure out what’s going to be the best safest way for them to exit if that’s what they want to,” said Ramos.

Brianna Michelle, founder of the organization Voices Beyond Assault, said that other activities can be helpful for survivors beyond therapy.

“Let’s go bowling, pole dancing to fall in love with our bodies, boxing classes to let energy go, let’s eat together and empower each other,” said Michelle. “We can connect and help each other continue to heal and thrive.” 

If you need help with domestic violence, L.A. County offers a telephone hotline: 1-800-978-3600 

To reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline, text “START” to 88788.

This show was produced by Jailene Aguilera, Victor Bretado, Andre Lopez and Nicole San Juan.

A federal program that protects more than 600,000 young immigrants from deportation faces an uncertain future.

The program is called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or “DACA.”

Former President Barack Obama created the program through executive action back in 2012, providing a way for immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children, but who don’t have legal authorization to be in the U.S., to live and work here under certain conditions.  

Since Obama left office, Republican lawmakers at the state and federal level have tried to shut the program down — and it’s possible those efforts could soon succeed.

President Trump attempted to end the program in 2018, but two years later, the U.S. Supreme Court restored DACA temporarily.

But last month, a federal appeals court issued a ruling that put DACA’s future in doubt once again. The case — filed by several GOP-led states — is now in the hands of a federal judge in Texas who ruled against DACA in the past.

The Biden Administration recently updated a series of regulations that govern the DACA program. That federal judge in Texas, Andrew Hanen, is now deciding whether Biden’s updates to the program’s rules are enough to keep the program intact.

“From the very beginning, DACA has been under Republican attack, and we have seen that play out by DACA being involved in court case after court case,” said Karen Fierro Ruiz of United We Dream, an organization that advocates for a pathway to citizenship for immigrant youth. “A lot of people are very much tired of being in this political limbo of not knowing what the future of the DACA program is.”

To qualify for DACA, applicants must demonstrate they arrived in the U.S. by age 16, have lived here since June 2007, studied in a U.S. school or served in the military, and lacked a criminal record. 

“DACA means the government is saying, ‘We are not gonna deport you [right now] … That does not mean we won’t deport you in the future,’” said attorney Vanessa Manzi Pumar, one of the first DACA recipients to be admitted to the California bar. “DACA recipients are allowed to obtain a work permit for two years and every two years they have to renew their work permit. This is called temporary immigration status and can be taken away at any point.” 

America Castillo, a student at California State University Northridge (CSUN), said receiving DACA status for the first time was a relief.

“Not having DACA for the first 17 years of my life, I was very anxious about how I would work,” Castillo said. “There’s nothing wrong with working with janitorial jobs but I always wanted something more. When I did get DACA, I loved that I was able to get a job I wanted to work at.”

Karla Molina Susunaga also felt a weight lift from her shoulders after she became “DACAmented” — a term sometimes used to describe the quasi-legal status that the DACA program confers. 

“When I got DACA,” Molina Susunaga said, “it was a relief because we had a chance to do something with the degree we got. There were a lot of uncertainties because of meeting the work permit, the social security, so it was something that definitely opened up doors.” 

Beatriz Hernandez is in a different position: An undocumented immigrant, she does not qualify for DACA because, she says, she can’t document that she was present in the U.S. by June 2007. Hernandez says her immigration status played a big role in her life emotionally and financially.

“I didn’t have the same opportunities as other people because of my status,” said Hernandez, who now works as an organizer for the California Immigrant Policy Center. . “Then on top of all that, having the anxiety and the uncertainty of not knowing where my future would be after graduating, even though I had a degree.”

For more than two decades, Congress has failed to pass so-called “comprehensive immigration reform” legislation to address long-running concerns with U.S. policy along the border with Mexico.

Even attempts at more-limited overhauls have fallen short. Recently, the U.S. House has already passed a bill that would permanently shield DACA recipients from deportation and give them a path to citizenship — a proposal that lacks the necessary votes in the Senate.

Advocates say DACA’s recent losing streak in court highlights the need for Congress to try again. 

“We are much at a standstill on how we can continue to fight for this program in the courts. We know that it will go back to the Fifth Circuit Court who already decided that the program is legal. From there it will go up to the Supreme Court, which is a majority conservative court and we are not hopeful it will survive the Supreme Court,” said Fierro Ruiz. “As of right now, we are really at a state where our only way to win and protect immigrant youth, who have benefited or who could have benefited from this program is to fight a legislative fight.”  

Amid the uncertainty, Manzi advises DACA recipients and undocumented youth to keep renewing their DACA status.

“You can submit it up to four months before it expires. Don’t let it expire,” said Manzi. “There’s a lot of organizations including different consulates that will help with the immigration fee.”

This show was produced by Giovani Reyes, Reyna Torres & Jennifer Valdez

California State University Northridge has a reputation as a commuter school — but for many students, that commute isn’t easy.

The Sundial newspaper reported that in the late 1980s, CSUN expanded student housing with the vision of providing more housing like traditional, four-year residential campuses like UCLA and USC.

Although the university did add more dorms and apartments onto campus, students still comprise a huge majority of the student body at CSUN. A recent report from CSUN’s Institute for Sustainability suggests only a fraction of the university’s students live on-campus.

On average, faculty and staff commute to campus four days a week, traveling 11 miles each way. More than 60% of students say they don’t use public transportation to come to CSUN, and most commute alone, the report found. 

Only 12% of students use public transit as their primary mode of travel. 

“The transit system is not reliable for traveling distances,” said Henrik Minassians, a professor of urban studies at CSUN. 

Minassians noted that ridership on L.A. Metro buses and trains was declining before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and hasn’t recovered since the pandemic began. This has triggered service cuts that could make it harder for CSUN students to rely on transit for a ride, Minassians said. 

“Metro, in order to recover their costs, they are cutting back from the various lines,” the professor said, “and how long you have to wait to change your line or to get onto the next bus to get to campus.”

CSUN student Melanie Guerrero takes the Metrolink train to campus from Oxnard, an approximately 40-mile one-way trip. (Image by Lupita Baltazar/On Point)

Many students prefer to commute and save money on housing either on or near campus.

CSUN students pay as little as $7,260 per year and as much as $15,890 annually to live in on-campus housing. 

But Melanie Guerrero saves on these costs by living in Oxnard with her family. She commutes by train, making the round trip to campus of more than 80 miles two or three times each week. 

In exchange for enduring the commute, Guerrero can stay at her job at Oxnard and has the support of her family close by.

But commuting by train to campus does pose a few challenges.

“The hardest part is probably the beginning of every semester when I’m trying to plan out my class schedule,” Guerrero said, “just because I really have to plan my classes out to a train schedule. It is not my own time, it’s the train time.” 

Guerrero once needed to take a class that did not correlate with the train schedule, which was a huge inconvenience. The class was a graduation requirement for Guerrero, a broadcast journalism major. Luckily, Guerrero and her advisor figured out a way to resolve the conflict.

Even if CSUN wanted to expand public transportation, the decision to provide these services ultimately will fall with local governments, like the city of Los Angeles, the county, and L.A. Metro.  

These agencies sometimes face resistance to plans to expand transit. For example Balboa and Neighborhood Council canceled the ideas and plans for there to be more available public transportation for students and how the city puts more funds towards light railes rather than more connected buses.

“Majority of the public transit money goes more into light rail, instead of more connected designated lanes or buses,” said Minassians, “and as a result, we are seeing more and more [that it’s] very difficult for the public in general, especially CSUN students, to rely on public transit to system to get to campus in a timely fashion.”

This show was produced by Lupita Baltazar, Justin Borses and Sade Pullen

Social media can hold a scary, addictive power over its users — and can turn almost anything in a trend in just seconds. This power can turn almost any video into to, viral content — and ultimately let creators turn dangerous behavior into trending content.

Many of these viral social media “challenges” may seem harmless — like, for example, trying to swallow a spoonful of cinnamon. But doctors say accidentally inhaling the powder could cause health risks.

These challenges pop up all the time, gaining traction on platforms like TikTok, and especially on the app’s “Explore” page. As people like and share them, even more users attempt the challenges.

“Our body is meant to withstand a lot of stressors and a lot of, you know, the everyday type of demands,” said Dr. Leslie Gonazalez a resident physician at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. ”But when we push our bodies past a certain point, it can only handle so much and that when these challenges can go south.”

This past summer, The Verge reported seven children under the age of 15 died after attempting a challenge that encourages users to choke themselves with belts, strings, or similar items, known as the “blackout challenge.” 

The “sleepy chicken challenge,” which encourages social media users to marinate their chicken in NyQuil, prompted  the U.S Food and Drug Administration to issue a warning against the dangers of medicine misuse.

According to the FDA, the challenge sounds silly,  but can be very unsafe: Boiling a medication makes it much more concentrated and changes its properties in other ways. Even if you don’t eat the chicken, inhaling the vapor can cause high levels of the drug to enter the body.

Many of the participants in these challenges are young adults and children,  especially those who are more involved on social media. Dr. Gonzalez believes many parents are not aware of the risks. 

“It’s really up to the parent to be a little bit more present when children are consuming this type of media,” she said, “and having some safeguards around when they can consume, how they can consume media.”

Why do people keep doing these challenges?  And why do children and teens seem more at risk? Dr. Gonzalez explained that key parts of younger people’s brains aren’t yet fully developed.

“Our frontal cortex of our brain is the part of the brain and makes decisions,” she said. “For the child who is of that young age or somebody who has a process, they’re going to be more susceptible to these types of videos and going through these challenges because they haven’t fully developed the skills necessary to be able to decide ‘Hey, perhaps this isn’t the best idea.’”

The pressure of popularity children and young teens feel, and their desire to be liked by others can explain why they participate in these challenges as well. 

“We were young children at some point,” Dr. Gonzalez said, “and we also want to be liked, and we want to be popular. Now, in this day and age, what is popular is being popular on social media.

Dr. Gonzalez mentions that a strong household support system can  help minimize the dangers of these videos and being able to talk to their family and children. Being more aware of  in what their children are doing and what sort of videos they’re watching on social media may help give them more insights on the dangers in doing such challenges.

Student loans are a huge source of frustration, but soon many Americans may see some relief.

In August, the Biden Administration announced a plan to cancel up to $10,000 of student debt for any borrower with an income below of $125,000 a year.

President Joe Biden also plans to cancel an additional $10,000 in loan debt for any student who received a Pell Grant, which helps lower-income students pay for college.

The White House estimates that 3.5 million Californians will qualify for at least $10,000 in student debt relief. 

“This is progress towards putting more people, particularly students, on solid financial ground after college,” said Emmanuel Rodriguez, California policy director for The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS). “ It is clear our higher education system is overly reliant on debt finance education, but it is progress across the nation and for millions of borrowers.”

Isaiah Jones, a freshman at California State University Northridge (CSUN), says the debt relief plan will help students accumulate wealth and relieve their financial burdens.

“This will be a stepping stone to the right direction to accumulate wealth,” said Jones, “I feel even for students who have more than me in debt, it will be somewhat of a relief off their shoulders which they can focus on school than the cost of the school.” 

So how will canceling some student loan debt change the choices students make before or after college? 

“After college, this will make sure students do not have to worry about high monthly payments, ballooning balances, and make it harder for them not to build wealth after graduation,” Rodriguez said. 

“Before college,” Rodriguez added, “make sure you maximize all your need base aid through FAFSA,the Dream Act, the Merit based aid, and with scholarships…if you do have to borrow make sure you borrow through the school system and not private loans since you do have more protection.”

According to Forbes, borrowers owe more than $1 trillion in student loan debt. As tuition costs have risen, so has the need for student loans.  Other expenses also drive students’ need to borrow, like the costs of books, laptops, school supplies, transportation, and meals — all of which can add up quickly. In a survey released by the California Student Aid Commission, students in the CSU system spent about $18,000 per year on non-tuition expenses, including rent and food.

“I think the biggest driver of cost right now for post secondary education is non-tuition cost: cost of housing, food, transportation, books, school materials,” said Rodriguez. “All these non-tuition factors are truly the ones that drive up the majority of cost of college… I think in the long-term when we are talking about making college affordable, tuition is a factor, yes, but I think the biggest driver is going to be those non-tuition costs.” 

CSUN sophomore Jasmine Hallett finds it difficult to balance going to school full-time and having a full-time job while paying for tuition and campus housing.

“I lived on CSUN housing and pay out-of-state tuition…paying for campus housing made it even worse, adding another $10,000,” Hallett said. “I moved off campus; luckily, it’s a little cheaper. But it’s still a struggle to go to school full time and also have a full time job.” 

“In my situation it was more of the non-tuition cost,” said Jones. “It made it hard, because not only did I have to move, but I had to live off-campus, too, because of how housing filled up so quickly…I believe we have to focus on the non-tuition cost because it is rising and do know if it’s going to get better or worse.” 

The student loan relief plan has caused disruption between political parties. Six Republican-controlled states have filed a lawsuit challenging Biden’s loan cancellation plan. They argue the program goes too far, violating the separation of powers. 

But some argue Biden’s does not go far enough to address the root of America’s student debt problem. The Brookings Institution predicts colleges and universities will likely continue to take advantage of society’s need for college graduates by relying on student loans. Those loans allow colleges to keep increasing what they charge in tuition.

“Our education system particularly our higher education system needs to move away from this debt finance model,” said Rodriguez, “moving forward we need more systematic reforms to make college not only accessible but affordable for all students especially students who are most in need of support to successfully complete a degree and climb up that economic ladder.” 

Approximately 20 million borrowers could get their remaining federal student loan balances wiped out, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

As a result of the high-interest rates, Hallett says she hopes to get approved as the debt relief plan will help her reduce her payments.

“I am still a sophomore so I still have a few more years to go but who knows how long it will take me to pay off my debt,” said Hallett. “I am concerned about the interest rates that will just keep adding on so I hope I get approved if I apply [for forgiveness]. That will definitely help in reducing … my payments.” 

In early October, the U.S. Department of Education will release an application for student loan forgiveness.

The Department of Education is also warning borrowers of scams relating to the student loan forgiveness program that ask for payment.

For more information visit 

• The Biden-Harris Administration’s Student Debt Relief Plan Explained (studentaid.gov)
• One-Time Student Loan Debt Relief (studentaid.gov)

This story was produced by Reyna Torres, Giovani Reyes & Jennifer Valdez

Public school teachers often go above and beyond for their students.

For years, they’ve put in long hours before and after classes, providing tutoring and extra technology, and giving up their own personal time — and all of that sacrifice is considered normal.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, teachers  have had to adapt to teaching over Zoom, then the whiplash of returning to in-person classes to serve a large number of students who fell behind.

What motivates teachers to endure it all and stay in their jobs?

“Even though it doesn’t pay very well, it’s so rewarding and that’s what kept me going,” said Amy Jennings, an 11th grade history teacher.

However, the grind is beginning to wear on many teachers.

According to a survey by the teachers union in Los Angeles, 70% of its members have thought about quitting. The union says the number of teachers who actually did leave their jobs in 2020-21 increased 38% from the previous year. Retirements rose 12%.

Financial security remains a constant concern in the profession.

The Economic Policy Institute said that teachers make 23 percent less money than comparable college graduates in 2021 — a record. 

The L.A. survey of more than 13,000 educators found that almost 60 percent of teachers reported not being able to afford to live in the communities where they teach.

According to a different survey commissioned by California’s largest teachers union, Hart Research and Associates asked teachers were asked to rate whether words described their jobs. The word that the largest percentage of respondents chose to describe teaching? “Exhausting.” 

Source: California Teachers Association/UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools

“I can say it is exhausting and empowering at the same time,” said Alina Simonia, a teacher at an L.A. Unified school in Sunland-Tujunga. She has been teaching for more than 25 years.

“The exhausting part is the political arena of education that you have to fight, including standards and numbers-based performance,” Simonia said, referring to the standardized testing that teachers say crowds out time for other classroom activities. 

First-year teachers must face a different set of challenges to avoid burnout, and finding ways to relax, like enjoying a cup of Mushroom coffee, can be a helpful strategy.

“Taking it one step at a time when you know things are due has always helped me,” said Ramiro Esquivel, who’s in his first year in the classroom.

In a survey by the RAND Corporation, twice as many educators reported higher job-related stress than people in other professions. Nearly three-quarters of teachers surveyed reported experiencing job-related stress, compared to just 35% of working adults. Around 17% of working adults reported feeling symptoms of depression; among teachers, that figure is 28%, RAND found. 

The students’ needs have usually been put first and Simonia hopes to keep it that way.

“I want to fully teach students in a manner where their needs are really met,” Simonia said. 

Ramiro said that guiding the next generation is why he chose the job in the first place.

“When students get older, one day I hope that at least one student remembers me and that I made an impact on them,” Esquivel said.

This show was produced by Lupita Baltazar, Justin Borses & Sade Pullen

As California endures another summer of drought and heat waves, Angelenos will once again have to keep a close eye on their water use.

The City of Los Angeles has imposed a conservation ordinance that will limit residents to watering their lawns only two days a week. Municipalities will also issue fines to people who don’t obey the restrictions.

“They’re also putting in restrictors for people who continue to irrigate — because irrigation is one of the big consumers of water,” said Jill Lockard, a planetary science professor at Pierce College, “so they’re actually going to start putting in restrictors so that your showers and your sinks will work fine, but you cannot get enough water flow to irrigate.”

Even after a blazing summer, Los Angeles was able to conserve water at an historic pace. L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti says that the city notched a record-low water usage rate in the month of August. Water usage was down 10% from two years ago.

Since its founding as a royal pueblo in the 18th century, Los Angeles has  had to live with water restrictions of one sort or another, says William Bowen, a former CSUN professor. Now, an ongoing drought in California and the Southwest is a major factor behind the restrictions.

“The current situation,” Bowen says, “is just the latest page in a huge book of crises that now stretches back almost 200 years.”

According to Governor Gavin Newsom’s office, California’s water supply will shrink 10% by 2040. Two other main sources of California water Lake Mead and Lake Powell are also feeling the impacts of the current drought. Both lakes are filled to about 25% of their normal capacity, according to federal government data.

Bowen contends that another factor in the restrictions is California’s allocation of water to agriculture.

California has become one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, a feat that wouldn’t be possible without irrigation, according to the state’s Department of Water Resources.

“The state exports a huge quantity of agricultural products,” the department says on its website, “bringing more than $20 billion into California’s economy.”

However, Professor Bowen says that domestic water use throughout the entire state accounts for only 5% of the entire water budget of the state.

“If you look at it on the state level, agriculture uses about 80% of the water in the state. It returns about 4% of the state’s budget,” Bowen says.

By contrast, urban areas use far less water — about 10 to 15% of the state’s total, Bowen said. He also pointed out that the state’s most lucrative industries are located in urban areas.

In her own life, Lockard has taken steps to consume less water, turning off the tap while brushing her teeth and while working in the kitchen.

“I don’t wash my car in the driveway anymore,” Lockard says. Instead, she “drives[s] through [a car wash] where they recycle the water …

“Little changes,” Lockard adds, “can at least make people think about what the problem is. But as we’ve said, irrigation and agriculture are the biggest of the problems and we can’t directly impact that.”

“I would say in terms of living with the restrictions, it depends on how well people follow them.” Lockard says.

This show was reported and produced by Jailene Aguilera, Victor Bretado, Andre Lopez and Nicole San Juan

California was once a state where many people moved to follow their dreams and seek new opportunities. For decades, housing was  affordable and jobs were plentiful.

But today, newcomers to California find increasingly unaffordable housing and rising costs for all kinds of goods. This has put a damper on the lifestyle that was once known as the “California dream.”

According to the California Policy Lab, the number of people moving into California has decreased by 8% since 2020. More people are moving out of California, too: the exit rate of residents has increased in 52 of the state’s 58 counties.

Tuyen Vu is amongst many of those who have left California and migrated to Texas to escape the inflating prices in the state.

Though Vu primarily moved because he’s in the military, he says he also chose to move due to the educational opportunities offered and says that financially, California was a little too much for him.

“In California, it was very stressful ‘cause the taxes play a big role in it,” Vu says. (Texas does not have an individual income tax.) 

Dowell Myers, a professor of urban planning at USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy, attributes this shift in population to a lack of apartments being built.

With affordable housing being so scarce throughout the state, Professor Myers says people try to double up on roommates to make ends meet in which they end up struggling later on trying to find a bigger apartment to live in. Myers believes this is where the process of considering leaving the state starts to take place. 

“Airbnb is a problem too,” Myers adds. “They suck away real houses for real people and rent them out like it’s a hotel.”

According to the California Policy Law, the amount of people moving into California has decreased by 8% since 2020. However, California is not a total loss.

Henrik Minassians, a professor in CSUN’s Department of Urban Studies & Planning, says that although prices are high in the state, new job opportunities continue to draw people into California — and into urban areas. However, issues such as losing a job after performing jury duty can complicate this pursuit, making it essential for workers to understand their rights and protections in these situations.

“In the same tech sector, younger people are moving to communities that [before], no one wanted to live in, from Culver City to Inglewood,” Minassians says.

But moving to these sorts of neighborhoods is only a solution for people who can afford it. Redevelopment of houses and apartments in low-income communities often creates displacement. 

Professor Minassians also says that developers are much more interested in buying land so that they can build what they want and create their own price tag; creating even more issues for sellers who want to move. Minassians says this shift has taken place in just the last two years or so.

“It’s not attainable for people to move because if you sell, you’re not gonna be able to buy something even with the profits that you have,” Minassians says. “So that has posed some serious challenges.”

Myers adds that because Los Angeles is so “unreachable” many individuals move into the inland areas. Minassians also adds that original renters in the area are being pushed out and even a decent income is no longer sufficient in the area.

This show was produced by Francisco Campos, Ruby Cordova & Jonathan Greenstein