Outrage erupted last month when Oklahoma City residents learned of plans to convert a vacant warehouse into an immigration processing facility.

Making matters worse was the secrecy of the federal government: City leaders received no communication from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aside from a mandated disclosure related to historic preservation.

Planning a major development without city input is antithetical to the in-depth, sometimes arcane permitting, planning and zoning process in Oklahoma City. Mayor David Holt, a former Republican state senator, said those land use decisions are among the most crucial of any municipal government.

'For any entity to be able to open a detention center in our communities, potentially next to neighborhoods or schools, regardless of your views on immigration policy or enforcement, is very challenging, because thats a very high-impact use, and thats the kind of thing that we would expect to talk about,' he told Stateline.

Communities across the country are facing similar prospects as ICE undertakes a massive expansion fueled in large part by the record $45 billion approved for increased immigration detention by Congress last summer.

During President Donald Trumps second term, ICE is holding a record number of detainees ' more than 70,000 as of January ' across its own facilities as well as in contracted local jails and private prisons. ICE documents from last week show plans for acquiring and renovating 16 processing sites that hold up to 1,500 people each and eight detention centers that hold up to 10,000 each, for a total capacity of 92,600 beds. The agency also has plans for some 150 new leases and office expansions across the country, Wired reported.

But ICEs plans to convert industrial buildings ' often warehouses ' into new detention facilities have recently faced fierce opposition over humanitarian and economic concerns. From Utah to Texas to Georgia, local governments have sought to block these massive facilities. But with limited legal authority, city and state officials have turned to the court of public opinion to deter private developers and the federal government.

Holt, who is the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, a nonpartisan organization representing the more than 1,400 leaders of cities with populations of 30,000 or more, said cities have little legal recourse over the ICE facilities.

'We all have a clear, unified position that really crosses party lines,' he said, 'and then we also have a clear understanding of how limited our options are.'

Local leaders often cite the U.S. Constitutions supremacy clause, which says federal laws supersede conflicting state laws. That leaves cities with limited influence over projects that could take industrial space off tax rolls, cause new strains on city services and raise serious humanitarian concerns given the Trump administrations aggressive immigration enforcement, including the high-profile killings of two Americans in Minnesota.

Facing bipartisan opposition, the out-of-state owner of the Oklahoma City warehouse ultimately decided to end talks of selling or leasing its warehouse to the federal government.

Similar public pressure has proved effective in reversing plans in several other cities: In late January, a Canadian firm said it would not proceed with a planned sale of a Virginia warehouse after it faced calls for a boycott from Canadian politicians and businesses. In Mississippi, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker announced the federal government would'look elsewhere' after he spoke with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees ICE. Wicker, a Republican who said he supports immigration enforcement, echoed local economic concerns of a project planned in Byhalia.

Some officials have welcomed the new facilities: Missouri Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Alford has lobbied to land a detention and processing center in his district. And last week, a Maryland county approved a resolution expressing its 'full support' for ICE, which is considering purchasing a warehouse there, despite local protests. But most communities have fought them.

Neither DHS nor ICE responded to Statelines questions.

Holt said the discussion resembles other local development concerns where NIMBY ' short for Not in My Backyard ' is a common description of opponents.

'There are plenty of people who are very law-and-order and supporters of law enforcement who dont want a jail next to their house,' he said. 'Thats why its got such broad opposition: NIMBYism is the most powerful force sometimes in American politics and nobody wants a detention center next to their home, their business or their school.'

A political and legal fight

After learning that ICE planned to take over a vacant warehouse within its city limits, the Kansas City Council in January swiftly approved a five-year ban on nonmunicipal detention facilities.

Kansas City Council member Andrea Bough, who is also a private development attorney, said the move was both political and legal: The city wanted to send a clear signal opposing ICE facilities, but it also wants to exert its local authority over planning and zoning.

She acknowledged the legal hurdle posed by the supremacy clause, but said there was enough ambiguity over the citys ability to regulate land use that it may take the issue to the courts.

'Some would say local building codes and zoning regulations do not apply to the federal government,' she said. 'Thats something I think we would probably in this situation be willing to fight until we had clear guidance on that.'

Following weeks of pressure, the Kansas City firm that owns the 920,000-square-foot warehouse announced Thursday it was no longer 'actively engaged with the U.S. Government or any other prospective purchaser,' the Kansas City Star reported.

Jackson County, which includes portions of Kansas City and the potential detention facility, is considering a similar ban. And across the state line, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, is considering a similar two-year moratorium.

But there are clear limitations on cities ability to stop federal projects, said Nestor Davidson, a professor who teaches land use and local government law at Harvard Universitys Graduate School of Design.

'The federal government can assert immunity from certain state and local laws, including zoning, but its complicated, and there are nuances,' he said.

Still, Davidson said some case law has shown cities may have stronger legal footing for zoning rules that are broad and not directly targeted at specific federal government projects.

'I expect to see litigation,' he said. 'I think youre going to see these conversations play out as land use fights often do: both in a legal venue and in a political venue.'

Governments pressured to act

Kansas Citys moratorium has sparked interest among local activists who have pressured elected officials in other cities across the country to act. But many local officials are adamant that federal law ties their hands.

In a legal opinion provided to the Orlando City Council in Florida, City Attorney Mayanne Downs rejected 'suggestions of actions we can supposedly take,' including moratoriums or using zoning ordinances to block ICE detention centers.

'However well motivated these suggestions are, the law is very clear: ICE, as an agency of our federal government, ICE is immune from any local regulation that interferes in any way with its federal mandate,' Downs wrote to the mayor and city commissioners.

ICE is reportedly considering a new $100 million processing center in southeast Orlando.

The county commission in Orange County, which includes Orlando, discussed the issue last week after receiving similar legal advice. County Commissioner Nicole Wilson said the board is even more constrained because of a recent Florida law limiting certain local governments ability to regulate development through 2027.

After being advised against passing a moratorium, the board agreed with Wilsons follow-up suggestion to draft a resolution expressing its opposition. That will be considered at a future meeting.

'It doesnt sound like it has the teeth that a moratorium would have, but it essentially gives an awareness that weve established a position in opposition to this type of facility in Orange County,' Wilson told Stateline.

An attorney by trade, Wilson said the case law regarding federal projects largely centers on disputes about post offices, which she said is not an appropriate comparison to the massive detention centers currently contemplated.

'A post office has the same water consumption and sewage as probably a lot of other uses,' she said. 'If you take a warehouse that was designed for 25,000 widgets and put 15,000 humans in it, youve got a very different set of local needs and services that are being used and being taxed and being burdened.'

Working with the feds

Communities have often opposed various other federal projects, such as federal courthouses. But the federal government generally takes the time to listen to local concerns and communicate building plans with communities, said Jason Klumb, a former regional administrator with the U.S. General Services Administration, which manages the federal governments real estate.

'Generally, GSA has had kind of a good neighbor approach, understanding that they have requirements for federal facilities, and some of those facilities may not always be popular,' said Klumb, an Obama appointee.

But the federal government has not been shy about exerting its constitutional authority.

For example, late last month, GSA announced it would build a new $239 million federal courthouse in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee, despite bipartisan lobbying from city and federal officials for a different site.

'The feds get what the feds want, ultimately,' Klumb said.

In a statement, a GSA spokesperson declined to clarify the agencys current role in acquiring ICE detention facilities. The statement said the agency was 'following all lease procurement procedures in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.'

Communities have largely been left out of the administrations immigration decision-making process.

'Most of the information we have received on this facility has been through news leaks and the government has not reached out to us yet,' said Paul Micali, the town manager of Merrimack, New Hampshire.

Through an open records request, the ACLU of New Hampshire confirmed that ICE was planning to convert a 43-acre warehouse property in the town of about 28,200.

The federal plans were obtained from the states historic preservation office, which came under fire for not informing Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte of ICEs proposal. That agencys top official resigned last week after pressure from Ayotte.

Ayottes office did not respond to a request for comment. On Thursday, her office released documents detailing how the federal governments$158 million plan to retrofit the property would create hundreds of long-term jobs for the region.

Testifying before Congress Thursday, an ICE official said the feds will not cancel the project over local concerns.

Micali said the vacant warehouse currently provides about $529,000 in annual property taxes ' a substantial sum given the towns property tax base of about $20 million.

In a letter to Noem, the Town Council said converting the property to a tax-free federal facility would result in higher local taxes for residents. Merrimack is also concerned about potential demands for water, fire and other city services, Micali said, but cant even begin to assess needs without more details from the feds.

Hes speaking with lawyers about what options, if any, the town may have to assert local zoning power.

'Were looking at every possibility,' he said.

Stateline reporter Kevin Hardy can be reached at khardy@stateline.org.

©2026 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Grok, a standalone app as well as a feature on Elon Musks social media platform X, generated 3 million sexualized images in the 11 days after its image-editing feature was released in December, the UK-based Center for Countering Digital Hate reported. Users digitally stripped real women in images ' and more than 20,000 apparent children ' manipulating many into sexual poses. Musk responded dismissively, reposting an AI-generated image of a toaster in a bikini, saying he 'couldnt stop laughing' about it.

California authorities werent laughing.

'This material, which depicts women and children in nude and sexually explicit situations, has been used to harass people across the internet,' Attorney General Rob Bontas office said in a news release last month announcing an investigation into whether Groks generation of the imagery broke any laws. The investigation is still underway, and Bonta is 'committed to moving on this issue quickly,' his office said Wednesday.

Late last month, the Tech Transparency Project, dedicated to accountability at major tech firms, released a report saying it found 55 apps in the Google Play app store, and 47 in Apples app store, that could modify images of real women without their consent to make them completely or partially naked, or wearing bikinis and other skimpy clothing.

Companies highlighted by the Tech Transparency Project as purveyors of nudification apps are not nearly as widely known as Musks xAI, Google or Apple, and are based in locations from DreamFace in Redwood City to Bodiva in China. Bodiva offers a 'Show Off Body' function that stripped women naked in photos, and also provides options to turn photos into pornographic videos, the Tech Transparency Project reported.

The controversy over the apps is just the latest to erupt since San Franciscos OpenAI released its pioneering ChatGPT in late 2022, allowing users to generate words, sounds and images in response to prompts. AI-generated errors in legal filings, pervasive student AI use for homework and lawsuits alleging chatbots encouraged suicide have raised alarms.

A number of state and local laws apply to AI-generated images, including the federal Take It Down Act of 2025 ' introduced by Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas ' which prohibits internet users from publishing non-consensual intimate images, including AI-made 'deepfake' images of real people who have had clothing removed. A provision of the law also requires websites and apps to delete such imagery within 48 hours of a valid removal request.

Californias Assembly Bill 621, passed last year, bans non-consensual deepfake pornography. Its author, East Bay Democratic Assembly Member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, told media outlets the law was drafted to prevent exactly what Grok was producing.

'These are tools that give people the ability to harm women,' Camerina Davidson, president of the California chapter of the National Organization for Women, said this week. 'AI has reinvented misogyny.'

Tech companies, Davidson said, have given men 'more powerful ways to harass women and try to assert power over women by using these AI-driven platforms that are so simple to get.'

Apple said its guidelines prohibit overtly sexual or pornographic content, and that it removed 28 of the apps the Tech Transparency Project identified. For the rest, Apple said it warned app developers of violations needing to be remedied in a timely fashion. Apple did not describe how promptly remedies must occur.

Google said it had suspended 'most of the apps' pinpointed by the Tech Transparency Project, and that its investigation in the matter was continuing.

Despite taking action on those apps, Google and Apple continue to offer Grok in their app stores.

Grok, operated by Musks xAI, a Palo Alto artificial intelligence company that recently merged with Musks rocket company SpaceX, did not respond to questions.

The company in an early January post on X cited 'lapses in safeguards' that it was 'urgently fixing.' But despite that purported urgency, this month Reuters reported that between January 14 and 16 and January 27 and 28, a team of its reporters uploaded fully clothed photos of themselves to Grok and asked the chatbot to depict them in humiliating or sexually provocative poses.

'In the majority of cases, Grok returned sexualized images, even when told the subjects did not consent,' Reuters reported.

In January, Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Musks children, sued xAI in New York Supreme Court, alleging that Grok in response to users prompts, generated 'countless sexually abusive, intimate, and degrading' images of her. 'Among other things, X users dug up photos of St. Clair fully clothed at 14 years old and requested Grok undress her and put her in a bikini,' the lawsuit said. 'Grok obliged.' The case was moved to federal court in New York, and lawyers for xAI are now battling to have it transferred to Texas federal court.

However, its not just women and girls undressed by the apps who are harmed, Davidson said.

'Seeing what is done to other women, it affects women emotionally and psychologically, and it makes women not want to call attention to themselves,' Davidson said. 'Many women I know who are online, they dont use their real name. They dont want to be attacked.'

In allowing users to turn real women and girls into sex objects, the apps send the message to boys and men that girls and women exist to 'serve the purposes of men,' said Ruth Darlene, executive director of Los Altos nonprofit WomenSV, which combats abuse of women and children.

'You get to do with them what you will.'

Use of Grok for sexualizing photos sparked a worldwide furor. Members of the British Parliament in mid-January issued a statement condemning 'the use of Grok AI to generate and disseminate sexually explicit and non-consensual images of women and children on X, including digitally undressing and sexualising images of minors.' The European Commission and the UKs privacy watchdog have both launched formal investigations into Grok over the issue.

On Feb. 3, prosecutors in France raided the offices of X, Elon Musks social media platform, in an investigation into what French authorities described as alleged possession and spreading of pornographic images of children, sexually explicit AI-generated 'deepfake' imagery, and other material. Musk, who was summoned by French authorities, took to X to call the move 'a political attack.'

Malaysia and Indonesia both blocked Grok over the image editing.

The eruption of outrage from California to Kuala Lumpur follows years of gender-related controversy in Silicon Valleys tech industry. A 2012 gender-discrimination lawsuit by businesswoman Ellen Pao against Menlo Park venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins failed, but drew attention to the treatment of women in tech. In 2017, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was ousted amid a sexual harassment scandal, and the following year, the company agreed to pay $10 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it discriminated against women and minorities.  Also in 2018, thousands of Google employees walked off the job over the companys handling of workplace sexual harassment. Four years later, Google agreed to pay $118 million to up to 15,500 women to settle a years-long class-action lawsuit alleging it paid women less than men and promoted them more slowly and less frequently.

For companies like xAI, Google and Apple, the availability of undressing apps represents a leadership failure, said Ann Skeet, senior director of leadership ethics at Santa Clara Universitys Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

'Reputational hits like the ones theyre taking now erode value in the company,' Skeet said. 'Theyre actually doing harm to the very entity that theyre responsible for leading.'

You recognize an occupant requirement when a company is searching for space to occupy, what we commonly call buyer representation or tenant representation.

On the other side of the table, an owner hires us to fill a vacancy with a tenant or a buyer, or depending on the situation, to sell a leased building to an investor.

In my practice, I do both.

Which assignment is more difficult and why?

My short answer is: it depends. But since I have a bit more column space, let us explore the question more thoroughly, shall we?

Let us begin with the occupant side.

Representing a tenant or buyer often feels like detective work. You are handed a requirement that may or may not be fully formed. 'We need 20,000 square feet.' 'We want to own instead of lease.' 'We are bursting at the seams.' Those statements are starting points, not conclusions.

The challenge is uncovering the true need. Is the space requirement based on headcount today or projected growth tomorrow? Is ownership driven by balance sheet strategy, ego, or a long-term operational advantage? Is the urgency real or manufactured?

Occupant representation requires patience, probing questions, and occasionally the courage to slow a client down. Many times the hardest part is protecting them from themselves. I have seen companies chase shiny buildings in the wrong location, overcommit to space they cannot afford, or underestimate the cost of relocation. The difficulty lies in aligning financial reality, operational necessity, and emotional desire into a decision that makes sense five and 10 years from now.

Now consider the owner side.

Representing an owner introduces a different kind of complexity. The product exists. The vacancy is real. The carrying costs are tangible. Time is measurable in monthly mortgage payments and operating expenses.

Here, the challenge is often market driven. You cannot manufacture tenant demand. You cannot force interest rates lower. You cannot single handedly compress cap rates or accelerate absorption.

An owners expectations may be shaped by yesterdays market rather than todays. Rents achieved two years ago may not be achievable now. A building that was once the belle of the ball may suddenly compete with newer, more functional inventory.

The difficulty on the owner side is managing expectations while protecting value. Pricing too aggressively can result in prolonged vacancy. Pricing too conservatively can leave money on the table. Marketing strategy, timing, positioning, and negotiation all become critical levers.

So which is more difficult?

When representing an occupant, you are often managing ambiguity. The assignment is fluid. The criteria can shift. Corporate leadership can change direction midstream. You are guiding strategy as much as executing it.

When representing an owner, you are managing exposure and risk. Every day a space sits vacant, there is a cost. Every rejected offer carries consequence. You are balancing urgency with discipline.

In strong markets, owner representation can feel easier because demand masks imperfections. In soft markets, it can feel like pushing a boulder uphill. Conversely, occupant representation can be simpler when options are plentiful and leverage is strong, and far more challenging when inventory is scarce and competition is fierce.

The truth is that neither side is inherently more difficult. They are difficult in different ways.

One requires uncovering the truth behind a requirement. The other requires confronting the truth about the market.

One demands internal clarity. The other demands external realism.

Perhaps the better question is not which assignment is more difficult, but which responsibility is greater.

In both cases, our role is the same. We are fiduciaries. We are counselors. We are translators between emotion and economics.

Whether I am helping a business secure a home for its operations or assisting an owner in monetizing an asset, the stakes are significant. Jobs are affected. Capital is deployed. Long term plans are shaped.

So when asked which side is harder, I return to my original answer. It depends.

It depends on the market. It depends on the client. It depends on the expectations brought to the table.

What does not depend on anything is the need for preparation, honesty and experience. On either side of the equation, difficulty tends to diminish when clarity increases.

And clarity, more often than not, is what we are truly hired to provide.

Allen C. Buchanan, SIOR, is a principal with Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services in Orange. He can be reached at abuchanan@lee-associates.com or 714.564.7104.

Downtowns towers shimmered beyond the river. But the bridge ' once celebrated as the 'Ribbon of Light' ' sat largely in shadow. Headlights briefly washed over the arches before fading. A few cyclists moved by in silhouette. Along the sidewalk leading onto the span, crushed cups and plastic bags gathered against fencing and concrete barriers, while a small encampment dotted the grassy slope nearby.

'I cant really walk past 6 oclock because its too dark,' said Rafael Rojas, a resident of nearby Boyle Heights, who had been jogging on the bridge earlier Thursday afternoon. The 31-year-old said he runs the bridge a couple of times a week and walks his German Shepherd, Edison, in the area.

' It was nice when the lights were still on,' Rojas said. 'You could show up at 7, 8 oclock, and there’d be people around here. Not anymore.'

This week, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents the district that includes the bridge, announced that the citys Bureau of Engineering has selected global engineering firm Tetra Tech to fortify and relight the structure ' an effort aimed at restoring its signature illumination while preventing vandalism and copper theft that has left it in near-complete darkness at night for almost two years.

The announcement revives a stubborn question: How did L.A.s most celebrated new public works become so difficult to protect ' and what will it take to keep it bright?

A landmark under strain

When the Sixth Street Viaduct opened in July 2022, it was framed as more than a replacement for a deteriorating, seismically unsafe bridge. The $588 million project, selected through an international design competition and funded by federal, state and city dollars, was billed as the largest bridge undertaking in Los Angeles history.

Yet its significance stretches well beyond engineering.

For decades, the original structure had served as a daily crossing for working-class families traveling between Boyle Heights and jobs west of the Los Angeles River.

Carlos Lucero, a Los Angeles photographer who has documented both bridges for more than 25 years, said the old span carried deep cultural significance for many Eastside residents.

'The Eastside is mostly a Latino community, and it means a lot,' he said Friday. 'Working people crossed the bridge every day to work on the Westside, to bring a better future for the kids.'

He saw the new viaduct as 'a new start' for new generations' an attempt to honor that legacy while reimagining what civic infrastructure could represent.

That hope was palpable on opening weekend. Its debut on July 9 drew an estimated 15,000 people, capping six years of construction. For a brief moment, the arches glowed and the city celebrated.

Then the bridge began to take on a different kind of life.

Within days, drivers staged street takeovers, spinning donuts across the deck. Onlookers scaled the arches. Viral videos showed a man getting a haircut in the middle of the roadway while traffic crept by. Police shut the bridge down more than once in its first weeks.

By late 2023, a new problem emerged: copper wire theft. Sections of the bridges signature LED lighting system began to go dark, stripped and sold as scrap. In June 2024, thieves removed roughly seven miles of copper wiring that powered the illuminated arches, plunging much of the span into darkness at night.

Most recently, on Jan. 27, an illegal commercial-grade fireworks display shot sparks into the sky and rained debris across the roadway, again forcing emergency responders onto the bridge.

On Thursday, Feb. 19, many of the utility boxes lining the bridge sat pried open, their copper wiring stripped. Nearby, soggy fireworks tubes lay flattened against the asphalt ' remnants of the display days earlier.

What had opened as a symbol of renewal had, in less than four years, become a recurring headline.

A landmark'and a target

'It’s been a hundred years since we actually made a bridge into a great public work,' Dana Cuff, a professor at UCLA and director of cityLAB, an urban research and design center, said Thursday.

Los Angeles earlier iconic river bridges were built during an era when cities invested heavily in public infrastructure, she said ' a tradition that largely faded as development shifted toward private interests and residential expansion.

The Sixth Street Viaduct stood out for two reasons, Cuff said.

'One is that its a very beautiful architectural and engineering solution,' creating 'a real landmark in the city,' she said. The second is what it represented: 'A demonstration of a public investment in the public infrastructure, which we haven’t had as long as anyone alive in L.A. can remember.'

That visibility may also be part of its vulnerability.

Landmarks create shared focal points, Geoff Boeing, a professor at USC who studies urban form and city planning, said Thursday.

'When we create our mental maps of cities well often use landmarks as these kinds of focal points that we use to try to structure space,' he said.

When a city invests heavily in a new bridge with distinctive design and lighting, Boeing said, it produces not just transportation infrastructure but a 'focal point for the city that becomes part of identity.' And for the same reasons, visible landmarks can become stages for protest, spectacle, street racing or vandalism.

Over time, the Sixth Street Viaduct has become a magnet for all of it.

Rojas said the chaos has felt cumulative.

'I wish they wouldve done something about it sooner because it just kept getting worse and worse,' he said. 'Its about time.'

Securing a public landmark

Cuff said the bridges elaborate lighting system may have inadvertently made it a more attractive target to thieves.

'The Sixth Street Bridge had such a spectacular lighting system that it made its copper wire … like advertised,' she said.

Cuff said the bridges vulnerability reflects broader pressures across Los Angeles, where public spaces increasingly absorb the strain of economic inequality.

' We see this on the transit or transit systems too,' she said. ' The bridge seems like a place to harvest resources instead of enjoy the public domain.'

Still, Cuff cautioned against viewing the vandalism as a failure of the design itself.

' Its a stunning landmark in the city, and the vandalism that’s happening in my mind is neither a negative reflection on the city, nor on the bridge by any means,' Cuff said. 'It is just a set of really unfortunate circumstances that now have to be managed.'

The solution, she argued, is not to pit openness against security.

'The posing of openness against security is the wrong idea. Like, ‘We just have to put up a big gate and then this won’t happen,' Cuff said. 'Thats not a solution because we need to have public parks and public space and beautiful bridges like the Sixth Street Bridge. The question is how do we make them safe and secure?'

Instead, she pointed to practical measures ' securing vulnerable wiring, adding security and increasing activity around the bridge.

The ongoing development of the Sixth Street PARC project beneath and around the bridge could also help by bringing more people into the area, she said, making vandalism less likely when public space is actively used and informally monitored.

'As long as it feels neglected and abandoned,' Cuff said, 'its not going to get better.'

How the creators see it

If scholars see the bridge as both landmark and lightning rod, its designer sees something more personal.

When architect Michael Maltzan, whose Los Angeles'based firm led the bridges architectural design, first envisioned the Sixth Street Viaduct, he said he hoped it would capture both the emotional attachment Angelenos felt toward the original 1932 span and a broader vision for the citys future.

'More than anything, I had hoped that the bridge would really represent an ongoing idea about the future of Los Angeles,' Maltzan said Friday. 'One where infrastructure, which has traditionally divided us and separated communities, could be reimagined to be something that united communities, but also as a destination for communities.'

Since opening, he said, the bridge has reflected both the best and most complicated aspects of public life.

' If they’re truly public, if they’re truly open civic spaces, then people have the right and the opportunity to bring anything to the bridge that they want to,' Maltzan said.

He praised quinceañera photo shoots, lowrider parades and even viral haircut videos filmed on the span as signs of civic ownership.

'I think those are fantastic because it means that people are bringing to the bridge the things that they care the most about,' Maltzan said. 'And you would hope that there’d be that emotional connection between anything that you make in the city and the community of the city.'

The vandalism and copper theft, he said, are a different matter ' not a failure of design, but a reflection of broader city challenges.

'The bridge is this real symbol in the city and it represents so much of what’s happening in the city,' he said.

Maltzan said the citys plan to fortify the electrical system ' originally designed to allow maintenance crews easier access over the life of the bridge ' is a necessary next step.

In the original design, he said, the lighting system was built for accessibility and long-term upkeep. That same access was later used to strip copper wiring.

'The fortification is really just meant to make that less possible and to bring the lights back to the bridge,' he said. ' It’s a beautiful image in the city when the bridge and those string of arches are lit up.'

What comes next

In announcing the selection of Tetra Tech, the city said the firms design will restore lighting across the bridge while fortifying infrastructure intended to deter theft and vandalism.

The plan includes restoring wiring across the bridge ' including roadways, ramps and arches ' and strengthening pull boxes, service cabinets and conduits, along with installing a security camera system. City officials said completion is expected before the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A spokesperson for the Department of Public Works said Friday that the design team is working with the Bureau of Street Lighting and the Los Angeles Police Department to identify security and theft-deterrence best practices.

Copper wire theft has been 'a rampant nationwide problem,' the spokesperson added, with the Sixth Street Bridge becoming a consistent target. The projected timeline for relighting is early 2028.

According to Councilmember Ysabel Jurados office, the delay in restoring the lighting stemmed in part from timing and scope.

The bridge opened as the city was entering a new budget cycle, and the scale of the theft and vandalism required a full technical assessment before officials could move forward. That assessment was completed in 2024, and funding was secured in the following budget to design what the office described as a permanent solution rather than a temporary patch.

'We have to design infrastructure with maintenance, safety, and real daily use in mind from day one,' Jurado said in a statement Friday. 'This updated plan fortifies the system against copper theft, adds security elements, and integrates the lighting into the surrounding park space so the bridge is active, visible, and easier to protect. Thats how you prevent repeated damage and costly delays.'

Jurado said funding for the work nearly fell victim to broader budget pressures.

'In the middle of a budget crisis, this funding was at risk,' she said. 'I fought to keep it in place so the Bureau of Engineering could issue the Notice to Proceed for $1 million for Tetra Tech to begin their design work. That milestone means we are finally moving from assessment to construction with a long-term fix that protects the publics investment.'

Jurado said the recurring damage to the bridges lighting system reflects broader underinvestment in city departments.

'This challenge reflects decades of underinvestment in the basic departments that keep Los Angeles running,' she said. 'When the Bureau of Street Lighting and the Bureau of Engineering are understaffed and underfunded, projects take longer and repairs cost more. Investing in frontline services is not optional; its how we deliver safe, reliable infrastructure, especially for the working-class communities that rely on it every day.'

For Maltzan, success would mean more than restored wiring or fortified conduits. He recalled moments when the bridge lighting aligned with citywide events ' City Hall and the skyline glowing blue during a Dodgers World Series run.

'That kind of civic image is exactly what we deserve in the city,' he said.

But the $588 million viaduct drew dangerous illegal activity, including street takeovers, drag racing, vandalism, graffiti, and people climbing its arches. Then in June 2024, thieves stripped out seven miles of copper wiring that powered the bridges LED lighting system, leaving the bridge dark.

Here is a recent history of the 6th Street Bridge:

LA City hires a firm to relight the darkened Sixth Street Bridge, February 18, 2026: The citys Bureau of Engineering has selected global engineering firm Tetra Tech to fortify and relight the Sixth Street Viaduct following repeated copper wire thefts that left sections of the bridge dark, officials announced on Wednesday.

Los Angeles City Council gives final approval to Metal and Wire Theft Reward program, October 21, 2025: The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday gave its final approval to a proposed ordinance that would create a Metal and Theft Reward program, which city officials hope will curb crimes against public infrastructure such as copper wire theft

Los Angeles City Council tentatively approves ‘metal and wire theft reward program, October 14, 2025: Rewards of $1K or $5K would be offered for information about copper wire theft, and theft of city plaques and light standards

LA City Council backs anti-wire theft bill; meanwhile, city works to relight 6th Street Viaduct, May 27, 2025: The City Council voted to support a California bill aimed at cracking down on copper wire theft, as neighborhoods ' including the darkened Sixth Street Viaduct ' continue to face costly infrastructure damage

‘Ribbon of Light on LAs 6th Street bridge dimmed by electrical copper wire thieves, December 22, 2023: Thieves have stolen the valuable electrical copper wiring from parts of the 'Ribbon of Light,' apparently to sell it as forgettable scrap, plummeting parts of the bridge into darkness.

City Hall takes a step to address the overtaking of 6th Street Bridge, July 28, 2022: With much of Southern California thrilled by the beauty and grace of the new Sixth Street Bridge linking the Los Angeles Arts District to Boyle Heights, the city appears to have little ability to stop illegal racing, dangerous and illegal bridge-climbing, and daredevil antics meant for TikTok and YouTube.

Beset by speeding, spinning showoffs, LAs new 6th Street bridge will get speed bumps, July 26, 2022: A center median and fencing to discourage people from scaling the archways could also be installed soon on a temporary basis.

Newly opened Sixth Street bridge becomes haven for illegal takeovers, July 19, 2022: Traffic was flowing again over the new Sixth Street bridge in Los Angeles between the Arts District and Boyle Heights after another street takeover that left the pavement scarred with skid marks, led to a crash involving at least three vehicles and forced police to close the span.

L.A.s Sixth Street Viaduct opens to a crowd of thousands, connecting Downtown and Boyle Heights, July 9, 2022: The grand opening of the $558 million project drew close to 15,000 by evening, as the city gears up for vehicle traffic on the rebuilt connector beginning Sunday night.

Sixth Street Bridge connecting Boyle Heights and Arts District over L.A. River is complete ‘Ribbon of Light makes its debut July 9 after years of work, July 8, 2022: A graceful new four-lane bridge years in the making finally opens in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 9, stretching across the 3,060-foot breadth of the Los Angeles River, 101 Freeway, railroads tracks and MetroLink tracks, to connect the L.A. neighborhoods of Boyle Heights and the Arts District.

And the massive size of the new bunny in town was no accident.

'I wanted people to know that we werent just coming back a little bit,' said Steve Lubanski, co-founder of The Bunny Museum with his wife, Candace Frazee. 'This was going to be an exponential jump in what the museum is and will be absolutely unbelievable.'

More than 60 people turned out to see the couple unveil the latest addition to their storied collection, most of which burned in the Eaton fire along with its building.

Scanner, with a mirror finish not unlike L.A.s Walt Disney Concert Hall, now watches over the corner of Lake and Altadena avenues right where The Bunny Museum once stood. His appearance was a welcome boon to the town just one year away from the Eaton fire when 19 people died and more than 9,000 structures were leveled. The blaze took 24 days to contain.

Lubanski said he and his wife received a gift on Jan. 7 and 8, 2025.

'We were given the ability to renew the museum in a way that we never thought we could before,' he told the crowd, some wearing bunny ear headbands. 'I know a lot of people dont look at it that way, but thats the only way we can look at it.'

Situating a giant stainless steel rabbit on a landscaped rock pedestal that Lubanski constructed is their message to the Altadena community that its museum 'haretakers' are on their way back.

'This is a very hoppy day,' Frazee said, displaying an architectural rendering of the third iteration of their Guinness World Record-holding museum. It will be a modern, two-story structure with underground parking, an exhibition hall and a sculpture garden.

Lubanski said the unveiling made him ponder what makes Altadena so unique and different, its residents made up of the great minds of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and artists of every form, from musicians to world-class film and TV professionals.

'Theyre all dreamers,' Lubanski said. 'JPL people dream of the future and of space, musicians dream of what we can hear and what weve never heard before, and the TV and movie people dream of what we can see and what weve never seen before. So this is truly a unique area and we take that very seriously.'

Wesley Zucco of Monrovia donated the cost of the $14,100 statue. Frazee and Lubanski commissioned artist Jesse Zhao in Hebei, China to produce the design, which he created in pieces, and hammered and polished by hand.

Zucco said the gift is a small way to honor a couple who always dreamed big. Lubanski mentored Zucco about 30 years ago, when the retired psychiatric nurse was in his rootless 20s. Lubanski, who owned a bike shop, was a much-admired figure in that cycling community.

'He helped me change my life, he taught me discipline, he was my best man at my wedding,' Zucco said. 'I would go to their Sunday dinners.'

Now a member of the museum board, Zucco said the couple personify the John Lennon saying, 'If youre not dreaming, youre not living.'

'I cant think of a better example of that than these two people here,' he said. 'They turned their love story into a museum.'

The Bunny Museum story started in 1993, when Frazee accepted the gift of a white bunny plush from her 'honey bunny' Lubanski. Their collection grew so massive they opened The Bunny Museum in Pasadena in 1998, moving to Altadena in 2017, and attracting hare-y fans who ogled everything from museum-worthy art work to ceramic figurines.

Boasting the Guinness World Record designation of having 'the largest collection of rabbit-related items' in 2023, The Bunny Museum had more than 60,000 pieces when the Eaton fire struck.

Donated items, and about 20 pieces that the couple were able to save from the flames, bring their current collection to about 40,000, Frazee said.

The outpouring of support, from Altadena locals such as Victoria Knapp, former chair of the Altadena Town Council, and Mark Mariscal of the Altadena Rotary and Altadena Library Foundation, was evident on Friday.

Maggie Cortez, owner of El Patron Mexican Restaurant down Lake Avenue, dashed up the street to cheer the couple on.

'Its amazing. Its a blessing and its always, si se puede. We can do it,' she said.

Dave Stone, founder of Altadena Cars and Coffee, rounded up a forklift and a crane from a construction company when he heard Lubanski was having trouble getting the sculpture on its pedestal.

Ricardo Salcido of Salcido Earthworks showed up with a crew for free, Stone said. Its the low-key Altadena way.

Retired teachers Jeanne and Charles of Simi Valley arrived with a large, light brown bunny plush, their latest donation to a special place in their personal history.

They were newlyweds when they had their first Mothers Day date at The Bunny Museum in 2004.

'My husband brought me as a surprise because he knew I loved rabbits,' Jeanne said. 'So weve been coming every since. Were now life members of The Bunny Museum and ever since the fire we started coming over a few days and bringing over as many good bunnies as we can find.'

Even without a museum on site, 'we just love coming here. Its such a happy place.'

Still living in Tujunga, and still mulling over rebuilding options, Steve Collins and Sharon McGunigle said Scanner can now serve as a beacon in town, much like Norm. Jr. the werewolf on Fair Oaks Avenue or the Star of Palawoo that lights up the hillside near Alta Loma Drive at Christmas time.

'Its an actual material thing you can see and look at and point to,' McGunigle said. 'And yes, its a symbol to me of that one step and that we want Altadena to stay weird.'

Collins, a spacecraft engineer at JPL, and McGunigle, who works in film and television costume building, wanted to see a new element of the unique town theyve called home for 19 years.

'I like to see all the Altadena people gathered together,' McGunigle said. 'I kind of go to a lot of these things just to sort of see everyone, just to be reassured that this community is coming back.'

They said they are looking forward to seeing the new museum open in 2028.

Artist Keni Arts set up his easel across the way to capture the event. After the fire, the longtime Altadenan has documented iconic spots in town and donated his artwork to rebuilding efforts.

'This means a lot because its a sign that Altadena is recovering,' Keni said. 'Im glad to see that a lot of the homes are being rebuilt now, but businesses are slow to come back. To see Steve put that bunny out here, saying, ‘Im moving forward with this, thats important.'

And the cool morning outing was a good reason to be among friends again, Keni added.

'You know, seeing the buildings is one thing, but seeing the people, that’s special.'

WASHINGTON (AP) ' A lawyer picked by judges to serve as the top federal prosecutor for a Virginia office that pursued cases against foes of President Donald Trump was swiftly fired Friday by the Justice Department in the latest clash over the appointments of powerful U.S. attorneys.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the firing of James Hundley on social media shortly after he was unanimously chosen by judges to replace former Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. While the law says that the district court may choose U.S. attorneys when an initial appointment expires, the Trump administration has insisted that the power lies only in the hands of the executive branch.

'EDVA judges do not pick our US Attorney. POTUS does. James Hundley, youre fired!' Blanche said in a post on X.

Hundley, who has handled criminal and civil cases for more than 30 years, didnt immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday evening.

The firing of Hundley is the latest reflection of tumult in one of the Justice Departments most elite prosecution offices, which since September has been mired in upheaval following the resignation of a veteran prosecutor amid Trump administration pressure to prosecute two of the presidents biggest political foes, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

That prosecutor, Erik Siebert, was effectively forced out and swiftly replaced by Halligan, a White House aide who secured indictments against Comey and James but was later deemed by a judge to have been unlawfully appointed. The cases were dismissed, but the Justice Department has appealed that decision.

Halligan resigned from the position last month after judges in the district signaled continued skepticism over the legitimacy of her appointment.

U.S. attorneys, the top federal prosecutors in regional Justice Department offices around the country, typically require Senate confirmation but the law does permit attorneys general to make temporary appointments for limited time periods. In several instances, though, the Justice Department has attempted to leave its temporary appointees in place in ways that have invited court challenges and drawn resistance from judges who have found the appointments unlawful.

Last week, a lawyer appointed by judges to be the U.S. attorney for northern New York was fired by the Justice Department after spending less than a day in the job. Judges in the district appointed Kinsella after declining to keep the Trump administrations pick, John Sarcone, in place after his 120-day term elapsed.

WASHINGTON (AP) ' President Donald Trumps vision of the Supreme Court, in which his three appointees are personally loyal to him, collided with the courts view of itself Friday when six justices voted to strike down Trumps signature economic policy ' global tariffs imposed under an emergency powers law.

The outcome led Trump to launch an unusually stark personal attack on the justices, with special rancor reserved for the two Trump appointees who defied him.

The case represented a challenge of Trumps many untested, yet forcefully stated imperatives on everything from trade to immigration policy and the courts ability to maintain its independence and, at times, act as a check on presidential authority.

'The Supreme Courts ruling on tariffs is deeply disappointing and Im ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed, for not having the courage to do whats right for the country,' Trump said in the White House briefing room several hours after the court issued its decision, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts.

Trump said he expected as much from the three Democratic appointees on the court. 'But you cant knock their loyalty,' he said. 'Its one thing you can do with some of our people.'

Asked specifically about Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, who were part of the majority, Trump said, 'I think its an embarrassment to their families, if you want to know the truth, the two of them.'

Vice President JD Vance, whose wife, Usha, spent a year as a law clerk to Roberts, echoed the presidents criticism, though he didnt make it personal. 'This is lawlessness from the Court, plain and simple,' Vance wrote on X.

Legal opposition to the tariffs crossed political lines, with a key challenge coming from the libertarian-leaning Liberty Justice Center and support from pro-business groups like the Chamber of Commerce.

Trump has had a checkered history with the court dating back to the start of his first White House term in 2017, though he won his biggest court battle in 2024, a presidential immunity ruling that prevented him from being prosecuted over efforts to undo his 2020 election loss.

In the first year of his second term, he won repeated emergency appeals that allowed him to implement major aspects of his immigration crackdown and other key parts of his agenda.

Presidential criticism of Supreme Court decisions has its own long history. President Thomas Jefferson was critical of the courts landmark Marbury v. Madison case, which established the concept of judicial review of congressional and executive action. President Franklin Roosevelt, frustrated about decisions he thought blunted parts of the New Deal, talked about older justices as infirm and sought to expand the court, a failed effort.

In 2010, President Barack Obama used his State of the Union speech, with several members of the court in attendance, to take aim at the courts just-announced Citizens United decision that helped open the floodgates to independent spending in federal elections. Justice Samuel Alito, who hasnt attended the annual address since, mouthed the words 'not true' in response from his seat.

Trump, though, crossed a line in the way he assailed the justices who voted against him, Ed Whelan, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a former law clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia, wrote in an email.

'Its entirely fine for a president to criticize a Supreme Court ruling that goes against him. But its demagogic for President Trump to contend that the justices who voted against him did so because of lack of courage,' Whelan wrote.

Some presidents also have criticized justices they appointed for decisions theyve made.

Following the seminal Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower told friends that appointing Chief Justice Earl Warren had been his biggest mistake, according to biographer Stephen E. Ambrose.

Objecting to a dissenting vote in an antitrust case, President Theodore Roosevelt once allegedly said of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, wounded in action during the Civil War, that he 'could carve out of a banana a judge with more backbone.'

But these remarks were conveyed in private, not at a livestreamed presidential appearance in the White House briefing room.

On a personal level, Trump has had a sometimes tense relationship with Roberts, who has twice issued public rebukes of the president over attacks on federal judges.

Trump didnt mention Roberts by name on Friday, but he seemed to be assailing the chief justice when he said he lost the case because the justices 'want to be politically correct,' 'catering to a group of people in D.C.'

Trump used similar language when he criticized Roberts vote in 2012 that upheld Obamacare.

Similar to the timing following the Citizens United ruling, the president and some members of the court, dressed in their black robes, are likely to be in the same room Tuesday when Trump delivers his State of the Union address.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once nodded off during a presidential speech in the House of Representatives, attributing her drowsiness to some fine California wine. No justice is likely to be napping Tuesday night.

WASHINGTON (AP) ' The natural El Niño cycle, which warps weather worldwide, is both adding to and shaped by a warming world, meteorologists said.

A new study calculated that an unusual recent twist in the warming and cooling cycle that includes El Niño and its counterpart La Niña can help explain the scientific mystery of why Earths already rising temperature spiked to a new level over the past three years.

Separately, scientists have had to update how they label El Niño and La Niña because of rapid weather changes cause by global warming. Increasingly hot waters globally have caused the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this month to alter how it calculates when the weather pattern has flipped into a new cycle. Its likely to mean that more events will be considered La Niña and fewer qualify as an El Niño for warming tropical waters.

Earths average monthly temperature took a noticeable jump up from the long-term upward trend connected to human-caused climate change in early 2023, and that increase continued through 2025. Scientists have many theories about whats happening, including an acceleration of greenhouse gas warming, a reduction in particle pollution from ships, an underwater volcano eruption and increased solar output.

In a new study in Nature Geoscience this month, Japanese researchers look at how the difference in energy coming to and leaving the planet ' called Earths energy imbalance ' increased in 2022. An increased imbalance, or more trapped heat, then leads to warmer temperatures, scientists said. The researchers calculate that about three-quarters of the change in Earths energy imbalance can be attributed to the combination of long-term human-caused climate change and a shift from a three-year cooling La Niña cycle to a warm El Niño one.

El Niño vs. La Niña

El Niño is a cyclical and natural warming of patches of the equatorial Pacific that then alters the worlds weather patterns, while La Niña is marked by cooler than average waters.

Both shift precipitation and temperature patterns, but in different ways. El Niños tend to increase global temperatures and La Niñas depress the long-term rise.

La Niñas tend to cause more damage in the United States because of increased hurricane activity and drought, studies have shown.

Why weather cycles switch from warm to cool

From 2020 to 2023, Earth had an unusual 'triple dip' La Niña without an El Niño in between. In a La Niña , warm water sticks to a deeper depth, resulting in a cooler surface. And that reduces how much energy goes out into space, said study co-author Yu Kosaka, a climate scientist at the University of Tokyo.

She compared it to what happens when people have fevers.

'If our bodys temperature is high then it tends to emit its energy out, and the Earth has the same situation happening. And as the temperatures increase, it acts to emit more energy outward. And for three-year La Niña , its opposite,' Kosaka said.

So more energy ' which becomes heat ' is trapped on Earth, she said. La Niñas more typically correspond to a one- or two-year buildup of extra energy imbalance, but this time it was longer so the difference was more noticeable and included hotter temperatures, Kosaka said.

'When there is a transition from La Niña to El Niño , its like the lid is popped off,' releasing the heat, explained former NOAA meteorologist Tom Di Liberto, whos now with Climate Central.

About 23% of the energy imbalance driving the recent higher temperatures comes from this unusually long La Niña pattern, with slightly more than half coming from gases from the burning of coal, oil and gas, the study authors said. The rest can be other factors.

Scientist Jennifer Francis of the Woodwell Climate Research Center, which wasnt involved in the study, said the research makes sense and explains an increase in energy imbalance that some scientists were attributing to accelerated warming.

Changing how El Niños and La Niñas are labeled

For 75 years when meteorologists calculated El Niños and La Niñas , it was based on the difference in temperature in three tropical Pacific regions compared to normal. An El Nino was 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than normal and La Nina was cooler than normal by the same amount.

The trouble in a warming world is whats considered normal keeps shifting.

Until now, NOAA used the 30-year average as normal. It updated the 30-year average every decade, which is how often it updates most climate and weather measurements. Then the water warmed so much for El Niños and La Niñas that NOAA updated its definition of normal every five years, but that wasnt enough either, said Nat Johnson, a meteorologist at NOAAs Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab.

So NOAA came up with an El Niño index thats relative, starting this month. This new index compares temperatures to the rest of Earths tropics. Recently that difference between the old and new methods has been as much as half a degree Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit), and 'thats enough to have an impact,' Johnson said.

Thats because what really matters with El Niños and La Niñas is the way the waters interact with the atmosphere. And recently the interactions didnt match the old labeling, but they do match the new method, Johnson said.

This will likely mean a bit more La Niñas and fewer El Niños than in the old system, Johnson said.

Here comes another El Niño

NOAAs forecast is for an El Niño to develop later this year in the late summer or fall. If it comes early enough, it could dampen Atlantic hurricane activity. But it would also mean warmer global temperatures in 2027.

'When El Niño develops, were likely to set a new global temperature record,' Woodwells Francis said in an email. 'Normal was left in the dust decades ago. And with this much heat in the system, everyone should buckle up for the extreme weather it will fuel.'

The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

WASHINGTON (AP) ' The Trump administration said Friday it backs a 10-year deadline for most cities and towns to replace their harmful lead pipes, giving notice that it will support a tough rule approved under the Biden administration to reduce lead in drinking water.

The Environmental Protection Agency told a federal appeals court in Washington that it would defend the strongest overhaul of lead-in-water standards in three decades against a court challenge by a utility industry association.

The Trump administration has typically favored rapid deregulation, including reducing or killing rules on air and water pollution. On Friday, for example, it repealed tight limits on mercury and other toxic emissions from coal plants. But the agency has taken a different approach to drinking water.

'After intensive stakeholder involvement, EPA concluded that the only way to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Acts mandate to prevent anticipated adverse health effects ‘to the extent feasible is to require replacement of lead service lines,' the agencys court filing said.

Doing so by a 10-year deadline is feasible, the agency added, supporting a rule that was based in part of the finding that old rules that relied on chemical treatment and monitoring to reduce lead 'failed to prevent system-wide lead contamination and widespread adverse health effects.'

The EPA said in August it planned to defend the Biden administrations aggressive rule, but added that it would also 'develop new tools and information to support practical implementation flexibilities and regulatory clarity.' Some environmental activists worried that that meant the EPA was looking to create loopholes.

Lead, a heavy metal once common in products like pipes and paints, is a neurotoxin that can stunt childrens development, lower IQ scores and increase blood pressure in adults. Lead pipes can corrode and contaminate drinking water. The previous Trump administrations rule had looser standards and did not mandate the replacement of all pipes.

Standards aimed at protecting kids

The Biden administration finalized its lead-in-water overhaul in 2024. It mandated that utilities act to combat lead in water at lower concentrations, with just 10 parts per billion as a trigger, down from 15. If higher levels were found, water systems had to inform their consumers, take immediate action to reduce lead and work to replace lead pipes that are commonly the main source of lead in drinking water.

The Biden administration at the time estimated the stricter standards would protect up to 900,000 infants from having low birth weight and avoid up to 1,500 premature deaths a year from heart disease.

'People power and years of lead-contaminated communities fighting to clean up tap water have made it a third rail to oppose rules to protect our health from the scourge of toxic lead. Maybe only a hidebound water utility trade group is willing to attack this basic public health measure,' said Erik Olson, senior director at the Natural Resource Defense Council, an environmental nonprofit.

The American Water Works Association, a utility industry association, had challenged the rule in court, arguing the EPA lacks authority to regulate the portion of the pipe thats on private property and therefore cannot require water systems to replace them.

The agency countered on Friday that utilities can be required to replace the entire lead pipe because they have sufficient control over them.

The AWWA also said the 10-year deadline wasnt feasible, noting its hard to find enough labor to do the work and water utilities face other significant infrastructure challenges simultaneously. Water utilities were given three years to prepare before the 10-year timeframe starts and some cities with a lot of lead were given longer.

The agency said they looked closely at data from dozens of water utilities and concluded that the vast majority could replace their lead pipes in 10 years or less.

Replacing decades-old standards

The original lead and copper rule for drinking water was enacted by the EPA more than 30 years ago. The rules have significantly reduced lead in water but have been criticized for letting cities move too slowly when levels rose too high.

Lead pipes are most commonly found in older, industrial parts of the country, including major cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee. The rule also revises the way lead amounts are measured, which could significantly expand the number of communities found violating the rules.

The EPA under President Donald Trump has celebrated deregulation. Officials have sought to slash climate change programs and promote fossil fuel development. On drinking water issues, however, their initial actions have been more nuanced.

In March, for example, the EPA announced plans to partially roll back rules to reduce so-called 'forever chemicals' in drinking water ' the other major Biden-era tap water protection. That change sought to keep tough limits for some common PFAS, but also proposed scrapping and reconsidering standards for other types and extending deadlines.

PFAS and lead pipes are both costly threats to safe water. There are some federal funds to help communities.

The Biden administration estimated about 9 million lead pipes provide water to homes and businesses in the United States. The Trump administration updated the analysis and now projects there are roughly 4 million lead pipes. Changes in methodology, including assuming that communities that did not submit data did not have lead pipes, resulted in the significant shift. The new estimate does correct odd results from some states ' activists said that the agencys initial assumptions for Florida, for example, seemed far too high.

The EPA did not immediately return a request for comment. The AWWA pointed to their previous court filing when asked for comment.

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.