![Southern California beaches closed after massive sewage spill](https://cbsnews3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2022/01/03/074c1537-e67d-4ac5-90b8-ac08475843a6/thumbnail/1200x630/5053e0af828a3ab8ebbb5f213dbbef15/gettyimages-1237519577.jpg)
Southern California beaches closed after massive sewage spill
CBSN
Health officials closed several Southern California beaches after a massive sewage spill last week reached swimming areas. Beaches in Los Angeles County and the city of Long Beach were closed temporarily pending water quality tests
"We will be working with health officials over the coming days to monitor water quality to determine when beaches are safe to reopen and assess environmental impacts," the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts said in a statement. "Our top priority is the health and safety of the impacted communities and we will continue our efforts until all health and environmental issues are addressed."
The spill was first reported on December 30 after a sewer collapsed in the city of Carson, following an intense rainstorm in the region. Officials said there was no threat to public health and property, but said untreated wastewater and sewage overflowed into a nearby storm drain, went through the Dominguez Channel and emptied into the Los Angeles Harbor.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250206040405.jpg)
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250206003957.jpg)
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250205185317.jpg)
The quick-fire volley of tariffs between the U.S. and China in recent days has heightened global fears of a new trade war between the world's two largest economies. Yet while experts think the battle is likely to escalate, they also say the early skirmishes offer hope for an agreement on trade and other key issues that could head off a larger conflict.