World Cup Was a Test Run for 2028 Olympics

Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, July 22, 2026:

• The biggest World Cup ever may be over, but cities like Los Angeles saw it as a test run for what’s to come with the 2028 Summer Olympics.
• Californians who haven’t paid their utility bills will be protected from power shut offs if temperatures reach 90 degrees or above. The California Public Utilities Commission voted to approve the new standard late last week.
• Parts of Southern California are under an extreme heat warning because of temperatures that could reach up to 115 degrees, which is five to 10 degrees warmer for this time of year.

Security and transportation are being taken to the next level when the 2028 Summer Olympics come to Los Angeles.

Organizers are looking to make things smoother for public transit riders by using a second fleet of buses to take people to venues and across the region. That’s similar to what was done when the city hosted the 1984 Olympics.

“That is gonna be really necessary to making it happen, but just know a lot of that relies on an ask for $2 billion in federal funding and most of that hasn’t come through yet,” said LAist reporter Libby Rainey.

That’s similar to the security changes for the 2028 Olympics. The Olympics will have the Secret Service coordinating security operations, but that also relies on federal fundnig.

“The federal government has set aside a billion dollars to pay for security for the Olympics, but cities like LA are gonna have to apply for those funds and get them through FEMA. And if those, if a billion isn’t enough, The question is, who’s going to pay for that security?” Rainey said.

California already bars utilities from cutting off power to customers who fall behind on their bills when it’s dangerously hot outside – a basic safety protection. Losing power in some rural areas can also mean losing water, and in cities, having no way to cool down can be dangerous, even deadly, when hot weather spans several days.

In a 4-0 vote last week, the California Public Utilities Commission lowered the temperature at which utilities must stop shutting off power to delinquent customers, from 100 to 90 degrees, and ordered utilities to adopt a more protective, region-specific heat standard within six months.

During a record heat wave two years ago — the hottest July in California history  — The Utility Reform Network, a consumer group, asked the utilities commission to revisit its definition of extreme heat. The group’s emergency request argued that “heat kills more people directly than any other weather-related hazard.” 

The rules already barred electric utilities from disconnecting residential customers for nonpayment if forecasted temperatures soared above 100 degrees within 72 hours. But a single statewide threshold, the group argued, didn’t account for how differently Californians experience heat depending on where they live.

Regulators declined to treat the request as an emergency, but ordered the utilities to come up with a plan for changing the 100-degree threshold by working with advocates and others.

Several areas in Southern California are under extreme heat warnings starting today because of a risk of temperatures reaching up to 115 degrees in some places. The high heats also bring an increased risk of fire across the region.

The San Diego County desert areas, the Coachella Valley and much of Imperial County will be under a warning from 10 a.m. today through Monday night.

Lauren Villafane, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, says that’s five to 10 degrees higher than usual for this time of year. The hottest time weather is expected Thursday and through the weekend.

“Those desert areas and those hottest places – it’s not cooling off very much at all cause they’re still staying in the mid 80s to low 90s overnight,” Villafane said.