The 2026 Olympics are set to be the most geographically widespread Games in history, the first to span multiple regions and two host cities: Milan and Cortina, which are about 250 miles apart from each other by road.
More details: Over the course of two and a half weeks, athletes in 16 sports will compete in events at 25 venues.
Where is it happening? The action is divided among four main clusters across northern Italy: Milan, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Valtellina and Val di Fiemme. Athletes will live in one of six Olympic Villages throughout the region: Milan, Cortina, Anterselva, Bormio, Livigno and Predazzo.
Read on... to see what's happening where in the Olympics.
The 2026 Olympics are set to be the most geographically widespread Games in history, the first to span multiple regions and two host cities: Milan and Cortina, which are about 250 miles apart from each other by road.
Over the course of two and a half weeks, athletes in 16 sports will compete in events at 25 venues.
The action is divided among four main clusters across northern Italy: Milan, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Valtellina and Val di Fiemme. Athletes will live in one of six Olympic Villages throughout the region: Milan, Cortina, Anterselva, Bormio, Livigno and Predazzo.
"This approach allows the maximum use of existing venues, reducing the need for new construction and, as a consequence, minimising the carbon footprint," states the International Olympic Committee on Olympics.com.
The venues span an area covering some 8,495 square miles. Getting between towns could take more than a few hours by car — especially on remote, wintery roads.
Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, says spectators hoping to attend events in person should be realistic about the time and distance required to get between venues and should plan accordingly.
"I think this will be the classic 'pack your patience,' because there will be some travel time," she said.
Even if you're watching from afar, it's still helpful to know which events are happening where. Here's a guide to the 2026 Olympic venues.
Milan: Opening ceremony, skating and hockey
Milan's San Siro Stadium, site of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Feb. 6.
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Milan is a major financial hub in Italy, not to mention a global capital of fashion and design. This is the first time it will host the Olympic Games, kicking off the opening ceremony and housing most of the indoor sports.
The opening ceremony on Feb. 6 will be hosted at Milan's iconic San Siro Stadium. The stadium — known as the Temple of Football — is home to the city's two main soccer clubs, AC Milan and Inter Milan, and marks its 100th anniversary in 2026.
Figure skating and short track will take place at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, known as the Unipol Forum, located in the small town of Assago, less than 2 miles outside Milan.
Ice hockey is spread across two venues, the temporary Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena and the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. The latter is the only new permanent venue constructed for the Games.
Speed skating will be hosted at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium.
Cortina d'Ampezzo: Sliding sports and women's Alpine skiing
Part of the Cortina athletes village, seen in December in Fiames, near Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
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Cortina, a prestigious resort town in the Dolomite Mountains, is known for its Alpine scenery and winter sports. The "Pearl of the Dolomites" has hosted the Winter Games before, in 1956.
Alpine skiing will take place at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre, named after one of the most dramatic mountain groups in the Eastern Dolomites. Many competitors will be familiar with the Olympia delle Tofane — the ski run became a permanent fixture on the women's World Cup circuit in downhill and super-G in the early 1990s and also served as the venue for the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in 2021.
Curling events will take place at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, which hosted many of the indoor events at the 1956 Games. This time around, the venue will also host the Paralympics closing ceremony.
Bobsled, luge and skeleton are all happening at the new Cortina Sliding Centre, built on the grounds of the historic track used in 1956. It has already been chosen as a competition venue for the 2028 Winter Youth Olympic Games.
The biathlon will take place in the Antholz valley, about 30 miles north of Cortina, near the border with Austria. The Anterselva Biathlon Arena has the largest spectator capacity of any of this year's Olympic venues, set to accommodate up to 19,000 people per session.
Valtellina: Freestyle skiing, snowboarding, ski mountaineering and men's Alpine skiing
Ski slopes and jumps are shown mid-construction in Livigno Snow Park in December, in preparation for the Winter Olympic Games.
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Valtellina Valley is in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland, and is known for its skiing, cheeses and wine. The towns of Bormio and Livigno will host several outdoor events.
Men's Alpine skiing, as well as the new sport of ski mountaineering,are happening in Bormio, a historic ski resort in the Italian Alps. The Stelvio Ski Centre will crown the men's downhill skiing champions and host the one new sport making its Olympic debut this year.
Val di Fiemme: Cross-country skiing and ski jumping
A view of the Predazzo Ski Jumping Stadium during the Italian Championships Open ski jumping event, held in Predazzo in December.
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Val di Fiemme is a valley in the eastern Trentino province, known for its museums, hiking and cross-country skiing. Olympic events in the cluster are spread across two of its villages, Tesero and Predazzo.
Cross-country skiing and Nordic combined events —as well as Para biathlon and Para cross-country skiing— will take place at the renowned Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium, which has nearly 12 miles of trails and one of the bigger spectator capacities, at 15,000. It has been a landmark for cross-country skiing since it hosted the Nordic World Ski Championships in 1991.
Ski jumping competitions and the jumping segment of the Nordic combined events will take place at the renovated Predazzo Ski Jumping Stadium, which has two main competition hills, three smaller training jumps, a new judges' tower and a spectator capacity of 15,000.
Verona: The closing ceremony
The Verona arena will host the 2026 Winter Olympics closing ceremony on Feb. 22.
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The medieval town of Verona, in the Veneto region, is perhaps best known as the setting of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. It will also be the closing site of the 2026 Olympics.
The closing ceremony on Feb. 22 will take place at the Verona Olympic Arena, Italy's third-largest Roman amphitheater, which was built in A.D. 30 to host gladiator battles. In a full-circle moment, the venue will also host the Paralympic opening ceremony on March 6.
Copyright 2026 NPR
Mariana Dale
explores and explains the forces that shape how and what kids learn from kindergarten to high school.
Published February 17, 2026 6:19 PM
LAUSD staff estimate that proposed cuts affect less than 1% of the district’s more than 83,000 member workforce.
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A divided Los Angeles Unified School District Board voted 4-3 Tuesday to issue preliminary layoff notices to more than 3,000 employees, as part of a plan to reduce the budget after several years of spending more money than it brings in.
Why now: Even as California is poised to fund schools at record-high levels, Los Angeles Unified and other districts have grappled with increased costs. For example, LAUSD hired more staff to support students during the pandemic, and now the federal relief dollars that initially funded those positions are gone.
Who’s being cut: LAUSD staff estimate the proposed cuts impact less than 1% of the district’s more than 83,000 member workforce. Layoff notices would be sent to:
2,600 certificated and classified contract management employees and certificated administrators.
657 central office and centrally funded classified positions. More than a third of these are IT technicians, by far the largest group.
The plan also calls for reduced hours and pay for several dozen positions.
What's next: The reduction in force vote is the first step in a monthslong process that could result in layoffs for a still-to-be-determined number of positions because impacted employees may be moved to other positions.
Read on ... for more details on the vote and its wide-ranging effects.
A divided Los Angeles Unified School District Board voted 4-3 Tuesday to issue preliminary layoff notices to more than 3,000 employees, as part of a reduction-in-force plan to reduce the budget after several years of spending more money than it brings in.
Even as California is poised to fund schools at record-high levels, Los Angeles Unified and other districts have grappled with increased costs. For example, LAUSD hired more staff to support students during the pandemic, and now the federal relief dollars that initially funded those positions are gone.
For the past two years, the district has relied on reserves to backfill a multi-billion-dollar deficit. The district projects a deficit of $877 million next school year, about 14% of the 2026-2027 budget.
2,600 certificated and classified contract management employees and certificated administrators.
657 central office and centrally funded classified positions. More than a third of these are IT technicians, by far the largest group.
The plan also calls for reduced hours and pay for several dozen positions.
District leaders have emphasized that an employee who receives a RIF notice will not necessarily be cut.
What's next?
The reduction in force vote is the first step in a monthslong process that could result in layoffs for a still-to-be-determined number of positions because impacted employees may be moved to other positions. Staff said the board would vote to finalize any un-rescinded layoff notices in May or June.
Destiny Torres
is LAist's general assignment and digital equity reporter.
Published February 17, 2026 4:36 PM
About 15% of California households lack access to high-speed internet, according to the latest report from UC Riverside.
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Topline:
About 15% of California households lack access to high-speed internet, according to the latest report from UC Riverside. Researchers pointed to affordability as one of the biggest barriers to closing the persistent digital divide.
What does the report say? The average monthly cost can range from $70 to $80. And rural communities are even further isolated because of a lack of infrastructure investments from private companies.
Read on … for more on the report’s findings.
About 15% of California households lack access to high-speed internet, according to the latest report from UC Riverside. Researchers pointed to affordability as one of the biggest barriers to closing the persistent digital divide.
Edward Helderop, associate director at UCR’s Center for Geospatial Sciences and report author, told LAist that the findings weren't surprising.
“A lot of American households and California households don't have high-speed internet available at home,” Helderop said. “It's sort of just an unfortunate reality that that's the case for the state of California.”
What does the report say?
Nearly one in seven households in California doesn’t have reliable internet access, according to the report. The biggest barrier continues to be affordability. Even in urban areas, like Los Angeles, where broadband internet is more widely available, the average monthly cost can range from $70 to $80 per month.
But in rural areas, broadband internet is still widely unavailable because of a lack of infrastructure investments from private companies. Only two-thirds of rural households have broadband access at home.
“This digital divide represents not just a technological failure, but a profound barrier to economic opportunity, educational advancement, and civic participation that undermines California’s potential for shared prosperity,” the report states.
Experts also call for mandatory broadband data transparency — internet providers should be required to publicly disclose their service speeds, pricing, reliability metrics and coverage areas.
“Private telecom companies administering the service, they're under no obligation to maintain publicly available data sets in the same way that you might get with other utilities,” Helderop said. “There are issues with the fact that the advertised speeds don't really match up with the actual speeds that people experience at home.”
Researchers also recommend that broadband providers be regulated as utilities, like water and power, monitoring rates, quality and service obligations.
“When we regulate something like a utility, it comes with a few regulations that we take for granted,” Helderop said. “Something like a universal service obligation, in which the utility … their primary motive is to provide universal service, so to provide the service to every household in California.”
As a public utility, officials could ensure that providers are offering the same type of service to every household in the state, as well as regulate rates.
Why it matters
Norma Fernandez, CEO at Everyone On, said access to affordable, high-speed internet is a basic necessity.
"Still, too many families, particularly those in under-resourced communities, predominantly of color, are still left out,” Fernandez said. “Expanding reliable connectivity means addressing affordability, investing in community-centered solutions, and ensuring that digital access is part of every policy conversation."
Digital equity advocates say they see the need from local families every day, but available data doesn’t reflect that.
“On the maps, families appear to live in ‘connected’ neighborhoods, but in reality, they still can’t afford to get online because the monopoly provider’s plans are unaffordable,” Natalie Gonzalez, director at Digital Equity Los Angeles. “The provider-reported broadband maps don’t match what residents experience on the ground, and that gap has real consequences.”
In L.A., for example, hundreds of thousands of households lack reliable internet, but only a fraction qualify for public funding because available data says they’re already served, Gonzalez added.
“Public investment alone doesn’t guarantee equity if the underlying data is flawed,” Gonzalez said. “When the only data regulators have come from the providers themselves, the providers end up defining reality. Communities are then forced to prove they’re disconnected, without access to the same information the companies use to claim coverage.”
Cristal Mojica, digital equity expert at the Michelson Center for Public Policy, said pricing data is intentionally obscured.
“It makes it harder for people to shop around between internet plans,” Mojica told LAist. “It makes it really challenging for our state legislators to be effective and make effective decisions around affordability when they have to try to dig around for that information themselves.”
What’s next?
California has already invested $6 billion for broadband –called the “Middle-Mile” project –through Senate Bill 156. The 2021 law is the largest state investment in broadband in U.S. history to get more people online.
Helderop explained that broadband investments are typically made possible through grants or loans to private telecom companies, making the state’s investment critical.
“It's the first time that any state, or any government in the United States, is taking it upon themselves to build and then own the infrastructure at the end of it,” Helderop said. “I would say that's probably the primary reason that we don't have universal broadband available to households in the United States right now.”
When completed, the “Middle-Mile” project will open markets to new providers and reduce monopolies, Helderop added.
Keep up with LAist.
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Julia Barajas
follows labor conditions across California's higher education system.
Published February 17, 2026 4:31 PM
A union that represents 1,100 plumbers, electricians and other building maintenance staff across the university system is on strike.
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Topline:
Teamsters Local 2010, which represents trades workers across the Cal State University system, will be on strike through Friday. The union also filed an unfair labor practice charge against the CSU, claiming that the system has refused to honor contractually obligated raises and step increases for its members.
The backstory: According to Teamsters Local 2010, union members won back salary steps in 2024 “after nearly three decades of stagnation.” That year, the union was on the verge of striking alongside the system's faculty, but it reached a last-minute deal with the CSU.
Why it matters: The union represents 1,100 plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, locksmiths and other building maintenance staff. In December 2025, some 94% of workers voted to authorize their bargaining team to call a strike. In a press statement, the union said that “any disruptions to campus operations will be a direct result of CSU’s refusal to pay.”
What the CSU says: In a press statement, the CSU maintains that conditions described in its collective bargaining agreement with the union — which “tied certain salary increases to the receipt of new, unallocated, ongoing state budget funding”— were not met. The system also said it "values its employees and remains committed to fair, competitive pay and benefits for our skilled trades workforce.”
Gillian Morán Pérez
is an associate producer for LAist’s early All Things Considered show.
Published February 17, 2026 4:20 PM
Crystal Hefner (right), widow of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, and attorney Gloria Allred show court filings during a press conference to announce steps they're taking to protect sexual images and information about women in Hefner's personal scrapbooks and diary in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
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Topline:
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s widow, Crystal Hefner, is raising the alarm over her late husband’s foundation collecting about 3,000 of his personal scrapbooks and his diary, which she says contain thousands of nude images of women, some of whom might have been minors at the time the photos were taken.
Why it matters: In a press conference Tuesday, Hefner said in addition to her concerns about some of the women in the scrapbooks being minors, she's worried that the women and possibly girls in the images didn't agree to their images being kept and about what might happen to the women if the images were made public or posted online.
What's next: Hefner said she was told that the scrapbooks may be in a storage facility in California. Her attorney, Gloria Allred, says they were informed that the foundation plans to digitize them, but it’s unclear what it plans to do with them.
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s widow, Crystal Hefner, is raising the alarm over her late husband’s foundation collecting about 3,000 of his personal scrapbooks and his diary, which she says contain thousands of nude images of women, some of whom might have been minors at the time the photos were taken.
In a press conference Tuesday, Hefner and her attorney, Gloria Allred, announced they’ve filed regulatory complaints with California and Illinois attorneys general, asking them to investigate the foundation’s handling of the scrapbooks. The complaints were filed to both attorneys general because the foundation is registered to do business in California but incorporated in Illinois.
“I believe they include women and possibly girls who never agreed to lifelong possession of their naked images and who have no transparency into where their photos are, how they’re being stored or what will happen to them next,” Hefner said.
She added the diary includes names of women he slept with, notes of sexual acts and other explicit details.
Hefner said she was asked to resign from her position as CEO and president of the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation on Monday after raising concerns about the materials. She said after she declined to resign, she was removed from her role.
She said she was told the scrapbooks may be in a storage facility in California. Allred says they were informed that the foundation plans to digitize them, but it’s unclear what it plans to do with them.
“This is not archival preservation. This is not history. This is control. I am deeply worried about these images getting out,” Hefner said. “Artificial intelligence, deepfakes, digital scanning, online marketplaces and data breaches means that once images leave secure custody, the harm is irreversible. A single security failure could devastate thousands of lives.”
In addition to asking for an investigation into the foundation’s handling of the materials, it also asks the attorneys general to take appropriate actions to secure those images.
LAist has reached out to the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation for comment.
