Topline:
In a recent AARP survey of nearly 2,000 U.S. adults, nearly 9 out of 10 reported being targeted by or falling for some type of scam during the holiday season in the past year.
Why it matters: Common schemes included fake shipping notifications, stolen packages and fake charity and donation requests.
Read on ... on how to spot these scams and to protect yourself.
It's easy to lose our critical thinking skills around the holidays. In a frenzy of last-minute gift shopping and travel bookings, we can be more anxious, more distracted and more vulnerable.
"There's a lot of hustle and bustle during the holiday season, so there's a lot more opportunities for scammers to steal from us," says Amy Nofziger, senior director of Fraud Victim Support at the AARP Fraud Watch Network, a fraud prevention service.
In a recent AARP survey of nearly 2,000 U.S. adults, nearly 9 out of 10 reported being targeted by or falling for some type of scam during the holiday season in the past year. Common schemes included fake shipping notifications, stolen packages and fake charity and donation requests.
Being aware of the tactics that scammers use this time of year can safeguard you from falling victim to fraud, Nofziger says. She shares four types of scams her team has seen this season.
Scammers open stores on social media platforms for a limited period of time. They sell fake branded clothing or jewelry and use stolen logos or similar domain names to appear authentic. The store might disappear shortly after you've placed your order.
How to protect yourself: "If you're using a vendor that you haven't normally used, take the name of the vendor, put it in a new search, type the words 'scam,' 'fraud' and 'complaint' after it, and use other shoppers' experiences with the company to guide your own," Nofziger says.
She recommends always using a credit card to pay for online goods. "You have greater consumer protections," she says, meaning, in the event you fall for a scam, you can have an easier time getting your money back.
If you're looking to buy a gift card for someone, know that it is possible for scammers to get the gift card number and PIN before you buy it.
"They actually remove stacks of gift cards off of the card carousels, log every gift card number and PIN into their system, then load those gift cards back onto the carousels," says Nofziger.
If you add money onto one of these cards, scammers are notified and able to instantly withdraw it. "You could not even have left the store yet and that money could be drained," she says.
How to protect yourself: Nofziger recommends buying gift cards that are close to the front of the store and might have had more eyes watching them. She also suggests purchasing electronic gift cards instead of physical cards that can be tampered with.
It's more common to receive unexpected packages around the holidays, and scammers will use that to their advantage, says Nofziger.
"They'll send out fake notifications saying that they're from a shipping company and that there's a problem with your account," like a missing piece of your address, she says. "But most of the time, if there's a problem with a package, you will hear directly from the vendor."
How to protect yourself: If you receive an unexpected text message from a shipping company like UPS or FedEx asking for your personal information, Nofziger's advice is to reach out separately to the company's customer service line and confirm that a package is indeed coming your way. You can also verify your address directly through their website.
Usually, "this is nothing but a phishing scam," she says, or an attempt to dupe you into sharing personal information.
Travel prices can get expensive around the holidays, leading some to search online for better deals. But Nofziger says to be wary of suspiciously cheap fares and travel websites you haven't used before.
Nofziger's team receives a lot of reports about car rental scams. "People think they're getting a great deal, but they have to prepay with a prepaid gift card," she says. "Then they get to their location and there's no car."
How to protect yourself: She recommends sticking to vendors you have a preexisting relationship with and vetting any new travel website you might use.
Ultimately, if you fall for any of these scams, know that it's common. "Be proactive and report it as quickly as possible," says Nofziger. You can report the incident to local law enforcement, the Federal Trade Commission and the AARP Fraud Watch Network.
The digital story was edited by Malaka Gharib, with art direction by Beck Harlan. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org.
Listen to Life Kit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekit.
Copyright 2025 NPR
Topline:
A mountain lion, tagged P-129, was recently captured near the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing construction site.
Why it matters: She is the third mountain lion to be captured through the crossing site, and the first since construction started. Its capture at that very location substantiates the goal of crossing itself — to create a bridge to connect the Santa Monica mountains bifurcated by the 101 for animals to roam.
Read on ... to find details about P-129 and the state of construction.
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Agoura Hills isn’t slated to open until Fall 2026, but there’s already been a wild discovery near the forested overpass.
National Park Service biologists recently captured and collared a female mountain lion, now named P-129, inside the construction site of the forthcoming crossing.
She is the third mountain lion to be captured through the crossing site, and the first since construction started.
“The mountain lion was captured and tracked and traveling right around the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing — right inside of it,” said Beth Pratt, Regional Executive Director of the National Wildlife Federation, one of the organizations that's managing construction of the project.
“To actually capture one right in the site of the crossing being built was pretty special,” she added.
P-129 was captured as part of the National Park Services’ Puma research project.
Scientists with the service have been studying mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounding region since 2002. It’s one of the longest continuous urban mountain lion studies.
“The knowledge that the Park Service has gleaned from these decades of research have helped us understand how they travel and use the landscape in the Santa Monica Mountains,” Pratt told LAist.
The soon-to-be completed wildlife crossing that will go over the 101 freeway was set in motion because of research done by the Puma project.
Although the crossing is intended for all wildlife, mountain lions are the ones most at risk from isolation caused by the freeway, said Pratt. The discovery of genetic degradation among mountain lions is what raised alarm bells that prompted the construction of the overpass.
In 2020, birth defects began manifesting in tracking data. Kink tails, only one descended testis, and the degradation of sperm quality all pointed to the next inevitable development: sterility.
Indeed, Pratt said a major goal of the crossing is to bring "dates" — mating partners — for these mountain lions who are living in the Santa Monica mountains.
The crossing has been under construction since 2022 and is on track to open next Fall. The main structure over the 101 has been completed, with a habitat of native plants growing on top.
Right now, Pratt said underway is a massive utility relocation of electricity, water, and gas lines.
“We have to move those utility lines out of the way, and then the secondary structure over Agoura Road is being constructed as well,” she said.
With the big unveiling in sight, the team is now taking bets on which animal will make its maiden passage next year.
“It could be [P-129], or it could be the dominant male in the area," Pratt said. "Or it could be a new cat that we don’t even know.”
Topline:
With Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi not running for reelection, San Francisco is about to experience its most spirited congressional race since 1987, when Pelosi beat 13 candidates to fill the seat left open by the death of Rep. Sala Burton.
Who are the top contenders? So far, three very different candidates have emerged as the top contenders to represent Pelosi’s district. They are San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, state Sen. Scott Wiener and software engineer Saikat Chakrabarti.
Read on ... for more about each of the top candidates and what's at stake in this race.
With Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi not running for reelection, San Francisco is about to experience its most spirited congressional race since 1987, when Pelosi beat 13 candidates to fill the seat left open by the death of Rep. Sala Burton.
The 85-year-old Democrat leaves behind a historic record of accomplishment — from the power she achieved as a caucus leader and Speaker to delivering significant legislative victories, including passage of the Affordable Care Act, and her unparalleled ability to criticize President Donald Trump.
“Nancy Pelosi was the most effective speaker of the modern era, a legendary political thinker and strategist,” said Brian Hanlon, co-founder and CEO of California YIMBY, a pro-housing group. “And San Francisco punches way above its weight in terms of both national and state politics. So, who is San Francisco going to put in this seat?”
So far, three very different candidates have emerged as the top contenders to represent Pelosi’s district, which encompasses most of the city, except a southern slice that includes the Excelsior, Visitacion Valley and Oceanview neighborhoods.
San Francisco supervisor, District 1
The 47-year-old Democrat represents the northern section of San Francisco, including the Richmond District. Chan, who was born in Hong Kong and came to the U.S. as a teenager, is leaning into her biography as the basis of her candidacy.
“As a first-generation immigrant, I have the lived experience, understanding the challenges that immigrant community faces, and most definitely during this time, when we see the Trump administration sending ICE agents to our streets and also in courtroom, firing our immigration court judges so that they can detain our immigrants illegally,” Chan told KQED. “That is, first and foremost, one of our top priorities.”
Now in her second term on the Board of Supervisors, Chan, who once worked as an aide to former Supervisor Aaron Peskin, opposed Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Family Zoning Plan, which allows denser housing in neighborhoods like the Richmond, where single-family homes dominate. She also opposed a voter-approved ballot measure to close part of the Great Highway and create a public park, and supports sending the issue back to voters.
State senator
Now in his eighth year in Sacramento, Wiener has championed landmark legislation to facilitate — even mandate — more housing construction in California, a position that has won him both support and criticism.
By any standard, Wiener, 55, is a prolific legislator. This year alone, 12 of his bills were passed and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. In an evaluation of state lawmakers across the country, Wiener was ranked as the most effective member of the California State Senate by the nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking, a project of the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University.
Wiener, who is openly gay, said it is “definitely time” for the city’s LGBTQ+ community to elect one of its own to Congress. He would be the first openly gay representative from San Francisco in the House.
Software engineer and political activist
Chakrabarti, 39, jumped into the race before Pelosi announced her retirement, saying it was time for a new generation of leaders for the Democratic Party. Wiener also entered the race before Pelosi made her plans public.
After making millions of dollars as one of the first software engineers at the payment processing company Stripe, Chakrabarti worked on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign and later became chief of staff to progressive icon Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“I think I’m the only one willing to challenge the Democratic party establishment,” Chakrabarti told KQED this week. “People know that the Democratic party needs a new direction, it needs new ideas and it needs solutions that are as big as the problems that we face. And that’s what I’m offering the voters.”
“Affordability” is the mantra for Democratic candidates across the country, and this race will be no different. Chan, who criticizes Wiener’s “Sacramento version of affordable housing” in her campaign announcement video, will emphasize affordability as it relates to housing, but also in health care and child care.
Chakrabarti, who said he is more pro-housing than Chan, supports the controversial plan to build 800 units of housing above a Safeway in the Marina.
As expected, all three candidates promise strong opposition to Trump’s policies, including ICE raids, mass deportations and federal budget cuts. Wiener, who authored a new law banning ICE agents from wearing face coverings and bills supporting trans students, is a frequent target of right-wing hatred. He wears it like a badge of honor, and even has a “Scott’s MAGA Fan Club” section on his campaign site highlighting attacks by Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene and other conservatives.
While housing is largely a local issue, defense spending is not — and U.S. funding for Israel could become a contentious topic. Wiener, who is Jewish, has been outspoken about antisemitism while trying to strike a balance between Israel’s right to exist and opposing its war in Gaza.
Chakrabarti has made Palestinian rights a centerpiece of his campaign.
“I’m opposed to military funding in Israel as long as the genocide continues,” he said.
Chan has also said she would not support sending “weapons of war” to Israel, calling the situation in Gaza a human rights violation that she believes meets the legal definition of genocide.
The success or failure of a campaign depends on many factors, including name recognition, their record, voter enthusiasm, endorsements and resources.
Chakrabarti is the least well-known of the candidates, but he has access to enormous personal wealth to self-fund his campaign. Since this is his first run for office, he mostly points to his work behind the scenes, including his role in helping promote the Green New Deal, which he said helped center climate change as the key environmental issue.
“It’s going to take a movement of candidates and people to make this happen,” he said. “But I think that’s what’s possible right now, and that’s why I’m running.”
Chan, who is running for the first time outside a relatively small district, could face fundraising challenges. But her relationships with local unions, such as Unite Here Local 2, which represents workers in the hospitality industry, could help with campaign cash and volunteers.
Wiener has been raising money for a potential congressional run since 2023, reporting more than $1 million raised through September, according to federal campaign finance data. He said fundraising accelerated significantly after Pelosi announced her retirement.
It’s not clear if Pelosi herself will put her thumb on the scale for one of her would-be successors. Among the candidates, she seems most aligned with Chan, who has appeared alongside her at recent public events.
An endorsement from the San Francisco Democratic Party could provide a major boost. But that’s a significant hurdle, as it requires support from 60% of local delegates.
Local party chair Nancy Tung, a leader of the party’s more moderate wing, thinks only one candidate could conceivably win an endorsement.
“It’s within the realm of possibility that Scott Wiener would actually get the endorsement,” Tung told KQED this week. “I think he’s probably got the best chance.”
In the June primary, voters will decide which two candidates will advance to the November general election in the race for this solid Democratic seat.
Topline:
Los Angeles is synonymous with Hollywood. But did you know the city owns thousands of pieces of artifacts from vintage Hollywood?
The backstory: It began in around the 1960s and a failed dream to create a museum to house memorabilia culled from production houses, studios and stars themselves numbering in the thousands.
Why now: The city of L.A. recently extended a loan agreement of some 300 garments and accessories with ASU FIDM Museum downtown, which stores, restores and conserves these pieces of Hollywood history.
Read on ... to learn more about this collection and see photos.
A pair of brown leather shoes worn by Oscar-winning actor Ingrid Bergman in the 1948 film, Joan of Arc. A couple red togas with gold leaf embroidery thespian Laurence Olivier likely donned in the 1960 epic Spartacus. A leather briefcase used by the great Cecil B. DeMille between 1920 and 1940. A pair of Levi's from 1952 worn by Gary Cooper.
Those are just a handful of clothing and accessories — hats, shoes, scarfs, gowns and more — from old Hollywood the city of Los Angeles calls its own.
The 300-some pieces have been in the care of ASU FIDM Museum in downtown for more than three decades. The collection is open to the public, and the museum displays and lends pieces out for exhibition.
Next fall, some of the garments will be on display at an exhibition at ASU FIDM Museum on legendary costume and fashion designer Gilbert Adrian.
Los Angeles and Hollywood are oftentimes synonymous, but how did the city of L.A. come to possess these silver screen artifacts?
We go back to the 1960s and the broken dream to build a museum of American film and television history.
At the center of the proposed Hollywood Museum (not to be confused with one on Highland Avenue since 2003) was the collection of artifacts and costumes culled from studios, production companies and actors themselves that numbered in the thousands.
The exhibition space never came to pass, according to city documents, because the funding never caught up to the vision.
In 1968, L.A.'s recreation and parks department took over the collection. When private storage was price prohibitive, the garments and accessories were stocked away at the empty jail in Lincoln Heights for two decades — until the deal with the fashion institute in 1988.
As part of a loan agreement with the city that has just been recently extended, ASU FIDM Museum provides services to store, conserve and restore these 300 fashion and costume objects (for an inventory, go to pg. 19) that span the 1920s to about 1970.
There are tons of prized items in the mix — including more than a dozen pairs of dance shoes owned by Fred Astaire.
One name you'll keep seeing is screen diva Marlene Dietrich. About 100 pieces were donated to the Hollywood Museum from a storage unit she kept in L.A., said Christina Johnson, senior curator at ASU FIDM Museum.
"It includes pieces that she wore on film, pieces in her personal life," Johnson said.
And sometimes, both. Like a paisley lamé evening gown created by a costume and fashion designer known by the mononym Irene.
"There's photos I found of [Dietrich] wearing it at Ciros nightclub with her then lover Jean Gabin," Johnson said. "Then she wore it when she was part of the USO entertaining the troops during World War II."
Dietrich purposely wore that same gown in A Foreign Affair — the 1948 Billy Wilder dark comedy set in post-war Germany.
" It's been so many places and I think that's one reason that fashion and costume history are so important because it makes history come alive for people," Johnson said. " When I'm handling something, it really makes me reflect on, what did this person experience while wearing this?"
The collection contains ribbons, sash, ties, an entire costume ensemble worn by Rudolph Valentino (leggings and all) from the 1920s, and even a torso metal armor believed to be used in both the 1925 and 1959 versions of Ben Hur.
But probably none are more curious than the four unsmoked Lucky Strike cigarettes in their midst.
They belonged to silent movie star Mabel Normand, who worked with Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.
" Her wardrobe items came in a Louis Vuitton trunk," Johnson said. "Those Lucky Strike cigarettes were in a pocket."
Normand was a heavy smoker and eventually died from tuberculosis. Still part of the collection, the possibly century-old cigarettes are stored separately so as not to stain the garment.
" But that's the thing, these belonged to real people who did real things," Johnson said. "And some of her unused cigarettes came with the collection."
Topline:
Friends and family coming to town? Take them to the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena’s low key gem that's celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Why it matters: In a region bursting with top-rated majestic museums, the Norton Simon’s idiosyncratic collection and its people-scale galleries and gardens are a refreshing alternative.
Why now: The Norton Simon is celebrating its 50th anniversary with upgraded outdoor gardens and a spruced up façade.
The backstory: The museum’s art is a blend of the private collection of industrialist Norton Simon and holdings of the Pasadena Art Museum. The museum shows works by masters such as Rembrandt and Picasso as well as contemporary art by Ed Ruscha and Sam Francis.
There’s a reason L.A. has so many art masterpieces in various museums: the region had a lot of industrialists and bankers in the 20th century who used some of their wealth to build large art collections.
The Norton Simon is a prime example.
“The quality of the collection is unmatched, and I think we feel really proud of the really serene, spacious environment that we provide for looking at art,” said Emily Talbot, vice president of collections and chief curator at the museum.
In 1975, industrialist Norton Simon took over the critically acclaimed but financially troubled Pasadena Art Museum. Simon spent decades building a food production empire, starting with a small juice processing plant in Fullerton to running the Hunt-Wesson Foods conglomerate.
He was fascinated by art and artists and used the drive that made him successful in business to buy and collect art. You’ll see paintings by Rembrandt, key works by Auguste Rodin on the museum’s grounds (including the Thinker), as well as paintings by abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler, and centuries-old sculptures from India and Cambodia.
The museum currently displays about 1,000 pieces from the blended Pasadena Art Museum and Simon collections. In total it has 12,000 objects, ranging from masters like Rembrandt and Picasso to contemporary art by Ed Ruscha and Sam Francis.
For its 50th anniversary this year, the museum spent $15 million to rebuild and renovate its gardens and its signature façade, which faces Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena and puts it in the middle of worldwide TV coverage of the Rose Parade each year.
For those who get slightly overwhelmed at grander museums like the Getty or LACMA, the more people-scaled Norton Simon is a great option. If you're heading there, here are some highlights recommended by the museum staff you shouldn't miss:
Start with the newest acquisition by the museum, a roughly 1-foot-tall bronze sculpture by Edgar Degas titled "Arabesque over the right leg, left arm in front."
Simon loved and collected Edgar Degas’ late 19th century sculptures of dancers. But as much as he tried, and as much money as he had, his collection was incomplete.
“In 1977, Norton Simon bought an almost complete set of sculptures by Edgar Degas,” Talbot said. “It was missing just two, and we have been looking for those two sculptures ever since.”
Last year, the staff finally found one of them. It’s the first work of art the museum has purchased in 18 years.
It’s a sort of sculptural sketch, Talbot said, created by Degas to understand a dancer’s poses before making the final work. It has the rough surfaces of the original clay and wax the artist used ahead of casting the bronze.
“These sculptures really give you a sense of the artist's mind, how he thought about process, what he thought was interesting about the body and movement, and that's really captured in these casts,” Talbot said.
Degas painted, made prints and sculpted. His pastel drawings are sublime. And this sculpture makes the Norton Simon one of the top places in the world to see Degas’ dancer sculptures.
A visit to the museum will put you face to face with a master work by Pablo Picasso. It’s a 4 foot by 3 foot painting called "Woman with a Book."
It’s thought to be inspired, Talbot said, by a 19th century painting, "Madame Moitessier," by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.
“Picasso used that composition, which also depicted a woman seated in an armchair. But he sort of updated it for the modern moment, using these very bright colors and also kind of drawing your attention to a somewhat more sensual representation of the subject,” Talbot said.
A few years ago, the Norton Simon borrowed that Ingres painting from the National Gallery in London and displayed the two paintings side by side.
This Picasso, she said, is a good illustration of one of the artist’s most repeated quotes: that “good artists copy, great artists steal.” He not only used another painter's composition; he also embraced another artist's color choices.
“In this particular painting, we have a palette that was really inspired by his friend Henri Matisse,” Talbot said, referring to the strong red and blue, and soft pastel shades.
When you walk into the museum entrance, you'll see a chess set under plexiglass. It’s an 1850 chess set made of wood and ivory that Simon bought in India during his honeymoon with actor Jennifer Jones.
“ This is depicting the Indian version of the game, so one thing that visitors might notice is that there are camels and elephants instead of rooks and bishops,” Talbot said.
Aspiring and current chess masters will have fun with how the board is set up. It’s arranged in move No. 12 in an epic chess game played in 1855 by a Bengali player and a Scottish chess master.
This was Simon’s first South Asian art purchase. The floodgates opened after this. His collection went on to include sculptures and paintings from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Burma, Laos and other countries.
The Norton Simon Museum
Address: 411 West Colorado Blvd., Pasadena
Phone: (626) 449-6840
Parking is free
Map and directions here.
Hours:
Sunday: 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Monday: 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday: Closed
Thursday: 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Friday: 12:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Saturday: 12:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Admission: $20 for adult general admission, but people 18 and under, and students with I.D. are free. Admission is free for all visitors the first Friday of every month from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.
