Seattle Seahawks fans have another shot to see a Super Bowl win.
(
Jason Kempin
/
Getty Images
)
In this edition:
This weekend, check out Super Bowl (and Puppy Bowl!) watch parties, a Matisse talk, Joe Wong (in Mandarin and English) at the Improv and more of the best things to do.
Highlights:
Comedian Joe Wong is bringing his show, Twin Lunarcies, to the Improv in both Mandarin and English. Catch him before his Netflix is a Joke show in May.
The dream of the ‘90s is alive and well at the Lodge Room as a supergroup with members of R.E.M., Screaming Trees and Them Crooked Vultures join forces as a new band, Drink the Sea.
Watch the Puppy Bowl while surrounded by actual puppies at Annenberg Pet Space?! I think this one speaks for itself. Ruff!
The Broad’s current exhibit, Robert Therrien’s This is a Story, plays with the idea that everyday objects and materials can become art and move between worlds.The Grammy-nominated orchestral collective Wild Up takes a similar approach to their music and will work with a group of 30 non-musicians when they take the stage at the Broad to perform The Great Learning, Paragraphs 2 and 7, written in the late 1960s by Cornelius Cardew.
Aha! I found excellent art nerd Super Bowl alternative programming. Head to the Hammer and listen to independent art historian and former Getty Museum director John Walsh discuss Matisse’spainting of the female form between the wars.
I think there’s a football game on Sunday — before and after the Bad Bunny concert. Don’t worry, there are some watch party options (and Super Bowl alternatives!) in today’s newsletter. If football isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other sports options available in the form of the Winter Olympics, which begin this weekend.
We’re all getting a free concert on Sunday, but Licorice Pizza has the rest of your music picks for the week, including hometown faves the Silversun Pickups album release party at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at Barnsdall Gallery Theater, Aimee Mann at Pacific Electric and Mandy Patinkin singing Sondheim and more at the Carpenter Center on Saturday.
Sunday, February 8, 7 p.m. (Mandarin) and 9:15 p.m. (English) Hollywood Improv 8162 Melrose Ave., Hollywood COST: $44.79; MORE INFO
(
Michael S. Schwartz
/
Getty Images
)
Comedian Joe Wong has done what few comics can — build an audience in two languages — and he’s bringing his show, Twin Lunarcies, to the Improv in both Mandarin and English. Wong hosted a TV show in his native China for a decade before exploring and finding success in the U.S., where he’s roasted Joe Biden at the Radio & TV Correspondents Dinner and appeared on many late-night talk shows. Catch him before his Netflix is a Joke show in May.
Drink the Sea (members of REM, Screaming Trees, Them Crooked Vultures)
Saturday, February 7, 8 p.m. Lodge Room 104 N. Ave. 56, 2nd floor, Highland Park COST: $45.50; MORE INFO
(
Courtesy Lodge Room
)
The dream of the ‘90s is alive and well at the Lodge Room as a supergroup with members of R.E.M., Screaming Trees (remember when all the bands had gerunds in their names?) and Them Crooked Vultures join forces for a new band, Drink the Sea.
Fuego Burlesque: A Bad Bunny Tribute
Saturday, February 7, 10 p.m. Harvelle's Long Beach 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach COST: $22; MORE INFO
(
Courtesy Harvelle's Long Beach
)
We’re getting a little racy at Best Things To Do this week, but this one is too good not to include, because just 15 minutes of Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl is not sufficient. Get the party started early with this burlesque tribute to the Puerto Rican superstar from Dirty Little Secrets Burlesque. Obviously, this event is 21+.
Super Bowl Watch Parties
Sunday, February 8, kickoff at 3:30 p.m. Various locations COST: VARIES
Atmosphere during CMT After Midnight After Party and Super Bowl Sunday
Sunday, February 8, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wallis Annenberg PetSpace 12005 Bluff Creek Drive, Playa Vista COST: FREE; MORE INFO
(
Laura Roberts
/
Unsplash
)
Watch the Puppy Bowl while surrounded by actual puppies?! I think this one speaks for itself. Ruff!
Israel Film Festival
Through Thursday, February 19 Saban, Fine Arts and Regal North Hollywood COST: VARIES; MORE INFO
(
Courtesy Israel Film Festival
)
The 37th annual Israel Film Festival kicks off this week and will host four U.S. premieres, plus a 40th anniversary screening of Ricochets, the 1986 film about the First Lebanon War starring Alon Aboutboul. Many new Israeli films will screen at three area venues — the Saban and the Fine Arts theaters in Beverly Hills, and the Regal in North Hollywood. The festival has a wide range of films, from comedies to features to docs, and many of the screenings include Q&As with talent afterward.
Home and Away: Matisse Makes Another Heaven
Sunday, February 8, 3 p.m. Hammer Museum 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood COST: FREE; MORE INFO
(
Courtesy Hammer Museum
)
Aha! I found excellent art nerd Super Bowl alternative programming. Head to the Hammer and listen to independent art historian and former Getty Museum director John Walsh discuss Matisse’s painting of the female form between the wars. Walsh will explore the influence of Matisse’s time in Nice and emerging art eras like Cubism on his work. This is the third of four in a lecture series about Matisse with Walsh at the Hammer; the last one follows on Sunday, Feb. 22.
Wild Up: The Great Learning
Saturday, February 7, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. The Broad 221 S. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. COST: $25; MORE INFO
(
Courtesy The Broad
)
The Broad’s current exhibit, Robert Therrien’s This is a Story, plays with the idea that everyday objects and materials can become art and move between worlds. The Grammy-nominated orchestral collective Wild Up takes a similar approach to their music and will work with a group of 30 non-musicians when they take the stage at the Broad to perform The Great Learning, Paragraphs 2 and 7, written in the late 1960s by Cornelius Cardew. The public ensemble will learn the work “through repetitions and echoes, culminating in a performance where music becomes a shared space to embody collective creativity.”
The war in Iran is rattling the aviation industry, from flight cancellations to rising costs for jet fuel. So if you're planning to travel this spring or summer, should you grab a ticket now, or wait?
Go ahead and book: It's generally recommended to buy international flights further in advance than domestic trips. But in the current circumstances, Sean Cudahy, an aviation reporter at The Points Guy website says he would go ahead and book even domestic flights. His advice is a sign of how the Middle East conflict is rippling outward, affecting prices and itineraries around the world, beyond the thousands of travelers who were stuck after the war forced a barrage of flight cancellations.
What do the airlines say?: The war's effect on travel was sudden and striking, resulting in the cancellation of more than 46,000 flights in and out of the Middle East from Feb. 28 — when the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran — to March 11, according to Cirium, the aviation analytics company. As they absorb higher fuel costs, airlines could adjust prices higher across the board, or they might tuck an increase into premium fares, where they'll be less noticeable, Cudahy of The Points Guy says.
The war in Iran is rattling the aviation industry, from flight cancellations to rising costs for jet fuel. So if you're planning to travel this spring or summer, should you grab a ticket now, or wait?
"You should go ahead and book," says Sean Cudahy, an aviation reporter at The Points Guy travel and personal finance website.
It's generally recommended to buy international flights further in advance than domestic trips. But in the current circumstances, Cudahy says he would go ahead and book even domestic flights.
His advice is a sign of how the Middle East conflict is rippling outward, affecting prices and itineraries around the world, beyond the thousands of travelers who were stuck after the war forced a barrage of flight cancellations.
Airlines warn that ticket prices will rise with fuel costs
The war's effect on travel was sudden and striking, resulting in the cancellation of more than 46,000 flights in and out of the Middle East from Feb. 28 — when the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran — to March 11, according to Cirium, the aviation analytics company.
That includes Dubai International, the busiest airport in the world for international travel, according to Airports Council International, along with popular hubs in Doha and Abu Dhabi.
But even airlines far from the Mideast are facing a sudden surge in a core expense: jet fuel. At the beginning of the year, a gallon of jet fuel cost $2.11; by March 10, the price rose to $3.40, according to the Argus U.S. Jet Fuel Index, a gain of more than 60%.
The spike came after tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz came to a virtual halt, as Iran announced it would close the waterway that normally handles about 20% of the world's oil and liquified natural gas.
Mideast refineries had been sending some 470,000 barrels of jet fuel each day through the strait to airports in Europe and elsewhere, says Rick Joswick, who heads the near-term oil analytics team at S&P Global.
The price for a gallon of jet fuel soared close to $4 in the first week of the war, prompting United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby to say on Friday that airfare price hikes from higher fuel costs would "probably start quick."
As they absorb higher fuel costs, airlines could adjust prices higher across the board, or they might tuck an increase into premium fares, where they'll be less noticeable, Cudahy of The Points Guy says.
Several airlines have publicly confirmed that they'll be raising prices to compensate, as Reuters reports. Other carriers, such as Japan Airlines, publish a schedule of fuel surcharges triggered by cost increases.
"I do think that this is ultimately going to lead to higher fares for everyone," Cudahy says. "The only question now is how significant and how long does it last?"
Air travelers stranded by the Iran conflict are greeted in Athens, Greece, after arriving on a charter flight from Dubai on Saturday.
(
Giannis Antwnoglou
/
SOOC/AFP via Getty Images
)
Crisis parallels earlier global disruptions
The higher fuel prices reflect a genuine struggle to ensure the aviation industry has ample supplies, says Joswick.
"It's not irrational. It's not some trader bidding up prices," he says. Comparing the situation to the COVID-19 pandemic, he adds, "The consumption of toilet paper didn't change. But you notice that all of the supermarkets ran out of toilet paper, right? Everyone wants to be sure that they have coverage of a critical need."
Both Cudahy and Joswick compare the Iran conflict's ripple effects to Russia launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which set off flight disruptions and higher fuel prices. As long as the Strait of Hormuz is closed, Joswick says, prices will keep rising.
"If that were to persist, this would be like a 1979 kind of [oil] crisis," he says. "Anything over a month, and you're seeing a substantial long-term price increase until the flows are restored."
The U.S. and other large economies can mitigate those effects by tapping strategic oil reserves — which they opted to do on Wednesday. But Joswick predicts that while such a move can help ensure adequate oil supplies, it might not bring a sharp drop in jet fuel prices. For one thing, he says, the U.S. reserve focuses on holding crude oil, not jet fuel. And he cites logistical challenges, such as California's reliance on jet fuel that it either produces or imports.
Tips for buying a plane ticket right now
If you're ready to take your chances and book a flight, Cudahy has some guidance.
First, don't buy a restricted, basic economy ticket that you can't change later, he says.
Instead, he recommends buying a regular, full-fare economy ticket: "If the price does eventually drop, you can then go back and change it and capture the lower price."
Another tactic, Cudahy says, is to use airline miles.
"You can generally cancel it and get all your miles back later, if the price goes down," he says.
Use services such as Google Flights to comparison shop and set up alerts for price changes. And if you book flights through a third-party site such as Expedia, be sure you understand its cancellation and change policies, in case they differ from the airlines.
Because of the chance for renewed hostilities in and around Iran, Cudahy says he would try to avoid nearby airline hubs for the next couple of months.
But he wouldn't wait to book a ticket.
"In the same way that we're seeing relatively long lines at gas stations with folks trying to get their tanks filled up before the price goes up even more than it already has, I would be thinking the same way when it comes to airfare right now," he says.
While you might drive an extra mile or two to find cheaper gas, airlines and airports don't have that luxury when they buy jet fuel.
"Prices are always set on the margin," Joswick says. "That last airport that needs to buy jet fuel, they will pay whatever it takes to get that. And that price then becomes the standard for the whole industry."
Copyright 2026 NPR
Destiny Torres
is LAist's general assignment and brings you the top news you need for the day.
Published March 12, 2026 11:47 AM
A recent county report found that many small businesses across L.A. County have lost revenue and customers since ICE raids ramped up last summer.
(
Carlin Stiehl
/
Getty Images
)
Topline:
L.A. County awarded $3.6 million in the latest round of Small Business Resiliency grants to more than 850 businesses hurt by federal immigration enforcement.
About the grant: L.A. County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis introduced a motion in July to create the business fund to support economic recovery in response to the ICE raids. Grant funds can be used to pay for rent, payroll, equipment repairs, inventory and recovery expenses.
"Every worker taken, every family destabilized, means that there are fewer employees available to help our small business owners, and we have fewer customers that are showing up because of that fear," Solis said at a press conference Thursday.
Why it matters: A recent report from the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity and the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation found that many small businesses across the county have lost revenue and customers since ICE raids ramped up last summer.
Can you still apply? Applications are closed. Eligible businesses that were not selected are placed on a waitlist and notified if additional funding becomes available.
If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
Copper wire thieves have targeted electrical wire boxes across Los Angeles, damaging city lights in the process.
(
Nathan Solis
/
The LA Local
)
Topline:
Los Angeles residents were walking dark streets and passing broken lamps even as the LAPD quietly disbanded a specialized unit in July that tracked thieves stealing copper wire from streetlights.
More details: Known as the Heavy Metal Task Force, the unit launched in early 2024 to combat persistent copper wire theft from lamps lighting the Sixth Street Bridge connecting Boyle Heights to Downtown L.A.
Why now: Lt. Andrew Mathes confirmed to The LA Local this week that the unit was eliminated in July 2025 as the department and city tightened budgets. The LA Bureau of Street Lighting, the department responsible for maintaining the lights, also had its budget cut by about 5% in the current fiscal year as its backlog of reports continues to grow.
Read on... for more about what the disband of this task force means for street lights.
Los Angeles residents were walking dark streets and passing broken lamps even as the LAPD quietly disbanded a specialized unit in July that tracked thieves stealing copper wire from streetlights.
Known as the Heavy Metal Task Force, the unit launched in early 2024 to combat persistent copper wire theft from lamps lighting the Sixth Street Bridge connecting Boyle Heights to Downtown L.A.
Lt. Andrew Mathes confirmed to The LA Local this week that the unit was eliminated in July 2025 as the department and city tightened budgets. The L.A. Bureau of Street Lighting, the department responsible for maintaining the lights, also had its budget cut by about 5% in the current fiscal year as its backlog of reports continues to grow.
The team led investigations that exposed organized wire theft, resulting in more than 300 arrests. And it conducted inspections of local scrapyards to make it harder for people to cash in on high copper resale prices.
“When you get an eye for it, copper is everywhere,” Mathes said.
Public concerns about lights persist
Calls for repair of streetlights surged from about 35,000 in 2022, the year the Sixth Street Bridge was opened to the public, to 46,000 in 2024. There was only a slight dip in such calls in 2025.
The calls made to the city’s 311 line for non-emergency services include lamps that were hit by cars or could be malfunctioning due to age. But the jump in calls starting in 2022 also include a surge in thefts.
Reports of copper wire theft doubled from about 7,200 in fiscal year 2022-23 to nearly 16,000 in 2024-25, according to data from the L.A. City Controller. But starting last year, the monthly calls began trending down, from 1,500 in October 2024 to about 200 in May 2025.
After previously leading a similar team on catalytic converter thefts, Mathes was tapped for leading the unit on heavy metal thefts in early 2024. The team was based in the LAPD’s Central Division near where such thefts had been focused.
“LA is the copper theft capital,” Mathes said. “It’s the worst of the worst here.”
At their most active, Mathes said, the unit was conducting two or three operations a week.
They inspected scrapyards for stolen metal and warned the owners of the penalties they could face for purchasing it. They found people impersonating construction workers removing reams of wire for resale. He’d find makeshift processing operations in decrepit RVs, with huge spools of wire spun by hand and toxic fire pits where people would melt away plastic shielding because the unwrapped copper fetches a higher price.
Mathes said they tracked a 70% reduction in such thefts in the Newton Division, south and east of downtown.
So what happens if there is no specialized unit?
Mathes said it was fitting that the first and last arrests made by the heavy metal unit occurred near the iconic bridge on Sixth Street.
The officers who served on the unit developed valuable experience, Mathes said. And soon before it disbanded, he said they redoubled efforts to prepare the members to continue the work in their new assignments. Central, Hollenbeck and Newton police divisions have a specialist for these kinds of investigations.
When asked about wire thefts growing in other parts of the city in 2025, he presumed it was because of the intensive work the unit was doing near downtown.
“They had to find new places to target,” Mathes said.
The rubble of homes that burned down on Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu as a result of the Palisades Fire.
(
Ted Soqui
/
CalMatters
)
Topline:
State Farm reaches settlement over emergency insurance rate hikes after last year’s Los Angeles County fires.
Why it matters: State Farm, the largest insurer in the state with about 20% market share, received approval for unprecedented emergency insurance rate increases in California last May. The company told the state that the billions of dollars it expected to pay out after the deadly fires placed it in financial peril.
Why now: The proposed deal among the state Insurance Department, consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog and State Farm, disclosed late last week, comes after months of public hearings convened by the insurance department and settlement talks.
Read on... for more from the proposed settlement.
The Los Angeles County fires last year drove up insurance costs for many Californians. Now, a proposed settlement means some State Farm policyholders whose premiums rose won’t see additional increases, and others should even get refunds.
State Farm, the largest insurer in the state with about 20% market share, received approval for unprecedented emergency insurance rate increases in California last May. The company told the state that the billions of dollars it expected to pay out after the deadly fires placed it in financial peril.
The proposed deal among the state Insurance Department, consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog and State Farm, disclosed late last week, comes after months of public hearings convened by the insurance department and settlement talks.
Consumer Watchdog, which questioned the rate increases State Farm asked for, says the settlement saves the company’s California policyholders a total of $530 million. From the proposed settlement:
Homeowners’ rate hikes will stay at the previously approved interim rate of 17% instead of the 30% the company sought.
Condo owners who saw interim rate hikes of 15% will see their rates drop to an increase of 5.8%, and get refunds with interest dating back to June 1, 2025.
Rental unit owners with interim rate hikes of 38% will see those increases drop to 32.8%, and receive refunds with interest.
Renter policyholders will see an increase of 15.65% vs. the interim rate hike of 15%.
In addition, State Farm has agreed not to cancel any new policies this year, and it won’t be canceling some policies it had planned not to renew in wildfire-affected areas. The insurance department characterized those provisions as important to the continued stability of the state’s insurance market, which has been beset with availability and affordability issues.
“When consumer advocates are able to challenge the data and present their own analysis, excessive requests are reduced and consumers are protected,” said Harvey Rosenfield in a statement. Rosenfield founded Consumer Watchdog and wrote Proposition 103, the voter-approved law that governs insurance in California.
State Farm has paid out more than $5 billion in claims from the L.A.-area fires so far, said spokesperson Tom Hartmann.
After consumer complaints and lawsuits, the insurance department is investigating the company’s handling of claims from the fires and expects results from that examination later this spring.
The agreement, which must be approved by an administrative law judge, also requires State Farm to undergo additional review of its rates in 2027. The company will be required to make a one time 2.5% premium discount available to renewing policyholders if its ratio of premiums to available cash reaches a certain level; Consumer Watchdog litigation director Will Pletcher said the deal will give the group more timely access to the company’s annual financial statements to help keep it accountable.
The insurance department expects the judge to decide on the settlement by April 7. Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara will then review the judge’s decision and have the final say.
