The Brief

I have been LOVING how green everything is. The regrowth post-fires is nothing short of inspiring, and you can check out some of these hikes over the weekend to see for yourself. Another way to take advantage of the outdoors is by booking a free guided tour of the new 101 Wildlife Crossing. They’re coming up throughout the spring, so check the site for available dates to book.

But I know, I know, there are football playoffs to watch, too. So FINE: Here’s your watch party rundown for the Rams, who are one win away from the Super Bowl. What a year for L.A. sports…

If music is more your thing, Licorice Pizza has your listings for the weekend. It’s National Association of Music Merchants week down in Anaheim, and one of the coolest annual NAMM events is always the She Rocks Awards on Friday, hosted this year by the Bangles’ Vicki Peterson and Stitched Up Heart frontwoman Mixi Demner. Also on Friday, 112 is at the YouTube Theater, Dan Deacon plays the Teragram, Aaron Lee Tasjan is at McCabe’s in Santa Monica and Living Colour with John 5 is at the Observatory. And right at Licorice Pizza, Tenacious D’s one and only Kyle Gass performs with his band on Friday to celebrate the release of their new concert album, Live in Palmdale.

Finally, on Saturday, you can check out Ground Control Touring’s 4th Annual Abortion Access Benefit Series at the Lodge Room. Seahaven is performing Winter Forever in full at the Teragram, and Grammy-winner Arooj Aftab is at the Bram Goldsmith Theater.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can weigh in on whether it’s “South Central” or “South L.A.” and learn about the guerrilla campaign for more public benches. Also, be careful next time you kick a ball in the park — you could be breaking an archaic L.A. law.

Events

Olive & June x Frankie's on the Park Galentine’s Mani Party

Saturday, January 24, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
712 Montana Ave., Santa Monica
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Courtesy The Juliette Group

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It’s almost Galentine’s Day, so get primped at a family-friendly manicure party hosted by Olive & June and Frankie's on the Park on Montana Ave in Santa Monica. Moms, kids and tweens will enjoy complimentary polish changes, playful press-on customization and exclusive giveaways from the hip polish brand.

Eddie Izzard in Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Through Saturday, January 31
The Montalban Theatre
1615 Vine Street, Hollywood
COST: FROM $97; MORE INFO

Eddie Izzard is truly a one-of-a-kind performer. From her comedy roots to taking on Shakespeare, Izzard has always been ahead of the curve. This version of Hamlet is here at the Montalban following runs in New York and London; it received a New York Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance, as well as a nomination for the New York Drama League’s Distinguished Performance Award.

Altadena + Leimert Park Art Walk 

Threads of Unity: Celebrating Creative Kinship in the Spirit of George Washington Carver
Sunday, January 25, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. 
In front of KAOS
4343 Leimert Blvd., Leimert Park
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Courtesy LA Commons

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Explore the links between Altadena and Leimert Park’s Black communities with this celebration of art and ecology. Featuring rhythmic drumming and movement, a rootspeak workshop, and an interactive art activity by an Altadena-based artist, the event will highlight Altadena’s recovery from the Eaton Fire. There will also be a panel featuring Black Altadena community leaders.

DineLA at Grand Central Market

Through February 6
317 S. Broadway, Downtown L.A. 
COST: VARIES; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy DineLA

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Just as you’re winding down dry January and doubling down on those fitness New Year’s resolutions, it’s time again for DineLA. Over the next few weeks, we’ll feature some of our favorite deals happening, starting with Grand Central Market’s offerings, which include $15 menu items at favorites like Lucky Bird, Maple Block, Moon Rabbit and Mizon.

Brains On! LIVE

Saturday, January 24, 12:30 p.m.
House of Blues
400 Disney Way #337, Anaheim
COST: LAist 15% discount with Code BRAINS; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy Brains On!

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Popular kids’ podcast Brains On! brings their show on the road for a live all-ages event at the House of Blues in Anaheim. The afternoon is full of magic tricks, dance moves, out-of-body experiences, mystery sounds and even a game show, making learning about science interactive and fun. LAist readers get a 15% discount with the code BRAINS; to "unlock" the discount, you need to click on the lock button at the top of the screen, which will open a window to put in the code.

earth dwell/ers school

Saturday, January 24, 12 p.m.
Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve
6350 Woodley Ave., Van Nuys
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

The Sepulveda Basin.

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Robert Gauthier

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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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The Sepulveda Basin is home to many native bird and plant species that we often just pass by in our daily city lives. Earth dwell/ers school exists to teach about the unique environment of the L.A. River by combining the social and political history of the area with nature talks, food and birdwatching. With all the greenery out now, it’s a great time to join this exciting event, which includes a talk on oak tree decomposition and leaf decay, a sound guide and “ecopoetic snacks inspired by the winter landscape and the animals that live within it.”

Happy Birthday, Marion!

Sunday, January 25, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Annenberg Community Beach House 
415 Pacific Coast Hwy., Santa Monica 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Marion Davies lived a life of scandal and intrigue, starred in silent films and was a legendary figure in Old Hollywood. Channel a little of your own Marion energy at her annual birthday party, hosted at the Annenberg Community Beach House. The festivities include live music with Janet Klein and her Parlor Boys, a chance to learn some 1920s dance steps and a chat with Lara Gabrielle, author of Captain of Her Soul: The Life of Marion Davies. You can also tour the Marion Davies Guest House and time-travel to the glam Hollywood beach escape of the 1930s.

Margaret Cho: Choligarchy

Friday, January 23, 7 p.m.
The Wallis 
9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills
COST: FROM $10 (SOLD OUT, WAITLIST AVAILABLE); MORE INFO

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Courtesy The Wallis

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Margaret Cho has always had a take-no-prisoners approach to her comedy shows, and this night at the Wallis will be no different. "This will be my most blistering and brutally honest show yet! Let’s tear down racism, homophobia and sexism with all that we have. We have to fight for what we have now, because if we wait any longer, it might be too late to save ourselves,” says Cho. Laugh, cry, get it all out with one of the original groundbreaking women in the comedy scene.

Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Building Democracy

Friday, January 23, 9 a.m/ to 6 p.m. 
Japanese American National Museum
100 N. Central Ave., Arts District
COST: FROM $50; MORE INFO

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John Rudoff

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Japanese American National Museum

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If we don’t study history, we’re bound to repeat it. The Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy (Democracy Center) at the Japanese American National Museum presents the symposium, Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Building Democracy. Hear from experts speaking about how we can create a lasting democracy, including Agnès Callamard of Amnesty International, Robert Evans of the Behind the Bastards and It Could Happen Here podcasts, contemporary artist Glenn Kaino and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen at the day-long symposium. The event also includes complimentary admission to the exhibition MONUMENTS at MOCA, a mobile “banned bookmobile” presented by Bloom Wild Bookshop and a participatory musical performance by Great Leap featuring artist-activist Nobuko Miyamoto. The talks will also be live-streamed virtually for $25.

Something unusual is happening with only a few days remaining before the U.S. men's national team opens its World Cup campaign against Paraguay: Tickets for the match are not sold out.

Although numbers fluctuate regularly, FIFA's ticketing website still shows 132 tickets left to sell for a game that's set to take place in Los Angeles on Friday. Meanwhile, resale platforms such as StubHub and SeatGeek — and FIFA's own marketplace — also show thousands of tickets on sale.

The number is even higher for Canada's opening match against Bosnia Herzegovina in Toronto on the same day, with 226 tickets left in FIFA's website and a high number of tickets available in resale markets.

That's unusual for high-profile events such as the opening matches of the World Cup — traditionally among the hardest to get tickets in the tournament. This year will feature three hosts in the U.S., Canada and Mexico — but so far only Mexico's opening match against South Africa on Thursday looks to be virtually sold out.

Ticketing experts widely agree on the reason: the prices. FIFA dramatically jacked them up for the tournament — especially for high profile games. The most expensive regular seats for the U.S. opener against Paraguay are priced at $2,735 — more than the final cost for the 2022 World Cup final — while the cheapest are $1,120.

Even President Trump said he wouldn't pay those prices.

"I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn't pay it either, to be honest with you," Trump told the New York Post in a recent interview.

The other two remaining games for the U.S. national have far fewer tickets available, given that prices are well below the ones for the opening match.

Prices have also fallen sharply

There are not only plenty of tickets left to sell — a number of them are also available below FIFA's face value. According to Ticketdata, which tracks prices across the resale platforms, the cheapest pair of tickets for the opening match for the U.S. and Canada was $951 as of Monday morning, while in FIFA's resale platform, tickets were available for as low as $690.

Other games across the 104-match tournament also still have many tickets left to sell — despite FIFA President Gianni Infantino's claim that every match is "already sold out." That's especially the case for lesser well known teams such as the Jordan against Algeria match, which still had hundreds of unsold seats in the FIFA's web site.

Demand for high-profile tickets such as Argentina and Portugal was far higher, however, with many of those games looking largely sold out.

Will the opening matches sell out?

Whether eventually the U.S. and Canada opening matches will sell out is hard to answer. Throughout the sales process, FIFA has closely guarded how many tickets it has actually sold and how many are left to sell, making it virtually impossible to gauge.

In addition, like other teams, FIFA could also sell tickets in other platforms including third-party ones such as SeatGeek, which can further obscure how many tickets are left to sell.

FIFA and organizers, however, are hoping for a surge in excitement that leads to a last-minute rush of sales for the opening matches as well as for those such as Jordan against Algeria that look far from being sold out.

Ben Shields, a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, says perceptions so far of the tournament have been shaped by how expensive tickets and travel has been for a tournament taking place across an entire continent.

That, he says, "does not seem to sit well with many."

But that could change.

"The hope or bet — for FIFA is that once the matches start — and the greatest players in the world compete for the most prestigious prize of them all, the sport as business lens will fade into the background and the World Cup will be seen and experienced as the enduring global institution that it is," Shields says. "We shall see."
Copyright 2026 NPR

Orange County’s top elected leaders on Tuesday are set to discuss what to do with $3.7 million recovered from the Andrew Do corruption scheme.

Do is now serving a five-year sentence in federal prison after he admitted to accepting bribes in exchange for awarding millions in tax dollars meant to feed needy seniors and people with disabilities in his district.

As part of the plea deal, Do acknowledged taking more than $800,000 in bribes through his two daughters, including a down payment on the house his youngest daughter Rhiannon Do later forfeited to resolve the criminal case. The scheme was first uncovered by LAist.

Federal officials recovered money from seized bank accounts and two properties connected to Do’s scheme — including the Tustin house his daughter bought.

The county Board of Supervisors is expected to publicly discuss plans for the recovered funds as they make decisions on the overall county budget at their meeting Tuesday. Public comment will also be taken.

What to do with the money?

Ahead of Tuesday’s discussion, Do’s successor said the funds should support residents of his former district who were deprived by Do and his alleged co-conspirators.

“For the past five years, every other district in Orange County has benefitted from the same community funds to support their cities, nonprofits, civic projects which strengthens their communities,” Supervisor Janet Nguyen wrote in a mass email to constituents last week. “However, our district went without because Do stole what belonged to our residents.”

“This money was stolen from the First District, and it must come back to the First District,” Nguyen added.

Nguyen was Do’s mentor and former boss more than a decade ago, before the two had a bitter falling out by 2016.

She encouraged residents of her district to send letters to the board and to speak during public comments.

Several county supervisors told LAist they supported a similar approach, one in which the recovered money goes to support the original intended recipients: seniors and people with disabilities in Do’s former district. Some supervisors have since advocated a broader view of how they’d want to use the money, noting that it was meant to address disruptions caused by the pandemic. Now that years have passed since the initial COVID-19 outbreak and lockdowns, some supervisors argue community needs have changed.

“We are so many years on, and the problems that money originally was to address (mostly Covid impacts) are now behind us, that I think we should have a discussion about how and where to spend it,” Supervisor Don Wagner told LAist via text message in March. “The budget is so tight and the needs so great across the county.”

Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento said he’d work toward a fair distribution of the funds to best serve residents, with a focus on current needs.

“We will definitely consider what areas of the County were harmed by Do’s scheme, but we must also remember that the funds were intended for relief efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, a threat we are no longer facing,” he said in March. “We also need to consider addressing the current needs of residents with any dollars returned to the county.”

Millions more haven’t been recovered, at least yet

The amount of taxpayer money recovered so far is less than half of the $7.9 million Andrew Do admitted was diverted from specific meal contracts.

In a lawsuit seeking to recover funds, the county alleges the total amount lost in the scheme was even larger: $13.25 million. The county’s suit — scheduled for trial in November 2027 — covers all of the money Do gave to two nonprofits accused in the scheme, Viet America Society and Hand to Hand Relief Organization.

That leaves more than $4 million — and possibly much more — not yet recovered.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office noted they have an ongoing criminal case against Do’s alleged co-conspirator Peter Pham.

“Assuming we obtain a conviction in that matter, we would expect to seek restitution,” the spokesperson, Ciaran McEvoy, said.

Pham left the country on a flight to Taiwan in late 2024 and remains a fugitive, according to McEvoy. The case against him also includes charges against another alleged co-conspirator, Thanh Huong Nguyen, who led the Hand to Hand nonprofit.

Fans of the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team swelled the stadium at the Great Park in Irvine on Monday to watch players practice for the first time since arriving at the training facility they’ll call home for the first round of the 2026 World Cup.

“Seeing them play right now… it was really cool to see how they play and how they practice,” said Mila Ran, who came with her mother from nearby Mission Viejo.

“This whole time she’s saying, 'I want to go shoot, I want to go play,'” said Mila’s mother, Farah Ran.

They were among about 6,000 people who won free entry to the practice in a lottery that received more than 30,000 entries, according to Irvine officials.

Fans got to the venue early.

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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

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LAist

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The team’s biggest stars — Christian Pulisic, Antonee Robinson and others — showed off their ball handling skills, honed over years of play on U.S. youth fields and overseas in professional leagues. Fans yelled, waved U.S. flags, held up homemade signs, and did the wave several times.

The U.S. Men's National Team at their only open-to-the-public practice session in Irvine.

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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

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LAist

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After the roughly 45-minute practice, some players walked to the sidelines to take selfies with fans and sign autographs.

The players know it’s going to take more than this, however, to live up to expectations during the World Cup.

US men's national team player Tim Ream signs an autograph for a fan.

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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

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LAist

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“To be in a position to train in front of these people today… is such a unique opportunity and one that none of us take for granted,” said backup goalie Matt Freese before the practice. “We’re working as hard as we can, as focused as we can to leave the next generation inspired."

The U.S. men’s team and their training staff will use the Great Park facility over the next several weeks as the team plays Paraguay on Friday, Australia on June 19, and Turkey on June 25 in group play at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

Jury selection began Monday for the trial of the man accused of igniting a fire that led to the deadly and destructive Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of structures.

Jonathan Rinderknecht is charged with one count of destruction of property by means of fire, one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and one count of setting timber afire. He could face up to 45 years in federal prison.

How we got here

Prosecutors allege Rinderknecht set brush alight near a popular hiking trail in the Santa Monica Mountains on New Year’s Day, starting the Lachman Fire. Firefighters initially thought they put out the fire, but it remained smouldering underground for several days. High winds then brought the embers to the surface, sparking the Palisades Fire, which burned more than 23,000 acres.

What prosecutors say

In a court filing in April, prosecutors allege Rinderknecht displayed “extreme anger, indignation, and frustration” because he had to spend New Year's Eve alone. After driving around for Uber, Rinderknecht hiked up a popular trail and set chaparral alight in a clearing, according to prosecutors.

“He then started calling 911 multiple times, hiked down the hill, and fled the area in his car before firefighters arrived. Defendant returned to the area after he saw fire trucks arriving and then took videos of the firefighting efforts,” prosecutors wrote.

The filing also states that Rinderknecht threatened to burn down his sister’s home.

Prosecutors are expected to argue that Rinderknecht started the smaller blaze knowing it could turn into a bigger inferno.

U.S. District Court Judge Anne Hwang has previously expressed the government’s position could confuse jurors.

What the defense says

Defense attorney Steve Haney previously told reporters that prosecutors were trying to blame Rinderknecht for a fire that started days before the Palisades Fire.

"Well what about what happened between Jan. 1 and Jan. 7?" he asked. "Jonathan wasn't out there with a fire hose putting that fire out at the Lachman location, the Fire Department was. So why are they blaming him for whatever the Fire Department didn't do?"