Topline:
Two members of the Black Eyed Peas, Taboo and will.i.am, release a song condemning ICE and celebrating the community that raised them.
Why it matters: The track is a love letter to East L.A. and to the immigrant communities that shape the area. It’s also a response to what will.i.am and Taboo call "cruel and indiscriminate ICE raids terrorizing Los Angeles."
Keep reading... to hear what we learned when we sat down with Taboo to get the track’s origin story.
Two members of the Grammy-winning, chart-topping hip-hop group the Black Eyed Peas, released a new track, titled East LA, on July 18 dedicated to their hometown. Between a catchy chorus that loops a sample of Santana’s 1999 hit Maria Maria, will.i.am and Taboo rhyme about being raised among “Aztec warriors” and getting stupid on “Whittier and Euclid.”
The track is a love letter to East L.A. and to the immigrant communities that shape the area. It’s also a response to what will.i.am and Taboo call "cruel and indiscriminate ICE raids terrorizing Los Angeles."
But the song didn’t start out that way. I sat down with Taboo to get the track’s origin story.
Jimmy Gomez, aka Taboo, one of the core members of the Black Eyed Peas, was born in Boyle Heights in 1975. Years later, when he was a B-boy in L.A.'s late-'90s freestyle break dancing scene, he met William Adams, aka will.i.am. They bonded over growing up in the same area and even realized that their moms went to rival high schools.
“My mom went to Garfield, and his mom went to Roosevelt,” Taboo says. “But it was all love for East L.A.”
Taboo has vivid memories of growing up in the area: “Carne asada, paletas, raspados and elote from the elote man.”
He remembers getting pan dulce and watching mariachis with his grandmother. One of the places he would see them perform, Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights, features prominently in the East LA music video.
According to Taboo, earlier this year, will.i.am reached out and said he wanted to put together a song where they “ talk about all the beauty that is East L.A. and our upbringing in our childhood ... and just the things that we were surrounded by.”
Taboo went into the studio, and will.i.am already had the looped Maria Maria sample and a sketch of how the flow would work. They started spitballing words they used as kids and also slang from the neighborhood.
“ We started laughing, like, what's some words that you remember? What about pan dulce? That's cool, right?” Taboo says. “ Oh wait, I'm on this Foos Gone Wild.” (Foos Gone Wild is an extremely popular Instagram memes page with a Chicano sense of humor). “We laugh all the time with Foos Gone Wild because it's very stereotypical, but it's funny and that's what we grew up with. So Foos Gone Wild set the tone for us. That's not typical to what people have heard from the Peas. It's L.A.-centric. It's a very Chicano, Spanglish vibe, but it's fun.”
For the music video, Taboo says they shot it "guerrilla style,” picking locations that were significant to them growing up and going with the flow: “Let's go to this landmark here. Hey, Will, let's go to where your mom used to live in this part of the project.”
Part of the video is shot in front of Frank Fierro’s 1970s Orale Raza mural, which is painted on the Estrada Courts building where will.i.am and his family lived as a child.
On June 6, two days after will.i.am and Taboo had wrapped shooting the music video, ICE sweeps began to roil Los Angeles. The two rappers immediately knew they had to incorporate what was happening into the visuals of the video and the meaning of the track.
“This is bigger than just a love letter," Taboo says they realized. "Now we have to go in and really advocate for raza, for our people. ... The ICE raids that are hostile takeovers with people in masks and unmarked cars that are taking families and people that are working and mothers that are with their kids — that's horrible. That's not right.”
Taboo and will.i.am went to a protest against ICE in front of Los Angeles City Hall to participate and film part of the video. “So that's why you see the American flag and the Mexican flag combined [in the music video]. That was at the protest downtown,” Taboo says.
As for what Taboo hopes listeners take away from the song?
“For those folks that may be like, ‘Well, we want our borders to be strict.’ I agree,” Taboo says. “We should have restrictions on our borders. But we should not execute hostile takeovers. I hope that we can stand together. Have empathy, have love, support. Learn ways that we can educate ourselves and do our part.”
Topline:
A woman was arrested at LAX on Saturday night for allegedly trafficking arms on behalf of the Iranian government, according to authorities.
Why now: Shamim Mafi of Woodland Hills is charged with helping the regime sell drones, bombs, bomb fuses and millions of rounds of ammunition to Sudan.
The backstory: Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, made the arrest announcement Sunday morning on social media.
A woman was arrested for allegedly trafficking arms on behalf of the Iranian government at LAX on Saturday night, according to authorities.
Shamim Mafi of Woodland Hills is charged with helping the regime sell drones, bombs and millions of rounds of ammunition to Sudan.
Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, made the arrest announcement Sunday morning on social media.
The 44-year-old Mafi is expected to appear in court for a bond hearing Monday afternoon in downtown L.A.
According to the criminal complaint filed by the Department of Justice and obtained by LAist, Mafi allegedly brokered weapons deals on behalf of Iran through Atlas International, a business in Oman she co-owns, including facilitating a contract valued at more than €60 million (or some US $70 million) for the sale of Iranian-made armed drones to Sudan.
She is also being accused of brokering the sale of 55,000 bomb fuses, AK-47 machine guns and other weapons to the Sudanese Ministry of Defense.
Mafi faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.
Essayli said Mafi is an Iranian national who became a permanent resident of the U.S. in 2016.
Topline:
Starting Monday, companies can apply to get their tariff-related refunds back.
Why now: U.S. Customs is launching just the first phase of payouts, so not all the goods imported under the illegal tariffs will immediately qualify.
The backstory: U.S. Customs has estimated that it owes a total of $166 billion in tariff refunds, and the agency's legal filings suggest that the initial phase would tackle the majority of affected imports.
After weeks of waiting to hear how — or whether — the U.S. government might refund the tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court, Monday is the day it finally begins.
Imagine tens of thousands of business owners with their fingers hovering over laptops, ready to enter America's hottest new queue: the U.S. tariff-refund portal.
U.S. Customs is launching just the first phase of payouts, so not all the goods imported under the illegal tariffs will immediately qualify. And the latest federal guidance says that after refund requests are approved, it could take 60 to 90 days to return the money to the importer.
Still, this marks a turning point for U.S. importers, who've waited for clarity for exactly two months since the U.S. Supreme Court declared most of President Trump's tariffs unconstitutional. The high court did not opine on the process of refunds, and government officials at first suggested the process could prove unwieldy.
"Small businesses organized, spoke out, and won a major victory," said Main Street Alliance, which advocates for U.S. small businesses, in a statement. "Now, the federal government must follow through with a refund process that truly works for Main Street."
U.S. Customs has estimated that it owes a total of $166 billion in tariff refunds, and the agency's legal filings suggest that the initial phase would tackle the majority of affected imports. On Tuesday, a Customs official told a judge that the vast majority of eligible importers signed up for electronic payments, as the agency is requiring, and that group is owed about $127 billion.
Will consumers see any of that money land in their pockets? Probably not, economics and legal experts say.
The cost of tariffs has been woven into the prices of many products in a way that can make it hard to separate out what customers ultimately paid. Often, manufacturers, suppliers, importers, retailers and shoppers all absorb costs along the way. And with tariffs landing on the heels of historic inflation, companies big and small have argued that they ate much of the cost to avoid spooking shoppers with higher prices.
In fact, many retailers find themselves in a similar quandary because tariff refunds will go to whoever paid the actual customs bill. It's unclear how, or if, the refunds might trickle down to store owners who paid tariff surcharges to their suppliers.
"As a retailer, I didn't pay tariffs directly. However, I did pay them indirectly in the form of higher wholesale prices," says Joe Kimray, owner of B & W Hardware in North Carolina. Most of his products are either made abroad or use imported parts.
"I plan to have conversations with a number of manufacturers and hope that they will do the right thing and share some of the tariff refund money with us," he says. "I don't expect to get a direct refund check from anyone, but it could be even as simple as offering discounts on the wholesale cost of future product purchases."
Shoppers hoping to recoup their own tariff expenses have launched class-action lawsuits against several companies, including Costco and FedEx. The shipping giant has pledged to pass down any refunds it receives. Costco's CEO last month told investors the company would return shoppers' money through "lower prices and better values" and would be transparent about its plans.
U.S. Customs' initial phase of refunds will focus on tariff payments that haven't been finalized because they technically are still under federal review. (Companies typically pay import duties as soon as their goods arrive at the border, but the complete customs review that follows can take nearly a year.) The government will continue to set up its new system, called CAPE, so that it can later on refund older, finalized tariff payments.
NPR asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection about the scale of tariff refunds it expects to handle in the first phase, including the volume of claims the agency's new tool is prepared to handle on Monday. A CBP spokesperson in response said that CAPE was developed "to efficiently process refunds" and referred importers and brokers to the agency's updated tariff-refund guidance.
NPR's Scott Horsley contributed to this report.
Copyright 2026 NPR
Topline:
A new Long Beach-themed Monopoly game turns local landmarks into playable spaces on the board. The game is part of a recent wave of city-specific editions that has the iconic game connecting with communities through nostalgia and local pride.
How to get a Monopoly game: To be featured, a city has to have enough people excited enough to support the production of thousands of games.
Why now: Top Trumps has expanded U.S. city editions in recent years as interest in board games has resurged after the pandemic. A company representative said that Long Beach, with its strong sense of community and recognizable landmarks, fit the model.
Monopoly lovers can now buy up the Queen Mary, collect rent on Belmont Shore and park their token at a storied tattoo shop, Outer Limits.
The Long Beach landmarks line the spaces of a new Monopoly edition themed around L.A. County’s second biggest city, released just this month.
The Long Beach edition is part of an expanding series of Monopoly games featuring dozens of American cities, which Hasbro licensee Top Trumps started to produce about five years ago when interest in board games surged during the pandemic.
How does a city land on one of the world's most popular board games? Turns out, it’s not just a roll of the dice.
“We’re looking for places with strong community pride, places where people will really love seeing their city on a Monopoly board,” said Jennifer Tripsea, a partnership sales executive with Top Trumps.
Long Beach fit the bill and got to join a list of SoCal cities on Monopoly boards including Huntington Beach, Riverside and Palm Springs.
Tripsea said in some instances, a city will pitch themselves to the company — she didn’t disclose which have — but not every place makes the cut.
There has to be enough population — or local enthusiasm — to support a run of thousands of games.
Top Trumps sells the games online and through local businesses, sometimes the same ones featured on the board. That creates a built-in customer base: residents, tourists and collectors hunting for their next addition.
And while some businesses may offer to sponsor their way into consideration, their inclusion isn’t a given.
Tripsea said when deciding who earns a spot, the company weighs cultural relevance, brand standards and community input.
Once a city is selected, residents are invited to help shape the board.
That means emailing suggested landmarks and drafting potential Chance and Community Chest cards. For Long Beach, one Community Chest card directs players to collect $100 if they "attend a beach cleanup at Alamitos Beach."
Hundreds of submissions flooded in over the last year, many pointing to the same top attractions, Tripsea said. The Queen Mary and Aquarium of the Pacific take up the same spots on the board that are occupied by Park Place and Boardwalk in the original game.
Others featured on the board are lesser known to outsiders, like Rosie’s Dog Beach and the Arts Council for Long Beach.
The arts nonprofit was “surprised and excited” to hear from Top Trumps last year that they were being included in a version all about Long Beach, said interim executive director Lisa DeSmidt.
“I describe Long Beach as a big city that's run like a small town, and that everybody kind of knows each other to some degree,” DeSmidt said. “Long Beach has a sense of community in that Long Beach takes care of Long Beach people.”
An intern for the arts council, Peyton Smith, designed its space on the board, featuring small, intricate renderings of landmarks like the Long Beach Airport and the pyramid arena at Cal State Long Beach.
For DeSmidt, the game serves as a kind of cultural snapshot highlighting the city’s mix of arts, neighborhoods and institutions. It’s reminiscent of the council’s own project mapping the city’s cultural assets.
“This ties into uplifting what makes Long Beach unique and what people love about it,” DeSmidt said.
Outer Limits Tattoo was also invited to be part of the game, where it now appears next to VIP Records on the board.
Recognized as the country’s oldest continuously working tattoo shop, Outer Limits’ history dates back to 1927, when it opened in the waterfront amusement district known as The Pike, now home to the Pike Outlets.
Outer Limits' general manager Matt Hand said once word got out that the shop was stocking the game, customers started showing up just to buy it.
“It’s just a cool thing,” Hand said. “Especially when it’s like, ‘The business where I get tattooed’ is on the board.”
A big reason Hand thinks these editions are catching on is nostalgia. Seeing your own city in a board game that you played as a kid — and may be now playing with your own kids — is thrilling.
“You're basically like a part of the game now,” Hand said.
Topline:
You might have noticed a little more purple on your commute in Los Angeles recently. Turns out the jacarandas are putting on their annual show of blooms a little early this year.
Why? Originally from the tropics, jacarandas respond to changes in temperature. They typically flower in our region from late April to mid-June. But remember that sweltering heat wave we got in March?
Where are the purple hot spots? A couple years ago, a local data graphics editor created an interactive map so you can find the purple hot spots.
Go deeper: Jacaranda season is upon us. But wait, how do you pronounce ‘jacaranda’?
You might have noticed a little more purple on your commute in Los Angeles recently. Turns out the jacarandas are putting on their annual show of blooms a little early this year.
Originally from the tropics, jacarandas respond to changes in temperature. They typically flower in our region from late April to mid-June.
But remember that sweltering heat wave we got in March?
“They got the clear sign: ‘It’s over 90 [degrees], it’s hot out. Even though you weren’t quite prepared, it’s time to put out some flowers,'” Loral Hall, community forestry senior program manager at environmental nonprofit TreePeople, told LAist.
Hall said not only do jacarandas grace us every year with thick canopies and carpets of purple, they’re relatively drought tolerant, pest resistant and able to grow in urban areas (like in a small square patch of dirt surrounded by concrete).
“They’re attention-grabbers here in Southern California,” said Hall, who grew up in Hollywood and has childhood memories of playing with the fallen purple blooms at a local park. “In a place where we don’t have really obvious seasons, [jacaranda blooms] are a sign that warmer weather is on the way.”
Hall also shared a lesser-known fact about jacarandas: There’s a white cultivar, too. The white version is much more rare in L.A., though with some of the trees rumored to be in a non-public area of the L.A. County Arboretum, Hall said.
The jacaranda is native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Argentina and Brazil.
While we don’t know exactly when the jacaranda first arrived in our area, we do know they were brought to Southern California in the late 19th century and proliferated thanks to a local horticulturist named Kate Sessions.
A couple years ago, a local data graphics editor even created an interactive map so you can find the purple hot spots.
They’re... everywhere, so it shouldn’t be too hard to stumble upon a jacaranda show.
