The Brief

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Gustavo Dudamel’s final performance as music and artistic director of the LA Phil will strike a bittersweet note, marking the end of his remarkable tenure here while at the same time serving his home country. The Hollywood Bowl concert will serve as a farewell and a fundraiser, bringing together musicians to support earthquake recovery efforts in his native Venezuela after a disaster that killed thousands and displaced residents across the country.

Dudamel — the legendary, curly-haired Venezuelan wunderkind from El Sistema — took over the Los Angeles Philharmonic 17 years ago and turned L.A.’s classical music scene into an absolute fiesta, becoming the rockstar maestro Angelenos proudly claimed as their own. Sadly for us, Dudamel is leaving Los Angeles to lead the New York Philharmonic in September. 

Gustavo Dudamel is introduced as the New York Philharmonic’s 27th music and artistic director, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023.

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John Minchillo

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AP Photo

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In honor of Dudamel’s remarkable legacy with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which includes marquee performances at the Super Bowl and Coachella, he will be honored with a week of concerts in late August. His final performance, A Concert for Venezuela, is slated for Sunday, August 23.

The special benefit concert is in response to the two catastrophic earthquakes that struck northern Venezuela on June 24, 2026, killing more than 6,000 people, injuring more than 16,000 others — including civilians trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings — and displacing thousands from their homes. 

“Venezuela will always be my home, and every moment, my thoughts are with the families whose lives have been forever changed by this tragedy. The suffering is immense, but so is the strength and resilience of our people,” Dudamel said in a statement.

Gustavo Dudamel conducts musicians from the LA Phil, Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) outside the Walt Disney Concert Hall downtown Los Angeles on Sept. 30, 2018.

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Damian Dovarganes

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AP Photo

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Dudamel will lead the full program, which will also include the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles and a stellar lineup of guest artists: eight-time Grammy winner Beck, Venezuelan harpist Eduardo Betancourt, Café Tacvba co-founder Meme del Real, Venezuelan cuatro virtuoso Jorge Glem, Latin Grammy powerhouse Natalia Lafourcade, Venezuelan pop singer-songwriter Lasso, bandola player Moisés Torrealba and vallenato pioneer Carlos Vives. More special guests are expected to be announced ahead of the show.

All donations raised by the concert will help affected communities in Venezuela and will be directed to Dudamel’s Earthquake Recovery, the United Nations Development Programme to support relief efforts, and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) fund, which supports  El Sistema students, staff members, families and facilities affected by the earthquakes.

“Every person who joins us and every contribution made is a reminder to the people of Venezuela that they are not alone. Together, through music, generosity, and hope, we will help our country heal and rebuild,” Dudamel said.

Gustavo Dudamel at work.

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Ryan Hunter

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The LA Phil

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Dudamel has championed multiple charities and fundraisers throughout the years, dedicating his time to producing programs such as Icons on Inspiration, a recorded virtual gala he presented during the pandemic that featured performers including actress Julie Andrews, actor and rapper Common, singer-songwriter Katy Perry and pianist Yuja Wang. He also led Gustavo’s Fiesta Gala, which marked his final gala at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, to raise funds for the orchestra’s learning and community initiatives.

Throughout his career, Dudamel has used music as a way to bring people together in moments of need. His final LA Phil summer concert continues that tradition — turning a farewell performance into an act of support for the country that shaped him.

Topline:

 Many musical artists today go out of their way to keep politics out of their performances. But for country singer Bryan Andrews, his progressive politics define his art.

Andrews' lyrics condemn billionaire greed, stand up for undocumented immigrants and call out mainstream country. He's gathered nearly 4 million followers on TikTok, and his album Independence Day came out just in time for the nation's 250th anniversary. This fall, his "Taking My Flag Back" tour comes to the Moroccan Lounge in LA.

Andrews' backstory

Andrews is from Missouri, but he was working as a welder in Minnesota when he decided to turn to music full-time.

"My hometown radio station played the song Liquor and Pills, and I took a video of it," Andrews said. "That ended up going viral. The next week, I called my boss, and I was like, 'Hey, I'm not coming back to work.'"

Andrews said his passion for politics and policy came from his liberal parents, but he was initially hesitant to put his beliefs into his music.

"I've been a liberal in a small town my whole life," Andrews said. "I know what people in small towns think of Democrats. But I started watching all the things happen with the LA ICE raids, and then Minneapolis, and then the shooting that just happened in Maine, and I couldn't keep my mouth shut anymore."

The classic artists inspiring TikTok hits

One of Andrews' songs that's gone viral on TikTok is "Yeehaw," which features the line, "Willie, Waylon, Johnny Cash, they're gonna want their records back." Andrews said mainstream country music has forgotten the politics of its outlaw past.

"The real outlaws, The Highwaymen, Cash, Kristofferson, Nelson, Jennings, all those guys were very economically educated when it came to the government and how the government spends their money," Andrews said. "A lot of those guys were hard leftists. Country music has always been rooted in standing up for the working man. Johnny Cash wrote a song called "The Man in Black" that is basically all about him standing in solidarity with folks on welfare who have been taken advantage of by a system that's rigged against them."

Taking the show on the road

Andrews' "Taking My Flag Back" tour comes to the Moroccan Lounge for a sold-out show on December 12. In an era when many social media stars have problems converting followers into live show attendees, Andrews said he doesn't take his success for granted.

"It's just been incredible for me, especially in this economy," Andrews said. "People going out and spending 30 bucks to just come hear me play my music, they deserve it a whole lot more than I do, so I'm gonna go out there and give them the best show I possibly can."

Andrews is aware that his outspoken politics may keep him out of some corners of mainstream country music.

"If they don't want to accept me into their spaces, then that's OK. I'll make my own space," Andrews says. "We've built this whole thing organically anyways. If I gotta build this road myself with all these fans, then we can do that. We're up for the challenge."

For most Californians, the milestone of buying a “starter home” is increasingly happening long after the start of adult life.

A new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Public Policy Institute of California finds that the age at which a majority of Californians turn from renters to homeowners is 47. In the rest of the country, a majority of people are homeowners by 36.

“It's quite staggering,” said Chris Duff, president of the Greater Los Angeles Association of Realtors. “The age does seem to be climbing every year, especially here in California.”

The numbers that explain why so many Californians are locked out 

High home prices, unyielding mortgage interest rates, sluggish construction of new homes and lackluster wage growth are all conspiring to keep many younger adults locked out of homeownership, real estate experts said.

Those factors exist across the country, but they’re especially acute in Southern California. According to recent data from the California Association of Realtors:

• The median home price in L.A. County was $879,900 in the second quarter of 2026. That was more than double the national median home price of $434,900.

• Only about 17% of L.A. households earn the $219,200 minimum income needed to afford a typical $5,480 monthly payment.

Younger buyers need to get creative — or get help from mom and dad

Larissa Rubijevsky, a realtor focused on L.A.’s South Bay neighborhoods, told LAist that when she began working in Southern California in the early 2000s, her first-time buyer clients tended to be in their early 30s.

Homes were already expensive back then, but Census data shows that first-time buyers were indeed younger. In 2009, a majority of Californians had become homeowners by age 41, according to the Public Policy Institute analysis.

These days, Rubijevsky said she sees millennial and Gen Z buyers making sacrifices just to try to enter the market.

“Sometimes they have to move in with their parents for a certain amount of time and save money,” she said. “Some of them are trying to buy property with their peers, with their friends, and then share the title 50-50.”

Others are hitting up their parents for down payment gifts, Rubijevsky said.

She said she saw her clients get noticeably older after the buying frenzy of the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. In those days, homes cost less and interest rates were low. Today’s prices and monthly payments are simply out of reach for most younger buyers, she said.

“People would like to have the American Dream,” Rubijevsky said. “When people can't do that, they're forced to leave the state… That's not a happy decision for them, but they just don't have any choice anymore.”

Why the trend toward older homebuyers matters for California

Between 2015 and 2025, California’s net migration included a loss of 884,000 people who cited high housing costs as their primary reason for leaving the state.

Marisol Cuellar Mejia — a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California who co-authored the recent homebuying analysis — said home ownership continues to be the main way for most families to build the kind of wealth they can pass on to the next generation.

“Younger adults in California are missing out on long-term wealth building,” Cuellar Mejia said.

She said the trend will have “a cascade effect that has a lot of implications” for lawmakers and individual families. Californians who need to wait until their 40s to buy a home could decide to delay marriage, have fewer children and keep working beyond a traditional retirement age.

Across Southern California, typical homebuying ages vary widely by location, education level, immigration status and ethnicity. In L.A. County, where most residents are renters, homeowners only begin to outnumber renters at age 59. In Riverside County, where homes are cheaper, that age is 39.

White and Asian Californians tend to become homeowners younger than Black Californians, according to the analysis. So do college graduates when compared with those without a college degree. California’s Latino immigrants are more likely to rent than own a home in every age bracket.

Vivian Chen, a mortgage lender with Southern California-based Exceed Lending, said some buyers are still able to secure their first home in their 20s and 30s by participating in government-funded down payment assistance programs, such as the California Dream For All Shared Appreciation Loan and various other county and city-funded programs.

“We are doing quite a few every month,” Chen said. “Those programs are actually helping a lot of first-time buyers.”

Is more government help on the way? 

California voters will be asked to approve new homebuying assistance funds in the upcoming November general election. Proposition 37 seeks to create a “middle class” down payment assistance program funded by revenue bonds of up to $25 billion.

Under the proposed program, homebuyers earning up to 200% of their area’s median income could apply for state funding to cover down payments of up to 17% for newly-built homes. That assistance would come in the form of a loan, not a grant, with recipients likely needing to pay back the money in monthly installments.

Republican California State Assemblymember Carl DeMaio has opposed Prop. 37, saying it would turn the state into one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders and leave taxpayers on the hook for potential financial losses.

Supporters — including the California Association of Realtors — argue the measure would incentivize developers to build new for-sale housing rather than rental units, something that has been increasingly rare in Southern California.

“We've really closed the revolving door when it comes to that first-time homebuyer getting a small one-bedroom or two-bedroom condo and then moving up as their life circumstances change,” said Duff, the Greater L.A. Association of Realtors president. “Since we're not building that construction, we don't have that inventory.”

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

More than 100 Boyle Heights and East L.A. residents packed a boardroom Wednesday in Diamond Bar to tell air regulators how air pollution and lingering odors from the Lineage warehouse fire have affected their health, homes and daily lives.

Some boarded buses before 8 a.m. to travel the 25 miles to the South Coast Air Quality Management District hearing, where the agency is considering whether to order stricter cleanup requirements and penalties against Lineage Logistics.

The hearing board is considering whether to issue an order of abatement, which would require Lineage to take specific steps to address air pollution from the warehouse fire and meet stricter cleanup standards at the site.

The hearing comes after AQMD said it received more than 4,000 odor complaints since early July and issued 19 notices of violation to Lineage, alleging the odors created a public nuisance.

Lineage said it had removed about 80% of the food waste from the facility and expects to spend between $80 million and $100 million on cleanup.

The air district hearing board is expected to continue its review Thursday as it considers issuing an order and possibly charging fines for the air quality violations. Board and Lineage representatives are scheduled to give presentations tomorrow on the cleanup and related pollution.

Here are five takeaways from the testimony.

1. Residents made the trip to make sure their voices were heard

Several speakers said it was frustrating that residents had to leave their communities, miss work and travel to Diamond Bar just to be heard. They called on AQMD to hold future hearings in Boyle Heights, closer to the people most affected by the fire.

On the bus ride to the hearing, residents told Boyle Heights Beat that they were coming to speak for their children, for neighbors who feared reprisal and because they had lived through environmental crises, like the Exide battery recycling plant, which contaminated neighborhoods in Southeast Los Angeles for years.

2. Weeks later, people say they still don’t feel safe

Speakers told the hearing board they are still dealing with foul odors from rotting food and health issues, including nausea, headaches, bloody noses, rashes, sinus and eye infections, asthma flare-ups and breathing problems. Many said they worry about the long-term effects of exposure and whether the air will be safe when kids return to school.

Amanda Diaz carried her newborn son with her to the microphone. She told the board her son was about two weeks old when the fire broke out . Her voice shaking with emotion, Diaz said she had to take her child to a hospital after he broke out in rashes, and she is worried that the exposure has caused harm that isn’t yet apparent.

“The fire has robbed me of these chances to recover from childbirth in peace and enjoy these precious first weeks with my son,” she said.

Several people said the impacts extend beyond the streets closest to the warehouse and that more people across Boyle Heights and East L.A. have been affected.

“Does the air have a ZIP code?” resident Margarita Gonzalez asked the board and Lineage’s representatives, inviting them to spend time in her home to better understand the extent of the odor problem.

“Our community deserves fresh air,” Erika Jimenez, who lives near Mariachi Plaza, added.

3. Elected leaders call lingering odors a public health crisis

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass addresses the board and residents via remote video at a hearing held in the William A. Burke Auditorium of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) in Diamond Bar.

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Gary Coronado

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The LA Local

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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, District 14 City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and State Sen. María Elena Durazo urged the board to require stricter cleanup standards and impose financial penalties against Lineage.

Bass called on the board to use its enforcement authority to require a stronger cleanup plan, including financial support for impacted residents.

“What the residents of Boyle Heights are facing is not just a nuisance, but it is a public health crisis that requires urgent and actionable measures,” Bass told the board.

Bass said Lineage should be required to establish a fund dedicated to the ongoing support of impacted residents, including relocating them until the issue is completely resolved. She added that the company has made some effort to provide help but only after pressure from residents and elected leaders.

Jurado said the sheer volume of complaints and notices of violations is evidence enough that Lineage’s management of the crisis has been inadequate.

“Residents should not have to file complaint after complaint to force a multi-billion-dollar corporation to contain the harm that it created,” Jurado told the board.

She added that any order against Lineage should include firm deadlines, aggressive odor control, public reporting and meaningful consequences if it is violated.

Durazo echoed outrage that residents are expected to endure unsafe conditions while the cleanup unfolds at the “company’s pace.” She said the rotting material should be removed before students are expected to return to school on Aug. 12.

Durazo said Lineage should pay for the full cost of housing and home remediation for residents, and the board should enforce the maximum financial penalty against the company. She also asked that another hearing be held in Boyle Heights rather than miles away during the workday.

“Residents deserve to be heard,” Durazo said.

Concerned residents of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles at a hearing held in Diamond Bar. The South Coast AQMD Hearing Board held a hearing listening to proposed conditions to reduce odors impacting the nearby community from the Lineage Warehouse fire cleanup in Boyle Heights.

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Gary Coronado

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The LA Local

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4. Residents say they don’t want history to repeat itself

For many speakers, the Lineage fire was not an isolated incident. They said it was another example of Boyle Heights and East L.A. communities being forced to live with the impacts of policies and businesses that create health hazards for the community.

Several people compared the situation to Exide. Others questioned why communities near industrial facilities are often asked to endure pollution and health risks while waiting for action.

“We are witnessing environmental racism,” Eve Sanchez said.

Alma Martinez, of Monterey Park, weeps during public comments at a hearing held in the William A. Burke Auditorium of the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Diamond Bar.

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Gary Coronado

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The LA Local

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Some called for the warehouse and other industrial facilities to move away from residential neighborhoods.

“I need you to pay attention to what’s happening in our community and for these factories to move from their location please,” said Cristina Fernandez, an East L.A. resident, with help from an interpreter.

She also invited Lineage representatives to visit her home and experience the poor air quality.

5. Students and parents describe a disrupted summer and back-to-school concerns

Leonardo Gutierrez, 8, and mother Maria Patiño Gutierrez, of East Los Angeles, address the board at a hearing held in the William A. Burke Auditorium of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) in Diamond Bar.

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Gary Coronado

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The LA Local

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Several youth who are members of East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice spoke on behalf of their families and their neighbors and highlighted the uncertainty of going back to school in the aftermath of Lineage.

“Am I expected to go into my senior year in these conditions? It’s ridiculous,” said Isabella Hernandez, a Boyle Heights resident.

“Lineage is banking on the fact that we’re poor,” Hernandez said. “They think we’re stupid and uneducated and that we’re just going to lie down and take this.

“We’re not. We deserve clean air and a safe place to live,” she continued.

Another Boyle Heights youth spoke about a lack of purifiers being distributed.

“I come from a multigenerational home and we only have one air purifier … How does this make sense?” she said.

Maria Patiño Gutierrez said she’s not comfortable with her son going back to school, which is less than two miles away from Lineage.

“Our summer plans were ruined because of this fire,” she said.

Her son also addressed officials during the hearing.

“It was my birthday when the fire started," he said. "My baseball game was canceled. Everything was canceled because of the fire.”

An effort to put a rent control measure on the November ballot in Anaheim has fizzled. That means Santa Ana is likely to remain the only Orange County city with rent control, at least for now.

The group Tenants United Anaheim launched an effort in January to put rent control on the November ballot. The initiative proposed to cap rent increases in the city at 3% annually. It also would have required landlords to pay relocation assistance to tenants forced to move through no fault of their own, such as when an owner takes a rental unit off the market.

Why did it fizzle?

Tenants United Anaheim has yet to release an official statement, but an organizer with the group told LAist the group had decided to suspend signature-gathering in order to improve and strengthen the text of the ballot measure.

This week is the deadline to submit ballot initiatives for the November election in Orange County. The group expects to resume the effort for a future election.

The context

Tenant advocates in Anaheim had hoped to follow in the footsteps of neighboring Santa Ana, which became Orange County’s first city to adopt rent control in 2021. It was upheld by voters in 2024. The efforts in both cities have faced strong opposition from the California Apartment Association, which represents landlords.

What's next

Some cities have had to pare down their protections for renters after negative court rulings. Los Angeles and Pasadena have stopped enforcing mandatory relocation assistance following legal victories by landlord groups.

Tenants United Anaheim's members hope their revised rent control proposal will make it on the ballot in 2028.