The Brief

This story was originally published by The LA Local on Feb. 12, 2026.

Valentine’s Day is here, and in Highland Park, that means Delicias Bakery & Some is transforming from a family-owned panadería into an intimate evening restaurant for the weekend.

This is the second year Delicias will host a Valentine’s event as part of its “Moodnight” series.

“Our customers are family, and we wanted to create a safe, welcoming place for people to gather at night, unwind, and enjoy fellowship, great food and music,” Matthew Rivera, an event organizer and Delicias’ business partner, told The LA Local.

Delicias has been operating since 1991, offering Mexican recipes from pan dulce and breakfast burritos to aguas frescas and coffee.

It is run by sisters Emily and Roxanne Sanchez. Delicias began hosting evening events in partnership with FAMI Goods in 2025.

“Moodnight” transforms the bakery into a social hub for the Northeast Los Angeles community.

The first event is Friday, Feb. 13, for Galentine’s Day, when Delicias will host “Lovers x Friends,” an after-hours dinner featuring house-made pizzas for two and music inspired by Outkast’s The Love Below.

Rivera called it “a celebratory event for friendship, filled with high energy and an upbeat atmosphere.”

On Saturday, Feb. 14, Delicias is splitting Valentine’s Day into two events.

During the day, there will be bouquets and portraits, along with brunch featuring chilaquiles and raspberry compote waffles.

At night, the bakery will offer a candlelit dinner with specialty pizzas and a café de olla brownie sundae for dessert.

“Moodnight transitions into a more intimate, sultry atmosphere with R&B jams playing throughout the night,” Anisha Sisodia, Delicias’ creative director said.

Heart-shaped conchas will also be available for takeout over the weekend. “[It’s] a glimpse of what Moodnight will continue to bring to the community throughout the year,” Sisodia added.

Looking for more last-minute plans for Valentine’s weekend? Here’s a list of the 11 best V-Day events happening in Los Angeles.

A poster for Valentine’s Day outside Delicias in Highland Park.

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Cristabell Fierros

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The LA Local

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No. 11: Galentine’s Edition at Wallflower Market

No. 10: Bloodline Group Show at Superchief Gallery

No. 9: Pucca x Garu Valentine’s at Little Tokyo Galleria

No. 8: V-Day Live Band Karaoke at Alana’s Coffee

No. 7: Frogtown Heart Walk Love + Art

No. 6: I Love Everything East LA Festival

No. 5: Valentine’s Singles Party at El Condor

No. 4: Galentine’s Day at Common Space

No. 3: Love Notes at Gloria Molina Grand Park

No. 2: Valentine’s Brunch at Homegirl Cafe

No. 1: Moodnight at Delicias

One year after taking charge of the nation’s health department, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hasn’t held true to many of the promises he made while appealing to U.S. senators concerned about the longtime anti-vaccine activist’s plans for the nation’s care.

Kennedy squeaked through a narrow Senate vote to be confirmed as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, only after making a number of public and private guarantees about how he would handle vaccine funding and recommendations as secretary.

Here’s a look at some of the promises Kennedy made during his confirmation process.

The childhood vaccine schedule

In two hearings in January 2025, Kennedy repeatedly assured senators that he supported childhood vaccines, noting that all his children were vaccinated.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) grilled Kennedy about the money he’s made in the private sector from lawsuits against vaccine makers and accused him of planning to profit from potential future policies making it easier to sue.

“Kennedy can kill off access to vaccines and make millions of dollars while he does it,” Warren said during the Senate Finance Committee hearing. “Kids might die, but Robert Kennedy can keep cashing in.”

Warren’s statement prompted an assurance by Kennedy.

“Senator, I support vaccines,” he said. “I support the childhood schedule. I will do that.”

Days later, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, declared Kennedy had pledged to maintain existing vaccine recommendations if confirmed. Cassidy, a physician specializing in liver diseases and a vocal supporter of vaccination, had questioned Kennedy sharply in a hearing about his views on shots.

“If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ recommendations without changes,” Cassidy said during a speech on the Senate floor explaining his vote for Kennedy.

A few months after he was confirmed, Kennedy fired all the incumbent members of the vaccine advisory panel, known as ACIP, and appointed new members, including several who, like him, oppose some vaccines. The panel’s recommendations soon changed drastically.

Last month, the CDC removed its universal recommendations for children to receive seven immunizations, those protecting against respiratory syncytial virus, meningococcal disease, flu, covid, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and rotavirus. The move followed a memorandum from the White House calling on the CDC to cull the schedule.

Now, those vaccines, which researchers estimate have prevented thousands of deaths and millions of illnesses, are recommended by the CDC only for children at high-risk of serious illness or after consultation between doctors and parents.

In response to questions about Kennedy’s actions on vaccines over the past year, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the secretary “continues to follow through on his commitments” to Cassidy.

“As part of those commitments, HHS accepted Chairman Cassidy’s numerous recommendations for key roles at the agency, retained particular language on the CDC website, and adopted ACIP recommendations,” Nixon added. “Secretary Kennedy talks to the chairman at a regular clip.”

Cassidy and his office have repeatedly rebuffed questions about whether Kennedy, since becoming secretary, has broken the commitments he made to the senator.

Vaccine funding axed

Weeks after Kennedy took over the federal health department, the CDC pulled back $11 billion in covid-era grants that local health departments were using to fund vaccination programs, among other initiatives.

That happened after Kennedy pledged during his confirmation hearings not to undermine vaccine funding.

Kennedy replied “Yes” when Cassidy asked him directly: “Do you commit that you will not work to impound, divert, or otherwise reduce any funding appropriated by Congress for the purpose of vaccination programs?”

A federal judge later ordered HHS to distribute the money.

The National Institutes of Health, part of HHS, also yanked dozens of research grants supporting studies of vaccine hesitancy last year. Kennedy, meanwhile, ordered the cancellation of a half-billion dollars’ worth of mRNA vaccine research in August.

A discredited theory about autism

Cassidy said in his floor speech that he received a guarantee from Kennedy that the CDC’s website would not remove statements explaining that vaccines do not cause autism.

Technically, Kennedy kept his promise not to remove the statements. The website still says that vaccines do not cause autism.

But late last year, new statements sprung up on the same webpage, baselessly casting doubt on vaccine safety. “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism,” the page on autism now misleadingly reads.

The webpage also states that the public has largely ignored studies showing vaccines do cause autism.

That is false. Over decades of research, scientific studies have repeatedly concluded that there is no link between vaccines and autism.

A controversial 1998 study that captured global attention did link the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine to autism. It was retracted for being fraudulent — though not until a decade after it was published, during which there were sharp declines in U.S. vaccination rates.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

California filed a lawsuit this week challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s threat to withhold funding over the state’s policy on gender identity disclosure.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta asked the Northern District of California Court on Wednesday for a temporary restraining order against “an unconstitutional attempt to impose new conditions on $4.9 billion in federal education funding,” according to a statement from Bonta’s office.

“We will not stand by as U.S. ED uses baseless claims to attack crucial education funding,” Bonta said. “We will continue to fight to protect California’s schools and students from unfair attacks and work to ensure a discrimination-free educational environment for all students.”

At issue is whether school staff should notify parents if they believe their child may be transgender or gender-nonconforming. California and LGBTQ+ advocates contend that policies requiring parental notification may forcibly “out” transgender students to their parents against their will. But the Trump administration and conservatives have portrayed the state’s stance as an attack on parents’ rights.

“Parents are the most natural protectors of their children. Yet many states and school districts have enacted policies that imply students need protection from their parents,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in a statement on Jan. 28.

Last month, McMahon claimed its investigation found that the California Department of Education “abused its authority by pressuring school officials to withhold information about students’ so-called ‘gender transitions’ from their parents.”

Assembly Bill 1955, a 2024 state law, prohibits school boards from passing resolutions that require teachers and school staff to notify parents if they believe a child is transgender or gender-nonconforming. It was passed in the wake of decisions by several school boards to require that parents be notified. In one high-profile incident, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond was ousted from a school board meeting in Chino Valley for speaking against a parental notification policy that the board later passed.

Last March, the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office opened an investigation into whether the California Department of Education’s policies violated federal privacy laws. That includes the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, known as FERPA, which grants parents the right to request and review their children’s educational records until they turn 18.

The investigation found that California “put districts in a position of having to choose between complying with FERPA or getting sued by the State.” The investigation report noted that CDE “coerces school districts to withhold information about students’ gender identity.”

Bonta disputes this interpretation of FERPA, stating that the law only requires disclosure of education records, not general information. The lawsuit states that CDE has issued guidance to districts clarifying that parents have the right to request their children’s education records under FERPA, even if those records contain information about a student’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

The suit states that the Trump administration has “failed to demonstrate even a single violation of FERPA” and that the focus on the investigation appears to be “motivated by discriminatory animus against transgender people, including transgender students.”

“This is a flagrant attempt by the U.S. Department of Education to intimidate the California Department of Education and California’s local education agencies under the guise of enforcing FERPA,” said Bonta in a statement.

The CDE released guidance regarding FERPA on Wednesday in a letter to public school agencies. It outlines the exceptions to what is included in education records, including personal staff notes, law enforcement records, employee records and records by medical or mental health professionals for students at least 18 years old.

This isn’t the only legal battle California is involved in regarding parental notification. Two Escondido Union School District teachers filed a lawsuit in 2023, claiming that state and district policies preventing the “outing” of transgender students violated their constitutional free speech and religious rights. Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit blocked the order from a federal judge who sided with the teachers. Plaintiffs asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate the federal judge’s ruling.

The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week addressed growing questions about the presence of ICE agents during World Cup games hosted in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities this summer.

Todd Lyons, the agency's head, said at a congressional hearing that ICE will play a key role in security for the tournament. But he said it would be ICE’s investigatory branch — not it's enforcement division.

The answer did not satisfy Congressmember Nellie Pou (D-NJ) of New Jersey. Pou asked Lyons to publicly commit to ICE pausing operations at FIFA matches and related public events.

"You realize that if they feel that they're going to be wrongfully incarcerated or wrongfully pulled out," Pou said of potential World Cup visitors. "That's going to hurt this entire process."

Lyons responded: "ICE is dedicated to ensuring that everyone that visits the facilities will have a safe and secure event."

Why it matters

The exchange laid bare growing concerns from some lawmakers and community groups about the combination of millions of international visitors coming to the soccer spectacle and aggressive immigration enforcement in L.A. and other host cities.

Kathryn Schloessman, L.A. host committee head, called the matter "above my pay grade" when asked to address concerns about potential ICE activity at FIFA's fan festival, which is scheduled for June 11 to 15.

" We are working very closely with our public safety and security partners," Schloessman told LAist. "That's their job to make sure we're delivering a safe and secure event."

Every host city committee including Los Angeles is supposed to release a "human rights action plan" ahead of the games. Those plans should outline how the host city is planning to protect freedom of expression and handle security and workers' rights.

But those plans have not yet been finalized and made public, less than five month out. That has some critics ringing an alarm.

" It's a very poor report card on turning in your homework for Los Angeles and all other host cities," said Minky Worden with Human Rights Watch.

FIFA declined to comment on the status of the local reports. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles World Cup 2026 Host Committee said that the L.A. action plan is under review with community stakeholders.

What we know about World Cup security

The World Cup will be staged across Mexico, Canada and eleven U.S. cities including Los Angeles, where eight matches will take place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. The tournament is expected to attract up to 7 million international visitors to the U.S., and the federal government has allocated $625 million in funding for security tied to the event.

At a briefing in December, Andrew Giuliani, the executive director for the White House's World Cup task force, told reporters that the Department of Homeland Security is "coordinating daily" with host cities on security for fan zones, stadiums and base camps — where athletes will train throughout the tournament.

Homeland Security's leading role in security for an event as massive as the World Cup is standard procedure — the department is also taking the lead for the 2028 Olympics. What's less clear is exactly the part ICE will play.

Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Todd Lyons testifies during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Feb. 10, 2026 in Washington, DC.

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What we know about ICE's role in security

Lyons, the ICE leader who addressed Congress this week, said it would be the agency's Homeland Security Investigations that would take on a key role. That's the department's criminal investigation unit, which is separate from its "Enforcement and Removal Operations" branch that has been conducting escalated immigration sweeps across Los Angeles — and the nation — since June.

That said, the federal government has not promised that immigration enforcement will stay away from the tournament.

“International visitors who legally come to the United States for the World Cup have nothing to worry about," Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security spokesperson, told the Athletic. "What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are illegally in the U.S. — full stop.”

DHS did not respond to LAist's requests for more information on the role ICE specifically will play in World Cup security.

Human rights concerns

These open questions and the ongoing immigration raids have alarmed human rights advocates. A group of leading advocacy organizations in December called on FIFA and local host cities to commit to "ensuring effective protections against racial profiling, arbitrary detention, and unlawful immigration enforcement during the tournament."

Jamil Dakwar, the ACLU's human rights director, pointed to the deployment of the National Guard in cities including Los Angeles last year.

“The Trump administration has aggressively pursued a systematic anti-human rights campaign to target, detain, and disappear immigrants in communities across the US," he said in a statement. "We call on FIFA to honor its human rights commitments, not capitulate to Trump’s authoritarianism.”

FIFA put out a Human Rights framework for the coming World Cup in 2024. That guide, outlining a focus on inclusivity, workers rights, and a grievance procedure for human rights concerns, is intended to be a structure for each host city's own human rights action plan.

Details about the games in L.A.

L.A. will be the first U.S. city to host a World Cup match. The U.S. Men's National Team will play its first game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on June 12, with a 6 p.m. kickoff.

A fan festival at L.A. Memorial Coliseum June 11 to 15 is expected to attract huge crowds of revelers.

This story was originally published by The LA Local on Feb. 11, 2026.

The longtime home of Papa Cristo’s in Pico Union could be demolished to make way for a self-storage facility, across the street from another storage facility.

The Greek market and restaurant closed its doors last year, after seven decades in the neighborhood. Now a Redondo Beach-based developer, who are in escrow over the property, said if they are able to move ahead with their project they would honor Papa Cristo’s in some capacity.

During a community meeting on Tuesday, some in the neighborhood were tepid about the proposal.

“I think everybody would like to see housing. It’s an important need,” said Stephen Post, manager of the Byzantine Latino Quarter Pico Business Improvement District. “I think there’s only so much the community can do to direct what they’d like to see. I’m glad that they want to include Papa Cristo’s. I know it’s been a staple in this community.”

An undated photo of Papa Cristo’s in Pico Union after the business closed its doors after more than seven decades in the community.

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The self-storage proposal would include a ground-floor retail space that could accommodate a scaled-down Papa Cristo’s presence if the family chooses to return to the restaurant business, but they have not spoken to the developers yet.

Brian Sorenson from La Tierra Consulting, who would lead development behind the project, said the space could also be used by the community.

Sorenson maintains the neighborhood is “heavily underserved” when it comes to storage. The area already has more than a handful of similar storage businesses, including one directly across the street from the proposed site on Pico Boulevard.

“Obviously, there’s already a storage facility a few blocks down on Pico, so from a competition standpoint, it will hopefully bring storage prices down for individuals in the area,” Post said.

Representatives for La Tierra Consulting said that storage costs would be market rate.

Still, La Tierra Consulting have presented their plans for the site to multiple community groups, like the Pico Union neighborhood council, and on Tuesday at the Byzantine Latino Quarter Pico Business Improvement District to get feedback on the project.

Other uses were considered for the site, including retail and industrial use, but none were as viable, the developers said.

Residential development would also be difficult on the relatively small lot because of parking requirements and high land costs, according to Post.

Last year, when Papa Cristo’s announced they would close their doors, the property was listed for sale on LoopNet for $5.2 million, according to Eater LA.

Papa Cristo’s was beloved in the community, in large part because of owner Chrys Chrys’s larger-than-life personality.

The restaurant also became famous for its rack of lamb, kebabs, and other classic Greek dishes.

At minimum, Sorenson said, the project would feature plaques, murals, or other public art honoring Papa Cristo’s legacy, and possible subsidized space for community groups.

Three design concepts were presented to the Pico Union Neighborhood Council in January, where the developers fielded questions from the community.

The initial proposal featured a more contemporary façade that some neighbors in Pico Union felt did not reflect the character of the area. In response, the design team developed alternatives inspired by nearby landmarks, including the local high school and surrounding historic buildings.

One revised concept incorporates brick and architectural motifs that echo the high school’s scale and materials, while keeping retail at the corner to help activate the street.

Another concept draws from the Huffington at Saint Sophia, the nearby Greek Orthodox cathedral, referencing its general shape and architectural details without directly replicating the chapel.

An artist’s rendering for the former site of Papa Cristo’s market and restaurant in Pico Union. Developers have proposed converting the site into a storage facility.

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A third option embraces a “neo-industrial” look inspired by revitalized historic buildings across Los Angeles, blending industrial elements with a contemporary update.

The company went back to the Pico Union neighborhood council with all of the designs in February and there were different opinions on the designs, but ultimately the council voted 10-0 to support the project. The Byzantine Latino Quarter also voted to support the project.

Vanessa Rivera, who has been a resident of Pico Union for more than 30 years and is the president of the Byzantine Latino Quarter Pico Business Improvement District, said she does appreciate Sorenson’s company did seek community feedback.

“The fact that they have multiple designs based on community feedback is not something you see all the time,” she said. “They could have been someone that just came in and said, ‘This is our idea. We’ve already got it. We don’t care what you think,’ but they’ve come at it from a very community based perspective.”

Under all versions of the proposal, the upper floors would be dedicated to storage, with retail and potential community-serving uses on the ground level.

Customer access would be located at the rear of the property, where vehicles — including moving trucks — would enter a covered loading area built into the storage facility.

The project would also include a six-foot dedication along Pico Boulevard and Normandie Avenue to allow for wider sidewalks and potential future street improvements, along with a new bus stop.

The facility would operate during limited hours — generally from early morning to late evening — and include gated entry, keypad access, elevator controls restricted by individual codes, and 24-hour monitored security cameras.

Los Angeles Documenter, Aileen Mestas, contributed reporting for this story from the Feb. 2 Pico Union Neighborhood Council meeting. The LA Documenters program trains and pays community members to document proceedings at public meetings. Learn more about the program here.