Topline:
From films celebrating friendship to 70s flicks about detectives and mysterious cults, there’s something for everyone playing this weekend. Atmosphere, ambiance, and good vibes thanks to L.A.'s repertory screening scene.
Background: The summer sun is still beating down, check out my recommendations to get into the AC and catch a good movie!
If you go: If you saw something good this weekend, send us an email! HowToLA@scpr.org
Dive deeper:
The weekend is fast approaching — text your friends, make dinner plans, and catch a movie!
With Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion playing as a midnight show at the New Beverly Cinema on Friday night, grab tacos and margaritas at El Coyote down the street before heading into the theater with your bestie.
And what would pair better with The Talented Mr. Ripley than a Sazerac or an old fashioned at The Dresden down the street from the Los Feliz 3? You might not be sneaking around in Italy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t feel chic.
I might grab a black coffee at Canter’s and then head into The Wicker Man (the 70s original, not the Nic Cage remake) — it’s atmospheric and unsettling and could certainly set the tone for an… interesting weekend. Or you could pair a martini at Fanny’s with a screening of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls at the Academy Museum — or do a martini at Musso & Frank’s before settling into the thriller Klute at the Egyptian.
This weekend is all about the atmosphere, the ambiance, the vibes. Let’s get into it.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
The Academy Museum
Friday, Aug. 9, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10, more info here.
Synopsis: A late-60s set, rock ‘n roll, psychedelic, sex-crazed musical satire. Originally intended as a sequel to the critical flop Valley of the Dolls, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls ended up as an X-rated parody of the original. This over-the-top story of three girls trying to make it in Hollywood has become a cult classic — one that looks incredible on 35mm.
The Wicker Man
Brain Dead Studios
Friday, Aug. 9, 10 p.m.
Tickets are $13, more info here.
Synopsis: A little girl is missing, a detective is dispatched to a remote island to look for her, and nothing is as it seems among a group of pagan worshippers gearing up for a ritual. This folk-horror classic unfolds slowly and builds dread like nothing else. Did you love Midsommar, and are you desperate for more May Queen stories and sacrifices? I don’t want to say more — if you’re even remotely curious, this is worth a watch.
Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion
The New Beverly Cinema
Saturday, Aug. 10, 11:59 p.m.
Tickets are $11.25, more info here.
Synopsis: This iconic 90s comedy is a classic for a reason. Romy (Mira Sorvino) and Michelle (Lisa Kudrow) share an apartment in Venice, and their greatest accomplishment since graduating high school is their long-standing friendship. Worried they’ll look bad in front of their old bullies, they come up with a scheme to seem super successful at their reunion. Shenanigans involving cute dresses, dream sequences, and an interpretive dance number ensue.
Klute
The Egyptian
Sunday, Aug. 11, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10-$15, more info here.
Synopsis: Yes, another 70s detective movie — no, this one isn’t about cults. This neo-noir thriller stars the late Donald Sutherland as detective John Klute. He’s investigating a high powered executive’s disappearance, and clues bring him into the life of NYC call girl Bree Daniel (Jane Fonda in an Oscar-winning performance). Is she involved with the crime? Is she in danger? Will Bree and John fall in love? It’s a sexy, suspenseful, nuanced thriller.
The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Los Feliz 3
Sunday, Aug. 11, 10 p.m.
Tickets are $8-$13, more info here.
Synopsis: A homoerotic friendship between a rich boy and a social climber that leads to murder? No, it’s not Saltburn, it’s the (in my opinion!) far superior 1999 classic starring Jude Law and Matt Damon. When heir to a shipping company fortune, Dickie Greenleaf (Law), heads to Italy to live on his father’s dime, men’s room attendant Tom Ripley (Damon) is sent to fetch him back. Their friendship blossoms as Tom becomes enraptured with Dickie and his life. Why not just be him?
Topline:
A lawsuit against Los Angeles County filed on behalf of a man who was severely beaten by sheriff’s deputies will move forward. That’s after a Superior Court judge on Monday denied a motion from the county’s attorney that could have seen the case dismissed.
The backstory: Joseph Perez lives with schizophrenia. In 2020, the 28-year-old was seriously beaten by a group of L.A. County sheriff’s deputies. Perez’s mother, Vanessa Perez, alleges the beating took place just hours after she informed the department that her son lives with mental illness and needed psychiatric help. The deputies alleged Perez was resisting arrest and that they too were injured in the scuffle, according to partially redacted department records.
The reaction: Standing outside the Stanley Mosk Courthouse Monday morning,
Vanessa Perez told LAist she was happy with the judge's ruling. “I’m overwhelmed... Maybe justice will come,” she said. The attorney representing the county declined to comment citing ongoing litigation.
A fight for records: In a separate case, the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission — a county sheriff watchdog group — subpoenaed the department for an unredacted use-of-force report from the night Perez was beaten. So far, the Sheriff’s Department has not supplied the information.
Topline:
Singer D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, has been charged with murder in the death of a 14-year-old girl who was last known to be alive nearly a year ago and whose dismembered and decomposed body was found in September in his apparently abandoned Tesla, prosecutors said Monday.
Celeste Rivas Hernandez: Rivas Hernandez was reported missing by her family in 2024, when she was 13. Authorities, who described her Monday as a “runaway,” said she was 14 when she was killed. The long-dead body of Rivas Hernandez was found inside a Tesla that was towed from the Hollywood Hills on Sept. 8, a day after she would have turned 15. Her family had reported her missing from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.
The charges: The murder charges included special circumstances — lying in wait, committing crime for financial gain and murdering the witness in an investigation — that could carry the death penalty. Prosecutors haven’t announced whether they will seek it. Burke is also charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a body.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Singer D4vd has been charged with murder in the death of a 14-year-old girl who was last known to be alive nearly a year ago and whose dismembered and decomposed body was found in September in his apparently abandoned Tesla, prosecutors said Monday.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said the 21-year-old D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. She was reported missing by her family in 2024, when she was 13. Authorities, who described her Monday as a “runaway,” said she was 14 when she was killed.
A criminal complaint says he had engaged in continuous sexual abuse of Rivas Hernandez from September 2023 to September 2024.
Prosecutors allege he killed her using a sharp object on or around April 23, 2025 — the date she was last known to be alive and was headed to the singer’s house in the Hollywood Hills — and mutilated her body about two weeks later.
The murder charges included special circumstances — lying in wait, committing crime for financial gain and murdering the witness in an investigation — that could carry the death penalty. Prosecutors haven’t announced whether they will seek it. Burke is also charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a body.
Attorneys for the Houston-born alt-pop singer said he was innocent in a statement released after homicide detectives arrested him on Thursday at a home in Hollywood.
“Let us be clear — the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death,” the lawyers said. A new request for comment to Burke’s lawyers on the charges was not immediately answered.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman called the case “a parent’s nightmare.”
“Celeste, a 14-year-old at that time, went to Mr. Burke’s house in the Hollywood Hills. She was never heard from again,” Hochman said at Monday’s press conference.
The long-dead body of Rivas Hernandez was found inside a Tesla that was towed from the Hollywood Hills on Sept. 8, a day after she would have turned 15. Her family had reported her missing from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.
Authorities did not publicly name Burke as a suspect until his arrest. And his lawyers’ statement last week, in which said they “will vigorously defend David’s innocence,” was the first time they weighed in publicly.
The singer had been under investigation by an LA County grand jury looking into the death. The probe was officially secret, but its existence — and his designation as its target — was revealed in February when his mother, father and brother objected in a Texas court to subpoenas demanding they testify.
The 2023 Tesla Model Y was registered in the singer’s name at the Texas address of his subpoenaed family members, according to court filings from prosecutors. It had been towed from an upscale Hollywood Hills neighborhood where it had been sitting as though it was abandoned.
Police investigators searching the Tesla in a tow yard found a cadaver bag “covered with insects and a strong odor of decay,” court documents said. Detectives partially unzipped a bag and found a head and torso.
Investigators from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office removed the bag and “discovered the arms and legs had been severed from the body,” according to court documents. A second black bag was found under the first, and dismembered body parts were inside it. No cause of death has been publicly revealed, and police got a judge to block the release details of the autopsy. On Friday, the medical examiner told The Associated Press the court order remained in place after Burke’s arrest, and suggested to ask the police whether they would ask to lift it. Hochman said Monday that the coroner’s report would be released “shortly.”
The family of Rivas Hernandez has remained private and has not made any public statements on her death or the case.
“I had the chance to meet with some of the family members of Celeste and their grief in incalculable as to what happened to their daughter,” Hochman said.
D4vd, pronounced “David,” gained popularity among Gen Z for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit “Romantic Homicide,” which peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. He then signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records and released his debut EP “Petals to Thorns” and a follow-up, “The Lost Petals,” in 2023.
The Associated Press confirmed that D4vd was dropped by Interscope last year.
When the body was discovered, the singer continued his North American tour, but when reports of his possible involvement spread widely, he canceled the final two shows and a European tour that was to follow.
—
AP Music Writer Maria Sherman contributed reporting from New York.
The post Singer D4vd charged with murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, found dismembered in his car appeared first on LA Local.
Topline:
Former state Controller Betty Yee dropped out from the governor’s race on Monday, saying she couldn’t see a path to get donors and additional support from undecided voters with six weeks left before the primary.
Why now: “It was becoming clear that the donors were not going to be there,” she said. “Even some of my former supporters just felt like they needed to move on as well.”
Early candidate: Yee was one of the earliest to enter the race, announcing her candidacy more than two years ago. She ran on her experience handling the state budget and her family’s middle-class, immigrant background. Yee has stayed at or near the bottom of the polls, never garnering more than about 3% of likely voters, and consistently lagged in fundraising.
What's next: Yee did not immediately endorse another candidate, but said she would do so in the next few days. Her exit leaves only one woman in the race, former Rep. Katie Porter.
Former state Controller Betty Yee dropped out from the governor’s race on Monday, saying she couldn’t see a path to get donors and additional support from undecided voters with six weeks left before the primary.
“It was becoming clear that the donors were not going to be there,” she said. “Even some of my former supporters just felt like they needed to move on as well.”
She did not immediately endorse another candidate, but said she would do so in the next few days.
Yee was one of the earliest to enter the race, announcing her candidacy more than two years ago. She ran on her experience handling the state budget and her family’s middle-class, immigrant background.
A progressive who supported continuing the state’s greenhouse gas reduction mandates, Yee also emphasized her ability to balance the budget and spoke often about the importance of growing the state’s economy and auditing state programs for fraud. In recent days, she had begun styling herself as “Boring Betty,” promising drama-free state government experience.
But pragmatism never translated into star power. Yee has stayed at or near the bottom of the polls, never garnering more than about 3% of likely voters, and consistently lagged in fundraising.
That made her one of California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks’ unnamed targets of a public campaign to pressure lower-polling Democrats to drop out of the race. With many Democrats in the race potentially splitting the liberal vote, Democrats were concerned two Republicans could possibly win the top-two primary election in June.
Yee, the former vice chair of the party, insisted she had grassroots support and wouldn’t be forced out of the race by a slate of wealthy, male candidates. She and the other candidates of color banded together to denounce their exclusion from a USC candidate debate last month after the university used a formula based on polling and fundraising to decide who to invite. The debate was ultimately canceled.
“This has been my life story, frankly, as a woman of color,” she told reporters in March. “I’ve been overlooked, I’ve been underestimated and pushed aside.”
The chances of Democrats getting locked out of the general election have gone down since former Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out over a week ago over sexual assault allegations and after President Donald Trump endorsed Steve Hilton on the Republican side.
But Yee has little cash on hand to continue, and the race is entering its most expensive phase yet with multiple candidates launching television ads last week.
Her exit leaves only one woman in the race, former Rep. Katie Porter.
Like Swalwell, Yee dropped out after a March state deadline to file or withdraw for the race, so her name will remain on the ballot in June.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
Topline:
April 30 is your last chance to claim any cash you qualify for with California’s Middle Class Tax Refund — a one-time payment approved by state lawmakers back in 2022.
About the payments: According to the Franchise Tax Board — the California agency responsible for these funds — 32 million residents received a total of $9.2 billion in payments. MCTR payments ranged from $200 to $1,050, and what you got depended on how you filed your 2020 tax return.
Why now: Recent data from the FTB shows that 90% of cards have been activated over the last four years. But around 57% of these activated cards still have some balance on them — meaning around $2.95 billion in total funds have yet to be used by Californians.
Read on... to see if you qualified for this money.
April 30 is your last chance to claim any cash you qualify for with California’s Middle Class Tax Refund — a one-time payment approved by state lawmakers back in 2022.
According to the Franchise Tax Board — the California agency responsible for these funds — 32 million residents received a total of $9.2 billion in payments.
MCTR payments ranged from $200 to $1,050, and what you got depended on how you filed your 2020 tax return. For example, if you listed yourself as a single filer and made less than $75,000, you qualified for $350. If you filed jointly with your spouse and listed a dependent, and made less than $150,000, you were eligible for $1,050. The program even included taxpayers making up to $500,000 if they filed jointly.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators approved MCTR payments as a response to the jump in gasoline prices that came after the United States banned Russian oil imports at the start of 2022.
More than 7 million Californians received the funds through direct deposit — but another 9.6 million people received the rebate through a debit card that was mailed to the address listed on their 2020 tax return.
Recent data from the FTB shows that 90% of cards have been activated over the last four years. But around 57% of these activated cards still have some balance on them — meaning around $2.95 billion in total funds have yet to be used by Californians.
If you’ve ever received a MCTR card in the mail, you have till April 30 before the card expires — and you lose the funds it contains.
Keep reading for what to know about claiming your possible MCTR cash before the end of the month.
If you can find them, check your 2020 tax returns — because while the MCTR program began in 2022, what taxpayers received was based on how they filed back in 2020.
State officials set up several tiers that decide how much taxpayers get from MCTR, based on their income:
The FTB said it mailed out all debit cards between October 2022 and January 2023 — and that it then sent reminder letters in spring 2023 and spring 2024 to taxpayers who had not activated their cards yet.
Each card came in its own window envelope with “California Middle Class Tax Refund” printed on the return address.
The state flag’s grizzly bear and the state seal are printed on the front side of all MCTR cards, and all have the same expiration date: “04/26”
“Cardholders are urged to spend their funds or transfer them to a bank account by April 30, 2026,” a spokesperson for the FTB told KQED in an emailed statement.
After April 30, your card will no longer work anywhere, and you will no longer have access to this money.
The MCTR cards are administered by a private company called Money Network. You can either call Money Network’s customer service line at 1-800-240-0223 or create an account at the MCTR website set up by the company.
Keep in mind that you will be asked to confirm the number on your card and your entire Social Security number. You can also register your debit card on Money Network’s app.
If there are two names printed on your card — which usually happens for taxpayers who filed jointly — you can register your card using the name that appears above the other.
While the FTB tracks MCTR funds, Money Network — the private company that made the cards — is now responsible for helping cardholders. If you have never used your card, it’s possible that the security controls on the card placed it on hold.
“This is a standard fraud-prevention measure and does not mean the funds are unavailable,” the FTB said.
To get rid of the hold and start using your card, you’ll have to contact Money Network’s customer service at 800-240-0223. Customer service representatives are available on weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Callers should have their personal information available to verify their identity,” the FTB wrote. “We advise people to call the Money Network Customer service line as early in the day as possible.”
There have been reported cases of cardholders calling Money Network and not getting a hold of anyone. State officials did not provide specific information on what other options taxpayers have if they cannot reach Money Network staff. KQED also reached out to Fiserv, the parent company of Money Network, which declined an interview.
Unfortunately, not any more, as April 8 was the last day to request a replacement card. State officials say this last day was chosen to ensure recipients would definitely get their new card before the program ends on April 30.
If you do know where your card is, but want to temporarily lock it to prevent anyone else from using it, you can prevent unauthorized transactions by logging into your card’s account at the MCTR website.
And if you just never got a card, it’s possible that you received this money via direct deposit to the bank account you listed when filing your 2020 taxes.
State law requires that all unused funds still remaining on expired credit cards be transferred to the state’s General Fund, where the money for these payments originally came from.
This will affect both activated and unactivated cards.
