Julia Barajas
is following the impact of President Trump's immigration policies on Southern California communities.
Published May 2, 2024 1:20 PM
Baker Commodities, Inc. in Vernon.
(
Samanta Helou Hernandez
/
LAist
)
Topline:
Following a nearly two-year court battle, a company in the city of Vernon has reached a settlement with air quality regulators and agreed to stop rendering raw animal parts.
The details: As part of the agreement with the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD), Baker Commodities Inc. will pay the agency $400,000 and surrender its rendering permits within two weeks.
The backstory: Baker was the focus of an LAist investigation into hazardous odors in Southeast L.A., which found that the facility repeatedly violated a rule to mitigate odors and was the subject of more than 100 odor complaints since 2019. Local residents and workers said the putrid odors made them feel nauseated and burned their eyes and throats.
Following a nearly two-year court battle, a company in the city of Vernon has reached a settlement with air quality regulators and agreed to stop rendering raw animal parts.
As part of the agreement with the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD), Baker Commodities Inc. will pay the agency $400,000 and surrender its rendering permits within two weeks.
In recent years, Baker’s facility on Bandini Boulevard next to the L.A. River converted animal remains collected from meat processing plants, grocery stores, and butcher shops into pet food and other household items.
Photographs taken by AQMD Inspector Dillon Harris during multiple inspections of Baker's rendering facility in Vernon in 2022. Baker later filed an emergency motion asking a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to restrain the AQMD from publishing the inspector's photos and to take them down from AQMD hearing board videos on YouTube. The judge denied it in October 2022.
(
Dillon Harris
/
Screen shots from YouTube video of Sept. 27, 2022 AQMD Commission meeting
)
Photographs taken by AQMD Inspector Dillon Harris during multiple inspections of Baker's rendering facility in Vernon in 2022. Baker later filed an emergency motion asking a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to restrain the AQMD from publishing the inspector's photos and to take them down from AQMD hearing board videos on YouTube. The judge denied it in October 2022.
(
Dillon Harris
/
Screen shots from YouTube video of Sept. 27, 2022 AQMD Commission meeting
)
Inspection photo labeled "Open air pit 8/16/22"
(
AQMD via YouTube hearing video
)
Photo labeled "Uncovered or leaking conveyers 8/16/22"
An LAist review of public records found that Baker was the subject of more than 100 odor complaints to AQMD since 2019. The records show local residents and workers complained putrid odors made them feel nauseated and burned their eyes and throats.
On multiple occasions, Baker failed to store animal remains within four hours of delivery and left them out in the open air to fester, according to court filings submitted by the agency’s lawyers.
AQMD oversees local air emissions. In June 2022, the agency’s Hearing Board issued a shut down order to Baker for operating out of compliance.
How To Report Odors
Have you noticed bad smells in your neighborhood?
If you live within the South Coast Air Quality District’s boundaries (they cover most of L.A. County — you can look up details here), here’s where to file an odor report:
Community members and elected officials celebrated the facility’s closure as a win.
But, soon after, Baker responded with a lawsuit seeking $200 million from the agency. Baker, argued that it was not in violation of the odor mitigation rule and that it was treated unfairly. Baker also demanded that the shutdown order be tossed out and sought to bar air regulators from shutting it down in the future.
In a press release on Wednesday announcing the settlement, AQMD wrote that the violations settled included “failure to keep its facility clean and in good operating condition” and not properly sealing or closing “processing areas to minimize leaks and prevent odors from escaping.”
AQMD will be reimbursed $35,000 for its attorney’s fees and Baker’s lawsuit will be dismissed, according to the statement.
In a statement, Jimmy Andreoli II, an assistant vice president at Baker, said the company is pleased to put past disputes with the agency behind it.
"Baker and our wonderful employees are longstanding, proud community members and we look forward to continuing to serve Southern California communities with vital services into the future."
In addition to rendering animals, the Vernon facility has been used to process trap grease and wastewater. Trap grease comes from devices that capture fats, oil and grease in restaurant kitchens, to keep them from entering the sewer system.
At its Vernon headquarters, according to court filings, Baker collects and treats 21 million gallons of grease trap water per year that it neutralizes before it enters the sewage system.
Gab Chabrán
covers what's happening in food and culture for LAist.
Published September 17, 2026 4:18 PM
The Darkroom burger, dry-aged beef, and swimming in a light au poivre bath.
(
Wales Communications
/
Courtesy Darkroom
)
Topline:
Chef-owner Zach Scherer's Darkroom sits in an unmarked business park on the Costa Mesa/Santa Ana border — a deliberate choice that's turned the restaurant into a word-of-mouth destination rather than a drive-by discovery.
Tell me more: The menu changes constantly, tracking real-time seasonal shifts — this visit caught the tail end of summer's Jimmy Nardello peppers giving way to fall's first honeynut squash. Scherer runs the kitchen with longtime partner Drew Adams, and the two also operate Chrysalis, a tasting-menu concept sharing the same space some nights.
Why is it important? Most diners expect flashy fine dining to come with flashy real estate. Scherer, aiming to make Orange County "nationally competitive" with cities like San Francisco and Chicago, is proving serious technique doesn't need a serious address — or a serious attitude.
Step into the darkness: Scherer's next concept, Three Eyed Tiger, is currently in development nearby.
Just off the 405 freeway at the border of Costa Mesa and Santa Ana, a block down from IKEA and a couple of business parks over, you'll find Darkroom.
It's the kind of address where you'd expect to find a dentist's office or a logistics company — instead, it's home to some of the most inventive food in Orange County, and arguably beyond, anchored by a formidable wine program featuring small producers.
The location is a deliberate choice by Zach Scherer, Darkroom’s chef-owner, that has turned the restaurant into a growing word-of-mouth destination. For Scherer, hiding in plain sight was never a compromise. It was the plan.
Inside Darkroom
The interior of the restaurant is a completely different story. Its decor matches that of an angsty teenager who shops at Hot Topic, with an affinity for industrial and goth music, and a bit of new wave mixed in.
Darkroom's interior leans into its irreverent, gallery-meets-Hot Topic aesthetic.
(
Wales Communications
/
Courtesy Darkroom
)
Your eyes might take a minute to adjust to the low light before a friendly server wearing a tattered band T-shirt greets you and escorts you to your table.
Scherer wears his nonconformist attitude with pride — and intention. "If you're a little too serious, Orange County won't love it," he said, and it shows: the room is built to feel like the opposite of a hushed tasting menu.
Chef Zach Scherer (right) and Drew Adams work the pass together — the same partnership they describe as "like a band."
(
Wales Communications
/
Courtesy DARKROOM
)
Scherer runs the kitchen with longtime partner Drew Adams — a lifelong Orange County resident — who also oversees the pastry program. The two think of Darkroom's identity "like a band," Scherer said: a shared core sound, no matter who's guesting on a given dish. (Their tasting-menu concept, Chrysalis, runs out of the same kitchen some nights — a five-course tasting menu happening in parallel.)
The menu
Start off with the Scotch olives, fried Castelvetrano olives with anchovy and lamb merguez, served over spiced sumac yogurt. Meanwhile, a couple of slices of their zucchini bread with koji butter, topped with silky jamón serrano, provide some comforting bites.
Grilled and marinated Jimmy Nardello peppers — a short-season ingredient the kitchen deliberately doesn't overwork.
(
Wales Communications
/
Courtesy Darkroom
)
From there, seasonal produce takes center stage, with grilled, marinated Jimmy Nardello peppers served with fennel-pollen labneh and sprinkled with walnut dukkah, hitting equal notes of sweet, spicy, nutty, and fresh. Followed by honeynut squash from Weiser Farms — poached in a light broth known as nage, made with bits of country ham and horseradish, topped with rainbow chard, a dish that reads Southern-meets-European.
The Darkroom burger, cut in two — only 10 are made a night.
(
Wales Communications
/
Courtesy Darkroom
)
Cap things off with The Darkroom burger, cut in half, made with dry-aged beef, molten Comté cheese, and gooey caramelized onions, served between soft, glossy brioche-style buns, swimming in a light au poivre bath. It's a dish that, like the others, exhibits strong technique but still wears its fun on its sleeve — all the makings of a truly memorable meal.
The philosophy
Scherer's goal is to make the Orange County food scene nationally competitive with San Francisco, New York, and Chicago — and the seasonal fluency on display that night, from summer's last Jimmy Nardellos to fall's first honeynut squash, is the technical proof behind that claim.
The fried Scotch olives — Castelvetranos stuffed with anchovy and lamb merguez, set over sumac yogurt.
(
Wales Communications
/
Courtesy Darkroom
)
The menu's dynamic approach — its ability to oscillate between cuisines — reflects that same nonconformist identity, reinforcing the idea that the food doesn't take itself too seriously, just like the space around it.
Scherer's ambitions don't stop at Darkroom's walls; he's also developing Three Eyed Tiger, a cocktail-forward concept nearby.
"The food we're making now is the food that I'm the most proud of, because it really shows our identity," said Scherer.
Driver who rammed into bus was under the influence
Destiny Torres
covers all things SoCal, from breaking news to local government.
Published September 17, 2026 3:46 PM
Police and LA Metro investigate the scene of a crash between an SUV and an LA Metro Bus that left two people dead on Tuesday in Chatsworth.
(
Ronaldo Bolanos
/
Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
)
Topline:
The driver connected to the tragic bus crash in Chatsworth on Tuesday night is facing two second-degree murder charges, as well as charges for driving under the influence and reckless driving. Bailee Lynn Rios is expected to be arraigned Friday, according to L.A. District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
What possible punishment is she facing? Hochman announced Thursday that his office was seeking the maximum sentence of life in prison for the 36-year-old driver.
What else is there? Drugs were found in her system at the time of the crash, Hochman said. His office did not share what kind of drugs.
Adding to the tragedy, an NBC4 helicopter covering the incident also crashed nearby, killing pilot George Marciniw and reporter Eliana Moreno, as well as a pedestrian, Edy Gutierrez Mejia.
Rios, who is in custody, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Background: Rios sped through a red light and plowed her SUV into a Metro bus, killing two passengers, Daniel Castillo and Gage Weida. Five other passengers were injured, according to prosecutors.
Keep up with LAist.
If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
Exterior of Chino Valley Unified School District building
(
Chino Valley Unified
/
Facebook
)
Topline:
A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge on Tuesday rejected Chino Valley Unified School District’s request to dissolve an injunction blocking its policy requiring employees to notify parents when students identify as transgender or use different names or pronouns at school.
More details: Judge Michael Sachs upheld his 2024 injunction blocking Chino Valley Unified from enforcing a policy the school board adopted in 2023. The policy required district employees to notify parents within three days if their student asked to go by a name or pronoun different from official school records or join a sex-segregated program, such as athletics, that did not correspond to those records.
Why now: The school district had asked Sachs to overturn a permanent injunction after the U.S. Supreme Court issued an emergency docket ruling in a separate case, Mirabelli v. Bonta. The district argued that the ruling affirmed parents’ constitutional right to be informed about information critical to their children’s health and well-being.
A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge on Tuesday rejected Chino Valley Unified School District’s request to dissolve an injunction blocking its policy requiring employees to notify parents when students identify as transgender or use different names or pronouns at school.
Judge Michael Sachs upheld his 2024 injunction blocking Chino Valley Unified from enforcing a policy the school board adopted in 2023. The policy required district employees to notify parents within three days if their student asked to go by a name or pronoun different from official school records or join a sex-segregated program, such as athletics, that did not correspond to those records.
The school district had asked Sachs to overturn a permanent injunction after the U.S. Supreme Court issued an emergency docket ruling in a separate case, Mirabelli v. Bonta. The district argued that the ruling affirmed parents’ constitutional right to be informed about information critical to their children’s health and well-being.
Sachs rejected the request, saying his injunction does not conflict with the Supreme Court’s ruling. During Tuesday’s hearing, he distinguished between the two cases, saying the school policy at issue in the Mirabelli case required school employees to withhold information from parents when asked.
“The school’s policy essentially mandated that staff lie to the parent about their child, and the court did not accept that,” Sachs said of Mirabelli v. Bonta.
The Chino case involves a different question: whether school employees can be required to disclose a child’s gender identity to their parents.
“There is no mandatory duty for the school district to voluntarily release information about the student,” Sachs said in court.
Chino Valley Unified was disappointed by the ruling, said Emily Rae, the district’s attorney and president of the California Justice Center, a conservative legal nonprofit focused on protecting individual liberty.
“The main problem is that it puts the burden on parents to know whether they’re having a secret kept from them,” Rae said.
Rae said Sachs’ ruling misinterpreted the Mirabelli opinion, which she said made clear that schools should not withhold information from parents. She said it was too soon to say whether the district would appeal the ruling or make changes to any of its policies.
Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified school board and a candidate for state superintendent of public instruction, also criticized the ruling. In an interview with EdSource, she called the proceedings a “kangaroo court” that has caused “so much confusion.”
Shaw said she planned to ask the superintendent whether the district could ask all parents to check a box: “Do you want secrets to be held from you?”
“They shouldn’t have to do that,” she said. “At the end of the day, it’s insane we have to go through all these hoops to uphold a parent’s right to know.”
Christine Parker, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, said the ruling was consistent with the Supreme Court’s order in Mirabelli v. Bonta and other applicable law.
“The court got it right: Blanket policies like Chino Valley USD’s, in which school employees must — in all circumstances — disclose a student’s gender identity to their parents, remain unlawful in California,” Parker said in a statement to EdSource.
Another pending case referenced in Tuesday’s proceedings was the City of Huntington Beach v. Newsom, which hinged on a dispute over AB 1955, known as the SAFETY Act. The law, signed by Newsom in 2024, bars school districts from requiring staff to disclose a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity to parents. It went into effect before the injunction in the Chino Valley Unified case.
In the wake of the Mirabelli v. Bonta case, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction for parents in the City of Huntington Beach v. Newsom who sued to block enforcement of the SAFETY Act.
We don't want to scare you, but the Big One is coming. We don't know when, but we know it'll be at least 44 times stronger than Northridge and 11 times stronger than the Ridgecrest quakes in 2019. To help you get prepared, we've compiled a handy reading list:
