The Brief

After the recent discovery of a destructive mussel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, some experts say California officials have failed to effectively enforce laws designed to protect waterways from invaders carried in ships’ ballast water.

A state law enacted 20 years ago has required California officials to inspect 25% of incoming ships and sample their ballast water before it’s discharged into waterways. But the tests didn’t begin until two years ago — after standards for conducting them were finally set — and testing remains rare. State officials have sampled the ballast water of only 16 vessels out of the roughly 3,000 likely to have emptied their tanks nearshore.

Experts say stronger regulations are needed, as well as better enforcement.

“It’s not really a surprise that another invasive species showed up in the Delta,” said Karrigan Börk, a law professor and the interim director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. “It’s likely to continue happening.”

Native to eastern Asia, the mussels — detected near the Port of Stockton, in a small San Joaquin Valley reservoir and several other Delta locations — were the first to be detected in North America. If the mollusc evades eradication efforts, it could spread over vast areas of California and beyond, crowd out native species and clog parts of the massive projects that export Delta water to cities and farms.

Brazilian researcher Marcela Uliano da Silva shows samples of the golden mussel at the Carlos Chagas Filho Biophysics Institute in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2015.

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Leo Correa

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Associated Press

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Ted Lempert, a former Bay Area Assemblymember who authored a 1999 state law aimed at preventing ships from bringing invasive species into California, said state officials “apparently took their eyes off the ball.”

“We were trying to get ahead of the game, so I’m really frustrated that after all these years some of the events we were trying to prevent have come to pass,” he said.

But the prospect of an invasive species colonizing a new region frequented by ships “is a numbers game” that can happen even under the most rigorous regulations and enforcement, said Greg Ruiz, a marine ecologist with the Marine Invasions Research Laboratory at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. “This is not a failure in the system,” he said.

Ballast water is stored in tanks to stabilize vessels at sea. Often taken on at the port of departure and released at the port of arrival, it is a global vector of invasive species, including pathogens that cause human diseases.

To address the threat to ecosystems and water supplies, the State Lands Commission, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard enforce a suite of overlapping regulations.

The goal of these state and federal rules is to reduce as much as possible the number of living organisms in discharged ballast water. Vessel operators can achieve this by exposing their ballast water to ultraviolet light, filtering it and treating it with chlorine, which is then removed before discharge.

‘Highest standards in the world.’ But are they enforced?

About 1,500 ships a year entering California waters release ballast water, according to Chris Scianni, environmental program manager of the State Lands Commission’s Marine Invasive Species Program. To check for compliance, officials board and inspect nearly all of them, plus another thousand vessels prioritized for inspection for other reasons, Scianni said.

During these inspections, officers review ballast water logbooks and reporting forms, interview crew members, inspect water treatment equipment, and occasionally take water samples for testing.

“We’re the only entity in the world that’s doing this right now,” Scianni said.

A 2003 state law declares that the State Lands Commission “shall take samples of ballast water, sediment, and biofouling from at least 25% of vessels” subject to invasive species regulations. But commission officials told CalMatters they interpret it to mean that 25% of ships must be inspected, with no specific requirements for sampling.

Sampling for some ships began in 2023, after the commission enacted standards for how the tests are conducted. It’s a considerable endeavor: A cubic meter of water — which weighs a metric ton — must be collected from a ship. It can take an hour to draw, and it must be done while the vessel is actively discharging. Hours more may pass before results are ready.

Federal officials have their own ballast oversight program. It leans on a system of self-reporting by vessel operators — which critics consider a weak tool for ensuring compliance. An EPA spokesperson said the agency “can assess compliance with (the rules) either through a desk audit or an on-site inspection.”

Many experts told CalMatters that the state and federal limits on how many organisms are allowed in discharged water are adequate but that enforcement is lacking.

“We had the highest (ballast water management) standards in the world, but they were never actually enforced because the state couldn’t come up with a set of technologies to implement them,” said Ben Eichenberg, a staff attorney with the group SF Baykeeper.

Ted Grosholz, a professor emeritus with the UC Davis Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute said “the standards are very exacting…The problem we have is compliance. How many ships coming in with ballast water can we really sample and verify? Enforcement officials can’t watch everyone.”

Smithsonian’s Ruiz said state records show that all documented ballast discharges at the Port of Stockton since 2008 have followed state regulations.

Ships that discharge, however, occasionally remain uninspected as they enter a port. And some vessel operators may cheat, filling their ballast tanks with clean ocean water to pass off a faulty water treatment system as functional. Moreover, even treated ballast water can contain high levels of zooplankton.

Ruiz, who has studied California’s data on ship arrival and locations of the mussels, said it’s probable the golden mussel entered the Delta at least a year ago and even possible that it’s been there for a decade or more, adding that “it could even have happened in the pre-treatment (of ballast water) era.”

Somehow, the creature slipped through the cracks and made itself a new home in what has been called one of the most invaded estuaries on the planet.

It’s an outcome that Lempert as an assemblymember tried to prevent a quarter-century ago, when he authored the Ballast Water Management for Control of Non-indigenous Species Act. The law required incoming vessels to either retain their ballast water, drain it while simultaneously refilling with new water hundreds of miles out at sea, or use an “environmentally sound” treatment system. It tasked the California State Lands Commission with monitoring vessels for compliance.

California has since enacted a complex system of regulations: In 2003, the Marine Invasive Species Act expanded the scope of Lempert’s legislation. Three years later, the Legislature required the commission to set limits on organism concentrations in ballast water; these “standards of performance” were implemented in 2022. While the standards allow minute levels of organisms in the water, the goal is “zero detectable living organisms” by 2040.

Several federal laws also aim to protect U.S. waters from creatures like the golden mussel.

Penalties for breaking ballast management rules have been modest. At the state level, violations have resulted in 24 fines in the past six years, totaling just over $1 million. Federal fines are rare, with just nine penalties issued amounting to about $714,000 in the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region since 2013.

Commission officials said “the frequency of noncompliant discharges … has dropped dramatically since our enforcement regulations (with penalties) were adopted in 2017.”

Can ballast water be sterilized?

California officials say achieving the law’s goal of zero organisms in ballast water discharged into waterways is infeasible. It would require a network of treatment plants at coastal ports, costing $1.45 billion over 30 years. The shipping industry would face another $2.17 billion in costs for installing systems capable of transferring ballast water to the floating treatment plants.

But Eichenberg said some ships already use commercially available systems that consistently, and by a wide margin, outperform industry standards. He said the state’s failure to require that vessels use the most advanced treatment systems available — technology capable of nearly sterilizing ballast water — has culminated in the golden mussel’s arrival.

“Something like this was bound to happen eventually,” he said.

State and federal performance standards — modeled after international standards — limit the concentration of living zooplankton-sized organisms, like mussel larvae, in ballast water before discharge to 10 per cubic meter. For smaller organisms, allowances are higher.

But even in ballast water that has undergone treatment in approved systems, zooplankton concentrations can be off-the-charts for reasons not always clear, according to Hugh MacIsaac, an aquatic invasive species researcher at the University of Windsor in Ontario, who has studied the spread of the golden mussel in South America and central China.

Treating ballast water doesn’t necessarily work. A study in Shanghai found up to 23,000 zooplankton-sized organisms per cubic meter in the ballast water of half of ships sampled, MacIsaac said.

Ruiz, at the Smithsonian research center, said the study’s sample size of 17 ships is too small to be representative and that such high concentrations are abnormal in the United States. “We sample vessels here, and that’s not what we see coming into the U.S.,” he said.

Ship operators have shifted radically in the past 20 years “from no management to a nearly complete use of open-ocean exchange to, now, an almost complete transition to ballast treatment technology,” Ruiz said.

Attention turns to federal rules

The federal government, not state agencies, will soon become the key player in ballast management. That’s because new EPA rules, which are likely at least 18 months away from full implementation, will preempt state regulations.

The new rules — which state officials will help enforce — will keep the existing standards for organism concentrations, but prevent states from implementing their own rules that exceed federal standards. For example, California’s goal of zero detectable organisms in ballast discharge will be nixed.

Nicole Dobrosky, the State Lands Commission’s chief of environmental science, planning and management, said states can petition the federal government for changes to the rules.

Shippers welcome the shift to national rules that align with international standards, said Jacqueline Moore, Long Beach-based vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association.

“An international industry by nature, the maritime community always appreciates consistent standards across the board, and across the ocean in this case,” Moore said. “It’s much easier for everyone.”

But the change of regulatory oversight concerns Marcie Keever, the oceans and vessels program director with Friends of the Earth. She said that to date the State Lands Commission has been the more active enforcer.

Preempting state laws with federal standards that she says are too weak “will essentially give the shipping industry a free pass to pollute…These shipping companies are self-reporting pollution instances, and no one is doing anything about it except for the state.”

In 1973, the EPA exempted ballast water from the Clean Water Act. Eventually forced by court rulings to comply with the act, the agency released its newest standards in October for limiting organism concentrations in ballast water.

Keever said the EPA is not setting the bar as high as it should.

“We’re still basically at the same place we were at 20 years ago,” Keever said. “The EPA has never set what we see as the best available technology for ballast water discharges.”

More than 150 environmental groups made similar claims in a 2022 letter to President Joe Biden, arguing that the technology exists now to almost entirely sterilize ballast water.

“[W]e have the technical ability to efficiently remove or kill organisms that are trapped in a tank of water,” they wrote. “For half a century federal law has required EPA to use that ability to protect the environment and public health — yet EPA still refuses to do so.”

The EPA disagrees with the criticism. Joshua Alexander, press officer with the agency’s Region 9 San Francisco office, told CalMatters that “the EPA concluded that these standards (in the new rules) are the most stringent ones that the available ballast water test data can support.”

Can anything stop the mussel invasion?

October’s discovery of the golden mussel in California is being treated urgently by state and federal officials.

The creatures have wreaked havoc on water supply and hydroelectric facilities in South America, and they are spreading rapidly through central China. In the Great Lakes, invasive zebra mussels cause $300 to $500 million in damages annually to power plants and other water infrastructure — the types of impacts officials in California hope to avoid.

Tanya Veldhuizen, the Department of Water Resources’ special projects section manager, said officials are considering the use of chemicals to remove the creatures from pumps, intakes and pipelines of the massive State Water Project, which transports water to farms and cities.

Several scientists told CalMatters that with most nonnative species, eradication is only possible early in the game — meaning management officials often have one shot at success.

Biologist Andrew Chang, who works at the Smithsonian research center’s Marin County field lab, noted an old adage in invasion ecology — containing the spread of a nonnative species is like trying to put toothpaste back into a tube. “The more time that passes, the process of putting the toothpaste back in the tube gets messier and messier,” Chang said.

University of Windsor’s MacIsaac thinks California may be on the cusp of an unstoppable mussel invasion.

“This is an enormous problem for your state,” he said.

Another Grammy Awards telecast is in the books, and it was a night of historic wins, chaotic performances and viral moments, as well as speeches that frequently addressed this moment in American history. Here's a rundown of some of Sunday's highlights.

1. The season of Bad Bunny is playing out as planned. The Puerto Rican superstar had long appeared primed for a big night at this year's Grammys. After all, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS was a blockbuster, and Bad Bunny himself is headlining next weekend's Super Bowl halftime show. In the end, he ended up sort of headlining this show, too: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS picked up album of the year and best música urbana album during Sunday's telecast, while "EoO" won best global music performance earlier in the day.

In the process, Bad Bunny made history — this was the first time a Spanish-language album has won album of the year — while also giving speeches that addressed both ICE raids in American cities and the humanity of the people affected. ("We're not savage," he said during his speech for best música urbana album. "We're not animals, we're not aliens, we are humans and we are Americans.")

The parallels between Bad Bunny's wins and Kendrick Lamar's wins last year felt undeniable: Both won major Grammys right before they were scheduled to perform the Super Bowl halftime show, and both seized on moments bigger than themselves. For Lamar, it was the wildfires that had recently devastated the Los Angeles area. For Bad Bunny, whose Super Bowl booking helped place him at the center of the culture wars (and, more specifically, national conversations about immigration policy), this was an even timelier win.

2. Kendrick Lamar's momentum from last year carried over. Lamar won five Grammys last year, including song and record of the year for "Not Like Us." This year, he picked up five more trophies — and leapfrogged Jay-Z to become the winningest rapper in Grammys history. Jay-Z has 25 wins; with Sunday's awards, Lamar now has 27.

Lamar's wins this year included biggies in the rap categories — best rap album for GNX and best rap song for "tv off (feat. Lefty Gunplay)" — and one of the biggest of all: record of the year, for "Luther (feat. SZA)." It's Lamar's second year in a row winning in that category.

The win for "Luther" even came bundled with a surreal moment: Tasked with giving a speech for a lifetime achievement award, Cher was then supposed to hand out the Grammy for record of the year. So she gave a speech, began to wander offstage and had to be summoned back, at which point she announced that the winner was "Luther Vandross" — referring to the singer, who died in 2005.

Fortunately, it quickly became clear that the winner was "Luther," which was inspired by Vandross and samples his song "If This World Were Mine." The gaffe helped compel the winners to pay tribute to Vandross, which is never a bad idea under any circumstances.

3. The category of best new artist spawned an impressive field — and an obvious winner. Give the Grammys credit for pulling together a solid assortment of best new artist nominees in The Marías, Addison Rae, KATSEYE, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, Lola Young, Olivia Dean and sombr. And give the telecast bonus points for smooshing all eight nominees into a medley that gave each enough room to breathe.

But there could never be much doubt that this was Dean's category to lose: She's got the most commercial momentum of them all — The Art of Loving is still in the top 5 on the charts — and she might as well have been bred in a laboratory to win Grammys. Listen to "Man I Need" and you'll hear a song that would have won Grammys in 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006 …

In fact, Dean will likely be a player in next year's Grammys, as well: The Art of Loving came out shortly after the cutoff for 2026 Grammy eligibility, and it's already yielded other chart hits. In 2027, it wouldn't be a shock to see her compete for album of the year, among other categories.

4. No one hoarded all the trophies this year. Some years, a single artist ends up sweeping the major categories — as Billie Eilish did in 2020, when she won album, record and song of the year, plus best new artist. That's a flashy outcome that's often richly deserved, but it can be deadening to watch after a while.

This year, the prizes were spread to a nice assortment of acts. In fact, the first seven trophies given out during the telecast went to seven different artists: Kendrick Lamar, Olivia Dean, Bad Bunny, Jelly Roll, Lady Gaga, Lola Young and Eilish, who picked up song of the year for the third time in seven years. That helped preserve a sense that the night's two biggest awards — record and album of the year — were still in play until the moment they were handed out.

5. "Messy" was the word of the night. From Cher giving record of the year to "Luther Vandross" — see above — to a chaotic In Memoriam segment headlined by Ms. Lauryn Hill's first Grammys performance since 1999, it was a messy, chaotic night. The performances could be overstuffed-but-heartfelt (In Memoriam), strobe-lit and retrofitted to rock (Lady Gaga's "Abracadabra," ROSÉ and Bruno Mars' "APT."), theatrical and funny (Sabrina Carpenter's "Manchild") or theatrical and arty (Tyler, the Creator's audacious medley), with many points in between.

For the most part, it was the right kind of mess, and if nothing else, you never quite knew what might happen next. When Lola Young picked up a Grammy for best pop solo performance — for "Messy," natch — her speech was a fireball of unregulated emotion. Messy, sure, but it fit on a night ruled by big, fervent feelings.

6. The speeches weren't just heartfelt — they were often political, too. Sometimes, awards shows can feel hermetically sealed off from the world around them; that, in turn, can make their participants feel self-infatuated and out-of-touch, especially when the country is suffering from the effects of national disasters, political strife or both.

Even in milder times, it can be a tough balance to pull off. At the Grammys Sunday, many winners leaned in to address ICE actions and U.S. immigration policy. Olivia Dean described being the granddaughter of an immigrant. Bad Bunny opened his speech by saying, "Before I say thanks to God, I'm gonna say, 'ICE OUT.'" And Billie Eilish gave the fieriest speech of all, as calmly delivered pronouncements ("No one is illegal on stolen land") gave way to a phrase that was dropped from the telecast's audio feed but soon revealed to be the words, "F*** ICE."

Other notes of protest were more muted; Carole King was one of many attendees who wore "ICE OUT" pins, for example. But you couldn't watch these Grammys without knowing that there's a world of conflict beyond the music industry.

7. In the performances (if not the awards themselves), rock staged a comeback. As noted, both Lady Gaga's "Abracadabra" and ROSÉ and Bruno Mars' "APT." were enlivened by grand signifiers of rock and roll: strobe lights, guitars and a generalized sense of mayhem. But they weren't the only ones.

As part of the lengthy In Memoriam segment, Post Malone presided over a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne that also featured Chad Smith, Duff McKagan, Slash and Andrew Watt. And even Justin Bieber stripped "YUKON" down to the singer and an electric guitar, which he used to create a looped riff.

With rock still largely relegated to the margins of the awards themselves — though Turnstile did win best rock album and best metal performance, giving the Baltimore band its first two Grammys — it seemed unusually prominent in the night's many live sets.

8. As always, records were set and milestones were reached. Yes, Kendrick Lamar became the Grammys' most decorated rapper, while Bad Bunny notched the first-ever win for a Spanish-language album. But there were also notable firsts and record-setting wins in some of the less widely discussed categories.

In the category of best children's music album, the father-daughter duo Fyütch & Aura V set a new record, as Aura V became the youngest-ever individually named Grammy winner. (She's 8; the previous record-holder, Blue Ivy Carter, was 9 when she won in 2021.) Their speech was a highlight of the Grammys' Premiere Ceremony on Sunday.

Then there's the latest EGOT winner: Thanks to his role as a producer of the 2024 documentary Music by John Williams, Steven Spielberg has added a Grammy to his previous wins at the Emmys, Oscars and Tonys. It's about time that kid caught a break.

And, speaking of kids catching a break, the 14th Dalai Lama finally snagged the Grammy that had eluded him for more than 90 years. In the process, he's become the first-ever recipient of the coveted GWHRT: Grammy Award, Wallenberg Medal, Holder of the White Lotus, Ramon Magsaysay Award, Templeton Prize. In your face, Spielberg!

KATSEYE, a girl group styled after K-pop (but not technically K-pop), lost in its bid for both best new artist and best pop duo/group performance.

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9. K-pop scored a Grammy breakthrough, but not in a big way. For the first time ever, a K-pop song has won a Grammy Award, as HUNTR/X's inescapable "Golden" picked up a trophy for best song written for visual media. That's a significant milestone for the genre, which had been shut out in spite of five nominations in the past for the boy-band juggernaut BTS.

But Sunday was still a bit of letdown for those hoping for a major K-pop win at the Grammys. HUNTR/X didn't win anything else — it was up for song of the year, among others — while ROSÉ of BLACKPINK went 0-for-3 with her Bruno Mars duet "APT.," which was nominated for record and song of the year. And KATSEYE, a girl group styled after K-pop (but not technically K-pop), lost in its bid for both best new artist and best pop duo/group performance.

Still, those nominations are significant — especially in the major categories — as the Grammys look to be growing more hospitable to K-pop music going forward. Among other things, that's good news for BTS, whose new album is due in March.

10. The Tiny Desk is a Grammy-winner … sort of. Okay, so technically the Tiny Desk has never been up for a Grammy, seeing as how it's a venue and not a performer. But it's already racked up a bit of history with the Grammys.

First, two different winners of NPR's Tiny Desk Contest have won Grammys: Inaugural winner Fantastic Negrito has won three, while former best new artist nominee Tank and the Bangas picked up a prize in spoken word just last year.

This year, the milestones came in the form of the first-ever Tiny Desk performances to be directly nominated for Grammys. The more visible nomination, in the category of best R&B performance, went to Leon Thomas for "Mutt (Live From NPR's Tiny Desk)." But, though he won twice Sunday — for best R&B album and best traditional R&B performance — he lost best R&B performance to Kehlani's "Folded."

The Tiny Desk's less-noticeable nomination came in the category of best Latin rock or alternative album. CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, a duo from Argentina who won five Latin Grammys last fall, put out an album last year called Papota. Of its nine songs, five were recorded at its viral 2024 Tiny Desk concert, which has racked up more than 48 million views on YouTube.

On Sunday, Papota won best Latin rock or alternative album, making the Tiny Desk a (sort of) Grammy winner. But again, because the Tiny Desk is a venue and not a performing artist, we don't get a cool li'l gramophone statue. Life is monstrously cruel that way.

Copyright 2026 NPR

We all need some fun things to look forward to, and even though it’s only February, it’s not too early to start planning a Rose Bowl float for next year’s parade. If you have an idea for a float, you can pitch it to a team of Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo students by Feb. 5; they'll help bring one big creative idea to life for the 2027 event.

Licorice Pizza’s music picks for the week include starting your week with former Little Mix star Jade and her That’s Showbiz, Baby revue at the Hollywood Palladium, or Midwife (aka multi-instrumentalist Madeline Johnston) at Highland Park’s Lodge Room, both on Monday. Tuesday, Andrew Bird is at the Largo, and Wednesday is a big night for hip-hop icons with pioneering Bronx rapper, producer and DJ Pete Rock at the Lodge Room. Meanwhile, Wu-Tang Clan founder GZA and his live band play the first of two nights at the Blue Note. Thursday, you could see Latin legend, bombshell and guitar great Charo, in all her sequined glory, as she brings her flamenco fabulousness to the Smothers Theatre at Pepperdine University.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can get the lowdown on L.A.’s World Cup fan festival, visit Porkchop at the Aquarium of the Pacific’s sea turtle restoration project and mark off how many of the best L.A. films you’ve seen with this definitive list.

Events

American Icon: A Ford Mustang Immersive Experience

Through Sunday, February 8 (closed Tuesdays)
Ace Mission Studios
516 S. Mission Road, Arts District
COST: VARIES; MORE INFO 

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Sean Wehrli

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American Icon: A Ford Mustang Immersive Experience is billed as “a multisensory journey through six decades of Mustang legacy,” taking you through American car history from Motor City to Sunset Boulevard with rare Mustangs from films like Gone in 60 Seconds. It’s closing soon, so don’t miss your last chance to bask in some true American muscle car history. There’s an interactive gallery, 360 projections and a 4D sequence featuring the Mustang GTD. Vrrrrooom! For its final weeks, the exhibit is offering a 2-for-1 promotion on adult tickets, but if you drive a Ford, just show your key and you’ll get a free ticket; kids 12 and under go free as well.

Sweeney Todd

Through Sunday, February 22
La Mirada Theatre 
14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada 
COST: FROM $19.80; MORE INFO

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Courtesy La Mirada Theatre

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Attend Sondheim’s tale of the demon barber of Fleet Street with a star-studded Broadway vet cast (including Will Swenson from A Beautiful Noise and Rock of Ages) and a big-name director (Jason Alexander of The Producers and Seinfeld fame). The La Mirada Theatre is an underrated gem for theater lovers, especially those in the Anaheim area, but it's worth the trek for anyone who wants to check out their consistently great performances and ability to attract high-level talent. Swenson plays Todd as more sexy and brooding than Johnny Depp’s oddball outcast in the film version, and Lesli Margherita shines as an over-the-top Mrs. Lovett.

Queer Mountain

Thursday, February 5, 7:30 p.m. 
Lyric Hyperion Theater & Cafe
2106 Hyperion Ave., Silverlake
COST: $15 Pre-sale // $20 Day of; MORE INFO

Already through your second viewing of Heated Rivalry? Head to this queer storytelling show for more funny and heartwarming stories at Greetings, from Queer Mountain. The evening already has sister shows in New Orleans and Austin, but this is the inaugural L.A. event.

Taschen Art Book Sale 

Through Sunday, February 8, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily 
Beverly Hills and Hollywood locations 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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I aspire to a living room that looks like the lobby of a hip hotel, and the next step after a fancy candle is a stack of Taschen art books. For the next week, you can score titles on Virgil Abloh, NASA, Atlantic Records and more for as much as 75% off at Taschen's biannual sale at their Hollywood and Beverly Hills stores.

Chamber Music Palisades

Wednesday February 4, 7:30 p.m.
Brentwood Presbyterian Church
12000 San Vicente Blvd., Brentwood
COST: $35; MORE INFO

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Courtesy Chamber Music Palisades

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Chamber Music Palisades (CMP) will perform a world premiere of Due Voci for flute and cello, composed by Lolita Ritmanis, a Grammy, Emmy and SCL Award-winning composer and faculty member at the USC Thornton School of Music. Ritmanis will also speak at the concert about her new work, and KUSC host Alan Chapman will be on hand with his informative in-person program notes.

USC Visions and Voices Presents MAJOR by Ogemdi Ude

Wednesday, February 4, 7 p.m.
Bovard Auditorium at USC
3551 Trousdale Pkwy., University Park
COST: FREE, RSVP REQUIRED; MORE INFO

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Courtesy USC Visions and Voices

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MAJOR, a dance theater performance exploring the history and legacy of majorette dance by Brooklyn-based dance, theatre and interdisciplinary artist and educator Ogemdi Ude, will premiere at USC. Featuring a score that blends Southern rap, blues and R&B, the show also includes a digital archive of interviews with HBCU majorettes over the years, furthering the “love letter” to Black majorette culture. A conversation with Ude and the performers follows.

Dr. Strangelove Screening

Tuesday, February 3, 7 p.m. 
National Theatre at the Wallis 
The Wallis 
9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills 
COST: FROM $27.50; MORE INFO 

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National Theatre Live

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The Wallis

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London’s National Theatre production of the stage adaptation of Dr. Strangelove comes to the Wallis with this special screening. Steve Coogan (The Trip) is a national treasure in the UK and stars as the zany Dr. Strangelove — as well as 11 other characters — in the stage version of Peter Sellers’ classic satire. I saw the stage production in London last year, and what Coogan pulls off is a feat, not to mention the way the design of the infamous plane works on stage, smoke effects and all. The National always does a great job of filming these to feel like you’re at the live show, so I’m sure the effects will come through on screen.

Kristen Schaal: The Legend of Crystal Shell 

February 4 and 6, 7:30 p.m.
Dynasty Typewriter 
2511 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire 
COST: $30; MORE INFO

Hot off two premiere performances at the SF Sketchfest, comedian Kristen Schaal (Last Man on Earth) brings her new stage show to Dynasty Typewriter. Her out-there comedy is sure to shine through in this one-hour production that co-stars John Roberts (Bob's Burgers), with music by Schaal and Big Black Delta.

Desert Night in Venice 

Thursday, February 5, 7 p.m.
Saba Surf
12912 Venice Blvd., Venice
COST: FROM $15.71; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy Saba Surf

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Celebrate a new poetry release, meet other artists, listen to live music and maybe even get a custom flash tattoo at the super chill Saba Surf space in Venice. They have a great garden and space to dance, plus there will be drinks (and great NA options, too, if you’re keeping dry January going a little longer).

The late application window for Los Angeles Unified School District opens Monday.

Every fall, LAUSD opens applications for families who are interested in attending a school that is not their neighborhood school (or “resident school,” in the district’s terminology).

The process for the largest pool of non-resident schools is called “Choices.” This includes hundreds of magnet schools, dual-language programs and some charter schools, among other options.

The regular application window closes in November. The spots available during the late application period are those left after families who applied “on time” accept their offers.

The application can be done online or on paper, and the selection process begins in April — and acceptances can run into the following school year.

How do I know what schools I might want to apply to?

Families have told us the process of choosing a school for their child is often confusing and anxiety-driven.

Still: No one type of school is inherently better than another, and the “right” school will look different for every family.

To help, LAist has our School Game Plan — a series that helps families think through and evaluate their options. That includes:

• How do I choose a school?
• Know if a school is 'good'
• Enroll in transitional kindergarten
• Acquire magnet school points
• Understand charter schools
• Learn what happens in transitional kindergarten
• Get involved at a child's school
• Make a school repair request
• Get your child a bus seat
• Hold the school board accountable

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Senior editor Ross Brenneman contributed to this story.

A second case of measles has been confirmed in Los Angeles County.

L.A. County Department of Public Health officials announced on Saturday the virus was detected in an international traveler who arrived at the Tom Bradley International Terminal — or Terminal B — at LAX on Monday, Jan. 26, through Gate 201A on Viva Aerobus Flight 518.

Public Health said anyone at Terminal B from 10:45 p.m. on Jan. 26 to 1 a.m. on Jan. 27 may have been exposed.

The traveler also spent a day in Disneyland Park and California Adventure Park in Anaheim on Jan. 28 from 12:30 to 10 p.m. On Jan. 30, they visited a Dunkin’ Donuts in Woodland Hills from 3 to 4:45 p.m.

Health officials say people who visited the above locations during those time periods may also be at risk of developing measles.

Symptoms typically appear one to three weeks after exposure.

Public Health recommends these individuals check if they are already protected against measles and advise getting a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine if they aren't.

Symptoms include a fever above 101 degrees; cough; runny nose; red, watery eyes; and a rash that typically starts on the face.

• For those exposed at LAX, the last day to monitor for symptoms is Feb. 16.
• For those exposed at Disneyland Park and California Adventure Park, the last day to monitor for symptoms is Feb. 18.
• For those exposed at Dunkin’ Donuts, the last day to monitor for symptoms is Feb. 20.

Saturday's announcement comes one day after L.A. County public health officials confirmed the first case of measles in the county. More information about that case here.

Orange County has reported two other measles cases this year, one in a young adult who recently traveled internationally and the second in an unvaccinated toddler who had no known exposure to the virus.

Transmission, prevention and more

Measles spreads easily through the air and can stay on surfaces for many hours. Those infected can spread the virus before showing symptoms, which can take weeks to appear.

So far, 588 measles cases of measles have been reported in the U.S. this year, the highest number of cases in a January since the U.S. eliminated measles in 2000. Most of these cases are linked to outbreaks in South Carolina, Arizona and Utah.

The L.A. County Department of Public Health is encouraging Angelenos to check their immunization status for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to determine if they’re protected against the virus.

If symptoms develop, contact a health care provider via phone as soon as possible. L.A. Public Health advises people not to go physically into a health care facility before notifying them of measles symptoms.