The Brief

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

After missing the city’s Aug. 14 deadline to clear out the 88 million pounds of food from the burned Lineage warehouse in Boyle Heights, the company faces another deadline today — and it’s unclear if they will meet it.

Lineage disputes the city’s timeline, saying it was given until Aug. 20 to remove the rotted food, under orders imposed by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. 

As of Tuesday, Lineage reported that 97% of the food waste had been removed but had not confirmed that the work would be completed by the end of the day. The company said it has moved into the next phase of cleanup, which includes removing loose debris, power washing, disinfecting, detailing and deodorizing. That work is expected to be completed by Aug. 27, according to Lineage.

At a virtual community meeting last week, where L.A. Mayor Karen Bass announced that Lineage would not complete the work by Aug. 14, residents left frustrated by unanswered questions and what they called a lack of urgency from the city and Lineage to provide relief from lingering odors, pests and ongoing health concerns.

Here’s what we know about what’s been done so far and what’s left.  

What’s been cleaned up so far?

The freezer extensively damaged by the June 17 fire has been cleared and much of the structure has been demolished. For the past few weeks, crews have been working to remove the rotting food from inside the remaining freezer. 

As of Tuesday, Lineage reported that 97% of the food had been removed.

It’s unclear how Lineage has been calculating the cleanup estimates. The offices of Bass, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis have not directly answered questions from Boyle Heights Beat about how or if the numbers have been independently verified or how officials will determine when the cleanup is complete.

Bass acknowledged the issue last week, saying, “Lineage has said that they have removed 84% of all food waste in Freezer 1, but we cannot verify that.”

The L.A. County Department of Public Health has been inspecting the warehouse daily and citing Lineage up to $2,000 per day for its unsanitary conditions and inadequate pest control. 

Photos from the department’s most recent inspection on Tuesday show dozens of live and dead flies, decaying organic waste, sludge and food residue on the ground.

Can Lineage meet the Aug. 20 deadline?

Lineage’s reported cleanup pace has slowed over the last week, as they’ve said the remaining food is particularly challenging to remove. The company had previously been removing food at a pace of about 1% a day, but has slowed to less than 1% over most of the last week.

Based on Lineage’s self-reported cleanup pace, removing the final 3% could take several more days. In a statement Tuesday, the company said it expected the bulk food cleanup to be completed in “the coming days.”

Jurado said Wednesday that Lineage had not provided a definitive date for completing the food waste removal. 

Will removing the food eliminate the smell?

For many residents, the biggest question is how much longer the smell of rotting food will continue to disrupt their daily lives. Many have reported nausea and headaches due to the odors. 

Lineage told Boyle Heights Beat that it expects conditions to improve as more food waste is removed because the waste is the primary source of odor. 

The company said Phase 2 of the cleanup is underway and includes “extensive cleaning and decontamination of the site, including power washing, disinfecting, detailing and deodorizing.”

Lineage is also conducting around-the-clock air monitoring at various locations around the site and sharing the results online.

Lineage has not provided a specific timeline for when residents can expect the smell to end.

Mayor Karen Bass gives Boyle Heights residents an update on the Lineage Warehouse cleanup at Lou Costello Jr Recreational Center on Aug. 13, 2026.

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J.W. Hendricks

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The LA Local

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Why are there two deadlines? 

The city’s Aug. 14 deadline was outlined in L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ executive directives issued on June 29, which called for the complete bulk food removal within 45 days. Bass reiterated that deadline during a community meeting last week, where she said it had become clear the company would not meet it.

Lineage disputes that timeline, saying the Los Angeles Fire Department did not hand over the building until July 7, and that its applicable deadline is Aug. 20, in line with South Coast AQMD’s orders.

What happens if Lineage misses South Coast AQMD’s deadline?

If Lineage does not meet its Aug. 20 and Aug. 27 cleanup deadlines, South Coast AQMD will call for another hearing to determine the penalties it can impose. 

The deadlines were first established after a public hearing on Aug. 5 and 6, when air regulators unanimously approved an abatement order to enforce stricter cleanup requirements for Lineage after receiving thousands of air quality complaints since early July. 

What about the mayor’s Aug. 14 deadline?

In response to Lineage missing the city’s 45-day deadline, Bass said she was preparing to call on city lawyers to pursue civil litigation and other legal options, including cost recovery and penalties.

The mayor’s office did not respond to questions about whether the city has filed a lawsuit or taken other legal action since then.

Residents say they’re fed up

Tensions were high at Lou Costello Recreation Center last week, where about 40 residents watched Bass announce through Zoom that Lineage would not be meeting the city’s cleanup deadline.

Those living closest to the warehouse shared that the differing timelines matter less than wanting actual relief and answers about when the work would be completed. 

“I want them to get rid of this already,” said Maria Guzman, who brought her energy bill to the meeting, hoping to show city staff how much it’s gone up in the past two months. “They need to take care of it and do it as soon as possible.”

Boyle Heights Beat Senior reporter Alejandra Molina contributed to this story.

The work film editors do is as old as Hollywood.

The best editors take the many scenes filmed by a production crew and seamlessly create one work.

“You don't see what I do and if you do, I'm not doing my job right,” said Ryan Westphal, a visual effects editor, who worked on the TV series "Loki " and the film "Ferrari."

For Westphal, the best of times as an editor appear to be in the rearview mirror.

“I've had a good run from about 2018 to about 2023," he said. "For some people, the really busy time was about 2021 to 2023… the gold rush years for streaming content.”

It was good enough that he was lining up his finances to buy a house in Los Angeles. Not anymore.

“I feel like I'm on borrowed time. If things don't get back to some version of what it once was, I [will] need to leave L.A., and I need to change careers,” he said.

Westphal is one of thousands of people who’ve done post-production work — like editing and sound design — who are now feeling the contraction of opportunities in Hollywood. Some who are more visible, like actors and directors, have already felt that squeeze.

He and many others are waiting eagerly to see what Gov. Gavin Newsom does with a state bill meant to help these post production workers.

Assembly Bill 2319 is also known as the California Post-Production Tax Credit. It made it through both legislative chambers in Sacramento and was sent to the governor’s desk on Sept. 2.

The bill

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office has not said whether he plans to sign or veto the bill.

“I think it's a smart bill. I believe passing the bill [is] a way to keep television producers happy and here in Los Angeles,” said Juan Garza, an editor who’s worked on TV series such as "Doubt " and "Queen of the South."

California has already created tax credits as incentives for TV and film productions that do most filming and post production in the state. But this bill is different.

It would create new credits for projects that keep post-production work like editing and sound design in the state, even if they were filmed elsewhere or didn’t benefit from existing production tax credits.

For Garza, there’s a silver lining to the production slowdown. He’s also a filmmaker and has used the down time to take on several independent projects.

The Motion Picture Editors Guild represents Garza and about 8,000 other freelance and staff post-production professionals across the U.S. The union is urging Newsom to sign the bill.

Will a tax credit do enough?

But even to union members, it’s unclear if this bill will bring back the good years.

“I  think it's really a drop in the bucket of what's needed,” said Westphal, who has taken on part-time work as a security guard to make ends meet.

He said some more experienced editors have had to go to Europe to keep working. And some post-production work, like filming, has gone to other states as legislators elsewhere have attracted production out of California.

“It's a good start, but to really compete against the other states [and] the other countries, a lot more is needed,” he said.

Prosecutors said Tuesday that they won’t pursue the death penalty for Nick Reiner in the killings of his parents, actor-director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, who were stabbed at their Los Angeles home late last year.

Nick Reiner, 32, was charged with first-degree murder on Dec. 16, two days after the stunning killings of the couple, ages 78 and 70. A grand jury allegation from this summer said he was lying in wait before killing them.

Special circumstances in the allegations against Nick Reiner made him eligible for the death penalty, but Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the issue would be deferred while his office decided whether to pursue it. Those circumstances include multiple killings and the use of a dangerous weapon, a knife.

Hochman said his office did a thorough review, including speaking Rob and Michele Reiner’s families and evaluating mitigating factors in Nick Reiner’s favor, before reaching its decision.

The district attorney said the maximum sentence Reiner will be eligible to receive if convicted will be life without the possibility of parole.

Nick Reiner has not entered a plea after two court hearings, but his former defense attorney Alan Jackson said adamantly shortly after resigning from the case that “pursuant to the laws of California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder.”null

Jackson had to withdraw for undisclosed reasons that he said were beyond his and the client’s control, and a public defender took over for him.

$29 million to renovate a gym at a Santa Barbara college in Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón’s district.

$13 million for a farmers market and food innovation hub in wealthy Marin County, where Gov. Gavin Newsom lives.

$3 million to renovate the San Jose Giants’ minor league baseball stadium in Santa Clara County.

California lawmakers doled out $1.3 billion in handouts for their legislative districts with almost zero public scrutiny or input during an annual budgeting process that allows legislators and the governor to hand-pick funding recipients in private.

The money, often known as earmarks or “pork-barrel projects,” is commonplace in California and elsewhere, even in years when the state faces huge budget deficits. The practice allows lawmakers to tout their accomplishments and woo voters.

The earmark process is so secretive that few know why some projects make the cut and others don’t, raising equity and transparency concerns, even among lawmakers. Critics argue that it allows elected officials to play favorites.

“(It) is done all behind closed doors,” said Julie Baker, CEO of California for the Arts. “It is somewhat inequitable … to have a grant making process that everyone’s competing over and then have a process that’s non-transparent.”

Here’s how earmarks work: The leaders in the California Assembly and Senate, both Democrats, allow their colleagues to submit private wish-lists for funds with a suggested spending cap the leaders set. Then billions of dollars for hundreds of projects suddenly appear in a bill heard just days before lawmakers leave for the year, leaving little time for the public to weigh in. Lawmakers don’t put their names on the earmarks, making it hard to identify who requested what.

This year, Limón loosely capped Senate Democrats’ requests at $5 million each, said Sen. Dave Cortese, a San Jose Democrat who secured $6.5 million for his district. Lawmakers do not share their funding requests with each other, he said — at least not before they take credit for them in press releases or ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

“It's a confidential process between each office and leadership,” he told CalMatters.

But even he bemoaned the opaque nature of it.

“Why couldn’t we do this process a little earlier and get our requests into subcommittees so the public could just see what’s going on?” Cortese said. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of here.”

‘Why did I spend all that time and energy?’

The vast majority of the funding goes to urban counties such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, which are represented by powerful Democrats, and to other pet projects in Democratic leaders’ districts. Areas that are represented by Republicans typically get little to nothing.

This year, 17 counties, mostly lower population rural counties represented by Republicans, did not appear to receive any earmark funding.

“The leadership decides the major portions of the budget,” said Sen. Roger Niello, a Roseville Republican and vice chair of the Senate budget committee. “That is frustrating, but it is the system that we have.”

CalMatters compiled the earmarks in the budget measure Assembly Bill 113 and used Digital Democracy’s Find your legislators tool to determine which county and legislative district each project falls in.

More than $550 million — 42% of all earmarks identified by CalMatters — went to non-governmental organizations, mostly nonprofits, according to the analysis. It includes at least $93 million for arts projects, museums and murals, as well as funding for immigration services, land conservation and housing and homelessness.

The rest went to city and county governments for infrastructure including parks, community pools, wildfire mitigation and road repairs.

CalMatters reached out to Newsom, Limón, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and more than 20 other lawmakers to ask for a list of their funding requests. Few provided them.

Newsom, Rivas and Limón declined to answer questions about specific projects but told CalMatters in general statements that they are proud of the earmarks.

In a statement, Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said the funding in this year’s budget will “make a lasting, meaningful difference in communities across California.”

“From supporting our natural resources, and improving recreation centers to strengthening the arts and expanding food access, these additional investments reflect a continued commitment to building stronger, healthier, and more vibrant communities for all Californians,” the statement read.

Proponents of earmarks say they empower state lawmakers to prioritize projects with urgent needs in their districts instead of funneling the money through lengthy grant applications. The earmarks are also just a sliver of the state’s $352 billion budget, they noted.

“My message to (state agencies) is, ‘You guys take the other 99.9% and leave this fraction of a percent to us,’” Cortese said. “I’ll help target some real need in these districts that you are never going to see in an office in Sacramento.”

Lawmakers gather on the Assembly floor during the final days of session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Aug. 31, 2026.

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Fred Greaves

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CalMatters

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But critics bashed state leaders for finding $1.3 billion for earmarks when the state has struggled to backfill major federal cuts to healthcare. State leaders this year relied on windfall revenue from an AI-driven economic boom, some tax increases and suspending payments to schools and state reserves to balance the budget and delay deep healthcare cuts to next year.

“They’ve said, ‘Look … there's no extra money to spend,’ and then a half billion dollars comes out in the last 48 hours of the session,” said Geoff Green, CEO of CalNonprofits, which represents thousands of nonprofits statewide. “For entities that were working through what we considered normal processes through the entirety of the session, to then see this come out at the last second, it feels like, well, why did I spend all that time and energy?”

Susan Shelley, vice president of communications at the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, accused lawmakers of handing money out to their supporters at the last moment.

“From a taxpayer perspective, we don’t have the money for this,” Shelley said.

Dance troupes, museums and MMA fighters

The biggest allocation this year was $125 million to help buy and transform a defunct Alameda County horse track into a public park — a Newsom priority. Assembly Appropriations Committee Chair Buffy Wicks and Senate Housing Committee Chair Jesse Arreguín, both Oakland Democrats, championed the funding.

Some earmarks benefited groups with wealthy backers. The state gave $25 million to the Innovative Genomics Institute, a UC Berkeley-based genome engineering research facility in Wicks and Arreguín’s districts whose funders include the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Li Ka Shing Foundation and the United States Department of Defense.

Other earmarks include:

• $20 million to help build a facility for the Jewish Family and Children’s Services Holocaust Center in San Francisco, which is backed by dozens of foundations and endowment funds. Executive director Anita Friedman said the endowments only fund roughly 2% of its budget.
• $15 million to renovate the police and firefighters memorials in Sacramento’s Capital Park
• $1 million for the state’s retirement fund for mixed martial arts fighters, currently funded through ticket and vanity plate sales.

Another $86 million went to arts projects, museums and dance troupes — more than 40% of them in San Francisco.

That includes $3 million to the ODC Dance Company, whose founder Brenda Way was inducted into the California Hall of Fame by Newsom and first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom; $2.8 million to the Center for the Art of Translation backed by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Hawthornden Foundation; and $400,000 to the San Francisco Mime Troupe.

It’s unclear who advocated for those earmarks. Democratic San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney said he did not request any of them. Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, both San Francisco Democrats, did not respond to requests for comment from CalMatters.

Green, of CalNonprofit, said he worries the money is not reaching those with the most acute needs, but those with the best relationships with lawmakers.

“The capacity of a large, well-staffed institute to access resources is just a completely different universe than a smaller, volunteer, community-based organization in some more rural parts of the state,” he said, adding that the recipients appear to be “folks who have relationships already.”

Relationships matter

Relationships do matter to Cortese. Among the projects he requested funding for, only one — Ashes to Beauty, which received $750,000 — is relatively new to him. He said he’s known the other nonprofits he sought funding for dating to his days as a San Jose city councilmember in the 2000s.

“If some new group came along and they seemed hopeful … but I didn’t know of them very well, I hadn’t seen their work too much in the community, I’m probably not going to entrust them with $1 million or $800,000,” he said. “It’s not a matter of any kind of favoritism.”

Cortese said his office keeps a long list of requests for funding and considers which groups are “lifting up the greater good of the community.”

Cortese asked for and received $2.1 million for First-Tee Silicon Valley, which teaches golf and leadership to high-risk kids in marginalized neighborhoods; $2.6 million to environmental nonprofit Our City Forest; and $1 million for Amigos de Guadalupe, an immigration services nonprofit.

Several earmarks went to nonprofits with ties to the governor. The Redwood High School Foundation, which funds Newsom’s high school alma mater, received $4 million for a “capital project.” Another $250,000 went to Kiss the Ground, a regenerative agriculture nonprofit whose 2020 documentary featured Newsom.

A total of $3.86 million went to the Alliance for Community Empowerment, a Los Angeles nonprofit that serves trauma and poverty survivors. Its founder, Michelle Miranda, sat on a board of community advisers to Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, an Encino Democrat who chairs the budget committee.

Gabriel’s spokesperson Alicia Isaacs-Lee did not address specific projects but said Assembly Democrats fought for “smart, targeted, one-time investments” in healthcare, food banks, legal service providers, fire departments and nonprofits.

Homeless shelter City of Refuge Sacramento received $1.8 million to open two more homes to serve children, co-founder Rachelle Ditmore told CalMatters. She is a close friend of Sen. Angelique Ashby, a Sacramento Democrat who helped the shelter secure $8 million in 2023. Democratic Assemblymember Maggy Krell, who also represents the area, donated $10,000 from her campaign account to Ditmore’s nonprofit in August 2025.

But Ditmore told CalMatters that the governor, who signed an executive order on human trafficking at City of Refuge, may have requested the funding this year.

“This is an authentic place and I’m grateful for history, but also love that this was directed by other eyes who were able to see the value,” Ditmore told CalMatters in an email.

Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, a Los Angeles Democrat, secured $13.5 million in earmarks this year, including $500,000 for the Los Angeles Black Workers Center, which she co-founded, according to a list provided by her spokesperson Paulette Thornton.

The center is the only one in the area serving Black workers, and the funding will connect Black residents to quality jobs, Thornton said.

Rural, Republican-led counties get less

Los Angeles County, where nearly a quarter of all Californians live, received at least $300 million in earmarks this year — just under a quarter of the total and more than any other county, data analysis shows.

Santa Barbara County, Limón’s home county with a population of 450,000, received at least $72.8 million in earmarks, more than any other similarly sized county. Republican-dominated Tulare County, by comparison, received just $200,000 for its 485,000 residents.

The contrast reflects the power of leadership in Sacramento, said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College.

“Part of the power … is the ability to get benefits for the district, and it’s not surprising that the legislative leaders tend to do pretty well in that respect,” Pitney said.

Last year, a quarter of the earmarks CalMatters identified — more than $100 million — went to the district of former Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, a Santa Rosa Democrat.

This year, CalMatters identified $83.7 million in earmarks benefiting Limón’s district, including the $29 million gym renovation. Others include:

• $6 million to acquire and rehabilitate a historical building that housed nonprofit La Casa de la Raza
• $5 million to restore Pershing Park in Santa Barbara
• $3.3 million for a community pool in the city of Carpinteria
• $3 million for a high school community aquatics center.

Rivas’ district received just over $10 million in earmarks, including $2.8 million for a regional soccer complex in Salinas, $2.5 million for a recreational center in King City and $525,000 for arts and culture in Watsonville. His district overlaps with that of Sen. John Laird, a Santa Cruz Democrat who chairs the budget committee.

Laird’s district received $36.9 million, including:

• $10 million for expanding public access to the PG&E-owned North Ranch property
• $618,000 for highway traffic enforcement on the Bixby Bridge
• $250,000 to the San Luis Obispo Beaver Brigade, a nonprofit advocating for beavers.

Gabriel’s district saw at least $7 million in earmarks, including $2.5 million to Mid Valley YMCA, $500,000 to Los Angeles youth film nonprofit Kids in the Spotlight and $200,000 to social services group Family Rescue Center.

Niello told CalMatters that GOP senators were only given $1 million each in earmarks to distribute.

“That means that I’m not able to do enough for my district (as) Dave Cortese is for his, and we both have the same size districts. Is that fair? To me, it’s not.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman has missed nearly 3,000 votes since she was first elected in 2020, according to an analysis by LAist — a number that has been criticized by her opponent in the upcoming mayoral race.

A closer look at data from the L.A. city clerk reveals Raman ranks in the middle of the pack of the 15-member council when it comes to votes missed. She was eighth among her colleagues when it came to votes missed so far this year.

Last year she ranked third. In 2024, she ranked sixth.

The vast majority of those votes were unanimous or near-unanimous among the other council members, meaning her vote on those matters would not have changed the outcomes.

Still, the campaign of her mayoral opponent — incumbent Karen Bass — has stressed that the missed votes matter.

"This isn't just missing a few votes, it's about six years of Nithya Raman not showing up — for constituents wanting encampments outside of schools cleaned up or voting to make it cheaper to film here,” said Alex Stack, Bass’ campaign spokesperson.

“If you don't show up for your job, you shouldn't get a promotion," he said.

Bass brought up Raman’s City Council meeting absences during a debate earlier this month, and the campaign has since set up a website, titled NoShowNithya, devoted to highlighting those absences.

Raman’s campaign said she was officially excused from many of the meetings because she was appointed to represent L.A. on the Air Quality Management District board, which is charged with reducing local air pollution and improving public health.

Those meetings happened at the same time as some council meetings. The board meets on the last Friday of every month. The City Council meets three times a week — on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

“The data shows that Nithya’s attendance is in line with other council members,” said campaign spokesperson Liz Garcia. “These desperate attacks from Mayor Bass will not distract Nithya from campaigning to make LA a city that works and is affordable for everyone."

The numbers

City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian has missed the most votes so far this year — 393 — compared to Raman, who was ranked eighth at 233. Last year, Councilmember Monica Rodriguez ranked first with 631 and Raman ranked third with 556.

In 2024, Rodriguez ranked first with 741. Raman ranked sixth with 575.

Bass isn’t the only one who believes this is an issue.

“Attendance at meetings isn't ceremonial,” said Pomona College Associate Professor of Politics Sara Sadhwani. “It’s where amendments and laws get shaped, it's where budgets get fought over and it's where constituents' priorities either make it into policy or they don’t. So missing that work means missing those leverage points.”

“Generally, the expectation is that you show up for work,” she added.

In January, Bass removed Raman from the Air Quality Management District AQMD board, a role she’d been serving in since 2022 when she was appointed by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Nazarian was appointed to the air quality board to replace Raman.

As for Raman’s absences, her campaign sought to turn the tables on Bass. It pointed to the incumbent’s absences from commission meetings of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

Since joining, the mayor has skipped more than half of the meetings held by the L.A. Homeless Services Authority Commission, according to an LAist review of attendance records, despite the mayor’s insistence that homelessness is her No. 1 issue.

The Raman campaign also pointed to Bass’ absence during the early hours of the Palisades Fire when she was on a diplomatic trip to Ghana.

"This is ironic coming from a mayor who was missing during our city’s most devastating emergencies [and] failed to show up for more than half of LAHSA homelessness meetings,” Garcia said.

Bass’ office told LAist that, regardless of her attendance record, she has kept up to date on what LAHSA has been doing. The regional agency is responsible for managing the region’s homelessness response.

Earlier this month, following LAist’s reporting, Bass announced she was stepping down from the LAHSA Commission.

“It cuts both ways, and it's a reminder that both of these candidates are political insiders and have a track record with the city,” Sadhwani said.

Too many meetings?

The issue of missed meetings points to another question: Does the City Council meet too often? The city charter mandates that the panel meet three times a week. Its counterpart on the county level — the Board of Supervisors — meets once a week even though its budget is far larger.

In addition to deciding who will be L.A.’s mayor, voters in November will decide whether the number of mandated weekly City Council meetings should be modified. The council has placed a proposed change to the city charter that would require only one meeting per week.