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Published October 5, 2023 5:00 AM
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Alborz Kamalizad
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LAist
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Topline:
The rendering company Baker Commodities in Southeast L.A. — which recycles animal parts and carcasses into materials for everyday products — was the focus of years of community odor complaints before being shuttered by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) for nearly nine months.
Where things stand: The company has since partially reopened after meeting with the agency’s regulatory panel. Baker is suing AQMD for $200 million in damages and an upcoming court decision could allow it to fully reopen.
Why now: In a new investigation out today, LAist spoke with dozens of local residents and reviewed odor complaint records, violation records, notices to comply, and inspection reports to piece together how the rendering of dead animals at Baker has impacted surrounding communities.
Keep reading... for key findings, a map of rendering plants and meat processors in L.A. County and more.
KEY FINDINGS AT A GLANCE
A small region of Southeast L.A. is home to a disproportionate number of plants that handle the rendering of animals, hazardous wastes and other manufacturing that creates health hazards. It also has startlingly high rates of cancer-risk and other ailments
Interviews with longtime Southeast L.A. residents and workers, and data obtained through public records requests, show that neighbors have complained for decades about adverse effects — including putrid odors that burn people’s eyes and throats and led students to want to go home from school.
One company, Baker Commodities Inc. is now at the center of a fight that underscores competing interests of industry, health and quality of life in a densely populated region where more than one in five people live at or below the poverty line.
Conditions at that Vernon facility were described by one inspector with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which is responsible for holding businesses accountable to the law, as smelling “intensely of rotting animals.” He said in a sworn written statement filed in court that the first time he inspected Baker he wanted to vomit.
Some environmental justice advocates are asking why the company is suing regulators for $200 million in damages rather than addressing systemic issues identified in numerous inspections.
Tucked along Bandini Boulevard in the city of Vernon are the headquarters for Baker Commodities Inc., a company that employs 900 workers across the U.S. and is home base for some of the grisliest industrial work in the country.
Behind the nondescript walls of its campus along the L.A. River sit machines used to grind, cook, and press leftover pieces of cows, pigs, and chickens. These remains — and, sometimes, entire carcasses — are delivered on semitrucks from butcher shops, grocery stores, restaurants, slaughterhouses and livestock farms. A worker then pushes them into a pit with a tractor and, through a process called rendering, they’re turned into fats, meat and bone meal, and hides.
These materials are recycled to make scores of everyday products, including soap, pet food, makeup, and leather goods. The long-running industry plays important roles in reducing food waste.
For decades, residents in surrounding neighborhoods have complained of putrid dead animal smells. In 2017, community pressure compelled the local agency that oversees air emissions, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD), to adopt a rule to mitigate odors from Baker and a handful of other rendering plants. Among other requirements, the rule forces these companies to post signs indicating where residents can report odor issues — a demand some plants lobbied against. Then, in September 2022, the agency shut down Baker, citing repeat violations of its odor mitigation rule.
At the time, community members and elected officials celebrated the closure as a win. But what many don’t know is that the company has partially reopened and is waging an intense legal battle against AQMD. After AQMD shut it down, Baker filed a lawsuit against the AQMD in L.A. County Superior Court. Baker claims the company was not in violation of the odor mitigation rule and that it was treated unfairly. Baker also demands that the shutdown order be tossed out and aims to bar air regulators from shutting it down in the future.
Baker Commodities Inc. in Vernon, Calif.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist spoke with dozens of local residents and reviewed odor complaint records, violation records, notices to comply, and inspection reports to piece together how the rendering of dead animals at Baker has impacted surrounding communities.
We found:
Since the odor mitigation rule went into effect in 2017, AQMD has issued 12 violations and five notices to comply to Baker. Eight of them were for violating the odor mitigation rule. The rest were for failing to comply with permit conditions and other requirements. Three of the violations are still pending.
LAist found 111 odor complaints identified by the person reporting the smell or by AQMD as being tied to Baker between August 2019 and late last week. These complaints came from homes, local schools, and businesses near Baker’s headquarters.
Baker failed to store animal remains within four hours of delivery, leaving them out to fester and violating AQMD’s rules, according to the agency’s attorneys — and it did so six times between August 2019 and January 2022.
An AQMD inspector reported Baker violated AQMD rules that require surfaces exposed to animal matter to be washed down at least once per working day, according to his sworn written statement filed in Baker’s court case. The inspector said he saw strings of animal matter dangling on grates at the company’s headquarters.
In Baker’s unloading zone for animal remains, broken concrete or asphalt was present in March and April 2022, according to AQMD’s attorneys — a problem that officials at the agency say can cause water to pool and smells to fester.
We should note that Baker has disputed AQMD findings in the latter three items in court filings.
In the year since AQMD ordered Baker to shut down, residents say the odors are less intense and less frequent — and AQMD complaint records associated with the company show a dramatic drop in reported smell problems. The shutdown lasted nearly nine months, until the company petitioned the hearing board and was granted permission to work in a limited capacity, doing trap grease and wastewater treatment — but not rendering animals.
Many community members were worried to learn from LAist that the court may allow the company to fully reopen and return to rendering livestock and poultry without making long-term changes to the way they operate.
In addition to rendering animals, the Vernon facility processes 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.
A long track record of problems, a fierce fight to stay in business
A review by LAist also uncovered details of the steps Baker has taken to try to get back to running at full scale in Vernon. The rendering company submitted 125 legal filings in its battle against AQMD over a 12-month period, arguing that it’s in compliance with the odor mitigation rule. In that time, it’s had two law firms working the case, which calls for $200 million in damages from the government agency for lost revenue, the disclosure of trade secrets and other items. Its current legal team at DLA Piper — a top-ranking, multinational law firm — includes Angela Agrusa, who specializes in brand-crisis litigation and has represented comedian and actor Bill Cosby and Chipotle, among others.
A view into a parking lot at Baker Commodities Inc. in Vernon.
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The Baker Commodities Inc. facilities include multiple buildings.
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“The fact
that Baker Commodities would come at an agency that is really intended to protect the public's health is not just unfortunate, but it is despicable,” said Angelo Logan, who grew up in the nearby city of Commerce and returns weekly to visit his mother. Logan currently serves on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and learned of the litigation from LAist.
Cudahy Councilmember Elizabeth Alcantar, who lives about 3 miles away from Baker, was also unaware of the legal fight until LAist’s reporting.
“It’s absolutely concerning to see that happen,” she said.
Alcantar grew up in Cudahy and says she and her family have endured the stench of rotting flesh for as long as she can remember. She was shocked to hear Baker is pursuing legal action that will cost taxpayers money, instead of addressing community concerns.
“It's going to take AQMD's time and funds away from what they should be doing, which is enforcement,” Alcantar said of the litigation, explaining that the community has been under duress for years due to foul odors. “[W]e are here, simply wanting to breathe clean air.”
Baker’s assistant vice president of public relations and legislative affairs, Jimmy Andreoli II, declined multiple interview requests. Agrusa, Baker’s lead attorney, did not respond to our requests for comment.
In an emailed statement Andreoli said, “While we cannot comment on active litigation, we are dedicated to finding sustainable ways to support California’s food production and restaurant industries with continued strict adherence to local, state, and federal environmental laws.”
“Some of our business operations have been approved to resume,” said Andreoli, who is the grandson of Baker’s 96-year-old CEO, James Andreoli. Jimmy Andreoli II added that they look forward to finding long-term solutions with AQMD.
Baker’s lawsuit against AQMD is still pending. Later this month, if a settlement isn’t reached beforehand, an L.A. Superior Court judge is scheduled to decide whether the rendering company can reopen at full capacity. The judge will also rule on the $200 million in damages Baker is seeking, as well as its call to keep AQMD from shutting it down in the future.
If Baker succeeds in court, interviews with community members suggest it could further erode the relationship between the city of Vernon and local residents across Southeast L.A., many of whom are grappling with odors on top of other environmental issues.
AQMD odor complaint reviewed by LAist.
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A company with big problems
Many people
who live in or near Vernon have no idea that they live close to four rendering plants that process everything from fat, to livestock, to the remains of cats and dogs. The city, which is just 5 square miles in size, is also home to at least 40 meat processors, which buy meat from slaughterhouses to prepare items found at grocery stores, like sausages and steaks. There are also six slaughterhouses within 1 mile of Vernon’s city limits
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Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). City boundaries via L.A. County eGIS hub.
At some places, silos and smokestacks hint at what’s happening inside, along with flocks of seagulls hovering far from shore. But, for the most part, these businesses are tucked behind bland metal sheets and concrete walls.
Baker itself
is sandwiched between the L.A. River and several train tracks. The rendering company has been in Vernon since the 1940s. But after AQMD determined that Baker blew a deadline to seal off its rendering operations to keep potential odors from escaping in spring 2022, the agency’s legal counsel moved to shut it down.
The Darling International Inc. rendering plant in Los Angeles, near Vernon.
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Seagulls on a concrete square in the L.A. River next to the Darling International Inc. rendering plant.
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AQMD’s hearing board, which enforces the agency’s regulations, gathered to vote on the shutdown in September of 2022. Before reaching a decision, the board held a hearing, which LAist found little media coverage of at the time. It provided a rare look inside Baker’s headquarters.
Over a span of three days via Zoom, attorneys for both parties peppered an AQMD inspector with questions.
In 2022 inspector Dillon Harris testified that he visited Baker nine times. He documented hooves and other animal bones strewn across the floor, overflowing from a large trash bin. He spotted a trough with built up blood, animal fat, and wastewater. He said he saw staff dumping sludge — a thick, pancake batter-like mix of liquid and solid animal remains — from trucks into open-air pits. Baker, he said, also left equipment doors and panels open, which are supposed to be kept shut to trap possible smells, and employees dumped expired clams, shrimp and ground beef into an exposed container.
During the hearing
, dozens of photographs capture Baker’s facility.
[Caution: these links go to images of the photos displayed on video in hearings]
In them, rib cages can be seen among a heap of animal parts, pools of blood-colored liquid are shown in multiple locations, a drain is backed up and surrounded by dead animal debris. Harris, the inspector, also captured images of raw animal material leaking out of the rendering equipment. Baker has argued that photos shown during the hearing should be sealed from the public’s view because they contain trade secrets that competitors can now access.
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.
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Dillon Harris
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Screen shots from YouTube video of Sept. 27, 2022 AQMD Commission meeting
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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.
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Dillon Harris
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Screen shots from YouTube video of Sept. 27, 2022 AQMD Commission meeting
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Inspection photo labeled "Open air pit 8/16/22"
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AQMD via YouTube hearing video
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Photo labeled "Uncovered or leaking conveyers 8/16/22"
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AQMD via YouTube hearing video
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Inspection photo labeled "Leaking Presses"
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AQMD via YouTube hearing video
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The Andreoli family, which has owned Baker since the 1980s, spoke at the hearing and disputed Harris’ findings. Jimmy Andreoli II said he visited the Vernon facility a week earlier and saw “a wash truck that was moving throughout the facility and washing down various roadway surfaces.”
Baker attributed some of the inspector’s findings to human error. Jason Andreoli, who was identified at the hearing as Baker’s general manager, said the company put up signs reminding staff to keep the doors closed. “And we also put a policy in place that if they are left open, there’s gonna be disciplinary action,” he said.
Several hearing board members appeared mystified by Baker’s claims that the company was in compliance with AQMD rules.
"Every picture virtually that we see is of equipment that is absolutely filthy," said the late Dr. Allan Bernstein, one of the hearing board’s voting members who died last spring.
"It's mind-boggling to sit here and see anyone try to defend this position when we're all looking at these pictures with our eyes," he added.
During closing statements, AQMD attorney Daphne Hsu said she understood the magnitude of shutting down the company. “We don’t ask a facility to stop operating lightly,” she said, noting Baker could have proposed a timeline to come into compliance. Instead, she said, the company chose to dispute the agency’s findings.
“Baker must be in compliance before it restarts,” Hsu added. “The community has waited long enough.”
The hearing board voted 4 to 1 to shut down Baker. That’s when the court battle began.
'I had to step away because I almost vomited’
When AQMD implemented the odor mitigation rule in November 2017, rendering facilities that had to comply were given 90 days to meet basic standards. The goal of the rule was straightforward: to keep potential odor sources contained and protect people living nearby. The rule requires steps like washing down surfaces at least once a day and repairing cracks in the asphalt to keep pools of odorous bacteria from forming.
Seagulls regularly gather near and above rendering plants. Bones are scattered on a sidewalk outside Darling International Inc, a rendering plant neighboring Vernon.
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“As they're bulldozing and pushing all these raw carcasses, [the animal remains get] smeared across asphalt and concrete, and odors start developing,” explained Wayne Nastri, AQMD’s executive officer, in an interview with LAist. “What the rule actually intended to do was to control the process the whole way, to minimize [animal remains’] exposure to the air that would generate those kinds of odors.”
AQMD gave renderers subject to the rule up to three and a half years to install enclosures, or bring all their operations into a closed system indoors, to keep odors from drifting off site. Some asked for extensions before they finished the work, but, according to AQMD, Baker is the only one that has not complied. In its lawsuit, Baker repeatedly argues it is in compliance.
When Harris, the AQMD inspector, checked out Baker for the first time after the rule went into effect in 2018, he remembers being disgusted.
“I had to step away because I almost vomited,” he said in a sworn written statement filed with AQMD’s response to Baker’s lawsuit.
Recalling the inspections he conducted at Baker in 2022, Harris added that: “The odor at the facility smells intensely of rotting animals.”
His work boots, he explained, were so soaked through with the smell of rendering that he couldn’t use them at non-rendering facilities. In one of Baker’s rendering plants at its Vernon campus, he said “rotting odor emanates from all sides.”
L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn’s district includes Vernon — she advocated last year for Baker’s shutdown.
“It was clear that Baker Commodities had long violated air quality rules and had done little to nothing to come into compliance,” she said in an emailed response to questions from LAist. “It was time for [AQMD] to uphold the rules they had on the books and protect the community from this company."
Nastri, AQMD’s executive officer, declined to speak on Baker’s lawsuit, citing pending litigation. Court filings show AQMD has hired two outside law firms to work the case, in addition to the agency’s in-house attorneys. They’ve filed a cross-complaint against Baker, demanding that the rendering company pay $10,000 per day for each of its violations.
Nastri confirmed to LAist that Baker has committed the most violations out of any of the rendering plants in its jurisdiction.
The air pollution agency’s rules “are there to ensure that we have a level playing field,” Nastri said. “And to all those companies that are making the investments, that are operating in conditions that they're supposed to operate, it's unfair if we were to let others who do not make those investments and seek to profit off of the lack of compliance — that's just wrong.”
“We are very consistent and very strong in our enforcement approach,” he added. “And so long as those companies continue to violate those rules or regulations, we will go after them. Period.”
How odors impact community members’ daily lives
Residents of Southeast L.A. County, as well as Boyle Heights and unincorporated East L.A., have put up with rendering plant odors for years. And Baker is not alone — odor complaint records reviewed by LAist show the three other nearby rendering plants have also generated concerns.
The City of Vernon seal.
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A rare residential street in Vernon, which is almost exclusively industrial.
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So have other businesses. The city of Vernon is home to just 222 residents and is almost exclusively industrial — nearly 600 of its businesses handle or store hazardous chemicals, according to a city report. Local residents have lodged complaints with AQMD about strong garbage odors from trash collection companies, as well as nauseatingly sweet smells from flavor and fragrance suppliers. One resident complained their neighborhood reeked of “melting Jolly Ranchers.”
Shifting wind patterns near Vernon add to the challenges. According to Terrence Mann, AQMD’s deputy executive officer of compliance and enforcement, an odor can start off in Monterey Park, “then, just a few minutes later,” pop up in Huntington Park — about 11 miles away.
Interviews with local residents
, as well as odor complaint data obtained through public records requests, show that people living in the area encounter the smells at dinner time; on their way to school; at work; on the playground; and during class.
Sometimes the stench comes and goes. But sometimes it persists for hours, or even several days. When it’s especially pungent, it can be stomach-churning. Community members also report getting headaches, as well as an itchy, burning sensation in their eyes and throats.
AQMD complaint reviewed by LAist.
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In interviews with LAist, affected residents often used phrases like “dead animal” or “rotting carcass” to describe these odors. Still, most of them have no idea where the stench comes from. Some local residents who’ve driven in Vernon past the now-shuttered Farmer John slaughterhouse, which is renowned for its pig murals, told LAist they’d always assumed the smell was coming from there.
“It wasn't just that there was a smell — we all live in cities [that] have smells — it's that it was a stench,” said Jackie Goldberg, Los Angeles Unified School District's school board president. She fielded complaints from teachers and parents at schools near Baker and joined other elected officials in a letter demanding that rendering plants take greater accountability for odors in January 2022.
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:
The smell was so bad it made it impossible to get through the day’s lessons, she said. Students were putting their heads down, asking to go home.
“It impacts your body,” she added. “You feel it in your eyes, you feel it in your throat, you smell it, you get headaches, your eyes burn. It's not good for you, and it’s not good for kids in particular.”
The now shuttered Farmer John facility in Vernon where some residents assumed the smell was coming from.
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In the months leading up to AQMD’s shutdown action, former state Assemblymember Cristina Garcia wrote her own letter to the agency, detailing her experience teaching math at Huntington Park High School in the ‘90s and early 2000s.
“The smell is so strong, putrid, and nauseating that my students could not focus,” she wrote. “[A]nd now, 20 years later, it is insulting that we are still dealing with the same problem.”
Without working air conditioning in her classroom, Garcia had to choose between shutting the door and windows to keep the odors out, or letting the stench in to get some ventilation. “And the hotter it got, the worse that smell would get,” she told LAist. “It was a constant struggle.”
Baker's lawsuit was news to Garcia when she found out about it from LAist, but not a surprise. She said communities in Southeast L.A. have long been plagued by environmental justice issues and recalled that the now-shuttered Exide battery recycling plant spewed lead in the area for decades, then had its bankruptcy case settled in federal court.
Cristina Garcia, a former state assemblymember who represented parts of southeast L.A., photographed at Huntington Park High School where she once taught.
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“[Baker feels] that they could win and they could squeeze the agency on behalf of their bottom line, instead of on behalf of the public,” she said.
Dora Gómez and her two children have lived in the city of Vernon for eight years in an affordable housing complex built on land donated by the city. Gómez said the smells have been a persistent issue. When they occur, she shuts her windows and avoids going outdoors. She also bought an air purifier and has routinely purchased scented wax melts to ward off the stench.
Gómez had no idea four rendering plants circle her home in a 4-mile radius. She said she often thinks about leaving the area, but she pays less than $1,500 per month for a two-bedroom apartment and the rents in surrounding neighborhoods are not within her budget.
“It's not a great place to raise your kids,” said Gómez, who said she worries about health effects from Exide in addition to the smell problems. Her apartment building has been flagged by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control for soil remediation after contamination from the battery recycling plant. “They've already been exposed to lead for all these years, it just makes you think like, you know, what else is in the air?
Soil remediation work underway in a southeast L.A. residence.
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Maria Monares has lived in East Los Angeles, about 3 miles north of Baker’s pressers and grinders, for over three decades. Her children, who are now grown, attended Eastman Avenue Elementary School, just across the street from their home. Monares’ neighborhood has also been subject to rendering plant odors, a “horrible smell” that she compares to the stench of “death” and “burning bones.”
Aside from being unpleasant, the odors can be embarrassing, she said. Sometimes, the stench rolls in when she has company. Visitors will scrunch their faces in disgust and ask: ‘What isthat?’
Over the years, Monares and her husband have lodged multiple complaints to AQMD. In some cases, the agency has sent inspectors out to her home. They’ve come, smelled what she’s smelling, asked questions, and taken notes. Then, the air quality got better. And when the odors returned, she and her husband got back on the phone.
“Us calling and bugging, hopefully it helps,” she said.
Maria Monares, a community member who has made complaints about the odor in her neighborhood.
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Businesses near Baker have also filed odor complaints with AQMD. Public records reviewed by LAist show that one company described a “horrible, putrid smell” that they said was coming from Baker. The “smell penetrates into our facility and many employees complain ... Some feel nauseous,” it added.
But pinpointing an odor’s source can be difficult.
“The biggest challenge is that all of [the rendering companies] are located in close proximity to each other,” said Mann, with AQMD. “That's part of the reason why our agency took the lead and created [the odor mitigation rule implemented in 2017],” he said, explaining that the agency now aims to proactively identify violations at rendering companies instead of waiting for complaints to come in before it takes action.
Nastri, AQMD’s executive officer, noted that, in recent years, there’s been an overall drop in odor complaints associated with rendering plants in the region. In 2021, he said, AQMD received nearly 400 complaints. As of Oct. 2, the agency reported 84 complaints so far this year.
Still, he added, “success would be the ultimate elimination of those complaints.”
Signs outside the former Exide facility.
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Rendering’s role in mitigating climate change
Agriculture industry experts agree that rendering plays an important role in reducing waste. Humans don’t eat every part of the animals they consume, so “a tremendous volume of unused animal meat gets left over from our livestock and our poultry operations,” said Christine Birdsong, undersecretary at the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
By repurposing animal remains — like using fats for biodiesel, instead of extracting carbon from fossil fuels — renderers across the country “reclaim the carbon” from 56 billion pounds of unused animal parts each year, Birdsong added. Renderers also minimize waste by transforming those remains into a myriad of “really valuable ingredients” used in everything down to the gelatin casings of medicine capsules, she said.
“I have never seen any other industry that is more involved in recycling,” said Frank Mitloehner, a professor and air quality specialist at UC Davis’ animal science department. “I mean, literally, nothing goes to waste.”
Mitloehner said rendering plants are especially significant when livestock farms experience mass die-offs, often due to the spread of disease or extreme heat. “You’re not allowed to compost [animals], you're not allowed to burn them. There's no other way of dealing with that,” he said.
“Thank God we have people to work in [rendering plants],” Mitloehner added. “Because if we didn’t, we would have a serious disposal issue.”
Some community members frustrated with rendering odors don’t dispute the importance of the recycling work that’s done at Baker.
Dilia Ortega grew up in Huntington Park and now lives in South Gate. She works as a youth program coordinator for Communities for A Better Environment, a nonprofit that’s advocated for clean air, soil, and water in California’s working-class neighborhoods since the late 1970s.
Ortega grew up smelling rendering odors. On her way to school, she’d instinctively cover her mouth and nose when her bus drove past Vernon. Today, her role at work puts her in contact with hundreds of students in Southeast L.A. Year after year, she told LAist, they identify dead animal smells as an ongoing issue in their neighborhoods.
Dilia Ortega, Youth Program Coordinator at Communities for a Better Environment, photographed near the now closed Exide plant. This is a stop in the "Toxic Tours" lead by Ortega and other members of Communities for a Better Environment.
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When AQMD was weighing whether to shut down Baker last fall, Ortega shared these insights during public comment at the three-day hearing. She underscored that she was not advocating for a permanent closure. She just wants the company to abide by the rules.
“We understand that they provide a necessary service,” she said. “But it cannot be done at the expense of our quality of life.”
Risks to public health
Jill Johnston, associate professor of Population and Public Health Sciences at USC, noted that strong odors don’t just diminish local residents’ quality of life, they can also impact their health.
Rendering plant emissions can contain chemicals like hydrogen sulfide, which smells like rotten egg, as well as chemicals that contain sulfur dioxide, she said. Some of the symptoms community members have reported — including itchy eyes and runny nose — can be caused by these chemicals. Rendering plant emissions can also exacerbate asthma symptoms, making it harder for residents to breathe, and elevate their blood pressure, Johnston said. Chronic exposure to these odor producing chemicals can also affect their cardiovascular systems.
We shared our findings regarding Baker with Johnston, including what we learned through interviews with community members and our review of AQMD’s violation records.
She said they point to “the need for more stringent enforcement of the standards, to ensure that these violations don't persist.”
Johnston said the density of meat-related facilities in the region is also concerning and could pose a “potential cumulative burden” on nearby communities.
“Even if everyone individually is in compliance,” she explained, “when you’re exposed to so many, the health effects can be greatly amplified.”
Eleni Sazakli, a researcher at the University of Patras’ public health laboratory in Greece, specializes in studying the impact of rendering plants on local communities. She noted that odors can disrupt lives and social relationships. Even hanging laundry out to dry becomes an issue, because the wet cloth picks up the smell, she said.
AQMD odor complaint reviewed by LAist
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Odorous chemicals produced by rendering plants can also irritate the throat and nose and “produce headaches, nausea, fatigue and sleep disturbances,” Sazakli added. Some even have the potential to cause cancer.
Pointing to the role rendering plays in reducing waste, Sazakli nevertheless maintained that rendering is “an environmentally friendly industry” that should be sustained.
“But we have to follow very strict guidelines in their operation,” she added, and “adopt the best available technologies that we have in our hands.”
What’s next for Baker’s employees
In its suit against AQMD, and on its company website, Baker warns that the shutdown could impact “about 200 people,” including “more than 100 union-represented employees.”
But when Baker asked AQMD’s hearing board for permission to resume its trap grease and wastewater treatment processes in April 2023, the company’s Jason Andreoli said no staff had been cut.
“[W]e haven’t even let go of any of our employees,” he said at the hearing. “These people are family. ”
Bertha Rodríguez, a spokesperson for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, confirmed that none of the 32 union members employed by Baker have lost their jobs.
Martin Perez, who works for Teamsters Local 63 and started a petition to reopen Baker, also told LAist that none of its members have been laid off. During the April hearing he said Baker had been good to its employees.
“Not only did they pay their wages, they paid their health and welfare [and] their pension contributions,” he said at the time.
The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 501, which also has union members who work at Baker, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
LAist posed the question of jobs to Goldberg, Los Angeles Unified’s school board president, and four Southeast L.A. officials who all complained to AQMD about rendering odors. All agreed that jobs are important. All maintained that the plants need to be in compliance.
“We did not want [Baker] to close, because it employed many of the people that I represent,” Goldberg said, referring to her role on the school board. “But we did want them to run their business following the regulations that they're required to.”
“I would love to see it reopen,” she added, “but I don't want it to reopen if they're not going to be closely monitored and closely regulated.”
Rendering companies “need to adhere to the established regulations,” said South Gate mayor Maria del Pilar Avalos, who lives about 6 miles from Baker. When the rendering odors have been especially pungent, they’ve made her eyes burn. They’ve also caused her family members to forgo day-to-day activities, like walking their dog, she said.
Still, Avalos believes the rendering companies and local residents can coexist. “We need to see how we can utilize our 21st century technology to address those quality of life issues, so that it's a win-win for the companies as well as for our communities,” she said.
The City of Vernon Civic Center and police station.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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In Vernon, plans for a moratorium on rendering plants go nowhere
In response to community concerns, Vernon’s website says the city is considering steps to strengthen local control over rendering. These include plans to enact a moratorium on building new rendering plants, along with increased fines for facilities that are not in compliance with AQMD’s odor mitigation rule.
But Angela Kimmey, deputy city administrator, said the city won’t be enacting the moratorium. The other plans are in “various stages of development,” she said. Vernon aims to encourage business growth and demonstrate that rendering plants and local residents can coexist. To this end, Vernon hosted a tour of a rendering company that’s in compliance with AQMD last summer, inviting regional and southeast L.A. elected officials to come along.
Vernon is also focused on helping facilities come into compliance, Kimmey said.
Vernon Mayor Crystal Larios added in an emailed statement that the city wants “to support our business community,” but recognizes that it has to do its part to shift toward supporting greener commerce, like data centers, green hydrogen, and the electrification of transportation.
The Vernon Chamber of Commerce.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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“These types of green commerce will not only help existing businesses sustain future growth but heavily reduce the impact on air quality, minimize the number of trucks, and overall decrease the carbon footprint,” Larios said.
LAist requested an interview with Larios multiple times over a four-week period but received no response. Kimmey, who relayed the emailed statement, said the mayor was unavailable.
Hahn, the L.A. County supervisor whose district includes Vernon, told us she was disappointed to see that Baker hasn’t used available state funding to build enclosures that would contain the smells and protect community members from exposure.
Baker “doesn’t seem to think the rules should apply to them,” she said.
“We need the South Coast AQMD to be strong and hold companies accountable,” Hahn added. “I think it is important for residents in Southeast L.A. to know that, unfortunately, this fight isn’t over.”
Credits
This story is part of a series that was reported over the course of many months and required extensive interviews in the community and a dozen public records requests. Julia Barajas is the lead reporter and Mary Plummer is the main story editor.
The Jane and Ron Olson Center for Investigative Reporting helped make this project possible. Ron Olson is an honorary trustee of Southern California Public Radio. The Olsons do not have any editorial input on the stories we cover.
Erin Stone
covers climate and environmental issues in Southern California.
Published February 9, 2026 5:00 AM
Local high school students tour Eastern Municipal Water District facilities in Perris in the Inland Empire.
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Courtesy Eastern Municipal Water District
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Topline:
As water agencies across the state grapple with the increasingly extreme effects of climate change, they’re also facing another problem: the incoming “silver tsunami.” That’s the phrase coined by the industry to illustrate the fact that much of the workforce that keeps our water flowing and safe are baby boomers getting ready to retire.
The background: Nationwide, about a third of the nation’s water workforce is eligible for retirement within the next decade, “the majority being workers with trade jobs in mission critical positions,” the Environmental Protection Agency wrote in a 2024 report.
Why it matters: To deal with how pollution in our atmosphere is driving longer, hotter droughts as well as increasingly intense rain when it does come, water agencies across Southern California are working to boost aging infrastructure and invest in more diverse water supplies, such as recycled water. The lack of people to staff those changes is a problem for pretty much every water agency, urban and rural.
Read on ... to learn how one local water agency is bringing high schoolers into the water workforce pipeline.
As water agencies across California grapple with the increasingly extreme effects of climate change, they’re also facing another problem: the incoming “silver tsunami.”
That’s the phrase coined by the industry to illustrate the fact that much of the workforce — largely baby boomers — that keeps our water flowing and safe are getting ready to retire.
Nationwide, about a third of the nation’s water workforce is eligible for retirement within the next decade, “the majority being workers with trade jobs in mission critical positions,” the Environmental Protection Agency wrote in a 2024 report.
Climate resilience needs a workforce
To deal with how pollution in our atmosphere is driving longer, hotter droughts, as well as increasingly intense rain when it does come, water agencies across Southern California are working to boost aging infrastructure and invest in more diverse water supplies, such as recycled water.
The lack of people to staff those changes is a problem for pretty much every water agency, urban and rural.
L.A. is the second-largest city in the nation and is spending billions on water recycling and stormwater capture, for example, but it has been struggling to fill needed positions at its four wastewater treatment plants.
The city of L.A. plans to clean all wastewater that flows to the Hyperion plant.
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Eric Garcetti via Flickr
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The city plans to treat nearly all of the Hyperion wastewater facility’s water to drinkable standards in the coming decades. To support that massive expansion, Hi-Sang Kim, the operations director at Hyperion, told LAist in 2022 the facility will need to boost its workforce by at least 30%.
For less urban water agencies, the challenge is even greater. The Eastern Municipal Water District serves close to 1 million people (and growing), as well as agricultural customers in western Riverside County and northern San Diego County.
They estimate as much as half of their workforce could retire within five years.
"We are in dire need of technical skill sets."
— Joe Mouawad, general manger, Eastern Municipal Water District
“Not only are we investing in new infrastructure, but we have aging infrastructure, so we are in dire need of technical skill sets to operate, maintain everything from treatment plants to pipelines, to pump stations,” said Joe Mouawad, the water district's general manager.
Jobs in the water industry — potable water and wastewater treatment operators, engineers, managers, skilled maintenance, public relations and more — are well paid and secure, Mouawad said, but it’s hard to fill the needed positions.
“We are finding it more challenging to backfill retirees,” he said. “It's not so much a lack of interest — I think it's a lack of awareness.”
Building a pipeline for water jobs
Those job gaps are why Eastern Municipal has become a leader in building the water workforce pipeline. For decades, the water district partnered with local schools to provide education about water conservation and what they do. But over the last decade, as the retirement forecast grew more dire, the agency has shifted to prioritize skills-based programming and partnerships with local high schools.
Local high school students tour Eastern Municipal Water District facilities in Perris.
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Courtesy Eastern Municipal Water District
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In 2013, they launched the Youth Ecology Corps program, for young adults between 18 and 24. Many who went through the program and paid internships are now full-time employees, said Calen Daniels, a spokesperson for the agency, who himself went through the program.
In recent years, the water agency has focused on younger potential future employees through a variety of Career and Technical Education programs at local high schools, including in automotive tech, engineering, agriculture, construction and information systems, said Erin Guerrero, Eastern Municipal’s public affairs manager overseeing its education programs.
“We're starting earlier and getting these kids real world experience,” Guerrero said.
Michelle Serrano teaches a two-year pre-apprenticeship Environmental Water Resources program at West Valley High School in Hemet. Students leave the program equipped to take the state-level certification exam for a job as a water treatment operator or water distribution operator once they turn 18.
Clayton Gordon, GIS mapping administrator at EMWD, talks to West Valley High students in the GIS Engineering certification summer program.
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Courtesy Eastern Municipal Water District
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Already more than 200 students have gone through the program since it launched last year. While local community colleges have similar Career and Technical Education programs, this is the first program of its kind targeting high schoolers in the region. Eastern Municipal hopes to expand to other area schools as well.
“Once the kids get out of the program, they're set if this is the direction they want to go,” Serrano said. “We have these students set for a job or a career for the rest of their life.”
"Once the kids get out of the program, they're set if this is the direction they want to go."
— Michelle Serrano, teacher, West Valley High School
She said the program is a gamechanger for students who don’t see themselves going to college or who are unsure of their future career path.
“We really are pushing hard for college, and that's a good push,” Serrano said. “However, we have kids who don't see themselves going to college. It's opening up an amazing path for students who otherwise may not see a job direction.”
They’re not only finding a stable career path, she said, but fulfilling roles necessary to our society, Mouawad said.
“It's working for us,” he said, “and we want to see this serve as a model for the rest of the industry.”
This week, get relationship advice, go to a game night, see a chat with the Silversun Pickups, listen to poetry at Oxy and more.
Highlights:
National Book Award winner and former Poet Laureate of Los Angeles Robin Coste Lewis visits Occidental College for poetry and conversation with Oxy Live's host, celebrated visual artist and cultural collaborator Alexandra Grant.
Channel family game night with new friends over drinks in Highland Park at a classic board game night with Cat Darling Agency and Asian American Collective.
Hometown heroes Silversun Pickups are back with a new album and tour. Dive deep with a conversation at the new Sid the Cat venue between singer Brian Aubert and producer and musician Butch Vig about the making of their new album, Tenterhooks.
It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and author Lindsay Jill Roth has the questions that will make your new (or long-term!) relationship last. Her book, Romances & Practicalities, lays out 250 questions you should ask each other to make your love a time and challenge-tested success. She’s in conversation with love, sex, and relationship therapist Dr. Laura Berman at Zibby’s in Santa Monica.
It takes an icon to know an icon. If you haven’t seen the new Harry Styles video, check it out and you’ll recognize downtown’s Westin Bonaventure in a starring role. The hotel has been in plenty of movies — including True Lies— and now it’s the stage for Styles’ music video for his new single, “Aperture.” Fiona Ng takes you behind the scenes.
Speaking of cool movie settings, Kristen Stewart bought the abandoned Highland Theatre and plans to restore it to its original grandeur. Good news for film lovers.
On tap in the music space this week, Licorice Pizza recommendations include new wave goddess Dale Bozzio and her Missing Persons at the Whisky, rock goddess Melissa Etheridge at the Canyon Club in Agoura or Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera in conversation onstage at the Roxy — all on Wednesday. Thursday, experimental hip-hop group Clipping is at the Observatory, Atmosphere is at the Novo, UK singer-songwriter Erin LeCount plays the Roxy and Long Beach Dub All Stars & Bedouin Soundclash hit the stage at the Wayfarer. Plus, Aloe Blacc kicks off the first of four nights at the Blue Note.
Tuesday, February 10, 7:30 p.m. Cheerio Collective 5917 N. Figueroa Street, Highland Park COST: $25; MORE INFO
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Nik
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Unsplash
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Channel family game night with new friends over drinks in Highland Park at this classic board game night with Cat Darling Agency and Asian American Collective. Play Connect Four, Jenga and Uno while meeting some folks and enjoying a free drink!
Concert reading of Dogfight
Through Sunday, February 15 The Morgan-Wixson Theatre 2627 Pico Plvd., Santa Monica COST: $23; MORE INFO
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Joel Castro
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Morgan-Wixson Theatre
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Before there was The Greatest Showman, there was Dogfight. Benji Pasek and Justin Paul’s musical about a group of young Marines in San Francisco on the eve of the war in Vietnam is presented in a concert reading at Santa Monica’s Morgan-Wixson Theatre. Dogfight “explores themes of love, loss, and coming of age.”
OXY LIVE! with Robin Coste Lewis in conversation with Alexandra Grant
Tuesday, February 10, 7 p.m. Thorne Hall Thorne Road, Occidental College COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Oxy Arts
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National Book Award winner and former Poet Laureate of Los Angeles Robin Coste Lewis visits Occidental College for poetry and conversation with Oxy Live's host, celebrated visual artist and cultural collaborator Alexandra Grant (you may recognize her from excellent grantLove series… and her red carpet photos with beau Keanu Reeves). A book signing hosted by beloved Pasadena bookstore Octavia’s Bookshelf will follow, and attendees will have the opportunity to have their books signed by the author.
Dance at the Odyssey
Through Sunday, February 15 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A. COST: $28; MORE INFO
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Courtesy of Dance at the Odyssey
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Next weekend is the last weekend of Odyssey Theatre’s six-week-long Dance at the Odyssey festival, which features two world premieres: Silent Fiction from Intrepid Dance Project in Odyssey 2, and One World from choreographer Hannah Millar and her Imprints company in Odyssey 3.
Author Lindsay Jill Roth with Dr. Laura Berman
Thursday, February 12, 6 p.m. Zibby’s Bookstore 1113 Montana Ave., Santa Monica COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Zibby's
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It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and author Lindsay Jill Roth has the questions that will make your new (or long-term!) relationship last. Her new book, Romances & Practicalities, lays out 250 questions you should ask each other to make your love a time- and challenge-tested success — alongside Roth’s own long-distance love story and interviews with couples of all stripes. She’s in conversation with love, sex and relationship therapist Dr. Laura Berman at Zibby’s in Santa Monica.
An evening in conversation with Silversun Pickups’ Brian Aubert & Producer and Musician Butch Vig
Wednesday, February 11, 7 p.m. Sid the Cat 1022 El Centro Street,South Pasadena COST: $32.75; MORE INFO
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Sid the Cat
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Dice FM
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Hometown heroes Silversun Pickups are back with a new album and tour — catch them this week for free at Amoeba’s in-store show on Monday. Then dive deep at this conversation at the new Sid the Cat venue between singer Brian Aubert and producer and musician Butch Vg about the making of their new album, Tenterhooks. Plus, Lyndsey Parker of Licorice Pizza (friend of Best Things to Do) will moderate the chat.
Stronger Together: Nurturing Mind, Body, and Spirit
Monday, February 9, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. St. Monica Catholic Community Grand Pavilion 725 California Ave., Santa Monica COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy St. John's Foundation
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Recovery is an ongoing process, and the medical and spiritual communities of L.A. are reminding you they're here to help. Providence Saint John’s Health Center and St. Monica Catholic Community are marking the anniversary of the Palisades and Eaton fires with an evening of community, commemoration and healing.
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Adding even small numbers of EVs leads to measurable reductions in pollution, a study by USC researchers has found.
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Justin Sullivan
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Getty Images
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Topline:
A new study out of USC finds that even relatively small upticks in EV adoption can have a measurably positive impact on a community.
The findings: Researchers used satellites to measure actual emissions. The study, conducted between 2019 and 2023, focused on California, which has among the highest rates of EV use in the country, and nitrogen dioxide, one of the gases released during combustion, including when fossil fuels are burned. Exposure to the pollutant can contribute to heart and lung issues, or even premature death. Across nearly 1,700 ZIP codes, the analysis showed that, for every increase of 200 electric vehicles, nitrogen dioxide emissions decreased by 1.1%.
"It's remarkable": “A pretty small addition of cars at the ZIP code level led to a decline in air pollution,” said Sandrah Eckel, a public health professor at USC’s Keck School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “It’s remarkable.”
What's next: Eckel hopes that, eventually, advances in satellite technology will allow for more widespread detection of other types of emissions too, such as fine particulate matter. That could even help account for some of the potential downsides of EVs, which are heavier and could therefore kick up more tire or brake dust than their gasoline counterparts. On the whole, though, she believes the picture overwhelmingly illustrates how driving an electric car is better not just for the planet but for people.
Read on ... to learn more about the study's findings.
The logic behind electric vehicles benefiting public health has long been solid: More EVs means fewer internal combustion engines on the road and a reduction in harmful tailpipe emissions. But now researchers have confirmed, to the greatest extent yet, that this is indeed what’s actually happening on the ground. What’s more, they found that even relatively small upticks in EV adoption can have a measurably positive impact on a community.
About this article
This article originally appeared in Grist, an LAist partner newsroom.
Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org. Sign up for Grist's weekly newsletter here.
Whereas previous work has largely been based on modeling, a study published in January in the journal Lancet Planetary Health used satellites to measure actual emissions. The study, conducted between 2019 and 2023, focused on California, which has among the highest rates of EV use in the country, and nitrogen dioxide, one of the gases released during combustion, including when fossil fuels are burned. Exposure to the pollutant can contribute to heart and lung issues or even premature death. Across nearly 1,700 ZIP codes, the analysis showed that for every increase of 200 electric vehicles, nitrogen dioxide emissions decreased by 1.1%.
“A pretty small addition of cars at the ZIP code level led to a decline in air pollution,” said Sandrah Eckel, a public health professor at USC’s Keck School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “It’s remarkable.”
The group had tried to establish this link using Environmental Protection Agency air monitors before, but because there are only about 100 of them in California, the results weren’t statistically significant. The data also were from 2013 through 2019, when there were fewer electric vehicles on the road. Although the satellite instrument they ultimately used only detected nitrogen dioxide, it did allow researchers to gather data for virtually the entire state, and this time the findings were clear.
“It’s making a real difference in our neighborhoods,” said Eckel, who said a methodology like theirs could be used anywhere in the world. The advent of such powerful satellites allows scientists to look at other sources of emissions, such as factories or homes too. “It’s a revolutionary approach.”
Mary Johnson, who researches environmental health at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and was not involved in the study, said she’s not aware of a similar study of this size, or one that uses satellite data so extensively. “Their analysis seems sound,” she said, noting that the authors controlled for variables such as the COVID-19 pandemic and shifts toward working from home.
The results, Johnson added, “totally make sense” and align with other research in this area.
When London implemented congestion pricing in 2003, for example, it reduced traffic and emissions and increased life expectancy. That is the direction this latest research could go too.
“They didn’t take the next step and look at health data,” she said, “which I think would be interesting.”
Daniel Horton, who leads Northwestern University’s climate change research group, also sees value in this latest work.
“The results help to confirm the sort of predictions that numerical air quality modelers have been making for the past decade,” he said, adding that it could also lay the foundation for similar research. “This proof of concept paper is a great start and augurs good things to come.”
Eckel hopes that, eventually, advances in satellite technology will allow for more widespread detection of other types of emissions too, such as fine particulate matter. That could even help account for some of the potential downsides of EVs, which are heavier and could therefore kick up more tire or brake dust than their gasoline counterparts. On the whole, though, she believes the picture overwhelmingly illustrates how driving an electric car is better not just for the planet but for people.
Research like this, she says, underscores the importance of continued EV adoption, the sales of which have slumped recently, and the need to do so equitably. Although lower-income neighborhoods have historically borne the brunt of pollution from highways and traffic, they can’t always afford the relatively high cost of EVs. Eckel hopes that research like this can help guide policymakers.
“There are concerns that some of the communities that really stand to benefit the most from reductions in air pollution are also some of the communities that are really at risk of being left behind in the transition,” she said.
Previous research has shown that EVs could alleviate harms such as asthma in children, and detailed data like this latest study can help highlight both where more work needs to be done and what’s working.
“It’s really exciting that we were able to show that there were these measurable improvements in the air that we’re all breathing,” she said.
Another arguably hopeful finding was that the median increase in electric vehicle usage during the study was 272 per ZIP code.
That, Eckel says, means there is plenty of opportunity to make our air even cleaner.
Gab Chabrán
covers what's happening in food and culture for LAist.
Published February 8, 2026 8:15 PM
Bad Bunny celebrates Latino culture — and tacos — at the 60th Super Bowl
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Kathryn Riley
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Getty Images North America
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Topline:
Villa's Tacos founder Victor Villa appeared with his taco cart during Bad Bunny's Super Bowl LX halftime show, marking a rare moment of L.A. street food culture being showcased on one of the world's biggest stages.
Why it matters: The appearance was more than a cameo — it underscored the cultural significance of L.A.'s taquero tradition and immigrant entrepreneurship. Villa's journey from his grandmother's Highland Park front yard to the Super Bowl reflects the broader story of how Latino food vendors have shaped Los Angeles' culinary identity.
The backstory: Villa launched his business more than eight years ago, selling tacos from his grandmother's front yard in Highland Park. The operation has since expanded to brick-and-mortar locations in Highland Park and downtown Los Angeles, earning recognition as one of the city's standout taco spots.
What he said: "Villa's Tacos is a product of immigrants," Villa wrote on Instagram. "As a 1st generation Mexican-American born & raised in LA, it was an honor to represent my raza & all the taqueros of the world by bringing my taco cart to @badbunnypr's Super Bowl LX 2026 Halftime show."
The bigger picture: Villa dedicated the moment to immigrants who paved the way, emphasizing the performance as a celebration of Latino culture alongside Bad Bunny's shoutouts to Spanish-speaking countries worldwide.
Victor Villa brought his taco cart to Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime performance.
Los Angeles residents likely know the name — Villa's Tacos is an award-winning taco business based in Highland Park. Villa began in his grandmother's front yard and now has brick-and-mortar locations in Highland Park, off Figueroa Avenue, and at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles.
The restaurant has won L.A. Taco's Taco Madness championship three times (2021, 2022 and 2024) and earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand award for three consecutive years for its signature quesotacos.
A celebration of Latino culture
The entire performance was a celebration of Latin American culture's prominence in the United States, with Bad Bunny taking a moment to recognize Spanish-speaking countries worldwide.
Villa appeared during the opening number, "Tití me preguntó" from Bad Bunny's 2022 album "Un verano sin ti." In the sequence, Bad Bunny visits a piragüero cart — piraguas are iconic Puerto Rican shaved ice treats shaped like pyramids — before the camera pans to Villa and his cart, where Bad Bunny hands him the frozen treat. The moment bridges two beloved Latin American street food traditions: Puerto Rico's piraguas and L.A.'s taco culture.
After the performance aired, Villa took to Instagram to express his thanks and call it a historic moment, He traced his journey from selling his first taco more than eight years ago to the Super Bowl stage.
"I want to give a huge thank you to @badbunnypr for hand selecting me & allowing me to represent my people, my culture, my family & my business," Villa wrote on Instagram.
'A product of immigrants'
As a first-generation Mexican American, he dedicated the moment to the immigrants who made it possible, emphasizing that Villa's Tacos is a product of immigration and that he is honored to represent his culture and all taqueros and Latinos everywhere. The post closed with shoutouts to Puerto Rico, Mexico, and all Latinos.
In August last year, Villa appeared on a Food Friday segment on LAist 89.3's AirTalk, bringing his freshly cooked tacos for host Josie Huang.
