The Brief

Caltrans announced overnight closures on some lanes and ramps along the 605 Freeway starting Monday to install concrete barriers.

The two right lanes of the northbound and southbound 605 Freeway from Katella Avenue to just before the 91 Freeway will be closed every night from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Three lanes on the northbound and southbound 605 Freeway south of the 91 will also be closed at the same time. The east and westbound connectors on the 91 Freeway to the north and southbound 605 Freeway connectors will also be closed from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., as will off and on ramps from Katella Avenue to South Street. However, no two consecutive ramps will close at the same time.

Caltrans said detour signs will be posted, with commuters advised to find alternate routes on 710 or 5 freeways.

Caltrans is currently engaged in a project worth close to $300 million to fix the pavement on the 610 from Long Beach to the San Gabriel Valley.

The road closures are set to lift on Dec. 1.

President Donald Trump threatened to withhold his signature on all bills until Congress passes stricter federal voting requirements — a move that escalates his efforts to change election rules ahead of the 2026 midterms.

In a social media post Sunday, Trump said he won't sign any bills into law until Congress passes the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.

"I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed," Trump wrote.

If passed and made law, the measure would transform voter registration and voting in the U.S. It would require eligible voters to prove their citizenship with documents like a valid U.S. passport or a birth certificate and a valid photo ID. It's already illegal for non-U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections.

Trump said the legislation should "go to the front of the line." He also praised a guest on Fox News who pressed for changes to Senate rules that require 60 votes to advance most legislation. Trump has previously asked senators to abandon the filibuster in order to avoid the need for Democrats to back bills he favors.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has consistently pushed back on that pressure, saying any plans to change the filibuster do not have support in the GOP conference.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., reiterated that Democrats will not support the SAVE America Act.

"If Trump is saying he won't sign any bills until the SAVE Act is passed, then so be it: there will be total gridlock in the Senate," Schumer posted on X Sunday. "Senate Democrats will not help pass the SAVE Act under any circumstances."

The GOP-controlled House has passed a few versions of the legislation, but Democrats and some voting rights activists have argued the measure would make voting harder for eligible voters.

The impact of Trump's threat to withhold his signature on all bills remains unclear. If the House and Senate advance a bill and Congress remains in session, any bill would become law within 10 days even without a signature from Trump.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Trump would sign a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security or a supplemental military package paying for the Iran war.

The offices of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Thune did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Live Nation has reached a settlement with the Department of Justice over a federal antitrust lawsuit accusing the company of monopolizing the live entertainment industry, according to a report from the Associated Press. NPR has not independently confirmed the settlement. The trial, which began a week ago in a New York City courtroom, aimed to break up Live Nation and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster.

A lawsuit filed by the Justice Department, the District of Columbia and 39 states in 2024 accused Live Nation and Ticketmaster of unfairly wielding their power over concert promotion, artist management, venue operations and ticketing services to shut out competitors. The Biden-era Justice Department complaint was moved forward under the Trump administration. In previous comments shared with NPR, Live Nation denied the government's claims and stated that there is more competition in the ticket marketplace than ever.

Live Nation and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to NPR's requests for comment.
Copyright 2026 NPR

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Eighty-eight condos could be coming to Windsor Hills after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors overruled an appeal last week from a local residents’ advocacy group.The five-story project, dubbed The View, would nest into the hillside between Overhill Drive and La Brea Avenue, south of Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area. 

Developers have battled Windsor Hills residents for nearly a decade over building housing on the empty hilltop parcel.  The board’s vote sends the project back to a county judge, according to the LA County Department of Regional Planning.

The View’s fiercest opposition has come from locals organized in the United Homeowner’s Association II, a nonprofit that represents any dues-paying resident of Windsor Hills, View Park and surrounding communities. The group is “extremely concerned” about the project’s effects on the local water system and its proximity to the Inglewood Oil Field and nearby earthquake fault lines, according to Angela Sherick-Bright, the nonprofit’s land use chairperson.

“We’re not against development,” Sherick-Bright said. “If you’re going to approve a project of this magnitude, why not make sure it’s going to work for us?”

Project developer The Bedford Group did not return a request for comment, but promotional materials for the project said it was designed to “reflect the legacy of the Windsor Hills community by offering upscale workforce housing opportunities to young professionals, couples and empty nesters.” 

The Bedford Group plans to set aside 10 of the condos for sale to moderate-income families, according to planning documents. The state defines a moderate annual income for a LA family of four as more than $127,000.

Susan Tae, a Planning Department assistant deputy director, said that after years of court and planning hearings, planners believe the project has taken community concerns into account.“We feel confident we’ve addressed any of the outstanding issues,” Tae said. 

The county first approved the project to go ahead in 2017, according to county documents, but the residents’ group sued and a court ordered The Bedford Group to do a deeper environmental review. Bedford made attempts throughout the process to rally community support for the project, including with a 2017 video outlining the company’s take on several of the potential pitfalls raised by locals. 

When the project landed back in front of supervisors on Feb. 25, it came with a fresh environmental review, but also with a renewed appeal from United Homeowner’s Association II.

Here are three concerns the residents’ group raised: 

There’s concern over the project affecting fire hydrant water pressure

Sherick-Bright said homes in the area have struggled with weak water pressure. The nonprofit is concerned the new project could hurt the local water system, including fire hydrants, even further. Brian Barreto, a California American Water spokesperson, said computer models show 96% of hydrants in the area pump 1,000 gallons or more, above the baseline recommended by the National Fire Protection Association. Barreto also said the water company won’t give The View access to water unless The Bedford Group makes a set of mandatory system upgrades.

There’s concern about underground drilling near a fault line

The View backs up closely to the Inglewood Oil Field, where the county is in the middle of a lawsuit against four oil companies for allegedly failing to plug old wells. It’s also near the Newport-Inglewood earthquake fault line. Sherick-Bright said locals are worried that digging down for a subterranean parking lot, as the project plans, could set off issues — either because of underground drilling or the fault line.“We just don’t know,” Sherick-Bright said. 

The county said in planning documents that the development will require a new geotechnical review to move forward. The last such review was in 2014.

There’s concern the project is a danger to drivers

The planned project is situated just a stone’s throw away from the high-traffic Overhill-La Brea-Stocker intersection. The residents’ group argued in its written appeal that one of the project driveways that spits vehicles out onto the steep Overhill Drive was dangerously situated. Tae said that the public works department reviewed signage and striping plans for the driveway in 2024 and found they met county requirements.

Here’s what comes next

Sherick-Bright said the nonprofit is weighing next steps but still is concerned about the project. The timeline for the environmental review to go before the court is not yet clear, according to Tae, the county planner. Tae said the county is actively working to address some of the resident concerns that go beyond the scope of The View project, including with the recent kickoff of its Westside Planning Area Capital Improvement Plan. 

The plan is targeted at water, sewer, electrical and other infrastructure issues in some of the county’s unincorporated communities.

“It will be an important project for the community to continue to be engaged,” Tae said.

The post LA County green-lights 88-condo project in Windsor Hills despite concers from locals appeared first on LA Local.

Do you hate composting as much as I do?

Even though I know it has benefits for both my garden and the environment, I hate turning the pile and worrying about the right ratio of greens to browns and whether it’s too wet or too dry. And it’s always dispiriting to check for loamy, wonderful compost at the bottom only to pull up chunks of vegetables from two months ago.

And before you ask about worm farms, I’ve tried them too. Let’s just say that at some point, I expect to be held accountable for my crimes against worm-kind.

But for the compost- and time-challenged like me, I think I may have found a solution that allows me to simply toss my kitchen scraps into a bin and have it turned into fertilizer in about a month.

The catch: It involves thousands of maggots.

Don’t bail just yet. I think I can convert you into a larvae lover.

Black soldier flies, a composting powerhouse

Black soldier flies are dark blue and shiny, less than an inch long and don’t buzz around your head or bother you like a house fly might. They also live a handful of days, with their entire existence oriented around laying hundreds of eggs on organic waste so their larvae can go to town and start the cycle of reproduction all over again.

It’s those millimeters-long larvae that are going to speed up the composting process for us.

This is what you'll be dealing with: tiny larvae that turn darker when they're about to become flies.

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John Obermeyer

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Purdue University

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Adult black soldier flies live only a few days. Their job is to mate and lay eggs and keep the composting process moving.

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Laura Ingwell

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Purdue University

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“Unlike earthworms, [they’re] much more tolerant of a wider range of conditions and food sources. It will eat any organic waste in the larval form,” said Kerry Mauk, associate professor of entomology at UC Riverside.

She and her colleagues recently wrote a paper that describes a food waste processing system driven by black soldier fly larvae that was largely self-sustaining for about two years. Similar systems have been used to process food waste around the world.

The larvae will eat paper, vegetables and fruits, as well as meats and animal fats (two things you're often discouraged from adding to traditional compost), breaking them down into smaller bits that can be further processed by microbes in the soil. Adding organic matter like frass to the soil can help improve soil health.

Importantly, the insect frass that’s left behind — maggot poop, as well as the bits and pieces of exoskeleton they shed as they grow — is an organic fertilizer that has a nutrient profile similar to chicken manure, she said.

The exoskeletons contain chitin — a type of sugar molecule found in the shells of crabs and lobsters that breaks down into tiny pieces over time. When detected by plants, it can prompt them to boost their immune systems in anticipation of insect attacks, making them more resilient, Mauk said.

Composting with the help of black soldier fly larvae may just change your relationship with maggots.

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Laura Ingwell

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Purdue University

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How to build your own black soldier fly system

You’ve got a lot of flexibility, depending on the size of your space and how much food waste you create.

“You don't have to make it complicated at all. It can be set-it-and-forget-it if you want it to be,” said Laura Ingwell, an associate professor of entomology at Purdue University who’s been working with black soldier flies for about a decade.

Her system is quite simple.

A Purdue entomologist's black soldier fly contraption is simple but effective.

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Laura Ingwell

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Purdue University

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She fills a 50-gallon barrel with food waste, lets the soldier flies continuously go through their life cycles over the course of a year and harvests their frass when they die during the winter.

Here in Southern California, we don’t need to worry about extreme cold killing off our larvae, so we can keep our systems rolling year-round.

Simple systems and where to get flies

Your system can be as simple as a bucket or black plastic tote that you toss food waste into. Unlike a traditional compost bin, the containers need only be about a foot deep or so, as the larvae don’t travel far.

Order some black soldier fly larvae from an online store like Symton or Fluker Farms, drop them in and just keep piling more food waste on top over time.

If you don’t want to spend money on black soldier flies, you can also attract your own. Dump citrus and coffee grounds in a bucket, cover it with a screen and place a stack of cardboard pieces on top. Every few days, check the fluting on the cardboard for tiny soldier fly eggs. Once you’ve got a few, drop the cardboard into the food waste and let them eat.

Check inside the cardboard for fly eggs.

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Purdue University

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The eggs aren't big: just the size of the head of a pin.

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Purdue University

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My system

My system’s going to be a bit more complicated, as I want to harvest frass repeatedly throughout the year. I’ll have three totes inside a screened-in platform. That should keep the black soldier flies in and other bugs and critters out.

My screened black soldier fly house prevents other bugs from getting in and keeps the black soldier flies from escaping. This should encourage them to keep laying eggs in the containers I'll place inside.

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Jacob Margolis

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LAist

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As they close in on three weeks of life, I should see the pupae turn from creamy white to dark gray, and their eating will slow down. At that stage, I’ll start dropping food waste into a new container, so when the first black soldier flies emerge, they’ll mate and lay eggs on the fresh food, keeping the cycle going.

I’ll then be able to drop the first bucket of frass on my veggie garden and fruit trees.

At least, that’s how I’m hoping it’ll work.

What to feed black soldier fly larvae

Ingwell said they’ll eat pretty much any type of organic waste, including manure, pizza crusts and noodles or even those questionably compostable cardboard takeout containers and light green produce bags. It may take the maggots a bit longer to get through those, Ingwell said. It’s also worth experimenting on your own to see what they consume.

“ I've put a whole pack of hot dogs in there once,” Ingwell said. “ They ate it, and they got really big, but it smelled so bad. My students forbid me from ever putting hot dogs in there again because they hated dealing with the colony when they were on their hot dog diet.”

More than 5,000 black soldier fly larvae are lurking just beneath the surface of this kitchen waste dumped inside of a black tote.

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Jacob Margolis

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LAist

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Larvae from one gram of eggs can eat approximately two pounds of food in a week and a half.

Troubleshooting

Search the internet and you’ll find all sorts of black soldier fly contraptions, like this one, which has ramps for the larvae to march up before they pupate. Ingwell said these systems often don’t work well, and she wouldn’t bother.

If the system is too wet, it may smell rancid and the larvae may try to leave. In that case, throw in some dry wood chips or paper or drain the liquid. When I first started my bin, it took the larvae a bit to get adjusted, and some fled in the process.

If you’re considering using the frass in your garden but you’re disposing of meats, you may be concerned about E. coli. To reduce the presence of microbes in the frass, you can age it for a few weeks, though contamination is an area that needs more research, Mauk said.

Keep us updated

I’ll be documenting my journey over on YouTube, on 89.3 FM and right here at LAist.com.

If you decide to give black soldier flies a try, let us know. Send me an e-mail or comment on one of our videos.