The Brief

News that Loyola Marymount University offered a class titled “Bad Bunny and Resistance in Puerto Rico” spread quickly.

“LMU posted a Reels on Instagram. My mom sent it to me and she goes, ‘you need to take this class right now!’” said Carolina Acosta, a junior at LMU who took the class last year.

Acosta was born and raised in Puerto Rico and her mother lives in San Juan, the capital. She’s majoring in entrepreneurship with the goal of earning a bachelor’s in business administration.

She was skeptical about taking the class.

Bad Bunny attends the Los Angeles Premiere Of Columbia Pictures' "Bullet Train" at Regency Village Theatre on Aug. 1, 2022 in Los Angeles.

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“I didn't really think it was going to be about the island itself,” she said. “And then I remember my first day talking about it. I was just like, wow, it's [about] a lot more than the artist.” The class taught her aspects of Puerto Rico’s history and culture that she didn’t learn while growing up there.

Talking to students who are taking the class now and who took the class in past semesters opens a window into how this class engages college students and has transformed some students’ views of their college work and what they want to do after college.

That impact is by design.

‘There's so much to cover, and so much to talk about’

Bad Bunny has a lot of firsts under his belt. He’s broken streaming records on Spotify and his concert tours break ticket sales.

(Editor's note: He also knows how to enter a WWE ring.)

But the doors of academia have opened because of the cultural impact of his song lyrics and videos; how he leads his personal life; and how he challenges established ideas of race, gender, sexuality, and U.S. territorial dominance over Puerto Rico.

“I want to make my students feel engaged in their learning. I want them to feel connected to the curriculum and I want them… to want to come to class,” said professor Vanessa Díaz.

Díaz first taught the class at LMU last year. She drew inspiration from a similar Wellesley College first offered two years ago.

Díaz’s doctorate is in cultural anthropology. Her dissertation is titled "Manufacturing Celebrity and Marketing Fame: An Ethnographic Study of Celebrity Media Production." She worked as a red carpet reporter for People Magazine.

The three-month class begins with the basics about the artist Bad Bunny and his career. Then students learn about Puerto Rico’s history as a colony, modern day natural and political crises, resistance movements, and how reggaeton comes on the scene using innovative as well as toxic elements of Caribbean identity.

Student Ana Garcia speaks during class at Loyola Marymount University.

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Díaz said she’s seen those topics engage these young adults because of how profoundly some of these issues affect their lives. Number one on that list: how gender and sexuality are represented in popular media.

“My students’ generation are much more likely to identify as queer, or non-binary, or kind of fluid in these different ways,” she said.

For instance, the class watched how Bad Bunny bends images of gender and sexuality in his music video for “Yo Perreo Sola.” It's given students plenty to talk about, including whether the singer should or shouldn’t be considered a queer icon.

“I just remember week two of the course just immediately being like, ‘Oh, my God, this course is kind of going to change my entire perspective,’” said Ashley Buschhorn, a senior majoring in journalism who’s taking the class this semester.

That perspective, she said, has been shaped by being a “white American from Texas” who grew up with people of Latin American descent but who didn’t know how colonialism shaped those cultures.

“As a queer person I've seen the ways that queer groups in Puerto Rico have been oppressed, and ... discriminated against,” Buschhorn said.

The class lectures and readings on gender and sexuality led Buschhorn to think about if she in any way is contributing to violence against women and queer people in Puerto Rico and how she could help stop that violence.

Students Ana Garcia and Ashley Buschorn pose for a portrait at Loyola Marymount University.

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And subsequent discussions about Bad Bunny as a political activist and crafty manipulator of authentic and manufactured personas has helped Buschhorn think about the work she wants to do after graduation: documentary filmmaking.

“I think that's something that this class kind of directly combats is that you can't look at something just [through] one perspective. In this class there's probably five different perspectives that you have to look at something through,” she said.

Higher education’s student engagement problem

Colleges and universities in the U.S. are facing many challenges, among them how to engage growing proportions of students who are from non-white backgrounds with classes that combine academic rigor and speak to students’ various lived experiences. Increased student engagement is good for the student and good for the college.

Ana Garcia is a senior majoring in marketing. She knew a lot about reggaeton but very little about Puerto Rico before taking this class. In the class she learned there was solidarity across social classes in Puerto Rico when a major hurricane hit the island the same year as the 2017 Mexico City earthquake, which she lived through.

“I took it from a very personal experience that I saw this first hand, and just like seeing what it was for Puerto Ricans to go and do the same thing and a very different point of their history,” she said.

Garcia and most of the rest of the class enjoyed an epic class opportunity that connected theory to practice. Professor Díaz was able to secure funding to pay for the students to attend the Bad Bunny concert on March 14 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

The assignment was to create a video-reflection based on the lessons in the class.

Parallels to ethnic studies classes in high schools

The Bad Bunny class is a course in both Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies and Film, Television, and Media Studies. It’s a class that looks at media, race, and representation.

“People want to know about what's happening in the world and they want to know about why artists, musicians, etc. feel so much need to put that into their art,” said Emily Penner, a UC Irvine professor who studies K-12 student engagement.

The class syllabus for Díaz’s Bad Bunny class, Penner said, shed light on parallels with the high school ethnic studies classes she looks at in her research. Some of those hallmarks include curriculum as counter narrative (the challenging of dominant views), intersectionality (the overlap between topics such as race and gender), and students as intellectuals, which can be the most transformative part of the student experience.

“Anything that students can bring to the table to demonstrate their prior knowledge and their expertise, I think always is useful for orienting students toward what they're about to do for the rest of the semester,” Penner said.

Professor Vanessa Diaz teaching a class on Puerto Rican culture and Bad Bunny at Loyola Marymount University.

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That prior knowledge doesn’t have to be an exact match with the class topic, in this case Puerto Rico and the pop music icon. Effective teaching will engage students of different races and socioeconomic status. For some students who have taken the Bad Bunny class, what they bring to the table is sometimes challenged and transformed in ways the students didn’t expect.

'I've never had a class teach me about my history'

Political science major Mateo-Luis Planas brought a strong sense of identity to the first day of the Bad Bunny class last year, citing his appreciation for dancing salsa, bachata, and merengue.

“I was born and raised in Connecticut but my entire family's from the island of Puerto Rico,” he said. Many of his relatives still live on the island. He pointed to his grandmother’s pride in the Puerto Rican flag.

“I just thought my grandmother was really happy to be Puerto Rican. But turns out there was a point in history when it was actually illegal and punishable to even have those flags out in your house,” he said.

Puerto Rican history is American history.

“I've never had a class teach me about my history, which is something that the average American has never had to say,” he said.

What engaged him the most is the overlap between centuries-old racial policies in Puerto Rico and how race was and was not talked about within his own family. The Bad Bunny class is leading him to rethink whether law school is the best move for him after college.

“I have the rest of my life to study law,” Planas said, but people in Puerto Rico now need to achieve rights to their land and need a functional government that’s responsive to people’s needs.

Planas now feels he wants to go to the island to help people achieve those goals.

A refrigerated warehouse operated by Lineage Logistics has burned in Boyle Heights for nearly a week. Public health officials are urging residents nearby and downwind to protect themselves from the smoky air.

But what exactly is in the air is still unclear.

Authorities say they’ve cleared the most hazardous materials — ammonia and lithium-ion batteries — from the fire zone. A spokesperson for the L.A. Fire Department said foam insulation, wood pallets of food, and solar panels on top of the 500,000 square-foot building continue to smolder.

Materials including plastics, electronics and even rotting meat are likely burning, which means the pollution particles emitted “tend to be highly enriched with toxic organics, toxic metals, that are above and beyond what just normal, day-to-day air pollution would look like,” said UCLA air pollution researcher Yifang Zhu.

She said air quality indexes may capture the concentration of particulate matter in the air, but not necessarily the specific toxins in them.

“You'll have almost like a double jeopardy in a sense that the levels [of particulate matter] are higher, and the toxicity is also higher,” she said.

Measuring heavy metals or volatile organic compounds requires special monitoring equipment, Zhu said.

“It’s very difficult to measure,” she said.

But she suspects at least some types of health-harming heavy metals are likely to be in the smoke.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado on Monday called for more specifics about what is in the smoke.

People “shouldn't have to guess about what they're breathing or rely on rumors, scattered information and updates, and incomplete information,” she said at a news conference. Jurado, whose council district includes Boyle Heights, added that data from regulators, such as the South Coast Air Quality Management District, should be released in clear, understandable language in English and Spanish.

The South Coast AQMD told LAist before Jurado spoke that the agency has monitors that measure particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide, but not other types of pollutants. The agency said it has set up additional monitors at Eastman Avenue Elementary and Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School. The agency added that the Environmental Protection Agency is also monitoring air quality at the fence line of the facility. LAist has reached out to the EPA for details.

Zhu added that even when the fire is eventually put out, the cleanup can kick up even more pollution — a lesson learned through her research after the L.A. fires.

“ I think people really need to take precautions,” Zhu said, emphasizing that those closest to the fire and downwind should avoid being outside as much as possible, keep windows closed, run a HEPA or MERV 13 air filter, and wear an N95 or similar mask otherwise.

UC Irvine toxicology professor Michael Kleinman said if thawed meat is also burning, that could lead to further toxic gases being released.

Experts urged precautions, especially if you smell smoke.

“ For people who are very close to the fire, like the firefighters themselves, they have exposure to both particulate matter and potential toxic gases, and that's why you'll see them wearing respirators,” said UC Irvine chemistry professor Suzanne Blum. “But once you're some feet away from the building, then the primary concern is the particulate smoke that is coming from this fire.”

As the Boyle Heights warehouse fire burns into its sixth day, SoCal residents are increasingly concerned about the air quality and potential health risks that come with breathing in the smoke. So, what alerts have been issued so far and how can residents be prepared?

Both Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency on Saturday, a designation that helps California coordinate with local agencies to make sure there are enough resources for the firefight and residents who have been affected after a fire started at a cold storage industrial facility. Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said at a press conference Monday that  the county is "delivering supplies, air filters, and air purifiers" to local households.

Los Angeles County public health officials and the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) also issued a particle pollution advisory that remained in effect until today. Affected areas included: Central Los Angeles County, the San Gabriel Valley, East San Fernando Valley and Northwest San Bernardino Valley.

Although recent air quality readings appear as “moderate” to “good” on South Coast AQMD’s website, the fire is still burning and might be for a few more days.

So what can SoCal residents do to protect themselves?

If the air quality index reads “good” or “poses little to no risk” in some areas, hazardous ash can still be present. If you see ash on your car, or windowsills, you might want to stay inside if possible. In “moderate” or yellow zones, unusually sensitive people are also recommended to avoid longer periods outside.

In the next few days, some might notice windblown ash floating in the air or coating outdoor surfaces. These particles are otherwise known as “fine particulate matter,” which consists of soot, burned plastic and perhaps even traces of the spoiling frozen food from inside the warehouse.

Why that matters

Too much exposure from these materials may cause temporary irritation to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs. If you suffer from health issues that are exacerbated by poor air quality, like respiratory illnesses, you may be affected by these conditions even more.

Four expert tips to protect yourself and your family:

• If you smell smoke or see ash, try to remain indoors with the windows closed. If you can’t, consider stepping outside with an N-95 mask, and refrain from engaging in any rigorous physical activity. 
• In your homes, also avoid using whole house fans (air conditioning is okay), as they can bring in the polluted air from outdoors. 
• If you have an air purifier, this is the time to use it. 
• Avoid using fireplaces, candles and vacuums, as they can introduce toxins into the clean, indoor environment.

For more guidance on precautions following the fires, visit Los Angeles County’s public health website for more. South Coast AQMD’s website also has more healthy and safety tips.

Updated June 22, 2026 at 16:22 PM ET

Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi has broken the record for most World Cup scoring.

Messi made the record goal, his 17th, during the first half of Monday's game against Austria. It was a heated match. Austria attacked relentlessly, and Argentina relied on its defense and on goalkeeper Emiliano "Dibu" Martinez. And, near the end in stoppage time, Messi scored again, finishing off at 2-0.

The team captain started off the World Cup with a bang: in the opener against Algeria, Messi scored a hat trick: three goals. A rare feat in soccer. He has scored all five goals for Argentina this World Cup. With the win, Argentina advances to the knockout round.

Messi hails from the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, an area known for producing excellent players. He faced challenges at an early age: he had a hormonal growth deficiency, which was difficult to treat in his hometown, given the severe economic crisis facing Argentina in the late 1990s. By 2001, the Messi family had decided to accept an offer for him to join La Masia, FC Barcelona's youth academy, in Spain. Messi was 13 years old.

It was at Barca that he rose to fame and developed his unique style of walking the pitch, patiently waiting for the right opportunity to jump on the ball, dribble skillfully past his opponents, and score.

Argentina's Lionel Messi, now the all-time World Cup scoring leader, celebrates scoring his team's second goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 group match against Austria.

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Although a legend of Barca and European soccer, he often expressed a desire to play for the Argentine national team in a World Cup. He got his chance in his 20's, but it wasn't smooth: he was widely seen as a foreigner who had not paid his dues in the Argentine soccer system. His measured, calculating style of play was often misunderstood in South America, where players tended to have a quicker, more aggressive technique.

There were several World Cup attempts that were disappointing, and after the 2016 World Cup, he announced he would not be playing again. "It's over," he said outside the locker room, visibly shaken. "I tried so hard, it is unbelievable, but it hasn't worked. Me and this team are through."

The tides turned under the leadership of Argentine Coach Lionel Scaloni, and Messi led the team to a Copa America victory in 2021. Argentina won the World Cup the following year.

This is Messi's sixth World Cup and he's considered one of the best players in soccer history.

Messi also surpassed Brazilian superstar Marta, who had scored 17 goals at the Women's World Cup.

Copyright 2026 NPR

More than two dozen state historic parks are free through the end of the year in honor of Juneteenth — and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the free “special edition Historian Passport,” which typically costs $50, as a rebuke to President Donald Trump’s attempts to “rewrite the past,” according to a news release by the governor’s office.

Since his inauguration, Trump has ordered staff working at all National Park Service locations to remove any content that casts Americans in a negative light from parks, monuments and memorials.

“California doesn’t hide from hard truths and uncomfortable history — in fact, we embrace it and learn from it,” Newsom wrote.

Until July 6, Californians can download the state historic park pass for free and use it as many times as they want through the end of 2026. The pass gives free entry to state historic parks for up to four people.

The Historian Passport grants entry to more than 30 state historic parks, including parks like Olompali and Malakoff Diggins which, rather than just providing outdoor recreation, also have an educational emphasis on the state’s history.

Jack London State Historic Park in Napa Valley, California.

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Many of these parks tell the story of the state’s cultural or indigenous history, from missions and museums to temples and the site that sparked the California Gold Rush.

Newsom made a similar move to make state parks free for Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year, in response to Trump’s decision to eliminate the holiday from the list of fee-free days at national parks across the country, replacing it with his birthday on Flag Day.

How to get your free Historian Passport for up to four people

You must make an account with the state’s reservation site ReserveCalifornia.com to obtain a Historian Pass. Then, visit the site’s Advance Passes page and select “Special Edition Historian Passport” from the dropdown menu, which will show as costing $0. No payment information is required.

After checking out, you’ll receive an email with an attached PDF version of your Historian Passport.

The state recommends you print off this PDF to present at any California state historic park for free entry, although you may just be able to show the image on your phone too.

Bear in mind that cellphone service may be poor at many state historic parks, so it’s worth screenshotting the PDF to save it as an image on your phone in case you’re unable to search your email.

Looking for free entry to other state parks that aren’t included in the Historian Passport? Consider checking out a parks pass from your local library, which provides these passes as part of the California State Library Parks Pass program.

KQED’s Carly Severn contributed to this report.