The Brief

New findings from the state's Legislative Analyst's Office show that more than half of California’s community college students have faced housing insecurity over the past 12 months. And about a quarter of those nearly 2 million students have experienced homelessness.

Because they’re more affordable than four-year institutions, students from low-income backgrounds often choose to launch their higher ed journeys at community colleges. Students who experience homelessness report lower GPAs and drop out at higher rates than their peers.

The LAO report, largely based on survey data from 2023, digs into the current results of state programs designed to address housing and basic needs services.

The homelessness rate at community colleges far exceeds the California State University and University of California systems.

Among UC students, 8% of respondents reported being homeless. At CSU, it was 11%.

The report highlights “the dire need for affordable housing and basic needs assistance for our students,” said a spokesperson for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s office.

How are lawmakers and colleges working to support students?

In 2019, the state funded “rapid rehousing” programs at UC, CSU, and community colleges. Generally, the programs involve moving people who are experiencing homelessness into permanent housing. Campuses can also use this funding to provide emergency grants to keep students from losing their home in the first place.

Not all community colleges have rapid rehousing programs. The California Community Colleges system opted to have campuses compete for this funding. In L.A. County, the campuses that have secured it include:

• Antelope Valley College
• Cerritos College
• L.A. Trade-Tech College
• L.A. Harbor College
• Long Beach City College
• Southwest College

Each of these campuses has developed or is developing a memorandum of understanding with at least one community partner. At Cerritos College, for instance, Jovenes Inc. provides housing assistance for students.

The state also funded basic needs programs at UC in 2019 and at CSU and California’s community colleges in 2021. These programs also provide students with housing and food assistance, often through food pantries where students can get help with other essentials — everything from diapers for parenting students to help paying for gas. California Community Colleges has funded basic needs programs at all of its physical campuses.

The LAO report indicates that, currently, most of the basic needs funds are going toward staffing and operations, in part because the programs are fairly new.

The state’s data is incomplete

Survey data from UC, CSU, and the community colleges also revealed that Black students and students receiving Pell Grants (federal financial aid for low-income students) have reported higher-than-average rates of homelessness.

California Community Colleges also disaggregated its data by age group and found that reported rates of homelessness were highest among students ages 26 to 30.

But the LAO data compiled is incomplete because reporting requirements are inconsistent among the three systems. For example, the office noted that only community colleges are required to provide annual reports on the number and demographics of students who receive basic needs services.

Moving forward, the state wants all three systems to provide the same data for the rapid rehousing and basic needs programs. If the change is implemented, it will include academic outcomes, such as the number of students who remain enrolled the following academic year.

“We know affordable housing is crucial to student success,” said a spokesperson for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s office, “and we look forward to working with the Legislature on reporting changes that could improve tracking outcomes data and resources.”

A festival dedicated to handmade cat zines is taking place in Long Beach. Among the offerings: an illustrated ode to Filipino snacks and a cat army overthrowing an authoritarian regime.

The zines come in all formats and topics, including collages, illustrations and poetry, created by makers from as young as 10 to professionals in the animation industry.

“There's some just really silly ones about cat buttholes and different cats cleaning themselves,” said Matt Carr, mastermind of Cat Zine Fest.

Matt Carr, co-founder of Cool Cat Collective and Cat Zine Fest.

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A zine from Serbia featured in this year's Cat Zine Fest.

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Those titles are a tiny fraction of some 250 zines Carr and his partner, Jena Winberry Carr, received in the one-month submission period for this year’s festival, kicking off June 26, at their shop, Cool Cat Collective.

Thirty titles will be featured, many others will be on display until July.

“It is such an accessible medium,” said Jena, who was born and raised in Long Beach. “If you can access a piece of paper and a pencil, you can make a zine.”

Matt Carr and Jenna Winberry Carr.

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Handmade the old school way

Matt started the festival last year after searching high and low for DIY zines to stock at their cat-themed shop but came up short.

So he put out a call for submissions — “You just have to make a zine that features cats” — and got responses from across the world.

“The opening at the time was our busiest day ever,” Matt said. “It was a big success.”

Cool Cat Collective sells and displays only cat-themed things.

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Cat Zine Fest started in 2025, featuring homemade zines from around the world.

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Cool cats unite with a mission

The annual zine fest is just one event held regularly at the boutique on Fourth Street.

Cool Cat Collective on Fourth Street in Long Beach.

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The Carrs opened Cool Cat Collective in 2024 to proffer the coolest cat-related products imaginable. (Fancy scratch pads that look like a set of DJ turntables? You’re in luck.) But the shop also comes with a mission.

“We came up with the idea through being frustrated with the cat overpopulation problem in L.A. County,” Jena said. Up to 4 million stray and feral cats live on the streets, according to estimates from the city and county of L.A. “It's about being a collective solution.”

Cool Cat Collective holds workshops on cat care, and regular fundraisers for TippedEars, a nonprofit that uses TNR — trap, neuter, return — to reduce cat populations in Compton. (Groups like ASPCA endorse the method, while others, like PETA, do not.) The shop also fosters cats rescued by the organization to promote adoption.

Interior of Cool Cat Collective in Long Beach.

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A cat fostered by Cool Cat Collective that people can adopt.

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Currently, six cats are crashing at the Cool Cat Collective; they roam among three “petting” rooms through a custom-built cat walk near the ceiling.

Long Beach resident Lindsay Flaming Yeats and her son Ryan were playing with the kittens. She said her wife is allergic and so the collective is a good alternative.

“It's so fun for him to be able to come in and be around animals and learn to be gentle,” she said.

In two years, the cat-themed space has become a destination amid a community of independent businesses that has made the Fourth Street corridor unique.

“We kept getting people that were visiting from out of town to go to Disneyland and making us a part of their itinerary,” Matt said. “I was like, ‘Whoa, us and Disneyland in the same sentence. We've made it.’”

A large plume of white smoke billowed out of a cold storage facility on Friday afternoon, two days after the fire first ignited at the Boyle Heights warehouse.

"Due to an expected change in wind conditions, there was a flare-up inside the structure, which was anticipated by crews on scene," the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement. "More smoke is currently visible in the area of this incident; however, there is no additional hazard. Crews will continue to flow large amounts of water into the building for an extended period of time."

LAFD Chief Nick Ferrari later told reporters that the fire had burned through the roof, letting up gases and smoke. That cleared some of the interior of the building, allowing firefighters more visibility into conditions inside.

“This is going to be an extended event,” he said. “We have made great progress, just today alone.”

What residents are experiencing

Residents near the facility on South Los Palos Street reported a strong smell as they watched the smoke rise up, and vehicles driving in that direction turned around as it appeared that the fire flared up shortly before 5 p.m.

Gabriela Dueñas lives less than a mile from the warehouse and put on a mask while she sheltered indoors at her home.

“It smells horrible outside. More ashes are falling now. Seems like the fire is inside the structure now,” Dueñas said just before 5 p.m. on Friday.

Firefighters were at the scene dousing the building. The smoke shifted from black to white before turning black again within an hour. LAFD spokesperson Lyndsey Lantz said that the white smoke was a sign that firefighters were getting water on the flames, and brown smoke likely meant that materials were burning.

“We want to assure people that we expected that change due to the wind,” Lantz said. “Our crews were prepared for that.”

A thick cloud of smoke descends over a street near a cold storage warehouse after a reported flare-up.

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Dueñas said it was frustrating to learn that firefighters anticipated those changes, saying residents were not adequately informed ahead of time.

“Why isn’t LAFD using their social media platforms to provide updates to residents?” she asked. “Instead, we begin to panic when we see the sun covered with a black cloud of smoke.”

Will residents need to shelter in place?

LAFD does not expect a shelter-in-place will be put into effect, Lantz said.

A previous shelter-in-place order was triggered as fire reached an ammonia line. Since then, Ferrari said, the building operator was able to pull ammonia out of the facility’s tanks and transport the chemical off-site. The operator also filled a generator, allowing the building’s interior sprinkler system to keep running, he said.

Ferrari stressed the unusual nature of the fire, and the aggressive tactics that firefighters were using. Helicopter water drops — almost unheard of for a structure fire — continued on Friday. Firefighters were also able to retrieve a number of forklifts with lithium-ion batteries from inside the building, lessening the hazard that the batteries posed. Some remained inside, Ferrari added, but they were in a portion of the building uninvolved in the fire.

The fire broke out Wednesday, prompting an hours-long shelter-in-place order due to hazardous materials, including ammonia.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District on Friday extended a particle pollution advisory to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, and a smoke advisory remains in effect in a zone near the fire.

Early monitoring showed particles were generally present at background levels, AQMD said, but for several seconds at a time, they found increased levels of bromine and chlorine.

“Bromine and chlorine are typically found at trace levels during structural fires and the levels seen were below short-term health-based exposure thresholds,” AQMD said. “Concentrations below this level are not expected to cause adverse health effects. No significant levels of air toxic metals were seen.”

What the city's leaders say

Mayor Karen Bass spoke outside the building Friday evening, praising firefighters’ efforts. She added that people in the area could expect to continue to see smoke, and she urged people and their pets to stay inside as much as possible. She asked people to wear masks when they needed to go outside.

“We know that this is concerning. This is inconvenient, but we are doing everything we can to end this as soon as possible,” she said. “And we want everyone to be safe in the meantime.”

The city’s Department of Recreation and Parks opened the Pecan Recreation Center, 145 S. Pecan St., as a smoke relief center on Friday, and it will stay open overnight and as long as it is needed. Community groups, including Proyecto Pastoral, Running Mamis and Centro CSO, went door to door distributing masks, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado said.

Jurado thanked the community for stepping up, allowing fire officials to focus their efforts on extinguishing the fire. She added the Eastside deserved great fire service just as much as Westside neighborhoods.

“This has been a resilient community that has faced history of environmental pollution, and with no recourse,” she said. “This city needed to show decisive action.”

SEATTLE — For days, questions about the health of star winger Christian Pulisic's left calf had loomed large over the U.S. men's national soccer team: After being kicked in the leg during last week's Paraguay game, would he be available in the pivotal second U.S. game of the FIFA World Cup?

In the end, it didn't matter.

The U.S. dominated Friday's match against Australia, winning 2-0 even as Pulisic, who was ultimately deemed unavailable before kickoff, watched his teammates from the sidelines.

The scoring started early when American striker Folarin Balogun streaked down the left side of the field and powered a pass into the penalty area, where Australian defender Cameron Burgess booted it into his net for an own goal in the 11th minute.

"I want to be dangerous. I want to create opportunities. And it might not always be myself that scores, but if I can force an error that gives us the lead, for me that's like a goal as well," Balogun said. "It was a special start to the game to give us the momentum, and then I think we carried it out."

The U.S. added a second goal when defender Alex Freeman knocked in a header just before halftime. The chippy match resulted in seven total yellow cards, three for the U.S. on defenders Antonee Robinson and Chris Richards and Balogun.

After the game, U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino praised his team and their approach. "We build the victory in our attitude," he said.

The win guarantees that the U.S. will advance to the knockout stage of the tournament, and it puts the Americans in the driver's seat to win Group D. That would set up the team for a more advantageous path through the knockout round, which begins Sunday, June 28.

Cristian Volpato #20 of Australia and Weston McKennie #8 of the United States battle for the ball during the team's World Cup Group D match on Friday in Seattle.

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About 90 minutes before kickoff, Pochettino told Fox that Pulisic would be unavailable due to the nagging left calf injury suffered last Friday. "It is hoped, as soon as possible, [that he] can be ready to be selected again to be part of the team," Pochettino said.

In his place, forward Ricardo Pepi made the start on the left side. For Freeman, his first career World Cup goal was the latest step in a remarkable trajectory for a 21-year-old player who made his first appearance for the U.S. national team just over a year ago. 

It was unclear whether Pulisic would be available for the third and final U.S. group stage game, a match against Turkey set for next Thursday.

Whether that game will matter depends on the outcome of Friday night's Turkey-Paraguay matchup; if Turkey draws or loses, the U.S. is guaranteed the top spot. If Turkey wins, that sets up next week's head-to-head game to determine the group winner.

Turkey, whose roster features stars like Arda Güler of Real Madrid and Kenan Yıldız of Juventus, had been considered by some analysts to be the strongest team in the group.

The U.S. victory over Australia was the second win in the group stage — the first time the American men have done that in a World Cup since 1930.
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Bernard Brown grew up going to parties all around Los Angeles. Maybe a little before he was supposed to.

“I won't say my age. I don't wanna get nobody in trouble,” he joked. “But I went to clubs like The Catch — The Catch One — and The Study on Hollywood and Western and places like that that are no longer with us.”

Brown went on to become a contemporary dancer and choreographer, and he remembers watching dancers at Black queer clubs, and the tenderness they had for each other. He told LAist that was exactly what informed his new art installation and dance performance, “Sissies: Something Perfect Between Ourselves,” at the Pieter Performance Space this Juneteenth weekend.

“ I thought a lot about how intergenerational learning was starting to slip away, and what does it mean to learn how to be a Black queer person?” Brown said. “Where are those spaces, and how did I learn how to be this way? And so making this work has been about this labor, this love, this intergenerational learning, and also community.”

What to expect

“Sissies” has two components: an installation on view Friday through Sunday, and a dance performance featuring some of L.A.’s most prominent dancers and voguers this Saturday night at 8:30 p.m.

Rosalie Tucker, director of Pieter Performance Space, said this will look a little different from other dance performances you may have been to.

“The invitation to everyone who is a guest in the show, who has bought a ticket is: Let it go,” she said. “Let yourself be in the club. React. You don't have to be quiet. This isn't a silent setting. This is not a traditional theater setting, and that is intentional.”

That’ll culminate after the performance, when the audience will also be invited to join the dancefloor.

Though the installation is this weekend only, Brown told LAist that once it's over, he hopes to find a permanent home for the archives and exhibits he’s amassed.

The inspiration behind ‘Sissies’

Of course, archival research is a big part of the work. But for Brown, who was actually there at clubs watching vogue practitioners work the dancefloor, the research process looks a little different.

Brown, who teaches dance at UC San Diego, calls the work “autoethnographic” — that is, much of what you’ll see is based on his own experiences and observations over the decades.

“ We're talking about vogue, all of the elements: hand performance, floor performance, catwalk, duckwalk,” Brown said. “All of those things appear in the work, but it's based on the truth and the authenticity of our people.”

The themes in Brown’s work resonated with Tucker, especially in this political moment.

“What we're seeing is our histories being not just erased, but violently erased, excluded and lied about,” she said. “So we really have, I think, a responsibility to the future, to ourselves, to claim the truth of, 'This is what happened then, this is what's happening now.'”

Brown’s collaborators

Los Angeles has a long history of queer Black underground clubs and events, one that continues to this day in parties and warehouses.

“ Bernard has built this with the people who are the Black underground in Los Angeles as well, so it's not just like a theoretical thing,” Tucker said.

The score for the show is by DeFacto X, who co-founded Black Bass Collective, a staple of L.A.’s warehouse scene. Co-creator and visual director Malachi Middleton will also perform in the work. Some of Brown’s dancers have shared stages with people like Beyoncé, but he said they’re all also movers and shakers in their own right.

“They are creating their own work,” Brown said. “They are making spaces where people congregate, and they're doing the Lord's work in that regard, finding their way to the movement of our queer ancestors.”

Though Brown won’t be performing in the show, he said he gets emotional when he sees younger generations go through the same movements as the voguers and other dancers he saw in clubs decades ago.

“I am filled with joy — literal joy — and sometimes tears at how beautiful it is to see Black queer men being together intimately, folding into each other, their individual kikis and lala's that happen during performance, the authenticity of their visceral connection to each other,” he said.