The Brief

At a warehouse in an industrial corridor of downtown Los Angeles, a handful of technicians are hunched over their brightly lit workstations, tinkering with saxophones, violins, and pianos.

This facility is one of the only remaining publicly funded repair shops for musical instruments in the country. Thousands of cases lay neatly stacked across tall shelves, ready to be shipped to schools across the nation's second largest school district, Los Angeles Unified (LAUSD). These district-owned instruments and the repairs are a free service to students here.

"The shop is a jewel for the school district," says Steve Bagmanyan, who started here in 2003 as a piano technician and now supervises the shop.

In a school district where about 80% of students come from low-income backgrounds, the repair shop helps create equitable access to quality instruments, he says, which can be expensive to own and maintain.

And it's a huge help for educators, too. "For teachers not to think about what to do with a broken instrument, to think 'where am I going to find repairs?'... That is all extra stress on a teacher."

Steve Bagmanyan began working at the repair shop in 2003 as a piano technician. Now, he supervises the shop, which was founded in 1959.

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Bagmanyan and the technicians work quietly in the background, ensuring that about 120,000 instruments in circulation throughout the district are in working order. "That's the magic of this place," he says.

The repair shop was, for many years, largely invisible to students and families. That changed when it was featured in the documentary The Last Repair Shop, which won an Oscar last year. Since then, letters have been pouring in from students sharing their gratitude. "That's our Oscar," says Bagmanyan, pointing to a wall decorated with the notes. He says he's seen the shop struggle and shrink in the past, during times of financial strain for the school district.

Now, the facility is getting a $1 million donation from legendary musician, producer and philanthropist Herb Alpert, who got his start playing trumpet in this very school district.

A potential game-changer in a child's life

Technician Paty Moreno puts finishing touches on a baritone horn that came into the shop with sticky valves. She pulled it apart, cleaned it with specialized machines and reassembled it.

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Technician Paty Moreno has sat at the same workstation for over 21 years, where she primarily repairs brass instruments.

"People think, 'I can play an instrument, so I can fix it too.'" But repairing delicate and sophisticated implements, she explains, requires special skills and tools. She considers it a dying craft.

As she puts finishing touches on a baritone horn that came into the shop with sticky valves, she says, "It's a strange connection between us and the students."

A few feet away, Duane Michaels is soldering a dented saxophone: "It's going to be somebody's grandkid, somebody's kid, right? And so you kind of think of it that way, and you want it to play easily and in-tune to give the kid the best opportunity to succeed on it."

Johanna Gamboa-Kroesen is a professor of music education at UCLA and says, "When students have an instrument that's not working for them, it can be incredibly frustrating. It causes them to think music's not for them." So, she says, for a student to have access to free repairs "takes away that burden on families and lets [students] put their energy into just creating music."

Music can play a role in children's development, she adds, and helps with various aspects of their education. "Students learn to work with each other, learn to problem solve," she explains. "When you learn music, you're really activating all parts of you as a person. Your physical, kinesthetic awareness, your artistic and creative side and your analytical side."

"You never know where a genius is"

Repair facilities like LAUSD's once existed in several major public school districts, according to Craig Anderson, a retired technician who belongs to The National Association of Professional Band and Instrument Repair Technicians. He says that over the years, financial constraints and technicians retiring led many around the country to downsize or close down completely.

That is partly why Alpert, an eight-time Grammy winner who was once an LAUSD student himself, is investing in the repair shop. He considers it to be an essential part of the district's music program.

"You never know what's going to come out of a student who's coming from a [low-income area] and picks up an instrument," he says. "You never know where a genius is."

Steve Bagmanyan (left) and technician Duane Michaels (right) with musician and philanthropist Herb Alpert (middle), who is donating $1 million to the repair shop.

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Sadie Jefferson

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LAUSD Education Foundation

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If he hadn't come across a trumpet at Melrose Elementary School back in the 1940s, Alpert says, he wonders whether he would have found his path to music.

"Lucky me, I was 8 years old in my grammar school and there was a music class and there's a table filled with various instruments … and I happened to pick up the trumpet."

Alpert says he couldn't make a sound at first, but eventually the instrument became his voice.

"I'm a card-carrying introvert, and this trumpet was saying the things I couldn't get out of my mouth. And I liked that, it was a good feeling … and I thought, 'Man, I had this magical opportunity for myself when I was 8 years old. I'd like to pass that on.'"

"Everyone should have the opportunity to express themselves"

At San Fernando High School in L.A., 11th grader Maximiliano Segura says he, too, had his first run-in with a trumpet at school when he was around 8.

"It was cool and shiny," he says with a laugh. "It really appealed to me when I first saw it. Like I knew it was a part of many genres like jazz or mariachi."

Maximilano Segura, a high school junior, started playing the trumpet in the third grade.

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Segura has been playing ever since, including in his school's mariachi band.

He has always used a free, district instrument, but says that until he watched The Last Repair Shop, he hadn't even considered that his instrument was also getting repairs for free all these years.

"To know that people from my background [have access to] instruments and music itself, it's amazing."

He often practices before, during and after school. And he's already started saving to buy his own trumpet after graduation.

"I love music. I express myself through it, I think it's just one of my best therapies that I could ever have. And I feel like everyone should have the opportunity to express themselves."

Sergio Alonso instructs the San Fernando High School mariachi band.

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Herb Alpert agrees: "Music should not be a privilege, it should be a part of the public education system." He hopes more visibility around the repair shop will encourage other school districts to re-invest in such facilities, too.

While Alpert's donation is part of a long career filled with philanthropy, he says the current political climate makes the investment feel more urgent. "I say, 'why are public funds not being spent on this?' This is a crucial part of a child's development."

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Copyright 2025 NPR

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting agreed Monday to fulfill a $36 million, multi-year contract with NPR that it had yanked after pressure from the Trump White House.

The arrangement resolves litigation filed by NPR accusing the corporation of illegally yielding to Trump's demands that the network be financially punished for its news coverage. The argument, part of a broader lawsuit by NPR and several stations against the Trump administration, focused on CPB funding for NPR's operation of a satellite distribution system for local public radio stations. NPR announced Monday it would waive all fees for the stations associated with the satellite service.

The judge in the case had explicitly told CPB's legal team he did not find its defense credible. CPB lawyers had argued that the decision to award the contract to a new consortium of public media institutions was driven by a desire to foster digital innovations more swiftly.

"The settlement is a victory for editorial independence and a step toward upholding the First Amendment rights of NPR and the public media system in our legal challenge to [Trump's] Executive Order," Katherine Maher, President and CEO of NPR, said in a statement. "While we entered into this dispute with CPB reluctantly, we're glad to resolve it in a way that enables us to continue to provide for the stability of the Public Radio Satellite System, offer immediate and direct support to public radio stations across the country, and proceed with our strong and substantive claims against this illegal and unconstitutional Executive Order. We look forward to our day in court in December."

In its submission Monday evening to the court, CPB did not concede that it had acted wrongfully — nor that it had yielded to political pressure from the administration.

Instead, in a statement posted on its website, CPB asserted its side "prevails" as a result of the settlement.

"This is an important moment for public media," said Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of CPB. "We are very pleased that this costly and unnecessary litigation is over, and that our investment in the future through [Public Media Infrastructure] marks an exciting new era for public media." CPB had awarded a rival contract to PMI, a newly created consortium of public radio organizations including several major stations, to ensure the digital distribution system functions properly. That contract will continue, CPB said.

Federal subsidies for public broadcasting stopped on Oct. 1 as a result of a party-line vote over the summer by Congress, called a rescission. Only a skeleton crew remains at CPB, which was created as a nonprofit corporation more than a half-century ago to funnel federal subsidies to public media. While PBS has had layoffs and NPR is monitoring its own finances, many local stations across the country have been hit hard.

Over the course of the litigation this fall, mounting evidence appeared to demonstrate that CPB's board chair and executives had acted against NPR in what turned out to be a futile attempt to salvage the corporation's own future.

In hearings last month in Washington, D.C., U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss told CPB's legal team they had not made a credible case for why the corporation reneged on the contract just a day after a top White House official warned senior CPB leaders against doing business with NPR. A trial had been set to start on Dec. 1.

CPB's change of mind — and NPR's ensuing lawsuit — sparked consternation and unease within the larger public media ecosystem. The two organizations had served as partners for decades. But that relationship frayed earlier this year, as the system came under attack from the Trump administration.

Trump's public campaign against NPR and PBS started in earnest soon after he returned to the White House. Trump kicked it into high gear in late March with a series of social media posts.

In early April, CPB leaders sought to get money out the door before Trump took action against public media. On April 2, CPB's board approved the extension of a contract with NPR to distribute public radio programs, including those not produced by NPR. The arrangement stretched back four decades. The amount included millions still due on the then-current contract.

The next day, CPB's board chair and two senior executives met with a top White House budget official who attested to her "intense dislike for NPR." The budget official told them CPB didn't have to "throw the baby out with the bathwater," according to a deposition from CPB executive Clayton Barsoum submitted as part of NPR's legal filings.

And the day after that — just 48 hours after that board vote — CPB reversed itself. CPB executive Kathy Merritt informed NPR's top official over the satellite and distribution service that it had to be spun off: it could not be part of NPR. NPR refused to do so. CPB revised the scope of the contract and solicited new bids. NPR's submission proved unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, the White House was ramping up the pressure. It accused NPR and PBS of bias. On April 14, for example, it issued a formal statement that called their offerings "radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news'." NPR and PBS's chief executives have rejected the accusations of bias.

On May 1, Trump issued an executive order that no federal money should go to the two public broadcasting networks. NPR and three Colorado public radio stations then filed suit against the White House, saying they were being unlawfully punished because the president did not like their news coverage. They contended the executive order represented a violation of First Amendment protections. Their suit names CPB as a defendant as well for, in their characterization, bending to the president's will. In Monday's legal filing, CPB agreed that the executive order was precisely the sort of government interference that Congress sought to prevent in establishing CPB as it did.

In the summer, Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress, urged on by Trump, pulled back all $1.1 billion for future public broadcasting that had already been approved and signed into law by the president.

Throughout the legal battle, NPR has said, regardless of the outcome of the case, it would work with Public Media Infrastructure.

NPR's broader constitutional case against Trump's executive order purporting to ban federal funding of public media continues. A hearing on its merits is scheduled for December.

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. It was edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editors Gerry Holmes and Vickie Walton-James. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.
Copyright 2025 NPR

A long-awaited vision for Huntington Drive is finally coming into focus. In the future, the busy corridor will have dedicated bus lanes, protected bike lanes, two lanes of vehicle traffic in each direction, a thin median and wide sidewalks.

This was the plan chosen by the City for the Huntington Drive Multi-Modal Transportation Improvement Project, which runs on an approximately four-mile stretch of the street between North Mission Road near LAC+USC Medical Center and Alhambra/South Pasadena. This had much more public support than the competing alternative, which featured a wide median rather than wide sidewalks, according to Mary Nemick, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Engineering.

Nemick said the next step is to hire a consultant to create design and engineering documents. This phase is expected to take about two years before groundbreaking can occur.

Currently, Huntington Drive has three vehicular lanes in each direction, the bike lanes are unprotected, and about 25% of the corridor lacks sidewalks. Though pedestrians and bicyclists account for only 1% of peak-hour trips, they account for 54% of severe or fatal injuries from traffic collisions, according to a project document.

The design budget is about $10.5 million, Nemick said, and the overall project cost will be determined after designs are completed.

The project is being funded by some of the money previously allocated for the construction of the 710 Freeway extension, which was abandoned in 2018 after decades of local opposition.

The Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for a roughly 40,000-square-foot expansion that will include indoor and outdoor science learning areas and space for special exhibits.

The centerpiece of the buildout will include an interactive display of the Inspiration space shuttle mockup, where visitors can go inside the cargo bay.

Built in 1972, the 35-foot-tall model made of wood, plastic and aluminum functioned as a prototype and fitting tool for all of the orbiters that launched into space.

“We’re super excited to be able to put it on display for the public, really for the first time in forever,” Ben Dickow, president and executive director of the Columbia Memorial Space Center, told LAist.

The expansion will also allow for educational areas, where students can learn about the pioneering engineering and design work that went into building the model at Rockwell International in Downey.

The backstory

Last fall, after sitting in storage for more than a decade, the full-scale model was moved a few blocks to a temporary home.

The Inspiration space shuttle mockup was moved in sections to a temporary home last fall

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The Space Center said renovation work on the mock up will take months and include rehabs of its 60-foot cargo bay and flight deck.

Dickow said Downey is where all of the Apollo capsules that went to the moon and all of the space shuttles were designed and built.

“This is part of the L.A. story as much as entertainment or anything like that,” Dickow said, adding that it’s a legacy he feels like Angelenos sometimes forget. “The space craft that took humanity to the moon, the space craft that brought humanity into lower earth orbit and built the international space station, these are human firsts... and they all happened right here.”

What’s next? 

The Space Center is looking to raise $50 million that would go toward building plans, special exhibits and more.

Dickow said the new building that will house the space shuttle mockup should be open to the public in about two years.

By early next year, he said the plan is to have the shuttle model available for bi-monthly public visits as it undergoes renovation.