The Brief

Maria Lares is arguably the heart and soul of Villacorta Elementary School in La Puente, California. She's been teaching at the school for more than 30 years and has been on the Parent-Teacher Association there the entire time.

"The PTA actually means a lot to me," she says. "I'm an immigrant, and when I got here my parents – they worked 12 hours a day. So they never attended any school things. So as a teacher I said, 'Uh-uh, PTA's my baby!' And it has been for all these years."

The way Maria sees it, the main job of the school's PTA is to fund the activities that make school fun for kids — e.g., pizza parties for the honor roll students, bringing in a big reptile show for kids, or helping pay for the 6th graders to go to science camp for a week.

This year, Maria's number one priority is for the PTA to raise enough money to send every single kid at the school on at least one field trip.

It's been three years since the whole school went on one. The school didn't fundraise in time last year, and they didn't go on field trips the previous two years because of COVID-19. So this year, Maria is determined to make field trips happen. And she's looking forward to one field trip in particular for her first graders.

"I like to take my class to the beach. On a boat ride," she said. "They'll tell you, 'I've never been to the beach!' They have never been on boats before."

The beach is just 40 minutes away, but 90% of students at this school are economically disadvantaged and 20% are unhoused, so many of her students have never seen the ocean.

To pay for a trip to the beach and all the other field trips, the PTA at Villacorta Elementary raises money through their own fundraisers, like nacho sales and t-shirt sales. But those don't generate huge amounts of money, so once or twice a year, they'll go through a school fundraising company. Those companies put on these flashy assemblies where they show students all the prizes they could win if they sell enough chocolate, or popcorn, or wrapping paper.

"Mr. Cheesecake," aka Andrew Smith, is known for getting students to sell ... cheesecake. Here he is kicking off a school fundraiser.

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Now offsetting the costs of field trips with fundraising happens at pretty much every school. Wealthy schools also fundraise to help cover the cost of their more expensive trips.

But why is this the system? Why do schools let companies come in to turn kids into little salespeople?

Public schools get their official budgets from local property taxes, as well as states and the federal funding. Technically, schools get more money per student today than they have historically gotten.

For Villacorta Elementary, the district gets around $4.5 million a year. It's about $16,000 per student at this school, which is a little more than the national average of $14,347, according to 2021 Census Data. But it's not like the principal gets all of that money to spend. The district actually spends almost all of it on things like salaries for teachers and benefits and the cost of running the building. What the principal gets to spend is closer to $1,200 per kid. And because it's public funds, there are a lot of rules about how he can spend this money.

"It's sort of a give and take," says the principal George Hererra. "If I put [the money] to field trips, then I shortchange somewhere."

But when the PTA raises money from fundraisers like selling cheesecake or chocolate, that is not part of the official school budget. It is not "public funds." So this money can go to anything. Which is very valuable to a school.

Marguerite Roza, a school funding expert at Georgetown Universitiy's McCourt School of Public Policy, said it would be possible to just change the rules about how school money can be spent. And, she said, if a school really wanted to prioritize field trips in their official budget, they could. No fundraising from the PTA necessary.

Because, of the $1,200 the principal gets per student, around $500 could be spent on field trips. That would be enough money to send everyone at the whole school on approximately 17 field trips a year. But that is not what this principal does.

George chooses to spend his budget on a teacher's aide for his students that are learning English and an attendance clerk to try to deal with the school's attendance problem. The clerk calls parents when a student is absent to ask why their child is missing school.

"For me, my decision is very academic-based. You know, what intervention do we need? Do we need to hire an intervention teacher? Do we need to provide after-school tutoring?"

And choosing to prioritize his budget this way might be tactical.

Marguerite Roza, the school funding expert, says it is a lot easier to ask parents and the community to pitch in for something like field trips than it is to go around asking parents to donate money to pay for the salary of an attendance clerk. The PTA could fundraise for that instead. But schools all over the U.S. choose to fundraise for the fun school perks instead because it works. People like to give money for this kind of cause.

But that means the fundraisers never stop.

Every year the PTA at Villacorta has a goal to raise $20,000. To get there, they held about 10 fundraisers: a popcorn fundraiser, a Mother's Day shop, a jogathon but with bubbles called a "bubble run." For one fundraiser, the teachers worked at McDonald's for a day. (The teachers made the fries, and the principal served cookies.)

One of the big fundraisers, the Bubble Run, was essentially a jogathon with bubbles. Students got the community to donate money.

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When the school uses a fundraising company, the company takes a cut of everything students sell. In Villacorta's experience, the company usually gets 60% and the school gets 40%, which is not the best deal. But the companies help the school bring in more money per fundraiser.

After a year of fundraising, Maria's school was just shy of their $20,000 goal. The sixth graders were the first to go on a field trip.They went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. But, all the other grades still have to go on their field trip; Maria's beach trip for the first graders still has to happen. So, the fundraising continues.

Their next fundraiser starts March 18. They're selling peanut brittle, gummy bears and chocolate covered popcorn.

This is a developing story and will be updated. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:

• CalFire incident page
• City of Burbank
  

Evacuation orders for DeBell Restaurant and Golf Course and Stough Canyon Nature Center remain in place for a fire burning in Wildwood Canyon above Burbank.

Evacuation warnings for Churches Ct. and Country Club Drive were lifted at 6:20 p.m.

As of 5:55 p.m., the fire had burned 40 acres and 70% contained, according to Burbank.

The Walnut Fire broke out Saturday afternoon near the intersection East Harvard Road and Wildwood Canyon Road.

Hiking trails around the area are closed. The Starlight Bowl concert scheduled for tonight has been canceled.

Listen to our Big Burn podcast

Fire resources and tips

Check out LAist's wildfire recovery guide

If you have to evacuate:

• Why fire officials don't want you to stay and defend your home
• How to get packed up
• How to leave your house
• What evacuation terms mean and how to sign up for alerts

Navigating fire conditions:

• How to drive in high winds and fire danger
• How to prep for power outages
• How to navigate poor air quality

How to help yourself and others:

• Resources for fire victims, evacuees and first responders
• If you want to help fire victims, resist the urge to volunteer
• How to help find lost pets

How to start the recovery process:

• What to do — and not do — when you get home after a wildfire
• How to make an insurance claim
• How to safely clean up wildfire ash

What to do for your kids:

• How to talk to children about wildfires and losing a home
• What parents should know about wildfire air quality

Prepare for the next disaster:

• Fire season is here. Make sure you're signed up for these alerts
• Every day is now fire season. Let's get you ready for the next wildfire
• Yes, wildfires are getting worse. The history that got us to this moment

The U.S. job market unexpectedly stalled in July.

A report Friday from the Labor Department shows that employers cut 23,000 jobs last month, and job gains for May and June were revised sharply lower.

The unemployment rate dipped to 4.1%, but only because more than 260,000 people dropped out of the workforce.

It was the second month in a row that the monthly jobs tally came in weaker than forecasters had expected.

"We are increasingly hearing from workers that they are anxious about their job security and they are frustrated by the fact that they are stuck in roles that are not necessarily good for them," said Daniel Zhao, chief economist at the job search website Glassdoor. "And that's on top of workers who are not in a job right now and feel frozen out of the job market."

Glassdoor's worker confidence index slumped in July to a record low.

The Fed's job gets harder

Restaurants and retailers cut thousands of jobs last month, and local government also saw large job losses. Healthcare continued to add workers, but at a more modest pace than earlier in the year.

The softening job market may complicate the Federal Reserve's job, since it's also battling stubborn inflation. The Fed may be more cautious about raising interest rates at a time when the labor market appears less stable.

For people who are working, average wages have risen 3.2% in the last 12 months. That's likely not enough to keep pace with inflation, however, so workers' paychecks don't stretch as far as they used to.

"Part of the reason that workers are feeling bad about today's job market," Zhao says, is that "a lot of those wage gains have been eaten up by rising energy prices."

Copyright 2026 NPR

It seems that jazz is everywhere in Los Angeles. Blue Note opened a club last year, venues like Sam First, Catalina’s, Vibrato and the Baked Potato draw large crowds, and hotels and bars are adding jazz to their schedules.

But every week, a semi-secret event at the tony Los Angeles Athletic Club lets anyone experience a near-private concert from legends such as Rickey Woodard, who played saxophone for Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and others; and Nolan Shaheed, trumpeter for Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye and more.

That’s before you get to the evening’s singer, who might be 96-year-old pianist Betty Bryant, former Raelette Val Monroe or singer and Grammy-winning songwriter John Proulx.

Until recently, the Sunday night Jazz Salon was free. Now it charges a nominal $10 per person, which is still an outrageous bargain, so be sure to add something to the tip jar on the piano, and maybe try one of the cocktails or the steak frites.

Inside the club 

Walking into the club earlier, you see black-and-white photos of all types of healthy pursuits on the walls, as well as trophies and mementos of the club’s nearly century-and-a-half history. Plush sofas, high ceilings and book-filled shelves are the order of the day, and alongside members in gym gear or lugging laptops, you go up in one of the elevators to the third floor, where the Jazz Salon takes place.

Dave Ross, bassist and founder of the Jazz Salon.

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The bassist who built it 

Earlier in the day, Dave Ross, 76, was setting up the amps, drum kit, mixer and mic stands. He also administers the website, acts as MC and plays double bass as part of the ensemble. He began the venture over a decade ago, when he persuaded the LAAC, of which he had long been a member, to host concerts in their redecorated restaurant and bar.

Ross draws from a repertory group of about 15 artists, and the concert takes place opposite the bar in a wood-paneled room of just a few dozen leather chairs and tables. This small scale makes the night intimate and unique.

“No gig is ever the same,” says Ross. “We don’t rehearse, and every time we play a song, we're never trying to play it the same way we played it before.”

That makes the night fun, too. Since you’re right near the musicians, you can hear their laughter and banter, as well as their impressive solos. Ross, stage left, stays out of the limelight — which is how he prefers it — and often says he's just happy to be there playing.

“You're there to keep the beat, the pulse of the music,” he says. “And then, secondarily, the notes that you play help the other musicians understand what the chord, what the harmony is. I'm just doing it for the pleasure of playing the music.”

The Jazz Salon is a $10 Sunday night concert at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

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Why $10 barely covers it 

Once a month, Ross and some of his stable join a touring artist — recently five-time Grammy-nominee Karrin Allyson — in the club’s 250-seat ballroom for a more formal ticketed event, but there have been just two complete sellouts of them this year: tributes to Bill Evans and Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond.

Donations and the tip jar on Sunday evenings sometimes haven’t been enough to break even, either, which led to Ross reluctantly introducing the $10 charge. No matter what, he is determined the Jazz Salon will keep going.

“When I was younger, there was a receptionist I knew who was a nun. She said: “‘You know what your problem is? You’re too optimistic!’”

Daniel Shemtob has been going around Los Angeles asking strangers this question: "What's your mom's best dish?"

He then turns their answers — from Filipino oxtail adobo to the Ashkenazi Jewish favorite of gefilte fish — into a taco for his new five-episode web series, "Better Than Your Mom."

One episode breaks from the format entirely: a head-to-head chopped salad taco challenge between Shemtob and Vanessa Silverton, daughter of famed L.A. chef Nancy Silverton, judged blind by Nancy herself.

Daniel Shemtob, founder of The Lime Truck and creator and host of Better Than Your Mom.

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A two-time winner of "The Great Food Truck Race" on the Food Network, Shemtob is no stranger to reality TV — he also founded The Lime Truck, serving Cali-Mex cuisine in Orange County.

What starts as a quick, chaotic street-corner challenge opens into something bigger — a Long Beach woman honoring her late mother-in-law's gefilte fish recipe, and a chef processing his own mother's death and the loss of his home in the 2025 Palisades Fire.

A dish for his mother

Despite loving fine dining, Shemtob said nothing beats the experience of having someone invite him to their mother's home for dinner.

"It's by far my favorite thing," he said.

Gundry watched as Shemtob reworked her mother-in-law's recipe in real time — a process that normally takes her more than two hours, done in 20 minutes.

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That urge to connect with other people also came from wanting to celebrate his late mother's legacy and the impact she had on him in the kitchen.

"Eating was like a big part of how we shared and celebrated," Shemtob said. "It was a culture that was built around food."

A stranger says, 'yes'

While most walk past him or decline to talk, Shemtob said he's been surprised by how many strangers say yes almost immediately — like Anne Gundry, a retired biology teacher in Long Beach.

She answered with a dish from her mother-in-law from her first marriage — gefilte fish served cold.

Shemtob's take on Dena Levenstein's gefilte fish, reimagined as a taco with an apple-horseradish slaw.

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Gundry recalled her first meeting with Dena Levenstein, who would become her mother-in-law. The relationship started out cold — but cooking together changed their dynamic.

"That's where I honestly think we had the deepest bond with her," Gundry said.

Gundry described yearly visits to Levenstein's house as a cooking "apprenticeship," where Gundry was taught to cook by feel — adding ingredients by the handful, testing a dish's consistency by touch.

"She used to say, 'How does it feel?'" Gundry recalled. "And I'd say, 'I don't know, I don't know how it's supposed to feel.'"

Over the years, she learned. Now, Gundry teaches her own children that recipe the same way — without referring to what's written down.

Watching Shemtob cook on "Better Than Your Mom," Gundry was skeptical. Her own process takes over two hours; his took 20 minutes — until she tasted the apple-horseradish slaw he added.

"Brilliant," she said. "I've been trying to duplicate it at home."

You can find Shemtob's videos on his YouTube channel.