The Brief

I didn’t grow up with Turkey Day playing a significant role in my family gatherings. We usually visited a restaurant like Guelagetza or a Chinese restaurant in the San Gabriel Valley.

Now, as an adult with my own family, Thanksgiving means more Friendsgiving celebrations, where folks within my social circle gather together to give thanks and break bread.

Of course, the idea of Friendsgiving isn’t new to the culture per se. Getting together with our social circles instead of our birth families has been widespread. I’d be remiss without mentioning the show Friends (RIP Matthew Perry), which helped popularize the idea of Friendsgiving and devoted nine episodes to the holiday over the entire series run.

Pop culture references aside, while I didn’t celebrate the traditional Thanksgiving, I feel I’ve excelled at making the celebration my own. I was instilled with a love of entertaining and an appreciation for a good dinner party, and as I attended a few “Friendsgiving” celebrations in recent years, I picked up a few tips on what works and what doesn’t.

The critical thing to remember is that the mood should always be fun and festive. Don’t worry so much about what’s on the table but about making your guests feel welcome. Creating the right vibe should always be the bottom line, and most importantly, enjoy yourself and try not to do it all by yourself.

Here's some more tips to make this your best (and most effortless) holiday with friends ever.

Prep early

1. Pick a date that works for you. No rule says you must have your Friendsgiving around Thanksgiving or even have it in November. Be flexible and set yourself free. Your friends will probably be grateful that you took the pressure off. 

2. Know your space. Think through the headcount before inviting guests. Be realistic about your area; don’t overdo it by inviting everyone you know.

3. Don’t have enough chairs? Consider renting tables and chairs if you have the space. Ideally, this order would be placed well ahead of time to beat the rush.

4. Google Sheets is your friend. Use Google Sheets to map everything out. The sooner you start this process, the better, so start now. Create a separate tab for friends to sign up for what dishes they want to bring and create a deadline. Also, have a separate space for friends to note if there are dietary restrictions.

You'll avoid the last-minute crowds when you shop early.

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5. Get as much of your shopping done early. Think about what can be purchased ahead of time. Consider ordering your groceries online for delivery or pick up, which most grocery stores do. It takes away from the sensory overload of shopping in the stores. Many stores, such as Trader Joe's, will also let you pre-order some of their bouquets ahead of time. 

Enlist help

6. Decide what the menu will be ahead of time. Coordinate with your party and decide in advance if the gathering will adhere to the traditional Thanksgiving menu or if folks can bring a non-traditional dish of their liking, which can also be fun. This prevents you from having seven desserts but no side dishes.

7. Everyone needs to bring something! From extra napkins to ice, which both always come in handy, or a side dish. Also, make sure everyone brings a beverage of their choice, alcoholic or non.

8. Stick to what you know. Ease the stress by sticking to dishes you’ve made before and you know your friends like. And when in doubt, go pre-made! Consider dishes that can be pre-ordered or pre-made (even the turkey). Plenty of restaurants and stores carry plenty of pre-made items.

9. Defrosting the bird: If you are doing a turkey, and it's frozen, give yourself plenty of time to defrost it. (The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends doing this in the fridge for food safety reasons, allowing one full day for every 4-5 pounds of bird.)

10. When serving food, pick a method that works best. Decide if you want to serve the meal family-style or buffet-style? Then stage your space accordingly.

11. Make a playlist. Curate the vibes by picking out a playlist that will run the duration of your evening. (This can also be done well in advance.) 

Day of prep

12. Get beverages chilling first thing in the morning. You want to make sure beverages are at the desired temperature for when guests arrive. Also, make sure you have room for the beverages that people will bring, whether that's another cooler with ice, or space on a table for red wine.

Set the table early. Even the day before.

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13. Prep your tablescape beforehand, possibly even the night before. Setting the table ahead of time means one less thing to worry about

14. Preheat the oven. Key for cooking turkey at the right temperature but also to pop in appetizers at a moment's notice. 

The final countdown: Before guests arrive

No need for heavy apps. But a few easy bites are nice.

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15. Prepare any appetizers. Set out those chips, dips, and crudite plates for people to snack on as they arrive. 

16. Pop some bottles. Open wine so there’s time to allow it to aerate.

17. Clear your space. Try to have your counter space accessible when guests bring their dishes, empty the dishwasher, and take out the trash.

When guests arrive...

18.  Hello, hello! Please do your best to introduce folks to everyone when they arrive. 

19. Assign guests a job. Share the workload by assigning tasks such as mixing drinks or helping with something in the kitchen. 

20. Start a game. Play a game with your guests to serve as an icebreaker. It can be a popular board game or something as simple as sharing a favorite Thanksgiving memory, anything to get people talking.

21. Background binge. Throw on a beloved Thanksgiving TV special in the background.

22. Don’t forget the kids. Have an area with some activities.

Serving dessert buffet style makes it easy on the host.

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The main event

23. Mix it up with assigned seats. I recently went to a dinner party, and the host assigned seats but didn't have couples sit next to each other, prompting some great conversation. 

24. The camera eats first. Take pictures of your food and guests; create memories.

Bonus:

25. Skip the hosting all together and head to a restaurant. Ha!

The Los Angeles World Cup host committee has quietly posted its guidance on human rights after months of speculation over where the plan was and when it would be published.

Advocates had pushed the committee, an arm of the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission, to produce its plan. But now that it's out, they're not satisfied with what they're seeing.

The human rights guidance is required by FIFA and outlined on the host committee's website. It includes a list of online resources including where to file complaints with various local and state level agencies and a summary of local, state and federal laws protecting human and civil rights. The committee is also touting a partnership with L.A. County in which people can call 211 to report a concern during the tournament.

"Los Angeles is weeks away from hosting one of the largest sporting events in the world, and yet what has been posted is not a plan,” Stephanie Richard, director of the Sunita Jain Anti‑Trafficking Initiative at Loyola Law School, said in a statement. “It is a list of laws and hotline numbers."

The human rights document also skirts fears around ICE and its potential presence at the tournament and surrounding celebrations. Todd Lyons, the agency's head, said earlier this year that ICE's investigatory branch will play a key role in security for the tournament.

But ICE and immigration enforcement aren't mentioned on the host committee's web page on human rights or in its outline of its approach to human rights. "Immigration status" only gets a mention in the list of existing anti-discrimination laws.

"It certainly could have been much stronger," Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, said of the plan. She added that her organization participated in a roundtable on the plan, and she was disappointed ICE and recent immigration sweeps weren't mentioned in the resulting document.

"In order for all of this to happen, immigrant workers are part of it," she said of the World Cup. "Your hotel workers, your service workers, stadium workers, drivers." 

LAist reached out to spokespeople for the host committee for comment via email, phone and text, but did not hear back in time for publication. FIFA's press team also did not respond to an email from LAist.

According to the host committee's website, the human rights plan is the result of coordination with the city and county of Los Angeles, the city of Inglewood, and 14 roundtable discussions held in the fall of 2025.

"As a non-profit organization, the Host Committee’s role is primarily and necessarily focused on aligning and collaborating with governmental and non-governmental organizations," the document sums up the committee's approach.

The plan also promises more actions, including "Know Your Rights" training for L.A. residents and visitors and "Know Your Responsibilities" training for businesses and vendors. The committee also says it will develop a "rapid response" strategy to respond to potential problems at the tournament.

Available details on those plans were scant. And with the tournament just 30 days away, labor unions and community groups are continuing to voice concerns about potential ICE presence at SoFi Stadium and other potential consequences of the tournament coming to town.

The mayor of Arcadia has agreed to plead guilty to a charge she acted as an agent for China, federal prosecutors announced Monday. She has resigned from her position with the city.

Eileen Wang, 58, faces one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The charge carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison.

What we know about the criminal case

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Wang and Yaoning “Mike” Sun of Chino Hills worked at the direction of the Chinese government and with individuals based in the U.S. to promote pro-People’s Republic of China propaganda in the United States. Those actions occurred between 2020 and 2022, prosecutors said.

According to federal prosecutors, Wang and Sun operated a website — known as U.S. News Center — billed as a news source for the local Chinese American community in Los Angeles County. They posted content on the site, described as "pre-written articles," based on directives from Chinese government officials.

Sun, 65, pleaded guilty in October 2025 in federal court to acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. He is serving a four-year federal prison sentence.

Prosecutors also said Wang communicated with John Chen, whom they described as “a high-level member of the [Chinese government] intelligence apparatus,” in November 2021, and asked him to post an article from her website.

In a group chat, Wang referenced the article and wrote: “This is what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to send,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Chen pleaded guilty in New York to acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China and conspiracy to bribe a public official. In 2024, he was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison.

What's next

Wang, who was elected to the City Council in November 2022, was expected to make her first appearance in U.S. District Court Monday afternoon.

Citing a plea agreement, prosecutors said she's expected to enter the guilty plea within the next few weeks.

Arcadia's mayor is selected from the elected council members. A post on the city's website announced that Wang had resigned her position as of Monday and that a new mayor would be picked from the remaining council members at the next meeting.

The Supreme Court on Monday gave itself more time to consider a national ban on telemedicine access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

Justice Samuel Alito extended an earlier order he issued by three more days, so rules for prescribing mifepristone online or through the mail remain in effect through Thursday at a minimum.

The case at issue

The tumult over the future of telemedicine access to mifipristone started on May 1 with a ruling from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. That ruling re-instituted prescribing rules from before the pandemic that required patients to receive mifepristone in person in a doctor's office or clinic.

The Food and Drug Administration determined that the rule was medically unnecessary in 2021. The state of Louisiana sued last fall, arguing that telemedicine access undermines the state's abortion ban.

What is telemedicine abortion?

The telemedicine abortion process starts with a patient connecting with a healthcare provider on the phone or online. If the patient is eligible, that provider can prescribe two medications — mifepristone and another pill called misoprostol. Patients can pick up the medicine at a local pharmacy, or providers can mail the drugs to a patient's home.

That access is a big part of the reason why the number of abortions nationally has actually increased since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022. Now, most abortions in the U.S. use this combination of medications, and one quarter happen via telemedicine.

After the 5th Circuit ruling, some providers said they would continue offering telemedicine access to abortion medication using a different protocol that involves higher doses of misoprostol and no mifepristone.

Researchers say that method is just as safe and effective, but tends to cause more pain for patients and more side effects, like nausea and diarrhea. Misoprostol has other medical uses, such as treating gastric ulcers and hemorrhage, and has been on the market longer than mifepristone. It is likely to remain fully accessible, even if mifepristone is restricted.

Since the FDA's prescribing rules for medications apply to the whole country, a change to the rules about how mifepristone can be accessed has national impact. That means it affects states with constitutionally-protected access to abortion, states with criminal bans, like Louisiana, and all states in between.

States' rights

Nearly two dozen Democratic-led states submitted an amicus brief in this case, writing that the appeals court decision put the policy choices of states with bans above the choices of states "that have made the different but equally sovereign determinations to promote access to abortion care."

There are also stakes related to the power of FDA and other expert agencies to set rules. While the Trump administration's FDA did not respond to the Supreme Court's request for briefs, a group of former leaders of the agency, who served under mainly Democratic and some Republican presidents, wrote about this in an amicus brief.

They defended the FDA's process in approving the medication and modifying the rules for prescribing it, and say the appeals court decision "would upend FDA's gold-standard, science-based drug approval system."

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