A freshly cooked bowl of miến gà, Vietnamese chicken and glass noodle soup, with shiitake mushrooms, scallions, fresh chives and fried shallots.
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Topline:
Thousands of Vietnamese refugees fled Vietnam 50 years ago, after the war ended, with many ending up in Southern California. For one family, miến gà — a beloved Vietnamese chicken and glass noodle soup — was one of the first homemade meals they had together after reuniting at a refugee camp. Today it remains a source of tradition and comfort.
Why it matters: Preserving a sense of identity and cultural heritage for refugees is often achieved through food, as recipes are passed down through the generations.
Why now: It's 50 years since the Vietnam war ended, which led to thousands of Vietnamese people risking their lives on rickety boats to flee desperate conditions. Those who made it to the U.S. remember with sadness the many who didn't.
Standing over a gas burner in his outdoor kitchen in South Pasadena, Hong Pham toasted an onion and a whole ginger root until they were smoky and black.
Every Vietnamese household needs a kitchen in their backyard or garage to do the “smelly cooking,” he joked, emphasizing that charring the aromatics is key to enhancing the flavor of miến gà, a Vietnamese chicken and glass noodle soup.
The dish is comfort in a bowl — and special to Hong and his family, who are among the diaspora of people who fled Vietnam after the war ended a half century ago and settled in places like California. Miến gà was one of the first homemade meals his family had together after reuniting at a refugee camp.
I had a miserable cold this winter and was searching for a recipe for miến gà when I found one posted by Hong and his wife, Kim Dao, on The Ravenous Couple, their popular food blog, YouTube videos and Instagram account.
Alongside the recipe, Hong shares a story his father, Tung, told him about the soup’s connection to April 30, the day Saigon fell to communist forces, and his life began to unravel.
Because he had served in the South Vietnamese Army, Tung was sent to a Viet Cong re-education camp as punishment for supporting the Americans’ war effort. He endured three years of starvation and hard labor, separated from his family.
Hong Pham serves miến gà at his home in South Pasadena.
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When he got out, Tung tried to make a living as a teacher, but he barely scraped by. In March 1980, he decided to escape, joining the exodus of Vietnamese refugees who fled their homeland by boat. Because he could only afford three spots on an overcrowded fishing boat, Tung took his two eldest kids — Hong, who was almost 6 at the time, and his 9-year-old sister, Tam — and left behind his pregnant wife, Ly, and another daughter, Hong Ngoc, who was barely two.
“My mom and dad were OK with splitting up the family, even though they had no idea when — how — at what point in the future, if ever, they would see each other again,” Hong said. “For them to make that decision [when they were] in their 30s was unimaginable to me.”
Hong and Kim started their blog 16 years ago when they were still dating. They were craving Vietnamese food and wanted to learn how to recreate the dishes their moms cooked for them. Hong’s mom cooked intuitively, using everyday kitchen tools like rice bowls to measure her ingredients, so he decided to write down her methods so he could follow her recipes precisely. Kim helped convert the amounts into the American system of cooking measurements.
This drew Hong closer to his mom, especially after he moved away from home in Michigan, where the family resettled after coming to America. He often calls her when he’s cooking to get her advice.
When he went to college and came home to visit during breaks, his mom often greeted him by asking, “Have you eaten?”
“I would just answer her yes or no, and didn’t think much about it. But now, as a parent, I know what she really meant. It was her way of nourishing us and showing her love and affection,” he said. “And so now that we both cook, we’re so much tighter because of our cooking.”
As a daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, I can relate. My parents, brother and I traveled by plane to the United States in 1984 as part of a later wave of refugees who were admitted to the country under the Orderly Departure Program.
Whenever we call each other, my parents always first ask, “Have you eaten?”
I had been a longtime admirer of The Ravenous Couple and their culinary adventures. After finding the recipe for miến gà and reading his dad’s story, I reached out to Hong. He was as open and friendly as he seemed online, and he invited me to come cook with him.
Hong Pham picks fresh Chinese chives from his backyard herb garden in South Pasadena.
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Hong Pham picks fresh Chinese chives from his backyard herb garden at his home in South Pasadena.
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We moved from his backyard kitchen to his brightly lit indoor kitchen to continue making the soup. Hong called his mom on FaceTime at her home in suburban Detroit to ask how much dry bean thread noodles to use in the dish, because they quickly expand in water. I asked her to share her memories of her family’s flight from Vietnam.
Ly said in Vietnamese that after Tung left, she waited anxiously for news. Tung and the children went on a boat led by the same smuggling organization her other family members hired to get to a safer shore. The group was reputable, but there were reasons to worry: The journey was dangerous and an untold number of refugees lost their lives to dehydration, starvation, pirate attacks or rough seas.
About 10 days later, a man working for the leader of the smuggling operation came to her door. He said that during the journey to Thailand, Tung begged the leader to bring his wife and toddler on the next trip out of Vietnam, and he agreed.
Ly said she couldn’t afford to go, but the man urged her to quickly come up with a payment and leave while she was still five months pregnant.
“He told me if I refused to go, it was my fault because [the ringleader] was trying to keep his promise to my husband,” she said.
With her mom’s help, Ly borrowed enough gold — the most desirable currency in post-war Vietnam — from neighbors and friends to board a boat with about 90 other refugees, with Hong Ngoc on her lap.
Ly said the sea was calm and the boat was so overloaded that she could stretch her arm and touch the water. They quickly ran out of food and water, so she fed her daughter a citrus syrup she had made for the trip, so she wouldn’t cry from thirst and hunger.
They traveled for three days and two nights before landing on an island near the Thai-Cambodian border. Ly said authorities eventually transported her group to a refugee camp in Laem Sing, a district in eastern Thailand. She and Hong Ngoc arrived on April 30, 1980, five years after the Fall of Saigon. She recalled seeing Tung, Hong and Tam in the crowd of people rushing to welcome the latest load of survivors.
Hong Pham chars ginger and onion over his outdoor stove.
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Hong Pham chars ginger and onion over his outdoor stove to flavor the broth for miến gà.
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“We were so overcome with emotions, we just hugged each other and cried,” she said.
Vietnamese refugees consider April 30 a day of mourning. They call it “Black April” because it was the day they lost their country. But for the Phams, it was also a day of rebirth.
“So many people were lost at sea … so for our family to be able to reunite like that was really a miracle,” Hong said.
Because of the secrecy surrounding the escape, they never learned the name of the smuggling operation’s leader. He was only known as “Anh Bo.” Hong and his sister, Tam, said they wish they could thank him for bringing their family together.
“He could have taken anybody, but he kept his word. Even to this day, that means a lot,” Tam said by phone from her home outside Detroit.
Once reunited, the family stayed in Thailand for several more months so Ly could give birth. Tung named their new baby girl Tudo, or tự do, which means freedom in Vietnamese.
A photo of the Pham family in the early 1980s after they were resettled in Michigan.
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At the refugee camp, the family received daily rations of food. Ly said one day, each person received a piece of chicken, so she put everyone’s portion together to make miến gà.
In the blog, Tung described feeling grateful to eat miến gà with his family, reunited and free.
“Thinking what could have been and the remote odds of seeing my family together so soon, I ate this simple dish with such happiness,” he said. “It was the most satisfying and unforgettable meal I’ve ever experienced.”
Ly said she was thankful to her brother, who was the first in her family to arrive in the United States, for sending the money to the refugee camp so she could buy the noodles and other ingredients for the soup.
At home in South Pasadena, Hong used a whole chicken — head and feet intact — he bought from a fresh poultry store to make his version of miến gà. He placed the chicken in a boiling pot of broth, threw in the charred onion and ginger and reduced the stock to a simmer. Once the chicken was cooked, about 30 minutes later, he lifted it out of the pot and submerged it in a bowl of ice water.
A photo on the fridge shows Pham and his family at a refugee camp in Thailand in 1980 after they escaped Vietnam and before they resettled in the United States.
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Next, he placed the translucent noodles into a handmade ceramic bowl, ladled in the broth and seasoned it with pungent fish sauce. He garnished the soup with chicken, shiitake mushrooms, fried shallots, scallions and fresh chives picked from his herb garden.
He said his mom used to scoff at his precise plating technique and his insistence on pairing certain dishes with ceramic pieces that he made — a hobby he picked up during the pandemic — to make sure they “look pretty for the ‘Gram.”
It’s a generational difference, Hong said, because his mom had to cook for survival, whereas he has the luxury of consuming food “with more intention.” We gathered around his dining table and slurped miến gà with Hong’s daughters, Mira and Emi. The noodles were slippery and the soup had an intense chicken flavor combined with the umami of shiitake mushrooms.
After Tudo was born, the Phams were admitted to the United States as refugees and resettled in Michigan with the support of a Catholic charity. They rented a house in suburban Detroit. Tung worked as a janitor and assembled machinery parts at a factory, while Ly stayed home.
“When I came here, I didn’t know one word of English, and I didn’t know how to drive. I didn’t know anything,” she said. “But I tried to raise my kids and teach them Vietnamese so they wouldn’t lose their cultural heritage.”
Mira Pham, 7, helps her dad, Hong Pham, set the table.
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When the children went to school full-time, she went back to work as a butcher, a trade she did in the wet markets of Vietnam, this time at a Jewish deli. She also volunteered at her Catholic church, often by making and selling Vietnamese food to raise money for various causes.
“My children didn’t understand why I spent so much time in church,” she said. “I explained that before we left, I prayed to God that if He delivers our family to safety, I would do everything I could to serve my faith.”
The family started over with almost nothing.
Hong remembers wearing secondhand clothes for years because his parents were saving money to pay back their debt. For their first Christmas, his parents wrapped empty boxes and put them under a donated tree because they couldn’t afford to buy gifts.
“My mom mentioned that when we first arrived, the [sponsor] families didn’t know what we liked to eat and so they would give us canned peas, canned corn and things like that — and a lot of mashed potato flakes and macaroni and cheese,” Hong said.
Hong Pham dishes out miến gà at his home.
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She didn’t know how to cook any of it, and instead used whatever she could find at American supermarkets to recreate Vietnamese food.
“I think that was the ingenuity of that generation. She used all these American ingredients, but it was all made in a Vietnamese way,” he said.
Along the way, small acts of kindness helped the family survive.
When someone noticed that Tung was taking the bus to get from one job to another, they offered him rides. Later, a sponsor gave him a used car and taught him to drive.
“It was a collective effort, a lot of generous people in the community helped us get through a tough time,” Hong said.
Hong said his parents constantly reminded him and his siblings how lucky they were to be in the land of opportunity and achieve their dreams. The four kids graduated from the University of Michigan and went on to earn graduate degrees. Hong became a doctor, Tam an engineer, Ngoc a public health expert, and Tudo an attorney.
Though he lives far away from his parents, Hong and his wife stay connected to their heritage by speaking Vietnamese to their daughters and by sharing food with their community. They host cooking parties in their backyard to help raise funds for charities. More recently, they made an inventive version of banh mi with brisket and homemade pickles to support victims of the Eaton wildfire in nearby Altadena.
Emi Pham, 10, her sister Mira, 7, and their dad, Hong Pham, eat miến gà, a Vietnamese chicken and glass noodle soup garnished with shiitake mushrooms, scallions, fresh chives and crispy fried shallots.
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Hong said Tung is 85 and no longer able to speak coherently due to a stroke. Ly takes care of him. Hong said he’s glad he recorded Tung’s memories of miến gà years ago and regrets not doing more recordings while his dad was still able to speak. He said his dad was a great storyteller and had a knack for spotting Vietnam veterans wherever they went.
“He’d approach them really casually and thank them for their service, and next thing you know, they’ll have a long conversation,” Hong said. “He loved to share his stories and listen to other people’s stories as well.”
If his dad could speak, Hong said he would probably say that he’s “forever grateful to America for welcoming us as a family and as a whole community.”
He said he also thinks Tung would be sad about the country’s tough immigration policies under President Donald Trump.
“Part of me also would like to think he would be abhorrent about the current state of America, the freedoms that he escaped and risked his life and lives of his children for, slowly eroding away,” he said.
Jacob Margolis
covers science, with a focus on environmental stories and disasters.
Published February 13, 2026 5:00 AM
We got soaked in December, and we're due for another soaking here in mid-February.
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Topline:
Several days of rain are forecast to kick off Sunday as a series of storms rolls through, one after another. It’ll be one of the coldest weather systems we’ve seen so far this year, bringing a whole lot of much-needed snow to California, according to the National Weather Service.
Rainfall timing: The heaviest rain is expected to fall on Monday, with 2 to 4 inches possible in the Los Angeles area. Then, there will be on-and-off precipitation for the remainder of the week, though there’s a lot of uncertainty about exactly when you’ll need to have your umbrella handy. Thunderstorms could bring isolated pockets of heavy rainfall, potentially causing debris flows. Things should dry out by late next week.
About the snow: The coldest part of the weather system is expected to arrive on Tuesday, dropping snow levels to around 4,000 feet in Southern California. Two to 3 feet of snow could fall at higher elevations throughout the week, including at ski resorts. We could see anywhere from 4 to 6 feet of snow along the crest of the Sierra Nevada, from Mammoth past Lake Tahoe, along the crest of the Sierra. That's all good news for California's snowpack, which is well below average for this time of year.
Coming up: Another storm could arrive the week of Feb. 22, though it’s still a bit too far out to tell.
Mariana Dale
explores and explains the forces that shape how and what kids learn from kindergarten to high school.
Published February 12, 2026 4:22 PM
Ricardo Lopez said he's been a teacher for about a decade. The 2025-26 school year was his second at Synergy Quantum Academy.
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A former South L.A. charter school teacher says he was fired after he opened a campus gate so students could leave and join a protest of federal immigration activity.
What happened? Last week, Synergy Quantum Academy students joined regional walkouts protesting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. But with the South L.A. school’s tall metal gate shut, some opted to climb and jump over it. Teacher Ricardo Lopez said he opened the gate out of concern for the safety of students who might have hurt themselves leaving the school.
What did he do wrong? In messages to parents and staff, Synergy's principal said an "unauthorized staff member" opened the campus' gate in conflict with LAUSD protocol. A plan provided to LAist states “if students leave campus, school site administrators do not have a legal obligation to protect the safety and welfare of the students.” The document provided does not explicitly prohibit a staff member from opening a gate.
Why it matters: The dismissal has spurred further protests and raised questions about whose responsibility it is to ensure safety as students exercise their First Amendment rights.
Last week, Synergy Quantum Academy students joined regional walkouts protesting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. But with the South L.A. school’s tall metal gate shut, some opted to climb and jump over it.
The school’s leadership wrote in messages to parents and staff that an “unauthorized staff member” then opened that campus gate — in conflict with Los Angeles Unified School District protocol.
That staff member, teacher Ricardo Lopez, said he acted out of concern for the safety of students who might have hurt themselves trying to leave the school.
He said the school fired him the same day. Now his dismissal has spurred further protests and raised questions about whose responsibility it is to ensure safety as students exercise their First Amendment rights.
Here’s what we know
Thousands of students across Los Angeles walked out during the first week of February to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies, including students at Synergy Quantum Academy.
Lopez said that after the walkouts on Feb. 4, he heard several students talk about injuring themselves climbing over the metal fences that surround the South L.A. school.
On Thursday morning, during his academic prep period, Lopez said he saw students trying to climb over the metal gate on the north side of the campus.
“When I saw one of my [AP U.S. History] students climbing the fence and jumping…and like almost falling, I started rushing towards the gate,” Lopez said. “ I opened the gate for them so other students wouldn’t get hurt like the day before.”
Guidance from the ACLU of Southern California related to student walkouts states “locking exits to the school can pose serious health and safety concerns for students and staff.”
Lopez said he opened this gate on the north side of Synergy Quantum Academy and Maya Angelou Community High School's shared campus after watching students attempt to climb over Thursday Feb. 5.
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Lopez said within an hour, Synergy’s human resources department informed him that he’d been terminated for insubordination. Lopez said there was no hearing or additional meeting where he was able to defend his actions.
“What hurts even more was that they escorted me out like I was a — I felt like a criminal,” Lopez said.
The contents of his classroom were later boxed and sent to him via a third-party delivery service.
Lopez said it’s still unclear to him why he was fired. He said staff received an email earlier in the week telling them not to participate in student protests, but there was no mention of any policy related to the gate.
“ I wasn't participating [in the protest],” Lopez said. “To me it was about protecting students from getting hurt.”
What has the school communicated?
The school’s public justification for terminating Lopez intersects with a longstanding source of friction in Los Angeles schools — the co-location of independent charter schools on the campuses of traditional district schools.
Synergy Quantum Academy shares a campus with Los Angeles Unified's Maya Angelou Community High School. Synergy is an independent charter school with a separate staff overseen by a board of directors outside of the district.
In messages to parents and staff, Synergy's principal said opening the gate conflicted with LAUSD protocol.
Synergy Quantum Academy enrolled 564 students in the 2024-2025 school year and is one of several charter schools operated by Synergy Academies.
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Synergy Academies CEO Rhonda Deomampo confirmed Lopez is no longer employed at the school.
In response to LAist's inquiry about which protocol was violated, Deomampo wrote in an email that Maya Angelou Community High School’s safety plan “clearly outlines the authority of the principal or designee in situations like these.” She also said “to date, the school has received no reports of student injuries related to student protests.”
The excerpt provided from the 206-page safety plan states it is the responsibility of the principal or designee to “maintain adequate safeguards to ensure the safety and welfare of students” during a walkout. The plan states “if students leave campus, school site administrators do not have a legal obligation to protect the safety and welfare of the students.” The document provided does not explicitly prohibit a staff member from opening a gate.
How is LAUSD involved?
A Los Angeles Unified spokesperson said while independent charter schools are expected to follow district policies related to walkouts, the district does not weigh in on personnel decisions.
“Independent charter schools are responsible for the supervision and management of the charter school employees,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Lopez said at Synergy, like many charter schools, he was an “at-will” employee, which means he can be terminated with or without cause and does not have the additional protections associated with union membership.
Community calls for teacher’s reinstatement
Lopez said he has a shared background with many of his students as the son of undocumented, working, immigrant parents who didn’t have an opportunity to pursue higher education themselves.
“That's one of the reasons I wanted to be a teacher because a lot of things that I learned [in college] really helped me grow,” Lopez said. Teaching was a way to pay forward that knowledge.
“ I really miss my students, you know, I miss being in the classroom,” Lopez said. “ I just want to be reinstated, you know, and just keep, keep doing what I'm doing, teaching and supporting my students and protecting my students.”
Lopez said he is also worried that the termination could jeopardize his teaching credential or ability to get future jobs as an educator.
On Tuesday, dozens of students from both Maya and Synergy joined with organizers from Unión del Barrio and the Association of Raza Educators to rally for Lopez’s reinstatement.
Ayleen was a junior in Lopez's AP U.S. History class. “ When he sees that a student's not OK, he asks them personally and he doesn't embarrass them in front of everybody," she said.
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Synergy junior Ayleen said she didn’t participate in Wednesday’s walkout, but heard about peers who’d jumped the fence and gotten hurt. Ayleen requested to be identified only by her first name to protect her privacy.
“We truly believe that he shouldn't have been fired for protecting a student,” she said. “That's his number one priority as a teacher, protecting his students, and he's the only one that upheld that that day.”
Lopez was Ayleen’s AP U.S. History teacher. AP classes culminate in a rigorous test where students can earn college credit.
“He has this way of teaching that he helps so much because he re-words questions,” Ayleen said. “It sounds simple, but so many teachers don't do that. He genuinely helps us to learn.”
Ayleen’s mother, Mary, said she supported her daughter’s decision to join the Friday walkout in protest of Lopez’s termination and would like the school to bring him back.
According to an Instagram post, students from Maya and Synergy plan to participate in another walkout Friday — still against ICE, but now also in support of their former teacher.
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Destiny Torres
is LAist's general assignment and digital equity reporter.
Published February 12, 2026 3:30 PM
The National Park Service is asking for public input for its study on whether the L.A. coastline should qualify for national park designation.
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Topline:
The National Park Service is asking for public input for its study on whether the L.A. coastline between Torrance and Santa Monica should qualify for national park designation.
Background: Congress signed a law in 2022 that called for this study, as well as provided funding for the three-year process. The first virtual meeting about the study was held this week.
How to participate: The Park Service is holding another virtual meeting on March 11 at 6 p.m.
Webinar link: https://bit.ly/4akUPVE
Join by phone: (202) 640-1187, Conference ID: 362420885#
Who makes the final call? The National Park Service is looking into the move, but the decision ultimately falls to Congress and the president.
Read on … for what it takes for an area to become a national park.
The National Park Service is asking for public input for its study on whether the L.A. coastline between San Pedro and Santa Monica should qualify for national park designation.
Federal officials held a public meeting Wednesday and outlined the study process.
Lawmakers will use the findings to decide whether to designate the stretch of coastline — which includes the Santa Monica Pier, Ballona Creek and RAT Beach — a national park.
Sarah Bodo, project manager at NPS, said the coastline is interpreted as part of the sea to approximately 200 yards inland.
“The 200-yard number is an effort to include the beach areas and the public lands, while excluding private property from the study area,” Bodo said. “In cases where private property is within 200 yards, those properties are excluded from the study.”
What are the criteria?
To become a national park, the area needs to contain nationally significant resources, not already be in the national park system and require direct NPS management.
Sequoia National Park, for example, was recognized in 1890 to protect the giant trees from logging.
Officials will also consider where the access, cost and size of the area can be managed by the department.
The National Park Service is studying whether the red portions of the L.A. coastline should qualify for national park designation.
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“A study area must meet all four of the criteria,” Bodo said.
What happens now?
The agency is early in the study process. If you have thoughts on the matter, now is the time to share them.
The public comment period is open until April 6.
In the coming months, the agency will review that feedback before preparing a study report for Congress.
Only Congress and the president have the ability to designate a new national park.
“At that point, it will be up to Congress or the president to take action or not. There is no timeline for further action from Congress or the president,” Bodo said. “The completion of the study does not establish a new park unit.”
The process could take years. The last designation given to Missouri’s Ste. Genevieve National Historic Park in 2018, according to the Associated Press. Congress ordered the study for that park in 2005.
Outstanding questions
One question raised at Wednesday’s meeting was what the benefits and downsides of having NPS manage this area are.
Bodo said that would depend on what the legislation would say if designated and how management would work.
“The National Park Service is required to conserve unimpaired scenery, natural and historic objects, wildlife of parks, and to provide for their enjoyment by the public. That's our overall mission,” Bodo said. “National parks can also generate economic activity in nearby communities.”
And, if designated, how exactly would management of this area work?
It’s also still too early to say, but existing property owners, like the county or city, could continue to own and manage the property, Bodo added.
“If this were to be designated, there maybe wouldn't be significant changes in that arena,” Bodo said. “The Park Service would seek to work collaboratively with local communities and existing agencies on common goals for resource protection and recreational opportunities.”
Another question asked was how might Park Service involvement along the L.A. coast affect fishing and hunting regulations?
“That's really dependent on land ownership, so if land ownership did not change, nothing would change,” Bodo said.
How you can participate
The National Park Service is looking for public input. A second virtual meeting will be held March 11 at 6 p.m. You can join here.
Public comments are also being accepted online here.
Korea's Gaon Choi, 17, rebounded from a hard fall to win gold — and end her role model Chloe Kim's historic bid for three in a row in the Winter Olympic halfpipe.
What went down: Kim, 25, was within arm's reach of becoming the first halfpipe snowboarder to win three consecutive Olympic golds. She was the last rider of the night, with a chance to retake the lead. But she fell on her cab double cork 1080, a trick she had landed cleanly in previous runs, which stuck her with her original score. Choi and her team broke down in happy sobs and cheers immediately.
Read on... for more details and how Kim reacted.
Want more Olympics updates? Subscribe here to get our newsletter, Rachel Goes to the Games, delivered to your inbox for a behind-the-scenes look at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
MILAN — U.S. snowboarder Chloe Kim's quest for a historic Olympic halfpipe three-peat was foiled by none other than her teenage protégé.
Kim took home silver, after 17-year-old Gaon Choi of South Korea rebounded from a dramatic crash to overtake her in the final run.
"It's the kind of story you only see in dreams, so I'm incredibly happy it happened today," Choi said afterward.
Kim, 25, was within arm's reach of becoming the first halfpipe snowboarder to win three consecutive Olympic golds. Despite a last-minute shoulder injury, she cruised easily through Wednesday's qualifiers, which were actually her first competition of the season.
And she was looking like a lock through much of Thursday's final — under a light nighttime snowfall in Livigno — which hinged on the best of three runs.
Kim's strong first showing gave her 88 points and an early lead, which she held for the majority of the competition as many other contenders — including her U.S. teammates Bea Kim and Maddy Mastro — fell on one or more of their runs.
A big crash nearly ended Choi's night early, but after a medical exam she returned to the halfpipe slope for two more runs.
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Choi also took a heavy fall on her opening run, needing a concussion check. She almost missed her second turn, only to fall again. But an impressive third run propelled her to the top of the leaderboard, with 90.25 points.
"It wasn't so much about having huge resolve," she said later. "I just kept thinking about the technique I was originally doing."
Then all eyes were on Kim, the last rider of the night, with a chance to retake the lead. But she fell on her cab double cork 1080, a trick she had landed cleanly in previous runs, which stuck her with her original score. Choi and her team broke down in happy sobs and cheers immediately.
As Choi wiped her eyes, a beaming Kim greeted her at the photo finish with a warm hug. As they lined up alongside bronze medalist Mitsuki Ono of Japan, Kim stood to Choi's side and pointed at her excitedly.
"I've known [Choi] since she was little, and it means a lot to see that I've inspired the next generation and they're now out here killing it," Kim said afterward.
Choi is the same age Kim was in 2018 when she became the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboard medal.
The two have known each other for nearly a decade, a bond that began when Choi's father struck up a friendship with Kim's dad — who emigrated from South Korea to the U.S. — in the lead-up to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
Kim (R) gave Choi (L) a warm reception after the last run of the night.
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"Chloe's dad did a lot of mentoring to my dad," Choi said after winning the first World Cup she entered in 2023, at age 14. "I didn't know much because I was young, but Chloe's dad gave my dad a lot of advice. It made me who I am today."
Kim and her dad helped bring Choi to the U.S. to train with at California's Mammoth Mountain, and maintained a supportive relationship. Kim spoke highly of Choi at an earlier press conference, calling it a "full-circle moment" and saying she sees "a mirror reflection of myself and my family."
"We're seeing a big shift to Asians being dominant in snow sports," she added. "I've had aunts telling me that I shouldn't snowboard, get a real career, focus on school. It's cool to see that shift happening."
Choi's victory makes her the first female Korean athlete to win a medal in snow sports. This is also South Korea's first snowboard gold.
"I want to introduce this sport more to my country through my performance at this Olympics," Choi told Olympics.com before the Games. "I also believe that enjoying the Games is just as important as achieving good results."
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