The Brief

Last year was supposed to mark a milestone in the psychedelic movement. Lawmakers and advocates were set to make California the next frontier in allowing the use of “magic mushrooms.”

They were hopeful because Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023 — after vetoing a bill that would have decriminalized the possession of psychedelics — asked legislators for a bill that would prioritize the therapeutic promise of these drugs.

Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, responded to Newsom’s request with a proposal that would have allowed for psilocybin and other hallucinogens to be ingested in a controlled setting and under the supervision of licensed and trained facilitators.

But that bill, like three similar ones before it and after it, went nowhere. Skeptical lawmakers expressed concerns about funding, standing up a complex program and safety as they turned down the measures.

Undeterred, advocates now are regrouping to try again.

What exactly a new legislative proposal would look like in California is still uncertain, advocates and lawmakers say. Most agree that getting something through in California will have to be more narrow than what’s been proposed in the past, and likely will be centered on providing access to veterans.

What’s most feasible is “some sort of pilot program, or something on a smaller scale to prove it out,” said Jesse Gould, founder and president of the Heroic Hearts Project, which has sponsored psychedelic proposals in California and other states. His nonprofit connects military veterans struggling with post traumatic stress disorder with psychedelic programs in other countries.

Psychedelics remain illegal at the federal level, but voters in two states have authorized them for certain uses and several California cities have passed measures decriminalizing them. President Joe Biden in late 2023 signed a defense spending bill that included money to study how psychedelic drugs could be used to treat veterans and military service members.

What Gould and other advocates envision as a first step for California might look like a proposal Sen. Josh Becker, a Democrat from Menlo Park and Sen. Brian Jones, a San Diego Republican, submitted last summer. Their bill, dubbed Heal Our Heroes Act, would have allowed the counties of San Diego, Santa Cruz and San Francisco to launch up to five centers each where licensed staff could facilitate psilocybin to veterans and former first responders over 21 who passed a screening test.

Their bill did not move forward, but their concept could return.

Prioritizing and limiting this experimental access to veterans and former first responders is the most responsible route, Jones said. He does not support decriminalizing psychedelics for recreational use.

“I want to serve our veterans who are suffering from these mental ailments and do everything we can so that they get the attention they need when they come home,” Jones said.

As of publication, Jones and Becker said they had not yet decided whether they’d re-introduce the Heal Our Heroes bill this year. Wiener’s office did not respond to requests for an interview.

States legalize psychedelic therapies

Approximately 8 million Americans used psilocybin mushrooms in 2023, according to RAND, a research organization, and a UC Berkeley poll showed that 61% of voters  support regulated therapeutic use of psychedelic substances.

Since 2020, at least 37 states have introduced bills or ballot measures pertaining to psychedelics. These range from funding research to reducing penalties for possession. Not all proposals make it through, but some researchers predict this momentum will lead to change in state laws over the next several years. One 2023 analysis published in the Journal for the American Medical Association Psychiatry forecasted that a majority of states will have legalized psychedelics by 2037.

In the Golden State, drug reform advocacy groups and researchers have tried at least three times since 2022 to place psychedelic-related measures on the ballot, but have failed to meet the signature-gathering deadlines.

Going to voters is expensive and a major undertaking with no guarantee. The ballot box strategy proved successful in Oregon and Colorado, where voters, in 2020 and 2022, approved measures to allow the facilitated use of psychedelics.

Voters in Massachusetts, however, recently rejected a measure that would have allowed the state to legalize and regulate five plant-based psychedelics for people 21 and up.

Part of the issue with the Massachusetts ballot initiative was that it was too broad, said Jared Moffat, deputy policy director of New Approach, a political action committee dedicated to drug reform. Voters were confused about what exactly the measure would do and who it would apply to, he said. He didn’t view the measure’s failure as a sign that people would reject legalizing psychedelics for specific uses.

“I think that there’s still a ton of support for therapeutic access,” he said. “I think that people, broadly speaking, have a deep understanding that there is a mental health crisis, and that the existing tools that we have help some people, but there are a lot of folks that aren’t being helped.”

Veterans seeking new PTSD treatments

Gould started his nonprofit, Heroic Hearts Project, after his own journey with PTSD led him to the Peruvian Amazon for nontraditional therapies.

Two years after leaving the military, Gould was diagnosed with PTSD. He was also dealing with the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury. The former Army Ranger sought therapy from the Department of Veterans Affairs, but even before he could see a therapist, he was being offered prescription drugs, he said.

“This didn’t seem like the first, next best step, and I was sort of disillusioned by what was offered,” Gould said. “It was just sort of an acquiescence of, ‘oh yeah, you’re messed up, and you’re going to be messed up,’ as opposed to building tangible steps forward.”

Around the same time, he was hearing about Ayahuasca retreats in Peru. After lots of internet research and a leap of faith, Gould made the trip to Iquitos, a remote town in the northwestern part of the country. He described the experience as one of the most challenging things he’s ever done. Immediately after he felt lighter, more at peace and more connected to everything around him, he said. In the following months, he noticed that the things that would trigger anxiety, hypervigilance or depression, didn’t affect him to the same degree as before, he said.

Learn more about legislators mentioned in this st

Groups including Heroic Hearts and Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS) provide “healing grants” to veterans from across the country seeking to try guided psychedelic retreats in other countries. More recently, Heroic Hearts has also started helping vets access psychedelic programs in Oregon.

“There are a lot of veterans from California going to our retreats in Oregon,” Gould said. “I feel like if I was a politician in California, that’d be a little bit embarrassing.”

But demand currently outstrips the availability of these grants, said Khurshid Khoja, director of public policy at Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions, an organization that focuses on veteran suicide prevention.

“We are saying no to a majority of the folks who are applying because we simply don’t have the funds to be able to send them,” Khoja said. “We try to identify folks who have tried everything at this point, and they need a Hail Mary because they are experiencing a suicidal ideation.”

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for veterans under the age of 45, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In California, 449 veterans died by suicide in 2022, the most recent federal data show. By some estimates 1 in 5 U.S veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan experience PTSD and major depression.

The goal, Khoja said, is get to a point where the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves a psychedelic product for therapy that can be available and covered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, but in the meantime, Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions is looking to states to create psychedelic programs.

One of the first things on advocates’ wishlist is a memorandum promising states that the federal government would not pursue charges in states that legalize and regulate psychedelics, said Sam Chapman, a political strategist and former campaign manager for Oregon’s measure that legalized psilocybin use there. The Obama administration issued that kind of guidance to states in 2013 with regard to marijuana.

“The states are going to continue to lead,” Chapman said. “The states passing laws are the reason that the federal government will eventually get off the bench and do something.”

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

One of the great perks of financial well-being is being able to treat loved ones to a special meal every now and then. But just because one person can pick up the tab, do the unwritten rules of society mandate they have to?

Karen Thomas, an etiquette expert based in Connecticut, recently joined LAist’s daily news program AirTalk, to answer listener questions and to outline how to navigate the often tricky world of finances between friends and family.

The Golden Rule

Etiquette as a principle refers to societal norms in various forms of human interactions that rely on codes of conduct and expected behaviors. In other words, the field of Etiquette argues that there is a proper, generally acceptable way to go about almost any human interaction. That includes the gambit of splitting the check.

“By etiquette standards, the person who invites, pays,” Thomas said, adding, “If I invite you, I should be doing the paying.”

But is it that black-and-white? What if you are the person who wants to go out with your friends, but you simply cannot sustain the financial burden that comes with covering everyone’s bases at the end of the meal?

In this case, awkward conversations can’t be avoided — but bad timing can be!

“There’s nothing worse than putting the server in a bad position,” Thomas said, adding, “Talk about things ahead of time and say I’m going to pick up the tab, or why don’t we split the tab.”

Getting this uneasy conversation out of the way doesn’t just give you peace of mind, but it also clears the way for a more pleasant and non-contentious meal.

Do parents always have to pay when dining out with adult children?

For the most part, baby boomers are considered the wealthiest generation that ever lived, with Gen X coming in second. Many parents take great pride in being able to treat their kids to a night out.

But still, it puts them in a position where their kids — even when they become adults — expect mom and pops to pick up the tab, every stinking time.

As it turns out, even though the inherent expectation may be there, it most certainly does not have to be the norm.

“Whenever I take my adult kids out to eat, I always pick up the tab,” said Thomas. “I feel that it’s expected, but by etiquette standards, that is incorrect,” adding that if parents are tired of their kids not chipping in, they too need to preface the meal with an understanding about splitting, or even footing, the bill.

“I insist, this one’s on me.”

Have you ever found yourself expecting a meal from a person you did a huge favor for? Well, the “it’s the least I can do” offer may have some holes in it too, if you’re not careful, as AirTalk listeners pointed out.

‘A friend of mine needed a car during COVID, when the supply chain was really low,” Linda in Culver City told Larry, “I have someone who I keep pretty close to my chest because he’s my car guy, and I took this person along with me. Not only did I get them a car, I also got them a tremendous deal.”

Linda said that her friend was in a celebratory mood after, and they decided to go to a restaurant that she would otherwise not go to. “When the bill came, they wanted to split it,” said Linda. “I just found it extraordinarily rude. I assumed the meal was a thank you. It left a dampened feeling on me about them.”

Am I being cheap or fair?

Etiquette aside, what happens when one person racks up the bill a disproportionate amount?

What if one person orders a salad and the person they’re with orders a prime steak and pairs it with the perfect — and pricey — wine?

‘‘At that point, ask for separate checks; that way, we’ve drawn the line in the sand,” Thomas said. “You could pull the waiter or waitress aside, not in front of the other person, and ask for them to split the checks.”

Big groups and big tips

Willis in Long Beach called in and said, “My mother turned 80 and we three kids decided to sponsor a birthday party. When the check came to the table, there was already a gratuity included on it.”

In Southern California, it is not uncommon for restaurants to add a mandatory gratuity charge for large groups.

“My brother-in-law actually said we’re all going to pay $100 extra each, without consulting us to ask what tip amount we should leave,” said Willis, adding, “He’s of much greater means than me, and I did not like that he took it upon himself to decide what the additional tip would be.”

“The extra tip should have been discussed between all three of you,” said Thomas. ‘‘I would have just gone along with the flow of things just to not have any conflicts, and then I would have discussed it afterwards during another time.”

Cultural expectations can override etiquette

All this said and done, it could very well be that splitting the bill and the etiquette that goes along with it just does not apply to you.

Lori called in to say, “In Armenian culture, we don't politely discuss who's paying the check; we fight over it. It doesn't matter who invited whom, who is wealthy, or who ordered what. Paying the bill is a cultural honor sport. There is pushing, yelling, dramatic wallet grabbing, and sometimes actual emotional blackmail.”

You can listen to Larry Mantle's full conversation with etiquette expert Karen Thomas and listeners below.

Last January, Robert King watched on TV as the school where he’s taught for 30 years burned in the Palisades Fire.

The blaze destroyed 30% of Palisades Charter High School and closed the campus for a year. The U.S. history teacher returned to the school for the first time last week ahead of the school’s Jan. 27 reopening.

“To be back here in my classroom — as I started in this room, actually in 1996 — it's just an incredible, joyful thing for me,” King said.

While his classroom is still standing, King lost the collection of posters, books and other artifacts he used to tell the story of our country’s history from the colonial era to the modern day.

“One of the reasons I've been working all week to set up the room is I want normalcy,” King said. “I want [students] to be able to connect with the room. I want them to feel that this is a place that is comfortable for them and a place that they can learn.”

King's classroom on the eve of students' return to campus for the first time since the Palisades Fire.

(

Mariana Dale

/

LAist

)

How the fire changed Pali High

Pali opened as part of the Los Angeles Unified School District in 1961 and now as an independent charter school it enrolls 2,400 students from throughout Los Angeles. The school’s palm trees and grassy quad have appeared in a handful of movies and shows including Freaky Friday (the 2003 Lindsay Lohan edition) and Carrie.

When King first arrived last week, a chunk of that picturesque campus was gone. He avoided the north side of the campus where the J building and baseball fields once stood.

A grassy field at Palisades Charter High School where an academic building once stood.

(

Mariana Dale

/

LAist

)

“ I thought ‘OK that's not the school,’” King said. “‘I don't know that.’”

King said now that he’s had some time to process the change, he’s started to imagine how his students will see the grassy expanse after spending much of the last year in a refurbished Santa Monica department store.

“They're gonna love having a big open space,” King said. “That part of it is kind of joyful, but it is just so different.”

As part of the post-fire clean-up, the Los Angeles Unified School District stripped King’s room of nearly everything he’d collected over his career.

A photo of King's classroom before the Palisades Fire.

(

Courtesy Robert King

)

King's classroom on Mon. Jan. 26, 2025, the day before students returned to campus for the first time since the Palisades Fire.

A framed September 12, 2001 front page of the L.A. Times that reads “Terrorists Attack New York, Pentagon,” and a copy of a World War I documentary on VHS are a few of the only items left from before the fire.

There’s also a metal sign that reads “The King is in residence” on the wall above the whiteboard. Next to it is a new sensor, part of a network set up throughout the Palisades schools to monitor air quality.

Rebuilding a history collection

King has had help rebuilding his collection.

“Some of the things that I truly loved, kids remembered,” King said.

A family's unwanted collection of campaign buttons now has a new home in King's classroom.

(

Mariana Dale

/

LAist

)

A former student ordered a new copy of the World War II era poster of Rosie the Riveter.

“Before I even was able to start setting up at Sears, I had gotten it in the mail,” King said.

A New York Times reader donated a collection of vintage campaign buttons after reading about the school’s relocation in the paper.

“When I get to each of these elections, I'm now gonna have something to be able to hold up to the kids,” King said. “We can even look at what's on the buttons to even see what the story was, … How were they using these buttons to advertise what was gonna happen in that election?”

Last summer King traveled through Georgia and Alabama and stopped at several famous civil rights landmarks, including the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

(

Courtesy Robert King

)

This summer King went to Alabama and Georgia. On a road trip from Selma to Montgomery, he picked up a poster of (and walked across) the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where state troopers beat nonviolent civil rights protestors in 1965.

“ I like things to be able to tell a story. That's my approach to teaching history,” King said. “ When I put things on the wall, it's with an idea that I will bring it in as part of the story later on.”

King said he remembers what’s been lost as he moves through his lesson plans for the year.

For example, he imagines reaching for a copy of Only Yesterday from the bookshelf behind his desk to read a passage to his students about the 1920s, and remembering it’s not there.

He plans to share these moments as they happen with the class.

“ I'll say, ‘I had this and this is what I would've done,’” King said. “And we'll kind of have a moment with that.”

The California Public Utilities Commission is hosting a series of public forums — including one in Los Angeles — where the public can learn more and comment on Charter’s $34.5 billion bid to take over Cox Communications.

The merger would combine two of California’s largest telecom companies.

Digital equity advocates have said that communication company mergers are declining competition, meaning there’s an increased concentration of power over broadband pricing and services.

What it matters 

The proposed merger comes on the heels of another — Verizon acquired Frontier Communications earlier this month for $20 billion. The business moves also follow the federal government's pullback of $2.75 billion in funding by slashing the Digital Equity Act.

The Verizon-Frontier merger came with state requirements to promote digital equity, but advocates are concerned that fewer companies will hold greater power over affordable prices.

According to Charter, the merger to combine companies will help the provider compete more aggressively with other broadband companies.

How to participate

An in-person forum will be held on Feb. 12 at the East L.A. County Library on 4837 E. 3rd St. The first forum begins at 2 p.m. and a second begins at 6 p.m.

If you can’t make it in person, two virtual meetings will take place on Feb. 4 and Feb. 25. More details can be found here.  

Details on the merger

If the deal is approved, the combined Charter-Cox company will be named Cox Communications, but customers will see Spectrum as the brand when they purchase internet, cable and mobile services.

Spectrum is owned by Charter Communications and is the home to the Dodgers’ regional sports network.

According to the filing, the Charter-Cox merger will mean that existing Cox customers will get access to Charter’s service plans.

Charter also reported that all Cox job roles that are overseas will be transferred to the U.S. In a statement following the merger announcement, Chris Winfrey, president and CEO of Charter, said the move will allow both companies to provide products that save families money, and create more American jobs.

With the merger, the combined company will also be able to compete more aggressively with other broadband companies, according to Charter.

Charter and Cox declined to comment.

The annual Pasadena Rose Parade took place less than a month ago, but at Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, students who are part of the cross-campus Rose Float team are already prepping for 2027.

Now through Feb. 5, the team is accepting design submissions for next year’s float. Community members of all ages are encouraged to apply—and they can make as many submissions as they’d like.

Over the next few months, a fleet of Cal Poly students will bring the winning design to life. The winner will see their work showcased for audiences around the world. They will also have the choice between two tickets to the 2027 parade or a $500 cash prize.

The Cal Poly float design contest is part of a decades-long tradition. Since 1949, students from both campuses have teamed up to create dozens of floats. Last year’s piece, titled “Jungle Jumpstart,” featured a 40-foot robot being tended to by animals as it lay on the rainforest floor.

The Cal Poly universities took top honors for that creation, winning the Sweepstakes Award for “most beautiful entry.”

Every part of the float is done by students, from the construction down to driving the float along Colorado Boulevard, said Allyson Jane Castillo, a mechanical engineering major at Cal Poly Pomona. She’s been part of the Rose Float team since her freshman year and now serves as campus president.

Members of the Cal Poly Rose Float team weld the robot for the 2026 float.

(

Courtesy

/

Cal Poly Pomona

)

What happens after you submit?

Bennett Parisi, Castillo’s San Luis Obispo counterpart, is a graduate student in electrical engineering. He said that, each year, the team receives approximately 100 submissions.

But the work actually starts before the submission deadline. In December — before the year is even over, before they even finish the float — the team chooses student leaders from each campus for the following year.

Then, once they select the design in February, the students work on sourcing the materials they need and start building the bones of the float. In the fall, they get down to business to flesh it out.

It can take up to 300 students to bring each float to life, Parisi said. Every fall, students from his campus make a 200-mile trek to Cal Poly Pomona to work on the float on Saturdays. Then, a week before New Year’s Day, the entire fleet heads west to Pasadena, where they stay at a hotel while working on finishing touches.

Parisi joined the team as an undergrad, after being cooped up during the pandemic. He said the group has been a chance to build enduring ties with students from all walks of life at both campuses. Parisi grew up playing team sports, but, in his view, the Rose Float team’s camaraderie is unparalleled.

That’s fitting, because the theme of next year’s parade is “Welcome…celebrating the simple joy of belonging—that feeling that you’re always welcome, no matter who or where you are,” said Terry Madigan, president of the 2027 Tournament of Roses Association in a press statement. “It’s the warmth of family,” he added, “whether related or chosen, the love of good friends and the welcoming embrace of community.”

How to apply

Castillo and Parisi encourage applicants to create designs that align with the theme. They also emphasize that you don’t need to be a great artist to be competitive. Some of the entries they receive are drawn by children, Parisi said.

There is no limit to the number of entries an individual can submit, but these entries can only be submitted to the Cal Poly Rose Float Team.

Submissions can be in color or black and white, no larger than 11-by-17 inches.

Community members must submit their entries to rosefloat@cpp.edu by Feb. 5 at 5 p.m., with the subject line “2027 Concept.” The body of the email should include the applicant’s name, phone number and email address.