The Brief

Two of the nation's latest food recalls concern cheese — and lots of it.

The recalls are distinct, citing different food safety concerns: One involves hundreds of thousands of containers of shredded mozzarella and multi-cheese blends, while the other affects several brands of grated Pecorino Romano.

But both target products that have sell-by dates in 2026 and are sold in major retailers in more than a dozen states.

Here's what to know:

The shredded cheese recall

Great Lakes Cheese, an Ohio-based company that calls itself "the nation's leading natural cheese packager," initiated a recall of half a dozen kinds of shredded cheese products — from mozzarella to pizza-style — in early October because they may contain fragments of metal.

This week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) upgraded its risk classification to Class II, the second-highest, meaning consumption of the product could cause "temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences."

The affected cheeses are sold under dozens of brand names at nationwide retailers including Target, Walmart, Publix and Aldi.

The FDA says they were distributed to 31 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, as well as Puerto Rico.

The recalled bags, with varying sell-by dates in February and March 2026, include:

• Low-moisture part-skim shredded mozzarella from the following brands: Always Save, Borden, Brookshire's, Cache Valley Creamery, Chestnut Hill, Coburn Farms, Econo, Food Club, Food Lion, Gold Rush Creamery, Good & Gather, Great Lakes Cheese, Happy Farms by Aldi, H-E-B, Hill Country Fare, Know & Love, Laura Lynn, Lucerne Dairy Farms, Nu Farm, Publix, Schnuck's, Simply Go, Sprouts Farmers Market, Stater Bros. Markets and Sunnyside Farms.
• Italian style shredded cheese blend under the brand names: Brookshire's, Cache Valley Creamery, Coburn Farms, Great Value, Know & Love, Laura Lynn, Publix, Simply Go and Happy Farms by Aldi.
• Shredded pizza-style cheese blend from Food Club, Econo, Gold Rush Creamery, Great Value, Laura Lynn and Simply Go.
• Mozzarella and provolone shredded cheese blend from Freedom's Choice, Good & Gather, Great Lakes Cheese and Great Value, as well as a mozzarella and parmesan blend from Good & Gather. 
  

The full list of products is on the FDA's website. The FDA has not published a press release or responded to NPR's request for comment about the recall. NPR reached out to Great Lakes Cheese but did not hear back by publication time.

The Pecorino Romano recall

One of several brands of grated Pecorino Romano being recalled over listeria concerns.

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Food and Drug Administration

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The Ambriola Company, a New Jersey-based cheese distributor, announced last week that it was recalling some of its products after routine testing confirmed the presence of listeria, which can cause potentially life-threatening infections.

It said while no illnesses had been reported, it was recalling products processed at that same facility "out of an abundance of caution." Those products were distributed to retail stores — and other distributors — between Nov. 3 and Nov. 20, the FDA says.

"We take food safety very seriously and immediately alerted stores and distributors to remove the affected products from shelves," Ambriola CEO Phil Marfuggi said in a statement. "We are working closely with the FDA and continuing to test our products and facilities to fully understand the situation."

The recalled products are sold — both in plastic containers and pound-sized plastic bags — under the brand names Ambriola, Locatelli, Pinna, Boar's Head and Member's Mark.

They have expiration dates ranging from February to May 2026. It's not clear exactly where the cheeses ended up, though Walmart says some are sold at Walmart locations in 14 states and Sam's Club locations in 27 states.

Wegman's has also issued a recall of Locatelli-brand Pecorino Romano — over the same listeria concerns — that it says was sold in stores in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, D.C. between Nov. 14 and Nov. 24.

The FDA urges customers to toss or return the cheese for a refund, and contact their doctor if they develop symptoms of a listeria infection, which usually start within two weeks of eating contaminated food and can include fever, headache, stiff neck and muscle aches.

In the meantime, Ambriola says it has suspended production and distribution of affected products as it conducts a "thorough review of all sanitation and food safety procedures."
Copyright 2025 NPR

How far would you travel for a good steak?

For actor and director Eric Wareheim, best known as half of the pioneering duo Tim & Eric, the answer turned into a three-year journey across the United States, a sprawling tour of iconic dining rooms, veteran servers and the rituals that define America’s most enduring steakhouses.

The result is his new book, Steakhouse: The People, the Places, the Recipes.

Wareheim joined LAist 89.3’s AirTalk recently, talking to host Larry Mantle about how the project grew from a simple “best of” list into a full cultural record.

“Every city has five more, not on anyone’s list,” he said, describing the scale of the country’s steakhouse universe.

Understanding the appeal

For Wareheim, a great steakhouse is built on atmosphere as much as what’s on the plate. Newer restaurants may source fancier meat, he said, but the old-school places offer a different kind of comfort — a sense of continuity that’s increasingly rare.

A suited-up Wareheim sampling prime cuts as he documents America’s great steakhouses.

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Marcus Nilsson

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What became clear in reporting the book, he said, is that steakhouses serve as more than dining rooms. They’re gathering places for birthdays, anniversaries and decades-long family traditions. They’re neighborhood anchors. And they’re deeply specific to their cities, each one carrying its own rituals, quirks and regulars.

An archival look at the people who built the classic American steakhouse, one dining room meeting at a time.

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The local perspective

It didn’t take long for AirTalk listeners to jump in with their own L.A. favorites.

• George Petrelli’s Steakhouse in Culver City: “They bring the meat in and butcher everything right there in the shop — cutting, dressing, even grinding the beef on the premises,” said Douglas in Long Beach.
  
• 555 East in Long Beach, which recently marked its 40th anniversary: “It was a grand celebration for the regulars — incredible prime rib, as much as you wanted, plus all sorts of other good things. Their steaks were terrific, and for dessert, they served a molten, individually baked pudding in its own little casserole dish," raved Harriet in Seal Beach.
  
• Dear John’s in Culver City: “So dark you can’t see for the first five minutes,” joked Michael in Sherman Oaks.
   
• Magic Lamp in Rancho Cucamonga: Its classic neon signage was singled out by Eric via email.
  
• Dan Tana’s in West Hollywood: "The best New York strip in town," said Jennifer in Silver Lake.

• Valley Inn Restaurant and Martini Bar in Sherman Oaks: Rose emailed that it was once the favorite steakhouse of legendary UCLA coach John Wooden. 
  
• Betsy in Altadena: Praised by local resident Peggy as her new go-to, calling its real-wood, fire-seared steaks “a bright spot amongst the ashes” — a nod to the community recovering from the Eaton Fire.
  
• Wareheim himself shouted out Taylor’s in Koreatown, the first steakhouse he and his comedy partner Tim Heidecker visited years ago. This formative experience planted the seed for the book.

From neon signs to prime rib rituals, Wareheim’s book captures the soul of the American steakhouse.

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Courtesy Ten Speed Press

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In addition, Steakhouse also makes mention of plenty of other L.A.–based restaurants that make beef their specialty, including:

Clearman’s Steak ’n Stein (Pico Rivera — classic mid-century steakhouse known for prime rib).
Soot Bull Jip (Koreatown — Korean barbecue)
Langer’s Delicatessen (MacArthur Park — famed pastrami)
Thien An Bo 7 Mon (Rosemead — Vietnamese seven-courses-of-beef restaurant)
Niku X (Downtown L.A. — high-end dry-aged/robot-assisted steakhouse)
Musso & Frank Grill (Hollywood — iconic old-school chophouse)
Majordomo (Chinatown — modern Korean-American takes on large-format beef)

Veteran servers

Wareheim argued that the heart of any steakhouse isn’t the cut of meat — it’s the staff. Many of the places he visited have servers who’ve been there 30 or 40 years, passing down the rhythms of the room like a craft.

“You want to go to a serious server, a lifer who knows exactly what the best thing is,” he said. “You can let go and just let these veterans guide you. And that’s a good feeling.”

The Trump administration has started the process of dramatically easing fuel economy requirements for new vehicles, part of the administration's broader pivot away from cleaner cars.

At the White House on Wednesday, surrounded by the executives from several major car companies, President Donald Trump said the move would save consumers money by making cars cheaper.

"We're officially terminating Joe Biden's ridiculously burdensome — horrible, actually — CAFE standards that impose expensive restrictions," Trump said, referring to the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules, often called CAFE standards. "And all sorts of problems, all sorts of problems for automakers."

Previous research from Consumer Reports has challenged the argument that regulations make cars more expensive. Stringent fuel economy standards also carry an economic benefit in the form of lower fuel costs over time.

CAFE standards require that the entire fleet of vehicles sold by a given automaker, on average, get more fuel-efficient over time. Automakers who fall short have previously needed to either pay hefty fines, or buy credits from a company that over-performs on efficiency, like Tesla and other all-electric automakers.

The Trump administration has already defanged the existing CAFE standards by eliminating the fines associated with them, as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Under Former President Joe Biden, the rules called for vehicles to get 2% more efficient every year; the Trump administration is now proposing to revert to the 2022 baseline and increase by .5% annually.

The proposed change now enters a period of public comment; the Department of Transportation will collect input from companies and citizens before finalizing the rule.

The administration has already been working to roll back tailpipe standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, which are designed to cut pollution from vehicles. The two sets of rules have overlapping effects, with both of them pushing automakers toward cleaner vehicles.

Meanwhile, during the second Trump presidency Congress has also eliminated the consumer tax credit for purchasing electric vehicles, decided to end a tax credit for installing an EV charger in June 2026, earlier than planned, and voted to strike down federal waivers that let California require automakers to build zero-emission vehicles. The Trump administration also temporarily delayed a program to use federal money to build a high-speed EV charger network.

The policy shift was no surprise. Trump campaigned against what he called the "electric vehicle mandate," and promised to rescind policies — including fuel economy standards — that encouraged or incentivized EVs.

Trump has framed the policy rollback as a gift to the auto industry. And that's partially true: Large trucks and SUVs may be inefficient, but they're popular and profitable, and selling more of them without any penalty is a financial boon to automakers. In earnings calls this fall, multiple executives noted that the regulatory rollback will boost earnings and help offset the cost of tariffs.

Electric vehicle adoption in the U.S. has moved slower than automakers had expected. Some automakers have said made some of the Biden-era policies not just challenging but unworkable.

In a statement provided by the White House, Ford CEO Jim Farley praised "President Trump's leadership in aligning fuel economy standards with market realities."

But automakers are also navigating a changing global market, with many countries continuing to prioritize climate action. The popularity of high-quality, affordable Chinese EVs has raised questions about whether legacy automakers can compete. So Farley's statement also promised that "We can make real progress on carbon emissions and energy efficiency while still giving customers choice and affordability."

For companies, which need to plan their future vehicle lineups years in advance, it's challenging when rules whipsaw back and forth with each change in administration. That's been the reality for years now: The Obama administration set ambitious fuel economy rules, which Trump 1.0 reversed, Biden reinstated, and now Trump 2.0 is seeking to "reset."

Farley obliquely noted that risk in a conversation with investors in October. He explained why Ford was continuing to move ahead with plans for an affordable electric pickup, despite regulations shifting to no longer support EVs. "We expect adoption will increase over time and the market continue to evolve," Farley said. "And maybe the regulations evolve."

Copyright 2025 NPR

Community groups and local unions are asking the organizers of the L.A. Olympics to take a stand against ICE and keep federal immigration enforcement activities out of the 2028 Games.

The federal government is leading security for the Olympics and has allocated $1 billion to security spending for the mega-event, which will span the region and bring all levels of law enforcement to the streets of Los Angeles.

Critics are worried about what that might look like and how it will impact a city already reeling from ICE raids and the deployment of National Guard troops on the city's streets this summer.

Dozens gathered outside the offices of Los Angeles Olympics organizing committee LA28 in downtown Wednesday morning to ask organizers to take a stand against ICE. They also called on LA28 chair Casey Wasserman to resign, citing the recent addition of several allies of President Donald Trump to the Olympics board of directors.

"It's sad that they haven't taken a stance in defense of this community," said Jose Madera, director of the Pasadena Community Job Center. "That's a huge shame. So that's why we're asking LA28 to get ICE and any other immigration enforcement agencies out of the Games."

LA28 has not publicly weighed in on the immigration raids that have swept the city since summer, sparking protests and a climate of fear across the region.

A spokesperson for the organization did not respond to a request for comment on the concerns of community organizations about immigration enforcement at the Games or to the demand that Wasserman step down.

"LA28 is committed to working with all stakeholders to welcome athletes and visitors from around the world and deliver the safest and greatest Games for Angelenos and beyond," Jacie Prieto Lopez, LA28's vice president of communications and public affairs, said in a statement.

The federal government has stepped up its involvement in the Olympics in recent months. Over the summer, Trump formed a federal task force on Olympics security and named himself the chair.

Last month, LA28 added several Trump allies to its board of directors, including former House Speaker and California Republican Kevin McCarthy and Reince Priebus, who served as chief of staff during part of Trump's first term.

Billionaire Trump donor Diane Hendricks, Trump's former banker Ken Moelis and Patrick Dumont, son-in-law of Trump donor Miriam Adelson, also were added to the list.

Those names elicited boos at the press conference outside of LA28 on Wednesday.

" You have claimed that this will be an Olympics that will celebrate the rich culture that defines our city," said Eddie Anderson, a pastor at McCarty Memorial Church in West Adams. "And we wanna ask you: Which culture are you talking about?"