The Brief

A nonprofit in South L.A. has found lead in the tap water of homes in the region, including in public housing units.

Over the course of four months, volunteers with the Better Watts Initiative, the environmental justice branch of the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, fanned out across the neighborhood and gathered more than 500 water samples. The volunteers included residents from the majority Black and Latino neighborhood, as well as students from UCLA and USC.

Researchers found lead in 21 of the samples, at varying levels. The amount of lead in five of the samples exceeded 15 parts per billion, which, the researchers note, is considered a “violation of the detectable safety limit set by the EPA." Just under half the units sampled came from apartments or condos. Another 41% came from single-family homes, and the remainder from multi-family homes.

The units also include public housing. Units at Imperial Courts and Jordan Downs had lead concentrations between 5ppb and 15ppb. The Nickerson Gardens community had levels above 15ppb.

Researchers tested several areas in Watts for lead contamination in water (shaded areas). Numbers in orange reflect the number of samples that contained lead between 5ppb and 15ppb. Numbers in red reflect the number of samples that contained lead above 15ppb.

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Courtesy Better Watts Initiative

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What happens now?

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, when water systems reach this level, action is required, including replacing the lines that connect to customers.

The agency has also indicated that there is no safe level of lead in drinking water. Lead poisoning is especially harmful for children, in part because it accumulates more easily in their bloodstream. Once there, lead puts children under age 6 at risk of brain damage and other negative health impacts. About 60% of the homes in the study have at least one child under age 18.

The nonprofit released a study Wednesday detailing the findings. In it, researchers said “many injustices in Watts are a result of malign neglect on behalf of elected leaders.”

That history also surfaced through the study in other ways. Asked by researchers who they trust to provide information on water safety, residents expressed a distrust of LADWP, their local government, and healthcare providers.

Danielle Hauge, a doctoral student at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and the study’s lead researcher, hopes the findings will lead to more comprehensive testing.

“This was a preliminary study, where we collected small amounts of water,” she said. “But, ultimately, it's the government's job to further investigate these issues.”

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said on X Thursday that she had convened leaders from LADWP and the Housing Authority to address the issue, and that testing will be conducted in Watts and at HACLA locations across the city.

"It’s absolutely unacceptable for families to not have access to safe, clean drinking water," she wrote.

The Biden-Harris Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency also recently announced a $26 million grant to protect children from drinking lead in schools and daycare facilities.

Who’s in charge of the area’s water?

LAist reached out to the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA), which owns the public housing properties. There are "19,000 low-income families, individuals, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities" in Los Angeles public housing.

In an email statement, spokesperson Courtney Harris said:

Harris also noted that, “In the past, HACLA participated in a detailed water quality study at Jordan Downs and other public housing sites in Watts, conducted by [the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power], and it was determined that there were no contamination issues with HACLA's plumbing systems.”

HACLA has “a well-established and well-known process for residents to submit complaints and concerns, which are always addressed promptly,” she added. "To date, there has been no record of resident complaints on this matter.”

What is the response from officials?

LAist shared the study with public officials at the state and local level. So far, only L.A. city councilmember Tim McOsker has provided comment.

“Sadly, for many decades, the Watts community was left to look out for itself, which contributed to the environment today where lead levels are high in local pipes and a metal recycling center is next to a school,” he said in a statement.

McOsker also said that he discussed the issue with the Watts Neighborhood Council on Tuesday night.

“I will work with the Department of Water and Power and other entities to investigate and address the contamination issues raised in the report,” he added, “to immediately and urgently pursue a remedy.”

NEW YORK — CBS News said Friday it will shut down its storied radio news service after nearly 100 years of operation, ending an era and blaming challenging economic times as the world moves on to digital sources and podcasts. Said longtime CBS News anchor Dan Rather: "It's another piece of America that is gone."

When it went on the air in September 1927, the service was the precursor to the entire network, giving a youthful William S. Paley a start in the business. Famed broadcaster Edward R. Murrow's rooftop reports during the Nazi bombing of London during World War II kept Americans listening anxiously.

Today, CBS News Radio provides material to an estimated 700 stations across the country and is known best for its top-of-the-hour news roundups. The service will end on May 22, the network said Friday.

The CBS Broadcast Center on 57th Street in New York on April 20, 2023.

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Ted Shaffrey

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AP

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"Radio is woven into the fabric of CBS News and that's always going to be part of our history," CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss said in delivering the news to the staff. "I want you to know that we did everything we could, including before I joined the company, to try and find a viable solution to sustain the radio operation."

But with the radical changes in the media industry, she said, "we just could not find a way to make that possible."

Not the first radio cuts at CBS

CBS News cut some of its radio programming late last year, including its "Weekend Roundup" and "World News Roundup Late Edition," in an attempt to keep the service going.

It was unclear how many people will lose their jobs because of the radio shutdown. CBS News was cutting about 6% of its workforce, or more than 60 people, on Friday. It's not the end of turmoil at the network, as parent company Paramount Global is likely to absorb CNN as part of its announced purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.

"Given the way things are going, I was saddened but I wasn't surprised by it," said Rather, who succeeded network legend Walter Cronkite in 1981 and anchored for 25 years.

When Rather covered the civil rights era for CBS News during the 1960s, he said he would file reports as frequently as a dozen times a day. Cronkite told America on television that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated; Rather relayed the news for radio.

"Radio was considered an equal responsibility to television," Rather, now 94, said in an interview.

Along with newspapers, radio was the dominant medium in how Americans got their news from shortly after the dawn of commercial radio in 1920 through the 1940s, with people in their living rooms listening to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Fireside Chats" during the Depression. CBS News Radio's broadcast about Germany's invasion of Austria in 1938, the first time Murrow was heard on the air, was an historic marker for the service.

Edward R. Murrow, a CBS correspondent who made his name from the front lines of World War II and from confronting Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s Red Scare, during a speaking engagement.

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Washington State University/The Columbian

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AP

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Broadcasters like Douglas Edwards, Dallas Townsend and Christopher Glenn were familiar voices on CBS News Radio. The beginning of the television era in the 1950s began a long slide for radio, often an afterthought today with the world online and on phones. Those seeking audio often turn to podcasts before radio.

"This is another part of the landscape that has fallen off into the sea," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers, a trade publication for radio talk shows. "It's a shame. It's a loss for the country and for the industry."

A major radio player for many decades

CBS News Radio was a major force for generations of Americans. "Its heyday spanned decades," Harrison said. "It was quality on every level. It sounded good. Its coverage was as objective as possible within the realm of human nature. Its resources were extensive. It had a very high trust factor that was considered the standard of the day."

The front page of CBS News' website did not immediately carry news of the demise.

Weiss, founder of the Free Press website and without broadcast news experience before being hired by CBS parent Paramount's new management, has quickly become a headline-maker and polarizing figure in journalism. She held a "60 Minutes" story critical of President Donald Trump's deportation policy from being broadcast for a month and has critics watching to see if she's moving the network in a Trump-friendly direction.

Addressing her staff in January, three months into her job as CBS News boss, she invoked Cronkite's name as a symbol of old thinking and said that if the network continues with its current strategy, "we're toast." She announced the hiring of 18 new contributors and said CBS News needs to do stories that will "surprise and provoke — including inside our own newsroom."
Copyright 2026 NPR

Drivers know it really, really sucks to get gas right now.

California is (unfortunately) leading the nation in this gas surge, according to the American Automobile Association, which tracks fuel price trends.

And with prices in Southern California hovering around $5.75 (and beyond) — just for regular-grade fuel — it can feel like almost every station is trying to compete for the most notoriously priced gas.

What gives? And more importantly, how can you save on gas right now? We looked into it.

Why is our gas so expensive?

Prices at the pump have been skyrocketing since the start of the U.S. war in Iran last month because oil shipments are being bottlenecked along the Strait of Hormuz, a key supply route in the Middle East.

California feels this pain especially hard as the state imports a decent chunk of its oil from the region. Plus, that’s happening at the same time the state is doing its annual switch to the summer blend of fuel. So both of those things, coupled with our high gas tax, means the spike hits us hard.

If you zero in more to hubs like Los Angeles and Orange County, it gets worse. Kandace Redd, a spokesperson for AAA, said that’s tied to gas stations’ higher rent, wages and operating costs.

“That is often passed on to the drivers,” she said. “ So simply put, the higher the cost of living, the higher the price you’re likely to pay at the pump.”

Some relief could be on the way, but it’s unclear when that could happen.

How to save at the pump

• Don’t wait to fill up

During normal times, one subtle way you could save would be to fill up on certain days of the week. This is because California is one of the states that shows a predictable pattern at the pump, called price-cycling.

According to a GasBuddy study that analyzed weekly price changes, they found that the best day to get gas in California was Sunday, and the worst Tuesday. But that’s when things are relatively stable.

“During periods of rapidly rising prices … prices tend to keep increasing, not decrease, so filling up sooner is often best,” Redd said.

So if you know you need gas, don’t try waiting a few days for prices to drop until the situation changes. L.A.’s average gas price jumped 30 cents over the last week.

• Use GasBuddy’s 10 top lists

These show user-reported gas prices for stations near you. Here’s are examples of ones for Southern California:

• Top 10 Gas Station & Cheap Fuel Prices in L.A. County
• Top 10 Gas Station & Cheap Fuel Prices in Orange County
• Top 10 Gas Station & Cheap Fuel Prices in Riverside County

If you have a AAA membership, the mobile app also shows cheap gas nearby.

• Avoid stations in certain areas

If you want to pay less, stay away from stations in popular areas, like airports, tourist hubs or freeways. Neighborhoods with fewer gas stations can cost you more money, so finding a place that’s ripe with competition can also be better for your wallet.

Even position on the street corner matters. Redd said gas stations can charge more when they’re on a side with heavier traffic or when they’re more accessible.

“ Stations that are easier for drivers to enter, fill up and exit often attract more customers and may even charge a little bit more than that,” she said.

Stretch your gas tank by taking care of your car

You can save on gas beyond the pump, Redd said, by managing how your car is using fuel. For example, combining your trips or avoiding stop-and-go traffic times can cut down on consumption. It’s all about how you care for and use your car:

Reduce your load. That means clear out that trunk and take off that top rack when it’s not in use. When your car is heavier, it burns fuel faster to account for the load.

Maintain your vehicle. If you can afford it, keep the check engine light off and your tires properly inflated. This can help make sure you're using gas at your car’s intended rate. Underinflated tires are more resistant to movement, which can reduce the miles per gallon you get.

Watch your speed.  Your car uses more gas at higher speeds, so you really want to be sure to also avoid any sort of hard acceleration. If your car has an economy mode, that could also help by making your car run more efficiently.

 Turn off your engine when your car is parked or stopped for a long period of time. Blasting the air conditioning can also impact gas usage, though it’s a smaller margin.

A record-baking heat wave is scalding California, with major consequences for the state’s most important reservoir: its snowpack.

Providing about a third of the state’s water supply, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is a vital source of spring and summer runoff that refills reservoirs when the state needs the water most.

But a warm wet storm followed February’s snow, and now, March temperatures are shattering records — prompting warnings of rapid snowmelt and swift rivers.

Historically, the snowpack is at its deepest in April. But climate change is shifting runoff earlier, leaving less water trickling down the mountains in warmer months for homes, farms, fish, hydropower and forests.

“In an ideal world, you'd have your reservoir full right now, and this additional huge snowpack reservoir that we know will help replenish and provide more water supply,” said Levi Johnson, operations manager for the Central Valley Project, the massive federal water system that funnels northern California river water to the Central Valley and parts of the Bay Area.

This year, he said, “we're not going to have that.”

California’s reservoirs are in good shape, brimming above historic averages with many nearing capacity. But that summertime snow bank on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada is disappearing early, and fast — dropping to 38% of average for mid-March statewide.

It’s not yet the worst snowpack on record: that distinction belongs to 2015, when then-Gov. Jerry Brown stood on brown, barren slopes of the Sierra Nevada to watch scientists measure the most meager snowpack in history.

But this year’s snowpack is rapidly approaching the worst five on record for April 1st, state climatologist Michael Anderson said — and it’s likely to worsen still as temperatures climb. From early to mid-March, the snowpack has been disappearing at a rate of roughly 1% per day. 

It’s a sharp departure from the near-average conditions of last year, and presents both a challenge and a glimpse of the future for reservoir operators in the state.

Conflicting roles for reservoirs

Many of California’s reservoirs serve a dual role: stoppering flood flows and storing water for drier times ahead.

Those roles sometimes conflict — as they did at Lake Mendocino, which dried to a mud puddle during the 2012–16 drought. Rigid federal operating rules forced the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release vital water supplies from the dam to make room for winter floods that didn’t come.

The dire water shortages that followed spurred an experimental partnership called Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations, between the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego’s Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes and state, federal and local agencies.

The program incorporates advanced forecasting and weather observations into reservoir release decisions at Lake Mendocino. It prevented the reservoir from going dry during the most recent drought, according to Don Seymour, deputy director of engineering at Sonoma Water, which co-manages the reservoir.

Now, 165 miles away in the Sierra Foothills, Yuba Water Agency is eyeing adopting the same program for New Bullards Bar, a reservoir roughly eight times bigger than Lake Mendocino that’s fed by Sierra snowmelt on the North Yuba River.

The reservoir supplies water to more than 60,000 acres of farmland in Yuba County as well as users south of the Delta. But early snowmelt is complicating efforts to store that water.

“We're seeing snowmelt conditions in mid-March that we normally don't see until at least mid-May,” said general manager Willie Whittlesey. “It's pretty obvious that this is the runoff — this is the snowmelt — and it's just happening about two months early.”

The reservoir is nearly full at 114% of average for this date and 84% of total capacity.

But when snowmelt arrives early, the agency can’t catch it once the reservoir reaches a certain level — even when no storms are in the immediate forecast. Federal rules require Yuba Water to maintain a certain amount of empty space until June to absorb potential floodwaters, according to Whittlesey.

Yuba Water is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to update this decades-old rulebook, Whittlesey said, but until then it must request special permission to store the extra water.

Though the agency has received permission in the past, this year it’s also contending with a rupture in a major pipe to one of its hydropower facilities, which is forcing the agency to hold back more water behind the dam.

Whittlesey said he suspects that the combination of flood-control requirements and damage control after the pipe failure is likely costing them tens of thousands of acre-feet of snowmelt.

The California Department of Water Resources, which manages Lake Oroville — the state’s second-largest reservoir — told CalMatters that it’s storing water beyond its normal flood control limits, with permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In the Bay Area, the East Bay Municipal Utility District, California’s second-largest urban water supplier, owns and operates the Camanche and Pardee reservoirs in the Central Sierra foothills.

“We're working to save every drop in light of the warm temperatures that we are experiencing now, and in light of all the zeros that we are seeing in terms of a rain or snow forecast,” said spokesperson Andrea Pook. “The last time that we had run off this early was in 2015.”

Pook said the district is releasing less water from its reservoirs now, in order to preserve more for the fall when salmon migrate upriver to spawn.

“We're tracking to not necessarily be in a drought situation. But I am not convinced that we're going to fill our reservoirs by July 1st, which is our usual goal,” Pook said.

Improved forecasts after a major miss

Even as California suffers record heat and early snowmelt, the state is better prepared than in the past.

Five years ago, state forecasters badly missed their runoff predictions — overestimating the snowmelt expected to refill reservoirs by up to 68%. Dry soils and a parched atmosphere drank up the runoff before it could flow into storage. Farms and cities scrambled in the middle of a drought as supplies fell far short of expectations.

This year is different. Major reservoirs are already above historic averages, and early season storms soaked the soil beneath the snowpack, making it less likely to swallow the runoff.

The state has also been working on better forecasts.

“Things have substantially improved,” said Andrew Schwartz, Director of UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Laboratory, in an email to CalMatters.

Johnson, at the federal Central Valley Project, said that the state and federal water delivery systems are in a better spot than five years ago, and that forecasts haven’t made a major miss since.

But the season’s early melt may still leave a gap.

“It's going to get us through this year just fine,” Johnson said. “But it's not as ideal as having that additional snow reservoir ready to run off through summer, and replenish what we're going to be releasing.”

Improved snowpack modeling and soil moisture estimates, experimental temperature measurements at different snow depths, university collaborations and incorporating weather outlooks are helping, according to the Department of Water Resources.

Still, between state budget shortfalls and federal cuts, challenges remain, Anderson said.

Efforts to install more soil moisture sensors in national forests have run into permitting slowdowns at the U.S. Forest Service, which has shed thousands of employees under President Donald Trump.

“You wait in line a lot longer,” Anderson said. “That's been the biggest limitation of late. There just isn't anybody there.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

The fasting period for millions of Muslims ends this weekend with Eid al-Fitr — the “festival of breaking the fast” — marking the end of Ramadan. 

The holiday, which lasts three days, centers on prayer, charity and time spent with family and community. 

And with it comes a wave of joyful celebrations, feasts and family events.

These gatherings arrive after a stretch of difficult years marked by global conflict, including wars in Iran, Gaza, Lebanon and Sudan, and many other ongoing conflicts worldwide.

For many, those events have cast a shadow over recent Ramadans, making the spirit of the holy month feel harder to fully hold onto, especially for those watching the violence unfold from afar.

Still, Eid offers a moment of grounding, with events showing how that sense of togetherness endures — a chance to gather with loved ones, give thanks and find meaning in community.

And across Los Angeles, that spirit is reflected in a range of events. From Eid-themed picnics in Ladera Heights to comedy shows in Westlake to a 5K run through Boyle Heights, here are some of the best ways to commemorate the end of Ramadan.

Chand Raat Mela at Islamic Center of South Bay–LA

South Bay
25816 Walnut St. Lomita
Date: Thursday, March 19
Time: 6 to 11 p.m.
More info here.

Grab some food, browse outfits and jewelry, get your mehndi (henna) done and soak up the pre‑Eid buzz with families from all over.

Prayer at Masjid Umar Ibn Al Khattab

Exposition Park
1025 W Exposition Blvd, Los Angeles
Date: Friday, March 20,
Time: 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.
More info here.

Join a packed Eid congregation across from USC, with early‑morning prayer, and complimentary coffee, tea and snacks such as donuts, cookies, sandwiches, nachos and hot dogs. 

Prayer at Masjid Al-Zahra

Southeast LA
8152 Seville Ave, South Gate
Date: Friday, March 20
Time: 7:30 am
More info here.

Masjid Al-Zahra is offering prayers followed by a breakfast. 

Prayer at the Islamic Center of Southern California 

Koreatown
434 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles
Date: Friday, March 20
Time: Take beerat at 7 a.m. with prayer at 7:30 a.m.; Take beerat at 9 a.m. with prayer at 9:30 a.m.
More info here.

Mark a historic Eid as Islamic Center of Southern California (ICSC) hosts prayers at its Vermont Avenue campus, offering multiple morning prayer times and easy access to Koreatown eats afterward.

Eid Picnic at Kenneth Hahn

Ladera Heights
4100 S. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles
Date: Friday, March 20
Time: 2 to 7 p.m.
More info here.

Join the fun with BBQ on the grill, kids getting soaked in water games, and friendly basketball and soccer showdowns.

Eid in the City at Ladera Park

Ladera Heights
6027 Ladera Park Ave., Los Angeles
Date: Friday, March 20
Time: 3 p.m.
More info here.

Pack a blanket, round up the crew and hang out at this potluck in the park.

Wellness as Resistance at InnerCity

Boyle Heights
3467 Whittier Blvd., Los Angeles
Date: Friday, March 20
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
More info here.

Gaby Alcala from Luminous Body Therapy is offering a free, grounding community sound bath at InnerCity Struggle’s Youth and Community Center.

Nowruz 2026

Highland Park
5541 York Blvd., Los Angeles
Date: Friday, March 20
Time: 7 p.m.
More info here.

Celebrate the arrival of spring with Nowruz, the Persian New Year, featuring live Persian music.

“Beetlejuice” at the Pantages

Hollywood
6233 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles
Date: Friday, March 20 to Sunday, March 22
Time: Various
More info here.

The cult‑favorite musical adaptation of “Beetlejuice” delivers big spectacle, singalong moments right on Hollywood Boulevard.

Immanuel Wilkins at Blue Note 

Hollywood
6372 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles
Date: Friday, March 20 to Sunday, March 22
Time: Various
More info here.

Saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins brings cutting‑edge jazz to Blue Note for an ideal date night.

Beautify your community

East LA
4025 City Terrace Drive, Los Angeles
Date: Saturday, March 21
Time: 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.
More info here.

Connect with your neighbors at a street cleanup hosted by Visión City Terrace and the Maravilla Community Advisory Committee at City Terrace Library.

Goats & Totes

Westside
8840 National Blvd., Culver City
Date: Saturday, March 21
Time: 11 a.m.More info here.

Take the family to meet and pet some goats at Ivy Station.

DOLORES at Plaza de la Raza

Lincoln Heights
3540 N. Mission Road, Los Angeles
Date: Saturday, March 21
Time: 3 p.m.
More info here.

Explore the legacy of Dolores Huerta with a screening, art exhibit, opening reception and panel conversation at the Plaza de la Raza Boathouse Gallery as part of a special exhibition on view through April 12, 2026.

Andrew Callaghan at The Wiltern 

Westlake
3790 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
Date: Saturday, March 21
Time: 7:30 p.m.
More info here.

Andrew Callaghan brings his popular “Channel 5” world to the stage for a one‑night carnival of live bits, interviews and typically internet-native chaos.

“Vertigo” in Concert with the LA Phil

Downtown
111 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Date: Saturday, March 21
Time: 8 p.m.
More info here.

See Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” on the big screen while the LA Phil performs Bernard Herrmann’s iconic score live at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Beautify your community

East LA
2609 E. Cesar E. Chavez Ave., Los Angeles
Date: Sunday, March 22
Time: 7:30 a.m.
More info here.

Join Healing in Spanglish and Acurrúcame Cafe for a 5K run or 2-mile walk through Boyle Heights. Stay for the post-run cafecito. The first 50 cars will get access to free parking at 345 N. Fickett St.

Dorsey High School Eid Al‑Fitr Festival 2026

Crenshaw
3537 Farmdale Ave., Los Angeles
Date: Sunday, March 22
Time: 12 to 4 p.m.
More info here.

Spend the afternoon roaming food stalls, checking out vendors and just hanging out. Adults pay a small entry fee, kids get in free.

Butterfly Pavilion

Exposition Park
900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles
Date: Sunday, March 22
Time: 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
More info here.

Starting Sunday, you can take the kids to walk among hundreds of beautiful butterflies at the Natural History Museum. Reservations are required. The pavilion runs through the summer. 

New Horizon School Eid Breakfast

San Gabriel Valley
651 N. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena
Date: Monday, March 30
Time: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
More info here.

Roll up with the family for a laid‑back breakfast, kids’ activities and plenty of time to catch up with friends between coffee refills.