The Brief

When Airbnb recently launched its campaign to drum up support for more short-term rentals in Los Angeles, it said the effort would produce taxes that would help solve the city's budget crisis and save city employees' jobs.

But labor organizations are split on the effort that's being pushed by the so-called "Save Our Services" coalition, which is touted as being community-based but whose spokesperson is an Airbnb representative. The coalition proposes loosening an L.A. law to allow a limited number of people to rent out second homes as vacation rentals. Currently, the city limits short-term rentals to primary residences.

The campaign first drew attention for what it didn't say: The effort was funded and organized by Airbnb. As first reported by the L.A. Times, the coalition's website advertised union endorsements and other business and community supporters even before Airbnb added its own name to the list.

Justin Wesson, Airbnb’s senior public policy manager, cited saving union jobs as a goal when explaining why the company launched the campaign.

“It’s pretty simple: New tax revenue from tourists can give Los Angeles much-needed funding for city services and union jobs that are at risk,” Wesson said in a statement earlier this month.

Kurt Petersen, co-president of hotel workers union Unite Here Local 11 and an opponent of the campaign, was quick to point out that Wesson used to work as chief of staff for the L.A. County Federation of Labor.

"Obviously he's going through his Rolodex and seeing who he can get to back this absurd measure," Petersen said.

"Save Our Services" canvassers have knocked on more than 300,000 doors across Los Angeles over the past month, according to an Airbnb spokesperson.

How city unions are responding

There's no consensus among unions that represent city workers about the campaign.

Endorsements for Airbnb's effort include IBEW Local 18, which represents workers at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. That union did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

But other prominent city unions say they're against the effort, citing high housing costs for their members.

"Our union sees this for what it is: just the latest attempt by Airbnb to further deregulate short-term rentals and exacerbate the ever-worsening affordable housing crisis in Los Angeles," said Mike Long, the communications director for SEIU 721, which represents around 11,000 city sanitation workers, mechanics, traffic officers, and other workers.

What about the union jobs claim?

The "Save Our Services" campaign launched as L.A. has been facing a budget crisis.

Mayor Karen Bass's 2025-2026 budget originally proposed more than 1,600 city staff layoffs, citing a nearly billion dollar shortfall. That number dropped to around 600 in budget revisions and is now down to 75 after negotiations with labor leaders and the city council, according to the mayor's office.

Roy Samaan, president of Engineers & Architects Association, the labor union for around 6,000 city planners, accountants, and other staff, said his union had managed to make an agreement with the city to take layoffs off the table. He claimed Airbnb had not reached out to ask for the union's support for its campaign, calling the coalition's language around the city's recent budget shortfall "opportunistic."

"They're taking up the fact that we almost had such disastrous layoffs as a cover for this," Samaan said. "It's a little bit frustrating, to be totally frank."

As of Thursday evening, the "Save Our Services" coalition website still said the city was planning to lay off more than 600 workers.

"The mayor is committed to protecting city services and is working urgently to continue momentum in decreasing layoffs to zero," Zach Seidl, the mayor's spokesperson, said in a written statement.

What are other unions saying?

Other labor supporters listed on the "Save Our Services" website and flyers include California IATSE Council, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, and several Teamsters backers, including the international union, the Teamsters National Black Caucus, Teamsters Joint Council 42, and Teamsters Local 911 — a union local that no longer exists as an independent entity.

Before Airbnb's publicly campaign was announced, Teamsters 911 merged into another local — Teamsters Local 986 — in June, according to a press release from that union. That merged local is not listed on the coalition’s website and did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Airbnb also did not respond to questions about the Teamsters Local 911 endorsement

Representatives for IATSE, which represents entertainment workers, declined to comment. Teamsters Joint Council 42 and IUPAT did not respond to direct inquiries, but both groups provided brief written statements through an Airbnb spokesperson.

“Los Angeles cannot cut its way out of a $1 billion budget deficit at the expense of Angelenos,” said Eric Tate, executive secretary treasurer with Teamsters Joint Council 42 in the statement. “We strongly urge the Los Angeles leaders to pass the 'Save Our Services' proposal now.” Robert Smith, director of government affairs of IUPAT District Council 36 in Southern California also offered support for Airbnb’s plan.

“The [vacation rental revenue] plan is a practical solution that limits the number of new accommodations for travelers while creating millions in new annual revenue for L.A.’s long-term recovery,” he said in a statement.

One of Airbnb's biggest foes in this showdown is Unite Here Local 11, which last week launched its own campaign for a "New Deal" for the 2028 Olympic Games, calling for major investment in new housing units and a moratorium on Airbnb.

Petersen, that union's co-president, told LAist the Airbnb campaign was " a corrupt scheme of stupidity and greed."

Airbnb’s Justin Wesson fired back.

“Airbnb has brought together groups like the NAACP, Community Build, and the Teamsters as L.A. faces yet another crisis,” he said. “Referring to this coalition as ‘stupid’ or ‘greedy’ shows exactly how out of touch Unite Here leadership is. We’ll stay focused on helping to close the city’s budget gap.”

The Federation of Labor did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Botox has become increasingly popular with people in their 20s seeking to stave off wrinkles.

Clinics market what is known as "Baby Botox," lower dose treatments administered less frequently than those for midlife adults — perhaps only once or twice a year.

Patients share the process in online videos filmed from injectors' offices, asking for a touch up to blur away any hint of crows feet or 11 lines between the brows.

It may seem absurd that anyone so young would be worried about aging. But like putting on sunscreen, patients say their use of Botox is preventive.

Botox is a brand name for botulinum toxin type A, an injectable neurotoxin derived from the bacterium that causes botulism. Other brand names include Dysport, Xeomin and Jeuveau. When administered in small amounts, the treatments block the nerve signals to the muscle causing it to relax, thereby temporarily reducing the appearance of wrinkles.

Attorney Stephanie Moore started getting Dysport when she was 27 to slow the formation of wrinkles around her eyes, which she attributes to her expressive face.

She pays about $460 per visit, and says these thrice-yearly injections are one of her favorite ways to treat herself: "I feel a lot more confident."

With Baby Botox, is age just a number?

There aren't comprehensive stats on what age groups are getting Botox, but data from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons shows that between 2019 and 2022, the use of injectable neurotoxins grew by more than 70% across all age groups under 70, including Gen Z adults.

It is not approved for use in minors, so the youngest someone can get Botox is 18.

Demand for other types of aesthetic procedures and surgeries, including cheek implants and fillers, has also jumped since the COVID-19 pandemic.

This timing is no coincidence says sociologist Dana Berkowitz, author of the book Botox Nation: Changing The Face of America.

During the pandemic, people's lives migrated to virtual spaces. That included younger people who had this experience at a formative age. They attended high school or college on Zoom during the day, and then logged onto TikTok and Instagram for socialization in the evenings.

Berkowitz says by looking at curated images of others far more frequently, inevitably, people were comparing those faces to their own.

At the same time, Berkowitz says some celebrities, along with social media influencers, now openly earn income through endorsements of various cosmetic procedures, further normalizing it.

While the 20s seem young for Botox, Dr. Kristy Hamilton, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Houston, says young adults can start to show signs of aging — a lot of it comes down to genetics and sunscreen.

"Sometimes we see people in their mid-20s that have a lot of wrinkles, and that's just life," she says.

But what's wrong with having wrinkles?

Ageless beauty is seen as a "status symbol" in today's society, says Berkowitz. Young women she researched told her these treatments show they were able to invest in themselves at a very early age: "It was like they were part of this elite kind of social club."

As Berkowitz explores in her book, falling short of society's definition of feminine beauty can incur a professional tax. "Our ideal femininity is a youthful one," she says.

Research shows that people who are perceived as beautiful get better treatment, says David B. Sarwer, who studies the psychological aspects of appearance and cosmetic procedures at Temple University's College of Public Health.

Sarwer points to a robust body of literature on how attractiveness can positively influence one's academic performance, professional advancement and legal outcomes. One study even found that newborns who are seen as more attractive by hospital nursing staff get picked up more frequently.

"It may make some, dare I say, strategic sense for people to say, 'I want to find a way to improve the way that I look,'" he says.

Are there any risks to starting young?

Botox was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration for cosmetic use in 2002. Physicians interviewed for this story note that since then millions have gotten it safely.

Reports of dangerous side effects are extremely rare, and typically linked to counterfeit or mishandled Botox.

There are still some risks. For one, it can stop working because your body forms a resistance to it.

This can be frustrating for patients, says Dr. Paul Durand, a Miami-based board-certified plastic surgeon. He hasn't seen any research explaining why this happens, but theorizes that younger people might be at higher risk because of their more robust immune systems.

Another concern is that too much Botox at too high a dose over time can cause excessive atrophy, or shrinking of the muscles. Since we lose volume in our faces as we age anyway, a person's face can start to look hollow instead of youthful.

Durand says well-trained clinicians can avoid that result by not overdoing it, i.e. not injecting too deep or using too much of the drug. But assessing a clinician's skill level may be difficult for patients.

Any medical doctor, regardless of specialty, can legally administer cosmetic injections without any special training or certification. That includes dentists.

Durand and Hamilton both recommend going to a plastic surgeon or dermatologist's office. Though Berkowitz says there are skilled injectors outside these specialties. She recommends that a Botox-curious patient ask friends or family for a referral.

Most people who get cosmetic procedures say they're happy with the outcome. Sarwer says the patients who are most satisfied are seeking to address discontent with a specific feature — like Moore's desire to soften the lines around her eyes.

But the evidence on how these procedures improve self esteem and quality of life are inconclusive, Sarwer says.

When cosmetic patients chase an unattainable ideal of beauty due to a mental health condition like body dysmorphic disorder or severe depression, Sarwer says Botox and other procedures don't improve their symptoms.

He explains these patients are, "better treated by a mental health professional than they would be treated by a plastic surgeon."

A life-long habit ... and expense

Durand turns away patients who want so much Botox that it would essentially freeze their face, blocking their ability to form expressions. "That looks terrible," he says.

But in his experience, a determined enough person will eventually find a clinician to say "yes," given that administering Botox can be a lucrative revenue stream with relatively few overhead costs.

Not only do clinician training and skill levels vary, so do prices. Discount treatments are unlikely to yield desired results, as Berkowitz warns. Amateur Botox can result in an obviously treated face.

And there's another problem: Once patients start with Botox or a similar injectable, they're unlikely to stop, says Berkowitz: "You get people in their 20s, you have a lifelong consumer."

Berkowitz herself is one of those lifelong consumers: She started getting Botox at 32 and now at 47, needs higher doses, paying about $800 per appointment.

For someone who starts young, that money — which could add up to tens of thousands of dollars in your 20s and 30s — could be spent paying off student loans, investing for their future, or traveling the world.

If you stop getting the injections, the effects wear off and wrinkles reappear.

In this way, Botox is addictive, argues Berkowitz, who admits that getting it feels in conflict with her feminist ethics, which aim to decenter appearance.

But Hamilton, the Houston plastic surgeon, says for many of her young patients, Botox is simply part of their overall investment in their health and appearance.

"Gen Z have this very different view on these things," she says. "This is part of their self-care. It's part of their wellness."

Stephanie Moore in Pittsburgh, says shaping her appearance with Botox makes her happy. She notes that her husband has tattoos, which she thinks are unnecessary and expensive.

"But that's his body and his choice," she says. "And this is my body and my choice."
Copyright 2025 NPR

The storm blew into Cozad, Nebraska, in the wee hours of Saturday, June 29, 2024. The wind felt like a hurricane. The hail was the size of softballs.

"I was in the window, I was crying," remembers Soledad Avalos, who has lived with her husband in their home in Cozad for 35 years. "Seeing all the damage [to] the cars and the house."

When the sun came up, the extent of the damage became clear. Cozad is a small town of about 4,000 people, surrounded by corn fields. Crops were flattened. Virtually every vehicle parked outside that night had a broken windshield. Nearly every roof in town was leaking, or worse. Siding was missing, paint had been stripped away. The storm came from the northwest, and so nearly every northwest-facing window was cracked. Both the hospital and the school were in disrepair.

"Those softball-sized hail stones just punched a hole through the roof membrane, and water was just pouring through the ceiling like a waterfall, or a shower," says Robert Dyer, the CEO of the Cozad Community Health System, which runs Cozad Community Hospital, the only hospital in town. "Tiles were coming down, hunks of old plaster. It was just pretty devastating." The hospital's emergency department had to shut down for several hours, and the building is still being repaired more than a year later.

Hail the size of softballs punched holes in siding, broke windows and stripped away paint. One local insurance agent estimates the storm caused $100 million of damage in a town of just 4,000 people.

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Hailstorms like the one that hit Cozad don't often make national headlines, because they are usually hyper-local events that hit just one town, or one neighborhood in a larger city. Most hailstorms don't cause enough damage to trigger federal disaster declarations, or make it onto official annual lists of major weather disasters. And they are generally less deadly than flash floods, hurricanes and wildfires.

But extremely costly hailstorms are getting more likely in the United States, researchers warn. Across the central and eastern U.S., the weather conditions that can produce hail that's at least the size of a pool ball have gotten more common, according to Deborah Bathke, Nebraska's state climatologist. And the Great Plains are expected to have more frequent hail as the planet warms up.

That risk is driving up the cost of home insurance in the middle of the country, saddling average Americans with huge bills. Areas with the most hail risk are seeing some of the fastest growing home insurance prices in the U.S., according to two landmark federal reports released in the last year.

"In the Midwest, you've seen a surprising increase in losses," says Robert Gordon, a senior vice president at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, the largest property insurance trade group. "It's particularly the hail, the wind. A lot of damage to roofs."

That escalating damage is a reminder that, as climate change drives more extreme weather, geography is no longer a guarantee of protection from skyrocketing insurance rates.

Marsden Rodon clears the walkway in front of the home he rents in a neighborhood southeast of downtown Greeley, Colorado, after a severe hailstorm moved over the area in May 2024.

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Home insurance costs are skyrocketing in the middle of the U.S.

The central United States is home to the worst hail risk on the planet.

"North America is the hail continent," explains Scott St. George, a climate scientist and the head of weather and climate research at WTW, an international risk analysis company. And he says hail is different from other types of severe weather because it does a lot of property damage without causing many fatalities.

"It basically damages anything that's outside. And we've got a lot of stuff in the way," according to St. George. "There are more houses insured, more expensive cars. Roofs, siding, car windows and exteriors."

That has led to enormous bills for property insurance companies. "You've seen some really big losses coming out of hail, mostly in the U.S." says St. George.

A flooded apartment in Greeley, Colorado, after a severe hailstorm in 2024.

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Last summer's hailstorm in Cozad caused an estimated $100 million in property damage, according to local insurance agent Brian Messersmith – an enormous sum for a town of just 4,000 people.

And, in 2024, hail damage contributed to $54 billion in insured losses from severe convective storms in the U.S., which include severe thunderstorms and other storms capable of producing large hail, according to the Insurance Information Institute, an industry-run think tank.

With losses mounting, insurance companies have raised prices in recent years. Nationwide, the cost of insurance rose about 8% faster than inflation between 2018 and 2022, according to a major report published by the Treasury Department in January.

The report found that the average price of property insurance in the Great Plains was significantly higher than the national average, with consumers in the Northern Plains paying about 20% more than the national average, and consumers in the Southern Plains paying more than 45% more. In Nebraska, the average cost of homeowners insurance this year is nearly $6,400, according to Bankrate. That's the highest in the country, and almost $4,000 above the national average.

In September, the Treasury report was removed from the department's website by the Trump administration. The Treasury Department did not respond to questions from NPR about why it was removed.

Hail risk is only one of many reasons that insurance is more expensive. The higher cost of labor, and of construction materials are also driving up insurance prices, says St. George.

"Insurance is very impacted by inflation," says Robert Gordon of the American Property and Casualty Insurance Association. "So if inflation suddenly spikes, then insurance losses go up." And the cost of building materials has increased even more than other goods in recent years, he points out.

Gregg Crouger shows ten large hail stones after a storm in 2018 in Louisville, Colorado.

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Insurance companies are bringing in profits. Small towns are struggling

Rising prices for homeowners appear to be translating into profits for the industry. After losing more than $10 billion in 2023, the industry saw $26 billion in profits in 2024, according to credit agency AM Best.

Insurers say that's largely due to the severity of disasters in a given year. "It can be a dramatic swing because some years you have huge catastrophes," says Gordon. When insurers raise prices, they are simply passing along the enormous costs of rebuilding from major disasters, he says.

But high prices are hitting many homeowners hard, particularly in places with historically low cost-of-living, like Nebraska.

"Insurance in our state really has skyrocketed the past several years," says Josh Tapio, an insurance broker at All Lines Insurance in Omaha, Neb.

A few years ago, an average homeowner would pay about $1,500 per year to insure their $300,000 home, Tapio says. Now, it costs between $3,000 to $4,500, a two or even threefold increase.

"There's a lot of sticker shock when somebody opens their renewal bill and they see that it's double from what they paid last year," Tapio says. His office has never been busier, as people shop around for a policy they can afford.

The high cost of insurance can make property ownership untenable. Before the storm, longtime Cozad resident Jennifer McKeone owned two rental houses in town. The hail caused extensive damage to both, and her insurance company refused to keep insuring them.

"I scrambled to find insurance, and the only insurance I could find was going to raise the rent to the point where I didn't think the people who lived in the houses could afford it," McKeone says. She ended up selling the homes, because neither she nor her tenants could afford the insurance costs.

John Purry secures tarps on the roof of his house in Pearl, Miss., after a hailstorm in 2013.

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Seniors are hit particularly hard by rising insurance costs

In the year and a half since the storm hit Cozad, most of the broken windows have been replaced, and most of the leaking roofs have been repaired. "The town is doing well," says McKeone, who runs the Cozad Development Corporation, a local group that builds housing in town and works with businesses.

But under the surface, McKeone says, many are still trying to finish repairs to their homes. Seniors have been hit particularly hard, she says. Many older residents live on a fixed income from a pension or social security payments, and can't afford drastically higher bills.

Baltazar and Soledad Avalos, whose home was severely damaged in the storm, have experienced insurance problems firsthand. The home that they've lived in for 35 years had an insurance policy, but that policy didn't cover the full cost of all the repairs to the roof, windows and siding. Baltazar is still out on a ladder most days, fixing damage at age 72.

On top of that, the cost of their insurance has gone up by about 10%, which is significant for a retirement-age couple. Baltazar is retired, Soledad is still working.

Insurance is more expensive, and it covers less

One of the biggest complaints among Cozad residents is that, even as they shell out more for property insurance, that insurance is covering less.

Many people in town now have policies with higher deductibles, meaning that they need to pay thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars out of their own pockets before the insurance kicks in. And many new policies also don't cover the full cost of replacing a damaged roof, which is often the most expensive repair after a hailstorm.

Megan Fales has worked as an insurance agent in Cozad for more than a decade, and handles hundreds of home insurance policies in town. "A lot of people have just gotten to the point where, like 'Let's just take a higher deductible,'" she says, because it costs less each month, even though they agree to pay more for repairs if there's a future storm. She says many homeowners in the area hope to save money by doing repairs themselves, instead of relying on insurance to pay.

Businesses in town are also paying more money for less coverage. After the storm destroyed the roof of the local hospital, the insurance company refused to renew the policy. The only policies available are more expensive, and also have a much higher deductible for the roof. That means the hospital must pay more each month for insurance, and also must keep more cash on hand in case there's another storm.

In an effort to avoid catastrophic damage in future storms, the hospital's governing board chose to upgrade the building. Instead of simply replacing the damaged roof, they are investing in roof materials that can withstand high winds and small hail.

That choice saved them money on their monthly insurance premium, Dyer says. But even with those savings, they are paying more money for less coverage, compared to two years ago.

"It's to a point of unsustainability," says Dyer. "If we got hit by another storm right now, it would drain all our cash."

NPR's Robert Benincasa contributed to this story.
Copyright 2025 NPR

About 250 miles above the Earth, NASA astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) will enjoy an off-duty day for Thanksgiving, along with a group meal that features some celebratory foods.

"This is my second Thanksgiving in space, so I highly recommend it," said Mike Fincke, in a video message beamed down from the outpost.

This fall, NASA included a "Holiday Bulk Overwrapped Bag," or BOB, on a resupply mission that went up to the station. The bag contained festive items like clams, oysters, crab meat, quail, and smoked salmon.

"Our ground teams and the food lab at NASA have taken such great care of us," said Zena Cardman, who noted that they'll also have traditional fare like turkey and mashed potatoes, all packaged up in ways that won't cause a mess in microgravity. "We've even got some lobster, which is amazing. So I think it's going to be a really, really delicious meal."

Fincke displayed a can of cranberry sauce, which happened to come from the Russian space agency.

"It's kind of neat to have that up here because that's one of my favorite parts," he said. "I'm going to miss my family, of course. But I'm up here with my space family and it's really awesome."

Cardman and Fincke, along with fellow NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, will share their holiday meal with three Russian cosmonauts and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui.

"We don't have Thanksgiving in Japan, but here, on ISS, everybody respects each other's culture," said Yui, who added that he was looking forward to the dinner.

And if all goes as planned, more guests will arrive in time for the meal, because a Soyuz rocket with three new crew members for the station, including NASA astronaut Chris Williams, is scheduled to blast off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:27 am Eastern time on Thursday.
Copyright 2025 NPR

When he was looking for ‘80s tech inspiration and equipment for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, special effects designer Shane Dzicek knew exactly where to go: Apex Surplus, a scrap metal recycling and industrial surplus business in Sun Valley.

“They're well known in the industry for being a place to rent a lot of hard-to-find electronics,” Dzicek said. “Imagine walking into a shop that would be in the world of Harry Potter, and there's just racks that go to the ceiling with everything that you can think of … military and airplane supplies to electronics … vintage microphones and knife switches.”

In addition to various knobs that he repurposed for the show, Dzicek also found an FM signal generator from the ‘80s, which served as a model for a decibel-reading device used by the character Steve Harrington, as seen in the teaser trailer:

Dzicek isn’t the only special effects designer who’s walked the halls of Apex Surplus. The shop’s co-owner, Adam Isaacs, estimates their credits span 5,000 different productions, including sci-fi classics like Back to the Future, Mad Max, Star Wars, Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

A hallway at Apex Surplus.

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So how did a nearly 70-year-old recycling business become a go-to destination for Hollywood designers?

The origins: A Holocaust survivor meets the SoCal aerospace industry 

Apex Surplus is a third-generation family-owned business, first opened in 1958 by husband and wife Bill and Charlotte Slater.

Bill Slater was a Holocaust survivor who fled Austria in the 1940s and served in the U.S. army during World War II. After the war, he moved to Southern California, which was at the height of the aerospace industry boom.

With the space race raging, aerospace companies like Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Bendix Company were building at a rapid rate, with lots of materials left over. Slater decided to leverage his military connections and open an aerospace liquidation business and surplus front.

Bill Slater standing in Apex Surplus in the 1960s.

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“ My grandpa would drive around with a semi-truck in the ‘60s and ‘70s and essentially recycle all of their old scrap metal,” according to Isaacs, who said subsidiaries of the aerospace hub in San Fernando Valley would then come to Apex to shop for secondary parts.

As Apex’s inventory grew in the 1960s, Isaacs said the business expanded and started catching the eye of set decorators and production designers in the TV and film industry.

Apex today: From oddball artist haven to film prop shop

After Bill and Charlotte Slater’s death, Apex was passed down to their children, Melissa and Don Slater.

Melissa now co-owns Apex Surplus with her son, Adam Isaacs, who said customers today range from folks outside the film industry, like electricians, plumbers, sculptors and artists, to set and production designers who work on films — anyone with a practical, aesthetic or historical interest in vintage or obsolete electronics.

Outdoor yard of Apex Surplus.

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Isaacs said, at heart, Apex still is a scrap metal, electronics and aerospace recycling and surplus business, though its also has embraced its role as a film prop and rental house.

More recently, its products have been featured in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., 13 Reasons Why, A.P. Bio and Avatar. 

“Our close proximity to Hollywood has allowed us to open up this prop division and work with a lot of talented people,” Isaacs said. “There's so much creativity and artistry being produced in L.A. … We're very fortunate that we were able to reinvent ourselves as a production hub.”

Check out LAist host Julia Paskin's interview with Stranger Things special effects designer Shane Dzicek here: