David Wagner
covers housing in Southern California, a place where the lack of affordable housing contributes to homelessness.
Published September 16, 2025 5:00 AM
Construction workers stand on the roof of a home being rebuilt in Altadena.
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David Wagner
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LAist
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Topline:
As neighborhoods start to rebuild from January’s destructive Los Angeles County fires, a debate is sweeping across social media and into the halls of local government. Is adding more housing in burn zones unsafe? Or could it be a solution for areas that were deeply unaffordable?
The law in question: Focus has centered on Senate Bill 9. The state law allows homeowners to split their lots and build duplexes on land zoned for single-family homes. Homeowners can use SB 9 to build up to four homes on lots previously reserved for just one. Mayor Karen Bass banned SB 9 projects in the Pacific Palisades as soon as Gov. Gavin Newsom gave local leaders permission to suspend the law in burn zones.
County takes a different approach: But in Altadena, county leaders have so far remained hands-off. “I don't want to disenfranchise anyone from the ability to rebuild,” Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, told LAist in a recent interview. “We have the flexibility at the local level to address what SB 9 is doing without taking away local land rights.”
Read on… to learn how many SB 9 applications the county has received so far in Altadena.
As neighborhoods start to rebuild from January’s destructive fires in Los Angeles County, a debate is sweeping across social media and into the halls of local government: Is adding more housing in burn zones unsafe? Or could it be a solution for areas that were deeply unaffordable?
Focus has centered on Senate Bill 9. The state law allows homeowners to split their lots and build duplexes on land zoned for single-family homes. Homeowners can use SB 9 to build up to four homes on lots previously reserved for one.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass banned SB 9 projects in the Pacific Palisades as soon as Gov. Gavin Newsom gave local leaders permission to suspend the law in burn zones. Opponents of denser housing say allowing more homes, and more people, in these neighborhoods will ruin community character and clog roads during future emergencies.
But in Altadena, county leaders have taken a hands-off approach.
“I don't want to disenfranchise anyone from the ability to rebuild,” Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, told LAist in a recent interview. “We have the flexibility at the local level to address what SB 9 is doing without taking away local land rights.”
In Altadena, 26 applications and counting
Because SB 9 projects tend to be costly and tightly regulated, the law has been seldom used since it took effect in 2022. But now, dozens of homeowners with burned-down lots are using SB 9 in their rebuilds.
Seven SB 9 applications were submitted in the Palisades before Bass quashed further submissions. In Altadena, the county received 26 applications by early September.
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3:35
Duplexes are now banned in post-fire Palisades. Here’s why they’re still allowed in Altadena
Barger said she is generally opposed to state laws that supersede local land-use decisions. And she has praised Newsom for an executive order restricting high-density housing development along the commercial corridors of Fair Oaks Avenue and Lake Avenue in the wake of the Eaton Fire.
But, Barger said, SB 9 gives homeowners financial opportunities — like renting out secondary units or pooling resources with other family members planning to live together, but in separate buildings, on the same lot. Those options could spell the difference between rebuilding, or having to sell and leave Altadena for good.
“I want people to be able to choose to rebuild because they want to,” Barger said. “I want to make sure I don't put any hurdles in place.”
Old home is a lodestar for new plans
Large windows and steel framing can be seen in Paul Sanchez's former home in Altadena.
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Courtesy of Paul Sanchez
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That’s reassuring to homeowners like Paul Sanchez, who is considering building up to three units on his lot in Altadena. Before the fire, his family lived in a classic exemplar of post-war California modernism. It had an open floor plan, steel framing and floor-to-ceiling windows.
“The home that I lived in was built by an architect who fled Vienna, was a Holocaust survivor, and built with new materials and new ideas at the time in 1948,” Sanchez said. “I'm going to continue this legacy of new ideas.”
Sanchez said sustainability and affordability are key to his vision for rebuilding. His plans aren’t finalized yet, but he said he’s looking into various pre-fabricated models made with fire-resistant materials. And he wants to keep the units relatively small and affordable to prospective renters, as well as for him and his wife (their adult daughter is now out of the house).
“I'm cautiously optimistic,” Sanchez said, looking out over this dirt lot. “I think SB 9 is an option that could really help me. Because I'm not sure if I can do it without it.”
Paul Sanchez stands on the dirt lot in Altadena where he plans to build smaller, more affordable homes made from fire-resistant materials.
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David Wagner/LAist
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When rebuilding is a family affair
Other homeowners are planning to use SB 9 to make room for multi-generational family members who were previously squeezed into homes designed for fewer people.
Lori Gay, chief executive of the nonprofit Neighborhood Housing Services of L.A. County, said her organization is counseling homeowners on programs that could aid in their rebuilding efforts. She said SB 9 is complex but could be the right answer for many families.
Gay said that when talking with long-term, cash-strapped Altadenans, her staff tries “as nice as we can” to discourage homeowners from selling their properties.
She said they ask: “Do you have someone else in your family that either you’d consider selling to, or parcel-splitting with?”
Gay said the organization tries to help property owners find other viable options.
“The number one thing we've seen with all those conversations is that seniors are willing to move into a smaller space and let their families move into the major property,” Gay said. “So as we think about rebuilding now, is that something that's workable for people?”
SB 9 panned on social media
Opponents of SB 9 contend that the law is unsafe and unsuited to areas rebuilding from massive fires.
Before Bass suspended the law in the Pacific Palisades, social media influencer and former reality TV star Spencer Pratt posted a series of viral videos on TikTok lambasting elected leaders for allowing duplexes in the neighborhood. He said the area “cannot handle more density.”
Christopher LeGras, a consultant with Our Neighborhood Voices, a group that organizes against state housing density, said safety concerns are paramount.
“The idea of putting in more people who would have to evacuate if — God forbid — there's another major emergency, is just reckless,” he said.
Opponents also view SB 9 as a threat to neighborhoods’ previous low-density character. LeGras said that by building more units on lots that used to hold just one, homeowners could end up discouraging their neighbors from wanting to return.
“That's going to fundamentally change the character of that block,” LeGras said. “When you start talking duplexes and real, more substantial multifamily [homes], I think that's a bridge too far.”
SB 9 is banned, but ADUs are allowed
None of the SB 9 applications submitted in Altadena so far have asked to split their lots, and none have asked for the maximum of four units. Instead, they’re adding more gentle forms of density.
Barger told LAist she has asked the county’s Public Works Department to report back to her on what higher density projects would mean for Altadena. But for now, she said, she wants to leave SB 9 on the table for homeowners struggling to rebuild.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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So far, elected leaders in Malibu have also refrained from taking up the governor’s offer of banning SB 9 in burn zones. City officials told LAist last month that they had yet to receive any applications for lot splits.
Developer Andrew Slocum, CEO of Green Development Company, is working with homeowners on their SB 9 projects in Altadena. He said many are planning to add just one additional unit to their property. They’re using SB 9, he said, because it results in more advantageous property valuations than homeowners would get through typical accessory dwelling unit laws.
Slocum said Bass’s decision was a “knee jerk reaction” that “robbed” homeowners in the Pacific Palisades of better options for rebuilding.
“To just blanket take it away from them, when it really would result in the same amount of housing, the same amount of people as an ADU… it's really unfair,” Slocum said.
In Newsom’s executive order, which gave local leaders the option to suspend SB 9 in very high fire hazard severity burn zones, he said the state law was not tailored for natural disasters such as the deadly January fires that destroyed more than 13,000 homes.
The governor’s order does not apply to all of Altadena, but local leaders could suspend SB 9 in the community’s eastern foothills if they so choose.
By Adriana Gallardo, A Martínez, Lilly Quiroz | NPR
Published February 8, 2026 6:12 AM
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Topline:
Bad Bunny is headlining today's Superbowl halftime show — a historic moment for some, a controversial choice for others.
The backstory: Bad Bunny, made history at the 2026 Grammy Awards when he became the first artist to win album of the year for a Spanish-language album. The artist has been vocal in his opposition to federal ICE raids.
Why now: But this Sunday, Bad Bunny will meet a larger and potentially more politically divided audience at the Super Bowl. Since late September when the NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced their invitation to Bad Bunny, many took to social media to voice their indignation at the choice to platform an artist who has only released music in Spanish.
Puerto Rican superstar, Bad Bunny, made history at the 2026 Grammy Awards when he became the first artist to win album of the year for a Spanish-language project, with him winning for his album Debí Tirar Más Fotos. In addition to the top prize, Bad Bunny, whose given name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, took home the award for the best música urbana album and best global music performance for his song "EoO".
In his acceptance remarks, and not unlike other moments throughout his career, the artist used the spotlight to express his political views.
"Before I say thanks to God, I'm going to say ICE out," Bad Bunny said during his acceptance speech for best música urbana album. "We're not savages, we're not animals, we're not aliens — we're humans and we are Americans," he added in response to the ongoing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across the country.
The crowd in Los Angeles, largely met his statements with applause and ovation.
But this Sunday, Bad Bunny will meet a larger and potentially more politically divided audience at the Super Bowl, where he is set to headline this year's halftime show. Since late September when the NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced their invitation to Bad Bunny, many took to social media to voice their indignation at the choice to platform an artist who has only released music in Spanish.
To learn more about Bad Bunny's political history and what we might expect at the Super Bowl, Morning Edition host A Martinez spoke with Petra R. Rivera-Rideau, who chairs the American Studies Department at Wellesley College and the co-author, alongside Vanessa Díaz, of the new book, P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance. The two academics are also behind the Bad Bunny Syllabus, an online teaching resource based on Puerto Rican history and Bad Bunny's meteoric rise since 2016.
Below are three takeaways from the conversation.
Students come for Bad Bunny and stay for the history
Rivera-Rideau teaches "Bad Bunny: Race, Gender, and Empire in Reggaetón" at Wellesley and said the course uses Bad Bunny's work as a hook to get students into the seminar.
"But we really actually spend most of our time talking about Puerto Rican history and Puerto Rican history is part of U.S. history," she said. "And Bad Bunny music has consistently made references to this history."
Rivera-Rideau pointed to an example from 2018 when Bad Bunny debuted on a U.S. mainstream English language television show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The artist opened with a critique of the Trump administration's handling of Hurricane Maria, which had devastated his island in 2017.
"After one year of the hurricane, there's still people without electricity in their homes. More than 3,000 people died and Trump is still in denial," Martínez Ocasio said.
Latinos remain "perpetually foreign" to some
Puerto Ricans are born U.S. citizens — but this has not always protected them from being caught in recent ICE operations.
"I think part of that has to do with the kind of racialization of Spanish and the racialization of Latino communities of which Puerto Ricans are a part," she said. "And I think what it indicates is that, to me, Latinos in the United States, many of whom have been here for generations, are often understood to be perpetually foreign as a group of people that just does not belong."
The Party is the Protest
Rivera-Rideau said if Apple Music's trailer for the Super Bowl halftime show — which features Bad Bunny dancing with a group representing a smattering of ages, faces and abilities — is any indication of what audiences can expect on Sunday's stage, the theme might be joy in the face of a difficult moment for immigrants and Latinos in the U.S.
"One of the things we talk about in our book is that Bad Bunny is part of resistance, he does engage in protests but it's often through joy," she said. "We have a chapter in our book called 'The Party is the Protest' and I actually feel like that's what I expect at the Superbowl, a party and a protest.
Suzanne Levy
is a senior editor on the Explore LA team, where she oversees food, LA Explained and other feature stories.
Published February 8, 2026 5:00 AM
Can Bad Bunny outshine Kendrick?
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Timothy A. Clary
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Topline:
For LAist Senior Editor Suzanne Levy, who grew up in the U.K., the Super Bowl is a fascinating experience. Yes, there's the football — but for her that's the least interesting thing about it.
Why it matters: Want to know how the Super Bowl looks to much of the rest of the world? Read on.
Why now: It's Super Bowl Sunday... let the commercials and the half-time show begin!
The Super Bowl, to someone who a) grew up in the UK, and b) doesn’t really get football, is a strange experience.
Of course, I’m talking American football, not English football, by the way. If England gets into the World Cup quarter final you might find me at 7 a.m. in a pub in Santa Monica drinking a nice cup of tea and cheering the TV.
The Super Bowl is a national cultural event, and there’s so much excitement running up to it, yet when it happens, the thing that everyone is fixated on is the thing you’re least interested in. As in, the football — the men with padded shoulders who pile into a heap. I mean, I get the ones in the middle are doing something, but the ones at the edges are just for show, right?
All the running and the throwing and the tackling … well that just gets in the way of all the entertainment.
OK, OK, I’m kidding. I do get excited when a halfback grabs the ball and starts up the field, elbowing people out of the way, but even that can get a bit wearing when it happens over and over again. Just let the guy get to where he wants to go already!
And that’s where the Super Bowl is ideal. It comes with ready prepared breaks in the action, so there’s no chance to get bored. There’s the commercials. Over the years, some of them have been so great, like that one with the kid and the Force, and that Eminem Detroit one.
Some, not so much. That’s where I do my armchair critiquing. “Well I hoped they paid him a whole boatload of money for that one, his credibility’s down the toilet,” or, “Oh come on, ad agency, for a million dollars per millisecond, that’s all you can come up with?”
But it’s the hope, the desire, that this moment you’ll be blown out of your chair. Wait, that sounds a lot like watching football. Hmm.
Then there’s the half time show, which I always watch. “Call me when it starts!” I yell at my family as I walk out to do some very important laundry folding. As the music begins, I rush back in. Lady Gaga, Beyonce and now … Bad Bunny. As I watch pure perfection, I keep telling myself, they’re doing it live, in front of a billion people. They are not missing a damn note. Or step. Except that left shark. Hell, even the Weeknd won me over eventually.
And then there’s the last quarter. I make sure I watch that. It’s the psychodrama of it all. The looks on the coach’s faces as they chew their gum, serious, determined. The fans, holding their breath. The commentators asking Tom Brady what it was like when he was doing it. And then.. the whistle blows. And one half of the stadium is ecstatic, giddy with delight, while the other half stares into the abyss. It's a Shakespearean tragedy come to life. For all the commercials and the music, this really is the can’t miss part, which brings me back year after year. Go Patriots! Go Seahawks! Let the game begin.
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Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published February 8, 2026 5:00 AM
Bad Bunny is introduced during the Super Bowl LX Pregame & Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Press Conference at Moscone Center West on February 05, 2026 in San Francisco, California.
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Ishika Samant/Getty Images
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Getty Images North America
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Topline:
On Sunday, fans are gathering at bars and house parties to pay witness to Bad Bunny's historic performance at Benito Bowls viewing parties all across the Southland.
Why it matters: Superbowl halftime shows are always a big deal. But to many in Los Angeles and beyond, Bad Bunny's performance marks a particularly important cultural — and political — moment.
Why now: "We're going through a lot of heaviness here in our community with ICE [and] people disappearing. It's sad, we're angry," said Bianca Ramirez, LAist's director of operations and a longtime fan of Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican superstar whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio.
Superbowl halftime shows are always a big deal. But to many in Los Angeles and beyond, Bad Bunny's performance marks a particularly important cultural — and political — moment.
On Sunday, fans are gathering at bars and house parties to pay witness at so-called Benito Bowls viewing parties all across the Southland.
"We're going through a lot of heaviness here in our community with ICE [and] people disappearing. It's sad, we're angry," said Bianca Ramirez, LAist's director of operations and a longtime fan of the Puerto Rican superstar.
In the face of continual crackdown, she said, resistance shall take the form of pride and joy on Sunday. It'd be the first time the halftime show will be performed entirely in Spanish by a headliner.
" This is definitely unprecedented," Ramirez said.
Just a week before taking the Superbowl stage, Bad Bunny notched another first, winning album of the year at the Grammy's for the Spanish-language DeBí Tirar Más Fotos.
LAist's Bianca Ramirez with her Bad Bunny plushie.
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"[It] was such a proud moment for our Latino community, not here in Los Angeles, but around the world," Ramirez said, characterizing the album as one of the artist's most political to date. "He dives into gentrification and making sure that we protect Puerto Rico and its roots. He does criticize the Trump administration a lot in that album."
DeBí Tirar Más Fotos also won Best Música Urban album.
"Before I say thanks to God, I'm going to say ICE out," the artist, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, said as he accepted that award.
Later today, Ramirez is heading to a Benito Bowl — one of many gatherings held by Bad Bunny fans across the Southland. In her case, it's a backyard hang with childhood friends to celebrate a history-making concert "where these two other football teams so happen to be playing at the same time."
Ramirez has her fingers crossed that the performance includes the song that first got her hooked.
"Hopefully he surprises us with Cardi B [and] he plays I like it," she said. "Bring it full circle for me as a fan."
No matter what, it's an iconic day.
"It's just gonna be a moment for us to hang out and celebrate Latinidad and just [the] proudness that Bad Bunny brings to our communities and beyond," she said.
A general view of the Olympic flame in the Olympic cauldron designed by Marco Balich next to the Arco della Pace monument in Milan.
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Julien De Rosa
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Topline:
The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off in Milan on Friday evening, local time. Athletes representing over 90 countries march into the San Siro stadium filled with thousands of spectators during the opening ceremony in Milan.
Read on ... to see photos from the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.
The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off in Milan on Friday evening, local time. Athletes representing over 90 countries march into the San Siro stadium filled with thousands of spectators during the opening ceremony in Milan.
The performance paid homage to Italian music, art and culture with tributes to composers, visual artists and films in a colorful spectacle. Performers included Italian actress Matilda De Angelis, American singer Mariah Carey, Italian singer Andrea Bocelli, Italian rapper Ghali and Italian ballet dancers Antonella Albano and Claudio Coviello, among dozens of other dancers.
Here is a selection of images from the opening ceremony:
Italian ballet dancers Antonella Albano and Claudio Coviello perform during the opening ceremony.
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Wang Zhao
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Colorful dancers perform under large tubes of paint suspended above them during the opening ceremony.
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Gabriel Bouys
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Italian actress Matilda De Angelis (center) performs with dancers dressed as the three great masters of Italian opera: Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and Gioachino Rossini.
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Mariah Carey sings during the opening ceremony.
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Wang Zhao
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Performers dressed in the colors of the Italian flag line up during the opening ceremony.
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Piero Cruciatti
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Members of The Corazzieri, the Italian Corps of Cuirassiers, raise the Italian flag during the opening ceremony.
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Wang Zhao
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Two performers are suspended between two large rings.
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Piero Cruciatti
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The Olympic Rings are revealed above dancers during the opening ceremony.
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Piero Cruciatti
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An aerial view of the athletes parading into the San Siro stadium.
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Stoats Milo and Tina, the Paralympics and Olympics mascots, dance before the Olympic opening ceremony.
