The Brief

It’s finally that time of the year when people start doing family traditions and making resolutions: a brand new year. Whether you’re ready for 2024 to start, or you wish you had a few extra days, it’s coming quickly. The How To LA team is full of people who come from different cultures and backgrounds.

Some members of the team share a few traditions and tips for starting off 2024 on a good foot.

Packing a suitcase

Brian De Los Santos, host

Tradition: “A lot of Latino families pack up a suitcase before the clock strikes 12,” Brian says. “As soon as it becomes midnight, you're supposed to run around the house at certain times that you want to travel throughout the year.”

Tip:  “In the new year, I want to visit all of the L.A. County museums,” Brian says. “I found out through my reporting this year that there's a lot more to discover with museums. I'm going to try to hit up the Science Center, LACMA, again, and just other things I haven't done in years.

Exposition Park is filled with many community assets, from the California African American Museum to the Banc of California Stadium. Soon, it will be home to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art as well.

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Carla Javier

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LAist

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Mopping out bad vibes

Victoria Alejandro, producer

Tradition: "I’m Puerto Rican,” Victoria says. “Every year on New Year's Eve my dad would mop the whole house and when the clock strikes midnight, you throw the dirty water out of the front door. And that represents getting rid of all of your negative energy from last year, and starting the year with a clean house and clean energy. So I think I'm going to do that this year, just get my apartment in order.”

Tip: “In the new year, I really want to spend more time downtown,” Victoria adds. “I found out recently that there are these free workshops at the Central Library downtown. And they like poetry and fiction and all of these like different arts. I want to take a workshop and just be in the community.”

Downtown L.A.'s Central Library.

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Wikimedia Commons

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Black Eyed Peas' good luck

Aaricka Washington, associate editor

Tradition: “I like to go over to a family member’s house because someone is definitely cooking Black Eyed Peas for good luck and collard greens to bring in more money either on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day,” Aaricka says. “It's a tradition rooted in the south. And as we know, a lot of Black Americans came from the South to the North and West, through the great migration and brought their traditions with them.”

Tip: “I’m going to do a physical and mental challenge called the 75 Hard starting on January 1st. There’s five daily tasks that you have to do for 75 days. I’m not recommending it because it’s not for everyone. It’s something I am personally doing. However, I think you should do whatever you feel like will be intentional for you to become the best version of yourself.”

Aaricka Washington, How To LA's associate editor, runs with Girl Gang Crazy on March 7, 2023 at Santa Monica College's Corsair Field.

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Raymond Eugenio

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Girl Gang Crazy

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12 grapes

Tony Morales, intern

Tradition: “My family eats grapes once midnight hits,” Tony says. “It’s 12 grapes each for a wish. So you're wishing for something for each grape. But leading up to New Year's when my family likes to do karaoke, you know, bringing that positive lively energy into the new year.”

Tip: "And in this new year, I would like to go biking more," Tony says. “I live in Huntington Park right there down in Florence. They're building a lot of new bike lanes, which is interesting, because the lanes are already really small. I want to use them and really explore the city with bikes."

Man rides bike down Western Ave for CicLAvia

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Ashley Balderrama for LAist

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To-do lists

Megan Botel, producer

Tip: “I see the new year as kind of a more dramatic version of the way I get when I start a new week or a new month and just really have things in order, meaning tie up all my loose ends,” Megan says. “I have a to-do list of stuff I don't want to do this week. I put in shelves. So I have like three or four more of those tasks that I plan to get done in the next couple of weeks. I just like to start the new year off clean, bright and calm. The way you start your year I think is like the way your year will go.”

Professional janitor cleaning parquet floor with mop indoors, closeup.

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Liudmila Chernetska

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Speaking of Zen, in this episode, you can learn more about how to practice calmness with a walking meditation. Listen to the latest How To LA podcast episode for more.

Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said Thursday that he will run for Senate Majority Leader in the next Congress, setting up a challenge to Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer after the party swept to power in the midterm elections.

Van Hollen said in a statement that “the American people called for change” and that is why he is running.

“It’s now on us to meet this moment, and to do that we need new leadership,” Van Hollen said. “This is not about any one person — it’s about answering the call of the American people. That is why I’m running for Senate Majority Leader.”

Van Hollen’s challenge comes after he said he was considering a bid and after Schumer has said he has the necessary support to win. The closed-door, secret-ballot election will be held in early December.

The race will be the first contested election for Democratic leader in decades. The question of whether to reelect Schumer has already divided the caucus and many senators will not say publicly how they will vote. They have privately deliberated about what message to take from the election, and Schumer recruited many of the party’s winning candidates and raised money for them.

Schumer has been talking to Democratic senators since the election about forming an agenda for 2027.

“I’m going to win it,” Schumer told The Associated Press in an interview last week.

The Los Angeles Unified School District may lease spaces in its elementary, middle and high schools to use as childcare spaces for babies. 

The district is putting together a list of qualified providers and looking to identify spaces it could lease.

Ranae Amezquita, executive director of the district’s early childhood education division, said once the district has a list of spaces, it will start a request for proposal process that childcare providers can apply to during the 2027-2028 school year.

Why is LAUSD looking to expand childcare options now?

In April, LAUSD board members passed a resolution in an aim to expand childcare and early education slots in the district.

The district currently runs about 90 preschools, called early education centers, for children 2 to 4 years old, but it has only four centers that serve children under 2. “The problem with infant care — the reason we can't open them ourself at this time, is because of the cost,” said Amezquita at a board meeting Thursday.

The need for local infant and toddler childcare is high. In 2022, L.A. County assessed that the county only had enough licensed spaces to care for 4% of kids under 2. At the same time, the district has been facing declining enrollment amid lower birth rates. The resolution to expand early childhood care aims to, in part, strengthen the enrollment pipeline into the district.

Learn more about affordable childcare in LA

• For many California parents, paying for childcare means racking up credit card debt
• Why childcare in California may get harder to find

In an extraordinary turn of events, the state’s judicial watchdog has removed Judge Robert Draper, 84, from the Los Angeles County Superior Court after 14 years of service. He faced several counts of misconduct prior to losing reelection earlier this year.

The California Commission on Judicial Performance concluded Tuesday in an 87-page decision that Draper engaged in 17 instances of behavior that made him no longer fit for office. He hasn’t heard a case since 2023 because of the issues.

“Judge Draper persistently violated the standards governing judicial behavior and engaged in extensive and severe misconduct,” the commission said in a statement, adding that it was “aggravated by his refusal to accept responsibility for his misconduct, and his lack of insight or remorse for his misconduct and its effect on others.”

Draper previously admitted to some of the claims and denied others in interviews with LAist earlier this year. In a statement this week, he called the decision “deeply disappointing.”

“Any individual put under such intense and meticulous scrutiny likely would find themselves in a similar situation, albeit with slightly different facts,” he said.

Draper said the investigation came at a time when he raised concerns within the judiciary, and that it was used “presumably for purposes of dismissing his dissent by discrediting him.”

He plans to pursue “other avenues” to change the system, according to the statement. Draper's attorney declined to share what those would be.

 “It’s very rare for a judge to be removed from the bench,” said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School. “It’s the ultimate sanction against a judge.”

The commission has only removed 15 judges since it gained the authority to do so in 1995, according to its records, with the last for an L.A. County Superior Court judge happening in 2006.

The misconduct

The decision comes after a yearslong investigation and legal proceedings with independent evaluators. Prior to that, Draper had never been disciplined. According to the commission, his long list of misconduct includes:

• Making “offensive” and “insensitive” comments in court about race and gender.
• Sending “abusive” emails and unnecessary graphic pictures of his naked backside to colleagues.
• Acting with “deliberate defiance of his presiding judge’s orders” by continuing to access court systems and work on cases while on involuntary leave.

Some allegations the commission reviewed were dismissed for lack of evidence, including one that he inappropriately touched an attorney’s hair.

What happens next

While Draper lost reelection, his seat is now empty sooner than usual. Judge-elect Tal Khan Valbuena is on deck to replace him in January.

It’s possible Gov. Gavin Newsom may decide to appoint Khan Valbuena sooner. The court could also move another judge into his department.