The Brief

The Last Repair Shop took home the Oscar Sunday for Best Documentary (Short). The film puts the spotlight on those technicians who regularly repair more than 130,000 instruments for L.A. public school students for free — work that has been taking place in a downtown L.A. warehouse since 1959.

In his speech, co-director Kris Bowers noted that the film is about "the heroes in our schools who often go unsung, unthanked and unseen" and pointed to the upper balconies of the audience where those technicians were seated and said, "Tonight, you are sung, you are thanked, you are seen."

He called out John Williams as his inspiration, who, he noted, went to L.A. public schools just as he did. He also introduced 12-year-old Porché Brinker, an LAUSD student and a violinist who appeared in the film and shared the stage with Bowers and his co-director Ben Proudfoot as they accepted the Academy Award.

"She’s playing violin in L.A. public schools. She looks amazing tonight," Bowers noted.

Bowers went on to say that “L.A. is one of the last cities in America to give public school students free and freely prepared instruments. We need to fix that because music education isn’t just about creating incredible musicians. It’s about creating incredible humans.”

Learning music through LAUSD

Bowers, a musician and award-winning film composer, grew up playing piano through Los Angeles Unified’s music program. But it was only a few years ago that he learned about the people who cared for the instruments that brought him — and so many other students — joy and emotional support over the years.

A full circle moment

An instrument technician is highlighted in the short documentary "The Last Repair Shop."

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For Bowers, making the film was a full circle moment. He was able to meet and highlight the work of Steve Bagmanyan, a technician who tuned the pianos in Bowers’ elementary and middle schools. “I was able to literally thank someone who had a hand in my progress as a musician,” Bowers says.

Bagmanyan is one of four workers Bowers and co-director Ben Proudfoot highlight in the film.

Each personal story intersects with a piece of L.A., and maybe even United States history. Dana Atkinson, who works in the strings division, shares his coming out story and a slice of LGBTQ history. Paty Moreno, the only woman technician in the shop, talks about her journey migrating to the U.S. from Mexico and raising her children here — her job in the repair shop helped her maintain some stability, she says. Duane Michaels fixes the woodwind instruments and takes us down memory lane about his time on tour with Elvis.

Then there are the LAUSD students.

“These children are dealing with, you know, the mental health crisis that we're having right now … family health issues, or they are immigrants … trying to find comfort and stability in this country, or in their community,” said Bowers. “Each of these young people [in the film] … talked about the fact that their musical instrument is so vital to them processing these really difficult life experiences.”

In the film, the students, ranging from ages 9-18, talk about how their instrument changed their lives and helped them find themselves in music. “If I didn’t have my violin from my school, I don’t know what I would do,” Porché Brinker says. “Don’t even jinx me with that.”

Bowers’ piano beginnings

His introduction to music was commanded before he was born, he jokes in many interviews. His father was adamant about having a boy who would play piano. Music became the way he dealt with strong feelings — from hard conversations with his parents to his own emotions.

When he was 12, he knew he wanted to be a film composer. His family would regularly go to movies on opening weekend and he says he always paid attention to the scoring.

Kris Bowers

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“I remember listening to the scores from those movies when I got home and realizing not only did I have the same — if not sometimes more of — an emotional reaction than I did in the theater just listening to the music by itself, but there was another click of an ‘aha moment’ of like that's a job you translate emotions,” he says.

He made a road map for achieving that dream job; starting with playing in a band, creating his own group and later becoming a film composer in his 50s. The band part didn’t quite go as planned because his composition work took off early. Before he turned 30, Bowers' work hit Hollywood and he composed the music for Best Picture winner Green Book.

Bowers’ other work includes scores for the Bridgerton series, The Color Purple, King Richard and he also co-directed another documentary with Proudfoot, A Concerto is a Conversation.

Giving L.A. credit

Directing The Last Repair Shop gave Bowers a chance to blend his love for music and his city.

“For me, having that deep love for this city and to have stumbled upon this music repair shop and this program that exists here in a way that we can be incredibly prideful of the city,” Bowers says. “This was the moment to highlight something that makes L.A. incredibly special and unique in this very grounded and heartfelt way.”

Bowers started playing music at LAUSD Third Street Elementary. He then studied at the Colburn School, the private performing arts school here, and attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts before going to Julliard in New York City.

He gives Los Angeles high marks as a great setting for musicians. Growing up, he looked up to his cousin, L.A.-based rapper Murs, and the music coming out of the city. He performed at Leimert Park’s The World Stage and came up with talent like Kamasi Washington and the late Austin Peralta.

Capturing the essence with ‘Alumni’ 

Bowers used his composer pen in the film, too (alongside Katya Richardson). He composed some themes for the film, including the song “The Alumni,” for the last scene in the documentary; it’s played by dozens of former and current LAUSD music students in an orchestra — winds, strings, brass, piano. The music highlights the repair shop technicians' musical themes, and the four of them make appearances in the performance.

Most musicians donated their time to film that closing scene.

“There's just so much generosity and love and support for this that it really, I think it can be felt on screen,” Bowers says.

The buzz around the film has already brought attention to the repair shop. There is now a $15 million fundraising effort set up by the LAUSD Education Foundation to help keep the program running and invest in future instrument technicians. To kick off the capital campaign, Bowers donated a restored Steinway piano to his former elementary school.

Federal forecasters say this year the planet could see the strongest El Niño event on record. It's already being called "Super El Niño" and even "Godzilla El Niño." El Niño is a natural climate pattern that has far-reaching impacts across the planet, potentially affecting hundreds of millions of people.

Where those impacts happen can vary drastically from one El Niño to the next. Here are the basics of what this historic event could bring.

What is El Niño?

El Niño occurs every two to seven years. It develops when a vast amount of water in the eastern Pacific Ocean warms up around the equator. That water releases massive heat, redistributing warmth from the ocean to the atmosphere. That shifts weather patterns around the world.

The flip side of El Niño is a La Niña, which is marked by relatively cool water in the tropical Pacific around the equator. These events are responsible for some of the biggest weather variability the planet experiences.

El Niño is like dropping a rock in a pond, says Daniel Vimont, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Even though you're not where the rock hit, you still may feel the effects of those waves," he says. "El Niño is the same thing, except it's an enormous rock in our entire Earth's system, and we feel the response."

How strong is it?

Sure, "Godzilla El Niño" is catchy, but technically, NOAA forecasters say this year's El Niño will fall into the "very strong" category. It's measured by the temperature of the ocean in a particular region off South America. The warmer the water, the stronger the El Niño. When that water is more than 2 degrees Celsius warmer than average, it qualifies as a "very strong" El Niño.

The last strong events were in 2015-16, 1997-8 and 1982-83. El Niños typically peak in November and December, but already, this El Niño is the strongest ever measured for this time of year. NOAA forecasters expect it to last through early 2027.

What will the impacts be globally?

All that added heat in the atmosphere raises temperatures globally. El Niño years tend to be the hottest on record. Forecasters say this year may get close to taking the top spot, but it's very likely that temperature records could fall in 2027. The planet is already warmer due to climate change, because emissions from burning fossil fuels are trapping more heat in the atmosphere.

El Niño also shifts rainfall patterns globally, raising the chances for destructive flooding in some parts of the world. Other regions get drier, exacerbating droughts. Both impacts can be catastrophic to agriculture around the world. The United Nations World Food Programme estimates that El Niño could push at least 49 million more people into acute food insecurity by the end of 2027.

What will the impacts be in the U.S.?

In El Niño years, the southern U.S. tends to see more intense rainfall because the jet stream shifts to the south. That raises the risk of floods along rivers and in cities. Still, in the Southwest, more rain could alleviate drought and recharge underground aquifers.

"El Niño tends to juice up those storms so that you get more really strong rain events," says Martin Hoerling, meteorologist and adjunct lecturer at the University of Colorado Boulder. "So if you were running a deficit in your water supply, a big El Niño, especially like the one we're having, can really get you into recovery mode that otherwise might have taken you years."

The northern half of the country gets warmer and drier, something that could exacerbate the current drought in the Intermountain West. Some states experience mixed effects during El Niños, like California. The state saw historic flooding in the 1997-98 El Niño, but was drier than average during the 2015-16 one. Climate experts say the current El Niño is so strong, it's more likely California will experience extreme rain.

El Niños can also lead to fewer hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, since it's more difficult for the storms to form. In the Pacific Ocean, hurricanes can get more frequent, fueled by warmer ocean water. Already this year, hurricanes have intensified rapidly in the Pacific, and Hawaii has had close calls with several hurricanes that brought destructive rain and wind.

Can we blame it all on El Niño?

Certain weather changes are common during El Niños, but there are no guarantees that extreme weather events this winter will match those predictions for every region.

"El Niño is like loading the dice," Vimont says. "While we're loading the dice for a certain type of response from El Niño, we still know that in any given year, there are still natural fluctuations that may mask that or cause the response to be slightly different than what we might expect."

In addition to that natural variability, weather events are also being affected by climate change. The most intense storms are already producing more rainfall in most of the U.S., since a warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapor. Heat waves and droughts are also getting more intense due to rising temperatures. Climate experts say El Niño and climate change impacts will both play out this winter, but while El Niño will fade, the effects of climate change will continue.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Fans of Hollywood Burbank Airport have a new way to rag on LAX-ers.

Burbank’s ambitious new terminal building has been completed on time and on budget. The long-awaited structure, known as the Elevate BUR project, is ready for prime time.

It’s slated to open to the public on Oct. 13, with a new entrance at Winona Avenue and Hollywood Way. On Monday, LAist got a look inside.

Why now?

The $1.3 billion terminal is a decade in the making. The project comes from Burbank’s Measure B, which voters passed in 2016.

Burbank Mayor Tamala Takahashi said the new building will replace the terminal that opened in 1930, which will eventually be demolished.

“ The old building is not to code, so it can’t be reused. It’s too close to the airstrip. That’s why we had to do this in the first place,” she said.

The new facility is more than 50% larger. Plus, it has a slate of improvements needed to meet FAA safety standards and state building requirements. That includes new seismic and accessibility features and more runaway space.

The new terminal will have the same 14 gates but with a lot more room.

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The entrance to TSA. Once you're in, you either go left or right to your gate number after screening.

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Takahashi said the new terminal will open up  capacity because all of the gates will be able to accommodate modern planes.

“What that means is that we’re going to have the same number of flights, the same number of planes, the same number of gates, but more people going through the airport every day,” she said.

There’s one thing travelers can count on to stay the same: You’ll still be able to board your plane on the tarmac.

The Hollywood touch

Tyron Hampton, president of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, which owns the airport, said it’s time everyone knows about L.A.’s best insider tip for flying.

“ This is no longer a secret,” he said. “We want people to come here. We want people to see this experience.”

Hampton said the new building has space for more amenities, which feature local retailers like Jones Coffee and Octavia’s Bookshelf.

The specs on the ceiling are supposed to mirror one of Marilyn Monroe's dresses.

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Art is also woven into the design. Brent Kelley, who worked on the architecture at Corgan, said one of their themes was classic Hollywood.

For example, small dots on the ceiling are meant to evoke Marilyn Monroe’s glimmering dress during her iconic “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” moment.

A “silver screen” canopy extends across the building outside, alongside an installation that honors the time the buildings were covered in camouflage during World War II.

California State University is betting that artificial intelligence will transform the workplace — and that its 470,000 students need to learn how to use it before they graduate.

Last year, CSU became the nation’s first public university system to pay for students’ access to ChatGPT Edu. It has awarded over $3 million in grants for faculty to experiment with how to use AI in classrooms. Several campuses now train students in how to responsibly use the technology.

Those measures are all pieces of CSU’s strategy to prepare students for a future labor market reshaped by AI. But the investment in AI has come under criticism from some CSU faculty, and some students remain skeptical of the value of knowing how to use AI even as most are concerned the developing technology will threaten their chances of landing a job and keeping it.

The success of CSU’s AI strategy will depend on the extent to which AI affects the workforce that today’s college students will soon enter.

Hiring is frozen in many sectors right now as employers wait to see the true extent artificial intelligence will change the labor market, said Eric Bettinger, a leading education economist with Stanford Graduate School of Education. But it’s not clear if the slowdown in the labor market can be attributed to AI.

As with previous emerging technologies, AI is forcing employers to decide whether they should replace workers with the technology, or hire more employees who can leverage AI to be more productive, Bettinger said.

New graduates are facing a difficult labor market, considering the unemployment rate for this population has steadily risen since 2022, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

“The reality is that the world outside of school isn’t slowing down, and we need to prepare our students for that reality,” James Frazee, San Diego State University’s vice president for information technology, told EdSource.

Students worry AI is taking their future jobs

Ismaeel Malik, a San Jose State University justice studies student, said he worries about AI taking over jobs in his desired field.

“Entry-level jobs are work that people don’t want to do,” Malik, who will graduate next spring, told EdSource. Malik said he doesn’t think AI proficiency will make it easier to win a position out of college.

Other San Jose State students who spoke with EdSource say they think some majors will be more affected than others. San Jose State prenursing student Jade Goodewin said the “hands-on” part of her preferred future career seems fairly AI-proof. But second-year student Vien Tang, who is studying advertising, said that AI could replace some of the work of entry-level jobs in the advertising industry.

“It’s definitely a possibility, because I think a lot of companies try to cut costs,” Tang said. “There’s a likelihood of that happening.”

Given SJSU’s proximity to Silicon Valley and many companies whose technologies are reshaping the workforce, the university hopes to be a leader in AI adoption, said Sandra Hirsh, special assistant to the university’s provost for AI initiatives.

“We need to be preparing students with whatever the latest opportunities are, but also prepare students for the fact that change and evolution are going to continue to happen,” she said.

Hirsh said companies want graduates to have a basic understanding of AI and how to use it in their work. Despite the nebulous changes happening in the job market, companies that hire SJSU graduates have told university leaders that students also need skills in leadership, inventiveness and ethics.

The CSU system is paying $13 million a year to provide ChatGPT Edu to all 470,000 CSU students.

Artur Gafurov, president of the California State Student Association and a fourth-year student at San Jose State, said many students appreciate access to AI tools like ChatGPT Edu, but don’t necessarily know how to use them responsibly and effectively.

“I know a lot of students who are taking it upon themselves to learn a bit more about the tool and restrict themselves with how they use it,” Gafurov said.

Some question the value of AI initiatives 

Other private and public universities have signed agreements with companies such as OpenAI to give students access to large language models, including ChatGPT Edu. Large public university systems, such as State University of New York, have also developed systemwide AI policies, and some colleges, such as Northwestern University, have launched AI majors.

But not everyone at CSU has embraced the growing use of AI on campuses. Some professors pushed back on the OpenAI deal after CSU signed it in early 2025. Martha Lincoln, an anthropology professor at San Francisco State University, said CSU administrators did not clearly explain how AI would be used on campuses and in classrooms by students.

“What will students be doing with AI that’s so valuable? If it’s so valuable to them professionally, educationally, where is that value and what does it look like?” Lincoln said.

Martha Kenney, a professor in the SFSU Department of Women and Gender Studies, said CSU’s claims that AI is helping prepare students for the changing labor market are dubious because the university has not clearly identified skills young people should develop for their future careers.

“It’s possible it has no use for our students in this way,” Kenney said.

According to an OpenAI spokesperson, ChatGPT Edu provides students with access to the company’s latest large language model, and includes plug-ins that students and faculty can use to personalize their accounts for teaching and learning.

University officials say providing access to tools like ChatGPT is essential to prevent a digital divide for CSU students who may not be able to afford subscriptions to these technologies.

“We believe we’re doing the right thing to serve our mission to prepare our students for the future workforce,” said Ed Clark, CSU’s chief information officer.

The future workforce

Erika McEntarfer, the former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and a policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, said some experts in recent years have forecast that AI would wipe out white-collar workers’ jobs. There’s little evidence that has happened, she said.

It’s difficult for universities to predict which skills will be in demand in the future, she said, but colleges should prepare their students for disruptions to their careers. She noted that roughly 60% of today’s jobs didn’t exist in 1940.

Universities need to prepare students for a tough labor market, and not just because of AI, McEntarfer said. The recent rise in the unemployment rate among new graduates started before ChatGPT was introduced in 2022, she said.

McEntarfer’s advice to recent or soon-to-be graduates is to develop skills that make you a good “human” worker, such as small talk, showing up to work on time and meeting the needs of company leaders.

“With AI you need to make sure you’re using it as a personal trainer, not a human forklift,” McEntarfer advised future college graduates. “Hopefully that’s what colleges are doing.”

Mariana Sanchez is a fourth-year journalism major at San Jose State University and a member of the EdSource California Student Journalism Corps.

This story was originally published by EdSource.