The Brief

Artificial intelligence in schools, in social media apps and — maybe??? — in journalism.

AI in journalism?

Look, AI is a tool that’s pretty much here to stay for now. Different industries are grappling with the fact that it can impact jobs and workflows for people. Hollywood production has come to a stop as writers fight for better wages and challenge the idea of how AI could be implemented in crafting entertainment.

As the How to LA team talked about how to cover these developments in our reporting, my producer Evan Jacoby was already curious about how AI could come into play in his job.

He was hanging out with a friend who showed him a synthesizer tool from the ‘80s that Evan, who is not a musician, used to create a tune he describes as “simple, yet beautiful and rich.” As an audio producer, he immediately thought, “Can the work *I make be made by a machine?”

Evan pitched an experiment to explore whether or not AI tools could be used to do the human job of creating our podcast. I was game. We had meetings and the process kicked off.

To be clear, this is an extension of our journalism and not a policy precedent we were trying to create. We, as humans and professionals, were just as curious as anyone else to see what AI could do — and what it can’t.

As Evan began using AI tools like ChatGPT to create a fake How to LA episode, we hit up experts to talk about the implications. We used a made-up story told by made-up sources using voices based on real people, like myself. We were curious: were we breaking any laws here?

“That’s actually a complicated question,” says Eugene Volokh, professor of law and technology at UCLA. You see, we’re in a bit of a wild west territory here. There are all sorts of legal questions surrounding libel and voice ownership that just haven’t been answered yet.

This experiment was, well, produced with lots of layers. The results were a little scary at first. There are so many unknowns and a lot of potential risks. But this software, as you can probably hear, does have its limitations. Bottom line: there are a lot of lessons to be learned.

Listen to the podcast as we break down the legal and cultural impact AI may have on journalism and read Evan’s explanation about the audio production, tools and takeaways.

FYI: I’m not being replaced as a host, you’re stuck with me on How to LA. 🙂

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• The group representing hotels in Los Angeles and Orange Counties where workers went on strike on Sunday filed claims of unfair labor practices against the union that called for the work stoppage.
• Pedestrian safety measures, including a new traffic light, have been put in place on Olympic Boulevard in Boyle Heights. That stretch of road has been noted for vehicle-related injuries and fatalities. 
• From now on, you cannot buy plastic water bottles at LAX. They've been banned but there are some alternatives.
• Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass joined LAist 89.3’s Airtalk on Thursday to discuss the results of the annual LAHSA homelessness count and the latest on her administration’s Inside Safe program. 
• Prep your ice trays! Another heat wave is heading to LA, and it's going to be hotter and last longer than the 4th of July weekend wave. According to the National Weather Service, temperatures will begin to rise Monday with triple-digit temperatures rolling in by Wednesday. (Los Angeles Times)
• ICYMI: A deputy police officer was caught on camera slamming a woman to the ground and pepper spraying her in the parking lot of a Lancaster grocery store on June 24. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna called the video “disturbing” on Wednesday, and promised an investigation into the deputies involved.
• By the time school starts in fall 2025, Transitional Kindergarten will be available to every 4-year-old for free at their local public school. But that doesn’t necessarily apply to charter schools. My colleague Mariana Dale has more.
• The California Air Resource Board (CARB) and truck manufacturers have struck a deal to meet California’s policy to stop selling diesel and gas big rig trucks by 2036. The agreement includes provisions to avoid legal roadblocks to reaching the goal, and a concession from CARB to impose a less-strict air emissions standard on manufacturers. The policy will help bring electric trucks to the road. 
• The California Coastal Commission has prevented construction on 840 miles of the California shoreline for the past five decades. Now, the state’s housing crisis has prompted a growing number of legislators and advocates to try and strip away the commission’s power in favor of building more homes. CalMatters’ Ben Christopher writes about the struggle over control of the coast.
• Looking for something to do this weekend? Tonight, you can dance the night away with family and friends at the LA Zoo’s Friday Nights. On Saturday, the Los Angeles LGBT Center is holding the Sabor de Mi Centro Block Party in celebration of the Latine community of LA’s Eastside. And, on Sunday, travel back in time to the Middle Ages at the Getty during their Family Festival: Medieval Play. You can check out more events at LAist.com. 

A young volunteer gathers lemons at Food Forward harvest location in Camarillo, CA

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Jeffery Dawson

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Courtesy of Food Forward

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Wait! One more thing....

Making change in your community with your kids

A few weeks ago, a reader wrote in and asked us if we knew of opportunities for families to make change in the community this summer. While we’re putting together that list, we’d love your help!

Do you know of any kid-friendly community projects or volunteer opportunities in Los Angeles? Tell us about them!

One organization we’ve already learned about is Food Forward. They’re a local non-profit that recovers fresh, surplus produce, and distributes it to local relief agencies serving folks facing food insecurity across Southern California.

And there are a number of ways children and families can get involved — from harvesting produce at local farms to gathering excess food at farmers markets. Or — do you have a lemon tree in your backyard and always have extra lemons? Don’t let them rot! You can also register your backyard’s citrus tree as a harvest location with Food Forward (and get a nice tax write-off!)

We’re excited to share the entire list of volunteer opportunities with you, and would love to get our HTLA readers’ input. Let us know where you volunteer with your kids in L.A.! 

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Colorful parade floats, charros on horseback and live music will take over Cesar E. Chavez Avenue on Sunday for the 80th East L.A. Mexican Independence Day Parade.

For decades, organizers have brought together community leaders, performers, businesses and organizations to celebrate culture, community and tradition. This year, the parade will culminate in a festival with family-friendly activations, including live music, local vendors and lucha libre. 

This year’s co-grand marshals are singer and actor Dasahev López Saavedra, better known as El Dasa, and Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis.

Here’s everything you need to know.

When is the parade and festival?

The parade runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 13. The festival takes place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on First Street and Mednik Avenue. 

What’s the parade route? 

The 1.5-mile route will run along Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, starting at Mednik Avenue and ending on Gage Avenue. You can find a map of the parade route and other festivities on the festival’s webpage here. Early arrival is suggested to secure a viewing spot for the parade. 

A map of the East LA Mexican Independence Day Parade route.

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Courtesy of the organizers

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What streets will be closed?

• Mednik Avenue: Between 1st Street and Cesar E. Chavez from 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13.
• Cesar E. Chavez Avenue: Between Vancouver Avenue and Gage Avenue from 6  a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13.

What can I expect at the festivities?

The parade will feature floats, show cars, representatives from Eastside organizations, equestrian teams, marching bands and folklórico dancers. 

The festival will include vendors, musical performances, resource booths, a pop-up from local boutique The Goddess Mercado, a free pet vaccination clinic that will administer free vaccines for the first 200 pets, and a free lucha libre showcase by East Los Lucha. 

Where can I park? 

Limited free parking will be available at the East L.A. Civic Center lot located on E. 3rd Street and Civic Center Way. Attendees can also find street parking in the surrounding area. 

Can I take public transit to the event? 

The Metro E Line’s East L.A. Civic Center station is just a short walk from the event. 

What if I don’t want to attend in person? 

If you’re unable to attend or want to watch the parade from home, you can tune in to the live broadcast on ABC7. 

For more information, check out the website here. 

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Robbie Hall has a record of the people she has treated for overdoses at MacArthur Park.

The photos of many of the people she has treated are saved on her phone. She can scroll through them and remember each one.

Hall, an ambassador with the nonprofit Five Keys, has been doing this work for about four years and is at the park almost every day, carrying Naloxone, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses.

She typically responds when someone stops breathing.

“I stopped counting when I got up in my 40s, because it started being gradually three of them, four of them,” Hall said. 

On a recent September morning at the park, Hall said she found a 14-year-old girl in a bathroom who was experiencing an overdose. Tears welled up as she talked about the people she encounters at the park.

“They need help, they need help,” she said. “This is every day.” 

She believes the city needs to address the problem. When asked about the plans to fence the park, she said she sees the fence as one way to improve the conditions she sees on the ground.

“They need to put something up here,” she said.

For Hall and others who work around the park, the fence is less a solution than a stopgap, something concrete to try amid problems that have proven harder to solve.

The Department of Recreation and Parks says the fence will be temporary and is still on track for construction this fall, but has not provided a specific date, cost estimate or explained what conditions would need to change before the fence comes down.

Marco Pacheco, president of the MacArthur Park Park Advisory Board, does not believe the fence will be temporary. 

“I think this is going to be permanent,” Pacheco said. “This is going to be a permanent fixture of some sort because first of all, you don’t put up a fence that costs millions of dollars to take it down. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Pacheco isn’t the only one who has doubts.

Richard Barron, who served on the Cultural Heritage Commission for 22 years before departing in July, also questioned whether the city would follow through on its promise to remove the fence.

“I doubt that the fence is going to come down,” Barron said, “especially when they’ve spent all that money. Even taking it down costs a lot of money, you know, and you’re going to throw all that material away?”

The Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners approved $2.3 million in funding for the project. The city has not said how much money will ultimately be spent on the fence.

Everyone has a different idea of what the fence will do

The city’s consultants have described a fence that would be transparent, reversible and designed to blend into the park.

Leila Hamroun, a senior preservation architect with Tetra Tech, the consulting firm working with the city on the project’s design, said the fence won’t be a dominant feature.

“The whole intent here is to guarantee that it just blends in, that it’s seamless,” Hamroun said. “It’s reversible, transparent, minimalist, consistent with the evolution of urban parks over time.”

A rendering shows the proposed green metal fence around MacArthur Park.

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Courtesy L.A. Recreation and Parks

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The fence is expected to be about 8 feet tall, with gates at eight existing entrances. Decorative elements would be considered separately, with community input expected next year.

For Michelle Garcia, who has been a vendor around MacArthur Park since 2015, it could help distinguish vendors from the people living in the park.

“I support it if they could get the homeless people out,” Garcia said. “They are the ones that make MacArthur Park look bad. But they also make us look bad, because we sell around the area, so they think we’re like them, which we’re not.”

Garcia was among a group of vendors at MacArthur Park who held a Sept. 2 press conference to call attention to what they described as police harassment and citations that pushed vendors away from the park.

“Like us, we’re trying to work and get money for our bills, our rent,” she said.

Police have their own expectations for what a fenced park could accomplish.

The Los Angeles Police Department has stepped up enforcement around the park through a joint task force with the Drug Enforcement Administration focused on drug dealing in the area. In July, Rampart Division Capt. Benedict Fernandes said the operation had significantly disrupted the drug trade, but that drug users were spreading into surrounding neighborhoods in search of narcotics.

“We know that all the communities around have been impacted because it got spread this way, sort of like a shotgun blast,” he said. “It went south, it went east, it went north, it went west.”

Fernandes said the next phase of the enforcement effort would focus on connecting unhoused people and drug users with shelter and recovery services.

The fence, he said, is meant to make the park less convenient for drug activity and “prevent crime” inside the park.

“Because that’s the problem,” Fernandes said. “The Alvarado corridor at MacArthur Park has been convenient for drug users for years. We’re just trying to make those things stop.”

Fernandes said the temporary fence along Alvarado and now the orange bollards installed in the area, have worked to disrupt that activity. 

But Hall, the outreach worker administering Narcan at the park, has not seen those types of improvements on the ground.

“Since they did that big bust? No, it got worse,” Hall said when asked whether she had seen fewer overdoses in the area.

She said people wait for police to leave the park before returning.

“If it wasn’t for Five Keys, there would be a lot more dead bodies here,” she said.

Some residents say that adding a fence around MacArthur Park would change the makeup of the neighborhood. Others welcome a change to the troubled park.

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Gary Coronado

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The LA Local

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How the fence is supposed to work

The plan calls for the park to remain open during the day, with eight entry points, and close overnight from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. LAPD would close the gates at night, and Recreation and Parks maintenance workers would reopen them each morning.

The department says the fence is intended to make the park easier to maintain. Illegal dumping, littering, vandalism and graffiti have made routine maintenance difficult, according to the department, which has said MacArthur Park generates more graffiti cleanup requests than nearby Lafayette Park.

The city has pointed to nearby Lafayette Park, which is fenced and closed at night, as a model for MacArthur Park.

Pacheco, the president of the park’s advisory board, said he has heard general support for the fence among community members. 

“In many cases, community members alluded to Lafayette Park having been fenced for a long time, the difference between the two parks, Lafayette being a lot safer and a lot cleaner and less of a problem than MacArthur Park,” he said. 

The fence still needs final approval from the five-person commission that approved the project’s conceptual phase in October. The commission has not yet set a date to consider the final plans.

To incentivize voters to cast ballots for Republicans, President Donald Trump used his convention speech to promise a dividend of $5,000 to every adult citizen if the Republican Party maintains control of Congress in the midterm election.  

"If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000," he said. "It will be called the Trump dividend, congratulations."

The money would have to be spent in the U.S., the president said. 

Trump did not provide details about where the money would come from or the legality of his promise. According to the most recent Census data, it could cost $1 trillion or more to provide these payments. 

The event is designed to rally support for Republicans in the midterms where they face an uphill battle to maintaining control of Congress. 

He said the midterms will decide if the country stumbles or surges forward, adding that he will travel to "every race," to show his support to the Republican nominees, and to Texas even more than once. 

Trump's support and his ask of voters to "pretend" that he's on the ballot could backfire given his unpopularity amid the war in Iran and the nationwide focus on affordability.

"Vote Republican and we will leave the world in our dust for generations to come," said Trump.

Apart from the $5,000 promise, Trump's address was not very different from his typical rally speech, touching on issues he often speaks about, including tariffs, the importance of destroying Iran's nuclear program, passing a bill to limit voter identification and registration rules and claiming lower inflation than when he took office. 

It was a night where Trump was the star of the show. The event, billed as a "Trumpapalooza," put the president center stage as Republican candidates, lawmakers and everyday Americans shared appreciation for Trump and his policies.

President Trump greets attendees as he walks on stage to speak on the first day of the 2026 Republican National Convention Sept. 9, 2026 in Dallas, Texas.

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Justin Sullivan

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Getty Images

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"Let's hear it for the man who had the vision to hold this convention," Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said to widespread applause.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate nominee in Texas, also opened by praising President Trump for standing up for Texas.

Paxton addressed the economy, promising tax relief policies to help American families. He also made an appeal for more support, acknowledging that his opponent, state Rep. James Talarico has the money advantage.

"I need your prayers, your vote and your support," Paxton said. "If we lose Texas, we lose the common sense revolution. If we lose the common sense revolution, we lose America."

Texas Republican Senate candidate, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton walks on stage on the first day of the 2026 Republican National Convention on Sept. 9, 2026 in Dallas, Texas.

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Justin Sullivan

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Getty Images

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Rep. Brandon Gill, who represents a district north of Dallas, said this election is about "the mainstream versus the extreme."

Gill, one of the speakers with the longest address Wednesday, returned several times to transgender issues, a culture-war theme that has been especially prominent in Texas politics.

"I think we can all remember the good old days when political debates were about marginal tax rates and government spending," Gill quipped. "Now we are debating whether toddlers can become transgender, whether men can become pregnant and whether your daughter should have to share a locker room with a man."

Attorney General Todd Blanche spoke about the Trump administration's law enforcement agenda.

"President Trump will hold you accountable," he said. "If you choose violence, you will be held accountable. Now that is making America safe again."

Before Blanche, no sitting Attorney General had spoken at a political party convention, the House Judiciary Dems said on X Tuesday.

They called Blanche's participation in the convention "dumbfounding and unprecedented. Amazing how far the DOJ has fallen," said the post. 

Political parties typically hold big, televised presidential nominating conventions every four years, but this isn't a presidential election year. And midterm conventions just aren't a thing (at least not since Democrats scrapped them after a short run in 1982).

It would be reasonable to ask why Republicans, trying to hang onto their narrow majorities in the House and the Senate, would want to train so much attention on a president whose approval rating is underwater.

People hold signs on the first day of the 2026 Republican National Convention Sept. 9 in Dallas, Texas. President Donald Trump will headline the Republican National Committee's first-ever midterm convention Wednesday night.

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Tasos Katopodis

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Getty Images

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At a recent campaign rally, Trump laid out the theory of the case.

"The problem that we have is they say that Trump does great when he's on the ballot," said Trump, speaking in the third person. "But when he's not on the ballot, his people don't come and they don't vote.

"So, what I really want you to do is pretend please, that I am on the ballot," Trump said at the rally for South Carolina Republican Sen. Darline Graham, who is running for her seat this fall. "Just come and vote. It's so important."

But this isn't just a plea for Republican primary voters in a runoff election in a deep red state. In swing states and toss up districts, Trump and his advisors are trying to rebuild the coalition of voters who propelled him back into office in 2024, voters who don't always show up if there isn't a presidential race at the top of the ticket.

This is a different approach than that taken by most presidents whose parties are facing political headwinds in a midterm year. But President Trump has never been one to go along with the normal rules of politics.

Convention organizers say the gathering in Dallas will focus on the issues shaping the midterms, including lowering the cost of living and raising incomes, securing the border and protecting American values.

Based on an NPR analysis, using race ratings from the Cook Political Report, fewer than half of the Republican candidates in competitive House and Senate races are listed as convention speakers.

"We're going to be back in our district, working hard," said Republican Rep. Zach Nunn of Iowa, when quizzed on his convention plans by reporters on Capitol Hill.

He's in a toss-up race for reelection.

But if the White House is concerned about attendance, Vance isn't letting on.

"The president and I can go and make [the] argument on national TV," Vance said at a White House press briefing last week. "We don't need a congressman in a tight race to be there in all cases."

There's also a question of who will be watching. The convention is up against the NFL season opener on Wednesday night, a rematch of this year's Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. There's a primetime football game on Thursday night as well.

Democrats aren't planning their own convention and the counterprogramming will be fairly limited.

"Most elected officials don't even want to go to [presidential nominating conventions]," said John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster and consultant. "I mean, the expiration date on conventions has passed a long, long time ago."

And, he argues, the war in Iran, unpopular tariffs, high gas prices and broader affordability concerns, mean the political environment "is disastrous for Republicans running for office and this Republican convention is not going to change that narrative one iota for the midterm elections."

Ohio Republican Party chairman Alex Triantafilou said he had no trouble finding people interested in attending. But the state party was also allotted far fewer tickets than it would get for a traditional presidential convention.

"From the very beginning we were told that we could use this as an opportunity to rally the troops and to raise some money for the party and those two things have certainly happened," said Triantafilou.

He said the state party is using the convention to excite grassroots Republicans and he hopes the president will visit Ohio again sometime before the November election.

"He is very popular here," said Triantafilou. "We do talk a lot about low propensity voters and turning them out. Nobody turns out low propensity voters in Ohio like the president. So, we welcome this."

Whether this novel midterms approach will pay off is yet to be seen, but some Republicans say it may be the best shot the party has to limit its losses in what is widely expected to be a tough year for Republicans.

"Running to President Trump and defending his record, I think, is an interesting strategy and I think it is so interesting that it might just work," said Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, a Republican group. "We've tried running away from the president in previous midterms and we almost always lose."

Schilling will be at the convention and says he expects many of his friends involved in Republican politics to be there as well. He hopes they emerge energized and ready to drive a focused message heading into the midterms.

NPR's Eric McDaniel contributed reporting for this story.
Copyright 2026 NPR

The longest road trip in NFL history has brought the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams to Australia’s sports capital for a season opener in front of more than 100,000 football-hungry fans packed into the Southern Hemisphere’s largest stadium.

The NFC West rivals are playing Australia’s first NFL game, and the starkly differing ways in which they made this epic journey have attracted almost as much attention as the two star-studded rosters preparing to put on a show.

The 49ers have been Down Under for more than a week, adjusting their body clocks in the traditional manner and winning over thousands of Aussie fans who appreciate their commitment to the historic moment.

The Rams were only scheduled to arrive in Melbourne around dawn Thursday, roughly 28 hours before the Friday morning kickoff that’s necessary to play the game Thursday night in prime time in the U.S. That’s because head coach Sean McVay is convinced they can thwart jet lag and optimize their game readiness by staying home on California time.

Both teams agree this contrast in preparation is not a referendum on the best way to handle a pair of 16-hour flights with a football game in between — even if the rest of the world might see it that way after the final whistle.

Instead, this game is primarily a difficult early test for both the Super Bowl favorite Rams and the talent-laden 49ers, who also intend to be a title challenger. The coaching staffs and veteran players all know each other thoroughly after a decade of competition between Shanahan and McVay, who are both constantly looking for an edge.

“I don’t think there’s any right way to do it,” said defensive end Myles Garrett, who will make his Rams debut in Australia. “They have a plan, and I’m sure they consulted different teams and people to find out a way to combat jet lag and such long travel. We’ve done the same thing. I think we’re both riding our methodologies.”

Garrett will be joined by star cornerback Trent McDuffie and cornerback Jaylen Watson in their debuts with Los Angeles’ revamped defense.

But Garrett will not be joined at the MCG by Aaron Donald, who ended his 2 1/2-year retirement late last month. The Rams decided the 35-year-old Donald will stay home as he ramps up deliberately for his return — and that’s a beacon of hope for Shanahan, who was sure his old friend McVay would bring Donald to Australia.

“I’ve never been more excited to be wrong about something,” Shanahan said.