The Brief

Imitation, it's often said, is the sincerest form of flattery.

But in the case of the internet's favorite bald eagles, Jackie and Shadow, that has meant an explosion of fake social media accounts that have nothing to do with the official Big Bear Valley nonprofit behind the nest cam on YouTube.

Sandy Steers, executive director of Friends of Big Bear Valley, said fans started noticing copycat accounts on Instagram and Facebook a few years ago.

Growing popularity

But as eaglets have emerged and endured (or not, in the case of one unfortunate chick) snow and wind, the imitators’ presence has grown.

According to the nonprofit, some 2.5 million unique visitors checked out the official Friends of Big Bear Valley website in the last 30 days. Their Instagram, launched in late 2024, has more than 80,000 followers. As for the live YouTube nest cam — that's at 588,000 subscribers and counting.

Growing pains

"Just this year is when everything started multiplying like crazy," said Steers, adding that the group has been filing takedown requests with social platforms when they spot imitators. "We're still working on a lot more. It's like they're popping up faster than we can keep a handle on it at this point."

Steers said there are knockoff accounts selling merchandise for a profit — and in some cases falsely claiming that the proceeds will go to the Friends of Big Bear Valley. And in others, they’re making up stories about the bald eagle family to gin up more clicks.

Ways to safeguard your content

The Big Bear nonprofit that has made the parenting saga of Jackie and Shadow a must-watch stream is experiencing something that many successful content producers have had to grapple with — how to protect their content from exploitation.

Kristina Mitri is the vice president of social media and email marketing at Studio 3, an agency specializing in internet marketing with offices in Los Angeles and other cities.

Mitri said fake accounts is commonplace in the social media space. One tip for creators is to watermark or put an official logo over their content to prevent exploitation.

And once a copycat is identified, to let their fans and followers know. Finally, Mitri says to consider seeking legal counsel for protection.

 "Social is ever evolving," Mitri said. "There's a lot of unknowns and so it's important to realize that each case is unique and to set a precedent. It could help others in this space going forward."

Given all the time and resources spent on the issue of fake accounts, Steers said the group is indeed looking into their legal recourse.

"That's taking away from our funds, taking away from our time that we could be helping other people to understand the eagles," Steers said.

Do they have a case? One perspective

With the live nest cam, the case of infringement might be hard to make, according to copyright expert Justin Hughes.

Hughes, a law professor at Loyola Law School, said that there are two conditions for copyright laws.

First, it requires fixation — meaning a work claiming copyright protection needs to be in a permanent or a semi-permanent form. Think a photograph or a painting.

"The phrase we use is 'fixed in a tangible medium of expression,'" Hughes said. " So a livestream by itself by definition is not subject to copyright."

But that condition could be met if the livestream is recorded — even if the recording is not made available to the public.

Now onto the second condition: human creativity.

 "Copyright protects what we call original expression," Hughes said, citing Supreme Court precedents, "that shows a modicum of creativity."

In the court of law, the live eagles cam would unlikely be considered a work of "human original expression."

"Nothing that happens in the frame, nothing the birds do...it's not original expression," he said.

One possible argument, Hughes said, could be made over the angle or placement of the camera — but not if it's random or arbitrary.

"That there are unscrupulous people taking their video feed doesn't surprise me, and it saddens me," Hughes said. But "copyright is not going to give them much help.

A different perspective

Eleanor Musick, an attorney in San Diego who specializes in intellectual property law and who is representing the nonprofit, offers a different conclusion based on the inner workings of the nest cam.

The livestream is indeed recorded, she said. In addition, the two cameras capturing footage are controlled by someone at all time, Musick said, "who chooses when to zoom, when to pan, when to incorporate sound from a microphone on a separate camera and when to activate infrared lighting."

Such actions, she said, fits the definition of "original" expression.

Despite the prevalence and popularity of this type of content, Musick said, it's uncharted territory where the nonprofit has found itself in.

"I am aware of no court decisions to date regarding the copyrightability of trail camera or surveillance camera videos," Musick said.

Accept no substitutes

As Friends of Big Bear Valley navigates these new terrains, Steers reminds new and longtime fans to keep an eye out.

 "Anything that they see, you know, if they can just make a point of seeing what really is from Friends of Big Bear Valley and what is authenticated by us," Steers said.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting agreed Monday to fulfill a $36 million, multi-year contract with NPR that it had yanked after pressure from the Trump White House.

The arrangement resolves litigation filed by NPR accusing the corporation of illegally yielding to Trump's demands that the network be financially punished for its news coverage. The argument, part of a broader lawsuit by NPR and several stations against the Trump administration, focused on CPB funding for NPR's operation of a satellite distribution system for local public radio stations. NPR announced Monday it would waive all fees for the stations associated with the satellite service.

The judge in the case had explicitly told CPB's legal team he did not find its defense credible. CPB lawyers had argued that the decision to award the contract to a new consortium of public media institutions was driven by a desire to foster digital innovations more swiftly.

"The settlement is a victory for editorial independence and a step toward upholding the First Amendment rights of NPR and the public media system in our legal challenge to [Trump's] Executive Order," Katherine Maher, President and CEO of NPR, said in a statement. "While we entered into this dispute with CPB reluctantly, we're glad to resolve it in a way that enables us to continue to provide for the stability of the Public Radio Satellite System, offer immediate and direct support to public radio stations across the country, and proceed with our strong and substantive claims against this illegal and unconstitutional Executive Order. We look forward to our day in court in December."

In its submission Monday evening to the court, CPB did not concede that it had acted wrongfully — nor that it had yielded to political pressure from the administration.

Instead, in a statement posted on its website, CPB asserted its side "prevails" as a result of the settlement.

"This is an important moment for public media," said Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of CPB. "We are very pleased that this costly and unnecessary litigation is over, and that our investment in the future through [Public Media Infrastructure] marks an exciting new era for public media." CPB had awarded a rival contract to PMI, a newly created consortium of public radio organizations including several major stations, to ensure the digital distribution system functions properly. That contract will continue, CPB said.

Federal subsidies for public broadcasting stopped on Oct. 1 as a result of a party-line vote over the summer by Congress, called a rescission. Only a skeleton crew remains at CPB, which was created as a nonprofit corporation more than a half-century ago to funnel federal subsidies to public media. While PBS has had layoffs and NPR is monitoring its own finances, many local stations across the country have been hit hard.

Over the course of the litigation this fall, mounting evidence appeared to demonstrate that CPB's board chair and executives had acted against NPR in what turned out to be a futile attempt to salvage the corporation's own future.

In hearings last month in Washington, D.C., U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss told CPB's legal team they had not made a credible case for why the corporation reneged on the contract just a day after a top White House official warned senior CPB leaders against doing business with NPR. A trial had been set to start on Dec. 1.

CPB's change of mind — and NPR's ensuing lawsuit — sparked consternation and unease within the larger public media ecosystem. The two organizations had served as partners for decades. But that relationship frayed earlier this year, as the system came under attack from the Trump administration.

Trump's public campaign against NPR and PBS started in earnest soon after he returned to the White House. Trump kicked it into high gear in late March with a series of social media posts.

In early April, CPB leaders sought to get money out the door before Trump took action against public media. On April 2, CPB's board approved the extension of a contract with NPR to distribute public radio programs, including those not produced by NPR. The arrangement stretched back four decades. The amount included millions still due on the then-current contract.

The next day, CPB's board chair and two senior executives met with a top White House budget official who attested to her "intense dislike for NPR." The budget official told them CPB didn't have to "throw the baby out with the bathwater," according to a deposition from CPB executive Clayton Barsoum submitted as part of NPR's legal filings.

And the day after that — just 48 hours after that board vote — CPB reversed itself. CPB executive Kathy Merritt informed NPR's top official over the satellite and distribution service that it had to be spun off: it could not be part of NPR. NPR refused to do so. CPB revised the scope of the contract and solicited new bids. NPR's submission proved unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, the White House was ramping up the pressure. It accused NPR and PBS of bias. On April 14, for example, it issued a formal statement that called their offerings "radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news'." NPR and PBS's chief executives have rejected the accusations of bias.

On May 1, Trump issued an executive order that no federal money should go to the two public broadcasting networks. NPR and three Colorado public radio stations then filed suit against the White House, saying they were being unlawfully punished because the president did not like their news coverage. They contended the executive order represented a violation of First Amendment protections. Their suit names CPB as a defendant as well for, in their characterization, bending to the president's will. In Monday's legal filing, CPB agreed that the executive order was precisely the sort of government interference that Congress sought to prevent in establishing CPB as it did.

In the summer, Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress, urged on by Trump, pulled back all $1.1 billion for future public broadcasting that had already been approved and signed into law by the president.

Throughout the legal battle, NPR has said, regardless of the outcome of the case, it would work with Public Media Infrastructure.

NPR's broader constitutional case against Trump's executive order purporting to ban federal funding of public media continues. A hearing on its merits is scheduled for December.

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. It was edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editors Gerry Holmes and Vickie Walton-James. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.
Copyright 2025 NPR

A long-awaited vision for Huntington Drive is finally coming into focus. In the future, the busy corridor will have dedicated bus lanes, protected bike lanes, two lanes of vehicle traffic in each direction, a thin median and wide sidewalks.

This was the plan chosen by the City for the Huntington Drive Multi-Modal Transportation Improvement Project, which runs on an approximately four-mile stretch of the street between North Mission Road near LAC+USC Medical Center and Alhambra/South Pasadena. This had much more public support than the competing alternative, which featured a wide median rather than wide sidewalks, according to Mary Nemick, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Engineering.

Nemick said the next step is to hire a consultant to create design and engineering documents. This phase is expected to take about two years before groundbreaking can occur.

Currently, Huntington Drive has three vehicular lanes in each direction, the bike lanes are unprotected, and about 25% of the corridor lacks sidewalks. Though pedestrians and bicyclists account for only 1% of peak-hour trips, they account for 54% of severe or fatal injuries from traffic collisions, according to a project document.

The design budget is about $10.5 million, Nemick said, and the overall project cost will be determined after designs are completed.

The project is being funded by some of the money previously allocated for the construction of the 710 Freeway extension, which was abandoned in 2018 after decades of local opposition.

The Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for a roughly 40,000-square-foot expansion that will include indoor and outdoor science learning areas and space for special exhibits.

The centerpiece of the buildout will include an interactive display of the Inspiration space shuttle mockup, where visitors can go inside the cargo bay.

Built in 1972, the 35-foot-tall model made of wood, plastic and aluminum functioned as a prototype and fitting tool for all of the orbiters that launched into space.

“We’re super excited to be able to put it on display for the public, really for the first time in forever,” Ben Dickow, president and executive director of the Columbia Memorial Space Center, told LAist.

The expansion will also allow for educational areas, where students can learn about the pioneering engineering and design work that went into building the model at Rockwell International in Downey.

The backstory

Last fall, after sitting in storage for more than a decade, the full-scale model was moved a few blocks to a temporary home.

The Inspiration space shuttle mockup was moved in sections to a temporary home last fall

(

Courtesy Columbia Memorial Space Center

)

The Space Center said renovation work on the mock up will take months and include rehabs of its 60-foot cargo bay and flight deck.

Dickow said Downey is where all of the Apollo capsules that went to the moon and all of the space shuttles were designed and built.

“This is part of the L.A. story as much as entertainment or anything like that,” Dickow said, adding that it’s a legacy he feels like Angelenos sometimes forget. “The space craft that took humanity to the moon, the space craft that brought humanity into lower earth orbit and built the international space station, these are human firsts... and they all happened right here.”

What’s next? 

The Space Center is looking to raise $50 million that would go toward building plans, special exhibits and more.

Dickow said the new building that will house the space shuttle mockup should be open to the public in about two years.

By early next year, he said the plan is to have the shuttle model available for bi-monthly public visits as it undergoes renovation.