Marisol Ramos, who founded Boyle Heights Gatos, works to trap, neuter, return cats at a home in Boyle Heights on April 30, 2025.
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Jaqueline Ramirez
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Boyle Heights Beat
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Topline:
An estimated 300 community cats near Sonia Villegas' home have all been “fixed,” thanks to her and Boyle Heights Gatos, a volunteer-run group working toward humanely controlling the cat population through a practice known as trap-neuter-return, or TNR.
How it works: Cats are trapped in a box, taken to a veterinarian to get neutered or spayed, and returned to their outdoor homes. Villegas has played a key role by establishing a regular feeding schedule that makes it easier to trap cats at predictable times.
Why it matters: For years, Angelenos have tried to contain cat colonies to help curb the city’s pet overpopulation crisis. But in neighborhoods like Boyle Heights and East L.A., where public services often fall short, residents are taking matters into their own hands. Their grassroots efforts go beyond helping animals, they’re filling service gaps shaped by housing inequalities, rising costs and immigration-related displacement.
Read on... for more about these volunteers' efforts to control the cat population in Boyle Heights.
This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on May 15, 2025
Free-roaming cats emerge from alleys and driveways in this Boyle Heights neighborhood as soon as they sense Sonia Villegas is nearby.
They purr and meow, awaiting their feed, as Villegas fills cardboard bowls with cat food that she carries in a stroller during her evening walk. As they eat, she points to their clipped ears — a sign they’ve been spayed or neutered.
An estimated 300 community cats near her home have all been “fixed,” thanks to Villegas and Boyle Heights Gatos, a volunteer-run group working toward humanely controlling the cat population through a practice known as trap-neuter-return, or TNR. Cats are trapped in a box, taken to a veterinarian to get neutered or spayed, and returned to their outdoor homes. Villegas has played a key role by establishing a regular feeding schedule that makes it easier to trap cats at predictable times.
“It’s not just about feeding. It’s about spaying and neutering, and vaccinating at the same time,” Villegas, 70, says in Spanish. “We don’t want the cats to have so many kittens, leaving the poor kittens abandoned.”
For years, Angelenos have tried to contain cat colonies to help curb the city’s pet overpopulation crisis. But in neighborhoods like Boyle Heights and East L.A., where public services often fall short, residents are taking matters into their own hands. Their grassroots efforts go beyond helping animals, they’re filling service gaps shaped by housing inequalities, rising costs and immigration-related displacement.
“It’s all interconnected,” said Marisol Ramos, who founded Boyle Heights Gatos during the pandemic. “Fear of immigration crackdowns has forced some people to leave, and leave their community pets behind. It’s only going to get worse.”
Cats are lured into box traps with a trail of wet cat food.
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Susanica Tam
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Boyle Heights Beat
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A grassroots effort amid overwhelming need
Ramos finds time to do TNR after her day job as an administrator at UCLA. She begins trapping midweek, usually after 6 p.m., to fill 15 weekly scheduled spay and neuter appointments at FixNation clinic in Sun Valley. She reaches that weekly goal by working with other volunteer trappers in Boyle Heights and East L.A.
Lately, Ramos says she encounters people asking, “What do I need for my cat or dog so I can take them to Mexico?” Or, “This person is [self-deporting]. Can you take the cat to get fixed?”
Then there are the cats she has captured within mobile homes near Olympic Boulevard, placing traps inside the vans where unhoused people live. “They [the unhoused] care about their animals, and a lot of the shelters don’t allow you to bring your pet so people choose to live inside a car just to be with their pets. They need services,” she said.
Ramos estimates she helped sterilize 600 cats last year and is tracking another 600 free-roaming cats that need spay and neuter care just in East L.A. and Boyle Heights. She collects tips from neighbors and Instagram DMs, then logs the information on Google Maps to determine which locations to strategically target.
“There’s a lot of need, and it’s up to us regular people to figure out what to do,” said Ramos, who lives in Boyle Heights.
Marisol Ramoss sets up a cat trap in Boyle Heights on April 30, 2025.
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Susanica Tam
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Boyle Heights Beat
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Trapping cats can take an hour, days, weeks or even months.
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Susanica Tam
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Boyle Heights Beat
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Ramos also helps residents navigate the shame and judgment that comes from unmanaged cat colonies near their homes. Many residents doing TNR in Boyle Heights and East L.A. are Spanish-speaking and Ramos is there to explain the process and understand how the situation got out of hand.
“There are people who are irresponsible, but there are also a lot more people who are like, ‘I just don’t have money to pay.’ Because if you go to a vet, they [can] charge you like $400 for a spay and neuter.”
Ramos, herself, spent more than $30,000 last year on sterilization, including about $10,000 from her own pocket. She secured grants and took up consulting jobs to help pay for those services, and also used vouchers from the Citywide Cat Program to cover costs.
Now, as the city navigates a budget shortfall, advocates like Ramos are urging the city to prioritize increasing reimbursement rates covering sterilization costs. To Ramos, TNR offers a band-aid to the issue. The real solution, she said, is making spay and neuter easier to access.
“If the city pushed for affordable spay neuter options [and] made that accessible, I don’t think we would be in the situation that we’re in,” Ramos said.
A distrust of outside rescuers
In Boyle Heights and East L.A., Ramos was intent on setting clear boundaries for TNR, especially after witnessing outsiders strolling in to trap and “rescue” cats without making contact with neighbors.
Across social media, Ramos has encountered trappers who share about cats they’ve found in “terrible living situations” or in a “poor neighborhood with lots of violence.” She’s seen people who come in and take kittens, leaving the adult cats “to continue breeding,” and neighbors wondering about the whereabouts of the community cats they’ve been feeding.
“They’re painting a picture of the neighborhood as this is bad Boyle Heights, [a] bad part of East L.A., gang-infested, garbage ridden, just to make a story about saving a cat appealing to that savior mentality,” Ramos said.
On a recent Wednesday evening, Ramos trapped six cats with the help of Katelyn Vargas, a Boyle Heights resident who reached out to her after noticing a surge of community cats around her home. Three of them were pregnant.
She trapped the first three on the grounds of Vargas’ home and the other half within the property of the next-door neighbor, who had amassed more than a dozen community cats in her yard.
The cats were lured into box traps with a trail of wet cat food as bait on sheets of paper. Once inside, a trigger plate shut the door. Ramos put the cats at ease, covering the cages with blankets or towels.
Trapping that evening took about an hour, a success story considering that sometimes it takes days, weeks or even months to trap certain cats.
But Ramos couldn’t shake a feeling of helplessness, realizing they had not yet reached containment in that specific neighborhood. “I thought we had it under control when I last came here,” she said.
To Ramos, TNR is a “community responsibility.”
“I’m not a person coming in to rescue, or be a savior to anybody. I help people by bringing the traps and transporting them, but I encourage everybody to learn how to trap,” she said.
A man casts his ballot during early voting in Waukesha, Wis., on March 18.
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Miguel Gutierrez Jr.
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AFP via Getty Images
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Topline:
More than 4 in 10 names flagged as possible noncitizen voters in California by the Trump administration cannot be found on the state’s voter rolls, according to a legal filing Saturday by an immigrant-rights group.
Why it matters: It’s the first outside analysis of a list that the Department of Justice has used to threaten prosecution of election officials. The analysis also found that thousands of U.S. citizens appear to be flagged as ineligible to vote on the government’s list.
Why now: The contention was made in a filing by two data analysts at the University of California, Los Angeles. The breadth of the problems with the list was outlined in Saturday’s filing. It describes an analysis by two members of UCLA’s Voting Rights Project, who filed a lawsuit challenging it with the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 4 in 10 names flagged as possible noncitizen voters in California by the Trump administration cannot be found on the state’s voter rolls, according to a legal filing Saturday by an immigrant-rights group.
It’s the first outside analysis of a list that the Department of Justice has used to threaten prosecution of election officials. The analysis also found that thousands of U.S. citizens appear to be flagged as ineligible to vote on the government’s list.
The contention was made in a filing by two data analysts at the University of California, Los Angeles. They analyzed the 20,930 names that the department demanded that California election officials treat as possible illegal voters by separating their ballots during the vote count on Election Day.
Multiple judges have rejected the demand as unconstitutional and a threat to democracy, and local and state officials have said the list appears riddled with errors.
Court filing outlines problems with government list
The breadth of the problems with the list was outlined in Saturday’s filing. It describes an analysis by two members of UCLA’s Voting Rights Project, who filed a lawsuit challenging it with the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA.
The research found that 8,880 of the names, representing 42% of the entire list, do not correspond to anyone in California’s current voter file. It also found at least 22 are U.S. citizens, and many more may correspond to those of confirmed citizens.
“The expert analysis further makes clear that the mandated voter list endangers a significant number of eligible California voters,” said the filing, which was cosigned by Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate for California governor and an adviser to the UCLA Voting Rights Project. null
The Trump administration had objected to sharing the list, calling it a “fishing expedition” and noting that it included sensitive information. On Saturday, the federal prosecutor who spearheaded the Trump case in California called the analysis “bogus.”
“This is a bogus report by the activist illegal immigrant rights group CHIRLA,” Bill Essayli, who runs the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles, posted on X.
Also on Saturday, President Donald Trump bemoaned the legal rulings against his effort to force California to separate votes from the individuals his administration labels suspected noncitizens, even though one came from a judge he himself nominated.
In a social media post, Trump claimed his Justice Department found “20,000, but potentially Hundreds of Thousands, and maybe even Millions,” of fraudulent votes, “and the Court has just ruled against it. Why would they reject fixing Election Fraud?”
The Trump administration has also urged Washington state to remove what it says were 400 possible noncitizens on its rolls, though state election officials there say that list is also unreliable and includes one voter who cast ballots in the 1990s.
The Justice Department has warned California election officials they could face criminal liability if they let noncitizens vote and issued subpoenas to election officials there.
Election officials say they have no time to investigate
Election officials have complained that the Trump administration has confronted them with lists of possible illegal voters at the last minute before Election Day, with no time to conduct the painstaking investigation required by law before removing someone from the rolls.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed to stop the administration from continuing to threaten local election officials.
On Friday, a federal judge in California ordered the Justice Department to stop sending demands to state officials, a decision the Trump administration appealed Saturday. Several counties in the state had run quick checks of the Trump list and found numerous errors.
Saturday’s broader analysis was possible because a federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to share the list with the plaintiffs in the case.
CHIRLA and the UCLA project sued the Homeland Security Department in early October to prevent it from using federal immigration data to challenge state voter rolls. The lawsuit cited examples in other states where the federal government’s data has been proven to mistakenly include thousands of citizens.
Case argues that government’s methods pose risk to voting
The case argued that the data-matching methods risk disenfranchising or deterring citizens from voting. On top of that, plaintiffs argued, the lists could disproportionately target naturalized citizens who are legally entitled to vote.
Applying the government’s methodology, the UCLA researchers found that nearly 7,500 naturalized citizens in the state were “highly likely” to be incorrectly flagged as ineligible.
The researchers noted that the administration apparently removed the voter identification number from the names, making it harder for election officials to determine whether the flagged individuals were already on their rolls or were duplicates in the Justice Department list. They described the voter ID number as the most crucial data point.
The Justice Department argues that there is just as much to lose if the ballots aren’t separated.
“Every ballot cast by an ineligible voter cancels out the vote of an American citizen,” Kiersten V. Pels, a spokesperson for the department, wrote in an email. “The Department makes no apology for protecting those votes.”
Josie Huang
is a reporter and Weekend Edition host who spotlights the people and places at the heart of our region.
Published November 1, 2026 5:00 AM
Jordan Delgado picked Lady Gaga's 'You and I' as her debut song with the L.A. Karaoke league.
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Josie Huang
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LAist
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Topline:
The LA Karaoke league turns singing into a team sport, where costumes, props and creativity matter more than hitting the right notes. For performers craving a creative outlet when auditions are harder to come by, the league offers a community to cheer them on.
The backstory: The L.A. league is part of United Karaoke, a national network of chapters that share a competition format, voting app and pledge to always keep the vibe friendly.
What's next: Teams compete for a spot in the finals. The public is welcome to watch and vote for their favorite performances.
For many of us, karaoke is a chance to sing our favorite shower song in public.
But at a North Hollywood bar every Wednesday night, it’s a team sport. And competitors in the L.A. Karaoke league are more serious about putting on an over-the-top production than hitting all the right notes.
At a social in late September, league manager Michelle Goff kicked off a new season of weekly themed showdowns, from dance-floor favorites to internet memes to songs inspired by birds.
Brittany Gates, the CEO of United Karaoke, who was visiting from D.C., did her rendition of 'Let's Hear It For The Boy' by Deniece Williams.
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Josie Huang
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LAist
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"You are going to see numbers that people came up with in their crazy dreams maybe three years ago, and it's going to be amazing,” Goff told performers at the social. “And then they’re never going to be done again.”
Michelle Goff unveils the different themed weeks, from dance-floor favorites to internet memes to songs inspired by birds.
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Josie Huang
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LAist
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Performances range from solos to group numbers, and the crowd votes for its favorites. Props and costumes are highly encouraged.
Here, dark wizards from Harry Potter duet to Taylor Swift. A singer tosses flowers to the crowd while belting Seal's “Kiss From a Rose.” Once, Goff danced around as an erupting Mount Vesuvius as her teammates sang Bastille's "Pompeii."
Like intramural sports but with microphones, teams compete over six weeks, followed by two weeks of playoffs, then the finals.
It all happens at the Good Nite bar, on a darkened stretch of Burbank Boulevard. Inside, there’s an inviting purple glow and warm conversation that can be hard to come by in a city as big as L.A.
“You know, the city, exciting as it is, still has so many strangers,” said Carlos Mulia.
A newcomer to the league, the chef-turned-actor already feels like he belongs.
Want to join the L.A. Karaoke league?
Where: The Good Nite, 10721 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood.
When: Wednesday nights during the season.
How: Check the chapter’s website or @WeSingLA on Instagram for season announcements. Fall season registration is closed. The next season will start in late January or early February.
Cost: Registration costs $65 to $80, depending on when you sign up and whether you use a discount code.
Can I go watch: Yes! League nights are open to the public, with no cover charge, and anyone can vote for their favorite performances.
“Sometimes you can go to a karaoke bar and everyone’s talking and no one’s paying attention to you — that can be a downer,” he said. “But here, everyone’s contributing, everyone’s cheering for each other.”
For Mulia, the league also offers a creative outlet during Hollywood’s production slowdown, when he says opportunities to perform are scarce.
Actor Carlos Mulia said competitive karaoke gives him a creative outlet and a place to find community in a big city.
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Josie Huang
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LAist
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“There’s not that many auditions," he said. "They’re far and few between, and it can really affect your psyche. So this allows you to just let it all out.”
The L.A. league started in Santa Monica in 2014 before moving among venues around the region and finding its current home at the Good Nite in 2021.
It’s part of United Karaoke, a loose national network with chapters in Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Chicago. The local leagues share a competition format, voting app and a pledge to keep the vibe welcoming.
In the league, friendships spark right away. Mulia hit it off with another actor, Jordan Delgado, who teaches children art at a studio.
They quickly figured out they’re both half-Filipino and grew up with karaoke, a fixture of Filipino social life.
“It is in our blood to do karaoke,” Delgado said. “So yeah, I’m honoring my ancestors in a way by being here tonight.”
Anybody is welcome on karaoke competition nights and invited to vote for their favorite performances.
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Josie Huang
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LAist
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Delgado loves to perform but says the karaoke league promises more than that.
“It’s something to look forward to in the downtime of the part-time jobs,” Delgado said. “A reason to regularly meet up with people, where we could just be silly, without any judgment.”
For her league debut, Delgado is going with a tried and true crowd-pleaser.
“My go-to song that my friends and family have heard me sing a billion times is ‘You and I’ by Lady Gaga," Delgado said. "It really gets the crowd going.”
When it’s her turn, Delgado bounds onto the tiny stage up front with a big confident smile that matches a powerful voice.
“We got a whole lot of money, but still pay rent,” Delgado sings, striding across the tiny stage to whoops and cheers.
Several weeks after her league debut, Delgado would go on to win best performer during Graveyard Week, when the league revives songs so overdone they’re normally off-limits.
Her winning number? “Shallow,” with Delgado singing both the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper parts.
And she brought the theatrical flair. Dressed as Gaga on one side of her body and Cooper on the other, she was her own duet partner.
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By Jeremiah Dobruck | Long Beach Post, Dañiel Andres Martinez
Published October 31, 2026 1:34 PM
A sign a Rosies Dog Beach in Long Beach warn visitors of the contaminated water. Photographed at Rosie's Dog Beach on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022 in Long Beach, CA.
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Myung J. Chun
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
All coastal waters in Long Beach — including beaches, lagoons and bays — remain closed Sunday, after health officials say 29,000 gallons of sewage spilled out of a mainline pipe in Belmont Shore on Friday evening.
What happened: The spill happened around 6:30 p.m. near Livingston Drive and Second Street, according to a statement from the city’s Health Department.
The latest update: City crews tried to catch as much sewage as possible before it reached drainage systems that led to the ocean, but about 14,000 gallons ultimately reached the sea, forcing Long Beach to close its coastal waters.
All coastal waters in Long Beach — including beaches, lagoons and bays — remain closed Sunday after health officials say 29,000 gallons of sewage spilled out of a mainline pipe in Belmont Shore on Friday evening.
Joy Contreras, a public information officer with Long Beach Utilities, told LAist that emergency repairs to the sewer main were completed Saturday night.
"The Utilities Department will investigate the cause of the force main break, as a break of this magnitude is extremely rare," Contreras said Sunday.
Water quality testing, Contreras said, will resume on Monday. The Long Beach Health Department, she said, will determine when swimming areas will reopen once samples meet State water quality standards.
What happened
The spill happened around 6:30 p.m. on Friday near Livingston Drive and Second Street, according to a statement from the city’s health department.
“The spill was associated with a force main break, a pressurized pipe to convey wastewater,” according to the statement. There was no word on what caused the break.
Long Beach Utilities stopped the spill by rerouting sewage to bypass the line.
City crews tried to catch as much of the sewage as possible before it reached drainage systems that led to the ocean, but about 14,000 gallons ultimately reached the sea, forcing Long Beach to close its coastal waters.
History of sewage spills
Long Beach is no stranger to beach closures because of sewage spills, but it most commonly happens when sewage flows down the Los Angeles or San Gabriel rivers from upstream cities. Over one recent five-year span, local beaches were closed for 63 days because of upstream spills.
State law requires the closures any time sewage makes its way to the coast until testing shows the water meets quality standards. These rigorous rules don’t hold true for all types of spills.
