The L.A. Clippers finally have a place to call their own. The basketball team’s shiny new $2 billion Intuit Dome officially opens today, with a Bruno Mars kickoff concert.
Getting there: The Intuit Dome is located next door to SoFi Stadium between the 405 and the 110 freeways. Once you’re there, leave your car at the main parking structure on Prairie Avenue and 102nd street. It connects directly to the Dome’s plaza entrance from a pedestrian bridge.
When you arrive: The outdoor plaza includes two bars, a restaurant, and a 5,000-square-foot team store. The entrance is anchored by a full-sized regulation basketball court — open for public use, and there's plenty of of public art to enjoy.
Under the Dome: The Dome is shrouded by a massive 40,000-square-foot double sided Halo Board, so you won’t have to squint to catch replays, player stats, or fancams. The arena offers the most leg room in the NBA and each seat has a USB port to charge your phone, a built-in controller to play games on the halo, and a decibel meter that gauges the movement and sound of each individual fan for reward points.
For all the crazy game schedules, relocations, and years of splitting the court with their rival team, the L.A. Clippers finally have a place to call home.
The basketball team’s shiny new $2 billion Intuit Dome officially opens today, with a Bruno Mars kickoff concert. According to Clippers owner and billionaire Steve Ballmer, “fans and players together deserve the ultimate home court. You’re going to have it here in Inglewood.”
Here’s everything there is to know about the Intuit Dome — how to get there, what’s inside, and what's on the menu before the inaugural home game on Oct. 14.
Bruno Mars performs the Intuit Dome's inaugural concert.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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Getting there
The Intuit Dome is located next door to SoFi Stadium between the 405 and the 110 freeways. Once you’re there, leave your car at the main parking structure on Prairie Avenue and 102nd Street. It connects directly to the Dome’s plaza entrance with a pedestrian bridge.
If you aren’t on four wheels, don’t worry. Intuit is surrounded by 10 bus stops. The Metro 117, 211 and 212 buses will all get you within a short walk.
Refik Anadol 's digital artwork, 'Living Arena,' looms over a public basketball court at the Intuit Dome.
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When you arrive
Once you enter the plaza, you’ll see the massive, paneled dome. It's one of the world’s most expensive arenas, and it shows. It's designed to look like the net of a basketball hoop, and at night, it’ll be lit up with thousands of lights that move in animated sequence, bringing the structure to life.
But wait! Don’t be so quick to get to your seat just yet. There’s a ton to do in the outdoor plaza before the game. Looking like something out of Dune, it’s bordered by Roman steps and will include two bars, a restaurant, and a 5,000-square-foot team store. The entrance is anchored by a full-sized regulation basketball court — open for public use — with a screen that stretches key-to-key.
So have a drink, grab a jersey, or catch a pickup game before letting the professionals take the rock.
Kyungmi Shin’s mural, 'Spring to Life,' is one of six public art installations at the Intuit Dome.
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The Clippers spared no detail in sourcing six public art installations by local artists for the plaza. Many of the pieces serve as a reflection of the city. The digital artwork "Living Arena" of Refik Anadol uses flight information from LAX and Inglewood weather data. "Cultural Playground" a mural by Michael Massenburg captures LA’s cultural identity, and Kyungmi Kim’s stained glass mosaic,-"Spring to Life," draws inspiration from Centinela Springs, an ancient water source that supported the Tongva people. At the entrance of the dome itself, you can’t miss Glenn Kaino’s “Sails,” a giant clipper boat that recalls the origins of the team’s name. And of course there's the graphic motion of the Dome itself, which comes alive thanks to Jennifer Steinkamp’s "Swoosh."
Under the Dome
Now comes the real fun. Once you’re through the gates of the Dome, you’ll see the indoor concourse lined with thousands of framed jerseys. There's one for each high school team in California, so try to find your alma mater on the way to your seat.
The Halo Board at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood is lit up for the first time at its unveiling July 19.
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On the inside of the arena, watch where you’re going. You’ll likely be distracted by the 40,000-square-foot double sided Halo Board dominating your view. That's a full acre of a quarter billion LED lights. If you still can't visualize that, just imagine 4,000 60-inch TV’s floating in a ring above your head. No matter where you sit, you’re going to feel like you’re hovering over the court, and you won’t have to squint to catch replays, player stats, or fan-cams.
The inspiration for Intuit comes from an unlikely source — an 87-year-old calculus teacher in Detroit. Jerry Hansen was Ballmer’s math teacher and football coach in high school. He gave Ballmer the idea behind Intuit Dome.
“He said ‘Don't forget the real fan. Don't forget the folks who sit up high. Don't make it all about the folks who are just paying a lot of money,’ and that really meant a lot to me,” Ballmer said at a media event last month.
Settle in for the show
Once you’re at your seat, the coziness of the stadium might surprise you. That’s because a seat in row 20 is about a half-court closer to the action than it is at the Crypto.com arena.
The arena offers the most leg room in the NBA, whether you’re sitting court side or in the upper bowl. Each seat has a USB port to charge your phone, a built-in controller to play games on the halo, and a decibel meter that gauges the movement and sound of each individual fan. The loudest and rowdiest will be rewarded with discounts on food and merch.
When you get to your seat, make sure to scream and stomp until you turn blue. If your decibel levels are high enough, you’ll get a notification on the Clippers app that you earned half-off on an L.A. street dog, or a Kawhi Leonard bobblehead, for example.
K-Town Chicken and waffle fries at the self service concession area at the Intuit Dome.
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What to eat and where to get it
The concessions at Intuit are fully automated, and grab and go markets are everywhere. You'll just pick what you want from a buffet and walk right out. Tap your phone at the gate to check out, or you can pay with lung power by cashing in your well-earned discount through your Clippers account.
The entire journey was designed to take two minutes or less, and there are 200 shot clocks stationed around the Dome so you don’t miss a play.
What's on the Menu?
All 20 of Intuit Dome’s checkout-free markets have the same menu. Here are our picks to suit anybody’s taste.
LA Street Dog: An ode to a local delicacy — bacon-wrapped Niman Ranch all-beef hot dog, garlic mayo, seasoned peppers and onions, ketchup and mustard, on a split top Bolillo bun.
The Famous Sushi Dog: Like a sushi burrito in the size and portability of a hot dog. Available in spicy tuna and California.
K-Town BBQ Chicken & Waffle Fries: Crunchy, juicy chicken thighs tossed in Korean BBQ sauce from L.A.-favorite Seoul Sausage. Sweet, smoky, and delicious.
Empanadas: Sourced from local Continental Gourmet Market. Warm, flaky, and the perfect portable bite. Fillings will rotate throughout the season.
For the Vegans:
Buffalo Cauliflower Wrap: Zesty Buffalo sauce, spinach wrap with pickled carrots, kale, tomato, and red peppers. All vegan ingredients.
Solar Panels atop the Intuit Dome in Inglewood generate power for the fully electric arena.
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A net-zero stadium
After buying the Clippers in 2014, Ballmer made the decision to build a new, fully carbon neutral home court for the team before the 2024-25 NBA season, when their lease at Crypto.com arena was set to expire.
To pull that off, the Dome was blanketed in solar panels which generate most of its energy. What it can’t produce, the Clippers purchase from renewable sources, powering everything down to the electric cooking equipment. Plus, the arena is “naturally acclimatized” so as to use less energy on cooling. The team even bought 26 fuel-friendly tugboats for the Port of Los Angeles to offset emissions.
“We actually took carbon dioxide out of the environment and put it into the concrete foundation in this building,” Ballmer told LAist.
How to get tickets
Tickets aren’t on sale just yet for the upcoming NBA season, unless you’re planning to buy a season membership. Single game tickets will likely be available for purchase later in August.
You can check out the Intuit Dome website for this season’s concerts. It’ll kick off this week with back to back Bruno Mars shows. Heavy hitters Olivia Rodrigo and Usher are scheduled to perform in the coming months.
Destiny Torres
is LAist's general assignment and digital equity reporter.
Published February 17, 2026 4:36 PM
About 15% of California households lack access to high-speed internet, according to the latest report from UC Riverside.
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Makenna Sievertson
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Topline:
About 15% of California households lack access to high-speed internet, according to the latest report from UC Riverside. Researchers pointed to affordability as one of the biggest barriers to closing the persistent digital divide.
What does the report say? The average monthly cost can range from $70 to $80. And rural communities are even further isolated because of a lack of infrastructure investments from private companies.
Read on … for more on the report’s findings.
About 15% of California households lack access to high-speed internet, according to the latest report from UC Riverside. Researchers pointed to affordability as one of the biggest barriers to closing the persistent digital divide.
Edward Helderop, associate director at UCR’s Center for Geospatial Sciences and report author, told LAist that the findings weren't surprising.
“A lot of American households and California households don't have high-speed internet available at home,” Helderop said. “It's sort of just an unfortunate reality that that's the case for the state of California.”
What does the report say?
Nearly one in seven households in California doesn’t have reliable internet access, according to the report. The biggest barrier continues to be affordability. Even in urban areas, like Los Angeles, where broadband internet is more widely available, the average monthly cost can range from $70 to $80 per month.
But in rural areas, broadband internet is still widely unavailable because of a lack of infrastructure investments from private companies. Only two-thirds of rural households have broadband access at home.
“This digital divide represents not just a technological failure, but a profound barrier to economic opportunity, educational advancement, and civic participation that undermines California’s potential for shared prosperity,” the report states.
Experts also call for mandatory broadband data transparency — internet providers should be required to publicly disclose their service speeds, pricing, reliability metrics and coverage areas.
“Private telecom companies administering the service, they're under no obligation to maintain publicly available data sets in the same way that you might get with other utilities,” Helderop said. “There are issues with the fact that the advertised speeds don't really match up with the actual speeds that people experience at home.”
Researchers also recommend that broadband providers be regulated as utilities, like water and power, monitoring rates, quality and service obligations.
“When we regulate something like a utility, it comes with a few regulations that we take for granted,” Helderop said. “Something like a universal service obligation, in which the utility … their primary motive is to provide universal service, so to provide the service to every household in California.”
As a public utility, officials could ensure that providers are offering the same type of service to every household in the state, as well as regulate rates.
Why it matters
Norma Fernandez, CEO at Everyone On, said access to affordable, high-speed internet is a basic necessity.
"Still, too many families, particularly those in under-resourced communities, predominantly of color, are still left out,” Fernandez said. “Expanding reliable connectivity means addressing affordability, investing in community-centered solutions, and ensuring that digital access is part of every policy conversation."
Digital equity advocates say they see the need from local families every day, but available data doesn’t reflect that.
“On the maps, families appear to live in ‘connected’ neighborhoods, but in reality, they still can’t afford to get online because the monopoly provider’s plans are unaffordable,” Natalie Gonzalez, director at Digital Equity Los Angeles. “The provider-reported broadband maps don’t match what residents experience on the ground, and that gap has real consequences.”
In L.A., for example, hundreds of thousands of households lack reliable internet, but only a fraction qualify for public funding because available data says they’re already served, Gonzalez added.
“Public investment alone doesn’t guarantee equity if the underlying data is flawed,” Gonzalez said. “When the only data regulators have come from the providers themselves, the providers end up defining reality. Communities are then forced to prove they’re disconnected, without access to the same information the companies use to claim coverage.”
Cristal Mojica, digital equity expert at the Michelson Center for Public Policy, said pricing data is intentionally obscured.
“It makes it harder for people to shop around between internet plans,” Mojica told LAist. “It makes it really challenging for our state legislators to be effective and make effective decisions around affordability when they have to try to dig around for that information themselves.”
What’s next?
California has already invested $6 billion for broadband –called the “Middle-Mile” project –through Senate Bill 156. The 2021 law is the largest state investment in broadband in U.S. history to get more people online.
Helderop explained that broadband investments are typically made possible through grants or loans to private telecom companies, making the state’s investment critical.
“It's the first time that any state, or any government in the United States, is taking it upon themselves to build and then own the infrastructure at the end of it,” Helderop said. “I would say that's probably the primary reason that we don't have universal broadband available to households in the United States right now.”
When completed, the “Middle-Mile” project will open markets to new providers and reduce monopolies, Helderop added.
Julia Barajas
follows labor conditions across California's higher education system.
Published February 17, 2026 4:31 PM
A union that represents 1,100 plumbers, electricians and other building maintenance staff across the university system is on strike.
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Topline:
Teamsters Local 2010, which represents trades workers across the Cal State University system, will be on strike through Friday. The union also filed an unfair labor practice charge against the CSU, claiming that the system has refused to honor contractually obligated raises and step increases for its members.
The backstory: According to Teamsters Local 2010, union members won back salary steps in 2024 “after nearly three decades of stagnation.” That year, the union was on the verge of striking alongside the system's faculty, but it reached a last-minute deal with the CSU.
Why it matters: The union represents 1,100 plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, locksmiths and other building maintenance staff. In December 2025, some 94% of workers voted to authorize their bargaining team to call a strike. In a press statement, the union said that “any disruptions to campus operations will be a direct result of CSU’s refusal to pay.”
What the CSU says: In a press statement, the CSU maintains that conditions described in its collective bargaining agreement with the union — which “tied certain salary increases to the receipt of new, unallocated, ongoing state budget funding”— were not met. The system also said it "values its employees and remains committed to fair, competitive pay and benefits for our skilled trades workforce.”
If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
Gillian Morán Pérez
is an associate producer for LAist’s early All Things Considered show.
Published February 17, 2026 4:20 PM
Crystal Hefner (right), widow of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, and attorney Gloria Allred show court filings during a press conference to announce steps they're taking to protect sexual images and information about women in Hefner's personal scrapbooks and diary in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
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Frederic J. Brown
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Topline:
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s widow, Crystal Hefner, is raising the alarm over her late husband’s foundation collecting about 3,000 of his personal scrapbooks and his diary, which she says contain thousands of nude images of women, some of whom might have been minors at the time the photos were taken.
Why it matters: In a press conference Tuesday, Hefner said in addition to her concerns about some of the women in the scrapbooks being minors, she's worried that the women and possibly girls in the images didn't agree to their images being kept and about what might happen to the women if the images were made public or posted online.
What's next: Hefner said she was told that the scrapbooks may be in a storage facility in California. Her attorney, Gloria Allred, says they were informed that the foundation plans to digitize them, but it’s unclear what it plans to do with them.
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s widow, Crystal Hefner, is raising the alarm over her late husband’s foundation collecting about 3,000 of his personal scrapbooks and his diary, which she says contain thousands of nude images of women, some of whom might have been minors at the time the photos were taken.
In a press conference Tuesday, Hefner and her attorney, Gloria Allred, announced they’ve filed regulatory complaints with California and Illinois attorneys general, asking them to investigate the foundation’s handling of the scrapbooks. The complaints were filed to both attorneys general because the foundation is registered to do business in California but incorporated in Illinois.
“I believe they include women and possibly girls who never agreed to lifelong possession of their naked images and who have no transparency into where their photos are, how they’re being stored or what will happen to them next,” Hefner said.
She added the diary includes names of women he slept with, notes of sexual acts and other explicit details.
Hefner said she was asked to resign from her position as CEO and president of the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation on Monday after raising concerns about the materials. She said after she declined to resign, she was removed from her role.
She said she was told the scrapbooks may be in a storage facility in California. Allred says they were informed that the foundation plans to digitize them, but it’s unclear what it plans to do with them.
“This is not archival preservation. This is not history. This is control. I am deeply worried about these images getting out,” Hefner said. “Artificial intelligence, deepfakes, digital scanning, online marketplaces and data breaches means that once images leave secure custody, the harm is irreversible. A single security failure could devastate thousands of lives.”
In addition to asking for an investigation into the foundation’s handling of the materials, it also asks the attorneys general to take appropriate actions to secure those images.
LAist has reached out to the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation for comment.
Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, is leaving the agency, the department confirmed on Tuesday.
The backstory: McLaughlin has become the public face and voice defending the Trump administration's mass deportation policy and immigration tactics over the past year.
Why it matters: McLaughlin's exit comes at a tumultuous time for the agency. DHS is currently shut down after lawmakers failed to pass a budget to fund it through the end of the fiscal year in September.
Read on... for more about McLaughlin's exit.
Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, is leaving the agency, the department confirmed on Tuesday.
McLaughlin has become the public face and voice defending the Trump administration's mass deportation policy and immigration tactics over the past year.
"McLaughlin started planning to leave in December but pushed back her departure amid the aftermath of the shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers, according to the people briefed on her exit," DHS said in a statement to NPR.
POLITICO first reported her departure. It is not clear where she is going next, or who will become the agency's next spokesperson.
McLaughlin's exit comes at a tumultuous time for the agency. DHS is currently shut down after lawmakers failed to pass a budget to fund it through the end of the fiscal year in September.
And high-ranking immigration officials, including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, have been summoned to Capitol Hill to testify on the immigration crackdown after immigration agents shot and killed Good and Pretti in Minneapolis.
McLaughlin has been among the most public-facing agency spokespeople, participating in several network interviews. Beyond speaking on DHS' immigration initiatives, McLaughlin also fielded interviews and questions about Noem's handling of national disaster relief and resources, and other parts of the sprawling agency.
Noem praised McLaughlin's work in a statement online, saying she "served with exceptional dedication, tenacity, and professionalism."
"While we are sad to see her leave, we are grateful for her service and wish Tricia nothing but success," she wrote on the social platform X.
Immigration has been the largest part of McLaughlin's portfolio. She often took to network shows and to social media to promote immigration arrests made by the administration, defend actions by DHS agents, and encouraged immigrants to "self-deport."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries praised news of her departure online; "Another MAGA extremist forced out of DHS. Noem next," he posted on X.
Most recently, McLaughlin defended Noem's description of Pretti as a "domestic terrorist" after Customs and Border Protection officers shot and killed him — claims that eventually drew sharp scrutiny from lawmakers, including some Republicans.
"Initial statements were made after reports from CBP on the ground. It was a very chaotic scene," McLaughlin told Fox Business late last month. "The early statements that were released were based on the chaotic scene on the ground and we really need to have true, accurate information to come to light."
During last week's congressional hearings, the heads of Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement both denied that they, or anyone under their chains of command, had given Noem information to substantiate that claim that Pretti was a domestic terrorist.
An NPR analysis published in January showed that DHS has made unproven or incorrect claims on social media or in press releases when describing immigrants targeted for deportation or U.S. citizens arrested during protests.
