The Brief

“The people were dancing crazy. I couldn't believe what I was seeing,” recalled Pedro Canale — better known as Chancha Via Circuito — of his first Los Angeles show. “It looked like a party in Buenos Aires or Bogotá. I was surprised.”

The digital cumbia pioneer returns this weekend for a late-night DJ set at a secret downtown venue hosted by ZZK Records, an independent label that was founded in Buenos Aires in 2008 and moved to L.A. in 2019.

“[L.A.] is as Latin American as any city in America,” said ZZK Records founder Grant Dull. “Cumbia has always been here, and there’s a demographic of music lovers here in L.A. that is constantly pushing cumbia.”

Born in 19th-century Colombia from Afro and Indigenous rhythms, cumbia spread across Latin America, absorbing local sounds and styles. Today, it’s global — but L.A. may be the best place to experience its freshest, most exciting edge.

How LA became a hub for cumbia

L.A. became a hot spot for acts like Chancha Via Circuito to perform in for two reasons: the internet and migration.

Chanca’s Pedro Canale was part of a new generation of digital cumbieros who, in the aughts, started mixing electronic music with the Afro-Indigenous rhythms of cumbia and sharing it online through platforms like MySpace. This allowed the music to spread more quickly to diasporic communities across the world, including L.A.

Pedro Pablo Canale, better known as Chancha Via Circuito, is an Argentine electronic cumbia producer.

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Guadalupe Miles

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ZZK Records

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Meanwhile, L.A. of the late aughts saw the evolution of another kind of digitally enabled cumbia: cumbia sonidera. Sonideros are a mix of DJ and MC — they talk over the music they’re playing from large and powerful sound systems.

Cumbia sonidera was brought by migrants from Mexico City and Puebla to Los Angeles. Audiences on both sides of the border would live stream these sets and pass messages to loved ones through the sonidero.

Documentarian Alvaro Parra chronicled L.A. sonidero culture in his film Sonidero Metropolis.

“You can literally tap into YouTube and see what sonidero parties are like in Puebla instantaneously,” Parra said.

Sharing the history behind the rhythm

Because of people like documentarian Parra and Dull of ZZK Records, L.A. isn’t just a good city to hear cumbia live but also to learn about its history.

Parra has screened his documentaries at places like the Hammer Museum and LACMA.  And ZZK has started Reina de Cumbia — a series of panels, film screenings and exhibits that showcase the history of Cumbia.

“ In the end, you want people to know where this is coming from,” Parra said. “This is coming from a long tradition. Cumbia in Los Angeles has really been a reflection of the migratory waves of people that come to live in Los Angeles.”

Angelenos to follow to stay in the know

Alvaro Parra, @delaparraproductions
Parra is an Emmy-winning documentarian and one of the preeminent chroniclers of cumbia. He announces screenings through his social media pages.

ZZK Records, @zzkrecords
ZZK doesn’t just announce upcoming shows on its Instagram page, it also provides the context behind the acts that come through.

DJ Sapo, @dogtoad 
DJ Sapo hosts a regular cumbia night at Cha Cha Lounge in Silverlake.

Gary Ganas Garay, @og_ganas 
Gary Ganas Garay hosts a radio show for dublab called “Mas Exitos” on which he features a lot of cumbia. He also hosts a regular dance party at Footsies in Cypress Park.

Cumbiatón, @cumbiaton_la
Cumbiatón is a collective of DJs that throws parties centering queer, femme and undocumented folks.

Upcoming shows

If you want to experience the joy of cumbia live there are multiple upcoming shows:

• Saturday, Chancha Via Circuito, Undisclosed downtown location 

The Argentine digital cumbia pioneer will return to Los Angeles for a special late-night DJ set. Opening for him will be Turbo Sonidero, Cruzloma and L.A.’s Canyon Cody.

• Monday, Noche de Cumbia, Hollywood Bowl 

KCRW is hosting three of the all-time-biggest cumbia bands — Grupo Cañaveral, La Sonora Dinamita and Los Hermanos Flores. The night also will feature the L.A.-based all-women DJ collective Cumbiatón spinning between artists.

• Oct. 31st, Cumbiateca, Undisclosed downtown location 

ZZK and Misterpsychedelia are putting on a Halloween party headlined by Mexican producer and composer Ima Felini — Amantes del Futuro.

The Trump administration has finalized a federal rule that outlaws the use of Medi-Cal funds for gender-affirming hormones and surgeries for youth — though a one-time fund California lawmakers approved this year could help fill that gap.

Providers have been bracing for this rule to take effect since last year.

If it is not blocked, it would mean:

• No Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funds for people under 19 seeking gender-affirming hormones and surgeries
• No Medicaid funds for people under 18 seeking gender-affirming hormones and surgeries

The rule does not affect Medi-Cal funding for mental health services for trans youth.

Steps California has taken

In anticipation of these cuts, the state has already approved:

• $26 million in one-time funding specifically to support providers of trans healthcare
• A $30 million general fund for healthcare that isn’t covered by Medi-Cal reimbursements.

“These historic investments, approved by Governor Newsom in June, ensure California has state resources available to protect access to gender affirming medical care as federal Medicaid and CHIP funding is withdrawn,” Joe Hollendoner, who lobbied the state for these funds as Los Angeles LGBT Center’s CEO, said in a statement.

Another federal rule appears sidelined

A separate rule introduced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would ban any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding from providing trans youth with hormones or surgeries, which the department referred to as "sex-rejecting procedures." As of last month, that rule appears to have been sidelined and has not been finalized.

Reaction to the federal moves

Healthcare advocates for trans youth in California have condemned the finalized rule and other efforts to curtail access to gender-affirming care. At the same time, they emphasize that trans healthcare for youth is still legal.

“This rule ignores the science and puts politics between transgender young people, their families, and the medical professionals who know them and care for them,” said Kathie Moehlig, the executive director of the organization TransFamily Support Services, in a statement. “Families should not have to live in fear that their child’s healthcare can be taken away because of who they are.”

The California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network said in a statement that if the rules take effect, it anticipates “providers may face increased uncertainty and fear about whether they can continue providing services, while families will be left navigating new barriers to care as they strive to support their child.”

What's next

Civil rights lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and other groups have been saying for months that they will challenge the federal rule on Medi-Cal funding. During the public comment period, which ended in February, a vast majority of the people who gave feedback on the newly finalized rule opposed it.

Ariela Cuellar, a spokesperson for the California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network, called the rule change “a wake up call for states to take aggressive actions to protect essential medical care and push back on this unprecedented federal overreach.”

Though the rule has been finalized, it won’t go into effect immediately. If it’s not blocked by a judge, the rule will take effect Oct. 13.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

For weeks, Lineage Logistics and the Los Angeles Fire Department have said ammonia — the hazardous material that’s key for industrial refrigerators — was quickly cleared from the warehouse fire zone. In the days after the fire, Lineage insisted that no measurable ammonia was detected in the area.

Now, community testing as well as data from Lineage and the Southern California Air Quality Management District show that elevated levels of ammonia were present in neighborhoods near the cold-storage warehouse weeks after the fire. 

Though air regulators and Lineage note the levels didn’t meet the state threshold requiring action to protect public health, community groups say the findings are alarming. Meanwhile, federal regulators are seeking answers from Lineage to determine what air contaminants were released during the fire. Lineage did not respond to questions from Boyle Heights Beat.

An analysis published Aug. 5 by the Community and Environment Research Lab at UC Irvine and East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice found higher levels of ammonia in streets close to Lineage.

That includes Indiana Street near Union Pacific Avenue, where the highest ammonia levels — 4,300 parts per billion — were detected on Aug. 2, more than a month after the fire was extinguished, through handheld Aeroqual monitors that community scientists from East Yard have been using to sample the air. 

An analysis published Aug. 5 by the Community and Environment Research Lab at UC Irvine and East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice found higher levels of ammonia in streets close to Lineage.

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Courtesy of Jill Johnston

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Experts agree that’s many times higher than what’s considered typical, though the standard for ammonia levels in L.A.’s air varies. 

UC Irvine and East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice classify 4 to 6 parts per billion as typical ammonia levels, a figure that’s also considered the baseline nationwide. To South Coast AQMD, typical background levels of ammonia in LA range up to 36 parts per billion. 

The analysis by the Community and Environment Research Lab and UC Irvine also shows that higher-than-normal ammonia levels were also detected from a distance.

About a mile from Lineage, ammonia levels have reached 108 parts per billion, according to publicly available data retrieved from a stationary monitor that South Coast AQMD placed late July at Eastman Avenue Elementary School.

To Jill Johnston, associate professor of environmental and occupational health at UC Irvine, the findings not only show “very high” ammonia concentrations closer to the facility, but also how “these chemicals are traveling into the nearby neighborhoods.”

The recent data, Johnston said, suggests that the “big source of ammonia” is coming from the rotting food in Lineage. She also pointed to the ammonia used in the facility’s refrigeration system. 

This analysis is just a snapshot of the potential air contaminants present near Lineage, said Johnston, an exposure scientist and environmental epidemiologist.

“In some ways it confirms what people have been experiencing for the last seven weeks … That they’re breathing poor air quality and subject to foul odors, and that we continue to see impacts on local air quality, even seven weeks into this process,” Johnston said. 

A white van with South Coast AQMD branding sits on the playground at Eastman Elementary in East Los Angeles.

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Steve Saldivar

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The LA Local

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to its website, said normal amounts of ammonia in the environment do not cause health effects in humans. However, the agency noted that exposure to high levels of ammonia “may hurt your skin, eyes, throat, and lungs and cause coughing and burns. Lung damage and death may occur after exposure to very high levels of ammonia.”

In a statement, South Coast AQMD said it has seen “some levels of ammonia” that were elevated above L.A. background levels at the Eastman Elementary monitor and from roaming ammonia measurements. South Coast AQMD declined to comment on the air sensors being used to take ammonia measurements. 

However, the agency noted, California’s short-term health benchmark — the level of ammonia a person could inhale continuously for one hour without adverse health effects — is 4,500 parts per billion. Despite elevated levels recorded near Lineage, “they do not exceed the State’s short-term health standards,” South Coast AQMD said. 

“We understand that the situation is dynamic and conditions are changing, particularly with the heat and the decomposing materials that have potential to offgas. We continue to monitor the situation closely,” the agency added. 

These findings come on the heels of a letter that the Environmental Protection Agency sent to Lineage on Aug. 3, ordering the company to detail the “specific substances,” including “all air contaminants,” that were released during the time of the fire. 

“The EPA is aware of a potential hazardous substance release event at the Lineage Logistics,” according to the letter. The agency did not state which substance and gave Lineage 14 days to provide them with the information.

Lineage, which has conducted air monitoring near the warehouse since June 23, said it has not identified chemical concentrations “above health-based action levels.” After saying on June 19 that it had not detected “measurable” amounts of ammonia, on Aug. 8, the company acknowledged on its website that “short-lasting ammonia detections” were observed at northern and eastern portions of the fire site. Lineage detected a peak of ammonia at 1,000 parts per billion.

Firefighters assess the remains of the Lineage warehouse that burned for a week and sent smoke into nearby communities.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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Mark Lopez with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice pushed back against the thresholds that air regulators are relying on to determine what’s safe and unsafe for residents. 

“What we’re dealing with is not short-term exposure. We’re not dealing with one hour, two hours, six hours, eight hours. We’re dealing with a lot of folks who are there 24 hours. It’s inappropriate to use the lowest bar for protecting the community,” Lopez said. “They’re using a standard that’s inappropriate for the actual lived experiences of our community.”

Lopez said air regulators shouldn’t normalize the notion that “there’s always elevated levels of pollution in our communities ... What they’re seeing is not alarming, and we’re like, yeah, because you’re not alarmed by environmental racism, and that’s the problem,” Lopez said.

Los Angeles police defended the use of chemical agents against people protesting the federal immigration crackdown last year, the first time police had used the hazardous munitions since the 1970s. 

Department administrators claimed at Tuesday’s Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners meeting that the chemical agents were needed to control crowds and could be used again during major events in the future, such as the Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympics.

What LAPD said happened

Lt. Joseph Franzen and Commander Mario Mota discussed the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and other projectiles referenced in a 60-page LAPD report on the 2025 protests.

The report analyzed demonstrations, including ones at federal buildings in downtown L.A., between June 6 and June 17, 2025, which the department estimated peaked at about 20,000 participants. 

Franzen, one of the report's authors, said it was intended to be a reflection on the department’s actions for future reference. The report does not detail injuries to members of the public and journalists, and does not include statements from them about what they experienced. 

Commission President Rasha Gerges Shields asked the department to provide more information at a future meeting about injuries to members of the public and the amount and type of force used.

While the department said the chemical agents were needed to disperse crowds, their use has been the subject of ongoing debate. In January, a federal judge ordered the Police Department to stop using certain crowd-control weapons that posed risks to the public.

Shields said that order should have been included in the report.

Franzen and Mota said officers used chemical agents on June 8 and June 14, respectively, in response to large crowds that had grown unruly. They reported that officers had various items thrown at them.

Police Chief Jim McDonnell told the commissioners that most of the crowd exercised its First Amendment rights, but that a small portion of the crowd was “exceptionally violent.” He said he had never experienced that level of violence at a public gathering in his decades of police service.

Questions raised about the report

Several people at the Police Commission meeting contested the department’s account, saying chemical agents were used on journalists and members of the public they said were protesting peacefully or doing their jobs — with little warning.

The League of Women Voters of Greater Los Angeles wrote a letter in advance of the meeting, disagreeing with the characterization of the protests as "riots" in the report and urged better word choice.

“‘Rioting’ connotes serious violence,” wrote Carolina Goodman on behalf of the organization.

During her first meeting as a police commissioner, Heather Aubry asked Mota to clarify that whatever violence did occur was not sanctioned by the organizers of the various protests that took place over the study period.

L.A. resident Kayla Esmond joined a preplanned march that included children, seniors and disabled people hoping to protest federal immigration enforcement. She told the commissioners that people in the large crowd began yelling that police were preparing to use tear gas.

“There was no dispersal order,” Esmond told The LA Local. “Someone yelled that there were children present. They fired the canisters without any response or warning that we could hear.”

Mayor Karen Bass eventually issued a curfew for downtown L.A. on June 10. Franzen and Mota reported that 435 people were arrested during the protests. Of those, 344 were arrested on suspicion of unlawful assembly. It’s unclear how many were charged with a crime. 

The department paid about $17.4 million for personnel during the protests, with about $12.2 million going toward overtime.

The LAPD’s actions during the federal immigration operations last year have been widely cited as a source of confusion for city residents who remain uncertain about what police were responsible for during the operations. 

The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups previously reported to the commission about a federal raid at a garment warehouse last June where LAPD set a perimeter for federal agents while they detained workers there. During the presentation, the groups advised that police make it clear to the community in the future what they are there to do.

People echoed during public comment that the same confusion persists in the protest report, which describes the immigration raids and the public response to them as a “complex challenge” for local police.

“The Department’s role was limited to providing public safety support when demonstrations escalated into violence or when federal personnel were at risk of being overwhelmed,” it reads.

For months, immigration advocates and other elected leaders called on McDonnell and Bass to provide more clarity on LAPD’s role in federal immigration sweeps. In February, Bass issued an executive directive explicitly limiting LAPD’s role during these operations and calling for greater transparency about the department's interactions with federal agents. 

LA Documenter Martin Romero contributed to this piece from the LAPD Board of Police Commission meeting. LA Documenters trains and pays LA residents to take notes at local government meetings around Los Angeles. You can find meeting notes and audio at losangeles.documenters.org

The death of Jackie, the matriarch of Big Bear’s famous bald eagle nest, has quickly become international news.

People from around the world are mourning Jackie’s loss and remembering her as a fierce protector, a dedicated mother and the bird that inspired thousands to learn more about nature and wildlife.

Tributes are pouring in from individuals and organizations alike, including the San Bernardino County firefighters who kept watch over Jackie as she was waiting for rescue and the L.A. County officials who connected her with care.

TJ Fraser, a resident of Big Bear Valley’s unincorporated community of Fawnskin, described Jackie as a “neighbor” who was a “really important part of this community.”

Fraser said people were deeply pulling for Jackie’s recovery, but as fans come to terms with her death, he’s started to see more hope for the future of the nest and her longtime mate Shadow.

“I think that that's the real great lesson and the takeaway from this,” he said. “Nature adapts, nature always finds balance; that's how it works. And tomorrow is another day.”

State wildlife officials said Jackie’s remains will undergo a necropsy at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance before being transferred to the National Eagle Repository in Colorado.

The repository is a one-of-a-kind facility run by federal wildlife officials. It stores and distributes eagle remains to federally recognized Native American tribes for religious, cultural and ceremonial purposes.

Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that launched the popular eagle livestream, said it does not have any input on how Jackie’s remains are handled.

Jackie's death earlier this week quickly became international news.

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BBC, Associated Press, The Washington Post, Hindustan Times, Modern Ghana, CBC, People, San Bernardino Sun, Los Angeles Times, ABC 6, Friends of Big Bear Valley

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Makenna Cramer

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Jackie’s stardom is a big deal

Fraser said his “phone blew up” when Jackie’s death was announced, and the instant reactions of sadness and shock were “overwhelming.”

“It really showed me how much that bird resonated with people around the country and around the world,” he said. “It was truly remarkable.”

But Jackie’s legacy will be intact forever, Fraser said, through the $10 million fundraiser that preserved acres of land near the feathered couple’s nest.

“What she was able to represent brought people to a place of, ‘We want to protect this for them,’” he said. “And that'll never go away.”

Melanie Stagnaro, a resident of L.A.’s Laurel Canyon neighborhood, has been watching Jackie and Shadow for about six years. She said she was stunned by the news of Jackie’s death, but not entirely surprised since Stagnaro thought something may have been wrong with her earlier in the season.

Stagnaro connected with Jackie over motherhood, so she credited her concerns about the eagle's condition to the trials of nesting season.

“I know there's so much more to her, but for me, it was identifying to her as a mom,” Stagnaro said, adding that her kids graduated high school and “left the nest” while Jackie and Shadow’s eaglets were learning to fly and do the same.

Jackie covered under a blanket of snow on Feb. 25, 2023.

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Friends of Big Bear Valley

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YouTube

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Jackie and Shadow's eaglets during a feeding of fish in April 2025.

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Friends of Big Bear Valley

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YouTube

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Jackie and Shadow welcomed a third egg on Feb. 24, 2026, after losing their first two.

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Friends of Big Bear Valley

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With Jackie gone, Stagnaro has started to turn her affection to Shadow, whom she described as a “stud” and a “great dad.”

“He is amazing too, and … I do hope there's another mate for him,” she said. “And I do hope they keep it at this nest, you know?”

State officials and orgs are still mourning

Jackie’s legacy extends beyond the individual impact to institutions and state leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“California mourns Jackie, the Big Bear bald eagle who reminded us of the beauty and wonder of California’s wildlife, and our shared responsibility to protect the habitats that sustain it," Newsom said in a statement Tuesday.

Visit Big Bear said Jackie captured the hearts of the mountain community and so many beyond.

“We know you are with Sandy now, watching over Big Bear together,” the group said on social media. Sandy Steers, the late leader of Friends of Big Bear Valley, died in February.

The San Bernardino County Fire Protection District, which kept watch over Jackie while she was waiting for rescuers, said it was inspiring to see the community come together with compassion and concern for her well-being.

The Institute for Wildlife Studies, which helped bald eagles return to Southern California’s Channel Islands, said Jackie became a powerful symbol of resilience, beauty and the importance of protecting wildlife.

“While we mourn her passing, we also reflect with gratitude on the legacy she leaves behind,” the institute said on social media Tuesday. “May Jackie’s story continue to inspire compassion for wildlife, stewardship of natural places, and a commitment to protecting bald eagles and other wild species.”

Support ‘In honor of Jackie’

The Ojai Raptor Center, which gave Jackie intensive care for about three weeks, is still seeing a flood of donations after her death, according to its website.

Around 20,000 people have supported its bald eagle recovery campaign. Thousands of dollars were donated throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, along with messages like, “In honor of Jackie and all you did to save her,” and, “ALL OF YOU ARE HEROES for your dedication & tireless work for Jackie and every animal you care for."