The Brief

A five-day fan festival will take over the L.A. Memorial Coliseum in June to welcome the World Cup to Los Angeles.

The festival will kick off the same day as the tournament, June 11, and run through June 15. It will include live broadcasts of the games, music and food, and provide a place for fans to celebrate as Team USA plays its first game against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on June 12.

"For the first five days of the World Cup, the fan festival will be the heart of the World Cup experience for many people in L.A.," said Kathryn Schloessman, the CEO of the L.A. World Cup 2026 Host Committee.

Angelenos will need to purchase tickets for the fan festival, but prices and details will be announced in March, according to Schloessman.

The Los Angeles host committee for the 2026 World Cup announced the details of programming for fans across the city on Wednesday. They include nine "fan zones" that will pop up across the L.A. area throughout the World Cup's 39 days of soccer matches.

Here are where the zones are located:

• The Original Farmers Market from June 18-21 
• City of Downey on June 20
• Union Station and the Plaza de Cultura y Artes from June 25-28
• Hansen Dam Lake from July 2-5
• Earvin "Magic" Johnson Park from July 4-5
• Whittier Narrows from July 9-11
• Venice Beach on July 11
• Fairplex from July 14-15 and July 18-19
• West Harbor from July 14-15 and July 18-19

LAist has a fan guide for the 2026 World Cup.

On Wednesday, shovels hit the ground in Pomona, a city in the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, where construction has begun for a 10,000-plus capacity premier cricket stadium. It will serve as the venue for men’s and women’s games, played by six teams in each competition.

The stadium is being erected in the Fairplex fairgrounds as the home of the Los Angeles Knight Riders, a professional Major League Cricket team owned by the Mumbai-based Knight Riders Sports. The company is co-led by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

The groundbreaking kicked off with a “bhumi pujan,” a ritual rooted in Hindu tradition, which often marks the start of a construction project as a way of seeking divine blessings and forgiveness for disturbing the earth.

Cricket is already woven into the cultural fabric of U.S. diaspora communities from all over the world, particularly South Asia, where it is followed with religious fervor. In the U.S., cricket fans, coaches and players view a dedicated cricket stadium in a major sports market like Southern California as a huge milestone.

Investors hope momentum from local major league cricket games carries into the Olympics, taking the sport to a mainstream American sports audience. Many also believe that this newfound visibility will help carve out promising pathways for homegrown cricketing talent.

Olympics could make cricket mainstream in America

Venky Mysore, CEO of Knight Riders Sports, said establishing the Knight Riders Cricket Field is just the first step in getting the average American fan engaged. Mysore is convinced of the sport’s commercial potential.

“People who watch the Olympics are not necessarily cricket fans,” Mysore said. “When cricket becomes an Olympic sport, that takes interest and awareness to the next level.”

Knight Riders Sports operates multiple teams worldwide — in India, the Caribbean and the United Arab Emirates. But the Pomona venue is the only stadium they’ve built from scratch, Mysore said. Only three international-level cricket stadiums operate in the U.S. — in Texas, Florida and North Carolina. The sport is also played in other multi-purpose venues like the Oakland Coliseum.

L.A. is one of a handful of dedicated US cricket venues

Peter Della Penna, who has been covering cricket in the U.S. for the past two decades, says this is the first time an international cricket event in the U.S. will have a dedicated venue. In 2024, a high-capacity modular stadium was specifically built for the T20 World Cup in New York, but was dismantled after the event.

But during the L.A. Olympics, it would not be ideal to hold the cricket matches in another part of the country, he said.

“Cricket players would want to be in the Olympic Village, walk shoulder to shoulder with U.S. track and field athletes, swimmers and basketball players,” he said. “Cricketers in America have not had such prominence and U.S. cricket really needs that.”

Cricket has had a long, rich history in the U.S. The first international cricket match was played between the U.S. and Canada in 1844 at St. George’s Cricket Club in Manhattan, New York. Canada beat the U.S. by a slim margin before thousands of spectators, with large wagers placed on the event.

A high point came in 2024, when the U.S. national team achieved a stunning upset over Pakistan in a T20 World Cup match.

Debjit Lahiri, a Wisconsin-based cricket historian, said Olympic cricket was last played in 1900 in Paris where the Summer Games were a chaotic sideshow to the World’s Fair, featuring events like live pigeon shooting. Cricket never made it to the 1904 Olympic Games held in St. Louis.

Cricket in Los Angeles began around 1900 with local clubs. It gained prominence in the 1930s with the Hollywood Cricket Club formed by expat British actors, drawing big names like Errol Flynn, Laurence Olivier, Cary Grant and Boris Karloff. The club’s original home at Griffith Park was torn down to build an equestrian center for the 1984 Olympics. It moved to Woodley Park in the San Fernando Valley, where several aspiring cricketers learned to play the game, including Ayan Desai, a 22-year-old rising star who hopes to play for Team USA in 2028.

Desai, whose family owns a motel near the future Knight Riders stadium, said he was thrilled to hear about a world-class cricket venue almost in his backyard.

“To play the Olympics is special, but to do it in front of your home crowd, in your home city, that would be amazing,” he said.

Desai, a left-arm fast bowler, plays for the Seattle Orcas major league team and has competed in four international games as part of the U.S. national team.

“This is what we’ve needed to grow cricket in Los Angeles,” he said.

Questions remain about cricket’s sustainability

Antigua native Reggie Benjamin, a former U.S. cricketer and longtime coach based in Los Angeles, remains skeptical.

“I’m happy to see cricket get an opportunity to showcase itself here,” he said. “But if you can’t get average Americans to come to a game and sit in the stands for three hours, or if you can’t get American kids to play cricket, the game is not going to grow.”

Benjamin said he’s been disappointed to see homegrown talent and grassroots efforts cast aside as players from other countries are brought in to play for major league teams and the national team. He also points to poor management that has beset U.S. cricket and raised concerns about cricket’s inclusion in the 2028 Olympics.

Last year, those challenges came to a head as USA Cricket, a nonprofit tasked with developing the sport in the United States, filed for federal bankruptcy protection after ending a contract with American Cricket Enterprises, the group that created Major League Cricket. Since then, the International Cricket Council, which oversees cricket worldwide, has been temporarily running the U.S. national cricket team. ACE also filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination of the contract.

Yet big investors like Mysore are optimistic that a cooperative relationship is possible between USA Cricket and Major League Cricket. Both feed off each other, he said. National selectors often look to major league teams for star players.

“A strong national team is important because it keeps interest alive in the sport,” he said.

Walter Marquez, CEO of the Fairplex, says he believes in cricket’s future. A diehard baseball fan, Marquez said he’s been boning up on cricket recently. He now knows what a “yorker” means, and he sees real potential for the game to grow.

“For those who don’t know cricket, given an opportunity, they will learn what an exciting game it is, especially the T20 format,” said Marquez, referring to the truncated format the Olympics will use in 2028.

“We like home runs. We love the long ball. Cricket has a lot of those. American sports fans just don’t know they’re cricket fans yet.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Long Beach residents at risk of losing their housing can now apply for short-term rental assistance to help them stabilize their finances and, hopefully, stay in their homes.

The city says it’s rolling the program out quickly. Qualified renters could start receiving funds as early as the second week of May.

It’s among the first programs being funded by Los Angeles County Measure A, a half-cent sales tax increase approved by voters in 2024 and specifically earmarked for programs to prevent homelessness in the region.

Long Beach’s program, called Long Beach Renter Aid, got $2.7 million in Measure A dollars. Officials estimated that’s enough to help between 175 and 250 households with up to 6 months of rental assistance or up to $9,000 per household, whichever is less.

The funds can also be used to pay for overdue rent, past-due utilities, moving expenses and/or security deposits.

To qualify, renters must be making 50% or less of the area’s annual median income. That amounts to $53,000 or lower for a household of one and increases for each household member — for instance, $75,750 for four, $100,000 for eight.

Long Beach residents can see if they qualify and apply online here or in person Monday through Thursday at the Multi-Service Center or on Friday at the city’s Housing Authority.

The application window closes on May 8. The financial assistance should start going out that same day, said Deputy City Manager Teresa Chandler.

There will be a new application window each month starting in June. The city plans to accept new applicants between the 5th and 12th of each month until funds are exhausted.

The program will prioritize applicants who are 55 and older, at imminent risk of eviction or are impacted by the loss of federal benefits, policy changes or immigration enforcement actions.

Long Beach is the first city to roll out such a program using county Measure A funds.

Another program funded by Measure A is also paying for legal aid to help renters stave off wrongful evictions. Two more planned to launch soon are aimed at preventing homelessness for Long Beach residents aged 55 and older and residents aged 18-25. Details will be announced in the coming months.

“These resources are a lifeline,” Mayor Rex Richardson said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Mayor Rex Richardson speaks at a press conference outside City Hall as Long Beach announces a new housing assistance program on Thursday, April 23, 2026.

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Thomas R. Cordova

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Long Beach Post

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It will also be a huge help for families who have suffered financial hardship as a result of aggressive immigration enforcement tactics that began last May, said Susannah Sngiem, executive director of the nonprofit United Cambodian Community.

In many cases, “those that are detained are the breadwinners of these families,” Sngiem said.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

After widespread reports last year of immigration agents interfering with patient care and privacy at local hospitals, Los Angeles County now has a policy that asserts the rights of detained patients and instructs county public hospital staff on how to handle the ICE agents that accompany them. 

The policy, which went into effect in March, clarifies that patients brought in by civil law enforcement officers, including immigration agents, have the right to communicate with family members, legal counsel and advocates. Implemented by the LA County Department of Health Services, the policy has been described as a “new gold standard of care” meant to safeguard patient rights as hospitals navigate an influx of federal immigration raids.

There’s one problem, though: Hardly anyone knows about it. 

To physicians and advocates with the People’s Care Collective, a network of health care workers and organizers, this policy marks a major shift in how hospitals handle patients in immigration custody. But they said awareness of it has been lacking within the health care system, even though the Department of Health Services said the policy has been shared with staff. 

“The vast majority of the [LA County Department of Health Services] workforce, which is the second largest health care system in the country — second only to NYC — is unaware of this policy, unaware of all of the rights of their patients under this policy, and how the policy empowers health care workers to protect these rights,” said a Department of Health Services physician who is a member of the People’s Care Collective. The doctor asked to speak anonymously due to fear of retaliation.

The policy follows a Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors directive requiring the Department of Health Services to develop guidelines allowing patients detained by immigration authorities to authorize the release of information to family, counsel and government representatives. 

The policy also:

• Instructs staff to ask agents to remain outside of a patient’s room at all times, absent safety concerns
• Forbids unnecessary restraints, or shackling, of patients
• Requires agents to remain in public areas of the hospital unless they have a judicial warrant
• Requires agents to “remain identifiable at all times”
• Prohibits agents from acting as interpreters or surrogate decision-makers for detained patients
• Instructs staff not to physically interfere with ICE agents or assist a patient in hiding or fleeing
• Prohibits discharging the patient back into immigration custody “until custody is confirmed as lawful and documented.”

You can read the full policy here. 

These new guidelines only apply to public health care facilities and not private hospitals such as Adventist White Memorial in Boyle Heights, where doctors last year reported ICE agents violating the privacy rights of detained patients and prohibiting contact with patients’ family members. 

This article was published in collaboration with LAist.

People’s Care Collective members say they hope private health care facilities adopt similar measures — and they may have to if the state legislature passes several bills making their way through the legislature. But first, the members say, an education campaign is crucial to inform hospital workers and the public at large about the new guidelines.

“Being upfront about this really can set the precedent for places across the country to follow suit,” the LA County Department of Health Services physician said. “It’s our patients’ rights to know these rights. If we really care as a county that wants to live by our values [of caring] about all of its residents, including immigrant residents and folks who are being targeted by ICE, we need to walk the walk.”

The physician said members of the collective, who were aware of the Board of Supervisors’ directive, learned about the policy’s implementation last month only after searching through the Department of Health Services’ internal website. The department officially announced the policy a few days later by summarizing key points through email, according to the physician.

“The majority of health care workers are only going to know about the policy to the extent that is shared with them … and are not going to have the time and capacity to be digging deep into this internal website, finding the policy, reading it through [and] understanding it,” the physician said.

While health care facilities may fear retaliation by the Trump administration for being vocal about the rights of patients and immigrants, the physician said the Department of Health Services should “model the bravery and integrity” that its workforce has embodied since the beginning of the raids.

“These rights are not up for negotiation. They’re not flexible pending political circumstances,” the physician said.

A statement provided by the Department of Health Services said the policy is accessible to staff through a workforce portal, adding that a “guidance tool” has been distributed.

“We have also taken proactive steps to communicate this specific policy to all staff, supervisors, and managers through multiple internal channels, including all staff emails, hospital newsletters,” the statement said.

None of the hospitals or medical centers operated by LA Health Services have received a patient under civil custody, including ICE detention, since January 2026, according to the department.

This article was published in collaboration with LAist.

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J.W. Hendricks

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The LA Local

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Rebecca Trotzky-Sirr, a physician at LA General who has worked closely with patients in criminal custody, said hospitals across the country were caught off guard when the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration tactics led to an influx of patients brought in by ICE for emergency care. Many hospitals, including LA General, have clear protocols for handling patients in criminal detention, for example, after being arrested by a police officer. 

But most patients accompanied by ICE are civil, not criminal detainees.

“It took a long time for people to understand that,” she said. Trotzky-Sirr spoke with LAist as an individual physician, not on behalf of the Department of Health Services or LA General. 

Initially, she said, many health care workers assumed ICE had the same authority as criminal law enforcement agencies in medical settings to take precautions like restricting a patient’s communications.

“But that’s not what we should do," she said. "That’s not what we’re legally obligated to do.”

Plus, Trotzky-Sirr said, hospital staff, like anyone, might feel intimidated by a masked, armed agent.

“It’s hard to stand up confidently to someone with a gun,” she said. 

But staff members’ deference to the demands of federal immigration agents over patients’ rights  has been slowly changing, the doctor said, as more staff become educated on policies for handling detained patients, and especially, the difference between patients in civil custody versus criminal custody. Most patients who have been apprehended by ICE are civil, not criminal detainees.

“It took a long time for people to understand that,” the doctor said.

To Henry Perez, executive director of InnerCity Struggle, the county can strengthen awareness by working with organizations “with deep roots in the community.”

Perez, who has been involved in community efforts to protect patient rights at White Memorial, thinks of the county’s outreach work around housing and renters’ rights, partnering with organizations like Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Public Counsel and InnerCity Struggle. 

“There is a roadmap … and the county needs to reproduce that template that they already know how to do,” Perez said. “Just as housing is a critical issue in the community, so are immigrant rights and protections.

“A policy is only as good and as strong as its implementation and enforcement.”

Some Southern California legislators are trying to safeguard the rights of detained patients at the state level. State Sen. Caroline Menjivar, who represents Burbank and the San Fernando Valley, authored a bill, SB 915, that would, among other measures, prohibit immigration officers from remaining at a patient’s bedside unless there’s a credible risk of harm, or the officer has a valid judicial warrant.

A second bill, SB 1323, authored by state Sen. Susan Rubio, whose district stretches from El Monte to Ontario, would require hospital staff to immediately notify management when immigration agents show up. It would also require hospital management to instruct staff on how to respond to a detained patient’s request to notify family of their whereabouts. 

Both bills would apply to all health care entities in California, both public and private. 

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment by publication time. This story will be updated if a response is received.

What screams Thai more than pad Thai? Nothing. And on Sunday, the utilitarian stir-fried noodles will be the main character in an attempt to break a Guinness World Record.

The challenge? To serve and sell 1,200 plates of the stuff in 60 minutes. The headline-grabbing gambit is part of 17th Thai New Year Festival happening Sunday in Hollywood Thai Town.

Chinnakrit Soonthornwan (he said you can just call him Oak) came up with the idea to break the old Guinness record of around 1,000 plates. As of Thursday, the team already has received about 700 orders from participants.

 "I think it [is] very possible," Oak said of their chances to make history.  "It is going to be epic."

Also epic is the setting of this record-breaking attempt.

"It's all outside," Oak said. " There will be 35 restaurants working at the same time with big woks — like, gigantic woks."

Not to mention the 1,200 (or more) people chowing down on said noodles.

Pad Thai wasn't the first dish of choice. The team first landed on mango sticky rice.

"It seemed like everyone can eat it. It's vegan," he said.

But the popular dessert is difficult to make, and Oak added,  "It's Thai, but the name is not Thai."

Again, what screams Thai cuisine more than pad Thai?

"This is Thai. This is how we do it together," he said. "This is how we do world history."

Oak is also a co-founder of DS Night Market, a weekly Thai gathering proffering music and food taking place in Chinatown for the past couple years. He said his team has been regular attendees of the New Year festival and those born-and-raised in Thai Town have always wanted to help out.

"And we were like, 'We not gonna do something like they had done for 16 years,'" Oak said. "So we pitched them the pad Thai world record thing."

The bigger goal is to shed a spotlight on the community and to support the mom-and-pops. The pad Thai challenge is just one of the highlights. The all-day Sunday New Year celebration includes  five stages focusing on food, music, a beer garden and even boxing.

"We want to drive the business sales and bring more good vibes to Thai business owners," he said.