Topline:
Natalie “Swell” Dillon and fellow Pacific Crest Trail alumni carry fresh food over Bishop Pass to surprise and support current hikers, a growing tradition known as “trail magic.”
What is trail magic? Trail magic ranges from a shared snack to a ride from a stranger, rooted in goodwill and the belief that “the trail provides” and now, more hikers are stepping up to give back.
Read on... to see what they encountered on their journey.
Natalie “Swell” Dillon, an avid backpacker who lives in Bishop in California’s Eastern Sierra, completed the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail in 2022.
And every year since, the occupational therapist — who’s also a member of her local search and rescue team — has spent a full weekend back out on the PCT to support those making the same journey she did.
These acts of kindness — offering tired, hungry thru-hikers everything from food and snacks to rides to the nearest town — are colloquially known as “trail magic.” And this year, Dillon decided to “go big” and invite other thru-hikers who’ve previously conquered the PCT to join her in her most ambitious trail magic plan yet: hiking 12 miles up and over nearly 12,000-foot Bishop Pass with as much fresh food as they could carry.
Dillon hiked the trail the same year as my partner, and as someone who completed the PCT myselfback in 2019, I found myself on Dillon’s invite list and joining her on her mission.
So if you’re new to the concept of trail magic or have always wondered how to get involved, keep reading for what you need to know.
At its most basic level, trail magic is “an act of goodwill or a remarkable moment,” according to the Pacific Crest Trail Association — anchored in the sentiment that “the trail provides.”
Some trail magic is serendipitous. On my own PCT hike, for example, it came in the form of a particularly juicy peach handed to me as I took my first steps into Oregon, followed by a ride from a stranger who saw three hitchhikers and stopped — even though she’d never heard of the trail before. As for the “remarkable moment” aspect, spotting nearly 100 dogs on a particularly popular stretch of trail near Tahoe added immense joy to my day.
I was also the grateful recipient of several coordinated pieces of trail magic from established “trail angels” who are known in their communities to offer help to hikers, including hot coffee and breakfast in a remote lakes area of Oregon, cold Gatorades after a particularly difficult day of hiking and much-needed rides to and from trailheads.
Taking on a long trek like the Pacific Crest Trail is no easy journey. The demands of hiking 20–30 miles per day for 12-plus hours often prompt many backpackers to bring only the most calorie-efficient foods in an attempt to save weight.
The PCT can also be mentally challenging. During my hike, in certain sections of the trail, I found myself without new company for days on end.
All of this can make coming across fresh food and a group of new people incredibly refreshing. And in a section like the Sierra Nevada mountain range, where hikers travel through 300 miles of unbroken wilderness and very little in the form of access to luxuries, it can be positively transformative — not to mention surprising, as the only ways in and out are extremely rugged.
Dillon said she was inspired to start doing both organized and spontaneous trail magic after her own experiences receiving “countless encounters of trail magic” on her PCT hike — including one standout moment when she stumbled upon a trail angel offering water and a “huge buffet of breakfast and lunch foods” in a hot section of Southern California. “We feasted for hours.”
“All of those acts of generosity from other people really fueled me forward in ways that were essential to finishing a thru-hike,” she said.
To make this year extra special, Dillon asked everyone she knew who had hiked the trail in previous years and lived within a day’s drive of Bishop to meet her one weekend in early June, loading pounds of fresh fruit, vegetables and other surprises into our packs to hike 12 miles up and over the nearly 12,000-foot Bishop Pass and spend a full day cooking and socializing with hikers in the High Sierra.
“Even for us in our three-day weekend together, we created a little ‘tramily,’” she said. “And instead of being driven by trying to get to Canada, we were all driven by this idea of trying to provide a superb trail magic experience for this year’s hikers.”
These hikers included Simon from Belgium, who goes by “Presoak” (many long-distance hikers are given or choose their own “trail names”). “Trail magic in the middle of freaking nowhere!” he exclaimed upon seeing our group, shocked to come across us so deep in the wilderness.
Simon had been traveling for the past four years and became inspired to visit the U.S. for a long-distance trail this year by a podcast about the Appalachian Trail on the East Coast.
“It’s amazing,” he said of his PCT hike so far. “Every day is getting more beautiful than the last.”
Simon’s reaction, Dillon said, is exactly why she chose Bishop Pass for her group weekend of trail magic — aside from its proximity to her home and the challenge it offered her fellow angels, she wanted to bring an element of surprise to the several dozen hikers we met that weekend.
“Something that was cool about this weekend was creating a vortex of hikers that stopped, took off their packs [and] lounged for not 30 minutes, not an hour, but like two or three hours,” Dillon said, noting that some hikers were just as excited to run into one another as they were for the trail magic itself. “It’s just a facilitator of joy, really. You see joy in the surprise of it — the theme of community.”
As well as offering food and a morale boost in the wilderness, trail angels can offer a hand when it comes to a thru-hiker’s logistics — and their safety.
Mark Trent, who lives in McCloud near the PCT in the Mt. Shasta area, manages a Facebook group dedicated to organizing rides and places to stay for hikers in Northern California.
Trent said he started bringing sodas and other goodies to hikers when he first moved to the area around a decade ago. Now, he’s become an instrumental force in the support system for hikers passing through the area, especially during wildfire season.
For the past several years, fires have closed trailheads in the Mt. Shasta region, a key resupply stop for PCT hikers. And when that happens, “angels have to turn into getting people off the trail and down to safety,” Trent said. He’s also performed trail maintenance, provided fresh food and a place to stay and even gone out to help hikers stuck alone navigating dangerous snowfields.
“I do a little bit of everything,” he said. “We’re so remote up here that there’s not a lot of services. And public transportation is lacking, to say the least.”
If you don’t have enough time to do a whole weekend trip and you don’t live by a long trail, don’t count yourself out of becoming a trail angel.
If you find yourself in a town — or even out hiking near a long trail like the PCT — consider keeping your eyes peeled for backpackers who may appreciate some fresh food. You could, for example, consider packing a few extra snacks in your pack.
If you feel comfortable doing so, you could also consider offering rides. Because Dillon lives in Bishop, where hundreds of thru-hikers pass through every year, she often runs into hikers at her local grocery store, around town or at local trailheads, and will offer rides to their next stop.
“When you’ve already walked over 700, 800 miles, walking 2 miles to the grocery store and then another 2 miles back from the grocery store can feel tiring,” Dillon said.
The PCTA offers a few good suggestions, too, including paying a hiker’s tab at a restaurant — either in person or by calling from home and asking if there are any hikers dining that day that you could treat.
But most of all, keep it simple, Trent said.
“Find a local angel group [online] and just look it over and see what is necessary,” he said. “The hikers will tell you themselves.”
As for what not to do as a trail angel starting out, remember: Trail magic in its purest form is a serendipitous moment, so the more of that energy you can bring, the better.
The PCTA suggests choosing less popular locations or times of year, when your magic won’t create a crowd or compete with local businesses. And never leave food or beverages unattended on the trail, because they’re likely to get eaten by animals before any human stumbles upon them.
“Overdone trail magic is no longer magical,” the organization said.
The spirit of trail magic also asks that you don’t accept anything in return. If a hiker offers to pay, Trent said, he does his best to decline — but if they insist, he will just use the money to feed the next hiker.
Or as Dillon puts it, as an alumna of the PCT: “Participating in trail magic and providing trail magic for the PCT hikers is a way of giving back to the community.”
Topline:
A City Council committee voted Friday to shelve a proposed ballot measure aimed at cutting L.A.'s “mansion tax” nearly in half. Ysabel Jurado, chair of the ad hoc committee on Measure ULA, said it's too early to determine the tax's long-term effects on housing and revenue.
Why it matters: The proposal by Councilmembers John Lee and Marqueece Harris-Dawson would have asked voters in November to reduce the ULA transfer tax rate for multifamily and mixed-use properties to somewhere between 2% and 3.5%, down from the current rate of up to 5.5%.
How we got here: L.A. voters approved Measure ULA in 2022 to fund affordable housing and homelessness prevention. The measure taxes real estate sales over about $5 million. Since taking effect in April 2023, ULA has raised just over $1.1 billion from 1,633 real estate transactions, according to the city’s housing department. Critics say the tax has suppressed housing development.
What's next?: In its final meeting, the committee instead advanced a narrower pilot program that would reduce the property transfer tax only for newly built affordable housing projects. The ULA committee dissolves this weekend, but the ballot measure proposal was also referred to the City Council's rules committee, which could decide to take it up in the coming months.
A City Council committee voted Friday to shelve a proposed ballot measure aimed at cutting L.A.'s “mansion tax” nearly in half.
The ad hoc committee on Measure ULA voted 2-1 to set aside a proposal by Councilmembers John Lee and Marqueece Harris-Dawson that would have asked voters in November to reduce the ULA transfer tax rate for multifamily and mixed-use properties to somewhere between 2% and 3.5%, down from the current rate of up to 5.5%.
However, the ballot measure proposal was also referred to the City Council’s rules, elections, and intergovernmental relations committee, which could still choose to move it forward.
Instead, the ad hoc committee advanced a narrower pilot program that would reduce the property transfer tax only for newly built affordable housing projects.
The pilot program won't need voter approval in the form of a ballot measure. Committee Chair Ysabel Jurado, who introduced the substitute language, said she believes the city should avoid a ULA ballot measure because it’s still too early to evaluate the measure’s long-term effects.
“ I'm against going to the ballot, but I'm for making fixes that make this better,” Jurado said.
Voters will see a separate proposal on their ballots by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association to effectively repeal Measure ULA.
If the L.A. City Council does not approve reforming the measure, the only decision on the ballot in November may be whether to keep the mansion tax in its current form or end it.
L.A. voters approved Measure ULA in 2022 to fund affordable housing and homelessness prevention. The measure taxes real estate sales over about $5 million. Since taking effect in April 2023, ULA has raised just over $1.1 billion from 1,633 real estate transactions, according to the city’s housing department.
The city projects it will generate about $500 million in the coming fiscal year — about half of what proponents initially promised. It has funded about 800 new affordable units and helped stabilize thousands of renters facing eviction, according to the housing department.
But critics say the tax has suppressed housing development. Several studies link the tax to a slowdown in apartment construction in Los Angeles, but ULA supporters say high interest rates and broader economic conditions are to blame.
The City Council's ad hoc committee on Measure ULA was formed earlier this year to study how the measure is working and develop potential reforms. That work took on more urgency inside L.A. city hall after the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association qualified a statewide ballot measure for November that would effectively repeal Measure ULA entirely.
Joe Donlin, director of the United to House LA coalition, which campaigned for the original measure, said the City Council committee made the right call by rejecting broader exemptions.
“By not taking up the extreme calls for broad, 15-year waivers that could cost the program about a third of its revenue, the committee acknowledged that ULA is working,” Donlin said in a statement.
A separate group of housing developers, union workers and advocacy groups calling itself the “Mend It, Don’t End It” coalition has been urging city hall to make changes to ULA. On Friday, the group said it supports the measure, but believes targeted reforms are still needed.
“Independent research shows that Measure ULA has slowed housing production in Los Angeles at a time when we need more housing, not less,” said Melanie Mendoza, a coalition spokesperson.
The debate over ULA's impact played out in the committee room Friday morning. The city's chief legislative analyst reviewed seven independent studies on ULA’s impact. Three of those studies concluded ULA had suppressed housing production and reduced property tax revenues, while four found no meaningful negative impact.
Before ULA took effect, Los Angeles collected about $22 million a month in transfer tax. After that, it dropped to about $13 million. But city legislative analyst Henry Flatt told the committee a similar decline happened in cities without the tax, including Glendale, Long Beach, Pasadena and Santa Clarita.
“We are not currently convinced that Measure ULA has had an extremely negative impact on general fund revenues,” Flatt told the committee.
The county assessor's office read the same period differently. Scott Thornberry, an assistant assessor with L.A. County, told the committee that commercial and industrial property sales are falling in the city but not elsewhere in the county.
“We are seeing, we believe, a trend line of impact to property tax revenue growth in the city of L.A. specifically," Thornberry said.
Instead of the ballot measure, the committee voted to develop a five-year pilot program cutting the ULA tax to 1.5% for newly constructed affordable housing projects that meet specific requirements.
Lee, whose ballot measure was replaced with language advancing the pilot program, said he hadn't seen the substitute prior to Friday’s meeting and voted against it.
“This was just placed in front of me,” he said. Lee objected to a provision in the substitute recommendations calling for $30 million in new spending on homelessness support.
“Without knowing where this money's coming from, I'm going to have to vote no,” he said.
Lee told LAist he supports stronger oversight and technical improvements to Measure ULA, but believes a ballot measure is the right approach.
“Voters deserve the opportunity to consider targeted changes that would preserve the intent of the measure while addressing its unintended impacts on housing production and real estate activity in Los Angeles,” the councilmember said, in a statement.
Friday's meeting was the committee's final scheduled hearing. The committee, which is set to dissolve June 1, also voted to advance a narrower nonprofit tax refund limited to organizations that can prove all sale proceeds went directly to affordable housing.
The committee continued a separate motion on fire exemptions for Palisades fire victims, which will be heard by another council committee. A motion to loosen eligibility rules for the ULA Citizens Oversight Committee was noted and filed.
Councilmember Imelda Padilla, who introduced several of the committee's motions, said the process had been guided by a commitment to protect the measure.
"My goal has always been to listen carefully, bring people into the conversation, and protect ULA while honoring the voters' intent," she said at Friday’s meeting.
In her closing remarks, Jurado reflected on the three-member committee’s past work.
“We released $14 million in rental assistance to the most vulnerable Angelenos and $300 million for affordable housing,” she said. “We did in six or seven meetings what others couldn't do in five years.”
The ad hoc committee's recommendations now move to the full City Council.
Harris-Dawson and Lee’s ballot measure motion will be considered by the City Council’s rules committee at a later date, officials said.
Topline:
The annual movie-monster bash for horror fans returns to the Pasadena Convention Center this weekend. The event features panel discussions, celebrity photo ops, a monster museum, live makeup demos and over 400 exhibitors.
What can I expect: Rub elbows with legendary beastie creators, browse hundreds of vendors who traffic in the weird and unsettling, and marvel at the practical effects that’ll make your flesh creep.
What should I wear: Cosplay as your favorite filmic haunts or don a classic tee celebrating genre history. Just come ready to adore all things that gnaw and gash.
Read on... for more details about the event.
Monsterpalooza, the annual movie-monster bash for horror fans, returns to the Pasadena Convention Center this weekend, starting Friday night (May 29) and lasting through Sunday.
Now in its 18th year, devotees can rub elbows with legendary beastie creators, browse hundreds of vendors who traffic in the weird and unsettling, and marvel at practical effects that’ll make your flesh creep.
Dozens of panels and presentations are scheduled, including a deep-dive into the 95th anniversary of the Dracula and Frankenstein movies by writer Julian David Stone.
Stone said that the two classic movies have left a lasting impact.
“Dracula is a movie about supernatural horror..... and Frankenstein is about technological or man-made horror," he said. "You can just trace those two themes all the way forward to this past year with Sinners and Megan 2.0."
Stone first attended the convention in 2008, returning over the years as a fan, spectator and presenter.
“It’s just a terrific convention that celebrates all things horror,” Stone said. “There’s a lot of celebrities you can meet who were in these horror films and you can get pictures with them." He added that he’ll never forget when he met Carla Laemmle in 2010 — the last living cast member of the original 1931 Dracula.
If you’re jonesing to be photographed with high-profile entertainers (expect a fee for many), this year's event has a line-up that includes musician Alice Cooper, actress Lin Shaye from the Insidious movie franchise and David Howard Thornton, who plays Art the Clown in the popular Terrifier movie series.
Cosplay and crazy costumes are encouraged, although a T-shirt celebrating a classic horror movie will also do. Just come ready to adore all things that gnaw and gash.
Location: 300 E. Green St., Pasadena
Ticket prices at the door: Friday $50, Saturday $55, Sunday $55, 3-day pass $99
Hours: Friday 6 p.m. - 11 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Topline:
Judge Robert Draper is running to keep his seat in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. He’s running under Office No. 2 while facing a challenge from a deputy district attorney — and charges from the California Commission on Judicial Performance alleging that he violated several ethical rules for judges. Here’s what you should know.
Why it matters: The commission has charged Draper with seven counts of violating judicial ethics. His hearing wrapped up earlier this month, but a decision won’t come down until after voters cast their ballots for the primary.
The details: The allegations include willful misconduct in office, failure to perform his duties and actions that affect the judicial office’s reputation. For example, during a hearing, he admitted to saying irrelevant comments about race during a case and calling women in the courthouse “cute” and “attractive.”
Analysis: Draper spoke to LAist and denied many of the allegations, and for ones he doesn’t, he said they didn’t violate ethical rules. We spoke to a legal expert to unpack how voters can make sense of the issues.
Read on... to hear directly from Draper.
California’s primary election is Tuesday — and one race poses a challenging question to voters: Should a judge who’s accused of ethics violations by the state watchdog of judges get re-elected?
That’s the situation for Judge Robert Draper, who’s running to keep his seat in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. With about 15 years on the bench, Draper, 84, told LAist he hasn’t had disciplinary issues until now.
The California Commission on Judicial Performance, the state body that oversees judicial complaints, conducted an investigation into complaints and charged Draper with misconduct in office. The commission’s members, who are also the final decision-makers here, won’t make a determination on whether to discipline him until after the primary.
Here’s what you should know about what’s at stake and what could happen next.
Draper was appointed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2012. Superior Court judges have to run for reelection after they’ve been appointed. Draper is running for a third full term and is on the ballot for all L.A. County voters under Office No. 2, facing a challenge from Tal Valbuena, a deputy district attorney.
The commission has charged him with seven counts of violating judicial ethics. (The proceedings against him aren’t civil or criminal, but the commission uses similar terminology.) The commission is an 11-member group of judges, lawyers and others who are appointed by the governor, the Legislature and the California Supreme Court.
Draper is currently assigned to “chambers work only.” He and his attorney told LAist Draper's court-issued email account is restricted and his room does not have a computer or staff. He hasn’t heard a case since he returned in June 2023 from an involuntary leave that, according to commission records, was tied to the alleged ethics violations.
Among the allegations Draper is facing:
A panel of independent “special masters” oversaw a six-day hearing earlier this month on the charges. The special masters are expected to issue a report on their findings within the next several weeks — but a decision on possible disciplinary action still rests with the commission.
According to the commission’s charge document, the allegations against Draper center on willful misconduct in office, failure to perform his duties and actions that affect the judicial office’s reputation. Draper has denied some of the claims and, in an interview with LAist, gave reasons for others.
The commission initially claimed that his behavior was evidence of an unnamed disability that interferes with his duties (which could get judges removed from the bench, if proven), but LAist confirmed that claim has been withdrawn.
Draper told LAist he is navigating health issues. Over the last few years, he’s been prescribed medication that made his Parkinson’s disease worse, he said, and had a detached retina and a rotator cuff injury. He added that he’s also coping with grief — his son died this year shortly before the hearing.
The seven counts Draper faces from the judicial ethics commission cover accusations dated 2022 and 2023. We’ll explore the main ones.
We reviewed hundreds of pages so you don’t have to. If you do want to look them over, here’s where you can find the documents we included in this story:
According to records from the judicial performance commission, Draper admitted to making statements that have been called “irrelevant” and “inappropriate” by other judges who reviewed his decisions on a 2023 case.
In February that year, the defense in a sexual harassment case Draper presided over was seeking a new trial. A jury had reached a verdict earlier, putting them on the hook for $10 million.
During a hearing, Draper brought up his personal views on interracial mixing and Black history, according to excerpts of the court transcripts. Draper told LAist these comments were intended to convince the two sides to “make a reasonable settlement.”
According to the transcripts, Draper used the terms “coal black” and “light brown” to describe Black skin tones. Draper defended his statements, telling LAist he viewed the comments as “almost like describing what color dress you’re wearing today.”
“Now, why did I say it? Race was not involved in the case, except that almost everybody was Black,” he said.
The commission said the comments at issue reflected “bias, prejudice, or harassment.” Draper’s written response to the charges said the dialogue had been taken “wholly out of context.” He told LAist he “ wasn’t talking about a bias for or against” and added he “probably won’t use the word ‘black’ ever” again if re-elected.
“Do I imagine I’ll continue to make comments about appearance? No,” he said. “I probably won’t.”
The same day of the 2023 hearing, Draper brought the all-women legal team into his chambers, according to records, where he made other comments that the commission alleges violated judicial ethics.
During the conversation, he told them a story about how male attorneys used to tell female secretaries “you better be able to f*** better than you can type.” Draper told LAist his comments have been misconstrued to sound like he was bragging about behavior at his last law firm. In fact, he said, he was referring to how other firms had “that attitude towards secretaries” when he started practicing law.
“I was so proud of the country [because] now it wouldn’t happen at all,” he said.
His comments and other issues ultimately led to the California Court of Appeal to overturn the verdict and order a new trial. Draper is also alleged to have touched a lawyer’s hair during proceedings in that case without reason, which he testified before the special masters hearing did not happen.
Other allegations cited by the commission involve multiple comments Draper has admitted to making about women in the courthouse in 2022 and 2023, according to records and LAist’s interview with him. The commission said these statements violated judicial ethics, which Draper disputes.
I’m not going to walk around with my handkerchief in my mouth. I can just say, ‘Hey, you’re looking cute today’ and people understand that.
In one instance, Draper told his presiding judge she “looked cute” when she was mad, according to records. Another time he called a woman involved in a case before him “quite attractive” in a “global way.”
Draper told LAist the language he used was “not a come-on” and that he was “trying to make them feel good about themselves.”
“ I’m not going to walk around with my handkerchief in my mouth. I can just say, ‘Hey, you’re looking cute today,’ and people understand that,” he said. “But I’m not going to be walking around the court picking out the cute ones and telling them they’re cute.”
Draper has also been charged with allegedly not following his courthouse leadership’s directives.
When he was placed on involuntary leave in March 2023, according to the commission, Draper continued to do administrative work on cases despite receiving verbal and written directives to not access the courthouse and its resources.
Draper told LAist his supervisors were aware that his work was continuing because he was emailing them about it.
“They understood what I was doing, and they approved it by not speaking up,” he said.
Draper also testified that he wasn’t immediately told not to work while on leave. The commission said Draper wasn’t “candid” when he testified to that.
The commission also cited problematic emails Draper admitted to sending from his court email address, according to records and his testimony. This included allegations that Draper sent files including nude photos from a confidential court case to people not authorized to receive them under state code.
In June 2023, Draper sent an email to commission staff and other Superior Court judges with various materials, according to records. The attachments included details from a July 2017 confidential child abuse case.
The case involved child sexual abuse allegations with a public figure. Draper emailed nude photos from the case files of children bathing, according to records and his testimony.
One of the recipients of the email with nude photo attachments was retired Judge Lance Ito — best known for presiding over the O.J Simpson murder case in 1995. Ito testified to not being personally acquainted with Draper at the time and called the email “unusual.” Draper testified that the email blast was intended to show his legal contributions and that he is authorized under statute to consult with other judges. He said he copied Ito on the thread because of his leadership role in teaching judges.
Draper also emailed photos of himself “from behind without clothes” to the commission and other judges, according to records. He testified that this was to show his colleagues proof of an injury.
Reporter Cato Hernández covers judicial races during election season. They attended the first day of Judge Robert Draper’s hearing and obtained the rough transcripts for the entire hearing.
They also interviewed Draper and one of his key judicial endorsers, Judge Kimberly Repecka. For analysis, they spoke to Laurie Levenson, a law professor and David W. Burcham Chair in Ethical Advocacy at Loyola Law School.
In another charge, the commission said Draper has not cooperated with its ethics inquiry that started in 2022 — such as repeatedly missing deadlines — and has been disrespectful to commission staff. Draper told LAist the commission’s investigation was more like an inquisition because they didn’t interview him before the hearing.
“ That is a big problem with the way the CJP operates,” he said. “They’re not there to help judges. They’re kinda trying to catch judges.”
Kimberly Repecka is one of four judges who have endorsed Draper for re-election. She’s a prior public defender who’s known Draper for about 10 years and testified in his hearing last month.
She told LAist people have latched on to ageist narratives and that his character is being misrepresented. According to Repecka, it’s common for older judges to share “war stories.”
Repecka defended Draper’s reasoning for bringing up race in the sexual harassment case.
“I think most of us most of the time view it exactly how Judge Draper said he intended it: an attempt to connect on a more human level and remind ourselves that there’s a world bigger than the courtroom and case we’re in,” she said.
Repecka told LAist she wouldn’t use the same words he used to talk about skin color in the courtroom. She would be concerned it could cause discomfort.
“ As a white person, I would be pretty careful about how I address that if it seems relevant to the case itself,” she said.
Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School well-versed in judicial ethics, described it as a “real stretch” to view Draper’s comments on race and appearance as appropriate under any circumstances. Levenson said she can’t imagine other judges talking like this.
“There’s a lot of training for judges that has happened in the last decade about how you don’t talk about race unless it is a relevant issue,” she said, “and you especially don’t use some of the terms that Judge Draper was using in these hearings.”
Judges need to watch what they say in a courtroom because they need to not only be fair, but appear to be fair, Levenson said.
“He has the ethical obligation to be impartial and how he demonstrates that he’s being impartial is going to be evaluated by how he acts and what he says in the courtroom,” she said. “If you take his words at face value, there certainly would be reason to question how he’s treating people in that courtroom.”
Levenson has reviewed the hearing’s rough transcripts, the charges and Draper’s filed answer to them. She said it appears the commission “bent over backwards” to give him a fair chance during their “robust” process.
The next step is for the special masters to put together a report of their conclusions for the commission members, which Draper will have a chance to respond to. The special masters won’t make recommendations about discipline.
That choice rests with the commission members. Remember, they brought these charges against Draper and will decide the outcome, likely in a couple of months. Among the options: The commission members could clear him, admonish or censure him, or remove him from office.
Loyola Marymount University is an underwriting sponsor of LAist. Like other funders, it has no influence on coverage.
Topline:
A former Arcadia mayor pleaded guilty Friday to acting as an “illegal agent” for China, according to court documents. She resigned from her position with the city earlier this month.
The charges: Eileen Wang, 58, was charged with one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The charge carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison. Wang’s legal team did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.
Who else was involved: According to prosecutors, Wang and Yaoning “Mike” Sun of Chino Hills worked at the direction of the Chinese government and with people based in the U.S. to promote pro-People’s Republic of China propaganda in the United States. Those actions occurred between 2020 and 2022, prosecutors said. Sun, 65, pleaded guilty in October 2025 in federal court to acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. He is serving a four-year federal prison sentence.
What else: Arcadia said in a post on its website that a new mayor would be picked from the remaining council members at the next meeting.
Dana Littlefield contributed to this story.
