The Brief

It's officially summer in Southern California, and the warm evenings ahead are perfect for taking in the night sky. Today is also the start of the seasonal, free Star Parties at Griffith Observatory that run from June through September.

If you go, you might meet local amateur astronomer, Spencer Soohoo. By day, he’s a research scientist at Cedar Sinai but in his off time, he’s an active member of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society.

We asked Soohoo for some advice on how to get into amateur astronomy in Southern California — if you’re already into stargazing — how to up your game.

Getting started

To kick us off, we asked Soohoo to recommend a few places where the stars may be easier to spot:

• Joshua Tree: He says the national park "is starting to get a little more light pollution now than before but it's still fairly decent."
• I-5 near Frasier Park: "There's a couple of turnouts you can go to."
• Saddleback Butte State Park: Soohoo has this caveat: "There's a lot of light now from the Lancaster-Palmdale area. But the last time I went, you could still see the Milky Way without too much trouble."
• For really dark skies: You have to drive a distance, probably about an 1 1/2 to 2 hours away.

Not up for that drive? Soohoo says "to be honest with you, if you're OK with looking at the planets and some of the brighter nebula, you can even do that from downtown L.A."

What can you see in SoCal this time of year?

Soohoo says right now the only night object "really prominent" is Venus.

"If you are up around maybe midnight or 1 a.m., you can see Saturn and Jupiter will rise a couple hours after that," he says.

How to spot planets

We asked Soohoo what he'd recommend folks use if they want to know where the constellations and planets are specifically in the sky.

Soohoo says his favorite smartphone app is Sky Safari ("I think it's about $9 to $10") but there are other free apps to check out.

"They're tied into the GPS in your phone and they'll show you what the sky looks like at that particular time," he says. "Some of them have what they call augmented reality. So they'll actually use the camera on the phone and superimpose the background of what you're seeing along with the sky chart."

Will the northern lights be back in Southern California?

Recently and unexpectedly, people were able to catch a glimpse of the northern lights exceptionally far south. So we asked Soohoo if that's going to be possible over the summer months.

He doubts it.

"It's rare that you'd be able to see them this far south," he says. "But I know that the last time you could see the northern lights from Mount Wilson — that one night that they were visible — the marine layer had moved in and blocked out all the light pollution from downtown L.A. and so you could see the northern lights there."

What to expect at Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory hosts monthly star parties during the summer that are free to the public. Volunteers from telescope groups and the L.A. Astronomical Society are there and Soohoo says participants can expect 25 to 40 telescopes to be set up on the grounds.

"We basically set up our telescopes on the lawn and point them at whatever target we want to and invite people to look through them," he explains. "And I personally focus on the moon because you'd be amazed at how many people have never seen the moon through a telescope in their lives. I can't tell you how many languages I've heard people say, 'Wow, it's just incredible.'"

Soohoo said he got his "greatest thrill" from helping an 82-year-old woman who had never looked through a telescope in her life.

"I showed her the moon and just to watch the expression on her face as it lit up — that's why we do it," Soohoo said.

How to attend

The Griffith Observatory lists the following dates for public star parties:

• Saturday, June 24: 2:00 pm - 9:45 p.m.
• Saturday, July 22: 2:00 pm - 9:45 p.m.
• Saturday, Aug. 26: 2:00 pm - 9:45 p.m.
• Saturday, Sep. 23: 2:00 pm - 9:45 p.m.

You can find more resources and events at the Los Angeles Astronomical Society website or on the Griffith Observatory website.

Topline:

Joseph Hawkins, former director of ONE Archives at the USC Libraries, the largest LGBTQ+ repository, joined AirTalk, LAist’s daily news program, to talk about the legacy and current state of these spaces.

Economic woes: As the story goes with a lot of local businesses right now, gay and lesbian bars are suffering the same economic challenges due to rising costs and a decline in alcohol consumption.

“Masses of people who can go to a bar and sustain it over a long period of time has become more and more difficult,” Hawkins said. "Some bars don't have the clientele that they used to because of the internet."

Tony in Anaheim called into AirTalk and shared a funny story about showing up embarrassingly early (8 p.m.) for a night out at the Abbey in West Hollywood, but ultimately remembered it as a safe place to make friends after moving to Los Angeles.

Jeff in Palm Springs called in to say bars in his city seem to be thriving thanks to an older population and tourists.

Hawkins said there may be a silver lining in the shift we're seeing.

"Maybe we're not losing gay bars; what we're doing is opening up other spaces where gay people can be included," he said.

Listen to the full conversation above for more history and insight.

Hackers stole personal and demographic information about millions of California public school students in a data breach revealed Friday by the California Department of Education.

Hackers allegedly accessed the information through the company ETS, which conducts standardized testing, including the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress tests that start in third grade. Between May 22 and Sept. 18, 2026, an “unauthorized party” copied student information files, according to the CDE website.

However, ETS’ investigation did not find that the information has been made public.

What information was taken?

The breach exposed the information of 5.7 million students currently enrolled in transitional kindergarten through high school and those enrolled since 2023. Students who have left California since 2006 without notifying the state that they transferred to another school are also affected. That information could include:

• Student names, birthdays, addresses and schools
• Statewide student ID numbers (SSID)
• Demographic information, including race or ethnicity, gender, country of origin and English learner status
• A student’s disability and related academic support 
• Whether a student is low-income or unhoused 
• Statewide testing results

The breach is not reported to include:

• Parent or guardian information 
• Social Security or driver’s license numbers
• Financial information

ETS is working with cybersecurity experts and law enforcement and is monitoring whether the students’ information appears publicly.

The California Department of Education is also collaborating with state cybersecurity experts and reviewing whether ETS complied with data security and requirements included in its contract with the state. The state has also set up a website with more information.

How to get help

ETS is emailing and sending letters to affected students and families to notify them of the breach and offer two years of free identity protection services. Separate services are available for minors and adults — both have a March 19, 2027 deadline to apply.

It’s important to know that not getting notified does not necessarily mean a student’s data is safe. Families can call a dedicated helpline, 833-931-8488, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Twenty-eight immigrants from across California are facing federal charges alleging they illegally registered to vote or voted in California elections, federal prosecutors announced Monday in the Trump administration’s latest effort to imply California election rolls are riddled with fraudulent voters.

The charges come days after federal authorities filed a lawsuit against state and Los Angeles County election officials that seeks to force elections officials not to count up to 20,000 registered voters’ ballots because federal prosecutors suspect those voters could be non-citizens.

“Today’s charges demonstrate why that lawsuit is so important,” Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter told reporters. “It’s about preventing voter fraud that cancels out the votes of U.S. citizens. Enforcing federal law increases the integrity of elections.”

McCotter said federal prosecutors filed a motion urging the judge overseeing the lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles to order state officials to segregate the ballots that prosecutors suspect may have already been mailed to noncitizens.

State officials have brushed off the allegations.

Gov. Gavin Newsom last week called the Trump administration’s voter fraud hunt “a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day.”

He said the prosecutors’ request to throw out ballots “should scare the hell out of every American.”

“We will continue to carry out free and fair elections in the Golden State — and call out this authoritarian as he tries every play in the dictator’s playbook,” Newsom said in a statement.

The announcement comes just 15 days before the Nov. 3 election in which Californians are already deciding on a new governor, 14 statewide ballot measures and several competitive races that will be key to which party controls Congress.

It’s part of a national push by the Trump administration to find examples of noncitizens voting illegally in elections. Independent experts and state election officials say that voter fraud is exceedingly rare, despite claims from President Donald Trump and his allies that it happens on such a massive scale as to sway elections in Democrats’ favor.

Federal prosecutors said all of the 28 foreign nationals who face charges are lawful permanent residents, otherwise known as green card holders. That means they are legally allowed to stay in the country but they are not citizens and are not allowed to vote in elections.

The defendants live in cities around the state from Los Angeles County to Sacramento. Of them, 22 are accused of voting in at least one election including as recently as the June primary; five only registered to vote and one submitted a provisional ballot in 2020, prosecutors say.

Essayli said that in the last two months, federal prosecutors have charged around 113 noncitizens in 20 states with illegal voting and registration offenses.

The arrests represent just a miniscule fraction of registered voters. For example, more than 9.4 million Californians cast ballots in the June primary election.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who oversees prosecutors in Los Angeles, said the federal government may charge state election officials with crimes if they allowed noncitizens to vote.

“They are being complicit in noncitizens voting in our elections,” Essayli said. “And as they were warned last week, not only is it a civil violation, but they could also face criminal consequences for that conduct if they knowingly process ballots from noncitizens once we've informed them who the noncitizens are.”

The charges come weeks after federal investigators issued grand jury subpoenas to Los Angeles elections officials seeking information on registered voters.

Federal prosecutors also sought information on registered voters in San Diego County, the news outlet inewsource reported, as well as Orange County, according to records obtained last week by CalMatters.

The Department of Homeland Security recently claimed that Nevada had nearly 16,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls; they sent the state the names of only 185 voters. Nevada officials confirmed they were all U.S. citizens.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Joey Quiñones grew up in East Los Angeles, , where cumbia, punk and oldies soul could all be heard within two blocks. That mix shaped the sound he's built with his band, Thee Sinseers, and on his own. This year, he's out with two very different albums — the band's Love Stories and his solo album, Inna Soul Steady Situation. And most recently, he brought it all back with hometown shows at The Wiltern this past Saturday and Pacific Electric on Sunday.

Quiñones says the sounds of East L.A. are baked into his music.

"You wake up in the morning, and your mom would be cleaning to cumbia, and you'd hear it blasting from the other yards," Quiñones says. "You'd hear the local neighborhood band practicing their punk rock songs. Then you get to the street, and you hear all the oldies with the lowriders on Whittier Boulevard. It's everywhere. We can't sit down and not write a song that doesn't incorporate stuff like that, whether it be the singing or the horn section or the guitar playing. It's always gonna be subliminally in there." 

Quiñones says  Thee Sinseers came together almost by accident, when he accepted a dare to sing. But he knew the band had potential when they started getting paid.

"When we made $100. There was a time when that's really what it was," Quiñones says. "The community of musicians that we have has always supported each other in anything. So to be able to kind of do something where we were able to support our families and support each other was the key thing to really take it seriously. When you don't owe money, then you're doing something.”

The band's new album includes a song called "Let's Fall in Love Again," in which Quiñones admits past mistakes. He says that kind of honesty is the key to his songwriting.

“Life has been the teacher in all this,” Quiñones says. “Sitting down and honestly writing honesty, that's the key to, I don't wanna say soul music, but just good music and just music in general. When you make anything, you put honesty in it, because people know when you're kinda full of it. That's the biggest thing: being able to sit down and reflect and admit faults and admit to the life-changing and getting used to it and adjusting to it.”

Ahead of this past weekend's homecoming, Quiñones admitted that it was a little nerve-racking after touring the world.

"I was really excited about it months ago," he said. "But now it's getting closer and I just want things to be perfect. We're all so excited to play for our families and our friends, so coming home and being able to do that properly is the focus right now for all of us."