The Brief

One morning in late June, trucks rumbled loudly down Soto Street past the famous pig murals on the walls of the old Farmer John slaughterhouse, a painted pastoral wonderland of happy, frolicking pigs that’s long drawn tourists with a dark sense of humor.

Rina Chavarria, my guide this morning, pointed to a doorway in the mural. It was here, she said, that she and her former co-workers would line up on the sidewalk in the early hours of the morning, ready to do the backbreaking work of butchering hogs and processing the meat.

Rina Chavarria, who worked at Farmer John for nine years, has yet to find employment after the slaughterhouse closed earlier this year.

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“This is where all the people came walking from the parking lot,” Chavarria said in Spanish, then laughed. “It was like a little line of ants here at 5 a.m.”

The Farmer John slaughterhouse in Vernon closed earlier this year after almost a century in the community. Blaming high operating costs in California, the brand’s parent company, Smithfield Foods, announced last year that it would move production out of state. The facility ceased production in February, leaving just a small crew to clean up until June.

Nearly a century of memories, for better or worse

Love it or hate it, the Farmer John plant was a fixture of L.A. life. The pig murals, the Dodger Dogs that it made until 2021, the smell that offended neighbors, and the regular vigils held outside by animal rights activists, who offered water to the pigs being trucked in.

Farmer John's Vernon facility, which closed earlier this year, is covered in murals depicting pastoral scenes with happy pigs.

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Then there was its workforce, the size of a village — more than 2,000 people, according to the union that represented most Farmer John employees. Most of them were immigrants who lived in the surrounding Eastside neighborhoods. Latinos accounted for about 85% of staff.

Many were older, longtime employees, with limited English and specialized jobs skills that are difficult to transfer. Months after they were let go, these workers are struggling to start over, said Linda Nguyen with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, which represented most of the Farmer John employees.

“For many, this has been their only job since immigrating to the United States. Some have worked there several decades,” said Nguyen, executive director of the union’s Center for Worker Training and Leadership. 

“The average age of the worker at Farmer John ranges between 52 and 60 years old,” Nguyen said, “so changing careers, having to potentially have some English and math literacy, is pretty daunting for folks. Many of the folks that are in the upper age range had plans to retire at the plant, you know? So this is really upending their lives.”

Life after Farmer John: ‘On the same boat’

Across the street from the plant, at a McDonald’s that once served those Dodger Dogs, Chavarria was joined by longtime Farmer John veteran Maria Borquez.

In the parking lot, the two women embraced and laughed — it was the first time they’d seen each other since the layoffs.

“We’re both sailing on the same boat, which is wobbling,” Chavarria cracked, eliciting a knowing chuckle from Borquez. Neither had found a job yet.

After nearly a decade at Farmer John, most recently as a supervisor in the loins department, Chavarria, 55, was a relative rookie next to Borquez, who spent 24 years at the plant.

Maria Borquez worked at Farmer John for 24 years.

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Each day Borquez, who is 64, arrived before dawn to trim cuts of meat for export.

“The same, the same, the same, every day the same,” Borquez said in Spanish, describing how she’d arrive at 3:30 a.m. to sharpen knives and prepare for her shift.

The work was tough — cold temperatures, rapid assembly lines, repetitive work that strained their muscles and made their arms hurt. Chavarria eventually wound up with carpal-tunnel syndrome and needed surgery, she said. But for both women, the job represented security: a way to put down roots and raise families.

Chavarria, an immigrant from Guatemala, raised two kids while working at Farmer John, and became active in the union. Borquez, who is from Mexico, bought a home with her earnings, often taking overtime hours.

“I didn’t see the sun,” Borquez said, adding that while it was hard work, she loved it. “I felt at home here. Really for me, this was my first home, because I spent less time at home, I only went home to sleep.”

The Farmer John slaughterhouse in Vernon closed after nearly a century in business.

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During the worst of the pandemic, as essential workers, both women showed up to work. Chavarria contracted COVID-19 twice and was sick for weeks. Borquez did not, so she kept coming in, even as news spread that some fellow employees were never coming back.

“Yes, some co-workers died,” Borquez said. “A co-worker that I knew from when I started, he died … it was a very ugly situation.”

By last year, the worst seemed to be over — then, employees learned that the plant would be shuttered. Borquez was let go in November.

“And now, what am I going to do?,” she remembers thinking. “I did not have, nor do I have, a plan to retire. I wanted to stay here.”

Post-layoff challenges

According to UFCW, Farmer John workers received $500 in severance for every year of employment; those who stayed the plant closed received an extra $7,500 retention bonus.

As severance money has run out, obtaining unemployment has proven difficult for some, especially older, monolingual non-English speakers, said Juan Robles, the workforce development coordinator for Local 770.

The Farmer John slaughterhouse in Vernon closed after nearly a century in business.

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“There's still a lot of people struggling with basic things such as certifying for benefits,” said Robles, who has been helping laid-off Farmer John employees with their claims at the union’s nearby worker center in Huntington Park. “These folks have never applied for unemployment if they've been working for the company for 20 plus years.”

The company verified employment documentation, Robles said, meaning that workers hired had legal permission to work. But due to a lack of language and digital skills, and in some cases limited education, some workers have struggled with opening CalJOBS accounts, or with verifying their identity via id.me, the digital tool used by the state.

“So, because those documents were not submitted on time, that triggered an appeal process,” Robles said, leading to delays in receiving their checks.

Robles said Local 770 has hired additional staffers to help, and that the EDD has scheduled standing office hours for former Farmer John workers at its East Los Angeles location.

“They’re desperate to go back into the workforce,” he said.

Earlier this year, California’s Employment Development Department announced a $6.1 million grant set aside for services like career counseling, job fairs, training and other support for laid-off Farmer John workers.

UFCW was able to use some of this to host job fairs for them, said Linda Nguyen. But there have been bureaucratic delays, she said; for example, money that would provide additional services to laid-off workers at L.A.’s WorkSource centers has not yet been released by the city.

Training for new careers

Meanwhile, some former Farmer John workers are learning new skills through the hospitality workers’ union, UNITE HERE, which Local 770 has teamed up with for job training.

One recent afternoon, Farmer John veteran Benie Lacy watched intently as a chef instructor at the union-run Hospitality Training Kitchen in Koreatown taught a class of students how to cut fish.

“We’re studying to be prep cooks,” said Lacy, 55, who spent 25 years at the plant, “basically how they prep the food to be cooked and served, cutting techniques, recipes.”

Benie Lacy, a former Farmer John employee, learns to be a prep cook in a union-sponsored training class.

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It was a far cry from his Farmer John job processing ham and bacon. He said he misses a sense of community at Farmer John, especially.

“When you work around the same people for so many years, and all of a sudden they are gone, you feel like there has been a hole cut out of you,” Lacy said. “You don't know how to fill it back up.”

But he’s plowing ahead, angling for a kitchen job, trying not to worry about whether he’ll be hired at his age because, “if you think about that,” he said, “you’ll just drive yourself to a nervous breakdown.”

Lacy has a mortgage to pay on the house he owns with his sister — and after two and a half decades in a slaughterhouse and meat processing plant, restaurant work doesn’t sound half bad.

“It’s fun here,” he said, motioning around the busy teaching kitchen. “I like this place.”

Making tamales to make ends meet

Maria Borquez and Rina Chavarria also hope to find jobs soon.

Maria Borquez and Rina Chavarria were former co-workers at Farmer John in Vernon.

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Borquez took the same kitchen training class in the spring, along with her sister, who also worked at Farmer John. Her sister, who is 10 years younger, soon found work in a university cafeteria.

But Borquez was still waiting, hoping the union would connect her with an employer. She knows others in the same situation.

“We’re waiting — let’s hope so,” she said.

As Borquez walked back to her car, she took another look at the old building, its pig murals darkened from years of truck exhaust. Her eyes watered up a little. She said it was the first time she’d come here since she was laid off; until now, she’d been reluctant to drive by.

“The last day of work, I cried,” Borquez said. “I’m not ashamed to say it.”

Then she excused herself to hurry home. She had plans to make tamales that afternoon — to sell, she said, because there were bills to pay.

Some government funding streams for L.A. County’s public health system are drying up, and officials are turning to private philanthropy to fill the gap.

A new privately funded foundation launched Thursday to strengthen public health services after $50 million in federal, state and local funding cuts to the county’s Department of Public Health since early last year.

“It is really a hard day for our community when we have to ask for private donations to fund a public good, but unfortunately, we've lost too much money to not take this important step,” said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

In February, the county’s Public Health Department closed seven clinics, with six remaining open. About half of the patients seen in those clinics are uninsured, according to county officials. The department also cut hundreds of staff positions.

Ferrer is on the board of the new foundation, The Fund for Advancing Public Health LA, which held its first meeting Thursday.

She said the fund will help the county maintain its basic public health infrastructure, including disease prevention, health promotion, environmental health, and emergency response efforts.

Other board members include several health insurance executives, as well as actors Sean Penn and Danny Trejo. Board member Saree Kayne of the R&S Kayne Foundation pledged $150,000 to the fund Thursday. Kayne said she hopes the donation encourages others to give.

The foundation aims to raise $2 million this year.

More cuts expected

L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell said it’s crucial to have an alternative funding stream to protect services for the county's most vulnerable residents.

“We are saving public health,” Mitchell said. “This fund represents a new approach, one that brings together government philanthropy in the private sector to invest in community-based solutions, protect vulnerable populations, and strengthen our public health infrastructure.”

Officials say more public health cuts are coming, through the federal budget law known as the "Big Beautiful Bill," which slashes funding for Medi-Cal.

The county Department of Public Health anticipates losing up to $300 million in revenue over the next three years because of the federal budget bill and other potential funding freezes. Federal funding accounts for almost 50% of the public health budget, according to county officials.

Mitchell also led an effort to put a half-percent county sales tax increase to fund public health on the June ballot.

If approved by voters, that proposal, known as Measure ER, is expected to raise about $1 billion a year for county safety net health services, including about $100 million for the public health department.

Board members

The Fund for Advancing Public Health LA announced its founding board of directors, which includes:

• Dr. Barbara Ferrer, LA County Department of Public Health director
• Debbie I. Chang, Blue Shield of California Foundation CEO
• Sean Penn, actor and co-founder of Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE)
• Martha Santana-Chin, LA Care Health Plan CEO
• Saree Kayne, R&S Kayne Foundation CEO
• Danny Trejo, actor and restaurateur
• Jarrett Barrios, an executive at the American Red Cross
• Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Charles R. Drew University College of Medicine Dean
• Kristin McCowan, an executive at the Los Angeles Dodgers

The Rose Bowl in Pasadena may be a centenarian, but it’s holding up pretty well as it continues to host events on its way to a starring role in the LA28 Olympics.

But before it can host the soccer final, it needs fixes, especially to the infrastructure serving the bathrooms and drinking fountains. Fears of a toilet backup while in the world’s spotlight led Rep. Laura Friedman to seek federal funds for upgrades. On Thursday she announced she secured just over $1 million.

“Two years from now, athletes around the world are going to compete for gold right where we are standing. This is not the time to find out whether or not these pipes are up to the task,” Friedman said.

The planned work, she added, will lead to improved water flow capacity and water drainage, eliminating the risk of backups and emergency maintenance.

The funds came from the House of Representatives Interior and Environment subcommittee. The fixes, an official said, will be completed by the LA28 Olympics.

The funds, however, are a drop in the bucket when it comes to what’s needed to make needed improvements to the Pasadena venue.

Officials, including (left to right) Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation President Dedan Brozino, Deputy Fire Chief of the City of Pasadena Tim Sell, Congresswoman Laura Friedman, and Rose Bowl Stadium CEO Jens Weiden announced infrastructure funding for the 103-year old Rose Bowl.

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“Over the  next 20 years there's about $200 million that we need to put in and that's everything from updating light fixtures to updating gas, water, wastewater lines, etc.,” said Dedan Brozino,  president of the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation, the nonprofit that supports the Rose Bowl stadium's preservation and enhancement.

Getting venues ready will be expensive

The money is a much-needed win at a time when elected officials in city, county, state and federal offices have been struggling to find the funds to get L.A.-area venues ready for the global Olympic stage in two years.

The entrance to a men's bathroom at the Rose Bowl.

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A $360 million proposal to spruce up asphalt in parking lots around Exposition Park won’t be done in time for the Olympics, as originally planned. Meanwhile, just up the street, there’s concern that a $2.6 billion expansion of the L.A. Convention Center, which is hosting Olympic wrestling, fencing and judo in 2028 won’t be ready for the Olympics.

Additionally, to save money, LA28 organizers moved Olympic diving to the Rose Bowl complex last year because it has two Olympic-sized pools, while the Exposition Park complex doesn't and would need expensive upgrades.

Topline:

About the chick: The chick hatched March 14. The zoo opened its Cape vulture enclosure in February 2025 after years of planning to encourage the birds to roost and nest, welcoming a new breeding pair that year. When it grows to be an adult, it’ll have a wingspan of 8 1/2 feet.

About the enclosure: The L.A. Zoo said it spent years developing the vulture habitat, which was designed to mimic the vultures’ natural environment in South Africa and nearby countries. Dominick Dorsa II, the zoo’s director of animal care, said in a statement the successful hatching is “a testament to the design and construction” of the habitat.

How to see the chick: You can’t for the time being. Zoo officials are keeping it away from visitors until the chick matures, though you can still see adult Cape vultures at the zoo’s enclosure.

Though visitors will have to wait until the chick matures to see it in the enclosure, you can still take in the impressive eight and a half foot wingspan of the adult Cape vultures.

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What zoo officials are saying: “Welcoming a Cape vulture chick is a thrilling moment for our team and a beacon of hope for African vultures,” the L.A. Zoo’s curator of birds Rose Legato said in a statement. “Vultures are one of nature's most misunderstood marvels, and I cannot wait for our guests to eventually watch this chick grow and learn just how vital they are to our ecosystems.”

About the species: Cape vultures are listed as a vulnerable species due to human activities and encroachment. According to the L.A. Zoo, African vultures are more closely related to eagles and hawks than vultures native to the Americas, like the zoo's California condors that hatched last year.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

What should have been a celebration for formerly incarcerated youth completing a reentry program at the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory (BHAC) last week instead ended with seven students and two staff members detained by the Los Angeles Police Department, according to witnesses. 

Now, nearly a week later, BHAC staff and city officials are demanding answers from the LAPD, with some accusing officers of racial profiling. 

According to the LAPD, officers observed a large group gathered on the corner of Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and Mott Street around 4:16 p.m. on March 26. Authorities then requested backup for what they described as “a large group surrounding officers,” LAPD Public Information Officer Tony Im said. 

The group, classified by police as an “aggressive gang group,” consisted of seven 18-year-old students from the BHAC’s Bridge Academy Movement (BAM) program and two BHAC staff members.

The BAM program pays formerly incarcerated youth to complete 200-250 hours in media and visual arts training to prepare them for creative careers. That day, students were set to showcase their work at the BAM program graduation for families and community members. 

Rene Weber, a teaching artist at the BHAC, had been with the students setting up for the ceremony minutes before the incident occurred. 

According to Weber, the students had gone to coffee across the street at Milpa Kitchen as they often did, when staff were alerted that they were being detained. 

Weber said he arrived to find students and a staff member pressed against the wall in handcuffs. 

Video from the scene, taken by a staff member at the BHAC, shows multiple officers surrounding the group. At one point, an officer orders a person to “get on the wall” and displays a stun gun.  

“No, none of that, these are kids right here,” the staff member replies.

Another staff member, Teotl Veliz, recorded a large police response.  

“I counted 12 cop cars, that’s at least 25 cops, and they had a helicopter,” Veliz said. “It was just so comedic, tragically comedic, that it was on their graduation day too.”

Officers established a perimeter with yellow tape along the side of Ashley’s Beauty Salon as local business owners and witnesses gathered around the students. 

“I was just incredibly disappointed in LAPD… because it became so apparent to everybody, all at the same time, that it was racial profiling and nothing else,” Veliz said.

Weber said officers gave shifting explanations for the stop at the scene, including blocking the sidewalk and possible underage vaping. After Weber told the officers that all of the students were 18, they said they would investigate whether the group had any gang affiliation. 

Police have not responded to questions about what led officers to believe that the group was gang-affiliated. 

Weber recalled pleading with the officers to let the group go and explaining to them that they worked across the street. Community members and local business owners also stepped in to vouch for the students. 

“Our job is to help them gain a new perspective on life,” Weber said. “They’re coming out of juvenile detention and they’re turning their lives around. We can do our part in keeping them off the streets and keeping them doing better but what does it mean if they’re going to be profiled and treated exactly the same way?” 

In total, seven 18-year-old students and two staff members were detained. BHAC staff said one student and one staff member were taken to Hollenbeck Community Police Station and released less than two hours later after advocacy from community members and Councilmember Ysabel Jurado.

The incident ultimately resulted in an infraction for smoking a cannabis e-vape on a public sidewalk, according to a photo of the infraction shared with the Beat. LAPD did not provide details about the people taken to Hollenbeck Station or the infraction. 

The graduation ceremony was cancelled that night and is expected to be rescheduled in April. 

“Graduation should be a moment of pride and possibility — not fear,” Jurado said in a statement. “I’m seeking answers about what occurred, and this underscores the need for stronger relationships between law enforcement and community organizations so moments like these are protected, not disrupted.”

Carmelita Ramirez‑Sanchez, the conservatory’s executive director, said she was grateful to the community and Jurado for advocating for the students’ release. Jurado met her at Hollenbeck Station within 20 minutes of being alerted to the incident, she said. 

“They had store owners, señoras, barbers, that ran out and were trying to explain to the police who our kids were,” Ramirez‑Sanchez said. 

Still, she said the incident tarnished what should have been a joyous celebration.

“I imagine that what this does is derail this entire idea that you can be an active participant in your own restorative growth,” she said.