The Brief

Los Angeles County elections of Superior Court judges are notoriously hard to vote on, but concerns about a committee that issues ratings on each candidate are making it harder.

This election cycle, 28 candidates are vying for 10 seats on the L.A. County Superior Court, which you can learn about in our Voter Game Plan. These are people who could, if elected, end up hearing things like your divorce or traffic ticket dispute.

But it’s a race with notoriously little information, which is why the L.A. County Bar Association (LACBA) — a private, volunteer membership group unaffiliated with the state bar — assesses candidates each judicial election to help you figure out who could be fit for the bench, with ratings ranging from "not qualified," "qualified," "well qualified" and "exceptionally well qualified.”

A good rating is highly sought after and it can help a candidate get more endorsements and votes, but some candidates say a bad rating can sink a campaign before it begins.

This year, for one seat, LACBA rated both candidates running as “not qualified.” It’s renewed concerns the reviewers have a bias against attorneys with certain backgrounds, such as women, people of color and non-prosecutors like public defenders. Of the committee’s 38 members, only five have current public defender backgrounds. It leaves voters with more questions than answers.

A ‘not qualified’ candidate’s perspective

Recently, a reader wrote into us asking what they should do about the seat where both candidates were rated as not qualified.

We’ll try to answer that question in a bit, but first let’s take a look at why multiple candidates are saying LACBA’s whole review process is flawed.

You can learn more about the committee’s process here. In a nutshell, LACBA asks for at least 75 references, details about past employment and case history, and it spends weeks interviewing people who know the lawyer to determine whether they may fit within the association’s standards for judicial fitness. It culminates in an interview with the candidate about their findings before ratings are issued.

The attributes considered in the evaluations process.

(

A screenshot of a LACBA presentation via chair Susan Schwartz

)

Kim Repecka, one of the two candidates deemed “not qualified” in the Office No. 124 race, is a public defender who’s been practicing law for more than 11 years. According to emails reviewed by LAist, the committee told her before her interview they received information during the investigation that Repecka was “overzealous, rude to opposing counsel, the court, and court reporters, a ‘true believer’, and overly emotional.”

She later learned some of the claims came from opposing counsel and a judge during her time in criminal court.

The committee also told Repecka they had information that indicated “a limited breadth of experience” in terms of the cases. Repecka felt like she’d be able to show that she’d dealt with many different areas of law, but the other issues felt ambiguous.

“The claim of being too emotional, kind of felt like it had a basis in sexism. I certainly do sometimes feel emotionally about my cases,” Repecka said. “[But] I don't think that's a thing that people should not find desirable in judges, provided their judgment is not clouded by being emotional.”

When Repecka appealed her “not qualified” rating to the full committee, she says someone also made suggestions about her being too young to be a judge and that she may want to wait. They also brought up a 2022 Facebook post she made (at the request of her client) that included her concerns about the prosecutor’s conduct during jury selection and trial, and concerns about police brutality.

At the end of the appeals process, Repecka’s rating stayed the same, with the explanation that the rating was due to her “demeanor, judicial temperament, and professionalism.”

“If they don’t think that people should be upset when they see injustice,” she said, “if they don't think that judges or defense attorneys should be upset when they see unethical behavior, then I guess I don't have the temperament that they want.”

Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School who previously served on that committee, says that temperament is a legitimate criteria when looking for a good judge. Patience and the ability to listen well are key.

“We're looking for people that you think would be fair on your case,” Levenson said.

More candidates describe red flags in interviews

Repecka’s experience brings up a theme common to many concerns. LACBA’s evaluation committee is made up mostly of prosecutors and corporate lawyers, while many issued lower ratings are public defenders. The stark divide between the two is often reflected in the adversarial nature of courtrooms.

George Turner, a Black deputy public defender running for Office No. 39 who got a “qualified” rating, says his interview was “less than professional” and that questions “teetered on racism.” Two things came up about what he stands for: Turner’s desire to represent his community and to see the bench be more reflective of the people who are in courts.

“One of the interviewers said, ‘well, you know, Black people only make up about 9% of the population of Los Angeles County,” Turner recalled. “‘Are you saying that I would be a better representation because I'm white?’”

The question left Turner taken aback since he didn’t mention race specifically. Ericka Wiley, another deputy public defender running in Office No. 48 who was rated “qualified,” says a prosecutor asked her repeatedly why she’s used mental health diversion in settling cases. (Those programs steer people living with mental illness and drug use issues into treatment instead of incarceration.) Wiley believes this person didn’t know what she was talking about.

“It was very frustrating for me that I was being questioned about what I do and I was going to be rated by someone who had a complete lack of understanding of what's involved in my work,” Wiley said.

Wiley and Turner did not appeal their ratings.

Former LACBA board member Merete Rietveld is also critical of the committee. She says there is an incentive for lawyers interested in being appointed to the bench themselves to join the evaluations committee, and to “tap into that network of people involved in the judicial selection process.” The evaluations committee is also not regulated by outside sources, so people can volunteer for it with only a few years of legal experience.

Did 2022 concerns change anything?

In 2022, LAist ran a story where candidates raised similar concerns of bias in the ratings process against women, people of color and non-prosecutors.

The story prompted candidate Rhonda Haymon, a deputy public defender running for Office No. 12, to ask the committee this election if they’d made any changes since then. Haymon says she did not hear back and did not submit her information for consideration. LACBA evaluated Haymon without her input, as is their rules, using whatever information they could find. The committee deemed her “not qualified.”

LAist did speak to a number of candidates who were fine with their ratings.

Office No. 130 candidate Christopher Darden, an attorney who’s worked in both prosecution and defense, was rated “well qualified.” And while he’s happy with that rating and generally didn’t have issues with his interviews, he noticed how the committee gave him, and his opponent with less experience, the same rating.

“I do have a problem with a system that equates 44 years of experience like mine with 12 years of doing nothing more than being a prosecutor,” Darden said. “I don't feel like I was discriminated against or treated unfairly but I have a concern that public defenders weren't treated the same way that deputy district attorneys were.”

Candidates for Office No. 97, former deputy public defender La Shae Henderson, who received “qualified” and deputy district attorney Sam Abourched, who received “well qualified,” also felt their interviews went normally.

LACBA’s response

LAist asked LACBA to respond to criticisms, and we received this letter from committee chair Susan Schwartz:

In line with the committee’s process, Schwartz says that she’s not at liberty to respond to specific questions on candidates, but says that their evaluations were consistent and fair. Those interviews and findings are kept confidential.

Schwartz said separately in an interview that the subcommittees which conduct the reviews don’t evaluate candidates against each other, so there can be times where both candidates get low ratings — as is the case with Office No. 124 — or when both get the same rating.

Schwartz also said after our investigation came out in 2022, the committee added another defense lawyer to its ranks and rolled out an implicit bias training.

So what can you do with your vote?

The main takeaway is to use the LACBA ratings cautiously and make your own decisions.

Our Voter Game Plan includes links to candidates’ endorsements groups like political organizations and other judges. You can look up attorneys registered to practice law in California through the State Bar website. It will show you their license status, contact information, and whether the attorney has been disciplined.

You could also write someone in. The deadline for new candidates to officially launch a write-in campaign has passed, but you can always put a name of someone you’d like to see on the bench. Unfortunately, there’s no list of “well-qualified” attorneys on standby. This will require some extra research on your part.

In the case of the Office No. 124 race, where both candidates were deemed “not qualified,” Schwartz admitted it’s going to be a hard choice for everyone. As for her, she’ll be consulting outside tools like Vote 411 to make her decision, which is a resource from the League of Women Voters.

Laurie Levenson, the Loyola law professor, says she gets questions about voting on judges all the time. As a former member of LACBA’s evaluations committee, she still uses the ratings they put out. But she says sometimes they don’t end up sharing answers voters want.

“We know that the L.A. Times does a vet and they make their endorsements. We know that newspapers will evaluate [candidates] other than the L.A. Times,” Levenson said. “For example, the Metropolitan News focuses more on the legal community, and then there's the L.A. Daily Journal.”

Levenson says there’s a few ways to think about the criteria for judges: The level of experience, openness to all members of the community, and a potential to add to a diverse bench that serves everyone’s interests.

As water agencies across California grapple with the increasingly extreme effects of climate change, they’re also facing another problem: the incoming “silver tsunami.”

That’s the phrase coined by the industry to illustrate the fact that much of the workforce — largely baby boomers — that keeps our water flowing and safe are getting ready to retire.

Nationwide, about a third of the nation’s water workforce is eligible for retirement within the next decade, “the majority being workers with trade jobs in mission critical positions,” the Environmental Protection Agency wrote in a 2024 report.

Climate resilience needs a workforce

To deal with how pollution in our atmosphere is driving longer, hotter droughts, as well as increasingly intense rain when it does come, water agencies across Southern California are working to boost aging infrastructure and invest in more diverse water supplies, such as recycled water.

The lack of people to staff those changes is a problem for pretty much every water agency, urban and rural.

L.A. is the second-largest city in the nation and is spending billions on water recycling and stormwater capture, for example, but it has been struggling to fill needed positions at its four wastewater treatment plants.

The city of L.A. plans to clean all wastewater that flows to the Hyperion plant.

(

Eric Garcetti via Flickr

)

The city plans to treat nearly all of the Hyperion wastewater facility’s water to drinkable standards in the coming decades. To support that massive expansion, Hi-Sang Kim, the operations director at Hyperion, told LAist in 2022 the facility will need to boost its workforce by at least 30%.

For less urban water agencies, the challenge is even greater. The Eastern Municipal Water District serves close to 1 million people (and growing), as well as agricultural customers in western Riverside County and northern San Diego County.

They estimate as much as half of their workforce could retire within five years.

“Not only are we investing in new infrastructure, but we have aging infrastructure, so we are in dire need of technical skill sets to operate, maintain everything from treatment plants to pipelines, to pump stations,” said Joe Mouawad, the water district's general manager.

Jobs in the water industry — potable water and wastewater treatment operators, engineers, managers, skilled maintenance, public relations and more — are well paid and secure, Mouawad said, but it’s hard to fill the needed positions.

“We are finding it more challenging to backfill retirees,” he said. “It's not so much a lack of interest — I think it's a lack of awareness.”

Building a pipeline for water jobs

Those job gaps are why Eastern Municipal has become a leader in building the water workforce pipeline. For decades, the water district partnered with local schools to provide education about water conservation and what they do. But over the last decade, as the retirement forecast grew more dire, the agency has shifted to prioritize skills-based programming and partnerships with local high schools.

Local high school students tour Eastern Municipal Water District facilities in Perris.

(

Courtesy Eastern Municipal Water District

)

In 2013, they launched the Youth Ecology Corps program, for young adults between 18 and 24. Many who went through the program and paid internships are now full-time employees, said Calen Daniels, a spokesperson for the agency, who himself went through the program.

In recent years, the water agency has focused on younger potential future employees through a variety of Career and Technical Education programs at local high schools, including in automotive tech, engineering, agriculture, construction and information systems, said Erin Guerrero, Eastern Municipal’s public affairs manager overseeing its education programs.

“We're starting earlier and getting these kids real world experience,” Guerrero said.

Michelle Serrano teaches a two-year pre-apprenticeship Environmental Water Resources program at West Valley High School in Hemet. Students leave the program equipped to take the state-level certification exam for a job as a water treatment operator or water distribution operator once they turn 18.

Clayton Gordon, GIS mapping administrator at EMWD, talks to West Valley High students in the GIS Engineering certification summer program.

(

Courtesy Eastern Municipal Water District

)

Already more than 200 students have gone through the program since it launched last year. While local community colleges have similar Career and Technical Education programs, this is the first program of its kind targeting high schoolers in the region. Eastern Municipal hopes to expand to other area schools as well.

“Once the kids get out of the program, they're set if this is the direction they want to go,” Serrano said. “We have these students set for a job or a career for the rest of their life.”

She said the program is a gamechanger for students who don’t see themselves going to college or who are unsure of their future career path.

“We really are pushing hard for college, and that's a good push,” Serrano said. “However, we have kids who don't see themselves going to college.  It's opening up an amazing path for students who otherwise may not see a job direction.”

They’re not only finding a stable career path, she said, but fulfilling roles necessary to our society, Mouawad said.

“It's working for us,” he said, “and we want to see this serve as a model for the rest of the industry.”

It takes an icon to know an icon. If you haven’t seen the new Harry Styles video, check it out and you’ll recognize downtown’s Westin Bonaventure in a starring role. The hotel has been in plenty of movies — including True Lies — and now it’s the stage for Styles’ music video for his new single, “Aperture.” Fiona Ng takes you behind the scenes.

Speaking of cool movie settings, Kristen Stewart bought the abandoned Highland Theatre and plans to restore it to its original grandeur. Good news for film lovers.

On tap in the music space this week, Licorice Pizza recommendations include new wave goddess Dale Bozzio and her Missing Persons at the Whisky, rock goddess Melissa Etheridge at the Canyon Club in Agoura or Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera in conversation onstage at the Roxy — all on Wednesday. Thursday, experimental hip-hop group Clipping is at the Observatory, Atmosphere is at the Novo, UK singer-songwriter Erin LeCount plays the Roxy and Long Beach Dub All Stars & Bedouin Soundclash hit the stage at the Wayfarer. Plus, Aloe Blacc kicks off the first of four nights at the Blue Note.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can find out about the push to make local beaches into a national park, read up on Sinners producer Sev Ohanian’s rise in Hollywood and find the best spots for a fun Galentine’s Day.

Events

Game Night

Tuesday, February 10, 7:30 p.m.
Cheerio Collective
5917 N. Figueroa Street, Highland Park 
COST: $25; MORE INFO

(

Nik

/

Unsplash

)

Channel family game night with new friends over drinks in Highland Park at this classic board game night with Cat Darling Agency and Asian American Collective. Play Connect Four, Jenga and Uno while meeting some folks and enjoying a free drink!

Concert reading of Dogfight

Through Sunday, February 15
The Morgan-Wixson Theatre 
2627 Pico Plvd., Santa Monica 
COST: $23; MORE INFO 

(

Joel Castro

/

Morgan-Wixson Theatre

)

Before there was The Greatest Showman, there was Dogfight. Benji Pasek and Justin Paul’s musical about a group of young Marines in San Francisco on the eve of the war in Vietnam is presented in a concert reading at Santa Monica’s Morgan-Wixson Theatre. Dogfight “explores themes of love, loss, and coming of age.”

OXY LIVE! with Robin Coste Lewis in conversation with Alexandra Grant

Tuesday, February 10, 7 p.m. 
Thorne Hall 
Thorne Road, Occidental College 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

(

Courtesy Oxy Arts

)

National Book Award winner and former Poet Laureate of Los Angeles Robin Coste Lewis visits Occidental College for poetry and conversation with Oxy Live's host, celebrated visual artist and cultural collaborator Alexandra Grant (you may recognize her from excellent grantLove series… and her red carpet photos with beau Keanu Reeves). A book signing hosted by beloved Pasadena bookstore Octavia’s Bookshelf will follow, and attendees will have the opportunity to have their books signed by the author.

Dance at the Odyssey

Through Sunday, February 15
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A.
COST: $28; MORE INFO 

(

Courtesy of Dance at the Odyssey

)

Next weekend is the last weekend of Odyssey Theatre’s six-week-long Dance at the Odyssey festival, which features two world premieres: Silent Fiction from Intrepid Dance Project in Odyssey 2, and One World from choreographer Hannah Millar and her Imprints company in Odyssey 3.

Author Lindsay Jill Roth with Dr. Laura Berman

Thursday, February 12, 6 p.m. 
Zibby’s Bookstore
1113 Montana Ave., Santa Monica 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

(

Courtesy Zibby's

)

It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and author Lindsay Jill Roth has the questions that will make your new (or long-term!) relationship last. Her new book, Romances & Practicalities, lays out 250 questions you should ask each other to make your love a time- and challenge-tested success — alongside Roth’s own long-distance love story and interviews with couples of all stripes. She’s in conversation with love, sex and relationship therapist Dr. Laura Berman at Zibby’s in Santa Monica.

An evening in conversation with Silversun Pickups’ Brian Aubert & Producer and Musician Butch Vig

Wednesday, February 11, 7 p.m. 
Sid the Cat 
1022 El Centro Street, South Pasadena
COST: $32.75; MORE INFO

(

Sid the Cat

/

Dice FM

)

Hometown heroes Silversun Pickups are back with a new album and tour — catch them this week for free at Amoeba’s in-store show on Monday. Then dive deep at this conversation at the new Sid the Cat venue between singer Brian Aubert and producer and musician Butch Vg about the making of their new album, Tenterhooks. Plus, Lyndsey Parker of Licorice Pizza (friend of Best Things to Do) will moderate the chat.

Stronger Together: Nurturing Mind, Body, and Spirit

Monday, February 9, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
St. Monica Catholic Community Grand Pavilion 
725 California Ave., Santa Monica
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

(

Courtesy St. John's Foundation

)

Recovery is an ongoing process, and the medical and spiritual communities of L.A. are reminding you they're here to help. Providence Saint John’s Health Center and St. Monica Catholic Community are marking the anniversary of the Palisades and Eaton fires with an evening of community, commemoration and healing.

The logic behind electric vehicles benefiting public health has long been solid: More EVs means fewer internal combustion engines on the road and a reduction in harmful tailpipe emissions. But now researchers have confirmed, to the greatest extent yet, that this is indeed what’s actually happening on the ground. What’s more, they found that even relatively small upticks in EV adoption can have a measurably positive impact on a community.

Whereas previous work has largely been based on modeling, a study published in January in the journal Lancet Planetary Health used satellites to measure actual emissions. The study, conducted between 2019 and 2023, focused on California, which has among the highest rates of EV use in the country, and nitrogen dioxide, one of the gases released during combustion, including when fossil fuels are burned. Exposure to the pollutant can contribute to heart and lung issues or even premature death. Across nearly 1,700 ZIP codes, the analysis showed that for every increase of 200 electric vehicles, nitrogen dioxide emissions decreased by 1.1%.

“A pretty small addition of cars at the ZIP code level led to a decline in air pollution,” said Sandrah Eckel, a public health professor at USC’s Keck School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “It’s remarkable.”

The group had tried to establish this link using Environmental Protection Agency air monitors before, but because there are only about 100 of them in California, the results weren’t statistically significant. The data also were from 2013 through 2019, when there were fewer electric vehicles on the road. Although the satellite instrument they ultimately used only detected nitrogen dioxide, it did allow researchers to gather data for virtually the entire state, and this time the findings were clear.

“It’s making a real difference in our neighborhoods,” said Eckel, who said a methodology like theirs could be used anywhere in the world. The advent of such powerful satellites allows scientists to look at other sources of emissions, such as factories or homes too. “It’s a revolutionary approach.”

Mary Johnson, who researches environmental health at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and was not involved in the study, said she’s not aware of a similar study of this size, or one that uses satellite data so extensively. “Their analysis seems sound,” she said, noting that the authors controlled for variables such as the COVID-19 pandemic and shifts toward working from home.

The results, Johnson added, “totally make sense” and align with other research in this area.

When London implemented congestion pricing in 2003, for example, it reduced traffic and emissions and increased life expectancy. That is the direction this latest research could go too.

“They didn’t take the next step and look at health data,” she said, “which I think would be interesting.”

Daniel Horton, who leads Northwestern University’s climate change research group, also sees value in this latest work.

“The results help to confirm the sort of predictions that numerical air quality modelers have been making for the past decade,” he said, adding that it could also lay the foundation for similar research. “This proof of concept paper is a great start and augurs good things to come.”

Eckel hopes that, eventually, advances in satellite technology will allow for more widespread detection of other types of emissions too, such as fine particulate matter. That could even help account for some of the potential downsides of EVs, which are heavier and could therefore kick up more tire or brake dust than their gasoline counterparts. On the whole, though, she believes the picture overwhelmingly illustrates how driving an electric car is better not just for the planet but for people.

Research like this, she says, underscores the importance of continued EV adoption, the sales of which have slumped recently, and the need to do so equitably. Although lower-income neighborhoods have historically borne the brunt of pollution from highways and traffic, they can’t always afford the relatively high cost of EVs. Eckel hopes that research like this can help guide policymakers.

“There are concerns that some of the communities that really stand to benefit the most from reductions in air pollution are also some of the communities that are really at risk of being left behind in the transition,” she said.

Previous research has shown that EVs could alleviate harms such as asthma in children, and detailed data like this latest study can help highlight both where more work needs to be done and what’s working.

“It’s really exciting that we were able to show that there were these measurable improvements in the air that we’re all breathing,” she said.

Another arguably hopeful finding was that the median increase in electric vehicle usage during the study was 272 per ZIP code.

That, Eckel says, means there is plenty of opportunity to make our air even cleaner.

Victor Villa brought his taco cart to Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime performance.

Los Angeles residents likely know the name — Villa's Tacos is an award-winning taco business based in Highland Park. Villa began in his grandmother's front yard and now has brick-and-mortar locations in Highland Park, off Figueroa Avenue, and at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles.

The restaurant has won L.A. Taco's Taco Madness championship three times (2021, 2022 and 2024) and earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand award for three consecutive years for its signature quesotacos.

A celebration of Latino culture

The entire performance was a celebration of Latin American culture's prominence in the United States, with Bad Bunny taking a moment to recognize Spanish-speaking countries worldwide.

Villa appeared during the opening number, "Tití me preguntó" from Bad Bunny's 2022 album "Un verano sin ti." In the sequence, Bad Bunny visits a piragüero cart — piraguas are iconic Puerto Rican shaved ice treats shaped like pyramids — before the camera pans to Villa and his cart, where Bad Bunny hands him the frozen treat. The moment bridges two beloved Latin American street food traditions: Puerto Rico's piraguas and L.A.'s taco culture.

'An absolute honor'

After the performance aired, Villa took to Instagram to express his thanks and call it a historic moment, He traced his journey from selling his first taco more than eight years ago to the Super Bowl stage.

"I want to give a huge thank you to @badbunnypr for hand selecting me & allowing me to represent my people, my culture, my family & my business," Villa wrote on Instagram.

'A product of immigrants'

As a first-generation Mexican American, he dedicated the moment to the immigrants who made it possible, emphasizing that Villa's Tacos is a product of immigration and that he is honored to represent his culture and all taqueros and Latinos everywhere. The post closed with shoutouts to Puerto Rico, Mexico, and all Latinos.

In August last year, Villa appeared on a Food Friday segment on LAist 89.3's AirTalk, bringing his freshly cooked tacos for host Josie Huang.