The Brief

At the California Republican Party convention in Garden Grove over the weekend, the theme was, “Going on the Offense.”

The opponent was clear: Proposition 50 on the November ballot has galvanized an often fractious state GOP.

All political eyes are on California and Proposition 50, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting plan. Big money is already flowing into the fight and campaign mailers are flooding mailboxes over a measure that could determine which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives.

It could attract as much as $200 million total from both parties and their allies from around the country.

The measure, if passed by California voters, would redraw the state’s congressional district maps in a way that at least five Republicans would likely lose their seats to Democrats. Right now, the GOP holds nine of California’s 52 seats. Democrats hold the rest.

“To the extent that Republicans already are an endangered species in California, this would be like an extinction level event,” said Jon Fleischman, a former executive director of the California Republican Party and convention delegate from Orange County.

The national spotlight is on California after the Texas Legislature passed a redistricting plan that will likely result in five more Republicans getting elected to Congress from that state.

Newsom has said his last-minute effort — the special election was called only last month — is in direct response to Texas. Newsom, an especially vocal critic of President Trump, has pointed out it was the president who encouraged Texas to draw new political boundaries to favor the GOP.

Shawn Steel, a national Republican committee member from Seal Beach who attended the convention, said the fight over Proposition 50 has unified the state GOP.

“We’ve got people in the same room on this issue who hated each other for 20 years,” he said. “Those days are over, at least for the next 58 days.”

Conventioneers celebrate Trump

But for Proposition 50, there was a lot to celebrate at the convention, which was held at the Hyatt Regency Orange County and attended by more than 1,000 people. Many people said they were thrilled about President Donald Trump’s first six months in office.

“I wake up everyday happy and joyful that he’s still president,” said Johnnie Morgan, 74, a delegate from South L.A., citing Trump's policies on transgender people and deportations.

“He’s fearless and he stands for this country, and no matter what anybody throws at him, he stands strong,” said Bonnie Wallace, a delegate from Pasadena.

As usual, vendors sold all manner of Trump paraphernalia, including hats, sequined blouses and jewelry with the president’s name.

The hallways of the Hyatt were plastered with campaign signs for candidates ranging from governor to local party vice chair. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton are the two most prominent Republican candidates for governor. Both attended the convention.

Newsom is termed out of office next year.

But it was the topic of Proposition 50 that people came back to time and again.

“It's just pure cheating again,” said Wallace, 47, who teaches dance classes. “It’s election fraud.”

Help from Schwarzenegger

Under Proposition 50, voters would override the political map drawn by an independent citizen’s redistricting commission and replace it with one drawn by Democrats. The new lines would govern elections in 2026, 2028 and 2030. Another independent commission would be appointed to determine boundaries for the 2032 election.

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who co-authored the measure that created the state’s independent redistricting commission more than 15 years ago, is expected to campaign against Prop 50.

Fellow Republicans say his participation is considered key to winning over independent voters.

“I think he’s clearly the most recognized name against Prop. 50,” said Roxanne Hoge, chair of the L.A. County Republican Party.

Fighting Newsom

At a convention workshop designed to educate people about how to campaign against the measure, some party leaders urged people to avoid the complicated topic of redistricting and instead focus on California’s Democratic governor.

“Just ask if Governor Newsom and the legislative body in Sacramento deserve more power,” Assemblymember David Tangipa of Fresno told one convention workshop.

The attendees shouted, “No!”

Orange County Republican Party Chair Will O’Neill said he believes Newsom’s ascent to power is what Prop. 50 is all about.

“This is to feed the presidential ambition of a governor who has gotten way over his skis,” he said.

Steel, the national Republican committee member from Seal Beach, agreed.

“We want to embarrass Newsom so he doesn’t have a chance to be president in the future,” he said.

Plans to mobilize voters

Whether Prop. 50 passes or not will likely come down to which party is more successful at getting voters to the polls.

“It’s going to be a high- profile, high- dollar campaign,” Fleischman said. “These kinds of campaigns really have two aspects to them — it's voter education and voter turnout.”

Some said one way to convince people to vote no on the measure is to show them the maps.

O’Neill described the maps as a tangled web of lines that resemble elephants and spiders, noting how they sweep up Democrats to form new Democrat-majority districts.

Steel said the party needs to “awaken the base” in the way Trump did last year.

“This is a big deal. This is the future of our party,” he said.

But only about 25% of voters are registered Republican in California. So reaching out to independents will be key. That’s where Schwarzenegger comes in.

Independents represent 22% of voters. Democrats represent 45%.

Still, Republicans at the convention were optimistic.

“I think we have a good shot at having this not pass,” said Matthew Craffey of Los Angeles. “But it's going to be a fight.”

The restaurant:

Detroit-style pizza is hard to find in Southern California, given how far away it is from the Motor City.

Angelenos can consider themselves fortunate though to have a spot tucked in West Hollywood — DTown Pizzeria. The pizzeria is owned by Ryan Ososky, the 2025 Pizza Maker of the Year at the International Pizza Expo. He's received numerous honors for his pan pizzas.

The food: 

Oskosky's been all over the map during his time as a chef, and he's worked under the likes of Michael Mina, Charlie Palmer and Wolfgang Puck. After gaining all that experience, he’d eventually start a pizza pop-up in West Hollywood.

“I’m a chef by trade, but I guess I just happen to own a pizzeria and won some awards around it,” Ososky said.

What Austin tried:

• Goomba
• "Haole" aka not Hawaiian
• The 313
• The 1946 cheese

The verdict:

“Excellent puff of flavor in the middle of an excellent pizza, soft crust,” Austin said after trying the pepperoni-topped Goomba slice.

When taking a bite of the 313, Austin said “the pesto on top of this zings it up,” adding, “It stays moist … but it’s got a moist and crisp with soft dough.”

Listen:

Los Angeles Angels legend Garret Anderson has died. The team announced his death today on social media.

The cause and location of his death were not immediately announced.

"Garret was a cornerstone of our organization throughout his 15 seasons," owner Arte Moreno said in a statement, "and his stoic presence in the outfield and our clubhouse elevated the Angels into an era of continued success, highlighted by the 2002 World Series championship."

Anderson's story is a Southern California one in so many ways. He was born in Los Angeles and graduated from Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, where he was a three-sport star in baseball, basketball and football. He won All-Los Angeles City and All-League Honors as a junior and helped lead Kennedy's basketball team to an L.A. City Championship.

The Angels drafted him out of high school in 1990, and he made his Major League debut in 1994.

He spent all but two of his 17 Major League seasons with the Halos and was a key player on the 2002 team that won the franchise's first, and still only, World Series.

After the Angels decided not to renew his contract at the end of the 2008 season, Anderson signed with the Atlanta Braves in 2009 before returning to SoCal in 2010, this time as a member of the Dodgers. He spent a single season there before retiring in 2011.

He leads the Angels all-time in a slew of statistics, including games played (2,013), hits (2,368), RBIs (1,292), doubles (489) and several others. He was a three-time All-Star, the 2003 Home Run Derby winner and All-Star Game Most Valuable Player.

But Angels fans will probably remember him best for his go-ahead, three-run double in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series. It gave the Angels a 4-1 lead, which they never surrendered.

But despite all the accolades, one of the most impressive stats from Anderson's career was his reliability. He had a stretch of eight seasons where he appeared in at least 150 games and played in at least 140 games in 11 of his 17 seasons in the pros.

Shortly after he retired, he joined the Angels television broadcast team to provide pregame and postgame analysis.

The Angels will wear a special "GA" memorial patch on their uniforms for the remainder of the season. They'll also play a tribute and hold a moment of silence in his honor before tonight's game against the San Diego Padres at Angel Stadium.

This story first appeared in The LA Local.

For Koreatown resident George Chan, the appeal of public transit in Los Angeles is simple: avoiding the daily grind of driving.

“I don’t like cars, so I’m all for having more public transportation,” said Chan, who lives near Olympic Boulevard and Hobart Street and uses transit about twice a week to get to work in Culver City. “I feel like that’s one of the things L.A. really lacks, a working public transportation system. You go to any other major city and you’re able to take a train anywhere, but here you can’t.”

Even if it takes longer, he said, public transit offers something driving doesn’t.

“I don’t have to sit in traffic. I don’t have to deal with drivers at all,” he said. “I feel pretty comfortable on the train and bus, so it’s not a big deal for me.”

That’s why Chan is looking forward to the opening of the first phase of the Metro D Line extension on May 8, which Koreatown residents like him say will make it easier to reach some of Los Angeles’ most visited cultural hubs without sitting in traffic.

Where things stand

The project, more than a decade in the making, will add three new underground stations along Wilshire Boulevard at La Brea, Fairfax and La Cienega, closing an important gap between Downtown Los Angeles and the Mid-Wilshire area.

From Koreatown, the new stops will put destinations like the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and the La Brea Tar Pits within roughly a 15- to 20-minute ride from Union Station, offering a faster alternative to driving along one of the city’s most congested corridors. 

Another view of the Wilshire/La Brea Station.

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Courtesy Metro Art

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Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

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Metro projects the new stations will add roughly 16,200 daily riders and increase foot traffic for local businesses. The opening comes more than three years behind its original 2023 timeline and about $700 million over budget, with this part of the project now reaching around $3.51 billion. 

The project is part of Metro’s “Twenty-Eight by ’28” push to finish major transit expansions before the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics.

For Chan, that could mean easier trips west, whether that’s grabbing brunch near Miracle Mile or visiting museums that currently require multiple transfers.

How residents are feeling

Other residents said the expansion is also expected to reshape how often they use transit, particularly for trips that currently require driving. Davis Read, a Koreatown resident who is a part of the Wilshire Center Koreatown neighborhood council, says he uses Metro about once a week now, but that will likely change once he gets more access to the museums by La Brea. 

“I’m also excited to be able to go to Beverly Hills, where a lot of my medical appointments are,” Read said. “That’s something that was usually like a half-hour drive.”

But while many welcome the expansion, residents say the city still has work to do — especially when it comes to building housing people can actually afford, shortening timelines for major transit projects and improving bus infrastructure.

Sherin Varghese, a Koreatown resident and organizer with Ktown for All, said buses remain essential for many in the neighborhood.

“A lot of our neighbors, housed and unhoused, don’t have cars,” she said. “Building out infrastructure that isn’t car-forward is generally a good move.”

At the same time, she noted that buses, which often serve lower-income riders, have historically been deprioritized.

“I’m really excited about the trains,” Varghese said. “But I also want us to continue investing in bus infrastructure, like dedicated bus lanes that don’t get closed off that aren’t just for rush hour.”

Wilshire/La Brea Metro station remains closed off to the public as of April 14.

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Marina Peña

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The LA Local

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For Varghese, who relies on transit regularly, the D Line will open up parts of the city that currently feel out of reach.

“I’m going to be able to take the D straight to LACMA or to the Academy Museum to see a movie,” she said. “It opens up a huge amount of access to the west side.”

Metro's overall plan

The D Line extension is part of Metro’s broader plan to connect Downtown Los Angeles to Westwood through a nine-mile subway, with future phases expected to open in 2027. Additional stations will include Beverly Drive, Century City, Westwood/UCLA and Westwood/VA Hospital.

Another major project — the K Line Northern Extension — would further expand that network by linking South L.A. to West Hollywood. But with funding not expected until 2041 and an opening still years after that, between 2047 and 2049, many residents say the timeline highlights a broader frustration.

After last-minute negotiations between Mayor Karen Bass and local leaders, Metro’s board voted unanimously in late March to approve the route. The planned underground extension would tie into four major rail lines and is projected to carry up to 100,000 riders daily

“There’s a repeated trend in which these great public projects are having to conform around the needs of wealthy home ownership groups. I think that’s frustrating,” Read said. “I think at this point, we should be pressuring our elected leaders to act quicker on the Metro.”

He pointed to the K Line extension as one example, where opposition from a group of homeowners in Mid-City, particularly in affluent Black neighborhoods like Lafayette Square, raised concerns about construction, safety and property values, contributing to delays.

“That’s the most important stitch in the Metro system — it would be a game changer,” Read said. “A two-seat ride to LAX from Koreatown or downtown would make a huge difference. Right now, it takes about three lines and can take just as long as driving in traffic.”

The Wilshire/Fairfax station where the D line and K line would meet is expected to add 33,000 riders, according to Metro.

Residents ask: Why'd it take this long

Varghese, who has lived in Koreatown for 15 years, said her frustration is less about the current timeline and more about missed opportunities in the past.

“I wish we had started this 50 years ago,” she said. “But I’m glad it’s happening now.”

Alongside transit improvements, residents also raised concerns about what new development around stations will look like, particularly whether it will include housing that current residents can afford.

“A lot of the housing is built for upscale renters,” he said. “If they built low-income or cheaper housing, that would be great, but that’s not what’s happening.”

Read said transit and housing need to be planned together.

“If we don’t act drastically to construct new housing, we’re never going to dig ourselves out of this crisis,” he said.

Varghese echoed that concern, pointing to what she sees as a gap between policy goals and what’s actually being built.

“We need to build housing that people can actually afford now,” she said. “We need to be affecting the supply directly and not hoping that housing eventually trickles down in terms of pricing.”

The post ‘I wish we had started this 50 years ago’: Koreatown is ready for Metro’s D Line appeared first on LA Local.

Earlier this year, tickets to see SZA perform at the Crypto Arena in Los Angeles were selling for $600 the day before they officially went on sale at $35 a piece. In San Francisco, tickets to see Sam Smith at the newly renovated Castro Theater went on sale for $120, only to be quickly snatched up by scalpers and resold for upwards of $600.

Those are some of the stories that California lawmakers are citing as they advance two plans to change the ticketing landscape. One caps the extent to which resellers can mark up the original ticket price while the other prohibits resellers from selling tickets they don’t yet own.

Democratic Assemblymembers Issac Bryan of Culver City and Matt Haney of San Francisco are each carrying bills that they say would protect consumers from fraudulent and deceptive ticket sales.

Both measures are backed by the ticket market’s dominant seller, Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster. Its support has some worried that the bills will help the company crush its competitors and jack up prices. A federal jury in New York this week found that the company illegally acted as a monopoly in a victory for, among others, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who with colleagues in other states sued the company two years ago and kept going after federal prosecutors settled. Live Nation is now awaiting penalties.

Despite these headwinds, the ticket bills are sailing through the Legislature.

Supporters say the legislation has nothing to do with the antitrust case against Live Nation and helps consumers. Opponents disagree.

“The state Legislature should really be standing up for consumers instead of advancing bills that are there to help a monopoly that has been caught on record calling its fans stupid and has bragged about robbing them blind,” said Jose Barrera, national vice president for the far west region at the League of United Latin American Citizens, a civil rights advocacy group.

Ticketmaster’s competitors in the online resale market are lobbying against the measures, a sign that they view the proposals as a threat to their business.

Jack Sterne, StubHub’s head of policy communications, wrote to CalMatters, stating, “Passing laws that hand the Ticketmaster monopoly more power and don’t actually make tickets more affordable is the last thing California’s leaders should do.”

But Stephen Parker, executive director of the National Independent Venue Association, which is co-sponsoring the bills, argues that they will regulate the marketplace to better protect fans by limiting price gouging and encouraging the face value — or below face value — exchange of tickets.

“Ultimately, that is what these bills will do, in addition to making sure that the tickets are actually real,” he said. “That is a good thing for California consumers. It's a good thing for artists and it's a good thing for these small businesses and nonprofits that make up the independent stages across the state.”

A Live Nation spokesperson said in a statement to CalMatters, “The resale lobby constantly tries to change the subject by pointing fingers at Ticketmaster, even though it has less than 25% of the resale market. This has nothing to do with anyone’s monopoly, but rather is about protecting fans from scalpers and the resale sites that cater to them.”

The company has spent roughly $165,000 on lobbying efforts this legislative session, including to support Bryan’s bill.

'Unlikely allies'

Bryan’s Assembly Bill 1349 would ban the sale of speculative tickets — or tickets that are not in the possession or ownership of the people who list them online. In an April hearing, Bryan said the bill protects consumers from predatory mark ups.

“This bill is so important that, after our introduction, it brought unlikely allies together,” Bryan said, according to the CalMatters Digital Democracy database. “In fact, this bill brought the Giants and the Dodgers together, brought the National Independent Venue Association and Live Nation together. It brought Kendrick Lamar and Kid Rock together. It brought Isaac Bryan and Donald Trump together.”

Several secondary ticket sellers are fighting the measure, including StubHub, SeatGeek and Vivid Seats. The three companies have spent roughly $1.1 million dollars on lobbying efforts this legislative session, which included opposition to Bryan’s bill.

People watch fireworks during Bad Bunny’s halftime show from a parking garage outside Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Feb. 8, 2026.

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Jungho Kim

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CalMatters

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Opponents including Robert Herrell, executive director for the Consumer Federation of California, argue that the bill strengthens Live Nation Ticketmaster’s grip on the ticketing and live entertainment industry. According to them, the measure would give Live Nation complete control over the ticket even after it has been purchased — meaning, for example, that consumers could lose the ability to sell it or give it away.

“There’s no consumer choice in the matter,” said Herrell. “They can keep people out of shows if they want to. There have been situations where, if you bought a ticket on the secondary market, you’ve been denied entry into a show.”

Proponents say Herrell and other opponents are mistaken. They say they are not trying to prevent transferability but rather, they want to protect fans from speculative costs.

“We want those rooms full,” said Ron Gubitz, executive director of Music Artists Coalition, which is co-sponsoring both bills. “So you have to be able to transfer a ticket. We just want it to be in a way that’s safe, trustworthy and not creating this run on the market that exists now.”

Gubitz pointed to a recent Bruno Mars concert, where tickets were on StubHub for $400 to $2,000 before they were on sale through Ticketmaster.

“That’s crazy,” he said. “That’s a speculative ticket that Bryan’s bill is trying to stop. That shouldn’t happen. It’s not fair to anybody, except for the secondary (market). It seems great for them.”

Price caps in a free market

Haney’s Assembly Bill 1720, also known as the California Fans First Act, would put a 10% cap on resale event ticket markups, inclusive of the ticket fees. In other words, a reseller could not charge more than 10% higher than the original ticket price.

In an interview with CalMatters, Haney said artists, independent venues and downtowns are currently being “screwed over and exploited” by scalpers and brokers.

“We can’t allow the status quo to continue if we want to ensure Californians have access to affordable tickets to see their favorite artists or if we want independent venues or the broader landscape of musicians and artists to thrive in our state,” he said.

Haney rejected the idea that his bill would strengthen the Live Nation Ticketmaster monopoly, saying that the company is one of the biggest operators and profiteers of the secondary ticket market and would therefore be subject to the same restrictions as any other platform or broker.

“I don't think it's a free market to allow folks to come in and buy up all these tickets and then create scarcity and then you're now required to buy your ticket at a much higher price from someone who had nothing to do with the event,” he said. “This is not something we would ever allow for airplane tickets or even dinner reservations.”

The bill has been criticized by opponents like Diana Moss, vice president and director of competition policy at Progressive Policy Institute, who said price caps notoriously distort the market, describing them as “anti-consumer, anti-competitive and anti-artist.”

“If you shut down the resale market with price caps then guess what? Ticket buyers have no place to go but right back to Ticketmaster,” said Moss. “If (Live Nation) succeed(s) in decimating the resale market, then they steer millions and millions of fans back to their own ticketing platform where they charge monopoly ticket fees and where fans are hostage to their glitchy online platform and all of their data, privacy and security concerns that we always hear about in the news.”

Those concerns didn’t stop the bill from passing out of the Assembly Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Tourism last week with a 6-1 vote. The bill also passed out of the Assembly Committee on Privacy & Consumer Protection on Thursday with a 9-4 vote.

Cayla Mihalovich is a California Local News fellow.

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