The Brief

California’s legislative leaders don’t think the public should know whether federal agents are investigating state lawmakers for public corruption, nor do they believe taxpayers should know how much of their money the Legislature is spending on criminal defense lawyers.

Following recent reports that Southern California Sen. Susan Rubio has been questioned in a federal public corruption investigation, CalMatters filed requests with the state Assembly and Senate seeking copies of federal law enforcement subpoenas and search warrants dating to 2020.

CalMatters also sought under the California Legislative Open Records Act invoices or other records showing how much money the Legislature has spent since 2020 on legal bills related to federal criminal investigations.

Identical letters from the Rules Committees for the Assembly and Senate cited four reasons for denying the record requests including “the public interest served by not making the record public clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure of the record.”

The offices of Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire didn’t respond to CalMatters’ interview requests.

But the secrecy alarms open-government advocates.

“The public absolutely has a right to know whether … one of their representatives or public officials is under criminal investigation,” said Sean McMorris of California Common Cause, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that advocates for government transparency and accountability.

David Loy, legal director for the First Amendment Coalition, another government transparency advocacy group, said the citation about the disclosure not serving the public interest “is the last refuge of the scoundrel and is invoked whenever somebody wants to withhold something inconvenient.”

The Legislative Open Records Act, first signed in 1975, gives lawmakers and their staff members more discretion to withhold records than most other public agencies have under the similar California Public Records Act.

But Loy said that even if they have a legal right to withhold records, public agencies usually have broad discretion to release them. In other words, they could release these records in the interest of transparency if they wanted to.

“Even if (secrecy) might be allowed under the letter of law in some circumstances, that is not a position that I think serves the public well,” he said. “We should err on the side of disclosure. The public has a right to know.”

In addition to the public interest citation, the Senate and Assembly letters cited three other reasons for denying the records. It said the Legislative Open Records Act allows documents to be “exempt from mandatory disclosure” if the records:

• “Are in the custody of the Legislative Counsel.”
• Are prohibited or not required for release by state or federal law.
• Involve issues of attorney-client privilege.

“Records responsive to your request, to the extent they exist, fall within the scope of the foregoing exemptions and will not be produced,” the letters said.

Rubio’s office didn’t answer questions Tuesday about whether she or her office has received any search warrants or subpoenas, who her attorney is, and whether taxpayer funds were spent on her legal defense.

Federal officials have not identified Rubio by name in the corruption probe, which has ensnared a handful of other officials in San Bernardino County, Compton, Commerce and Baldwin Park.

However, no one else matches the description of “Person 20,” who was accused in recently released federal court documents of asking for $240,000 in bribes from a cannabis company and accepting $30,000 in illegal campaign contributions.

The allegations stem from when Rubio was a member of the Baldwin Park City Council.

The Senate Rules Committee this week rejected CalMatters’ request for records that might detail which officials have been linked to federal public corruption investigations as well as how much taxpayers have been paying for criminal defense attorneys.

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CalMatters

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Rubio emphatically denied accepting bribes in an interview with CalMatters’ reporting partner, CBS News, that aired in January. But when asked if she denied that she was “Person 20” she responded, “I’m not saying that.”

“I’m just saying that you read the report,” she continued. “And whatever is happening there is happening there, but I think that (investigators) would have to reach out to me in order for me to be part of any of this.”

Rubio’s office previously told the Los Angeles Times in a statement that she “volunteered hours of her time” aiding the authorities in their investigation and that she “has no reason to believe that she would be included in any criminal allegations.”

Legislative Republicans called for a Senate Ethics Committee investigation, but the committee declined, saying long-standing Senate rules prohibit investigation of allegations that are more than three years old.

“Since the alleged activities occurred many years ago, the committee does not have jurisdiction to review this matter,” the committee’s chief counsel, Erin V. Peth, told CalMatters last month.

Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher, a lawyer who represents the Chico area, said that everyone, including lawmakers, has a right to be presumed innocent in criminal investigations.

But taxpayers also have a right to know, he said, “what kind of taxpayer money has been spent defending people in federal investigations.”

The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory may run the second-longest study of  individually identifiable mammals in the world, but they’re not afraid of trying something new.

The lab is launching a bracket-style competition, Fat Marmot Week, for people all over the world to vote for their favorite chunky ground squirrel.

The UCLA researchers who work there have faced a loss of federal funding in recent years, so they’re now pursuing creative fundraising efforts, including a (G-rated) OnlyFans account for marmot content called OnlyMarms and a meme coin created by supporters of the project.

Where the idea came from

Dan Blumstein, a UCLA ecology and evolutionary biology professor who came up with OnlyMarms, said he’s wanted to do a Fat Marmot Week ever since the success of Fat Bear Week, in which the public votes on grizzly bears bulking up for the winter in Alaska. But it took two of his graduate researchers, Katie Adler and Emily Renkey, along with another volunteer who helps with logistics, to see it to fruition.

“ Science isn't just writing the papers, it's also the communication side of things,” said Adler, who’s also the lab’s field team leader.

Like bears, marmots prepare for the winter by fattening up, with some more than doubling in weight from about 5.5 pounds to as much as 13. But unlike bears, marmots are true hibernators. For months, their body temperature drops very low, and they breathe and have a heartbeat about once a minute. (Blumstein described a hibernating marmot as “sort of a fuzzy stone.”)

These two specimens are called Dawn and Dan's Hat.

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Courtesy Dan Blumstein/UCLA

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 Adler, who's on her third year of marmot field observations, said the individual marmots are consistent enough that she can "see what they're doing a little bit and then know exactly who it is."

“I think it’s fun to think of this from an outside perspective – why do we like marmots and how can we share that with other people?” Renkey said.

About the marmots

The marmots are all given names to help tell them apart based on markings the researchers dye on their fur.

Their names range from Dawn, who is reportedly a “a very special boy who enjoys the taste of rocks,” to a “proud mama” named 1 and a “girl boss” with no mate named Open Kite.

“Our parties are quite boring to other people because all we do is talk about the marmots,” Blumstein said. “It's a soap opera.”

Funding troubles

Faced with federal funding cuts, Blumstein realized he had to get creative, starting with the OnlyMarms account.

But he said he wasn’t expecting the “extraordinary” response – the $OnlyMarms meme coin has made more than $100,000 in transaction fees, though it’s still short of the $225,000 to $300,000 they need to fundraise to bring in more graduate student research.

Blumstein said while all funding is welcome, including the OnlyMarms subscriptions, it’s much easier for them to accept direct donations for tax purposes. The money will go to support researchers like Renkey and Adler’s contributions to the nearly 65 years of marmot research at the lab.

The tournament

Eight competitors will face off — five females and three males. There’ll also be a “true” winner announced at the end based on the lab’s measurements on which marmot gained the most weight this spring and summer.

The first round of voting will be Monday, Aug. 24, followed by the semifinals on Wednesday, Aug. 26, and the final showdown on Friday, Aug. 28. Voting runs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PDT.

“Everyone should vote. It's very exciting,” Renkey said. “They're huge this summer.”

The younger bald eagle that Shadow has been seen hanging out with around Big Bear’s famous nest lately has a new name.

The bird, which is believed to be a female, is banded as KD1. Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that runs the popular YouTube livestream, has dubbed her Kaydee.

The organization generally doesn’t name visiting eagles, but Kaydee is sticking around so far and could become a new online star after Shadow’s long-time mate Jackie died last week.

So, who is this new eagle in the nest?

One expert told LAist that Kaydee is more than 4 years old and was probably wandering much further than Big Bear before it was spotted on camera.

“This is kind of the banders dream, right? You put bands on a bird so that you can possibly get … a one-off observation of where it is at some point in its life, and we're getting way, way more than that,” said Jenna Carpenter, a field biologist and environmental specialist with the Orange County Water District.

“In this instance, we're getting 24/7 views and people are so tuned into it that they're keeping really good track of where KD1 is, and it's really awesome.”

Meet Kaydee

Kaydee was first recorded on the livestream cameras in the Big Bear habitat on Aug. 6 — a few days before Jackie died — according to Friends of Big Bear Valley.

The nonprofit said the eagle started to perch by Shadow in several trees, which it has continued to do in the weeks since. The group recently referred to Kaydee as Shadow’s “shadow.”

Kaydee is from the Prado Basin area, where its parents Ricky and Lucy nest nearby. Carpenter said Ricky and Lucy have raised around a dozen eaglets since 2021, when they first started setting up shop in the area.

The eagle wears two bracelet-like bands on its legs, including a lavender-colored one, which can be used to track Kaydee in different areas.

“If someone sees [the color band] with a scope or binoculars or a zoom camera, it can be reported and put into a research database, which adds to the opportunity to progress conservation for raptors and eagles,” Carpenter said.

You can learn more about reporting a bird with a federal band or color marker here.

Will Kaydee stick with Shadow?

Kaydee is what's known as a subadult eagle, a stage in which Carpenter said raptors are still trying to figure out what they want to do and where they want to be.

“Big Bear’s a nice habitat, obviously they've been visiting this nest, you know, there's some interest there whatever it may be,” she said. “So it's possible that they stick around and find a mate, whether that be Shadow or another adult eagle.”

But it’s also possible Kaydee moves onto another habitat after the off-season. Whatever happens, Carpenter said us humans get to go along for the ride through the livestream, which she described as a privilege.

“We get this chance to witness something that we would not normally get to witness, because we know exactly who this bird is and we happen to have cameras in the area,” she said. “It might be everything and it might be nothing, and either way, I think that's really exciting that we get to have a little peek into this world.”

The Esquivel family opened their first taqueria at Playas de Tijuana 15 years ago, with a focus on individually crafted tacos, each with its own pairing of salsa.

Since then, Taqueria Tijuanero — formerly Tijuanazo — has become an increasingly popular SoCal taco chain.

Owner Aria Esquivel sat down with AirTalk Friday host Austin Cross to talk about how it all started from a humble Tijuana brick-and-mortar and how they stay true to their distinct North Mexican menu.

The art of the taco

Esquivel’s father and mastermind behind Taqueria Tijuanero, Antonio Esquivel, began working in kitchens when he was 16 years old, working his way up from dishwasher to cook at French restaurants in Beverly Hills.

“What he really loved about the taco and the art of the taco in Tijuana is how these ingredients mesh so well together,” Esquivel said.

That’s when the family opened up their own restaurant in Playas de Tijuana in 2011.

Mexico's taco diversity

Because of Mexico’s diverse landscape of crops, history and even weather patterns, taco styles can actually vary quite a bit depending on where you are in the country.

“ The tacos in Mexico City are different," Esquivel said. "The tacos in Sonora are different. The Tijuana tacos are different."

Fresh al pastor

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(Courtesy Taqueria Tijuanero

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Al pastor taco

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Courtesy Taqueria Tijuanero

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Bill Esparza, the James Beard Award-winning food writer who's spent the last two decades chronicling L.A.'s taco scene, helped curate Taqueando After Dark, a new food festival that will feature eight L.A. taco vendors, including Taqueria Tijuanero.

“When I see theirs, I see what I see in Mexico,” Esparza said of Taqueria Tijuanero’s tacos, adding, “It’s a taco that really has a lot of intentionality behind it.”

How to experience Taqueando After Dark festival

Taqueando After Dark takes over Level 8 for two nights, Aug. 27 and 28. (Courtesy of Level 8)

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Courtesy Taqueando After Dark

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Read more: LA taqueros meet Baja’s best for two-night DTLA taco festival

New location coming:

• The family is in the process of opening its third SoCal location in Echo Park.

How to visit:

• Address: 355 S Atlantic Blvd., East Los Angeles
• Hours: Closed on Mondays | Tuesday-Sunday, open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Costs: Tacos are $3.95 each