Jill Replogle
covers public corruption, debates over our voting system, culture war battles — and more.
Published May 13, 2024 3:35 PM
Fans watch the 2021 Pacific Airshow in Huntington Beach.
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Michael Heiman
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Topline:
A judge will soon decide whether taxpayers can view the details of a lucrative settlement agreement between the city of Huntington Beach and the operator of its annual airshow.
The backstory: The spat dates back to 2021, when a major oil spill fouled the beach in the middle of the annual airshow. The city canceled the second day of the show, citing the spill. The airshow operator, Code Four, sued, calling it a breach of contract. The city ultimately agreed to pay the company up to $7 million dollars. But the city has thus far refused to release the full terms of that settlement.
Why it matters: Gina Clayton-Tarvin, a Huntington Beach resident and local school board trustee, sued the city last year under the California Public Records Act after the city denied her request to view the full airshow settlement.
Why opinions over the settlement are divided: Some say the airshow promoter got a suspiciously sweet deal, and that the city may be hiding details of the settlement from the public that make it even sweeter. Others say Huntington Beach should do all it can to support the airshow, which brings in tourism dollars in the offseason.
What's next? Orange County Superior Court Presiding Judge Jonathan Fish is expected to make a ruling in the case by summer. But the ruling could be appealed by either side.
Separately, on Tuesday, the state legislature's audit committee will decide whether to order an audit of the Huntington Beach airshow.
Julia Barajas
follows labor conditions across California's higher education system.
Published February 17, 2026 4:31 PM
A union that represents 1,100 plumbers, electricians and other building maintenance staff across the university system is on strike.
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Courtesy CSU Fullerton
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Flickr Creative Commons
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Topline:
Teamsters Local 2010, which represents trades workers across the Cal State University system, will be on strike through Friday. The union also filed an unfair labor practice charge against the CSU, claiming that the system has refused to honor contractually obligated raises and step increases for its members.
The backstory: According to Teamsters Local 2010, union members won back salary steps in 2024 “after nearly three decades of stagnation.” That year, the union was on the verge of striking alongside the system's faculty, but it reached a last-minute deal with the CSU.
Why it matters: The union represents 1,100 plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, locksmiths and other building maintenance staff. In December 2025, some 94% of workers voted to authorize their bargaining team to call a strike. In a press statement, the union said that “any disruptions to campus operations will be a direct result of CSU’s refusal to pay.”
What the CSU says: In a press statement, the CSU maintains that conditions described in its collective bargaining agreement with the union — which “tied certain salary increases to the receipt of new, unallocated, ongoing state budget funding”— were not met. The system also said it "values its employees and remains committed to fair, competitive pay and benefits for our skilled trades workforce.”
Gillian Morán Pérez
is an associate producer for LAist’s early All Things Considered show.
Published February 17, 2026 4:20 PM
Crystal Hefner (right), widow of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, and attorney Gloria Allred show court filings during a press conference to announce steps they're taking to protect sexual images and information about women in Hefner's personal scrapbooks and diary in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
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Frederic J. Brown
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Topline:
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s widow, Crystal Hefner, is raising the alarm over her late husband’s foundation collecting about 3,000 of his personal scrapbooks and his diary, which she says contain thousands of nude images of women, some of whom might have been minors at the time the photos were taken.
Why it matters: In a press conference Tuesday, Hefner said in addition to her concerns about some of the women in the scrapbooks being minors, she's worried that the women and possibly girls in the images didn't agree to their images being kept and about what might happen to the women if the images were made public or posted online.
What's next: Hefner said she was told that the scrapbooks may be in a storage facility in California. Her attorney, Gloria Allred, says they were informed that the foundation plans to digitize them, but it’s unclear what it plans to do with them.
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s widow, Crystal Hefner, is raising the alarm over her late husband’s foundation collecting about 3,000 of his personal scrapbooks and his diary, which she says contain thousands of nude images of women, some of whom might have been minors at the time the photos were taken.
In a press conference Tuesday, Hefner and her attorney, Gloria Allred, announced they’ve filed regulatory complaints with California and Illinois attorneys general, asking them to investigate the foundation’s handling of the scrapbooks. The complaints were filed to both attorneys general because the foundation is registered to do business in California but incorporated in Illinois.
“I believe they include women and possibly girls who never agreed to lifelong possession of their naked images and who have no transparency into where their photos are, how they’re being stored or what will happen to them next,” Hefner said.
She added the diary includes names of women he slept with, notes of sexual acts and other explicit details.
Hefner said she was asked to resign from her position as CEO and president of the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation on Monday after raising concerns about the materials. She said after she declined to resign, she was removed from her role.
She said she was told the scrapbooks may be in a storage facility in California. Allred says they were informed that the foundation plans to digitize them, but it’s unclear what it plans to do with them.
“This is not archival preservation. This is not history. This is control. I am deeply worried about these images getting out,” Hefner said. “Artificial intelligence, deepfakes, digital scanning, online marketplaces and data breaches means that once images leave secure custody, the harm is irreversible. A single security failure could devastate thousands of lives.”
In addition to asking for an investigation into the foundation’s handling of the materials, it also asks the attorneys general to take appropriate actions to secure those images.
LAist has reached out to the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation for comment.
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Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, is leaving the agency, the department confirmed on Tuesday.
The backstory: McLaughlin has become the public face and voice defending the Trump administration's mass deportation policy and immigration tactics over the past year.
Why it matters: McLaughlin's exit comes at a tumultuous time for the agency. DHS is currently shut down after lawmakers failed to pass a budget to fund it through the end of the fiscal year in September.
Read on... for more about McLaughlin's exit.
Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, is leaving the agency, the department confirmed on Tuesday.
McLaughlin has become the public face and voice defending the Trump administration's mass deportation policy and immigration tactics over the past year.
"McLaughlin started planning to leave in December but pushed back her departure amid the aftermath of the shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers, according to the people briefed on her exit," DHS said in a statement to NPR.
POLITICO first reported her departure. It is not clear where she is going next, or who will become the agency's next spokesperson.
McLaughlin's exit comes at a tumultuous time for the agency. DHS is currently shut down after lawmakers failed to pass a budget to fund it through the end of the fiscal year in September.
And high-ranking immigration officials, including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, have been summoned to Capitol Hill to testify on the immigration crackdown after immigration agents shot and killed Good and Pretti in Minneapolis.
McLaughlin has been among the most public-facing agency spokespeople, participating in several network interviews. Beyond speaking on DHS' immigration initiatives, McLaughlin also fielded interviews and questions about Noem's handling of national disaster relief and resources, and other parts of the sprawling agency.
Noem praised McLaughlin's work in a statement online, saying she "served with exceptional dedication, tenacity, and professionalism."
"While we are sad to see her leave, we are grateful for her service and wish Tricia nothing but success," she wrote on the social platform X.
Immigration has been the largest part of McLaughlin's portfolio. She often took to network shows and to social media to promote immigration arrests made by the administration, defend actions by DHS agents, and encouraged immigrants to "self-deport."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries praised news of her departure online; "Another MAGA extremist forced out of DHS. Noem next," he posted on X.
Most recently, McLaughlin defended Noem's description of Pretti as a "domestic terrorist" after Customs and Border Protection officers shot and killed him — claims that eventually drew sharp scrutiny from lawmakers, including some Republicans.
"Initial statements were made after reports from CBP on the ground. It was a very chaotic scene," McLaughlin told Fox Business late last month. "The early statements that were released were based on the chaotic scene on the ground and we really need to have true, accurate information to come to light."
During last week's congressional hearings, the heads of Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement both denied that they, or anyone under their chains of command, had given Noem information to substantiate that claim that Pretti was a domestic terrorist.
An NPR analysis published in January showed that DHS has made unproven or incorrect claims on social media or in press releases when describing immigrants targeted for deportation or U.S. citizens arrested during protests.
Kevin Tidmarsh
is a producer for LAist, covering news and culture. He’s been an audio/web journalist for about a decade.
Published February 17, 2026 12:56 PM
Purelink's Tommy Paslaski as he DJed at LAX on Feb. 12.
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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist
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Topline:
The “LAX Presents” series brings performances to the airport’s terminals. LAist caught a recent one with the ambient techno trio Purelink.
About the show: The set was in the West Gates at LAX’s Terminal B, which opened in 2021. It was big enough to almost feel like a concert hall.
How the performers felt about it: Purelink’s Ben Paulson said an airport made sense to them as performers. “Sometimes it comes up where you get on a plane and you're kind of thinking about your life in a different way, just because of either traveling to a new place, or you're going to see someone and it can conjure up different types of emotions,” Paulson said. “Our music is kind of catered towards those times anyways.”
About the program: The show is one of over a dozen that are taking place at LAX’s terminals aimed at seeing travelers off or welcoming them to L.A. The series is run in conjunction with the bookers Rum & Humble and Dublab.
Read on: …to learn more about the show and the LAX arts program.
In my time going to shows in and around L.A., I’ve seen DJ sets all over — in parks, backyards, Thai restaurants, quinceañera venues, plus a few other spots I’m not going to blow up here.
But despite being a big Brian Eno fan, seeing a show at an airport was completely new for me, even though LAX puts on concerts and DJ sets about once every couple weeks as part of their “LAX Presents” performance series.
So when the opportunity arose for me to check out Purelink, one of my favorite current electronica and techno groups, I had to jump on it. If nothing else, I had to see whether it’s worth booking my flights around the free concerts at the airport next time the stars align.
About the show
Purelink’s set was in the West Gates at LAX’s Terminal B, which opened in 2021. It’s a cavernous space with a great view of the airfield, not to mention cozy couches, lots of natural light and high ceilings.
It was a great backdrop for Purelink’s set, which was a mix of spaced-out, ambient versions of their own tracks — which are already pretty spaced-out — plus edits and remixes of other artists that fit the vibe. For Purelink’s members, airports go hand-in-hand with their style of music.
“Sometimes it comes up where you get on a plane and you're kind of thinking about your life in a different way, just because of either traveling to a new place, or you're going to see someone and it can conjure up different types of emotions,” Purelink member Ben Paulson said. “Our music is kind of catered towards those times anyways, in my mind, and what we try to conjure up with our songs: memory, and looking back while also looking forward.”
Purelink’s Akeem Asani said it was a challenge to rearrange the music they’ve been playing on their tour before their last two shows at LAX on Feb. 11 and 12.
“Each different venue we've had kind of has a different context of how it's gonna sound and how we want to deliver that specific song in that setting,” Asani said. “This is the most unique setting, and it's been fun to really strip back a lot of the songs that we've been playing and hearing in a different context.”
Visitors catching Purelink's set at Terminal B's West Gates got to see this fluorescent sculpture, an installation that's also part of LAX's arts program.
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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist
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What it’s like to play there
Paulson said that although the group was coming off of a tour where they were playing nightclubs, not airport terminals, they stripped their set back to be friendlier to LAX travelers who didn’t buy tickets to see them.
“ I think it's rare for any airport to have any sort of art focus, so it's cool that they're offering that,” Paulson said.
Asani said the group will play any venue at least once — in fact, the West Gates reminded him of the churches they’ve played even though in other ways the setting was “the opposite” of a place of worship.
“People are eating Burger King — a Whopper and some ambient, I guess they go together, huh?” he joked.
After playing LAX, Asani said that if anyone wants to book Purelink for an airport tour, they’re down.
“ We're already going to airports all the time, so might as well just do a show while we're there,” he said.
LAX's art program director Sarah Cifarelli said the piano pictured here is free to use for performing artists who want it.
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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist
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About the program
The show is part of a series of concerts at LAX’s terminals run in conjunction with the bookers Rum & Humble and Dublab — Dublab booked Purelink to play there. See the full Winter-Spring 2026 schedule here.
These are the shows (past and future) scheduled at LAX through June 2026.
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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist
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“The reason we added the performing arts program was we definitely wanted to create a more serene, calm, relaxed environment, because the airport can be a hectic, busy place, but also music can create a very welcoming space as well,” said Sarah Cifarelli, the director of LAX’s art program.
The program also features large works of public art (think the pylons) and smaller installations sprinkled throughout the terminals. It’s all with the goal of representing L.A. and making the airport experience more hospitable.
“ We've had people who are like, ‘Oh my gosh, I had a really long layover and suddenly seeing this performance just really kind of turned my day around,’” Cifarelli said.
And though Purelink’s show was calm and blissed out, the airport hosts all kinds of shows across its terminals.
”We're really looking for a variety of artists and musicians, so it’s not just one genre of music,” Cifarelli said. “We want to be able to present a really nice array of performers to really reflect the cultural richness of Los Angeles.”
