The Brief

This is an excerpt from Make It Make Sense, our pop-up newsletter on the 2024 election. If you want weekly updates through September on following the money this election season, sign up here.

Millions of dollars have been raised in this year’s race for Los Angeles County district attorney — but so far, the vast majority of it has been gathered in support of just one of the candidates.

Nathan Hochman, the criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor who is challenging incumbent George Gascón for the seat, has raised nearly $3.9 million for his campaign as of Sept. 16. That’s over five times more than Gascón, whose fundraising stands at around $678,000.

Independent groups — those that aren’t affiliated with an official campaign — have spent $1.8 million to support Hochman. So far, there’s been no independent spending to support Gascón.

We’ll break down how we found these numbers and what they actually tell us. But first, let’s back up.

Why is the district attorney’s race such a big deal?

Voters are choosing between two competing visions of criminal justice in L.A. County.

Gascón was elected district attorney in 2020 on his promises to work toward ending decades of mass incarceration and create a fairer criminal justice system. Since taking office, he’s stopped prosecuting many misdemeanors and seeking sentencing enhancements for other crimes.

But increases in property crime and viral videos of smash-and-grab-style robberies have made public safety a major talking point of this election. Recent polling shows that public support for Gascón’s approach has waned — not just in L.A. County, but also in other cities that elected similarly progressive district attorneys.

Hochman has vowed to reverse some of Gascón’s policies. The November election will be a test of whether L.A. voters want that, too.

Now, let’s take a look at the money. Because this is an L.A. County office, all the campaign finance information can be found on the L.A. County registrar’s website.

How much money has each candidate raised?

What we found: We added up the data for Gascón and Hochman going back to 2023, when they first started raising money for their respective campaigns. As of Sept. 16, Gascón raised a total of $678,784. Hochman raised $3,854,313. 

What this tells you: These funds — which can be found by searching both candidates’ records here and here — are the engines that keep campaigns going. They pay staff, they buy ads, they cover travel expenses, and a lot more. The sheer amount of money raised isn’t all that matters, but the more funding a candidate has, the more ability they have to get their name and message in front of voters. 

In 2020, when Gascón first ran for L.A. County district attorney against incumbent Jackie Lacey, the gap between funding totals was not so wide. Back then, Gascón raised about $1.3 million against Lacey’s $1.6 million.

How much money came from inside vs. outside LA County?

What the numbers tell you: This race could influence elections in other counties that face similar tensions over public safety and criminal justice, so it’s likely attracting money from outside L.A County. These numbers can help you gauge how much outside interest there is in a race and to what degree it’s powering the campaigns. It can also hint at what a candidate’s local support looks like.

What we found: Taking a look here and here, and extracting L.A. County ZIP codes from the data, we see that as of Sept. 10, about $381,000 of Gascón’s funds — or 57% of his total — came from L.A. County. Of the rest of Gascón’s money, about 23% of his total funds came from Bay Area counties and another 8% came from outside California.

For Hochman, the amount raised from within L.A. County was about $3.2 million, or 83% of his total funds. 

(Other counties in northern, southern and central California make up the rest of the totals for each candidate, along with contributions that didn't include a ZIP code.)

Where is independent spending coming from?

What this tells you: Who’s willing to spend big to back a candidate? Money raised by candidates comes with restrictions — a maximum of $9,000 per donor for this particular race. But there are no contribution limits for independent groups that want to support or oppose a candidate, as long as they’re not affiliated with an official campaign. 

What we found: When we took a closer look at independent spending (by looking here and here and filtering for independent committee spending in the 2024 elections), a few things stuck out:

• Two independent committees spent a combined $469,000 to oppose Gascón: 
  
  • Working Families, First Responders, and Small Businesses for a Safer L.A. County Supporting Hochman for District Attorney 2024 sponsored by Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
  • Local Residents, Small Businesses and Public Safety Professionals for Safer and Cleaner Neighborhoods Opposing Nithya Raman for City Council 2024, Sponsored by the Los Angeles Police Protective League 
• Two independent committees spent more than $1.8 million combined to support Hochman — Los Angeles County Deserves Better, Primarily Formed to Support Nathan Hochman for District Attorney 2024 spent more than $846,000, and the Working Families, First Responders and Small Businesses committee spent more than $970,000.
• So far, no independent money has been spent to support Gascón in this election cycle (although one group had raised $200,000 to support him as of last week).  

Will this spending influence voters?

What this tells you: The data we’ve been looking at so far tell us how much financial power these campaigns have and who’s fueling it. You can also think of campaign contributions as quiet endorsements for candidates. Someone may not be putting up a lawn sign, for example, but they are writing a check to support a candidate. If their opinion matters to you, it can help you decide your own vote.

What we found: 

• The L.A. Police Protective League and Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs sponsored committees that spent a combined $366,000 to oppose Gascón.
• Other big spenders supporting Hochman include Rick Caruso, a former L.A. mayoral candidate and billionaire developer (who contributed $250,000 to an independent committee supporting Hochman), businessman Alex Von Fürstenberg, son of fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg (he donated $9,000 to the campaign and $30,000 in independent spending), and Jerry Greenberg, Sushi Nozawa’s CEO (who donated a combined $125,000 across two independent committees). 
• Hochman’s supporters include people from real estate, corporate law and law enforcement groups, while Gascón’s backers include multiple labor unions. 
• Among Gascón’s recognizable supporters: actor Jane Fonda (who donated $1,000), musician John Legend (who donated $5,000) and Gil Garcetti, former L.A. district attorney (who donated $500). 

What’s the takeaway? 

It’s clear that Hochman’s campaign has a large advantage over Gascón’s so far when focusing on several different spending measures — the amount of money raised, the amount raised from within L.A. County, and independent spending.

Deep-pocketed business leaders and law enforcement unions are spending big to back Hochman (or to oppose Gascón). Gascón is trailing by a wide margin and isn’t receiving nearly the same amount of financial support he had back in 2020.

This may or may not affect how you vote. But it provides a few more dimensions to help you understand this race and others you see on your ballot.

If you want more on this race, check out these resources from LAist: This breakdown of the candidates' visions from Civics and Democracy Correspondent Frank Stoltze, our podcast series on Gascón and our Voter Game Plan guide.

LAist data journalist Maloy Moore contributed to this story. 

This series is supported by the American Press Institute.

Orange County will stop spraying local flood control channels with toxic chemicals — an environmental issue that has morphed in recent months into a major theme in the June 2 primary race to represent South O.C. on the Board of Supervisors.

In an emailed announcement, Supervisor Katrina Foley, who represents District 5, wrote that “following months of community outcry,” O.C. Public Works would halt spraying and “instead observe the growth patterns of invasive species to evaluate the safest and most effective procedures for removal.”

The backstory

The environmental activists who make up the three-person Creek Team OC began raising the alarm earlier this year about the county’s practice of spraying toxic chemicals to keep vegetation down in local waterways and flood control channels, which flow out to the ocean. Brent Linas, the group’s founder, had become concerned about the issue while noticing what he characterized as “dead” ecosystems during his runs along San Juan Creek, which empties into Doheny State Beach.

The political context

The herbicide spraying had become a major issue in the race to represent District 5 on the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Katrina Foley, a Democrat, is running for reelection against state Assemblymember Diane Dixon, a Republican. The conservative Lincoln Club, through its PAC, has spent around $200,000 thus far to try to influence the race. The PAC has latched onto the herbicide issue to attack Foley in ads and mailers.

The Lincoln Media Foundation, which shares an address and officers with the Lincoln Club, has simultaneously published content critical of Foley’s handling of the herbicide issue through the affiliated publication, California Courier.

Linas of Creek Team called Foley’s announcement about the countywide pause on herbicide spraying “a huge, huge victory for us.” Linas, who described himself to LAist as a lifelong Democrat, said his group ultimately used the political jockeying over the issue to their advantage. “ We took this firehose of money that exists and we redirected some of it towards what we saw as an urgent issue,” he said.

What’s next?

Orange County Public Works could still use herbicides in conjunction with maintenance work if they identify an “immediate need of vegetation management,” according to the announcement. But the county would give the public seven days' notice in advance of any such use. A pilot project along San Juan and Trabuco creeks is underway to evaluate the viability of replacing chemical spraying with manual and mechanical weed removal.

How to watchdog your local government

One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay attention. Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community.

• Read tips on how to get involved.
• The Orange County Board of Supervisors meets on alternating Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. at 400 W. Civic Center Drive, Santa Ana. You can check out the O.C. Board of Supervisors full calendar here.
• Learn how to submit a public comment to the O.C. Board of Supervisors.

U.S. domestic air travel has boomed in recent years, except for one segment. Short flights of a few hundred miles decreased over the past decade, while longer flights became more popular, according to data gathered by the aviation analytics firm OAG for NPR.

Nearly 4 million short flights are scheduled for this year. But as of mid-April, the number of flights spanning less than 250 nautical miles had declined by 11% from 2016 to 2026 — the biggest drop of any route length. The decline comes as no surprise to John Grant, a senior analyst at OAG.

"That is an awful distance to be operating," he says, because short flights are more expensive for airlines than flights with a longer cruise time.

In contrast, every domestic flight category of more than 500 miles saw notable gains over the same 10-year span. The numbers depict the U.S. hub-and-spoke aviation system moving toward longer "spokes" for some routes.

The trend was well established even before rising fuel prices from the Iran war rattled U.S. aviation. It could now accelerate, as airlines raise prices and trim less-profitable flights due to jet fuel supply constraints.

Domestic jet fuel costs have roughly doubled since early February, before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran. U.S. airlines spent more than $5 billion on jet fuel in March, a 56% increase from February, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Spirit Airlines blamed the soaring fuel costs when it announced it would shut down last weekend. Prices are even higher for Asia and other markets that rely more heavily on supplies transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

"Any time there is pressure like that, particularly a cost pressure, but also a resource pressure, airlines are going to concentrate flying where they can move the most passengers with the fewest pilots," says Faye Malarkey Black, CEO of the Regional Airline Association.

Short-hop flights are the most frequent, and least efficient

Every day, thousands of U.S. airline passengers step off planes without needing to check the local time and weather, because they've traveled less than 100 miles, on flights lasting less than an hour.

For example, there are dozens of flights between Milwaukee and Chicago each week, even though they're separated by less than 80 miles and have been connected by rail lines for more than a century. But there's a key snag for travelers in the Milwaukee area who might want to take the train to O'Hare International, says Joshua Schank, an urban planning professor at UCLA who's also a partner with the consulting firm Infra Strategies.

"Remember, that rail is going between the [cities'] two downtowns, and it's not between the airports," he says. "And that's the key distinction," he adds, noting that a majority of the route's passengers are likely connecting to other destinations beyond Chicago.

For routes like that to make economic sense, they require enough people willing to pay, says Black, of the airline association.

"It's not the distance, it's the density," she says. "If you have a short flight that has a lot of density because it's between two urban centers and it's a viable option, then people will take that option."

It's one of the shorter spokes in the U.S. hub-and-spoke system that helps airlines concentrate their traffic. That's why the sub-250-mile distance remains the second most popular domestic route, even with its double-digit decline. The most popular flight category over the past 10 years isn't much longer, with the 251 to 500 nautical mile distance scheduled 2.1 million times in 2026, despite a roughly 4% dip.

But all those repeated shorter flights come at a cost.

"A lot of the fuel is used in the takeoff and landing processes," Grant says. And every landing, he notes, adds wear and tear on the planes' equipment.

To hit the sweet spot of revenue versus cost, Grant says, "airlines typically try to be in that two-hour block time" – a category that includes flights over 500 miles, such as Washington, D.C., to Atlanta.

At airports, short flights also add to the workload for understaffed air traffic control systems and congested gates. A small regional jet carrying 50 people, for instance, is just as important to a controller as a wide-body airliner. And it takes up gate space repeatedly, as it shuttles passengers back and forth to a hub airport. As Black notes, the impact of all those short flights adds up.

"Regional airlines have always been the backbone of air service to smaller communities," she says. "In the early 2000s, they were the only source of scheduled air service for roughly three-quarters of U.S. airports. Today, that figure is closer to two-thirds."

Prices for U.S. jet fuel have nearly doubled since before the Iran war began, shaking up the aviation industry. This file photo shows a worker preparing to fuel a United Express jet at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, in Grapevine, Texas.

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Where are we heading? 

Despite their recent decline, short-hop flights are integral to the hub-and-spoke network, taking people from Colorado Springs to Denver, for instance, or from Birmingham to Atlanta.

But airlines have shifted more toward longer flights over the past decade, thanks largely to a new generation of narrow-body aircraft that are more efficient, making them an enticing option for longer-range routes. That's why the trendline favors routes such as the 501 to 750-mile category (e.g. Portland to Las Vegas, or Houston to Tampa), which grew by 11% to nearly 1.7 million scheduled flights in 2026. Flights of more than 750 and 1,000 miles each saw double-digit percentage gains, as well.

"Unfortunately for short-haul routes, the economics are not in their favor," says Ahmed Abdelghani, professor of operations management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. He notes that a smaller jet's higher costs must be borne by fewer passengers than a larger plane, prompting higher fares.

"Those new generation narrowbody aircraft will have much better economics than the smaller 50-seater, 70-seater aircraft," Abdelghani says, citing the newer jets' ability to spread costs over more than 160 seats, depending on how they're configured.

The newer planes align with airlines that prioritize route profitability, Abdelghani says. But he and Black both say that larger narrow-body planes aren't a good fit for every market – and as a result, smaller communities could see fewer flights and connectivity.

"The airports with the sharpest service losses tend to be small hub and non-hub airports," Black says, "and those markets are often built around shorter-distance flying." She notes that other problems, such as pilot shortages, are also affecting small markets. "As pilot availability tightened, airlines had to make decisions about where limited flying could be sustained," Black says.

As Abdelghani puts it, "The airline decides, OK, since now I'm going to fly only efficient aircraft, I'm going to sacrifice the routes that this aircraft doesn't fit."
Copyright 2026 NPR

I try to keep my cool and maintain professionalism as a radio host, still, as I prepared questions for William Shatner and Neil deGrasse Tyson while sipping coffee from my Star Trek mug — and gazing at my copy of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry — I realized that would be a challenge.

So, I decided to third-wheel their legendary bromance as my approach to the interview. I have no regrets.

A serendipitous friendship

Shatner and deGrasse Tyson are an unexpected pairing that makes total sense when you see them together.

These two giant personalities have met their match in one another, and they love it.

They had crossed paths before, on a cruise to the Antarctic where they were put on stage as the night’s entertainment. It only deepened their connection.

Their love of conversing quickly resulted in an audiobook, Cosmos Confidential: Bill & Neil's Excellent Bromance, and the touring live show, The Universe is Absurd!, coming to L.A. this month.

Despite contrasting careers and a more-than-two-decade age difference, they share common ground — like having both been thrust into sudden fame. But their camaraderie seems to go deeper with a shared sense of curiosity and passion for discourse.

Referring to the lengthy recording time of Cosmos Confidential, Shatner spoke highly of his time spent with deGrasse Tyson.

“We were required to spend some 20 hours talking to each other to make this book and in that discovery, I fell in love with Neil deGrasse Tyson,” Shatner said. “He's the most remarkable man and some peccadilloes are worth examining for a more lengthy time.”

Turning to deGrasse Tyson he remarked, “You are unique in many ways.”

Like puzzle pieces, they fit well together — Shatner, an eternal student and deGrasse Tyson, an innate teacher.

“William Shatner has the curiosity of a middle school kid who's just discovering the world,” said deGrasse Tyson. “Except this curiosity, he's retained his entire fricking life. So, as an educator, I bask in the curiosity of others who have questions about the universe.”

Shatner and deGrasse Tyson like to get personal, entertaining topics from the abstract and spiritual to the tangible and scientific.

An open debate and a dose of optimism 

The most refreshing thing about Shatner and deGrasse Tyson’s dynamic may be their ability to joyfully challenge and disagree, gleefully ribbing one another in a free-flowing back-and-forth.

Another breath of fresh air is their shared hopefulness for the world.

Shatner, who has actually seen our planet from orbit, is inspired by the Earth itself despite threats to the environment.

“How quickly nature heals itself from the defamation of human beings,” he said. “I say, get out of the way, let nature take over and human beings sit back for a moment.”

Meanwhile, deGrasse Tyson described himself as an “optimistic realist” and offered an endorsement for the pay-it-forward philosophy.  

“When you pay it back, it closes off that good deed from the universe,” he said. “Whereas if we pay it forward, they become tributaries of good deeds that move through society and through civilization where everybody will be doing good things for other people. And this is a future that I wanna move towards.”

In China, President Donald Trump is negotiating with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, in a remarkably friendly visit despite friction between the two nations on trade, sanctions, and China's role in the Iran war.

Back at home, court documents unsealed this week show that a Los Angeles-area mayor reached a deal with federal prosecutors after admitting that she acted as an illegal foreign agent of China — a case experts say is emblematic of Beijing's broadening tradecraft strategy in the U.S. and around the globe.

Eileen Wang, now the former mayor of Arcadia, agreed to plead guilty to the felony charge accusing her of promoting the interests of the People's Republic of China (PRC) under the direction of Chinese officials, according to court filings. The 58-year-old abruptly resigned from her position on Monday, hours after the plea agreement was made public by the Department of Justice. She faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors say that from late 2020 to 2022, Wang and a man named Yaoning "Mike" Sun ran a website called U.S. News Center targeting the area's large Chinese diaspora. (The city of roughly 55,000 residents has an Asian-majority population of about 59% as of 2024, with over 46% of residents saying they are foreign-born.) According to the Justice Department, the two used the platform to disseminate pro-China propaganda at the behest of PRC government officials while concealing their ties to the Chinese government from the public.

"Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. "This plea agreement is the latest success in our determination to defend the homeland against China's efforts to corrupt our institutions."

In a joint statement, Wang's attorneys, Brian Sun and Jason Liang, said "she apologizes and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life."

Sun suggested that Wang, who emigrated from China to the U.S. and has been involved in Arcadia community service for at least 15 years, was persuaded by "someone who she believed to be her fiance" to act on behalf of the PRC, saying, "her trust and love for apparently the wrong person who ultimately led her astray – require her to step away from public service." (It's worth noting that Wang has previously described Yaoning "Mike" Sun as her fiance).

Sun, the lawyer, also noted that Wang's wrongdoings outlined in the plea agreement pre-dated her swearing-in in December 2022.

A 'whole of society' approach

As China consolidates its global might, experts say Beijing is ramping up efforts to leverage the Chinese diaspora to both soften U.S. views of the authoritarian government and promote pro-Beijing politicians, particularly at the state or local levels.

Nicholas Eftimiades, a former senior U.S. intelligence officer who specializes in Chinese espionage, told NPR he's seen an uptick in this approach in recent years.

"We've certainly seen a number of cases of China attempting to recruit lower level officials on long term approaches so that they can conduct covert influence on the United States," he said.

President Donald Trump arrives for a state banquet hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People on Thursday.

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For example, in 2024, federal prosecutors charged a former New York state government employee with acting "as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government while her husband, Christopher Hu, facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars in kickbacks for personal gain." (A trial in late 2025 ended with a hung jury, and the case is scheduled to be retried in early 2027).

Even a senator's office appears to have been infiltrated. In 2018, Politico first reported that a San Francisco-based staffer for former Sen. Dianne Feinstein was allegedly recruited by Chinese intelligence to report back about local politics. At the time, Feinstein acknowledged that the FBI had informed her that it had concerns that China was "seeking to recruit" a staffer.

Eftimiades said China is carrying out a "whole of society approach." Unlike Western intelligence agencies, which focus espionage efforts on other intelligence organizations or militaries, China also focuses on spying at a societal level, he explained. "That means that they're recruiting mayors and congressmen with the hope that they'll rise into greater positions."

Once in place, he said the idea is that these leaders could carry out a range of operations on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, including spying on members of the Chinese diaspora who are perceived as dissidents or monitoring the activities of visiting Taiwanese leadership.

For example, federal prosecutors say Yaoning "Mike" Sun, who worked with Wang on the website and as her campaign advisor, closely surveilled the then-president of Taiwan when she visited the area in 2023.

Sun is currently serving 48 months in federal prison in a separate case for acting as an illegal agent of China, "including while serving as a campaign advisor for a political candidate who was elected to the city council of a Southern California city," according to federal prosecutors. The candidate was unnamed in that case but the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California now confirms to NPR that the candidate was Wang.

The Chinese Embassy did not respond to NPR's request for comment on Wang's case and on broader allegations of espionage.

'This is what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to send'

Chinese officials asked Wang to repost stories favoring the government's position on controversial issues, according to the plea agreement signed by the former mayor and federal prosecutors.

In June 2021, a PRC official sent Wang and several others in the same group chat a link to an essay in the Los Angeles Times "explaining China's stance on the Xinjiang issue," prosecutors said. According to court documents, the message read: "There is no genocide in Xinjiang; there is no such thing as 'forced labor' in any production activity, including cotton production. Spreading such rumor to do defame China, destroy Xinjiang's safety and stability, weaken local economy, suppress China's development."

Wang posted the article to U.S. News Center within minutes. She then responded to the PRC official with a link to the article on her website. The PRC official responded: "So fast, thank you everyone."

A few months later, in August 2021, Wang and the other members of the group chat shared links to another article on their respective websites, according to the plea agreement. When a PRC official then asked Wang to omit the name of a company mentioned in the story, she complied. Later, Wang sent a screenshot of the story, showing it had more than 15,000 views. The official praised her work, sending a couple of thumbs up emojis. She replied: "Thank you leader."

In November 2021, Wang communicated with John Chen, who prosecutors say is a high-level member of the PRC intelligence apparatus who has met with President Xi Jinping. He's now serving 20 months in federal prison. She urged him to post an article from her website. He hesitated, but according to the plea agreement, she was insistent. "This is what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to send."

A hearing has not yet been scheduled for Wang to enter a guilty plea.

'Definitely the kind of stuff you see in the movies'

Arcadia's deputy city manager, Justine Bruno, said the city council only learned the full extent of the criminal charges levied against Wang on Monday, when the plea agreement was unsealed.

"These are serious charges for our community, and we understand that this is unsettling news for a lot of our local Arcadia residents, as well as the idea of foreign interference in local public office," Bruno told NPR.

She explained that city officials conducted an internal review of Wang's actions while on the council in December of 2024, when Wang's former campaign advisor and fiance was initially arrested. "At that time we conducted our own internal review just to ensure that there was no interference, there was no involvement with city staff or city finances or city decision making. … We were able to clear that at that time," Bruno said.

China's President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump visit the Temple of Heaven on Thursday.

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But some in Arcadia are skeptical that Wang was no longer working on behalf of the PRC while in the position.

"This is happening everywhere. As long as there's Chinese investment in places, they will install spies, agents, politicians, puppets, Manchurian candidates, you name it," resident Robert Dell told NPR as he walked his dog on a recent afternoon.

More than a dozen Arcadia residents of Chinese descent, who declined to give their full names for this story for fear of retribution from China's government, told NPR they believe she acted to influence attitudes toward Beijing.

And others are just simply reeling. Nishiki Liu told NPR he was stunned when he learned of the charges against Wang. "It's definitely the kind of stuff you see in the movies, so that's wild that it's happening right here," he said.

Copyright 2026 NPR