The Brief

Across California, hundreds of bar owners have been hanging signs that read, “Don’t get roofied! Drink spiking drug test kits available here.”

If they don’t post the signs — or if they don’t have kits available for patrons to test their drinks to determine if they’ve been drugged — the proprietors run the risk of state fines or having their liquor licenses suspended.

The new requirements for the state’s 2,400 bars and nightclubs take effect today, thanks to a law that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last year. Its lead author is Long Beach Democratic Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, a former nightclub owner who is currently a partner in three Southern California restaurants that serve alcohol.

And it’s not Lowenthal’s only anti-drink spiking legislation. He has three other anti-drink spiking bills pending in the Legislature that would add new requirements for alcohol servers. One would require bars to provide cups with lids on them at a customer’s request. Another would require the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to include mandatory training for alcohol servers to spot drink spiking.

A third bill is potentially the most controversial. It would require employees, if they believe a customer has been drugged from a spiked drink, to call police, follow the 911 dispatcher’s instructions and “monitor” the customer until law enforcement or an ambulance crew arrives.

Lowenthal told CalMatters last week that his legislation seeks to address a rise in drink-spiking that has “gotten to crisis proportions.”

“The bars need to be involved,” he said during a break from Thursday’s Assembly floor session. “Alcohol companies need to be involved. Patrons need to be involved looking out for each other. We need to be talking about it and creating this level of prevention. Because once somebody’s drink has already been spiked, it’s too late. So what can we do to prevent it from happening?”

Firm numbers about the prevalence of drink spiking are hard to come by, and research that’s available is based on surveys and anecdotes.

A survey published in 2016 in the American Psychological Association’s journal “Psychology of Violence” found that 8% of 6,064 students surveyed at three universities believed they’d been slipped drugs. Eighteen percent of more than 45,000 respondents in a 2022 global survey from a London-based research firm reported that they had been drugged. The same survey noted that 92% of the victims didn’t report their suspicions to police.

According to Lowenthal’s office, the Long Beach Police Department receives around 25 reports of drink spiking a year.

Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, pictured here addressing the California Assembly last year, is behind several measures that aim to combat drink spiking.

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Rich Pedroncelli

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AP Photo

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Lowenthal said the lack of data is due in part to the nature of the drugs. They cause severe short-term memory lapses, and the drugs typically fade from the human body after a few hours. It’s a combination that makes it difficult for a victim to remember what happened and that leaves behind no evidence for investigators to find, experts say.

“You can’t see them,” Lowenthal said. “You can’t taste them. You can’t smell them, and they leave the body within 24 hours, so you can’t even test that it’s in somebody’s system if they’d been roofied.”

(“Roofied” is a slang term used to describe someone who’s drink has been spiked with the most notorious date-rape drug, Rohypnol.)

Last year’s bill requiring bars to post notices and provide drink-spiking test kits advanced to Newsom’s desk without a single lawmaker voting “no” and without any formal opposition, including from lobbyists representing bars and restaurants, according to the Digital Democracy database.

Lowenthal’s other three bills have advanced from the Assembly to the state Senate in the same fashion and without any opponents.

That includes the bill requiring employees to monitor someone suspected of being drugged until police or medics arrive. Lowenthal argues it’s important for the employees to keep an eye on a victim so they don’t leave with their would-be rapist who drugged them. His bill, however, wouldn’t penalize a bar employee or liquor license holder if a drugged person leaves before help arrives.

Democratic Assemblymember Mike Gipson told Lowenthal he was glad to see the measure earlier this spring when the bill was before the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, which handles alcohol and gambling legislation.

Gipson, a former police officer from Gardena, told the committee his cousin had died after a drug-induced robbery. Gipson told CalMatters an autopsy found so much Rohypnol and alcohol in his cousin’s body that the coroner believed it had caused him to stop breathing.

Gibson said he supports “anything that we can do in this space to make it safe.” He added that bar patrons need to be on guard.

“If you have to leave a drink, take it with you to the bathroom,” Gipson said. “Never leave it unattended, even with people that you think you know and you think you can trust.”

This post first appeared on The LA Local.

A coalition of community activists and supporters held a vigil Thursday evening near the Home Depot on Century Boulevard to acknowledge those who were detained by masked agents earlier this year.

The vigil was organized by ING Fellowship, a grassroots organization founded in 2018 to address issues affecting Inglewood residents, where about 25 people gathered in the parking lot with flowers, candles and signs that read, “Boycott Home Depot” and “Inglewood Unidos.” Each person briefly talked about why they came to the vigil. 

“As a customer of Home Depot, I am outraged. We have normalized racial profiling on this parking lot,” Mars Marvilla said during the vigil. She told The LA Local that she now helps patrol the area near Home Depot when she’s driving for a rideshare company. 

The event was part of the group’s week of action to demand stronger protections for immigrant families and more accountability from city leaders in the wake of ongoing federal immigration enforcement. 

As part of their ongoing efforts in the city, activists are asking city officials to adopt the “Inglewood For All Act,” creating sanctuary city-style protections because “we felt like our local governments weren’t doing enough, so we started gathering to provide and fill those gaps,” said Yaritza Gonzalez, ING Fellowship co-founder. 

The protections include ordinances that would prohibit city resources from being used in immigration enforcement, limiting any collaboration with immigration authorities and Inglewood Police Department and restricting access for immigration authorities to non-public areas of city property.

“With this policy, we’re hoping that the city would be more welcoming to not just residents, but to all the people who will be coming to Inglewood for major events like the World Cup, the Super Bowl and the Olympics,” Gonzalez told The LA Local. 

A coalition of community activists and supporters held a vigil Thursday evening near the Home Depot on Century Boulevard to acknowledge those who were detained by masked agents earlier this year.

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LaMonica Peters

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The LA Local

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The coalition is also encouraging residents to participate in know-your-rights workshops, rapid-response networks and demonstrations intended to show solidarity with those impacted. 

The “Inglewood For All” campaign comes months after incidents like the Jan. 13 operation where  masked federal agents detained workers outside a Superior Grocers construction site. The coalition of activists, including the Hill Network, said they have since tracked dozens of detentions in and around Inglewood, including near day labor hubs and retail centers.  

“On January 13, 2026, our cousin was taken under false [pretenses] from Inglewood,” said Maritza Medina, an Inglewood resident. “Since then, I’ve committed myself to be more involved in our city and be as supportive as I can.” 

The LA Local reached out to Inglewood Mayor James Butts for a response to ING Fellowship’s week of action but received no response.  

The Inglewood For All Act also signals a growing grassroots movement, where community patrols, advocacy groups and informal networks have taken on the role of documenting enforcement activity and supporting affected families — even without formal backing from the city.

“This is just the start of this,” Gonzalez said during the vigil. “It’s an election year, and we’re hoping there is change.” 

A protest at Inglewood City Hall took also place Friday after months of trying to meet with city officials, ING Fellowship said.

The Los Angeles Public Library system is known for more than just books. You can check out tools and computers. And it even has a recording studio.

But did you know it has its own map collection?

They’ve got fire insurance maps spanning Los Angeles; old maps detailing curiosities like an alligator farm or an ostrich farm in L.A. County; copies of the Ord Survey, the first formal land survey of the city from 1849.

A recent donation has added thousands of maps from the region and all over the world to the collection.

Stacks of maps from the Central Library's map collection.

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Peter Hauge

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Peter Hauge

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The mapping link

The new addition came from the collection of Bill Hunt, the founder of the now defunct Santa Barbara-based map distributor Map Link.

Hunt is also an avid collector and traveler. His collection, consisting of hundreds of boxes of well preserved and carefully catalogued maps, took up an entire storage space in Ventura.

Hunt got in touch with the Los Angeles Public Library in November to offload some of his collection. The library brought them in starting in January.

Stacks of boxes containing a lot of Bill Hunt's donation of maps to the Los Angeles Public Library.

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Peter Hauge

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Peter Hauge

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A treasure trove

Not since 2012 has the Los Angeles Public Library landed on such a sizable collection. Then, they were from collector John Feathers, who had thousands of maps filling his Mount Washington Home.

“It was said that John Feathers’ collection doubled our map collection,” LAPL’s map librarian Peter Hauge said. “I would say this Map Link donation probably boosted us again by another 30 or 40%. It is absolutely massive.”

Hauge said Hunt’s collection is much more organized, which should make cataloging it all a lot easier.

What’s in the boxes?

Many of the new maps will be housed in the  history and genealogy department of the Central Library, located on lower level four. There they’ll be accessible to all Angelenos, no library card required for viewing.

Flat map drawers where a lot of the Los Angeles Public Library legacy collection is kept.

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Peter Hauge

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Peter Hauge

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Hauge said the donation, global in scope, helps to fill out the library’s own collection. For example, the library now has 12 new maps from different time periods and regions of Senegal, building on its much smaller, previous collection.

“That was really the most exciting part of it,” Hauge said. “The quality and the scope of the maps I think is what made it so much more important and valuable.”

The donations span pretty much every country in the world and just about every type of map you can think of.

“ This collection has folded maps, travel maps, street guides from the entire United States, just about every county, from every state in the country,” Hauge said.

A Legacy of Maps

Many of the new maps are already available for the public to access. However, Hauge said it'll take at least a year before the entire trove is added to the collection, and even longer for them to be properly cataloged and indexed.

These maps are lenses to the world and the past. Hauge said people come to the map library for all sorts of reasons. Some are writers looking to accurately describe what the transportation system was like in Los Angeles. Others are residents looking for the history of their neighborhoods and how they developed.

Whatever it is, the library probably has a map that can help you out.

Crowds packed into the Pike Outlets in downtown Long Beach on Thursday evening for the free motocross and car show that marks the beginning of Grand Prix weekend every year: Thunder Thursday.

Stunt motorcyclist rides in the air for the Thunder Thursday event by The Pike Outlets, Long Beach on April 16, 2026.

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Justin Enriquez

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Long Beach Post

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Already, the area has transformed into 1.97 miles of track that on Sunday, will belong to the world’s best IndyCar racers as about 200,000 fans watch them during the 51st annual Grand Prix.

Marcus Ericsson driving the purple and black indy car races against Rinus Veekay driving blue and white car race on Shoreline Drive, Long Beach on April 16, 2026

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Justin Enriquez

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Long Beach Post

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On Thursday night, families, fans and revelers got a taste of the high-energy fun with motocross stunt shows, exhibition races, classic car displays and pit crew competitions.

Audiences took their phones to record the final race for the Thunder Thursday event on Shoreline Drive by The Pike Outlets, in Long Beach, April 16, 2026 Photo by Justin Enriquez

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Justin Enriquez

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Long Beach Post

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Big Bang on the Bay, the July 3 fireworks show over Alamitos Bay, will be canceled this year after a last-ditch effort to allow fireworks was voted down by the California Coastal Commission.

Without the fireworks, what’s the point, longtime organizer John Morris said.

Morris, who owns the nearby Boathouse on the Bay restaurant, originally hoped to put on a larger-than-usual pyrotechnics display to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, but in January, Coastal Commission staff told him no. On Wednesday, the full panel of commissioners unanimously upheld that decision despite Morris’ appeal, which included letters of support from local, state and federal politicians asking the commission to allow fireworks.

The denial didn’t come as a surprise. The Coastal Commission warned Morris last year that 2025 would be the last time they allowed fireworks at the Big Bang. They’ve pushed for years for him to move to drones, which they say are more environmentally friendly.

Morris made the seven-hour drive from Long Beach to the Coastal Commission meeting in the city of Gonzalez to plead his case to them in person. But he got up to head to his car as soon as he heard the first “no” vote.

On Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom distanced himself from the commission’s decision. “This is NOT a decision the Governor made,” his press office said on X. “Our office is looking into this matter on behalf of the people of Long Beach!”

“It’s mind-boggling the way they treated me,” said Morris of the commission, which he has repeatedly criticized, including during the public comment period at Wednesday’s meeting.

He said he still doesn’t understand why his fireworks weren’t permitted when other shows, like the one in San Diego, have continued.

On the drive home, Morris said, he received calls from numerous Long Beach residents who were in disbelief that the fireworks show wouldn’t happen for the first time since it began in 2011.

Morris said the fireworks were the key to the Big Bang, which is a fundraiser for Long Beach charities. Donors kick in to pay for the show and the rest — close to $2 million over the years — goes to local nonprofits.

Morris estimated that “more than 50%” of his donors would not accept seeing a drone show instead. A drone show would also be roughly $140,000 more expensive to put on and cut significantly into the fundraiser’s proceeds, according to Morris.

Coastal Commission staff said they considered all of those factors, but deemed that drones are still less likely to pollute the bay or disrupt herons and egrets nesting nearby.

Morris’ relationship with the Coastal Commission has been openly hostile for years.

On Wednesday, Commissioner Dennis Rodoni said he only voted to allow fireworks last year because Morris agreed he would try to transition the show away from fireworks this year.

“This has already been voted on, and it was crystal clear to the applicant that that was the final year of fireworks,” said Commissioner Caryl Hart.

Morris said he met with city officials and commission staff three times since last May to talk about the feasibility of holding a drone show for the July 3 event but none of the three companies he met with could satisfy the conditions needed.

To allow a drone show anywhere in the city, the drones could only move vertically, cannot have anyone underneath the flight path and must take off and land from the same place, said a fire department spokesperson.

Commission staff disagreed with Morris’ assertion that a drone show is not possible over Alamitos Bay, and commissioners said he was given ample time to make it happen.