Chris Wangsaporn, chief of staff to O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do, at the O.C. Board of Supervisors meeting on Dec. 19, 2023.
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Nick Gerda
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LAist
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Topline:
The longtime partner — and now wife — of Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do's top aide was hired by a nonprofit to carry out a $275,000 mental health contract funded by the county, but the work was never completed, a county spokesperson confirmed to LAist. Supervisor Do told the nonprofit to hire the woman, Josie Batres, to do the work, according to multiple people briefed on the contract.
What was the contract for? The work was intended to advise the county on how to increase access to publicly funded mental health services. The contract called for carrying out a series of monthly listening sessions in the community, and providing quarterly updates, an annual report and a final report to the Health Care Agency.
What we know about what happened: A county spokesperson told LAist they had received none of the work required under the contract, including the reports. Public records show — and the spokesperson confirmed — that all the money was paid out.
It's unclear how many of the listening sessions were carried out. Mind OC said they found a single report connected to the contract, but didn't know whether any work had been turned over to the county.
The longtime partner — and now wife — of Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do's top aide was hired by a nonprofit to carry out a $275,000 mental health contract funded by the county, but the work was never completed, a county spokesperson confirmed to LAist.
Supervisor Do told the nonprofit to hire the woman, Josie Batres, to do the work, according to multiple people briefed on the contract.
At the time, Batres was the longtime girlfriend of Chris Wangsaporn, Supervisor Do's chief of staff. The two were married in December 2021, a year into the two-year contract.
The contract required the nonprofit, Mind OC, to run community listening sessions and submit reports to help the county increase access to publicly-funded mental health services, especially among non-English speakers, foster youth, and other underrepresented communities. The people who spoke with LAist about Do's alleged directive did so on the condition they not be named, saying it could compromise their careers.
Neither Batres nor Wangsaporn responded to multiple requests for comment about the contract. Do did not respond to a voicemail left on his cell phone. Reached by phone, Do's attorney, Paul Meyer, acknowledged receiving a list of questions about the contract from LAist and said he could not talk.
The contract was issued to Mind OC, without competitive bidding, by Clayton Chau, the county Health Care Agency director at the time, according to the agency’s spokesperson. Chau told LAist he didn't remember the contract or any related directive from Do.
In a phone interview, Frank Kim, who was then the county's CEO and supervised the Health Care Agency director and other county executives, also said he did not remember the contract or any related directive from Do.
"If it happened, I'm not aware of that," he said.
He added that Do was closely involved in efforts to improve mental and behavioral health care and had frequent communication with county officials about the county’s programs.
“Supervisor Do had strong opinions,” Kim said. “Did he exert influence? Sure, he was a supervisor."
Jeff Nagel, the county's behavioral health chief, oversaw the contract for the county. He was deeply troubled to learn several months into the contract that Do directed that Batres be hired for the work, according to several people familiar with the situation.
Nagel left the agency in January 2022. He declined an interview for this story.
Marshall Moncrief, who was Mind OC’s CEO at the time of the county contract and now works elsewhere, didn’t respond to multiple phone and text messages for comment.
In a statement to LAist, Mind OC’s current CEO Phil Franks, who was hired after the contract ended, said he had no knowledge of a directive from Supervisor Do to hire Batres.
Ellen Guevara, a spokesperson for the O.C. Health Care Agency, told LAist the agency never received the work required in the contract. That work was supposed to include quarterly updates, an annual report and a final report.
Franks, Mind OC’s CEO, told LAist in a statement that the organization found a single report from Batres' home-based HR consulting firm TalentGate related to the contract, but didn't know whether it or any other related work had been turned over to the county. He didn't respond to a request from LAist for a copy of the report.
It's unclear whether payments went to Batres or TalentGate. Guevara said Mind OC hired Batres as their employee for the contract; Mind OC told LAist it subcontracted with TalentGate to fulfill it.
LAist made multiple requests for documentation of the hiring to the Health Care Agency and Mind OC but has yet to receive any.
The details of what happened
The $275,000 in taxpayer money was paid out to Mind OC over two years in six installments, according to county records.
Multiple people briefed on the contract told LAist that Supervisor Do directed the O.C. Health Care Agency to award the contract to Mind OC, and told Mind OC to hire Batres to do the work.
Josie Batres was hired by the nonprofit Mind OC to carry out a $275,000 mental health contract funded by the county, according to a county spokesperson.
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Screenshot via YouTube
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The contract is one of several LAist has uncovered over the past year in which Orange County taxpayer funds went to people close to Do during the pandemic without competitive bidding or disclosure on public agendas. In several cases, contractors didn't provide proof of how the money was spent, as required under those contracts.
LAist has reported that Supervisor Do directed more than $13 million in taxpayer funds to a nonprofit where his daughter Rhiannon Do held top leadership positions, most of it awarded outside public view, according to county records. Supervisor Do didn’t disclose his family relationship, and county officials say the group has refused to account for what happened with most of the money.
In August, county officials sued Rhiannon Do and others connected to the nonprofit, Viet America Society (VAS), for civil fraud, alleging they “brazenly plundered” millions in public funds for home purchases and renovations, and made “voluminous, unaccounted for ATM cash withdrawals.” Last month, Supervisor Do was publicly condemned by his colleagues on the O.C. Board of Supervisors through a censure. He’s facing multiple calls to resign, including from fellow Republican elected officials. He has not attended board meetings since his home — and homes owned by Rhiannon Do and others with ties to Viet America Society — were searched by federal agents on Aug. 22.
Rhiannon Do, a UCI law student, previously told LAist in April that she worked hard to buy the house and has done nothing wrong.
The contract was awarded without going on a public meeting agenda for a vote by the full Board of Supervisors.
Instead, it was awarded by Chau under COVID emergency contracting authority the board established during the pandemic, according to the county’s contracts database and Guevara, the county Health Care Agency spokesperson. The contract itself doesn’t say it’s related to COVID or the pandemic — nor was there a memo explaining why it was issued through emergency authority, as other contracts issued that way did at the time.
The contract was authorized by Chau, the then-director of the Health Care Agency and county health officer, according to Guevara. Chau told LAist that since the contract was small, it was unlikely to have been something he followed closely.
He added later via text message that his primary concern at the time was responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. "I had to rely on my department head to do their job on small contracts," he wrote.
In business filings with the state, Batres is listed as the CEO, CFO and secretary of TalentGate, the company Mind OC hired to fulfill the contract. TalentGate’s city business license listed it as a “home office for human resource consulting” located in San Gabriel at the time of the contract. Batres and Wangsaporn lived at the company’s address at the time they were married in late 2021, according to their marriage certificate.
TalentGate's LinkedIn profile says it’s a human resources company that addresses “organizational bottlenecks across the employee lifecycle.” Mental health is not listed in the "specialties" section of the company profile.
The county Health Care Agency says it never received the required reports detailing the results of the contract work. Guevara, the agency’s spokesperson, told LAist in an email that the county’s behavioral health team does not know whether the listening sessions were carried out and has no records showing how the money was spent.
“The funds were paid to [Mind OC],” Guevara wrote. “No details on what [Mind OC] did after that.”
She said the $275,000 was funded by the Mental Health Services Act, a voter-approved tax that’s meant to pay for mental health services, including treatment and prevention.
Pandemic contracting rules
In most cases, government contracts are subject to competitive bidding. Before the pandemic, county rules required a vote from the O.C. Board of Supervisors for all non-competitive service contracts (also called “no-bid” contracts) above $75,000 per year.
But starting in March 2020 the board waived this and other rules for awarding contracts, in order to fast-track hiring vendors for “services related to the COVID-19 Emergency.” Instead, for about the first year of the pandemic, county staff were allowed to award large contracts outside public view. In some cases that was done in response to requests by individual supervisors.
The state has passed several reform laws in recent months inspired by LAist's investigation into millions in COVID funds awarded by Supervisor Do to Viet America Society with little oversight and no public disclosure of family ties.
The full O.C. Board of Supervisors must now take a public vote before awarding district discretionary funds to a nonprofit or community group, and the details of the agreements must be posted online.
Statewide, it will become a crime starting in January 2026 for elected officials to be involved in awarding government contracts to organizations if they know their adult child is an officer or director of the vendor, or if their adult child has at least 10% ownership.
Statewide, starting this coming January, all county supervisors will have to disclose any family ties to a nonprofit’s employees or officers before awarding public funds to the group.
The O.C. Board of Supervisors also directed its internal auditor to review all county contracts to ensure oversight and compliance, including those funded by federal COVID dollars. The auditor's report is due before the end of the year.
Payments from Viet America Society to Batres
Federal tax filings for Viet America Society — the nonprofit accused of fraud by the county — show it paid $40,000 to a company named "TalenGate" in 2020, based at the same home address as Batres’ company TalentGate. It was the organization's highest paid independent contractor that year, receiving $40,000, according to LAist's review of a VAS public tax filing.
That year, Viet America Society was funded by county dollars meant to feed needy seniors, which flowed to VAS through another nonprofit, Hand to Hand Relief Organization, according to public records obtained by LAist. The county also is suing Hand to Hand for alleged fraud in diverting those taxpayer funds in 2020, which Supervisor Do also had awarded.
The following year, VAS’ public tax filing shows it paid "TalenGate" another $10,000, while VAS’ financial ledger it filed with the county shows it paid the same amount to Batres herself in January 2021.
Reached by phone in April and this month, Batres declined to answer LAist’s questions about what the payments were for. VAS’ attorney, Mark Rosen, told LAist last week that he could not answer questions about them. The tax filings list the payments as being for “PUBLIC RELATION.” No further detail was provided.
Relationship between Chau and Mind OC
Chau worked as a high-level executive at Mind OC before he took over the county health agency in May 2020, according to a county news release about his hiring. Mind OC's public tax filing shows it paid Chau $133,000 that year for that work — the same year the agency awarded the no-bid contract at issue to Mind OC.
Mind OC has faced recent troubles in its relationships with the county and O.C. cities.
In August, the county abruptly canceled a major contractwith the group to manage the county's signature mental health campus, Be Well, in the city of Orange. That contract was ended a little over two years into a three-year, $63.8-million deal with the county. The rupture came after an audit found Mind OC failed to provide proper oversight of mental health and substance use treatment services on the campus.
In a joint statement, the county and Mind OC said the decision was "based on an ever-evolving public, private partnership model."
Additionally, two cities, Newport Beach and Anaheim, recently canceled their contracts with Mind OC to provide mobile mental health crisis response to residents. Newport Beach City Councilmember Lauren Kleiman told LAist the service hadn't been effective in getting unhoused people with mental health problems off the streets.
"Given the voluntary nature of street outreach, the data over the past year did not demonstrate their ability to produce street exits in a way that justified the use of taxpayer funds to extend the contract," Kleiman wrote in an email to LAist in late August.
When asked about Anaheim ending the contract in September, Mind OC CEO Franks told LAist in a statement that the organization and the city had mutually agreed to sunset their agreement. A spokesperson for Anaheim said the city no longer needed the services.
Supervisor Do’s ties to Mind OC
Mind OC was formed in 2018 to coordinate a public-private network of mental health providers and resources known collectively as Be Well OC. The concept arose, in part, from a Board of Supervisors ad hoc mental health committee formed in 2015 and run by Supervisor Do and then-Supervisor Lisa Bartlett. At the time Mind OC was created, the county was under fire for failing to spend state funds allocated for mental health services, and for the severe shortage of psychiatric care available to residents.
Supervisor Do has been a consistent champion of Mind OC and Be Well. In a video posted earlier this year to his YouTube channel, Supervisor Do dates the origin of Be Well to a meeting seven years ago between himself, county health care leaders, and Dr. Richard Afable, a former Hoag Hospital CEO who has been Mind OC’s board president since the group was formed in 2018.
O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do (left) and Dr. Richard Afable, the president of the Mind OC board of directors, speak in a 2024 video about the Be Well campus under construction in Irvine.
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O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do's YouTube page
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The highly produced video features Supervisor Do and Afable — in hard hats and bright yellow vests — signing beams at the construction site of a planned Be Well campus in Irvine. Do and other supervisors have awarded the organization at least $40 million in public funds to build that second campus.
Afable did not respond to a request for comment.
In May, the county signed an additional $95 million, three-year contract with Mind OC to run the Irvine campus, starting in January.
How to watchdog 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.
Fewer congressional contests are expected to be competitive this fall, compared with past election cycles, and experts say the extraordinary mid-decade redistricting efforts initiated by President Trump are largely to blame.
Why it matters: Fewer competitive seats means the overwhelming majority — more than 90% — of congressional races will pretty much be decided during primary elections, which see far fewer voters participate than general elections.
How we got here: Last year, Trump asked Texas lawmakers to redraw the state's congressional map to create five more seats that could favor Republicans in 2026. Democratic leaders in California responded, putting forward a successful ballot measure to circumvent the state's independent redistricting commission and create five more favorable seats for Democrats.
Fewer congressional contests are expected to be competitive this fall, compared with past election cycles, and experts say the extraordinary mid-decade redistricting efforts initiated by President Trump are largely to blame.
Fewer competitive seats means the overwhelming majority — more than 90% — of congressional races will pretty much be decided during primary elections, which see far fewer voters participate than general elections.
"Right now, we only rate 18 out of 435 races as toss ups, which means that less than 5% of Americans will truly be deciding who's in control of the House," David Wasserman, senior elections analyst for the Cook Political Report, told NPR.
This disparity in the voting power of Americans in congressional races has been a worsening problem for several election cycles.
Unite America Institute, which tracks what it refers to as the "primary problem" and advocates for election reforms, calculated that in 2024, just 7% voters elected 87% of U.S. House races.
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Voters have self-sorted themselves geographically, and technology in recent years has allowed lawmakers to more effectively carve up congressional districts that give one party an advantage over another.
Nick Troiano, executive director of Unite America, said the mid-decade redistricting prompted by Trump last year has further reduced the number of competitive seats. His organization says 32 states currently don't have a single competitive congressional race.
"The primary problem is bad and getting worse," he told NPR. "We are about to enter a midterm election season that will be the least competitive of our lifetimes, which means that we will have, no matter who wins in November, the least accountable Congress of our lifetime."
Last year, Trump asked Texas lawmakers to redraw the state's congressional map to create five more seats that could favor Republicans in 2026. Democratic leaders in California responded, putting forward a successful ballot measure to circumvent the state's independent redistricting commission and create five more favorable seats for Democrats.
Lawmakers in other states, including North Carolina and Missouri, crafted new maps as well, and Florida and Virginia are among the states that may join them.
But so far, Wasserman said the redrawing of congressional boundaries ahead of this year's elections hasn't led to any "pronounced advantage" for either Republicans or Democrats.
"Instead, what it's done is it's eviscerated the competitive range of districts in which Americans have a real say over who controls Congress in November," he said.
Wasserman explained that even if one were to include races that Cook rates as "leaning" toward one party or another, that would only be 36 seats.
"That's still less than 10% of the House," he said. "By comparison, at this point in Trump's first term, we had 48 races that were competitive between the two parties."
Wasserman said new district lines in California and Texas are driving most of this.
"Whereas we used to have a robust number of Republicans from California and Democrats from Texas and Florida, today blue states' delegations are becoming bluer, red states' delegations are becoming redder," he said. "And there are fewer opportunities for bipartisan dialogue."
Primary voters tend to be more ideologically extreme than the general public
Troiano said there are some serious democratic issues raised by the fact that so few voters will have so much power to decide what party will control Congress.
For one, he says, primary voters are not representative of the broader American electorate. According to an analysis from his group, primary voters tend to be older, whiter, wealthier, more educated and more ideologically extreme than the general public.
"And so when you look at an old, white, wealthy Congress that is ideologically polarizing, can't get anything done, they reflect exactly who sent them there," Troiano said.
There have been some efforts in recent years to open up primaries to independent voters — which is the fastest-growing part of the U.S. electorate. New Mexico, for instance, now allows non-affiliated and independent voters to participate in party primaries. However, Louisiana and West Virginia recently went the other way, restricting some primaries to just registered party members. Currently, 17 states have either completely closed or partially closed primaries.
And in 2024, there were several ballot measures before voters in states like Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon that would have created nonpartisan primaries. But those statewide efforts failed across the board.
Unite America advocates for nonpartisan primaries or the inclusion of independent voters in party primaries for a slew of reasons, but one of their biggest arguments is that they allow more voters to take part in the most determinative elections.
And that's especially important, Troiano said, as more states whittle down the number of competitive seats.
"So if you think dysfunction and division is bad right now in Washington," he said, "it's going to get worse in the next congressional session because of the lack of competition in this year's elections."
Widespread issues following killing of cartel boss
By The Associated Press | via NPR
Published February 23, 2026 8:10 AM
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Armando Solis
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AP
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Topline:
School was canceled in several Mexican states and local and foreign governments alike warned their citizens to stay inside, as widespread violence erupted following the army's killing of the powerful leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
The backstory: Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho" was the boss of one of the fastest-growing criminal networks in Mexico, notorious for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States and staging brazen attacks against government officials who challenged it.
Read more... for how we got here and U.S. pressure on Mexico to do more to curtail cartels.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico — School was canceled in several Mexican states and local and foreign governments alike warned their citizens to stay inside, as widespread violence erupted following the army's killing of the powerful leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho" was the boss of one of the fastest-growing criminal networks in Mexico, notorious for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States and staging brazen attacks against government officials who challenged it.
State Department warning
The State Department is telling U.S. citizens traveling inJalisco State (including Puerto Vallarta, Chapala, and Guadalajara), Tamaulipas State (including Reynosa and other municipalities), areas of Michoacan State, Guerrero State, and Nuevo Leon State to shelter in place until further notice.
Follow the directions of local authorities and in case of emergency, call 911.
Avoid crowds.
Keep family and friends advised of your location and well-being via phone, text, and social media.
He was killed during a shoot-out in his home state of Jalisco as the Mexican military attempted to capture him. Cartel members responded with violence across the country, blocking roads and setting fire to vehicles.
President Claudia Sheinbaum urged calm and authorities announced late Sunday they had cleared most of the more than 250 cartel roadblocks across 20 states. The White House confirmed that the U.S. provided intelligence support to the operation to capture the cartel leader and applauded Mexico's army for taking down a man who was one of the most wanted criminals in both countries.
Mexico hoped the death of the world's biggest fentanyl traffickers would ease Trump administration pressure to do more against the cartels, but many remained hunkered down and on edge as they waited to see the powerful cartel's reaction.
Many fear more violence
Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state and Mexico's second-largest city, was almost completely shut down on Sunday as fearful residents stayed home.
Passengers arriving to the city's international airport Sunday night were told it was operating with limited personnel because of the burst of violence.
Jacinta Murcia, a 64-year-old nutrition products vendor, was among those nervously walking late Sunday night through the airport, where earlier in the day travelers sprinted and ducked behind chairs fearing violence. Most flights into the city were suspended on Sunday.
Murcia anxiously scrolled through news stories on social media showing the face of "El Mencho" and sent messages to her children, who were tracking her location as she tried to travel across the city to her house after dark.
"My plan today leaving the airport is to see if there are any taxis, but I'm scared of everything. That there are blockades, that there's a curfew, that something could happen," she said. "I'm all alone."
Authorities in Jalisco, Michoacan and Guanajuato reported at least 14 other people killed Sunday, including seven National Guard troops.
Videos circulating on social media showed tourists in Puerto Vallarta walking on the beach with smoke rising in the distance.
In another part of the airport a group of elderly Mexicans gathered, discussing how to get home.
"We better all go together," one said. "Go with God."
A blow against a cartel could be a diplomatic coup
David Mora, Mexico analyst for International Crisis Group, said the capture and outburst of violence marks a point of inflection in Sheinbaum's push to crack down on cartels and relieve U.S. pressures.
U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded Mexico do more to fight the smuggling of the often-deadly drug fentanyl, threatening to impose more tariffs or take unilateral military action if the country does not show results.
There were early signs that Mexico's efforts were well received by the United States.
U.S. Amb. Ron Johnson recognized the success of the Mexican armed forces and their sacrifice in a statement late Sunday. He added that "under the leadership of President Trump and President Sheinbaum, bilateral cooperation has reached unprecedented levels."
But it may also pave the way for more violence as rival criminal groups take advantage of the blow dealt to the CJNG, Mora said.
"This might be a moment in which those other groups see that the cartel is weakened and want to seize the opportunity for them to expand control and to gain control over Cartel Jalisco in those states," he said.
"Ever since President Sheinbaum has been in power, the army has been way more confrontational, combative against criminal groups in Mexico," Mora said. "This is signaling to the U.S. that if we keep cooperating, sharing intelligence, Mexico can do it, we don't need U.S. troops on Mexican soil."
'El Mencho' was a major target
Oseguera Cervantes, who was wounded in the operation to capture him Sunday in Tapalpa, Jalisco, about a two-hour drive southwest of Guadalajara, died while being flown to Mexico City, the Defense Department said in a statement.
During the operation, troops came under fire and killed four people at the location. Three more people, including Oseguera Cervantes, were wounded and later died, the statement said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said via X that the U.S. government provided intelligence support for the operation. "'El Mencho' was a top target for the Mexican and United States government as one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into our homeland," she wrote. She commended Mexico's military for its work.
The U.S. State Department had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest of El Mencho. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is one of the most powerful and fastest growing criminal organizations in Mexico and began operating around 2009.
In February 2025, the Trump administration designated the cartel as a foreign terrorist organization.
Sheinbaum has criticized the "kingpin" strategy of previous administrations that took out cartel leaders, only to trigger explosions of violence as cartels fractured. While she has remained popular in Mexico, security is a persistent concern and since U.S. President Donald Trump took office a year ago, she has been under tremendous pressure to show results against drug trafficking.
The Jalisco cartel has been one of the most aggressive cartels in its attacks on the military — including on helicopters — and is a pioneer in launching explosives from drones and installing mines. In 2020, it carried out a spectacular assassination attempt with grenades and high-powered rifles in the heart of Mexico City against the then head of the capital's police force and now federal security secretary.
Copyright 2026 NPR
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'Here Lies Love' is on through the beginning of April.
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Jeff Lorch
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Center Theatre Group
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In this edition:
Here Lies Love brings a party to the Taper, Art openings galore, Slamdance wraps up and more of the best things to do this week in Los Angeles.
Highlights:
Monday is Market Monday at Slamdance, where industry experts will hold sessions all day long about the state of film and how to get your work seen.
David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim scored Here Lies Love, an absolute party of a show about Imelda Marcos and the People Power Revolution in the Philippines. Center Theatre Group artistic director Snehal Desai directed this version of the play (it was originally off-Broadway at the Public), and it’s been reimagined for an L.A. audience.
Some of the biggest art world names in L.A. will be on hand for this very timely discussion of museums and censorship with Zocalo Public Square. Speakers include Hamza Walker, who curated the current Monuments show at MOCA and the Brick, and Ann Burroughs, who is the President and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum.
The rain is gone, so get your steps in and meet some new neighbors at this twice-weekly walking club in Boyle Heights. They meet and chat every week, starting and ending at Cafe Nina.
Please forgive me while I become an insufferable art person for the next week and a half as Frieze Art Fair kicks off, inspiring countless art openings, smaller fairs and funky events before and after. You finally have an opportunity to pull out those colorful glasses frames you’ve tucked away in the back of your closet. I can’t recommend highly enough putting on your best aspirational "supporter of the arts" attire and heading out to one of the many (mostly free!) openings ahead of next week’s official events. It's worth it just for the people-watching, but also for the art!
Through Wednesday, February 25 Various locations Hollywood COST: Individual tickets $19; MORE INFO
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Courtesy 42West
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Monday is Market Monday at Slamdance, where industry experts will hold sessions all day long about the state of film and how to get your work seen. It’s sold out, but more tickets will be released day-of, plus you can still catch some great indie films at a range of Hollywood venues before the fest wraps up on Wednesday.
Harlem Globetrotters 100 Year Tour
Tuesday, February 24, 7 p.m. Toyota Arena 4000 Ontario Center, Ontario COST: FROM $44; MORE INFO
Harlem Globetrotters walk the runway during the Actively Black NYFW Runway Show.
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Rob Kim
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Getty Images
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Hammer, Torch, Bulldog, Cheese, Jet, Wham, Thunder, TNT and more have been handed down a Globetrotters legacy, bringing their wild basketball showcase skills to the Toyota Arena for their 100th-anniversary tour. Take in all the dazzle and dunking as they take on the Washington Generals.
Here Lies Love
Through Sunday, April 5 Mark Taper Forum 135 N. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. COST: FROM $40; MORE INFO
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Jeff Lorch
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Center Theatre Group
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David Byrne and Fatboy Slim scored this absolute party of a show about Imelda Marcos and the People Power Revolution in the Philippines. Center Theatre Group artistic director Snehal Desai directed this version of Here Lies Love (it was originally off-Broadway at the Public), and it’s been reimagined for an L.A. audience, with sleek choreography inspired by Filipino traditional dance, vibrant costumes, smart video projections and good use of the Taper space. I’m not convinced we’re at the party part of the revolution just yet, but Here Lies Love shows it’s possible to get there. I do wish there’d been more of Joan Almedilla, who plays resistance leader Ninoy’s mother — her one song wasn’t nearly enough! Put on your dancing shoes, and if you’re sitting in the front, be ready to get pulled on stage. It’s now been extended for a run through April 5; check the Center Theatre Group's website for a special talkback night with Filipino community leaders and more.
Barry McGee takeover
Through Sunday, March 1, 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. 99CENT 6121 Wilshire Blvd., Miracle Mile COST: FREE; MORE INFO
Artist Barry McGee is teaming up with The Hole @theholenyc to turn an abandoned 99 Cent Store on Wilshire into an artist flea. Over 100 artists will participate in the takeover, with art by McGee and his friends and work from his personal collection.
Zócalo Public Square: How do museums resist censorship?
Monday, February 23, 7:30 p.m. Herald Examiner Building 1111 S. Broadway, Downtown L.A. COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Zócalo Public Square
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We’re at a tenuous time for art at the country’s most established institutions, with threats both financial and curatorial coming from all sides. Some of the biggest art world names in L.A. will be on hand for this very timely discussion of museums and censorship with Zócalo Public Square. Speakers include Hamza Walker, who curated the current Monuments show at MOCA and the Brick, and Ann Burroughs, who is the President and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum.
Boyle Heights Walking Club
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5 p.m. Cafe Niña 3264 E. 4th Street, Boyle Heights COST: FREE; MORE INFO
The rain is gone, so get your steps in and meet some new neighbors at this twice-weekly walking club in Boyle Heights. They meet and chat every week, starting and ending at Cafe Niña.
The Meeting: Diva Corp
Thursday, February 26, 7 p.m. Pio Pico 3311 E. Pico Blvd., East L.A. COST: FREE, MORE INFO
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Courtesy Diva Corp
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I don’t have enough space to explain Diva Corp to the uninitiated, or even to tell you what this show is going to be about (I have no idea). Short version is: These folks are trying to disrupt the art scene, and it’s sure to be talked about the next day. Diva Corp publishes a magazine of art criticism with art responding to other art. They flipped the tables at an ArtCenter event last week. I think you should check it out and report back. Definitely wear a black turtleneck and those funky glasses.
Cato Hernández
scours through tons of archives to understand how our region became the way it is today.
Published February 23, 2026 5:00 AM
A home in Altadena’s Historic Highlands neighborhood.
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Destiny Torres
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LAist
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Topline:
You can have a role in recording Altadena’s history. The Los Angeles Conservancy, which is leading the first complete survey of the area’s history, has announced its inaugural community meeting.
The details: It’s happening at the CORE hub in Altadena, on Feb. 28 from 2 to 4 p.m. At the meeting, residents will learn about how the historic survey works and ways to get involved. The project is designed for people and community organizations to participate.
What does the survey do? It’ll fully document Altadena’s historic places for the first time, like old buildings or a place with a special history, and go beyond that by recording what they call “intangible heritage” — community traditions, oral histories and cultural practices.
Why it matters: Historic resource surveys are foundational to preservation. They are detailed documents that influence land use planning and essentially lay out the case for why certain areas should be protected with landmark status.
