The Brief

L.A. City Council President Paul Krekorian recalls the pandemonium following the release on Oct. 9, 2022, of a secretly recorded audio tape of colleagues making racist and derogatory remarks. For weeks, council meetings were marked by loud, angry protests that often shut down the proceedings.

City Hall was in crisis.

“The anguish was visceral in the council chambers and the council meetings were bedlam,” Krekorian remembers. “We could barely proceed with the work of the city.”

The scandal involved former councilmembers Nury Martinez and Gil Cedillo, Councilmember Kevin de León, and Ron Herrera, the former president of the influential L.A. County Federation of Labor. The audio was from a meeting where the four were discussing how to redraw council district boundaries in a way that would maintain their power.

In the year since the tapes were leaked, the fallout from the scandal has fundamentally changed City Hall. Martinez resigned, and Cedillo was voted out of office. (Herrera also resigned from the labor federation.) De León was urged to resign but remained defiant, not only staying on the council but announcing that he’ll run for reelection next year.

File: Los Angeles City councilmembers Gil Cedillo (L) and Kevin de Leon (R) speaking at separate events in 2021.

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There was also turmoil apart from the scandal. Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas was convicted on federal charges of bribery and corruption. Councilmember Curren Price was indicted on charges of embezzlement and perjury. Just last week, Councilmember John Lee was accused of ethics violations. Former Councilmember José Huizar pleaded guilty to federal charges of racketeering and tax evasion.

Perhaps most importantly, the tapes scandal laid bare the racial dynamics that sometimes pit council members against one another and the behind-the-scenes maneuvering to maintain power. Combined with the corruption charges against sitting and former council members, it upended public trust. Six new members were voted onto the council and one was appointed — none of whom had previously held elected office — and calls for government reform are now at the center of council politics.

The City Council, then and now

Martinez was council president at the time and stood at the center of the controversy. Her comments on the tape were the most offensive. In an exclusive interview, she talked to LAist Studios for a new podcast “Imperfect Paradise: Nury & The Secret Tapes."

“There is no way I could undo what I said, or undo the hurt that I created,” she says on the podcast. “So the only thing I knew how to do was hand over my responsibilities as a council president and make sure that I didn't mess up anything else there.”

Krekorian replaced the often confrontational and sometimes bellicose Martinez as council president.

“The difference is dramatic,” said Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson. “They have a very different style and personality.”

He said Krekorian “refrains from strong-arming” the council.

Rob Quan heads Unrig LA, an organization focused on money in politics and representative government in the city. He’s a regular observer of the council.

“The biggest thing was it dislodged a tyrannical council president,” Quan said of the release of the audio recording. In the podcast, Martinez said she believed she was a fair president who championed the rights of working families.

Krekorian prides himself on collegiality and believes it's been important to moving the council beyond the controversy.

“My style is to welcome debate, to welcome different viewpoints,” he told LAist.

Progressives have gained a foothold

It's also a vastly different council.

Seven of the 15 members joined it in the past year. None of them had ever held elected office.

And the council leans decidedly more left.

“Things that I didn’t think would necessarily pass previously like renter protections are passing unanimously,” said Sara Sadhwani, assistant professor of politics at Pomona College.

The more progressive council has focused less on the role of policing in addressing homelessness — something that in the past produced acrimonious debate and protests. Some council members continue to request the use of LAPD officers under Municipal Code 41.18 to remove unhoused people from around schools and daycare centers. But any debate is cordial if there is one at all, said Harris-Dawson.

It helps that Mayor Karen Bass, who took office just two months after the release of the tape, generally opposes the use of LAPD officers to remove unhoused people from encampments and has centered attention on her Inside Safe program.

“I think having a new mayor has breathed new life into the council,” Sadhwani said. “You see the mayor’s call to lock arms being quite effective at pulling the council members together.”

An outcry for reform

Amid calls for government reform, Krekorian in December created an ad hoc committee to examine changes to L.A. city government. On Thursday, that committee voted to refer to the full council charter amendments to create an independent redistricting commission.

If passed by voters, it could be one of the biggest changes to result from the release of the audio recording.

Removing the once-every-10-years redrawing of council district boundaries from council members and handing it over to an independent panel would end the kind of backroom dealing heard on the audio, supporters of the idea have said.

It's not a new idea. Reformers have been lobbying for it for years. The state and L.A. county already use independent commissions.

The City Council Ad Hoc Committee on Governance Reform took public comment on a proposal to establish an independent redistricting commission at a hearing on Oct. 5, 2023.

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The release of the tapes breathed new life into the idea for the city.

The ad hoc committee is also considering a proposal to increase the size of the council.

Expanding the council would mean each council member would represent fewer people and, ideally, be more responsive to constituents. It is also an old idea that’s gained support.

Sadhwani is part of the L.A. Governance Reform Project, which is making proposals to the council reform committee on independent redistricting, council size, and changes to ethics laws. So is Gary Segura, dean of the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA and part of the Latino Policy and Politics Institute at the university. He said the project’s aim is to “ensure a governance structure that secures fair and adequate voice for all Los Angeles communities.”

“Structures have a big impact on how people behave,” Segura said.

It’s up to the full council to decide whether to place the reforms on the ballot — likely in November 2024. But it may be eight years — during the next redistricting process — before the changes are implemented. That frustrates reform advocates who say any changes should be implemented immediately.

“It's the same old City Hall culture of doing far too little too late,” said Quan, who noted Krekorian’s committee has yet to vote on what reformers say is the much needed strengthening of city ethics laws.

“Until you have some reforms that bolster our Ethics Commission, it’s all for not,” said Sadhwani.

Krekorian has said he intends to place ethics on the agenda at a future date.

The power play behind the racist comments

The anti-Black, anti-Indigenous and other derogatory language used on the tapes shocked and angered many people. But the discussion around carving up council districts based on race surprised few.

Martinez and the others can be heard lamenting that half the city’s population is Latino, but Latinos hold only four of 15 council seats. In the course of the conversation, de León is heard saying essentially that Black people have too much power. Black people represent about 8% of the L.A. population and hold three seats on the council.

While the comments were denounced in both Black and Latino communities, there’s likely “simmering tension” over what was heard on the tape, Segura said.

“I suspect there is a hangover,” he said. “Distrust between and among communities is inevitable when you play zero sum politics.”

Sadhwani said the Governance Reform Project will take those dynamics into account.

“I think there are still conversations about race relations in the city that haven’t yet been had, and I hope we don’t just gloss over these dynamics,” she said.

How the renters rights movement fits in

A woman calls for rent relief as a coalition of activist groups and labor unions participate in a May Day march for workers' and human rights in Los Angeles on May 1, 2021.

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One aspect of the conversation on the tapes that is often forgotten is how Martinez and others were scheming to dilute the power of renters in the city. It was not just a conversation.

The city council under Martinez’s leadership approved a redistricting map that changed the constituency of Councilmember Nithya Raman — a champion of renters rights — by 40%.

The result: Raman faces a tough reelection battle next year.

No other councilmember’s district changed by more than 18% and most changed by single digits or not at all, according to a New York Times analysis.

In the wake of the release of the tapes, state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced an investigation to determine if the conversation violated the state Voting Rights Act as it pertains to redistricting. A statement from Bonta’s office last week said the investigation is ongoing.

Whether the conversation was illegal, it added to the perception that there exists a culture of corruption at L.A. City Hall. Over recent years, three former members of the council, and more than a half dozen City Hall staffers and others have been convicted of various charges, including bribery and obstruction of justice.

Krekorian rejects the idea of any cultural problem.

“That suggests that corrupt intent is widespread..at City Hall and I refuse to accept that’s true,” he said.

The council president said this the day after Councilmember John Lee was accused of ethics violations. Lee has denied the allegations.

A year later, Council politics are still ‘challenging’

Council members are seated alphabetically around the horseshoe of desks inside city council chambers. That means Harris-Dawson, who is Black, sits next to de León, who expressed anti-Black sentiment on the tape.

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“It's challenging,” Harris-Dawson said. “It tests my home training.”

After the tape scandal, de León was removed from all of his committees and censured by the council. Every other member has called on him to resign. He’s convinced his constituents will forgive him and re-elect him to a second term next year.

One of the enduring mysteries surrounding the tape is who recorded it. Using unnamed sources, Los Angeles Magazine has reported it was a union bookkeeper who was spying on Herrera, the labor leader, whom he believed was sleeping with his wife. Neither the union nor the LAPD, which is investigating the potentially illegal secret recording, has commented.

On Friday, Councilmember Kevin de León and former council member Gil Cedillo filed separate lawsuits over the release of the tape, alleging it did permanent harm to their reputations as well as invasion of privacy and negligence. The lawsuits name the bookkeeper and his wife, both of whom are no longer employed by the Federation of Labor. Cedillo also names the federation. The tape is believed to have been recorded during a meeting at the federation’s offices.

An equally intriguing mystery is who leaked the tapes and why a year after it was recorded. Police searched the Eagle Rock home of the bookkeper and his wife in July with a search warrant alleging eavesdropping and destroying or concealing evidence. Neither has been charged.

There is an argument that the release a month before the 2022 mayoral election was to foment anti-politician attitudes and help businessman Rick Caruso beat Mayor Karen Bass. That obviously didn’t work. Besides, the opposite can be argued — that only a Black mayor could heal the city after the release of a recording featuring racist comments.

Harris-Dawson is well aware of the challenges facing City Hall one year after the bombshell of the tapes.

“We are fighting for our credibility,” he said.

Everyone knows the frustration of bad sleep on a hot night, tossing and turning in the sheets as the hours slip away.

That experience is becoming more common thanks to climate change, according to a new study from the research organization Climate Central. The analysis finds that on average, people around the world lose about 56 hours, or seven full nights of sleep each year to uncomfortably warm temperatures. About 10% of that lost sleep—roughly 5 hours—can be pinned to human-driven climate change.

"Summertime is hot. It's always been," says Kristina Dahl, the lead scientist at Climate Central. "But climate change is making them hotter, and making nights hotter. So it's really amplifying the sleep loss that would happen naturally."

The study looked at temperature records from 1,300 cities around the world. The Climate Central team knew from a study published a few years earlier that the amount of time people sleep is tightly tied to overnight outdoor temperatures. So they could extrapolate the total time people spent sleeping based on the temperatures where they lived. That number represented the real sleep people got in a world that has been heated up by climate change.

Then, the Climate Central researchers used a climate model that presents a hypothetical world: one where human-driven climate change hasn't happened. The researchers could estimate temperatures in all those same locations—and see how much people would have slept in that cooler scenario.

The difference, Dahl says, isn't enormous for each person: it's on the order of 5 hours a year so far. But that number has doubled since the 1970s, and it will continue to rise as climate change marches onward, she says.

That's in part because overnight temperatures have crept upward much faster than daytime ones. The causes are complex, but one factor is the shape of the atmosphere: At night, the layer of air closest to the ground, where people actually live, is short and compact. During the daytime, that layer expands. Heat absorbed during the day gets trapped into that compact band of air during the night, pushing temperatures up.

Sleep is tightly tied to temperature. Sleep laboratory studies consistently show that hotter and more humid conditions degrade sleep quality. People's ability to fall asleep in the first place decreases, and the sleep that does occur gets fragmented and less restorative.

Particularly, says sleep doctor Daniel Rifkin from the sleep consultancy group Ognomy Sleep, the type of sleep that leads to dreams: REM.

"If it's too hot," he says, "your REM sleep is extremely broken, and we lose our dreams."

Sleep lab studies helped scientists understand the best temperature conditions for sleeping indoors. But until recently, it wasn't clear how real-world weather conditions affected people's sleep.

But a few years ago, environmental data scientist Kelton Minor and his colleagues set out to figure out that relationship. They collected sleep data from nearly 50,000 Fitbits around the world, along with detailed overnight temperature data from sleepers' locations.

"The warmer it gets, the less that people sleep," says Minor— especially once nighttime temperatures crept above about 50 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit. Beyond that, Minor and his colleagues found, "every additional increase per degree on that hot side leads to progressively less sleep."

The new Climate Central analysis used Minor's sleep-temperature relationship to estimate climate-induced sleep loss.

Sleep is already a precious and threatened commodity, says Minor. In 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared sleep problems like disorders and simple insufficiency to be a public health crisis.

So far, the climate impact adds up to just a few minutes a day during summertime. But because the relationship between sleep loss and health is so strong, the cumulative impacts of that loss on public health could be significant, says sleep doctor Rifkin. The impacts also fall hard on people who don't have access to cooling technologies such as air conditioning, or who can't afford to run them.

"Heat really finds the vulnerable people first," he says. "It affects those the most that need the help the most."

He recommends doing whatever possible to cool your sleep space. If nothing else is possible, sticking your feet outside the sheet or blanket can help your body shed heat and cool down enough to sink into sleep.

Beyond those recommendations, Dahl says one of the best sleep aids isn't a pill or a meditation app, but cutting back on burning fossil fuels, the primary driver of climate change.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Artist Betye Saar, whose work reflects Black identity, culture and spirituality, died Sunday morning in Los Angeles at 99.

Saar’s death was confirmed Monday by relatives. She would have turned 100 this week.

A central figure of the 1960s Black Art Movement, Saar pioneered assemblage boxes, or sculptures made of found objects, and reclaimed Jim Crow-era memorabilia as powerful totems of Black liberation.

“Her symbolically rich body of work has evolved over time to demonstrate the environmental, cultural, political, racial, technological, economic and historical context in which it exists,” according to Roberts Projects, the Los Angeles gallery that represents her.

Saar began her career in design and shifted to art at age 35. She continued to make art into her 90s. She grew up in Pasadena and was part of a community of Black artists in nearby Altadena; she often cited Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers as an early source of inspiration.

Saar’s practice incorporated painting, printmaking, sculpture and found objects including dolls, washboards and other antiques. Boats, clocks, cages and altars recur in her practice, as well as symbols of the occult and cosmology. She often referenced her astrological sign of Leo in the form of lions, punctuating many works.

“Her appropriation of Black collectibles, heirlooms and utilitarian objects are transformed through subversion,” the gallery said. “Among the older generation of Black American artists, Saar is without reproach.”

Made in 1969, “Black Girl’s Window,” was groundbreaking. Still, it wasn’t widely celebrated until decades later, and it was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2019.

“There weren’t that many galleries in Los Angeles at the time and there certainly weren’t any for Black artists,” she once said in an interview.

“The Liberation of Aunt Jemima,” created in 1972, is one of her most important works. It features memorabilia she collected that denigrated Black people, included a “mammy,” or 19th century minstrel character who smiled while serving white slave owners.

In Saar’s hands though, the figure is reclaimed: She smiles, but holds a rifle and has a hand grenade.

It came in response to the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee. Saar said King’s death “triggered a rage within me, and the mystic transformed into the warrior.”

“I had a lot of hesitation about using powerful, negative images such as these — thinking about how white people saw Black people, and how that influenced the ways in which Black people saw each other,” Saar said. “What saved it was that I made Aunt Jemima into a revolutionary figure.”

After more than 130 years, Quaker Oats announced it would retire its Aunt Jemima brand in 2020, acknowledging the logo and its origins were “based on a racial stereotype.”

Saar taught and mentored generations of Black artists, including painter Kerry James Marshall.

Though Saar’s work was exhibited in a 1975 solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in the decades that followed large institutions have exhibited her work only sporadically. In 2019 though, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and MoMA mounted concurrent solo shows.

In spring 2026, Saar was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

“She had boundless energy for making art. I think she had a lot to say and was tired of the art world being dominated by white males,” said Angela Robinson Witherspoon, who produced and directed a documentary in 2023 on Saar’s life. “Betye Saar: Ready to Be A Warrior” features interviews with John Legend, Tina Knowles and other prominent voices.

“She was raising her three young daughters and she wanted to be part of the Civil Rights Movement,” Robinson Witherspoon said.

“Let’s Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar,” which focuses on costume design, is currently on view at Roberts Projects in Los Angeles, and there are 26 of an eventual 100 dolls on view at The New York Historical in Manhattan.

Associated Press writer Anna Furman contributed reporting from Los Angeles.

International students in Southern California say new visa time limits imposed by the Trump administration don’t square with the realities of trying to complete a degree in four years.

Under the new rules, there is now a limit to how long international students can remain in the country, as opposed to remaining in the U.S. for as long as it took to complete their degree program.

Department of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said in a statement that the previous rules allowed thousands to become “forever students” by perpetually enrolling in courses to avoid departure. LAist has reached out to the department about how many of these students are in Southern California.

California State University spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith said international students from over 160 countries “add to the rich diversity, voices, and perspectives that enrich our campuses.”

Rachel Zaentz, senior director of strategic and critical communications at the University of California Office of the President, told LAist in a statement that the new policy “significantly changes the way international students have studied in the U.S. for decades.”

“The prior Duration of Status rule provided international students and scholars with the time needed to complete their studies, conduct research, teach, train and work, provided they maintained their nonimmigrant status, in support of the country’s global competitiveness and innovation economy,” she added.

Studies have also shown that international students help boost colleges’ financial footing since they aren’t eligible for aid.

In a letter to DHS , the UC Office of the President said international students contributed $6.4 billion to California’s economy during the 2023-24 academic year and supported more than 55,000 jobs.

Katherine S. Newman, UC System Provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, wrote that the then-proposed visa limits would deter international students from pursuing doctoral programs in the U.S. and instead turn to countries like China, which has been heavily investing in doctoral programs.

Additionally, the letter highlights how students take varying times to complete their degrees. The new changes set limits to four years for visas with an option to apply for extensions. But Newman wrote that the graduation rate for almost 90% of incoming freshmen is six years.

Adding to worries 

Reva Kaneri, a graduate student from India pursuing a degree in data science from the University of California, San Diego, said the new rules affects her mental health.

Reva Kaneri, a graduate student from India, is pursuing a degree in data science from the University of California, San Diego.

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“It adds a layer of uncertainty and pressure that international students already live with,” she said. “As someone who simply came here to pursue an education, build a career, and experience a new country, that uncertainty can be scary at times.”

The new visa limits, she said, reduces the flexibility international students had to find a job.

Kaneri took out a loan to pursue her degree so she wouldn’t be a financial burden on her parents.

“At one point, I genuinely thought I’d have to give up on my dream because every door seemed closed,” said Kaneri, who also worked on campus as a teaching assistant to help cover some of her tuition.

But, she said, it’s worth it.

“I honestly didn’t want to settle for average. I wanted to learn from some of the best people in the world. The U.S. has an incredible tech ecosystem, from Silicon Valley to Seattle and beyond, and many of the world’s leading technology companies are headquartered here,” Kaneri said. “I wanted the opportunity to work with talented people, network with founders and innovators, and absorb as much as I possibly could. For the goals I had, I felt there wasn’t a better place.”

For Rohit Nair, an international student from India pursuing a master’s degree in business analytics at USC, finding a job is not optional.

Rohit Nair is an international student from India pursuing a master’s degree in business analytics at USC.

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He took out a loan of around $87,000 to come to the U.S. to study. But if he doesn’t get a job in the U.S. after graduating, it would be impossible for him to pay it back in Indian rupees.

“ I would be in generational debt if I take that step,” he said.

The post LAUSD sets virtual meetings on the Lineage fire before students return to class appeared first on LA Local.

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is inviting parents and guardians to virtual meetings on its plans for the new school year following the Lineage Logistics warehouse fire in Boyle Heights.

District officials will update families on what to expect on the first day of school and answer questions about preparations for students returning to campus.

According to a district statement, LAUSD’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety will monitor air quality in and around school sites, “with additional testing planned before the first day of school.” To improve air quality inside classrooms, the district said it is adjusting airflow “to limit outdoor contaminants” and upgrading or replacing HVAC filtration systems where needed. (Read more about the schools LAUSD will be monitoring).

Several LAUSD schools sit near the warehouse, including Eastman Elementary and Stevenson College and Career Preparatory Middle School, both less than a mile from the fire site. With the new school year approaching, many parents have questions about how the fire cleanup may affect students’ return to campus.

Alma Lagunas, an East L.A. resident, said her sons, 10 and 17, would typically spend the summer playing soccer or basketball and riding their bikes in the neighborhood. But since the fire broke out June 17, the family has been isolated behind closed doors and windows. Going outside has meant smoke, unhealthy air and now, being hit with the worsening smell of rotting food. Lagunas worries about what will happen if the warehouse is not cleared by the time her 10-year-old starts fifth grade at Eastman.

The first day of classes for LAUSD is Aug. 12 — two days before the 45-day cleanup deadline set by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. At a town hall meeting July 9, Lineage said it would do its best to meet the deadline, which the company acknowledged was “aggressive.”

Below are the meeting dates and information on how to join.

Meeting Details

All meetings will take place virtually at 6 p.m. and can be found at bit.ly/LAUSDBHUpdates2026.

Meeting dates:

• Wednesday, July 29, 2026
• Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026
• Monday, Aug. 10, 2026

For more information and resources, visit https://east.lausd.org/apps/news/.

Boyle Heights Beat reporter Laura Anaya-Morga contributed to this story.