Andy Cheatwood
is vice president of product. His team has developed numerous features to improve LAist voting guides.
Published May 11, 2026 2:13 PM
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Erin Hauer
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LAist
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Topline:
LAist is launching Voter Game Plan+ to give you new tools to enhance your voting research experience.
How we got here: For a decade, LAist has been making navigating elections in California and L.A. easier through our Voter Game Plan guides. More than 3 million people visited the Voter Game Plan during our coverage of the 2024 elections. That’s equivalent to more than half of the overall registered voters in L.A. County.
Why it matters: We’ve heard from so many people who tell us that Voter Game Plan has helped them make their most informed votes ever. You’ve told us that these helpful, plain-spoken and nonpartisan guides are essential in Southern California.
How VGP+ works: If you already support LAist’s work as a member, thank you. You’ll have full access to these new tools. If you haven’t yet taken the step of joining the LAist member ranks, we are asking for a small, one-time payment of $7 for these additional features through the Nov. 3 midterm election.
For a decade, LAist has been making navigating elections in California and L.A. easier through our Voter Game Plan guides. More than 3 million people visited the Voter Game Plan during our coverage of the 2024 elections. That’s equivalent to more than half of the overall registered voters in L.A. County.
We’ve heard from so many people who tell us that Voter Game Plan has helped them make their most informed votes ever. You’ve told us that these helpful, plain-spoken and nonpartisan guides are essential in Southern California.
And each election cycle, we strive to find new ways to make them even better. Over the last few elections, we’ve added charts that let you follow the money in key races by tracking campaign finance. We’ve expanded to Orange County, Long Beach and Pasadena. We spun up our popular newsletter, “Make It Make Sense,” which keeps you informed on what goes on after the election. This year, we added a pre-game to the newsletter and brought you up to speed on recent big elections ahead of this primary election day.
What is Voter Game Plan+
Now we’re launching another new experiment. We call it Voter Game Plan+. This feature will offer you a new toolkit of features to enhance your voting research experience. Here's how it works:
If you haven’t yet taken the step of joining the LAist member ranks, we are asking for a small, one-time payment of $7 for these additional features through the Nov. 3 mid-term election.
All of our voter guides remain free for all to use, and you can still submit your questions to our reporters and we’ll get them answered.
Why ask for money? This nominal fee will help offset the cost of producing these specific guides and tools, as well as the overall Voter Game Plan, which takes the equivalent of at least two journalists working full-time for a year to produce every election cycle.
As part of VGP+, you will be able to match your interests and topical positions against 14 candidates in the L.A. mayoral race through an interactive quiz. And the California governor's race quiz launches later this week.
We’re also offering a way to follow and save your favorite candidates across all races. This tool will be useful if you want a printable list of choices to take to the ballot box, or if you just want to keep track of how you voted when the general election comes around in November. And there are more features to come.
Our ask to you
With VGP+, LAist continues our tradition of working hard to make elections and long ballots less intimidating and giving voters more context and support for making informed decisions.
This is not a paywall, and you are not under any obligation to purchase VGP+. But we are asking this: Has LAist’s Voter Game Plan saved you time and given you confidence at the ballot box? If the answer is yes, we’d be very grateful for your support.
A fire broke out on Platform Habitat on Monday leading to the evacuation of 26 crew members.
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courtesy of USCG
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Topline:
A fire has broken out on an oil and gas platform about 6.6 miles offshore from Santa Barbara.
Why it matters: The 26 workers were evacuated, and two minor injuries were reported.
Why now: The fire was reported just after 7 a.m. on Monday. Onboard crew members were unable to contain it.
What's next: Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara City and Ventura County firefighters, as well as the Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard, are involved in efforts to contain the blaze.
A fire has broken out on an oil and gas platform about 6.6 miles offshore from Santa Barbara.
The fire was reported just after 7 a.m. on Monday. Onboard crew members were unable to contain it. The 26 workers were evacuated, and two minor injuries were reported.
Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara City and Ventura County firefighters, as well as the Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard, are involved in efforts to contain the blaze.
A woman points at the old General Hospital building in Boyle Heights on Sept. 22, 2025.
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Andrew Lopez
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Boyle Heights Beat
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Topline:
After more than a decade of planning and community outreach, L.A. County is moving closer to finalizing its vision for redeveloping the historic General Hospital site into a mix of housing, commercial hubs and community spaces.
More details:Centennial Partners, the group leading the work, alongside developers Primestor and Bayspring, recently unveiled the project’s draft Master Plan at Alma Family Services in East L.A., offering residents a closer look at the billion-dollar redevelopment expected to unfold in the next 15 years.
Why it matters: The plan outlines a phased transformation of the shuttered hospital and surrounding property into a mixed-use campus with housing, retail, green space and community hubs. The Master Plan is intended to serve as a flexible roadmap as different portions of the project move forward over the next decade. Developers estimate the full redevelopment will cost between $700 million and $1 billion over the next 10 years.
After more than a decade of planning and community outreach, L.A. County is moving closer to finalizing its vision for redeveloping the historic General Hospital site into a mix of housing, commercial hubs and community spaces.
Centennial Partners, the group leading the work, alongside developers Primestor and Bayspring, recently unveiled the project’s draft Master Plan at Alma Family Services in East L.A., offering residents a closer look at the billion-dollar redevelopment expected to unfold in the next 15 years.
The plan outlines a phased transformation of the shuttered hospital and surrounding property into a mixed-use campus with housing, retail, green space and community hubs. The Master Plan is intended to serve as a flexible roadmap as different portions of the project move forward over the next decade. Developers estimate the full redevelopment will cost between $700 million and $1 billion over the next 10 years.
“This is such a special milestone. There’s more work ahead of us but we’re now advancing into a phase of the work to turn a vision into a reality,” Giovanna Araujo, the project’s director, said.
How community input shaped the plan
Community members gathered at Alma Family Services on April 25, 2026, to learn more about the transformation coming to historic General Hospital.
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Andrew Lopez
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Boyle Heights Beat
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Developers said years of community engagement and meetings with residents and groups such as Eastside LEADS, InnerCity Struggle, and The Wellness Center helped shape the proposal. The goal is to integrate community feedback to repurpose the old hospital and West Campus into a “vibrant health and community-centered district.”
According to outreach findings shared during the presentation, most residents requested affordable housing, community safety, accessibility and cleanliness.
The draft Master Plan includes:
Between 600 and 800 housing units inside the historic General Hospital building
At least 25% of those units designated as affordable housing
Housing priorities for veterans, seniors and youth transitioning out of foster care
Community hubs
Interconnected walkways
Mass transit options
Gardens to support native plants and animals
As more buildings are developed around the campus, the number of housing units is expected to grow to more than 1,000, organizers said.
Centennial Partners representatives also said that local jobs would be created in each construction phase but did not specify projected totals.
A “generational investment” for the Eastside
A design map shows a potential mock-up of buildings for the historic General Hospital.
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Courtesy of Centennial Partners
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President and CEO of Alma Family Services Lourdes Caracoza suggested that housing and increased public safety may be the most crucial parts of the redevelopment plan. She also emphasized the historical role the General Hospital has played in her life and the lives of countless other Eastsiders.
“Historically, this is where you went to be healed or where you died,” Caracoza said. “Now, how do we make it a space where it’s focused on wellness? A lot of the families that come and speak, they know it’s not for them. They know it’s gonna be for their children. They know it’s gonna be for their grandchildren. It’s a generational investment.”
Boyle Heights resident Gabriela Garcia said she worries the needs of her special needs children and her neighbors could be overlooked as the development moves forward.
“Psychiatric care, rest beds and those kinds of things are necessary for a child with special needs,” Garcia said. “Are they going to take Centro Estrella and the programs they’re inviting into account, or are they going to prioritize what they think we need?”
Centennial Partners representatives said that services currently offered by East LA’s Centro Estrella and other groups like the Wellness Center and InnerCity Struggle would be incorporated into the long-term vision for the campus.
What’s next?
In the coming months, developers plan to present final building designs, a development plan and construction documents to the public. The project must also complete and approval for an Environmental Impact Review (EIR), which evaluates potential impacts a project would generate, such as, noise, water quality or greenhouse gas emissions.
If construction moves forward without setbacks, developers said the redevelopment should be completed within 15 years.
Groundbreaking for the seismic retrofitting of the old General Hospital building is expected to begin this summer.
Participants view renderings of a proposed community corridor during a meeting about the historic General Hospital redevelopment at Alma Family Services on April 25, 2026.
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Andrew Lopez
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Boyle Heights Beat
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Robert Garrova
explores the weird and secret bits of SoCal that would excite even the most jaded Angelenos. He also covers mental health.
Published May 11, 2026 11:31 AM
The sun sets near a windmill in Palmdale.
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Robyn Beck
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AFP via Getty Images
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Topline:
That spring-like, mid-70s weather is fading away this week as our region warms up.
Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties will see elevated fire weather conditions Monday and Tuesday. That’s because of temperatures reaching into the 90s in the valleys, low humidities and some wind.
Grass fires? Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told LAist there will be some elevated risk of small grass fires as fuels bake in the sun.
Windy conditions likely: The biggest fire risk will come Tuesday, with elevated winds in the forecast, Wofford said. On Tuesday, gusts could get up to 45 mph in some areas.
What's next: We should be back to that more moderate, spring weather by mid-week.
President Donald Trump says he wants the gas tax to be temporarily suspended as the war in Iran extends into its 11th week and keeps oil prices elevated.
Why now? Trump told CBS News Monday morning he wants the tax suspended "for a period of time" and would want it reintroduced "when gas goes down." Asked by reporters in the Oval Office later in the day how long the gas tax would be suspended, the president responded, "'Til it's appropriate."
The context: Suspending the gas tax would require an act of Congress. Currently, the tax is 18.4 cents per gallon of gas and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel. Regular gasoline cost just under $3 per gallon on average before the U.S. bombed Iran. Now, the average cost per gallon has soared by more than 50 percent to $4.52, according to AAA.
What would it accomplish? A cost reduction of 18.4 cents would lower that average gasoline cost by around 4 percent. It would bring the cost of a 12-gallon fill-up down by $2.21.
President Donald Trump says he wants the gas tax to be temporarily suspended as the war in Iran extends into its 11th week and keeps oil prices elevated.
He told CBS News Monday morning he wants the tax suspended "for a period of time" and would want it reintroduced "when gas goes down."
Asked by reporters in the Oval Office later in the day how long the gas tax would be suspended, the president responded, "'Til it's appropriate."
Suspending the gas tax would require an act of Congress. Currently, the tax is 18.4 cents per gallon of gas and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel.
Regular gasoline cost just under $3 per gallon on average before the U.S. bombed Iran. Now, the average cost per gallon has soared by more than 50 percent to $4.52, according to AAA.
A cost reduction of 18.4 cents would lower that average gasoline cost by around 4 percent. It would bring the cost of a 12-gallon fill-up down by $2.21.
Blockades imposed during the Iran war have stalled the passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, causing gas prices to spike. Around one-fifth of the world's crude oil usually travels through that strait.
The potential suspension of the gas tax is a tacit acknowledgment from the White House of the toll that high gas prices have taken on American consumers. Eight in ten Americans say gas prices are straining their budgets, including overwhelming majorities of Democrats, independents, and Republicans alike, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll.
In addition, 63 percent of Americans say they blame Trump "a great deal" or "a good amount" for those higher gas prices. That includes more than 6 in 10 independents and nearly one-third of Republicans.
