The Brief

On Nov. 3, Californians will vote on 14 statewide ballot measures on environment, taxation, election, housing and healthcare.

For months, interest groups sponsoring ballot initiatives spent heavily on ad blitzes and signature gathering to get on the ballot, but some agreed to withdraw high-profile proposals after striking deals with state leaders or other interest groups this week, ahead of Thursday’s deadline to finalize the November ballot.

Rideshare giant Uber and the state’s trial lawyers pulled rival measures in a deal with state lawmakers and healthcare labor unions and the California Hospital Association agreed to pull two measures that would have capped hospital executive pay and restricted spending by healthcare unions.

Here’s what’s on your November ballot:

Billionaire tax

What it does: This high-profile measure would apply a one-time 5% wealth tax on the assets of roughly 200 California billionaires, to be paid over five years. Ninety percent of the revenue would go to pay for healthcare for low-income Californians and 10% toward education and food assistance programs.

Supporters: Service Employees International Union–United Healthcare Workers West, independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Teamsters California and AFSCME California

Opponents: Gov. Gavin Newsom, prominent billionaires including Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Ripple Labs co-founder Chris Larsen, the California Teachers Association, California Primary Care Association and California Medical Association

Audit new tax spending

What it does: This measure in response to the billionaire tax proposal would require state audits of programs funded by new taxes. It would also apply revenue from new taxes to the state’s spending cap, which requires that spiking revenue go back to taxpayers or toward education. That would effectively cancel out the wealth tax proposal. If voters approve both measures, the one with more votes will prevail.

Supporters: Building a Better California, primarily funded by Brin and venture capitalists John Doerr and Michael Moritz, and Reform California, led by GOP Assemblymember Carl DeMaio of San Diego

Opponents: Proponents of the billionaire tax initiative

Prohibit new personal property tax and retroactive taxes

What it does: This measure is also aimed at undercutting the wealth tax proposal. It would prevent new taxes on personal property, which would offset the wealth tax. If both pass, the one with more votes prevails.

Supporters: Building a Better California and Reform California

Opponents: Proponents of the billionaire tax initiative

Make high-earner income tax permanent

What it does: The measure seeks to make permanent a temporary income tax — up to 12% — on high earners that voters approved in 2012. The tax applies to household income over $721,000 for couples and over $360,000 for individuals. The tax generates between $5 billion and $15 billion each year for K-12 schools and community colleges. It is set to expire in 2031.

Supporters: The California Teachers Association, California Federation of Teachers and California School Employees Association

Opponents: California Taxpayers Association

Higher threshold for local special taxes

What it does: This would raise the threshold for citizen-driven special tax ballot initiatives to pass from a simple majority to two-thirds, making it harder to impose or increase taxes. The measure, placed on the ballot at the last minute by state lawmakers, reflects a deal state leaders struck with Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

Supporters: Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, California legislators, Newsom

Affordable housing bond

What it does: This would allow the state to borrow a record $11.25 billion for affordable housing, with $10 billion to buy, build, rehabilitate and preserve affordable homes and $1.25 billion to help veterans buy homes.

Supporters: Newsom, Democratic state lawmakers, the California Apartment Association and AFL-CIO California

Opponents: Republican state lawmakers

$25 billion homebuying loan

What it does: This would create a $25 billion mortgage loan program for home buyers who make less than 200% of the area median income. The measure would offer fixed-rate mortgages for up to 17% of the purchase price on homes priced under $1.5 million. Home buyers must pay at least 3% of their down payment.

Supporters: Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg, Building a Better California, the California Association of Realtors, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and Western States Regional Council of Carpenters

Rainy day fund

What it does: This constitutional amendment from top Democratic leaders would allow the state to deposit up to 20% of its general fund tax revenue into its rainy day fund each year, instead of the current 10%. The state could also spend some tax revenue to pay down its $20 billion federal unemployment insurance debt.

Supporters: Newsom and legislative Democrats

Opponents: Legislative Republicans

Expedited environmental review

What it does: This would amend the state’s landmark California Environmental Quality Act to create deadlines for environmental reviews of most housing, transportation, water, health and clean energy projects to speed up permitting and limit the court’s ability to stop or delay developments.

Supporters: California Chamber of Commerce, Building a Better California, the California Building Industry Association, PG&E and Edison

Opponents: Clean and Healthy California, a coalition of environmental advocates and the California State Building and Construction Trades Council

Voter ID

What it does: This constitutional amendment would require voters to present government-issued ID when voting in person or the last four digits of their ID number when voting by mail. Voters would be required to state under the penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens.

Supporters: Reform California, GOP U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert and state Sen. Tony Strickland of Huntington Beach

Opponents: League of Women Voters of California, ACLU California Action and California Donor Table

Public campaign financing

What it does: This measure would allow state and local political candidates to tap into public funds for their campaigns. Public campaign financing has been banned in California since 1988. State lawmakers approved the measure last year to send it to voters this November.

Supporters: California Common Cause, California Clean Money Campaign and ACLU California Action

Opponents: California Taxpayers Association

Recall election reform

What it does: After a recall, this constitutional amendment would eliminate the election to pick a successor immediately, such as when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced the recalled Gov. Gray Davis, instead leaving the post vacant until it’s filled in a separate election. It would also allow the recalled official to run for the office again.

Supporters: League of Women Voters, California Common Cause and Secretary of State Shirley Weber

Opponents: Election Integrity Project California

Clinic funding

What it does: This measure would require federally qualified health centers to spend 90% of revenue on direct patient care and services that aid in providing care to low-income and underserved people. Clinics that don’t comply would be fined; the money would go into a state-operated account for worker training and staffing.

Supporters: Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West

Opponents: The California Primary Care Association, which represents clinics, the California Medical Association, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California and the California Teachers Association

Immunology research bond

What it does: This would allow the state to borrow $8.4 billion in debt to research immune system-based technologies for treating conditions including cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s. The money would be divided between a University of California-affiliated nonprofit and a grant for public or nonprofit institutions. Any resulting technology and drugs from the research would be sold at 20% below the national average.

Supporters: Gary Michelson, philanthropist and funder of the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, Meyer Luskin, philanthropist and institute board member,The ALS Association, The Alzheimer’s Association and Blood Cancer United

Opponents: Robert Kaplan, former associate director of the National Institutes of Health

CalMatters’ Ben Christopher contributed reporting.

For the first time, the World Cup final will include a halftime show – featuring celebrities from six continents to celebrate the "beautiful game." The show, which will begin somewhere around 3:45 PM ET, will air in the U.S. on Fox, Fox One and in Spanish on Telemundo, as well as on the Fox Sports app and streaming in Spanish on Peacock. It's expected to run for about 11 minutes.

With the artists selected by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, it's a powerhouse lineup with big mass appeal: Justin Bieber, Madonna (whose new album just debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200), Shakira (the undisputed World Cup queen), Burna Boy (who duetted with Shakira on this year's official World Cup song – and who is one of the most popular African artists of all time), the global sensation BTS, Coldplay (who brought an inspiring backup choir to their Tiny Desk), the eternally lovable Muppets Kermit and Miss Piggy, conductor Gustavo Dudamel with musicians from the New York Philharmonic and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, the viral dance troupe Ghetto Kids from Kampala, Uganda, the Iraq-born Australian singer Emmanuel Kelly, and – whew! – the kids from Staten Island's PS22 Chorus. (How will they all be crammed into an 11-minute spectacle? A fair guess would be lots of arm-in-arm singalongs and Grammy Awards-style mashups aspiring to virality.)

In its press materials, FIFA says that the halftime show will support its charity arm, the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, whose goal is to raise $100 million to expand education and soccer access to children worldwide. FIFA says that it's already raised half that money, including $1 from every ticket sold by FIFA for this Cup – not much of a percentage, considering that FIFA originally put final game tickets on sale for nearly $3,000 for the cheapest seat, and prices have only skyrocketed since.

Soccer is, of course, already the most popular sport in the world; according to the Library of Congress, "estimates suggest that there are over 240 million registered players worldwide with fan participation in the billions." FIFA has already been boasting about record viewership during the 2026 World Cup. Earlier this month – even before the quarter-final matches had taken place – FIFA had already logged an eye-popping 20 billion video views worldwide across all digital platforms. By contrast, the last Super Bowl attracted some 125.6 million viewers. And it's worth noting that soccer is gaining in popularity in the U.S.: per a recent survey published by The Economist, Americans now rank it as their third favorite sport, having edged out the all-American pastime of baseball.

Still, FIFA may well have taken a (literally) very valuable page out of the NFL playbook, whether or not they specifically have a U.S. audience in mind: Don't like or care about (real) football? Here's an unmissable diversion midway through the match to keep you buzzing about – and your eyeballs focused on – what's happening on the pitch.

Copyright 2026 NPR

Books can take you to other worlds, times, and next weekend, all over Los Angeles.

That’s the goal of the inaugural Los Angeles Indie Book Crawl taking place from July 24 to 26. Book lovers can check out 13 brick-and-mortar stores across the L.A. region in celebration of the little bookstores that can.

A map of the LA region and all the Indie Book Crawl locations.

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Independent, but not alone

The idea originated with Jennifer Caspar, founder and owner of Village Well Books & Coffee in Culver City. She says she was inspired by a similar event in San Diego that has grown in popularity since starting in 2017.

“They get thousands of people out every year to do it and the stores are mobbed. They say it's like a holiday weekend in their store with the level of activity,” Caspar said.

Participating bookstores range from Vroman’s in Pasadena to ones with more of a niche, like the Culver City romance bookstore, The Ripped Bodice.

“We’re all different. When you're working with independent businesses, you're really getting a lot of personality, and that's what I think people will experience on this,” Caspar said.

A resurgence, a reality

The crawl comes at a time when the business of bookselling has been completely upended.

The front of Pages, a bookstore in Manhattan Beach.

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Pages

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“We are competing with a really hellacious online competitor who sells books oftentimes at a loss, none of us can afford to do that,” said Linda McLoughlin Figel, co-owner of Pages in Manhattan Beach.

But Caspar and Figel say there’s also been a resurgence of interest and appreciation for what bookstores have to offer.

“People have really reverted back to valuing the smell of a book, the touch of a book and that personal connection that you can have by walking into a bookstore,” said Figel.

Passionate sellers and passionate readers

Grace Lee of Montrose is one of those people who loves having a personal connection to bookstores.

Grace Lee stands in front of Once Upon A Time, a children's bookstore in Montrose.

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“If I'm in a new neighborhood or an area of town I'm not usually in, I try to find out where the local bookstore is and stop by,” said Lee.

She frequents Once Upon A Time, a favorite place for her to find gifts and books for her kids and their friends.

Once Upon A Time, a children's bookstore in Montrose.

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She says she’ll be attempting to do the crawl over the three days in between work and her family’s busy schedule.

“I am very ambitious, and so I do want to attempt the full crawl, but we'll have to see,” said Lee.

How does the crawl work?

A sample passport for the Los Angeles Indie Book Crawl.

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A new program that gives Angelenos on food assistance the option to have fresh produce delivered to their homes has launched, serving a roughly 20 mile radius around the Atwater Village and Crenshaw farmers markets.

Food Access LA, a non-profit that operates a chain of farmers markets focusing on customers who rely on food assistance, is behind the new Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box delivery program.

Isabel Thottam, with Food Access LA, said she and her colleagues have spent the last three years or so working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other groups to get approval for the delivery program to accept Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT).

“What I’m excited about is just being able to give people that opportunity to choose,” Thottam told LAist. “If they want to get farmers market produce delivered and use their EBT that way, they should have that autonomy to make that decision,” Thottam, who directs the nonprofit’s EAT! Food Distribution program, said.

How it works

Food Access L.A. curates each box of produce from five to seven different vendors from the farmers market and takes on logistics of home delivery.

Organizers said they anticipate delivering 20 to 30 boxes from the Atwater Village and Crenshaw farmers markets every week and expect it to be a welcome option for seniors, people with disabilities or other groups who may have difficulties getting out in-person to a farmers market.

“You know a lot of people do come to the markets with the ... mindset of ‘farmers markets are inaccessible, they’re for rich people, they’re not for me,’” Miguel Ceniceros, senior manager of benefits and incentives at Food Access L.A., told LAist. “Our job is really to dispel those myths.”

A farmers market operated by Food Access LA.

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‘A lot of uncertainty’ 

The new produce delivery offering comes at a time of substantial change and uncertainty for nutrition assistance programs nationwide.

That’s because the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act that passed last July imposes funding cuts and new requirements for families trying to get help paying for groceries.

L.A. County could see more than 200,000 people at risk of losing their CalFresh benefits because of new work-requirement rules that went into effect last month targeting recipients like those between the ages of 55 to 64, unhoused people, and veterans.

“These changes are quite significant. Because our population of just those estimated impacted are way beyond some caseloads of other counties,” said Shawn Amiel, Division Chief with the L.A. County Department of Public Social Services. “And it could really contribute to the food insecurity of so many people.”

Amiel said she and her colleagues are working now to educate people on possible exemptions and what the new requirements entail.

In the meantime, Amiel welcomes opportunities like the new CSA box delivery.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty as we enter these policy changes having to be implemented,” Amiel said. “So any additional assistance, any additional opportunities to kind of spread out these funds as much as possible should be taken advantage of.”

The new Christopher Nolan epic The Odyssey opens this weekend. And purists will probably want to catch it in a theater to experience it in all of its 70mm glory.

But another film screening (albeit a little more old-fashioned) happens tonight at a park in La Crescenta.

“Oh yeah, Christopher Nolan ... In fact, he uses the same lab that I do to print my 35 [mm] — FotoKem,” said Joe Rinaudo, silent film historian and founder of the nonprofit SCAAT or Silent Cinema Art and Technology. “One time I was over there and Christopher Nolan was there and man they were hopping to it!”

Rinaudo is also the man behind Silent Movies in Two Strike Park, a special showcase of films from the era that usually takes place once a year. Tonight’s program includes Buster Keaton’s One Week (1920), Charley Chase’s Crazy Like a Fox (1926), and Laurel and Hardy’s Do Detectives Think? (1927).

Professor Rinaudo 

Rinaudo, nicknamed “Professor Rinaudo” for his vast silent film knowledge, has spent his life preserving and screening silent classics. His love of old films stretches back to when he was a kid in the 1950s. He even bought 99-cent reels at Sears and would host screenings for neighborhood kids.

Tonight, he will follow in the tradition of the itinerant — or traveling — projectionists of the early 1900s, by cranking out this evening’s slate on a 1909 Power’s Motion Picture Machine Model 6, which started its life with an itinerant projectionist.

“I bought it from the great-grandchildren of the original owner. It was found in a chicken coop and [I] did a total restoration,” Rinaudo said.

I was lucky enough to see the hand-crank process in action at his home in La Crescenta earlier in the week.

“You have to crank at the camera man’s speed,” Rinaudo said. “You have to watch the action very closely … If it slows down, and it looks blurry then you need to speed up, because you’ll betray the camera man’s shutter.”

‘Educate and inspire’ 

Rinaudo’s La Crescenta home isn’t just a showcase for his collection of antique film equipment. It also includes a 20-seat, 1910-style theater that he built. The silent movie palace is complete with an alluring red curtain and period-specific, ornate light fixtures that he manufactured himself.

Joe Rinaudo stands in front of the stage.

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It defies logic that this huge theater, complete with a second story balcony and projection room, fits in this residential space. But there’s more just below the theater, including an 800-pipe organ Rinaudo is working to restore so that music can accompany his film screenings.

“The pipe organ will of course add a new dimension to the theater. It’s an 11-rank Wurlitzer built in 1920. It was saved from the Covell Theater in Modesto, California,” Rinaudo said.

The massive pipes of the Wurlitzer came to life thanks to a vintage air blower in the basement, their low tones enough to rattle your ribcage.

Rinaudo’s theater isn’t open to the public, but through his nonprofit, he’s thinking about how it can be preserved for all to enjoy. But you can catch his itinerant show at Two Strike Park in La Crescenta, usually once a year. And he's hoping to soon start screening films again at the Nethercutt Collection Museum in Sylmar.

"Eventually, all of this will go into the non-profit after my passing,” Rinaudo said. “I’m hoping to keep this as a private museum ... that will continue to educate and inspire younger people about our history.”