The Brief

Carol always knew something was "off" for her during sex.

"At one point I even thought I might have been asexual because I just wasn't getting what other people would talk about all the time," she told Larry Mantle on AirTalk, LAist 89.3's daily news program.

It took Carol a long time to figure out that nothing was wrong with her, she just had a missing kink.

That kink? Spanking.

At 74 years old and 52 years into her marriage, Carol discovered she loves to be spanked.

"It just took a long time to figure this out because my access to computers and things were limited, and I just didn't know," she said. "I didn't have the time to explore me!"

Her husband doesn't necessarily have the same kink, but that hasn't stopped him from leaning into his partner's pleasure.

"He noticed every time we do this, how much happier I am. If I'm cranky or we're fighting it will change the mood like an instant pill. We have never laughed and joyed and played so much in 52 years than we have this past year," Carol said.

Kink may not be what you think

The art of Shibari

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Nora Last

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Nora Last

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Kink and BDSM (Bondage-Discipline, Dominance-Submission, Sado-Masochism) conjure up certain images in popular culture. Take the Blockbuster hit 50 Shades of Gray, which delved into fantasies of violent sex in which Christian Grey, a handsome business man, wants his love interest to be submissive. While this is a common kink played out in private spaces, BDSM practitioners were quick to weigh in on all that was missing from the film's depictions — communication, context, and most importantly, consent.

"We have two dominant paradigms around kink," said Nora Last, owner of Double Mask Studio, a queer owned and operated Shibari studio located in downtown L.A. Shibari is a type of bondage practice (more on that further down).

A couple paradigms include "a slender guy in a suit and a girl in a dress kneeling in front of him," or, Last continued, "a conventionally attractive woman in spiked heels and latex."

"They’re lovely, but we’re really limiting ourselves and not giving ourselves enough credit if we stop imagining there," said Last.

Finding your kink

Nora Last at her studio Devil Mask Studios in DTLA

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Nora Last

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Nora Last

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Kinks come in all styles and flavors. You've got your more common asphyxiation kink, also known as "breath play," to your spitting kink, where two consenting adults enjoy spitting in each others mouths. Suffice to say, kinks run the gamut.

"What if we want to [explore kink] in a cozy onesie? Or outside of the white, hetero roles?" Last said. "If you’ve never seen yourself represented, you might not know how to explore them."

Like Carol, who discovered her kink for spanking at age 74, many people may have dormant kinks they haven't yet realized.

This is something Jean Franzblau experienced. She's an intimacy coordinator in the entertainment industry who wrote and stars in the one-woman play My Mother Doesn’t Know I’m Kinky.

Jean Franzblau

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Courtesy Jean Franzblau

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"I was shocked to find out I was a kinky woman," Franzblau said.

After the end of a relationship, Franzblau said her sexuality "shut down."

Jean Franzblau performs her play "My Mother Doesn't Know I'm Kinky"

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Courtesy Jean Franzblau

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"When I got out of it, I became dedicated, committed, to exploring for myself and finding my own sexual sovereignty," she said.

With newly granted self-permission, Franzblau discovered that both sides of the dominance-submission coin were intriguing to her. Her exploration began with submission. When she found a partner interested in dominance, they had the necessary conversations about consent and negotiation.

"I thought I was going to have maybe a titillating experience, maybe I would learn something new," she said. "Instead, I would consider it a spiritual experience. I wept. There was something in me that needed to surrender."

For many folks, finding your kink is just the first step. The next step? Finding a safe space and people with whom to express it.

Freeing your kink

Today, there are ample spaces that provide safe and playful settings for adults to explore their sexuality. One of those spaces is Nora Last's studio in Downtown L.A. where the focus is on Shibari, the Japanese art of erotic bondage.

"We define it most broadly as rope bondage," Last said, "Whether that is for sensation, whether that is for sexual gratification, and that references specific aesthetics and styles coming from Japanese rope bondage."

Nora Last on the beach practicing the erotic bondage art of Shibari

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Courtesy Nora Last

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Shibari is one of the many styles of kink or eroticism that people can play with — play being the operative word.

"At its core, kink is about creating a container for intimacy. It can be sexual, emotional," they said. "Creating a container for a focused, specific experience. It’s part of our core human desire."

A San Francisco-based kink educator named Midori, whom Last admires, writes "BDSM is childhood joyous play, with adult sexual privilege, and cool toys."

Last adds, "So much of it comes down to…why not? There’s a harsh dichotomy between kinky and vanilla, queer and hetero. It’s not as harsh of a line as we think it is."

Therein lies the nuance. To be kinky or not to be kinky was never the question.

Nora Last tied up in Shibari in a public park

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Courtesy Nora Last

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Talking with partners

When it comes to kink, Franzblau's hope for everyone in a partnership is that they can candidly talk about the places they connect and the places they don't.

"Are we here to control each other or to encourage each other's greatness or well-being?" Franzblau said.

She acknowledges that it can be totally heartbreaking when partners don't see eye to eye. But, she adds, "What's wonderful about this moment in time is that there are a lot of resources for navigating these extremely tricky conversations."

For kink and BDSM communities that have been historically stigmatized, Franzblau and Last are two people among many trying to change that. Arguably, their most powerful and subversive statements? Their kinks.

Thoughts from our listeners

DeLinda in Orange County: Many people find the over dramatized choking, slapping, lead-movement as dominating, but I've associated that with a type of uncontrolled and unpredictability and objectification that made me feel more separated from my partner and detached from my body.

After 15 years of searching, I have found a partner who was excited and curious to take the action and to explore Shibari with me once I expressed interest. Stepping into expansion together and hearing him share the important safety things he's taken time to learn online about consent and comfort had really built my trust for him and our access to fun and connectivity to my own body and the to our interaction in our privacy.

Other partners expressed interest, but no one took action and really stepped into it like I have gotten to with him and it's really been a beautiful shared art together. Yes delight, joy and creation. Thank you being brave and shedding light on this topic.

Leo in Burbank: Be cautious, the same person that trusts you with their kink may punish you with ostracism for knowing about it down the road. You have a wonderful experience sharing unique ideas, the next minute you realize you were trusted because you were expendable.

Danny in Long Beach: Thank you very much for discussing BDSM and Kink. It made me feel seen, accepted, and understood. I'm glowing. I've been engaged in kink and rope play for about seven years now. I discovered these interests in my 40s. I'm now near 50. And it's been the best decade of my life.

I'm married, have been for 29 years. And I've consensually gone outside my marriage to explore myself and interests. I now have multiple loves. My wife and I love each other more now than ever.

Listen to the full conversation:

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve an $843 million homelessness spending plan that includes nearly $200 million in reductions to programs and services in the next budget year.

Among those programs is Pathway Home, which helps move people from encampments into temporary housing. The county reduced funding for that program by $92 million, which will shrink it from 20 project sites to seven, officials said.

Supervisors also approved $105 million in reductions to other programs, including large cuts to street outreach teams, homelessness prevention programs and other supportive services.

County officials said they had to reduce spending in order to cover the rising costs of operating shelter beds and the loss of tens of millions in temporary state and federal funding, including some COVID-19 relief dollars.

“With federal neglect and state cuts, we have to do more with less,” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath told LAist. “And we will.”

The county’s new Department of Homeless Services and Housing has been warning about the looming shortfall since July. County officials solicited input on how to fill an initial $303 million gap.

Since then, the department adjusted the county’s homelessness spending plan, after finding some one-time state grants and cost-saving measures.

The budget year starts July 1.

Some funding restored

Last month, local homeless service providers urged county officials to restore all of the more than $200 million in proposed reductions to programs and services. Some supervisors raised concerns about specific cuts.

Since then, new revenue projections show the county stands to bring in $21 million more through Measure A than originally anticipated.

Measure A is a sales tax ordinance, approved by L.A. County voters in 2024, that funds homeless services and affordable housing initiatives. It is expected to generate about $1 billion annually, but exact revenues fluctuate with consumer spending.

The county’s slightly rosier revenue projections allowed the homeless department to roll back a fraction of the proposed reductions.

“It’s not a windfall and it doesn’t solve every challenge, but it does give us the ability to restore important programs that were on the chopping block,” Supervisor Janice Hahn said.

The board voted to use much of that $21 million to restore funding for two dozen full-time outreach workers and about 100 shelter beds that were previously on the chopping block.

The plan approved Tuesday also calls for $5 million in Measure A revenue to partially restore funding for interim housing in Long Beach, Pasadena and Glendale. It restored more than $1 million to operate family solution centers — hubs to connect unhoused families with services — and about $500,000 for a program that helps military veterans access government benefits.

Supervisor Holly Mitchell said she wishes Pathway Home funding could be maintained. She said it’s been crucial for helping people living in RV encampments in her district, which spans from Koreatown to much of the South Bay.

"These restorations don't expand encampment resolution operations,” Mitchell said Tuesday. “The services with the greatest impact in the Second District remain reduced, and the current plan does not replace what was cut."

County homelessness officials told supervisors the 100 shelter beds they saved will be prioritized for people living in encampments and will help make up for cuts to Pathway Home.

"The reduction to Pathway Home is not a reduced commitment to encampment resolution,” L.A. County Department of Homeless Services and Housing director Sarah Mahin said Tuesday. “It’s a recognition that it was built on one-time funding and we need to expand strategies to include more cost-effective resolution solutions."

New oversight push

The supervisors also voted 5-0 Tuesday to approve a new motion focused on accountability in homeless service contracting. The motion by Horvath and Kathryn Barger directs the homelessness department to work with the county auditor-controller to create strict oversight procedures for contracts, including random site visits, performance monitoring and provisions for termination.

They said the goal is to prevent the mismanagement that has plagued the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, and the fraud that has resulted in recent arrests. Last month, federal authorities arrested Alex Soofer, director of a nonprofit called Abundant Blessings, on suspicion of embezzling tens of millions in dollars meant to serve unhoused Angelenos. Soofer pleaded not guilty to the charges this week.

"Public dollars intended to address homelessness have gone unaccounted for under LAHSA," Horvath said. “That is unacceptable and it ends now with the county.”

Last year, the board voted to divert more than $300 million in county homelessness dollars away from LAHSA and administer the funds itself with a new homelessness department.

“As the department launches, every contract, every dollar, and every outcome must withstand scrutiny,” Horvath told LAist in a statement. “We don’t have resources to waste or time to lose in addressing the homelessness crisis.”

Barger described instances of fraud within the homeless services sector as “moral failures” that cannot be tolerated.

“They represent theft from the most vulnerable people in our community,” she said.

She also argued that ethical service providers “should not have their reputations destroyed by the criminal actions of a few bad actors.”

Barger told fellow supervisors at Tuesday’s meeting it’s their responsibility to monitor how county homelessness dollars are being spent — and to defund programs that aren’t generating results.

“Setting the budget is the easy part,” Barger said. “We have to see results. And if we don’t, we have to have a debate at this board: is that the best use of these resources?”

The department must report back to the board in 60 days with their full plan for monitoring contractors and preventing fraud and misuse of public funds.

Auditor-Controller Oscar Valdez told supervisors his office would submit a plan to county homelessness officials Tuesday.

A crew of four moon-bound astronauts will remain on the ground for at least a month after NASA delayed the launch of the Artemis II mission. During critical pre-launch testing Monday, mission managers uncovered a number of issues that prevented the completion of the test.

NASA is now planning a March launch date for the four astronauts — three from the U.S. and one from Canada — on a ten-day mission to circle the moon and return to Earth, traveling farther than any humans have ventured into deep space.

Issues leading to that delay began about an hour into Monday's test, known as the wet dress rehearsal. As the team began fueling the rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sensors picked up a hydrogen leak. Super-chilled hydrogen is used as the fuel for the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

Hydrogen is an efficient propellant for rockets — but its molecules are so tiny and light they can escape even the tightest of seals. Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said they had troubleshooted the initial leak, but when they began to pressurize the tank, another leak surfaced.

"And so as we began that pressurization, we did see that the leak within the cavity came up pretty quick," said Blackwell-Thompson.

(L/R) NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya, NASA Associate Administrator Lori Glaze, launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, and manager of NASA's Space Launch System Program, John Honeycutt, hold a news conference on the Artemis II mission at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Tuesday.

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Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo

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AFP via Getty Images

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Hydrogen leaks plagued testing of NASA's Artemis I mission in 2022. Blackwell-Thompson said lessons learned from that uncrewed flight were utilized for Artemis II, but there's more investigation is needed.

The wet dress rehearsal uncovered other issues — including a problem with the Orion capsule, which will carry the crew to the moon. While no one was on board Monday, teams practiced preparing the spacecraft for its passengers. A valve that pressurizes the vehicle required additional attention and took more time to close the hatch than anticipated.

Teams also uncovered issues with cameras due to cold weather and audio dropouts across communication channels. "As always, safety remains our top priority, for our astronauts, our workforce, our systems and the public," said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman in a post on X, and that NASA will only launch when the agency is ready.

Work now begins to fix the issues. NASA will require another wet dress rehearsal before giving the "GO" to put astronauts on board. "All in all, a very successful day for us on many fronts," said Blackwell-Thompson. "Then, on many others, we got some work we've got to go do."

The earliest launch window for another attempt is March 6. NASA has additional launch opportunities on March 7, 8, 9 and 11.

The crew of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen were released from quarantine and will remain in Houston, Texas. They'll re-enter quarantine about 14 days ahead of the next launch attempt and make the trip to the Kennedy Space Center six days before liftoff.

Artemis II is testing key systems of the Orion spacecraft, like its maneuverability and life support systems, ahead of the planned Artemis III mission that will take humans to the lunar surface. The Artemis II will mark the first time humans have returned to the moon since the final Apollo lunar mission in 1972.
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A trial got underway Tuesday in a case alleging that Huntington Beach illegally dilutes the power of Latino voters with its at-large election system.

Cities across Orange County and elsewhere in California have faced similar challenges over the past decade. Most have settled out of court by adopting by-district elections, where voters only vote on a city council representative from their area, rather than requiring candidates to run citywide. A notable exception is Santa Monica — the city has been fighting a challenge to its at-large election system in court for nearly 10 years.

Now, Huntington Beach is following suit.

The case was brought by the nonprofit group Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and Victor Valladares, a Huntington Beach resident and Democratic Party activist. It’s being heard by Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig L. Griffin.

The argument against at-large city elections

The plaintiffs allege Latino voters can’t elect a candidate of their choice under the current system, in violation of the California Voting Rights Act. This alleged dilution of Latino voting power, they say, leads to poor representation and negative consequences for the city’s majority-Latino Oak View neighborhood.

“Their needs get ignored,” Kevin Shenkman, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said during his opening statement Tuesday. “It is a natural result of the at-large election system.”

Latinos make up about 20% of the population in Huntington Beach. Under a draft map of electoral districts drawn up by demographer David Ely, a witness for the plaintiffs, the district that includes the Oak View neighborhood would be 40% Latino. Plaintiffs argued this would give residents more power to elect a city councilmember who represents their interests.

The city’s defense of at-large elections

In their opening argument, lawyers representing Huntington Beach argued that Latinos in Huntington Beach are spread across the city and politically diverse.

The city’s lawyers also argued that recent elections of Latino city council members, including MMA star Tito Ortiz in 2020 and Gracey Van Der Mark in 2022, prove the city’s current at-large election system doesn’t impede Latino residents’ ability to participate in the local political process.

“The system works, it’s not broken, and the evidence will show that at trial,” said Anthony Taylor, one of the attorneys representing Huntington Beach.

The trial is expected to last into next week.

Go deeper

• Why were AI-equipped police cameras installed in this majority Latino Huntington Beach neighborhood?
• Huntington Beach's controversial voter ID law is illegal
• Voting by district gives Latino candidates a boost in Orange County
• District elections mean big governing changes for many California cities