The Brief

If you’re having people over to celebrate the New Year, it’ll pay to save those empty alcohol bottles and cans.

California is updating its Beverage Container Recycling Program to accept wine, liquor, and all juice sizes for the first time starting Jan. 1.

What does that mean exactly?

When you buy drinks with 7% alcohol or more by volume, you’ll be charged the California Redemption Value (CRV) at checkout.

You can then trade in those empty containers and get that CRV charge reimbursed.

The CRV will also apply to all fruit and vegetable juice containers. Previously, only specific sizes were part of the program.

How much can I get?

For beverages less than 24 ounces, you can trade in the empty containers for 5 cents.

For example, the Cutwater Tiki Rum Mai Tai, Betty Booze Sparking Tequila, and the Fisher’s Island Blueberry Wave cans would all fall into this category.

Beer and malt beverage containers such as White Claw, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, and Coors were already being accepted.

Part of a CalReycle sign highlighting the changes to the CRV law.

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CalRecycle

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For beverages 24 ounces and more, you can trade in the empty containers for 10 cents.

For example, Smirnoff, Jose Cuervo, and your typical wine bottles would fall under this category.

And for those Franzia fans out there, you can trade in pouches, boxes, and cartons of wine or liquor for 25 cents.

But, the boxes need to be intact to qualify for the cash — spout, bladder, cardboard and all.

Where do I take them?

You can trade in the containers at any one of the 1,249 recycling centers across the state.

There are nearly 500 locations spread out over Los Angeles County. You can find the closest one to you here.

The recycling centers are required to accept all CRV containers, but the new additions may not have the proper labels until July 2025, according to CalRecycle.

Keep in mind, they won’t be able to take any milk, infant formula, medical, and food or non-beverage containers.

Health officials are advising residents to take precautions after a ruptured pipeline released more than 2,000 gallons of crude oil in East Los Angeles on Friday, with oil entering nearby storm drains and the Los Angeles River.

The pipeline burst near East Cesar E. Chavez and North Eastern avenues as crews were installing a fiber optic line, according to the LA County Fire Department. 

The leak has been controlled and is no longer releasing crude oil in the streets, health officials said.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued guidance for residents as agencies continue with cleanup efforts.

Avoid contact: Do not touch or walk through spilled oil or contaminated debris. Keep children and pets away from affected areas.

Skin exposure: If your skin comes into contact with oil, wash the affected area immediately with soap and water. Remove contaminated clothing.

Odor exposure: If you smell odors outdoors, close windows and doors, turn off HVAC systems and air conditioners that pull in outside air and stay indoors until the odor has passed. After the odor outside is gone, open the windows and doors to air out your home and turn on fans or HVAC system to help ventilate indoor air.

Try to limit exposure to strong odors as much as possible. Odors may cause or worsen:

• Headaches
• Nausea
• Eye, nose, throat irritation
• Dizziness
• Breathing problems (asthma)

Brief exposures usually do not cause long-term health effects, but if you experience severe or persistent symptoms, talk to your medical provider. If you don’t have a medical provider, call the Public Health – Community Health Complaint Line at (626) 430-9821.

Indoor air precautions: Local residents should do their best to prevent odors inside their homes by closing windows and doors and turning off HVAC units until the odor outside has dissipated. After the odor outside is gone, ventilate the home by opening windows and doors, and keep the HVAC system blowing air to vent the home. Limit exposure to odors as much as possible.

At-risk individuals: Monitor those most at risk of developing symptoms, such as older adults, children, pregnant persons and those who are immunocompromised.

Report odors: Complaints of odor can be reported to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD): (800) 288-7664

With the early history of soccer first documented in England, that's where you'll find the roots of the sport. Not always easy to get there from Los Angeles — but a local British pub with a few locations to choose from brings you close.

The operators of Lucky Baldwins Pub joined AirTalk Friday host Austin Cross to explain what makes their atmosphere special — it's all about the sports and traditional British bites, pints and pasties.

About the owner

Owner-operator Peggy Simonian was working for the British Tourist Authority when they decided to bring a pub to Pasadena. Three years after opening, they got their following after hosting their first Belgian Beer Festival.

What sets their food apart? The beer batter

"I think there's this stigma around British food that it's a little bland," said general manager Patsy Sutton.

She says the fish and chips knock people's socks off — and it all comes down to the beer batter.

They use locally sourced Pacific cod instead of its Atlantic relative and an undisclosed pale ale. This combo drives the taste.

Lucky Baldwins' most popular dish is the fish 'n' chips.

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Courtesy Peggy Simonian

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The ultimate experience in the eyes of the owner

 "I like it when it's a nice sunny day outside our patio in Old Towne ... enjoy a nice Belgian beer ... listen to the music and enjoy the California weather," Simonian said.

She added that her go-to beers currently include a Belgian lager, blonde or tripel. It's all about the mood.

Restaurant details

• Lucky Baldwins Pub first opened in 1996 and now has two Pasadena locations and one in Sierra Madre.
• They're an official bar partner with LAFC.
• They host: Pasadena Reds, a local Liverpool FC support group; Los Angeles Hammers, a West Ham FC support group; and Eastside Gooners, a local support group for Arsenal FC.
• They also have special events tied to the Belgian Beer Festival and Oktoberfest.

Menu items we tried

• Fish 'n' Chips — cod dipped in ale batter with a side of steak fries and tartar sauce
• Bangers and Mash — two pork sausages with peas and mashed potatoes (also available with fries).
• Cornish Pastie — a handheld pie with minced meat
• Chicken Curry Pastie — a handheld pie with traditional British chicken curry

What should we try next?

A 2-acre slice of parkland that runs diagonally between 8th Street and 10th Street near Wilson High School is slated to get new trees, landscaping and seating — a project that will complete its transformation from an old railway right-of-way into a welcoming greenspace.

The land was once used by Pacific Electric, whose Red Car trains used to slash diagonally across the area from Wrigley to the Colorado Lagoon. For years, Long Beach has been slowly converting a 9.2-acre stretch of the former railway into parkland between 4th Street and Park Avenue to 11th Street and Loma.

This portion, called the 10th Street Greenbelt, runs between Termino and Grand avenues. It was outfitted with a 900-foot concrete path in 2022. This next phase will add 48 Redbud, Oak, and Sycamore trees, native shrubs, solar lighting, boulder and bench seating, and several granite auxiliary trails that connect the surrounding neighborhoods to the path. There are no plans for restrooms or tables, officials said.

The city of Long Beach provided this rendering of plans for the revamped 10th Street Greenbelt.

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Courtesy the city of Long Beach

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Plans were informed largely by a survey and feedback gathered over the last four years by the Greenbelt Heights Neighborhood Association. Officials say surveys consistently pointed out a need for more seating, native plants and improved drainage in the nearby neighborhoods.

Sharon Turner, the association’s president, said it’s been a 15-year effort that originally inspired the creation of the neighborhood group. For years, the path was “a dumping area of tall grass,” she said. Now, the association is planning to hold meetings at the park.

“It’s been a long haul,” Turner said. “We’ve been really happy with the support, but it definitely started as a local resident push, and we got some support once it got legs.”

Planned for construction in early 2027, it is hoped to be finished by that fall. The project has a $2.58 million budget, mostly funded by a $1.5 million county grant.

Public Works staff are planning to unveil detailed plans at a meeting on May 28, starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Recreation Park Community Center (4900 E. 7th St.) Members of the public are encouraged to ask questions and share their thoughts. Interpretation services in Spanish, Khmer and Tagalog are available upon prior request.

Click here for more updates on the project.

About 40,000 residents in Garden Grove and surrounding Orange County cities on Friday were told to evacuate an area around a tank full of a toxic, flammable chemical that public safety officials say will almost certainly either leak out or explode.

Public officials said they have run out of options for securing the volatile tank after discovering a faulty valve early Friday morning.  

"To everyone still in evacuation areas, please leave immediately," Garden Grove Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein at a news conference.

Evacuation zone

The evacuation area is between Trask Avenue to the north, Ball Road to the south, Valley View Street to the east and Dale Street to the west. It encompasses parts of Garden Grove, Cypress, Anaheim, Buena Park and Westminster.

Evacuation zone announced Friday.

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Screengrab from city of Garden Grove website.

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Two evacuation centers have been set up:

• Garden Grove Sports and Recreation Center, 13641 Deodara Drive, Garden Grove
•  Cypress Community Center, 5700 Orange Ave., Cypress

How we got here

On Thursday afternoon, vapor began seeping from storage tanks holding an industrial chemical used in plastics manufacturing at aerospace manufacturing facility GNK, which is about a mile north of the 22 Freeway in Garden Grove. Evacuation orders were issued but later lifted after officials thought the situation was under control. But this morning, evacuation orders were reissued and expanded because hazmat teams were unable to secure the largest tank, officials said.

Officials say it's almost certain the tank will either explode or crack and spill out toxins into the surrounding area.

" At some point, this is gonna fail, and we're doing our best to figure out the when or how we can prevent it," Craig Covey, division chief with Orange County Fire Authority, said Friday.

He said the tank contains around 7,000 gallons of a chemical called methyl methacrylate, which is used in manufacturing plastic for the aerospace industry.

Covey said barriers had been placed around the tank to try to contain the chemical in case of a spill and to keep it from getting into storm drains and out to the ocean.

What's in the tank

Methyl methacrylate, known as MMA, is highly flammable and toxic, safety officials said. Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, Orange County's chief health officer, said the substance can cause skin and eye irritation and respiratory illness. She said there are few case studies of the effects of exposure to the chemical on humans.

"This is where we really need everybody to heed all of the evacuation orders," she said. "We don’t know the long-term consequence."

The company's response

The tanks are owned by GKN Aerospace. In a statement, a spokesperson for the company wrote:

How to stay updated

• Orange County Fire Authority on X or Facebook
• County public information hotline: (714) 628-7085 
• City of Garden Grove, emergency line: (714) 741-5444

LAist reporter Destiny Torres contributed reporting.