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Topline:
Netflix plans to lay off about 6% of its workforce, amounting to nearly 1,000 positions, as the streaming giant makes wider “organizational changes.” Co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos announced the job cuts in a memo to employees Wednesday. They said the company’s product, tech, legal and human resources teams would be the most impacted.
The backstory: Between membership signups and price increases, Netflix’s profit has grown this year. In its second financial quarter, the company earned $3.4 billion and racked up revenue of $12.56 billion — up 9% and 13%, respectively, from the same period last year. Still, Netflix’s forecast for the third quarter fell below Wall Street’s expectations. The company plans to report those earnings next week.
Netflix plans to lay off about 6% of its workforce, amounting to nearly 1,000 positions, as the streaming giant makes wider “organizational changes.”
Co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos announced the job cuts in a memo to employees Wednesday. They said the company’s product, tech, legal and human resources teams would be the most impacted.
“Decisions like these are never easy, and we don’t take them lightly,” Peters and Sarandos wrote in the memo, which was obtained by The Associated Press. They maintained business was strong — but that Netflix needed to be “disciplined about where we prioritize our people and resources” as it invests in future growth and “high impact areas to improve our service.”
Beyond the memo from its chief executives, Netflix declined to comment further about Wednesday’s cuts.
Between membership signups and price increases, Netflix’s profit has grown this year. In its second financial quarter, the company earned $3.4 billion and racked up revenue of $12.56 billion — up 9% and 13%, respectively, from the same period last year.
Still, Netflix’s forecast for the third quarter fell below Wall Street’s expectations. The company plans to report those earnings next week.
Competition in the streaming space is growing more crowded overall. Netflix continues to be a dominant player (accounting for 19% of the market per the latest data from streaming guide JustWatch), but rivals like Amazon’s Prime Video and Disney+ are close behind.
HBO Max and Paramount+ are also now under the same roof — Skydance — after Paramount’s $81 billion buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery closed last week. The new Hollywood giant plans to unify its streaming products “into a single service over time.” Netflix initially inked a deal to buy Warner’s studio and streaming business late last year, but walked away from that offer back in February.
At the end of 2025, per regulatory filings, Netflix had about 16,000 full-time employees worldwide. The layoffs announced Wednesday mark the biggest round of cuts the California-based company has rolled out in years.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Wednesday’s news of the layoffs.
Topline:
Torrance packs quality dumpling spots into a few miles, from a farmers market stand to a sit-down high-end experience, making it an ideal spot for a crawl.
Why it’s important: Dumplings are now a regular part of many Southern Californians’ diets, but many of the best-known spots are clustered in the San Gabriel Valley. Torrance gives South Bay and the Westside eaters a closer option.
Why now? With the fall here, few things hit like a bowl of wonton soup or a basket of soup dumplings.
A craving for dumplings can hit at any moment. If you live near a dumpling stronghold like the San Gabriel Valley, satisfying that urge is pretty easy. But what if that hankering for steamy, soupy goodness strikes miles away from Valley Boulevard?
The answer may surprise you: Torrance.
Sure, the offerings aren’t as deep as the SGV’s. But within a few miles, you’ll find great options at every price point, from an outdoor market stand to a sit-down dining room.
Buckle up. We’re heading out on an old-fashioned dumpling crawl, South Bay style.
Let’s ease into things at the Torrance Farmers Market, held every Tuesday and Saturday. If you love some of the freshest, hard-to-find seasonal produce in the L.A. area, you probably already know about it.
Enter Bun Boss, the locally beloved small stand near the market’s Oak Street entrance. The tiny stand might not look like much, but it serves a range of dumplings, bao and even a few dim sum items.
Keeping things light, I went with the pork dumplings (small, $8). They’re steamed half-moons, with the wrappers expertly folded around the filling. They’re great on their own, but a small spoonful of chili crisp over each one adds a savory, spicy kick to every bite.
Location: Torrance Farmers Market, Wilson Park, 2200 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance
Hours: Tuesdays and Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Instagram:@bun_boss_100
Moving from ultra-casual to fast-casual, less than 10 minutes away is Bafang Dumpling, a Taiwanese chain founded in Taipei in 1998. It opened its first U.S. location in 2022 and has since spread across SoCal, with 14 locations from L.A. to San Diego.
It sits in a newly remodeled strip mall not far from the Del Amo Fashion Center. The space is bright, and you order at the counter. With plenty of options, the combos offer the best value. I went with the 12 signature potstickers and a mini wonton soup ($14.95).
The potstickers alone are enough to fill you up. They’re slender, with crispy bottoms made for dipping in the sauces on hand, from black vinegar to chili sauce. I kept going back to the garlic sauce, upping the savory factor, just how I like it. My few slurps of the mini wonton soup hit just as hard, with a full-bodied broth and plump wontons.
Location: 21215 Hawthorne Blvd., Torrance
Hours: Daily, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Instagram:@bafangdumplingUSA
Is it an obvious choice? Sure. But despite its omnipresence on the SoCal dumpling scene, Din Tai Fung still holds its own as the sit-down dumpling experience. Being a five-minute drive from Bafang makes it a no-brainer for our crawl.
The always-busy location is on the second floor of the Del Amo Fashion Center, and you’ll usually need a reservation at peak lunch and dinner hours. That’s no surprise: DTF built its reputation on a lineup of dumplings you can turn into a meal at any time of day.
Once you’ve nabbed a table and gotten the rundown from your headset-wearing server, order the dish that gave the place its name: xiao long bao, or soup dumplings. Start with the crab and pork ($19.50 for 10 pieces), which gets a hint of sweetness from the crab and richness from the pork. To make the most of the broth inside, bite a small hole near the twisted tip and sip some. Then douse the rest with black vinegar and chili oil, and pop the whole thing into your mouth.
Save room for the potstickers, another fan favorite ($13). They’re fried together into a single rectangular sheet, adding another hands-on element to an already fun meal.
Location: Del Amo Fashion Center, 21540 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 519, Torrance
Hours: Monday–Thursday 11 a.m.–9:30 p.m.; Friday 11 a.m.–10 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.–10 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m.–9 p.m.
Reservations: Recommended at peak hours
Topline:
The U.S. Department of Justice has threatened California with possible legal action over what it says are noncitizens believed to have received mail ballots for next month’s midterm elections. A letter sent Tuesday to Secretary of State Shirley Weber from Trent McCotter, the acting deputy U.S. attorney general, says the department has provided officials in Los Angeles County with a password-protected thumb drive with a list of names the federal government believes are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots to participate in the Nov. 3 election.
What's next: The letter obtained by The Associated Press gives the state 48 hours to determine whether any citizens are included on the list. For individuals whose citizenship cannot be independently verified, the state is to instruct local election officials to segregate their mail-in ballots until their status can be determined, and to not provide a ballot to anyone who has not yet received it. The letters warns that legal action may follow if the state does not meet the 48-hour deadline to review the list.
The backstory: The Trump administration has made the hunt for noncitizen voters a priority this year, even though the problem is exceptionally rare. The Justice Department has charged about 90 people for various types of election misconduct so far this year, including 50 who are alleged to have voted as noncitizens. There were more than 227 million registered voters in the United States during the 2024 presidential election.
The U.S. Department of Justice has threatened California with possible legal action over what it says are noncitizens believed to have received mail ballots for next month’s midterm elections.
A letter sent Tuesday to Secretary of State Shirley Weber from Trent McCotter, the acting deputy U.S. attorney general, says the department has provided officials in Los Angeles County with a password-protected thumb drive with a list of names the federal government believes are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots to participate in the Nov. 3 election.
California mails ballots to all registered voters.
The letter obtained by The Associated Press gives the state 48 hours to determine whether any citizens are included on the list. For individuals whose citizenship cannot be independently verified, the state is to instruct local election officials to segregate their mail-in ballots until their status can be determined, and to not provide a ballot to anyone who has not yet received it. The letters warns that legal action may follow if the state does not meet the 48-hour deadline to review the list.
“If you cannot implement this process by then, given the ongoing federal election, the United States will have no choice but to seek emergency relief,” the letter states.
A separate, similar letter was sent to the registrar’s office in Los Angeles County, which the U.S. attorney’s office had investigated during the state’s June primary.
Neither the California secretary of state nor the Los Angeles County registrar immediately responded to requests seeking comment.
The Trump administration has made the hunt for noncitizen voters a priority this year, even though the problem is exceptionally rare. The Justice Department has charged about 90 people for various types of election misconduct so far this year, including 50 who are alleged to have voted as noncitizens. There were more than 227 million registered voters in the United States during the 2024 presidential election.
In July, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent letters to California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, alleging that as many as 250,000 noncitizens were registered in those states. Election officials there were skeptical of the claim, including Weber, the California secretary of state.
“I have serious doubts about the reliability of your data and accuracy of your claims, since my office has not shared our statewide voter registration list with DHS or any other federal agency or official,” Weber said in response.
That same month, the Republican administration claimed Nevada had 1,500 noncitizen voters on its voter rolls. But after the federal government identified them to the state, the number of actual registered noncitizens turned out to be zero.
As part of its project to find noncitizens on the voter rolls, the Justice Department has been seeking detailed voter information — including dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers — from the states. Some Republican-led states have turned over the information, which has been run through a U.S. Department of Homeland Security database that has been criticized as inaccurately flagging U.S. citizens.
The Justice Department has sued 30 states and the District of Columbia for that information, but so far has lost those cases in court. California is among the states that successfully sued, in part by arguing that turning over the data would violate state privacy laws.
Santa Cruz County Clerk Tricia Webber, who is president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, said she had not seen the letters but said the 48-hour deadline to vet voters flagged by the federal government was “completely unreasonable.”
She said when there is a report of an ineligible voter incorrectly on the rolls, her office does due diligence to investigate. That involves looking at the voter’s registration history, identifying whether that person had voted before and, most importantly, reaching out to the voter, she said.
“It would take more than 48 hours to even begin to get the full picture,” Webber said. She also questioned how the federal government came up with a list of alleged noncitizen voters since it doesn’t have access to the state’s detailed voter information.
Webber added that throughout the course of her decades-long career working for local election agencies, she has “never seen anything that would make me believe that our voter records are filled with fraudulent voters.”
Topline:
The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for parts of Los Angeles County starting 6 a.m. Thursday. Here’s what you should know about the potential for “extreme fire behavior.”
What’s happening? Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with NWS, told LAist the warning is here because of a combination of heat, strong Santa Ana Winds, low humidity and dry brush.
What about power? Southern California Edison is considering shutoffs for about 90,000 L.A. County customers, including in Malibu.
Read on for more details.
Topline:
The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for parts of Los Angeles County starting 6 a.m. Thursday. Here’s what you should know about the potential for “extreme fire behavior.”
What’s happening? Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the weather service, told LAist the warning is here because of a combination of heat, strong Santa Ana winds, low humidity and dry brush.
“Really, all of L.A. County has some risk for wind and fires, but the places that typically get windy with Santa Anas, those areas are under the Red Flag Warning,” he said.
In the county’s windy areas, such as the mountains and foothills, Kittell said winds could peak between 20 and 40 mph. A few mountain spots may see gusts up to 70 mph. “We’re classifying this as a moderate to locally strong type event,” he said.
The warning is currently scheduled to end Friday night, but that’ll likely be extended to Saturday.
What about power? Southern California Edison is considering shutoffs for about 90,000 L.A. County customers, including in Malibu, as of Wednesday.
According to the city, the shutoffs would be to “prevent [SCE’s] equipment from starting fires due to forecast dangerous fire conditions.” You can stay updated on SCE’s outage status page here.
How are officials preparing? At Tuesday’s NBC4/Telemundo 52 debate, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said the L.A. Fire Department has requested additional state resources and will position crews ahead of time in high-risk fire areas, including in the Palisades.
Park agencies covering the Santa Monica Mountains will close Oct. 15. That includes Leo Carrillo, Malibu Creek, Point Mugu and Topanga state parks, and Will Rogers and Santa Susana Pass state historic parks.
How should you prepare? To state the obvious, avoid doing things that could spark a fire, such as lighting a campfire or shooting off fireworks.
Kittell said that with shutoffs possible, charge your devices. You should be aware of your surroundings, especially in high-risk areas, and know your evacuation plan. It’s also a good idea to fill up your gas tank so you’re prepared to leave just in case.
Go deeper: Red flag warnings? Here’s how to prepare
