Today's headlines:
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts to get The L.A. Report delivered to you twice on weekdays, with special editions on Saturday and Sunday.
Topline:
Los Angeles Unified is expanding its winter break school program to a full week with the goal of drawing more than 70,000 students back into the classroom the week before school starts.
The backstory: Winter Academy started in 2022 as "acceleration days.” The extra time is meant to help students make up for lost learning days during the COVID-19 pandemic using winter and spring breaks. Enrollment has reached as high as 74,000 students with an average attendance of 55-60%, according to a statement provided to LAist by a district spokesperson.
Student outcomes: In 2023, the district started testing students at the beginning and end of Winter Academy to measure growth in reading, writing and math. The district provided some of this information in a statement to LAist. The largest gains were in transitional kindergarten through fifth grade with an overall increase of 9.8% in English language arts and 8.8% in math scores in 2023 and more mixed results in 2024.
The details: Winter Academy runs like a regular school day with the option of afterschool care from Mon., Jan. 5 through Fri., Jan. 9. Online enrollment is now closed, but families can still fill out a paper application and take it to one of the 319 participating school sites in-person starting Jan. 5.
Los Angeles Unified is expanding its winter break school program to a full week with the goal of drawing more than 70,000 students back into the classroom the week before school starts.
The 2026 Winter Academy will start on Jan. 5, at the tail end of winter break, instead of following the end of the fall semester as in past years.
“By students returning to school earlier, it'll get 'em into the routine and the rhythm [of school],” said LAUSD Chief Academic Officer Frances Baez. “Once the spring semester begins, it shouldn't be too difficult.”
The free program, which started in response to pandemic learning loss, is now an annual offering during the district’s winter and spring breaks.
While some parents and educators have questioned its effectiveness, district leaders say student outcomes — and interests — have shaped the program’s evolution.
“We're seeing that it's working because our students are improving,” Baez said.
Winter Academy runs the hours of a regular school day with the option of afterschool care.
Teachers and parents who participated in the program told LAist class sizes are generally smaller and there’s flexibility to adapt the curriculum the district provides to the students in their class.
“We want to offer programs that are gonna be aligned to student interests and at the same time, continue with that opportunity for them to grow academically and thrive,” said Executive Director of Secondary Instruction John Vladovic.
There are also several “camps” focused on specific activities like science, arts, math and gaming.
The program offers some relief to working families who struggle to cobble together child care during the district’s three-week winter break (prior attempts to reduce the break failed).
Catskill Elementary School fifth-grader Chloe Campbell has participated in several of the district’s winter and summer programs.
“I love doing work and seeing different people and making new friends and learning different things,” she told LAist in 2023.
In an interview this year, her mom Christal Campbell said her daughter particularly enjoyed the math lessons and the art activities like papier-mâché.
“They did basic academics, but made the projects more fun and learnable for them,” Campbell said.
Winter Academy started in 2022 as "acceleration days,” meant to help students make up for lost learning time during the COVID-19 pandemic using winter and spring breaks.
“This is a homegrown program,” Baez said. “That means our educators and our leaders developed this program for our students.”
Changes this year include offering transportation, piloting a more camp-like experience focused on specific activities like art and math, and extending the program to five days.
Winter Academy enrollment has represented less than 20% of the district’s student body:
Average attendance is 55-60%, according to a statement provided to LAist by a district spokesperson.
The district said in a statement that the demographics of the participants mirror the district’s overall makeup.
However, some educators say the students in their classrooms during the winter program are not those that have fallen behind or are struggling academically.
Charnock Road Elementary third grade teacher Jason Buchalter has worked for LAUSD for almost three decades and taught summer school in addition to Winter Academy.
“These are the parents whose kids are doing well, who are keeping up with the homework, who are providing a really supportive educational environment,” Buchalter said. “So, of course they sign up for more school.”
Buchalter said his school, in Palms, calls and sends messages to the families of children who are struggling to tell them about the program, but it’s not clear why they don't sign up.
“They have trouble getting the kids to school,” Buchalter said. “Some of these families don't see the benefit even a few days can have.”
In 2023, the district started testing students at the beginning and end of Winter Academy to measure growth in reading, writing and math. The district provided some of this information in a statement to LAist.
In December 2023:
In December 2024:
“Every bit helps,” said Buchalter, the Palms teacher. “If at the end of the day we provide some kids with a fun, safe, structured, friendly day with three hot meals… it's a good investment.”
Buchalter said he’s looking forward to the additional days of Winter Academy in 2026.
“When kids work together for a whole week, they make friends, they build community,” Buchalter said.
Some high school students can increase grades from the previous semester by completing specific work assigned by their teacher through an Academic Course Extension (ACE) contract. Increasing a student’s below-C grade can improve college prospects and options for post-graduation financial aid.
More than 17,000 letter grades improved after the December 2024 Winter Academy. That’s more than double the number of letter grades improved the previous year.
Some teachers, including Sadia Aziz, say the work of a semester cannot be made up with just a handful of assignments completed over the course of Winter Academy.
“It becomes a little tricky because the students now expect their grade to be increased because they showed up and they did the work,” said Aziz, who teaches at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School.
In a statement to LAist, a district spokesperson said the programs cost approximately $24 million to offer and that the money goes primarily to educator salaries.
The money comes largely from a state program called Expanded Learning Opportunities or ELOP that’s pumped about $18 billion a year into schools for afterschool and enrichment programs over the last five years. LAUSD’s share of the funding is about $612.3 million in the 2025-26 budget.
Previously, LAUSD leaders said federal COVID-19 relief money funded the program, before it expired in September 2024.
Topline:
Housing policy in California had a big year, with new state legislation and changes to how and where new housing can be built in Southern California.
California upzoned neighborhoods near major transit stops: The state Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom approved SB 79, which requires major counties to allow buildings of up to nine stories tall in areas near major transit hubs.
Expect fewer lawsuits against new housing projects: State lawmakers also significantly rolled back the California Environmental Quality Act, which critics have argued was often used as a political weapon to block housing projects.
Housing policies are shifting in fire-affected areas: For example, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, along with officials in Malibu, Pasadena and L.A. County, suspended a state law that allows homeowners to build duplexes on land zoned for single-family homes.
Go deeper: These developments are a big deal, but the fundamental questions L.A. faces about how and where to build new housing — and what kind of housing to build — remain largely the same. Sign up for our seven-part newsletter course Building Your Block to get a better sense of the big picture.
Housing policy in California had a big year.
Between the state lawmakers passing pivotal legislation that affects how much housing can be built and where and shifting construction rules prompted by the Palisades and Eaton fires, 2025 policy changes will have lasting effects on how new housing is built in Southern California.
As we head toward closing out the year, here are the top housing updates of 2025.
The state Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom approved SB 79 in October. It requires a handful of major counties, including L.A. County, to allow buildings of up to nine stories tall in areas near major transit stops.
This change overrides local zoning laws in those areas. It was one of the most significant legislative milestones yet for supporters of upzoning and faced major hurdles before it was signed into law. In L.A., a slim majority of the City Council formally voted to oppose it and Mayor Karen Bass asked Newsom to veto it.
Creating enough housing to address California’s shortage requires being legally allowed to build in areas with demand. That’s where zoning laws come in.
Advocates for more housing density have argued that neighborhoods near transit stops should be first in line to upzone, because not only would that approach create new housing, it also would deliver new potential riders to struggling public transit agencies.
Cities like L.A. have offered developers incentives to build more in some areas if they provide affordable units. But SB 79 requires this upzoning to happen, despite whatever local zoning laws might be in place — even in neighborhoods currently zoned only for single family homes. That's caused backlash from local governments and homeowners in many of these neighborhoods.
Possibly, if you’re within a half-mile of a major transit stop.
If you’re in the city of L.A., you can check out this draft preliminary map to see areas that could be upzoned under SB 79.
California’s state Legislature passed new laws that significantly roll back the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA. CEQA requires expensive environmental reports for many new housing projects and allows almost anybody to sue to block developments on environmental grounds.
CEQA still is in place, but it no longer will apply to most new apartment buildings built in and around existing development.
A CEQA lawsuit can add many years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to a housing project.
For years, critics argued that CEQA was used more often as a political weapon and a tool to block housing — including affordable housing projects — rather than a way to raise legitimate environmental concerns.
One study found that in 2020, CEQA lawsuits targeted nearly 48,000 new housing units — about half of all new units produced in a year in California on average. This rollback means that large new apartment buildings can more easily move through the pipeline to be approved.
The communities of Altadena and the Pacific Palisades are rebuilding after massive wildfires razed both areas in January. This is where many thorny questions about how to build new housing are colliding on an expedited timeline.
Here’s what’s happened so far:
All of these issues are a big deal, even though the fundamental issues around housing in L.A. — like lack of funding for affordable housing or the cost of building anything new — remain largely the same.
If you're curious about some of the biggest issues we're tackling about how to build new housing in L.A., sign up here for Building Your Block, LAist's seven-issue newsletter starter pack on housing development.
LAist's David Wagner contributed to this story.
Topline:
Rob and Michele Reiner were well-known in California not only for their creative contributions but for their passionate advocacy. It was challenging Prop. 8, California’s 2008 ban on same-sex marriage, that brought the Reiners into the lives of Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo.
The context: Katami and Zarrillo are the local couple who were denied a marriage license by Los Angeles County and became plaintiffs in a famous Supreme Court case that reinstated marriage equality in California. “I am very confident in saying we would not be married without Rob and Michele Reiner,” Zarrillo said.
Why it matters: Marriage equality across the U.S. was won in 2015, but two years before that, a group of California couples, including Katami and Zarrillo, challenged the constitutionality of California’s Prop. 8, which banned gay marriage in the state. Their victory not only enshrined marriage equality in the Golden State, but laid the foundation in granting that right to all Americans.
Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo describe themselves as accidental activists who found an “immediate family” in Michele and Rob Reiner.
When same-sex marriage was banned in California with the 2008 passage of Proposition 8, Katami and Zarrillo began speaking out about what marriage equality meant to them.
They caught the attention of some “changemakers,” including Rob and Michele Reiner, and became plaintiffs in Hollingsworth v. Perry, which challenged the constitutionality of Prop. 8 and ultimately led to a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that reinstated gay marriage in California.
The fact that they were able to make it through the legal fight to restore the right of same-sex couples to marry in California, and marry each other in Los Angeles in 2013, they credit, in large part, to the Reiners.
It started with writing the first check to fund the organization that took on Prop. 8 — the American Foundation for Equal Rights — but the Reiners' contributions quickly expanded to emotional and moral support, too.
The first time they really got to know each other was the day they filed their lawsuit, at dinner with the Reiners, their co-plaintiffs and legal team.
“Rob and Michele were, from the moment we met them, nothing but extremely kind, curious, passionate believers in LGBTQ rights,” Zarrillo said.
When Katami and Zarrillo held their 2014 wedding with family and friends, five years later and after a hard-fought win in the Supreme Court, they sat the Reiners at their head table.
“We had such a great time celebrating the work that had been done, but most of all, celebrating the family that we created… It's a very fond memory of us knowing that we got to sit at their table to start our journey towards marriage, and they got to sit at ours when we got married,” Katami said.
Katami and Zarrillo both describe the Reiners as wanting to use their platform in Hollywood to make the country a better place through advocacy.
And while Rob Reiner was more public-facing and famously gregarious, Katami said Michele was a powerhouse and the driving voice behind their work: “She was just a creative force that had this vision of a future and a country that was more equal and more accepting.”
Today, Katami and Zarrillo have adopted a principle they learned from Michele in their own home.
“There's only one conversation at a time. So the person speaking has your full attention, your respect,” Katami said, adding that the rule exemplifies exactly how the Reiners lived their lives. “They wanted to make sure everyone felt seen, everyone felt heard, and respected and loved.”
Topline:
More stores and shopping outlets are charging a restocking fee or a return surcharge of some kind. And many are also imposing deadlines or restrictions on returns, according to the National Retail Federation.
Why now? The reason is simple. We love to return stuff. Retailers are expected to see nearly $850 billion — with a "b" — in returns this year. And nearly 20% of online sales will be returned, according to recent sales report. It all adds up, and businesses are not in the business of wasting money.
Read on ... for tips on how you can avoid these charges.
If you’re already planning to return a holiday gift that you’re just not that into, you could be in for a surprise.
More stores and shopping outlets are charging a restocking fee or a return surcharge of some kind. And many are also imposing deadlines or restrictions on returns, according to the National Retail Federation.
A quick search turned up these policies that might complicate your return plans:
The reason is simple. We love to return stuff. Retailers are expected to see nearly $850 billion — with a "b" — in returns this year. And nearly 20% of online sales will be returned, according to a report by the National Retail Federation. (Interesting fact: Gen Zers are more likely to return an online purchase, the report found.)
Processing all those returns cuts into company profits. And then there’s the fraud, abuse and waste that goes along with it. (This includes everything from returning empty boxes, using and abusing items and then requesting returns, and something that I do quite a lot of — it’s called “bracketing,” where you buy two or more sizes of something to try them all on, planning on at least one return.)
It all adds up, and businesses are not in the business of wasting money.
“We’re seeing return figures that are much more than the norm,” said David Sobie, the Santa Monica-based co-founder and CEO of Happy Returns, a third-party business that you’ve probably seen inside places like Ulta. For consumers, it provides returns without a need for printer labels or packing tape. For businesses, this service provides built-in fraud protection.
He said limitations on returns in the form of restocking fees and charges are likely to increase in response to what businesses see as “costly consumer behaviors."
Sobie said consumers can avoid unpleasant surprises with a little pre-purchase sleuthing:
And of course, hang on to receipts.
“I always say you want to check it out before you check out,” Sobie said.
