The Brief

During the Scotland vs. Morocco match last week, 65-year-old John McNicholas stood outside Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. — one ear tuned into the cheers of fans inside and the other pressed to a phone with StubHub customer service.

After spending over $1,200 on two seats, driving four hours from New Jersey to Boston, and hiking two miles from his hotel to the stadium, McNicholas learned that his World Cup tickets fell through.

The hardest part was breaking the news to his friend, David Wain, who was visiting from England to be McNicholas' plus-one. The two held out hope up until half-time.

" We hung around because we thought, well, somebody may be able to solve it at the last minute," he said. "But nothing occurred."

Since the World Cup began about two weeks ago, a growing number of fans who purchased resale game tickets say they were left empty-handed on match day — forcing them to either miss out on a rare opportunity or scramble to find new tickets, often costing twice or triple what they originally paid and for worse seats.

David Wain, a friend of John McNicholas' who was visiting from England, sits outside Gillette Stadium, known as Boston Stadium during the World Cup, after the pair's game tickets never arrived.

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John McNicholas

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Many of the complaints have been aimed at StubHub, one of the biggest platforms for ticket resales, though some fans on social media have reported similar troubles with Vivid Seats and SeatGeek. It's the latest in a flurry of controversies over World Cup tickets, along with sky-high prices and seating chart confusion.

In an emailed statement to NPR, StubHub said the issue stems from FIFA's "ticketing infrastructure," including its app – which the vendor claims "has had significant performance issues that have affected transfers across all resale platforms."

Meanwhile, FIFA told NPR it can only guarantee the validity and delivery of tickets purchased through its official platform. The soccer governing body, which also runs its own resale marketplace, did not respond to questions regarding StubHub's claim that FIFA was responsible for fans' missing tickets.

Thousands of dollars, hours of travel and dashed dreams

Brad Michel, from San Antonio, Texas, purchased three seats near center-field on StubHub for roughly $15,600 in January 2025 — months before tickets went on sale on FIFA — believing it would be easier than trying to navigate the FIFA lottery system, which gave randomly selected fans a chance to purchase tickets.

" I thought by purchasing the tickets so far in advance, that I would forgo all of the drama that followed whenever the FIFA site opened up," he said.

The tickets were for Netherlands vs. Sweden in Houston, which he planned to attend with his 12-year-old son and his wife's father, who lives in Sweden.

Michel said he trusted Stubhub's FanProtect Guarantee policy, which promises a refund or "comparable" replacement seats if the original tickets fail to arrive. So, when two of his tickets never showed up and a StubHub representative offered him new seats, Michel was open to it. Then, he heard what the options were.

"They were gonna swap me my premium midfield, close-to-the-pitch seats, and they wanted me to trade or swap ticket-for-ticket with no additional refund, these nosebleed tickets or behind the goal," he said. "I told them, 'No way. I'm not taking those.'"

Michel later learned that what was deemed "comparable" tickets are at the sole discretion of StubHub. According to its website, the replacement tickets are determined by "cost, quality, availability and other factors."

Michel and his family ended up watching the match on TV at their Airbnb, but his attention was on the stands. He scanned the screen to locate his original seats, which to him, looked occupied. He said that, as of Thursday night, he's still hoping for a refund.

Brad Michel's father-in-law, Ricardo Popa-Olave, traveled from Sweden to watch Netherlands vs. Sweden game in person in Houston. Instead, they watched at their Airbnb.

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Brad Michel

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Brett Romas flew from Alberta, Canada, to Houston to attend the Portugal vs. Uzbekistan match with his 13-year-old son, who's a major fan of Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo. But when the tickets arrived in his inbox, StubHub had sent ones for England vs. Ghana and in Boston.

Romas was up all night trying to fix the issue with the company. The morning of the game, a representative wrote in an email, "There has been an error in our system and the only thing we can do is to offer a refund." He was devastated, not only over the prospect of missing the game, but disappointing his son.

" We fly to a different country to come to this game and he was so excited, and then he goes to bed thinking that he's probably not gonna go, which was heartbreaking for me," he said.

Romas ended up buying another pair of tickets through FIFA. By then, the cost for two seats together had skyrocketed. So, he said he and his son had to sit separately for the game.

Brett Romas and his son were unable to sit together for a World Cup match after their original tickets never arrived and Romas had to scramble for new tickets at the last minute.

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Brett Romas

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"It went from two seats beside each other in section 115 to two seats that were a row and five seats apart and in section 635," Romas said.

Not just a World Cup problem

StubHub said a majority of its ticket transfers have been successful and the company was actively working with FIFA to prevent further technical issues.

John Breyault, vice president at the National Consumers League, a consumer advocacy group, said the issue of missing tickets is not unique to the World Cup and it's happened before at other live events. He said it's often a result of ticket resellers listing seats for sale before they actually possess them. This is called speculative ticketing.

StubHub, SeatGeek and Vivid Seats have rules prohibiting the sale of speculative tickets. They also say they penalize sellers who fail to deliver their tickets, from imposing fees to a possible account suspension.

Breyault argued that company policies don't adequately protect the consumer and there needs to be more safeguards to prevent such practices. And while major ticketing companies offer refunds when tickets fall through, Breyault said it's cold comfort for fans who looked forward to the event and doled out money on travel and lodging.

" A refund, particularly for an event like the World Cup which is once in a lifetime, is not gonna cut it for most fans," he said. "They want to get in and see the game as they thought they were going to."

McNicholas from New Jersey doesn't know the next time he will have a chance to attend a World Cup match. The entire ordeal has left him feeling bitter about FIFA and secondary resale markets.

" We've spent so much time, money and effort to get where we're at — to actually just have the carpet pulled away from under us is a major disappointment," he said.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Los Angeles city property owners voted down a fee increase that sought to address a massive backlog of streetlight repairs.

The L.A. city clerk certified the results Wednesday: Just under 80% of the weighted votes cast rejected the idea.

The city sent ballots to owners of more than 580,000 public, commercial and private parcels in April. They were asked if they would pay more in a yearly assessment to boost the city’s streetlight budget, which has essentially been frozen since the 1990s.

Currently, it takes about one year to repair streetlights from the time the issue is reported.

In a joint statement, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and other leaders said they remain committed to improving the city’s streetlighting network.

“Every Angeleno deserves to feel safe walking their dogs, returning home from work and parking their cars at night, and the city is committed to delivering the reliable street lighting that makes that a reality,” the statement said. It was signed by Bass, L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez and Katy Yaroslavsky.

The background

Most of the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting budget comes from an assessment that people who own property near streetlights pay on their county property tax bill.

The amount people pay depends on the kind of property they own and how much they benefit from lighting. A typical single-family home currently pays $53 annually, and in total, the assessments bring in about $45 million annually for the city to repair and maintain streetlights.

According to a report from the city, the amount needed in assessments from property owners to meet the needs of the city’s streetlights in the upcoming fiscal year is nearly $112 million. That's well over double the amount the city will collect during that time period now that property owners rejected the fee increase.

Changing the amount the Bureau of Street Lighting gets from the assessment requires a vote among property owners who benefit from the lights. This year’s vote was the first attempt to increase the fees.

What happens now?

Nothing changes, really.

According to the Bureau of Street Lighting’s website, the city “will operate within its parameters, including funding … in other words, status quo.”

Had property owners voted in favor of the higher assessment, the extra funds would have been used to double the number of staff to handle repairs and to procure solar streetlights, according to Miguel Sangalang, the head of the Bureau of Street Lighting.

In previous interviews with LAist, Sangalang said that with a larger budget, the timeline to repair simple fixes could be brought down to a week.

What else is the city doing to turn the lights back on?

In March, Mayor Bass announced an initiative to convert 60,000 streetlights to solar power over the next two years. The Mayor’s Office has said the partnership with LADWP will not have an impact on the city’s general fund.

Then in May, she said hundreds of solar streetlights had already been installed as part of the initiative near city parks, including those hosting World Cup watch parties.

City Council members have also used discretionary dollars to convert lights to solar technology, which are less vulnerable to theft, and also to fund overtime for repair teams.

More than 1,000 families in Southern California learned this week that they will be able to access healthcare for transgender youth under 19 for at least another six months. That’s according to an extended temporary restraining order in a court case between the state of California and Rady Children’s Health, which operates the largest hospital networks for kids in the region.

The agreement is the longest guarantee of medical care these families have had since January for the network that includes Children’s Hospital of Orange County and Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.

While patient advocates told LAist the news is welcome, they also said it’s been a confusing time for families.

What’s in the agreement?

The California Attorney General’s Office, which sued Rady Children’s Health in January after the hospital announced it would stop gender-affirming care for people under 19, confirmed that the care at Rady hospitals will continue until the court issues a ruling on a permanent injunction. That hearing is slated for January 2027.

The temporary restraining order also now explicitly protects doctors’ ability to prescribe puberty-blocking implants when deemed medically appropriate. The Attorney General’s Office said that this provision was put in at their request.

The judge overseeing the case has issued or extended temporary restraining orders requiring Rady hospitals to continue offering gender-affirming healthcare to people under 19 multiple times since February.

The state of California also said in a June 22 court filing that there was no evidence that Rady Children’s Health has been served with a subpoena for patients’ health records, which advocates say the federal government has used as a tactic to intimidate hospitals into stopping gender-affirming care for people under 19.

How advocates are responding

Advocates for trans youth healthcare access say that the news is a welcome reprieve for families.

“We're very happy that the [Attorney General’s Office] is pushing this as hard as they are, and the judge just keeps extending this [temporary restraining order] time and time again,” said Kathie Moehlig, director of the nonprofit TransFamily Support Services.

But Moehlig, who works directly with families to connect them to gender-affirming care providers, said the situation is also proving “very confusing” for families, who say the hospital hasn’t been properly communicating important updates to them.

Patient families also launched their own lawsuit against Rady Children’s Health in March seeking to restore the care at the hospital system, alleging that the hospital’s plans to end care at its hospital violated state anti-discrimination law.

“This is an incredibly important time in this country where the federal government has targeted this medical care, not based on science or medicine, but based on politics,” said attorney Amy Whelan of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, part of the legal team representing Rady patient families.

Rady Children’s Health did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

What this means for families with trans kids

Advocates have stressed that gender-affirming care for youth is legal, and families should continue to seek it if needed for their children. California has passed shield laws protecting the care within state boundaries.

“Patients are protected, and Rady Children's Health is continuing this care, and they will do that for at least the next six months,” said Whelan.

Moehlig of TransFamily Support Services said that she hopes Rady Children’s Health will be more communicative with patient families in the months ahead.

“If you're not following what's happening, if you haven't seen today or yesterday's news, you might not know that they're still open,” she said.

The state’s lawsuit against Rady Children’s Health will not have implications for other hospitals in the state. California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s lawsuit specifically cited a merger agreement his office approved in 2024 in which Rady Children’s Health hospitals agreed to maintain their current level of gender-affirming care.

What's next

The extension of gender-affirming care at CHOC and Rady’s other hospitals comes as advocates are seeking to beef up protections for trans healthcare, especially as the federal government issues a fresh round of subpoenas to hospitals around the country, some of which have already been blocked.

Advocates are also watching to see if Gov. Gavin Newsom will approve increased funding aimed at protecting gender-affirming care and reproductive healthcare. Tens of millions of dollars were proposed for the California budget but didn’t make it into Newsom’s version. The governor has until Tuesday to decide whether to include the funding.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

The smell of rotten meat and fish permeated throughout the home of Alfonso Hernandez, 67, who lives just a few houses north of where the Lineage warehouse fire in Boyle Heights took place. Despite running an air purifier, the stench mixed with Thursday’s heat reminded him of the notorious smell of driving by the Farmer John meatpacking plant in the city of Vernon, less than 3 miles away. 

To him, this was worse.

“It’s like sometimes when I forget food in my car and then two days later I’m like, ‘What the heck?’,” Hernandez said.

Even though the warehouse fire has been declared knocked down, nearby residents are still dealing with its aftermath. Now, officials are shifting into the next phase: Cleaning up the millions of pounds of seafood, pork, beef, and poultry left inside what remains of the damaged warehouse.

“Once we turn this building over to the building owner and the business owner, they will be responsible for paying all the expenses with the haul away,” Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore told reporters at Thursday’s press conference. 

Regulatory agencies like the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are expected to play a role in overseeing product disposal, Moore explained. 

Firefighters will remain on site to keep the building cool and address any remaining hot spots deep within the harder to reach regions of the structure. They will also support safety measures for cleanup crews. 

In a statement, Lineage said it hired Signal Restoration Services to lead cleanup efforts and has already staged cleanup equipment on-site.

Plans for disinfection, odor control, and pest control will be implemented. Lineage is also exploring ways to minimize disruption to the community, including the use of watertight trailers and containers to transport waste off-site.

“To move forward as quickly as possible, we urge the government agencies involved to promptly address any permitting or other approvals necessary to begin cleanup,” the company said.

A 2024 fire in Finley, Washington, offers a glimpse into what residents might expect moving forward. The cold-storage warehouse, also operated by Lineage Logistics, burned for two months. Cleanup cost about $10 million. The entire building was lost and county commissioners at the time grew frustrated with how long the process took. In some cases, clearing took time because certain areas required approval from fire investigators or local agencies. 

“Knocking down the fire does not mean the crisis is behind us. It means we’re entering a new phase,” said Councilmember Ysabel Jurado. “Now, our focus must be on protecting people’s health, supporting recovery and making sure this community gets the answers it deserves.” 

Officials are working with AltaMed, specifically the sites nearest to the scene, and St. John’s Community Health Clinic, to open mobile clinics throughout the district in the days ahead. 

Jurado and LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis authored separate motions on June 23 seeking answers about the cause of the fire, the facility’s compliance history, inspections, and oversight systems. Accountability, Jurado said, begins with facts. 

The smoke respite shelter at City Terrace Park will close at noon on Saturday, June 27, as use has significantly declined, Solis shared in a statement. 

“The County’s Department of Health Services mobile unit was deployed multiple times this week at City Terrace Park, alongside Via Care and other FQHC partners, and will continue to support distribution efforts and deployments as needed, providing basic care, respiratory checks, screenings, and referrals at no cost.” 

How to report odors: 

Contact the South Coast Air Quality Management District by calling (800) CUT SMOG or (800) 288-7664.

Boyle Heights Beat senior reporter Alejandra Molina contributed to this story.