Morning Brief: Your Questions Of The Year, Composting, And Dumplings

Good morning, L.A. It’s Dec. 30.

This year, how many times did you open this daily newsletter to learn about L.A. and stay connected with your community? Please put a dollar value on this service and take a moment to make a year-end donation to LAist to keep our unique local reporting strong. Your gift will allow us to plan ahead for the many months to come. Thank you.

And now, back to the news…

Here at LAist, we pride ourselves on providing news you can use — and that means listening to your questions and digging deep to answer them. In 2021, y’all asked us over 3,000 questions, and your biggest concerns probably come as no surprise: COVID, money, and the Big One.

Starting in January, we fielded more than 1,400 questions about the coronavirus vaccine in just two weeks. Folks were interested in when and where to get their first dose, and when they would become eligible. As the weeks wore on, those questions shifted to inquiries about the second dose — including whether it was safe to mix and match, and if you could go to a different provider for the second shot.

As one reader said, “I have gone from the exhilaration of locating a first appointment to the chaos of how to secure a second dose.” 

Once vaccines became widely available, your concerns turned to money. Many people had been out of work or working sporadically, and California’s unemployment office was deeply backlogged and unreachable. Finances became an even more pressing worry as the state’s eviction moratorium came to an end.

After we joined forces with the Los Angeles Times for the online event “LOCAL MATTERS: How To Survive The Big One,” your questions turned to disaster preparedness — because no matter what else is going on, the threat of an earthquake always looms in the back of our minds.

And now, of course, we’re back to vaccines; boosters, specifically, as well as the spread of the omicron variant.

At this point, we know better than to make predictions about next year, but no matter what, we’re so grateful to be in this with you, and look forward to bringing you more news in 2022.

If you have a question you’d like us to answer, you can ask it here!

Keep reading for more on what’s happening in L.A., and stay safe out there.

What Else You Need To Know Today

• From bacon to booze, these 10 new state laws could have an impact on your daily life.
• Local experts are divided on the CDC’s newly recommended COVID-19 isolation period.
• The Rose Parade is back in person this week, with new COVID-19 protocols and precautions.
• California residents and businesses will be required to separate food waste from other trash and recycling, starting in 2022. 
• The Taiwanese community is upset with the NFL for including Taiwan as part of China in its marketing plan for the L.A. Rams.
• LeVar Burton, the 2022 Rose Parade Grand Marshal, was ”gobsmacked” at being selected.

Before You Go ... Around The World In 11 Fabulous Dumplings

Yak momos (dumplings) from Tibet Nepal House in Pasadena.

(Fiona Chandra for LAist)

Whether they’re Himalayan momos or Vietnamese bánh bột lọc, Polish pierogies or Korean mandu, we love those tasty packages of vegetables, spice and meat wrapped in dough. In L.A., they’re available throughout the county, from Arcadia to Glendale to Costa Mesa and more.