Welcome to 2025! We hope you enjoyed lots of food and drink over the holiday season, and if you’ve resolved to get a few more steps each day in the new year, we can help with that.
Our resolution inside the LAist newsroom is to continue to serve you with hard hitting investigative coverage, drool-worthy food stories, A+ education coverage and everything in between.
Here’s a look at some of our coverage plans for the new year:
Do sentencing
Former O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do is scheduled to be sentenced March 31 on his plea to conspiracy to commit bribery. Prosecutors say Do accepted over $550,000 in bribes for directing over $10 million in COVID funds to a nonprofit that his youngest daughter helped lead. Authorities say they continue to investigate the misuse of taxpayer funds directed by the former supervisor, which was first uncovered by LAist reporter Nick Gerda.
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New year, new nest
The saga of Jackie and Shadow, the bald eagle couple in Big Bear that have become internet famous over the years, continues in 2025. Last year, Jackie laid three eggs. But fans monitoring the livestream of their nest were left heart broken when none of them hatched despite the couple’s best efforts. This year, hope renews as Jackie and Shadow set up a new nest and try again — and we’ll all be watching.
What will rainy season bring?
Land movement in the Portuguese Bend area of Rancho Palos Verdes may have slowed from an unprecedented 1 foot a week to an average 2.7 inches, but residents are bracing themselves for the winter rain season, which could lead to even more destruction. Will the city’s underground de-watering efforts be enough? LAist's Yusra Farzan will be keeping close tabs on these developments.
Local climate action
LAist climate reporter Erin Stone is looking forward to digging into more stories that show how climate solutions intersect with other issues that affect our quality of life. Erin will be keeping track of the efforts to create a more sustainable water supply and waste system, as well as the challenge and opportunities of shifting to an electric economy. She also plans to explore how housing and affordability intersect with climate change. Erin will also be keeping an eye on what a Trump presidency may mean for local climate action.
Sustainable eats
In terms of food and drink, Gab Chabran will continue to scour the city for restaurants, chefs and trends you should know about. In particular, how chefs are working more sustainably. One emerging concept is "zero waste" restaurants and cooking — using every part of whatever you’re cooking. For example, using a diced onion for a particular dish, and using the rest of it (skin and all) to enrich a stock. Another top on his radar is is sourcing suppliers locally, which cuts down on truck emissions.
And while Los Angeles remains the strong beating heart of the SoCal culinary scene, we’re going to explore further in Orange County, too, where more and more excellent eateries have been opening up.
On the education beat
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid finally seems to be working, but, last school year, students encountered glitches and delays that put their futures in jeopardy. Now, students in mixed-status families are making tough choices about whether to apply. LAist's Julia Barajas will be closely following those developments. She'll also dig deeper into why barriers to student success come about in the first place, and why higher ed often promises more than it can deliver.
Following the money
Voters approved more than $15 billion of taxpayer funded school repairs and construction in L.A. and Orange counties this election cycle. LAist's Mariana Dale will closely follow how districts are spending the money, especially considering that there are fewer students in many Southern California classrooms than a decade ago.
What about the students?
The University of California system is set to cut a half billion dollars in spending this fiscal year. The much larger California State University is set to cut about twice as much. Some campuses are feeling the hurt more than others. The big question that LAist's Adolfo-Guzman Lopez will be asking: How will cuts affect students?
Early childhood education
California is currently in the midst of rolling out an entirely new grade for 4-year-olds called transitional kindergarten, or TK, that is offered at public schools. And it’s a huge deal. LAist's Elly Yu will follow how districts are filling their teacher spots, and making classrooms appropriate for these young students. And we’re curious to hear from parents about how it’s going, and what effect it’s having on the existing preschool system.
AAPI communities
LAist's Josie Huang says that as part of her coverage of AAPI communities she’ll be closely following President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to abolish birthright citizenship. (The constitution says anyone born in the United States is automatically a U.S. citizen. This was affirmed in 1898 with the landmark case of Wong Kim Ark. The Supreme Court ruled Wong, a cook born in San Francisco to Chinese-born parents, was indeed a citizen.) Trump's pledge will no doubt be challenged in court. Trump had also proposed ending birthright citizenship during his first term in office but did not act.
Making sense of LA
For LA Explained, LAist's Cato Hernandez will continue to focus on aspects of SoCal that spark curiosity, those fascinating tidbits of history that you maybe didn’t know about yet. We’ll definitely give you stories that make for great table conversations. (Check out our story about SoCal area codes!)
And since navigating such a diverse and complex city can be tricky at times, we’ll be offering practical guides to make your life easier, from dealing with local governments to living with wild animals to an insider’s guide to places to explore.
Criminal justice, mass deportations
LAist's Frank Stoltze will be watching how the new Los Angeles County district attorney’s policies will play out. Nathan Hochman, who beat incumbent George Gascón in the November election, has promised his policies will reduce crime. Although it's difficult to hang the crime rate on any district attorney, Hochman blamed Gascon for the county’s crime rate and now will likely be judged by the same measure. Stoltze will also watch how Trump’s promises of mass deportations will play out in Southern California.
How we treat mental health issues
LAist's Robert Garrova will keep an eye on various investments on the state and local levels that are designed to assist people with mental illness get the help they need. One program in particular, California’s CARE Court, appears to be off to a slow start. The program allows family members, first responders and others to ask a court to step in with a voluntary care plan for someone living with serious, untreated mental illness, like schizophrenia.
Housing and homelessness
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority — better known as LAHSA — was the subject of a scathing audit this year that found serious accounting problems. County supervisors and some L.A. City Council members responded with proposals to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in funding. This year, we’ll see how serious elected leaders are about setting up an alternative to LAHSA. LAist's David Wagner will be closely following it all.
What about Tustin's 'twin'?
The city of Tustin will soon start holding a series of community meetings to discuss what to do with the remaining World War II blimp hangar after its twin burned down just over a year ago. The city has been paying for extra security to keep the hangar — one of the largest wooden structures ever built — from suffering the same fate. LAist's Jill Replogle will follow the fate of the beloved remaining hangar.
Recommended reading
Replogle will also continue to follow developments in Huntington Beach, including two potential ballot measures regarding the city's pride and joy — its libraries. One measure sees to ban the city from ever privatizing the libraries. The other seeks to upend a review board that would decide what books are, and are not, appropriate children’s books for the library. (Critics of the review board want to leave that power to the professional librarians.)
