Leslie Berestein Rojas
My focus is on our coverage of L.A.’s communities of color and immigrant diasporas. Before this, I spent 10 years covering immigrant communities for KPCC.
When I was a kid, my family left Cuba and landed in Huntington Park. I grew up there, speaking Spanish at home and steeped in Southeast L.A.’s beautiful Latinidad. I love telling the stories of L.A. and its people. Now, I get to help shape those stories and work with talented reporters to hone their craft.
I’ve also covered immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border, reported stories in Mexico and other parts of Latin America, and done lots more for large newspapers and national magazines.
Among the things I love about L.A.: family, food from everywhere, signs in dozens of languages, the smells of chaparral and dusty freeways, the downtown skyline as you cross a bridge from the east. Mostly, I love that it’s home.
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Efforts include donation pickup by a Turkish-owned delivery company, with local Turkish American groups pitching in. -
Vendors say they’d rather face hefty fines than abandon these lucrative areas. They’ve sued to do away with no-vending zones.
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Gov. Newsom vetoed a similar bill last year, citing its cost as one reason.
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Russian air attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have left millions without power as temperatures drop. Ukrainians in L.A. are gathering generators and other critical cold-weather aid to send.
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While sidewalk vending was legalized four years ago, it remains banned in certain busy and lucrative areas, including Hollywood Boulevard. Street vendors want to force the city to lift these bans.
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Since Jan. 2016, at least 30 stone fabricators in the Los Angeles area have been diagnosed with an accelerated form of silicosis, an incurable, and deadly, dust-related illness. The evidence suggests silica-rich synthetic stone is to blame.
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Jhonaikel Vielma Belandria is now staying with relatives in Moreno Valley. The journey was long, and it's not over.
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In the wake of the City Council tape scandal, Indigenous leaders are pushing for better representation and recognition.
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For decades, Black and Latino community leaders and groups have worked hard to organize both communities around shared goals and needs. Bad actors in City Hall don’t change that, they say.
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Nury Martinez, who resigned today as City Council president, is heard making a crack about “little short dark people” who she later refers to as ugly.
