LA Quality of Life: Cost of living, wildfire trauma and concerns over deportations

Cost of living, fire recovery, and concerns over deportations are all big players in this year’s UCLA Quality of Life Index report, released this week. It’s the tenth annual survey conducted by the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. According to the report, residents chose cost of living as the most important issue affecting their quality of life. The survey also found that trauma from the wildfires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades was widespread, finding more than two-fifths or respondents personally knew someone affected by the January fires. And nearly half of L.A. County residents worry they or a loved one could be deported. We discuss the key findings and more from the report with Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. If you have questions or want to weigh in, call 866-893-5722 or email atcomments@laist.com.

The Broad celebrates 10 years with a new museum expansion

The Broad has broken ground on a new expansion that will increase the museum’s gallery space by 70 percent. The added space will allow the museum to feature more of its growing collection of artists, and will also include a live performance space for concerts and events. The expansion comes as the Broad celebrates its 10-year anniversary. It is expected to be completed by 2028, just in time for the LA Olympics. Today on AirTalk, we speak with the Broad’s founding director, Joanne Heyler, about the new expansion and the museum’s milestone of 10 years.

NBA Playoffs Preview: Lakers welcome Timberwolves to LA, Clippers head to Denver

After a regular season that’s seen major shake ups for both Los Angeles basketball teams, the Lakers and Clippers head into this year’s postseason with momentum. For the Clippers, last year’s departure of Paul George has seemingly not impacted the team, as coach Ty Lue has helped lead the team to a Top-6 finish. For the Lakers, they’ve seen a coach switch up, having hired rookie head coach JJ Reddick; they’ve also seen a change in key players, headlined by the Anthony Davis-Luka Doncic trade. Despite both teams finishing with 50-32 records, tiebreakers have allowed the Lakers to host the Minnesota Timberwolves for Round 1 of the NBA playoffs, while the Clippers head to Denver to face the Nuggets. So what’s to be expected from both of our local teams? Do either have a shot at winning it all this year? Joining us to help preview the 2025 NBA Playoffs is Law Murray, Clippers beat reporter for The Athletic, and Khobi Price, Lakers beat reporter for the Southern California News Group.

TV Talk: ‘#1 Happy Family USA,’ ‘Government Cheese,’ ‘North of North,’ and many more!

Have you felt completely overwhelmed when deciding what new show to watch these days? Us too. There’s just so much content out there between network TV and numerous streaming platforms. Each week, we will try to break through the noise with TV watchers who can point us to the must-sees and steer us clear of the shows that maybe don’t live up to the hype. Joining us today on TV Talk is Liz Shannon-Miller, senior entertainment editor at Consequence and Steve Green, freelance TV critic.

TV Shows:

• #1 Happy Family USA (Amazon Prime Video)
• Government Cheese (Apple TV+)
• North of North (Netflix)
• The Rehearsal [Season 2] (HBO)
• Towards Zero (BritBox)

Road to Recovery: An AirTalk Event

After the January fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades leveled over 12,000 homes and businesses, these two communities are grappling with the lingering effects of the disaster and trying to find ways to move forward. This week during a special in-person event, Larry talked with county leaders about the recovery efforts along with people working on the complexities of rebuilding and some of the major questions that come with it. Today, we’re broadcasting that conversation. Guests include Kathryn Barger, L.A. County supervisor representing the 5th district, Mark Pestrella, director of L.A. County Public Works, Dr. Muntu Davis, L.A. County Health Officer, Amy Christopherson Bolten, president of Christopherson builders, Julianna Delgado, director of “Back in Business,” initiative, a program with the Altadena Chamber of Commerce and planning commissioner and chair of the design commission for the City of Pasadena, Jasmin Shupper, founder and president of Greenline Housing Foundation, and Jacob Margolis, LAist Science Reporter.