southern california

A coalition of conservation groups wants Southern California to get 85% of its water locally, up from the 50% it gets now, by 2045, and says a new plan shows how.

It’s urging state leaders to scrap plans for a 45-mile tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and consider asking voters to approve a bond measure to fund local water solutions. The 34-page strategy was released as critical decisions loom for local officials, California’s next governor and legislators.

Over the last century, Southern California has grown and thrived thanks to giant aqueducts it built to bring water from hundreds of miles away — the Eastern Sierra, the Colorado River and Northern California.

But with water costs rising and climate change jeopardizing these distant sources, there is growing interest in finding ways to get more water locally.

The allied groups are calling for recycling more wastewater, capturing more stormwater, improving efficiency and cleaning up contaminated groundwater.

“We have to prioritize our investments, and prioritizing them in local water makes the most sense,” said Bruce Reznik, executive director of the group Los Angeles Waterkeeper.

The coalition includes fishing groups, environmental organizations and Northern California’s Winnemem Wintu Tribe.

Its plan calls for a “new urban water renaissance” in California that prioritizes local water. This approach would reliably yield more and cost far less than Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed Delta Conveyance Project beneath the Delta.

The state estimated in 2024 the tunnel would cost $20.1 billion, but opponents say it could cost three to five times more.

“Local water is reliable, it’s more affordable, and it’s more flexible, so that we’re not committing California ratepayers to higher bills that they don’t need,” said Kyle Jones, a water expert and consultant who helped prepare the plan for the coalition.

Southern California imports about half of its water from other regions.

The coalition’s plan says the region can secure up to 2 million acre-feet of local water per year. It estimates the costs of more conservation and efficiency, more stormwater and groundwater cleaning, and more water recycling at $44 billion over two decades. The Delta tunnel, in contrast, could cost $60 billion to $100 billion, it says.

Whether the tunnel project is ultimately built may hinge on whether large water agencies, including the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, decide to participate and pay for it.

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1. Cranes rise above the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys. 2. When completed, Los Angeles will nearly double recycled water for 500,000 residents. 3. Storage tanks sit behind a fence before being placed in the ground at the plant. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

“Metropolitan Water District really does have a significant choice on it, that not just impacts their ratepayers but impacts every single person in the state,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of the group Restore the Delta. “Are we going to spend $20, $60, maybe upward to $100 million on a tunnel? Or are we going to invest significant money in local solutions that provide water resiliency and sustainability for everyone in California? That is what is at stake right now.”

The Metropolitan Water District already is planning a large new facility in Carson to transform wastewater into purified drinking water. Los Angeles and San Diego are also building water recycling plants.

“At the same time, water imported from the northern Sierra and the Colorado River provides the foundation of water supply reliability for Southern California,” said Shivaji Deshmukh, the MWD’s general manager.

He noted that the MWD invests in water efficiency and capturing stormwater, and has helped reduce per-person water use by more than 40% since 1990.

The agency’s 38-member board last year adopted a climate adaptation strategy that sets goals for lining up additional water.

Los Angeles city leaders and L.A. County supervisors have also set goals for becoming more locally self-sufficient.

The advocates who wrote the policy plan said these efforts should accelerate and expand. They pointed out that the Colorado River’s reservoirs are falling to perilously low levels, and native fish in the Delta are in decline as the pumping of water takes an ecological toll.

“Climate change is exacerbating the challenges in those ecosystems, meaning that less and less water will be available to import,” said Ashley Overhouse, water policy advisor for the group Defenders of Wildlife. “All the while, the cost of water is continuing to rise.”

About 20 other environmental groups endorsed the coalition’s strategy.

“We have got to do a better job in the next 100 years than we did in the last 100 years, if we truly want to create a place of abundance once again,” said Frankie Myers, a member of the Yurok Tribe in Northern California. “This idea that we can steal … and divert water however we want with no consequences has got to end.”

Construction continues at the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys in October 2025.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Benjamin Bass, a UCLA scientist who studies how climate change is affecting the Colorado River and other water sources, joined the group as they presented their proposal in an online briefing.

“Traditional sources for imported water are less reliable than they used to be,” Bass said. “The most reliable source of water in the future is local water.”

Other experts have reached similar conclusions.

Researchers at the Pacific Institute, a water think tank in Oakland, have examined improvements such as fixing leaks in pipes, switching out inefficient washing machines and toilets, and replacing thirsty lawns with plants suited to the state’s Mediterranean climate.

In a 2022 report, they found that a set of standard practices and technologies could reduce total urban water use by 30% or more.

It’s a showdown that — regardless of the outcome in the June 2 primary election — probably won’t have Republicans in a celebratory mood.

The battle for the 40th Congressional District representing a swath of inland Orange County and portions of San Bernardino and Riverside counties is happening in one of Southern California’s only remaining solidly red districts. But that doesn’t provide much solace, experts say.

The shuffling of districts following the passage of Proposition 50, which gave Democrats in Sacramento the authority to redraw the state’s congressional districts in favor of Democratic candidates, is pitting two current members of Congress — Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills) and Ken Calvert (R-Corona) — against each other in a bid to keep their seat.

The two are also fending off challenges from a host of Democrats and an independent candidate who says she hopes to win votes from those disenchanted by deeply partisan politics felt across the country.

But even if a Republican keeps the seat, California’s Republican congressional delegation is still down by another member.

“It was all part of the Prop. 50 effort,” said Jon Fleischman, a conservative strategist. “Not only did they reduce the number of seats that Republicans have, they got to shove a couple of incumbents into one seat and eat popcorn and watch the food fight.”

And the gloves are already off.

Kim launched a $3.7-million ad blitz last month with a video boasting her support of President Trump, saying that she’s a “trusted Trump conservative.”

Calvert’s campaign responded in an attack ad that referred to Kim as a RINO, or Republican in name only, a pejorative term frequently used by Trump and others in the GOP to describe conservatives perceived as being disloyal to the party and a “Trump traitor.”

The television advertisement, which began airing last month, called attention to Kim co-sponsoring legislation with other Republicans to censure Trump in 2022 after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Democrats widely criticized the move as a slap on the wrist.

“I believe censuring the president after his actions helps hold him accountable and could garner wide bipartisan support, allowing the House to remain united during some of our nation’s darkest days,” Kim said at the time.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report lists the 40th District, which extends from Villa Park south to Mission Viejo in Orange County and into Corona, Murrieta and Menifee in the Inland Empire, as being solidly Republican.

It’s the only House seat that was competitive under the old congressional district map that is now fairly safe for the GOP. Trump would have won the district by 12 points in 2024.

As the two incumbents trade jabs, Democrats Esther Kim Varet, an art gallery owner; Lisa Ramirez, an immigration attorney; Joe Kerr, a retired fire captain; and Claude Keissieh, an electrical engineer; are hoping to garner enough support among the progressives in the district to advance to the November election.

Nina Linh, who entered the race early on as a Democrat but has since identified as an independent, is hoping to make inroads with voters disenchanted by both parties.

“When I look at our political climate, I have never in my adult life witnessed or experienced anything so polarized,” she said in a recent interview. “And people, including myself, are just exhausted from this back-and-forth rhetoric for over a decade that has gotten us into a culture of just hyper-divisiveness and extreme partisanship that is prioritized over what everyday people are concerned about.”

Dan Schnur, who teaches political communications at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine, called the race in the 40th District a “classic matchup between the two Republican parties — the pro-Trump party and the pre-Trump party.”

Kim, who in 2020 was one of the first Korean American women elected to Congress, does vote to advance Trump policies, but her biography is more consistent with an earlier era of conservatism. Calvert, the longest-serving Republican in California’s congressional delegation, has much more aggressively positioned himself in line with Trump, Schnur said.

The district is representative in a lot of ways of the two types of Republicans that make up much of the party’s base — MAGA supporters and traditional Republicans who have either come to accept Trump or quietly resent him.

“Not only is this district reflective of the challenge that the party is facing around the country this year, it could be an early precursor of what Republicans will face in the 2028 presidential primary,” Schnur said.

Once upon a time, Primm, Nev., had three bustling casino resorts, shiny gas stations, a roller coaster and Bonnie and Clyde’s “death car.”

It was a bit surreal, said former visitor John Honell of West Covina: “You had this whole complex in the middle of the desert.”

Southern Californians traveling the arid stretches of the I-15 would see Primm pop up. As he drove to Sin City for bowling tournaments, Honell would stop and “drop a few coins” into the slot machines. It was a gambling oasis — a little less flashy and a little more affordable than Vegas and 45 minutes closer.

“I guess it worked for a while,” said Honell, 85.

But it works no longer. The last of the three casino resorts will close on July 4, owner Affinity Gaming confirmed to The Times this week.

Honell, a regular in the 1970s, saw the growth of a desert gamble: the expansion of the Primm property, in the dusty town once known as State Line, from Whiskey Pete’s gas station, bar and slot machines into three busy resorts.

The Nevada gambling hub south of Las Vegas along the 15 Freeway appears finished, though. Southern Californians who appreciated that it was a shorter drive now can find gambling much closer, at tribal casinos.

Las Vegas insider publication Las Vegas Locally posted a termination letter from Affinity Gaming’s affiliate, Primadonna Co. LLC, to employees who worked at Primm Valley.

The casino is closing down July 4, with all employment ending that day too.

Affinity Gaming declined to make an official comment.

The castle-shaped Whiskey Pete’s opened in 1977, followed by Primm Valley in 1990 and Buffalo Bill’s in 1994. Whiskey Pete’s was the first casino to close, in December 2024. Buffalo Bill’s Resort ended 24-7 operations on July 6, only opening when the casino’s concert venue, the Star of the Desert Arena, hosted special events.

David G. Schwartz, a gaming historian and professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said Primm’s casinos were “built for an entirely different world.”

“Southern California is a huge market for Las Vegas and, in particular, it was once very attractive for those in the Inland Empire,” Schwartz said. “It was a way to trim 45 minutes off the drive — it was a 2-hour drive. It’s different math.”

Lights still glow on the Buffalo Bill’s Resort and Casino sign on Sunday, July 6, 2025 in Primm, NV. (Bridget Bennett / For The Times)

(Bridget Bennett/For The Times)

Primm was once one of Nevada’s more popular gambling resorts, a less expensive, slightly more kitschy alternative to Las Vegas that benefited from being closer than Sin City.

Primm Valley, Whiskey Pete’s and Buffalo Bill’s all hosted at one time the famed Bonnie and Clyde V-8 Ford riddled with more than 100 bullets in 1934.

Whiskey Pete’s offered a quick and affordable 24-hour IHOP, in comparison to Vegas’ pricier buffets, and Californians and Nevadans visited Primm Valley’s 100-store outlet mall, supported by shoppers who were brought by bus to the mall for free.

The three resorts enjoyed expansion and growth throughout the 2010s by utilizing low prices, gimmicks and attractions to lure guests.

Buffalo Bill’s was the biggest of the trio, boasting a buffalo-shaped pool and 592 rooms at its opening (the Bellagio has nearly 4,000 rooms) and eventually expanding to 1,242 rooms.

Buffalo Bill’s and its sister resorts closed in March 2020 when the pandemic hit, reopening between December 2022 and 2023. But they struggled to attract customers.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic hurt all Nevada casinos, that was only part of the reason for Primm’s decline. Schwartz said tribal casinos in Southern California saw their prospects soar as Primm’s hotels teeter-tottered.

California voters passed Proposition 1-A in 2000, which allowed tribal casinos to operate slot machines and erased limits on card games.

“Many of those people Primm was drawing from began to stay in Southern California, where the drives are just much shorter and the amenities much closer,” Schwartz said. “You see the same issue playing out at Laughlin along the Arizona border and Reno and Tahoe in Northern California.”

Shortly after Proposition 1-A’s passage, San Manuel was one of several tribal casinos in San Bernardino and Riverside counties that declared an arms race with Nevada.

Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, run by the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, opened in December 2004. The tribe was the fourth between 2002 and 2004 to open or expand its operations, including Agua Caliente in Palm Springs, Morongo in Cabazon and the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians in Temecula.

Most of these casinos have continued to build and expand their operations as revenue has continued to flow.

The Southern California tribal resorts are classified by the National Indian Gaming Commission, a gaming regulatory body, to be in the Sacramento region, which includes all resorts in California and Northern Nevada.

In 2014, the combined casinos contributed $7.9 billion in gross gaming revenue.

Ten years later, 87 tribal operations throughout two states combined for $12.1 billion, marking a modest 1.4% increase from 2023.

Yaamava’ Resort & Casino, run by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, sits in Highland, about 200 miles from Primm but less than half that distance from downtown L.A.

Yaamava’ completed a $760-million expansion in 2021, which added a 17-floor tower, three bars and about 1,700 new slots.

The 7,400 slot machines at Yaamava’ make the casino the West Coast’s largest, with 4,000 more slots than its Vegas peers. By square footage of gaming space, Yaamava is No. 4 in the nation and still the biggest on the West Coast.

“The decline has been part of a larger trend,” Schwartz said of Primm. “People are choosing options that most appeal to them.”

When the late and great Times sports columnist Mike Downey decided years ago to write about jockey Billy Shoemaker, he did so perfectly. His lead sentence:

“Billy Shoemaker was born 2 pounds 6 ounces and it was the only edge he ever needed in life.”

That remains noteworthy now, because when they run this year’s thoroughbred classic at Churchill Downs on May 2, it will mark 40 years since “Billy The Shoe,” still the third-winningest rider in the sport’s North American history and perhaps its most memorable, won his fourth and last Derby aboard a 17-1 longshot named Ferdinand.

In 1986, Snow Chief was the 3-1 Derby favorite. He was trained by colorful and often grumpy Mel Stute, who was, like Shoemaker, a fixture at Santa Anita. His jockey was a young Alex Solis, who came from Panama, was still struggling with the English language then and had quickly dazzled the Southern California racing world with his talent.

Jockey Bill Shoemaker smiles as he holds a large plaque presented to him at Santa Anita on Jan. 1, 1953, in recognition of winning 484 races. He promptly added to the total by winning the first race of the day.

(David F. Smith / Associated Press)

It was an era in sports somewhat less contentious, more inclined to celebrate its history and its moments and less inclined to look for more. A few weeks earlier, Jack Nicklaus had won the Masters, at age 46. It was a hugely popular outcome, just as Shoemaker’s would be. It was quite the time for legend building, those few months in 1986.

The Derby network telecast brought the comfort of an easy chair. Jim McKay, who had done it for years, took viewers through the likely race scenarios. Al Michaels, whose racing chops were notable well before he asked the world if it believed in miracles and well before the NFL hustled him away to greater fame and fortune, pitched in on the telecast with thoughts on the pageantry and some race angles. A young Michaels, with thick black curly hair and the same distinctive voice, broadcast from the track and touched on the interesting elements of Shoemaker’s presence.

“Ferdinand is at 17-1,” Michaels told the audience. “A few years back, you couldn’t get 17-1 with Shoemaker if he was riding Mr. Ed.”

Shoemaker was already a legend and had already won the Derby three times by then. But any mention of his Derby expertise was, and always would be, sprinkled with a disclaimer about his 1975 ride on Gallant Man, when he misjudged the finish line while leading on the home stretch, pulled up his horse and lost a race he had pretty much won.

In ‘86, that was all soft peddled by the media, which mentioned it more out of duty than reportorial necessity. Ferdinand was, after all, a 17-1 longshot, easier to downplay or ignore. Also, Shoemaker was 54, not exactly an age to be looked upon as a contender. No jockey that age had ever won the Derby — and still hasn’t. There was respect for his seniority, but mostly an assumption that he was the past, not likely the present. He had led North American racing in victories for 29 years, finally totaling 8,833. But much of that happened prior to 1986.

Worst for Shoemaker, he had drawn the No. 1 hole, the starting spot closest to the infield that is usually a death knell for Derby horses. The gate opens and the entire field dashes for the rail, all coming down on top of the 1-hole starter. Shoemaker and Ferdinand held ground for a while, but by the time they got to the back stretch, they were dead last. They were still there as the field got to the top of the home stretch.

Then the cavalry charge to the finish began and Shoemaker went with the crowd, to the outside. At one point in the home stretch run, he was six horses wide.

Then, he made one of those moves that made William Lee Shoemaker “Billy The Shoe.” He saw an opening to his left, squeezed through it and soon had Ferdinand almost to the rail — and in full gallop. Before anybody could analyze what had happened, Ferdinand, carrying a jockey who probably never weighed 100 pounds in his career — thanks to the birth advantage Downey so aptly pointed out years later — was cruising past the leaders and sailing home a winner.

Ferdinand, ridden by Billy Shoemaker, heads down the homestretch to win the Kentucky Derby on May 5, 1986, in Louisville, Ky.

(John Swart / Associated Press)

The victory made legendary trainer Charlie Whittingham a Kentucky Derby winner for the first time. He was 73 and had disliked running young horses in a pressure race such as the Derby. The Triple Crown races are only for three-year-old thoroughbreds. Whittingham won another Derby three years later with Sunday Silence. He trained into his 80s.

Shoemaker’s career rightfully was topped off by that Derby victory, as well as his win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 1987.

The aftermath of that 1986 race was less kind, although nobody could take away what Shoemaker had accomplished. The jockey who finished last in the ’86 Derby was Laffit Pincay Jr., who later passed Shoemaker’s North American victory total with 9,530 wins. Pincay’s total was topped by Russell Baze, who took 12,842 wins, but in a riding career that featured wins at lesser tracks against lesser competition. When Baze broke his record, however, Pincay was there to offer his congratulations.

By the time Shoemaker won the 1986 Derby, he had little left to achieve. He not only won 11 Triple Crown races, but he also had won, to mention a few prestigious races, the Hollywood Derby, the Hollywood Gold Cup, the Oak Tree Stakes, the San Luis Obispo and the Santa Anita Derby.

Jockey Billy Shoemaker smiles as he rides Ferdinand, the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner, at Hollywood Park after winning the Breeder’s Cup.

(Bettmann Archive via Getty Images)

Each one eight times.

Shoemaker moved into thoroughbred training after he stopped riding. He was a fixture around Santa Anita, as he had been as a jockey. His success was mixed, certainly less than he had as a jockey.

On April 8, 1991, after a day of golf in the Inland Empire, Shoemaker was headed west on the 210 freeway in San Dimas. The road at that point includes an exit to the right for the 57 freeway south and under the 210. Shoemaker swerved right off the 210 and rolled his Ford Bronco down the embankment, about three stories high, and onto the 57 freeway. Police confirmed he was intoxicated during the crash. Shoemaker suffered a broken neck and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair, from which he continued as a trainer for several years.

Billly Shoemaker is in the winner’s circle at Santa Anita in March 1976 after winning his 7,000th race.

(Associated Press)

Shoemaker eventually sued the state of California because there was no guard rail at the site, the Ford Motor Co., to whom he alleged that the Bronco was a rollover risk, and Glendora Community Hospital for alleged incorrect treatment when he was bought in. Ford paid him at least $1 million, after agreeing to do so if he received no money from the hospital. There is no record of him getting any money from the state of California.

Shoemaker died in October 2013. He remains third on the North American jockey career win list with his 8,833.

Ferdinand was sent to stud in 1989 and sold to a breeding farm in Japan in 1994. In 2002, reports surfaced that Ferdinand had been sent to a slaughter house in Japan, where he became food for either humans or pets, or both. Racing’s indignation over that, as well as that of anger in the general public, prompted the formation by Congress of a bill that would ban the slaughter of horses in the United States.

It never passed.

Tens of thousands of readers of all ages, from toddlers clutching picture books to longtime fans carrying armfuls of paperbacks, fanned out across the USC campus Saturday for the opening day of the 31st Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, packing panels and lining up to see favorite authors and celebrity guests.

It was too early to know how many people attended the first day of the event, billed as the country’s largest literary festival, though organizers said they expect between 150,000 and 155,000 attendees over the weekend. By late morning, the campus was already bustling, with strong turnout expected for appearances by author T.C. Boyle and actors Sarah Jessica Parker and David Duchovny, among others.

Founded in 1996 and spread across eight outdoor stages and 12 indoor venues, the festival has become a fixture on Los Angeles’ cultural calendar, bringing together more than 550 storytellers for panels, author interviews, book signings, performances and screenings spanning a wide range of genres, from children’s story times to cooking demonstrations.

This year’s lineup features a broad mix of writers, performers and public figures, including comedian Larry David, musician Lionel Richie, multihyphenate businesswoman (and Beyoncé’s mother) Tina Knowles, author and social critic Roxane Gay and scholar Reza Aslan.

Under sunny skies, actor and reality TV personality Lisa Rinna brought humor and a bit of bite to a 10:30 a.m. conversation on the festival’s main stage. The “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum released her second memoir, “You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It,” in February, chronicling her time on the show and her recent turn on Season 4 of Peacock’s reality competition series “The Traitors.”

Reflecting on her approach to “Traitors,” Rinna said she wanted to strip away the conflict-driven persona she had cultivated on “Real Housewives” and present a more unfiltered version of herself. “I was like, ‘Self, listen. You’re gonna go in there and just be you. No housewife s—, none of that reactionary stuff.’ ”

In conversation with Times senior television writer Yvonne Villarreal, Rinna also spoke candidly about the loss of her mother, Lois Rinna, in 2021 and how her grief manifested in a feeling of rage while she was filming Season 12 of “Real Housewives.”

“It really took me by surprise,” she said. “And you have to give space for it because you can’t make it go away. … They always say time heals, but time makes everything just a little less intense.”

At a noon panel titled “Fire Escape: Wildfires and the Changing Geography of Southern California,” moderated by Times climate and energy reporter Blanca Begert, author and former wildland firefighter Jordan Thomas said the scale and frequency of California wildfires have shifted dramatically in recent decades.

“The vast majority of the largest wildfires in California’s recorded history have happened just in the past 20 years,” said Thomas, author of last year’s National Book Award finalist “When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World.” “While I was a hotshot, there were three of those fires burning simultaneously, including a million-acre fire — more than used to burn across the entire American West over the course of a decade.”

In the early afternoon, former Georgia Rep. Stacey Abrams spoke with moderator Leigh Haber about artificial intelligence and voter suppression in front of an enthusiastic, packed crowd at USC’s Bovard Auditorium.

Abrams’ latest Avery Keene novel, “Coded Justice,” came out last year and explores the role of artificial intelligence in the healthcare industry. AI has already become enmeshed in everyday life, she said, asking audience members to raise their hands if they had used TSA PreCheck or a streaming service.

“AI is a tool … but it is created by someone, it is programmed by someone, it is controlled by someone,” she said. “Regulation is not about slowing down progress. It is about asking questions and saying that in the absence of answers, we’re going to put on reasonable restraints that we can revisit.”

Abrams also revealed that her next book, the fourth in her Avery Keene thriller series, will focus on prediction markets.

“I write Avery Keene novels to tell stories about social justice, but I put it in a form that’s accessible to people who don’t think that they are social justice people,” Abrams said. “I want to meet people where they are, not where I want them to be.”

She also encouraged audience members to push back against voter suppression and defend democracy by volunteering at polling places — even in reliably blue districts — warning that she believes masked paramilitary groups will be allowed to patrol voting locations and target people of color in the upcoming midterm elections.

The festival kicked off Friday evening with the 46th Los Angeles Times Book Prizes ceremony at Bovard Auditorium, emceed by Times columnist LZ Granderson, recognizing both emerging voices and established writers.

Winners were announced in 13 categories for works published last year. Find a full list of winners here.

Oakland-born novelist Amy Tan, whose work often explores identity and the Chinese American immigrant experience, received the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement, and the literary nonprofit We Need Diverse Books received the Innovator’s Award for its work promoting diversity in publishing.

Accepting her award, Tan, author of the 1989 bestseller “The Joy Luck Club,” said that as a birthright citizen, she had never questioned her place in the country until recent debates over citizenship and belonging led her to reconsider whether she is, in fact, a “political writer.”

“My birthright and that of millions of others is now being argued before the Supreme Court, and no matter what the outcome is, it’s been a kick in the gut to know that those in the highest echelons of government and those who support them believe that we don’t belong.”

Tan said that as an author, “I imagine the lives of the people I write about,” and that act of compassion “reflects our politics and our beliefs. And so yes, I am a political writer.”

Addressing the attendees, Times Executive Editor Terry Tang pointed to the breadth of the weekend’s programming as an opportunity for connection and discovery. “If you take in just a fraction of these events, it will expand your mind,” she said. “This weekend gives all of us a chance to celebrate a sense of unity, purpose and support.”

The festival runs through Sunday. More information, including a schedule of events, can be found on the festival’s website.

You ask. We answer. Or at least we’re going to try.

The Times asked readers for their burning questions regarding the Olympics, and it’s the ticketing process that’s bringing the most heat. Locals in Southern California and Oklahoma City endured the presale headaches and sticker shock before the global audience got their shot at securing tickets this week. But with more than two years remaining until the Games open, expect that there will be more questions.

Here is what Times readers wanted to know:

Why are tickets so expensive?

A price tag of $5,000 to watch the opening ceremony or $2,500 for women’s artistic gymnastics finals shocked hopeful fans on the first day of ticket sales. But it’s not 1984 anymore.

Ticket sales and hospitality are expected to cover about $2.5 billion of the total $7.1 budget. LA28 will have 14 million tickets available across the Olympics and Paralympics, so taken in total, the average ticket for the Games would have to be roughly $179 to reach the budget estimate. Paralympic tickets, which will go on sale in 2027, are expected to be less expensive than Olympic tickets. LA28 said the average Olympic ticket — inclusive of the 24% fee — is less than $200. The math is mathing.

LA28 did not release a complete price list before tickets went on sale, likely fueling some of the sticker shock after fans just heard about the promise of $28 tickets. And a 24% fee raised additional eyebrows.

The fees “align with standard industry practices for ticketing live events in the U.S.,” LA28 said in a statement and cover the costs of secure processing and delivering tickets.

Are there still $28 tickets available?

Yes. LA28 chief executive officer Reynold Hoover said at a recent press event that there are $28 tickets that have not yet been released.

But expect the tickets to go quickly whenever they are available.

There are roughly 1 million $28 tickets total. Divide those tickets to ensure they can be distributed over a number of drops and then divide each drop’s $28 tickets across multiple sports. It’s quickly resembling a small number of needles in a big haystack.

The 1 million $28 tickets are spread across every sport, but not every session. So don’t expect $28 tickets for finals or knock out rounds to the most in-demand sports including women’s artistic gymnastics, basketball, swimming or track and field to be sold at all. Cross your fingers, look for qualifying rounds, especially sports that have a lot of early pool matches such as 3×3 basketball or field hockey, and be open to exploring a new sport you’ve never heard of. Handball is actually a lot of fun to watch.

How many tickets are available in each drop?

This is a question everyone wants to know. And trust me, we’ve asked. LA28 declined in multiple settings to release specific numbers. The lack of information likely contributed to much of the confusion about what to expect when fans logged into the portal for the first time, and it makes it difficult to project what the ticket distribution will look like in future drops.

I had a time slot but didn’t buy my full allotment of tickets. What now?

If you didn’t buy the maximum 12 tickets allowed, you’ll automatically be entered for the next ticket draw later this year. LA28 has not released any additional details about when exactly that next opportunity will be, but it will have the same steps as the first one: a period of open, free registration, a random lottery and assigned time slots during which fans can log in and purchase tickets.

Fans will be automatically rolled over into future lotteries until they’ve reached the maximum 12 general tickets. So you don’t have to do anything extra if you’ve already registered for the first drop. But if you’ve bought your 12 general tickets and not the additional 12 soccer tickets, you won’t be entered into the next draw.

I didn’t register for the presale/first drop. Can I still get a chance to buy tickets?

Don’t panic. You can register next time. The next drop, which will come later this year, will have the same registration period, lottery, time slot pattern, but there will not a presale period. Each lottery is random, so whether you are a first-drop rollover, a new registrant on the first day or someone who signs up on the last day, you all have the same chance to get a time slot.

There will be multiple time slot-based ticket drops before tickets move to a complete first-come, first-served sale.

How can groups get access to the tickets available through the donation program?

Last November, LA28 launched a donation program to help fund tickets for local organizations. The Rams were the first contributors to the program, pledging $5 million to the campaign. But LA28 has not released additional information yet about how the tickets will be handled or distributed in the future.

Will I be able to transfer tickets to friends/family?

Yes. Digital tickets for recent Olympics have been distributed through an app and when they hit your account, you can send them to friends and family using their email addresses/Olympic account information. Just be prepared to download yet another app on your phone.

Why are some events in Oklahoma?

The softball tournament will be in Oklahoma City’s Devon Park, which hosts the Women’s College World Series every year, and canoe slalom will take place at Riversport OKC, the official U.S. Olympic and Paralympic training center for rowing and canoe/kayak.

These Games were intended to use existing infrastructure instead of building new venues, which greatly cuts down on costs. Hosting the canoe slalom events near L.A. would have required an expensive temporary build. It’s true that Southern California has many great college softball teams with existing facilities, but it would be difficult to prepare to a scale suitable for Olympic athletes, stakeholders, media and fans. I’ve covered many softball games at UCLA. The fan capacity is less than 1,500 and there’s room for about seven people in the press box. Eight if you scrunch. You can’t build temporary stands there; the outfield touches Sunset Boulevard.

In Tokyo, the last time baseball and softball were at the Olympics, the sports shared a venue. But LA28 organizers heard feedback from softball athletes saying that converting a baseball stadium into a softball venue compromised some of the Games experience. Moving the softball and canoe slalom events outside of Southern California is a trade off though. Those athletes will not be able to have some of the same Olympic experiences as others, but organizers were mindful to make the competition schedule to ensure that athletes could still attend either the opening or closing ceremonies despite competing far away.

Every Olympics wrestles with finding the perfect venue, and for the L.A. Games, which have more sports and more athletes than any Olympics in history, that calculus is harder than most. There are no perfect solutions.

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