Category: 1-HeadlineNews

Sohla El-Waylly is famous for her cooking videos for outlets like the History Channel’s “Ancient Recipes,” Bon Appetit’s “Test Kitchen,” and so, so much more. She also writes a column at Food52 and contributes to the cooking section at the other big-time Times newspaper (the one on the East Coast).

Today, we do another crossover episode with our sibling podcast “Asian Enough,” where El-Waylly talks about food appropriation, her inspirations and much more.

Hosts: Johana Bhuiyan and Tracy Brown

Guest: Chef Sohla El-Waylly

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Babish expands as pandemic boosts YouTube cooking shows

Vulture: Going Sohla

Sohla’s website

This story of Los Angeles’ 1930s era of gambling boats — and Tony Cornero, the underworld boss at the center of the action — is a portal to another version of the city, one that’s glamorous and seedy. Business reporter Daniel Miller spent months chasing down the tale, poring over FBI records, reviewing newspaper accounts and interviewing the few people alive who remember when barges bobbing off the coast of Santa Monica offered the chance at a sea-sprayed jackpot. He tells us about this world of water-cannon gangsters and floating vice dens — which paved the way for the popularity of Las Vegas and dramatically met its end 82 years ago this month.

More reading:

The secret history of L.A.’s glitzy gambling boat kingpin — and the raid that sank him

Last month, former Facebook employee Frances Haugen revealed she had released thousands of documents that showed how the company knew yet did little to curb harmful content for its billions of users. Those documents also showed that Facebook’s parent company, Meta, knew disinformation on its platforms was particularly corrosive to Latino communities — yet the company did little to stop it. Today, we talk about the damage and what activists are doing to try to stop it.

More reading:

What Facebook knew about its Latino-aimed disinformation problem 

Misinformation online is bad in English. But it’s far worse in Spanish 

Facebook struggled with disinformation targeted at Latinos

When it rains, it pours, and when it pours after a long dry spell, water can become dangerous. Fire-scarred lands see mudslides devastate homes. Parched soil can’t absorb the rain that comes. Water, water everywhere, and California is still on the brink.Today, we reconvene our Masters of Disasters to discuss how too much rain after a drought can be bad. And who knew the term "mudslide" could be so controversial?

More reading:

Threat of mudslides returns to California after devastating fires. How do they work?

California rains break all-time records, spurring floods and mudslides

October’s torrential rains brought some drought relief, but California’s big picture still bleak

Last month, In-N-Out Burger made national news when health officials in San Francisco shut down one of its restaurants. The company’s sin: refusing to comply with a law that requires restaurants to ask customers for proof of COVID-19 vaccination. An In-N-Out spokesperson described the mandate as “intrusive, improper and offensive” — and suddenly, the burger chain became a flashpoint in the country’s culture wars. Today, we talk about this beloved company with L.A. Times reporter Stacy Perman, author of the best-selling 2009 book “In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules.”

More reading:

 Column: What In-N-Out’s vaccine standoff reveals about the California dream 

Inside In-N-Out Burger’s escalating war with 

California over COVID-19 vaccine rules ‘We refuse to become the vaccination police’: In-N-Out Burger, and other restaurants defy COVID mandates

Over the last few years, Leyna Bloom has been the first in many categories. In 2017, she became the first trans woman of color to grace the pages of Vogue India. In 2019, she became one of the first trans women to walk Paris Fashion Week. And most recently, she broke barriers again as the first trans cover model for Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue.

On this crossover episode with our sister podcast “Asian Enough,” Bloom talks about her ties to ballroom, her Black and Filipina identity and reuniting with her mom after decades apart.

More reading:

How Leyna Bloom became the first transgender actress of color to star in a film at Cannes

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit goes bold: Megan Thee Stallion, Naomi Osaka, Leyna Bloom

Review: Luminous performances elevate trans romance ‘Port Authority’

In 2011, a group of Muslims in Orange County sued the federal government, alleging that the FBI violated the constitutional rights of Muslims by spying on them solely because of their religion. The feds denied the allegations, but they also said they couldn't disclose why they had spied on this community. To do so, according to the government, would reveal state secrets. Now the lawsuit is before the U.S. Supreme Court, and the feds want it dismissed. Today, we hear from L.A. Times reporter Suhauna Hussain, who is covering the case. We'll hear from some of the plaintiffs and Muslim activists. And we'll also hear from Craig Monteilh, the self-admitted FBI informant in the center of all this.

 

More reading: 

Supreme Court skeptical of FBI’s claim in monitoring of Orange County Muslims

Column: In Orange County case, the U.S. is hiding behind claims of ‘state secrets’

From the archives: Man says he was FBI informant

This fall, a commemoration in downtown Los Angeles marked the 150th anniversary of when a mob lynched 18 Chinese men and boys — one of the biggest such killings in American history. The recent memorial comes in a year when many similar remembrances have bloomed across the United States. Anti-Asian hate crimes have soared during the pandemic, but that has also spurred an interest in learning the long, and long-hidden, history of such bigotry.

 

 

More reading: 

History forgot the 1871 Los Angeles Chinese massacre, but we’ve all been shaped by its violence

L.A.'s memorial for 1871 Chinese Massacre will mark a shift in how we honor history

The racist massacre that killed 10% of L.A.’s Chinese population and brought shame to the city

White residents burned this California Chinatown to the ground. An apology came 145 years later

Marijuana use is now ubiquitous in mainstream culture — even Martha Stewart’s into CBD products thanks to her good pal Snoop Dogg. Despite this, the federal government classifies basically all cannabis-related products as illegal. That stands in the way of things like medical research. Can California, which sparked a revolution 25 years ago with the legalization of medical marijuana by voters, push the federal government to legalize marijuana once and for all?

 

More reading: 

California changed the country with marijuana legalization. Is it high time for the feds to catch up?

Thousands of California marijuana convictions officially reduced, others dismissed

Editorial: What legalization? California is still the Wild West of illegal marijuana

At USC, hundreds of students have been protesting university officials and so-called Greek life itself over the last month after a series of drugging and sexual assault allegations that the school kept quiet about for weeks. It's the latest scandal to hit the school, and some of the loudest criticism has come from an unexpected source: fraternity and sorority members. Today, we talk to L.A. Times higher education reporter Teresa Watanabe about the matter. And a USC student who's a proud sorority sister tells us why she's pushing for change.

More reading: 

USC students protest toxic Greek life after fraternity suspended for alleged drugging, sexual assault

USC’s ‘Greek experience’ under fire even as fraternities gain in popularity post-pandemic

USC admits to ‘troubling delay’ in warning about fraternity drugging, sex assault reports