Chimp change

Good morning, it's Thursday May 28 and you can expect another day of overcast skies in the fifth month of the Gregorian calendar.

Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that LA Rises, a private-sector initiative to help rebuild Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, would receive up to a $100 million donation from The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation and from the family foundation of Dodgers owner Mark Walter.  

But more than a year later, only $7.8 million of that generous pledge has made its way to recovery efforts — $2.8 million to Pasadena City College and $5 million in grants to impacted people, small businesses, and non-profits, as Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times reported. No timeline for delivering the rest of the funds has been announced. 

The total allocated so far by Walter’s charities to L.A. fire recovery is notably less than the Walter Family Foundation has given in recent years to a different cause: chimpanzee rescues. 

Between 2018 and 2020, the foundation donated a total of $10,000,001 to Chimp Haven, a 200-acre sanctuary outside of Shreveport, Louisiana that more than 300 chimpanzees call home — including Austin Powers, Tina Fey, and Charity. (Austin Powers loves hanging out with his best friend Chester, Tina Fey enjoys the outdoors, and Charity is a touch moody, according to the Chimp Haven website.) 

That is among the more than $25 million Walter has donated since 2013 to animal welfare organizations, including $10,879,800 to Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, where his wife Kimbra sits on the board of trustees. 

That $25 million also includes $3,866,060 to the Bubye Valley Conservancy in Zimbabwe, one of several wildlife preserves Walter owns along with include Florida’s White Oak Conservation and the 74,000-acre Ongava Game Reserve in Namibia. Walter even found some spare change under his sofa for the L.A-based animal welfare nonprofit Karma Rescue, who received $500 in 2014.

Will Walter and his foundations exceed their animal rescue giving by meeting their pledge to help L.A. recover from the fires? Answers were not forthcoming.

The Dodgers Foundation did not respond to a list of emailed questions about the pledge, and the Walter Family Foundation, which does not have a publicly posted email, did not respond to a phone message. (The Dodgers previously told the L.A. Times that Walter stands by his pledge, and Newsom’s office added that the pledge did not come with a timeline.)

For its part, LA Rises, through a public relations company, sent L.A. Material a link to Shaikin’s L.A. Times piece when asked about additional funding from the Dodgers.  

Spokespeople for the chimpanzees were similarly nonresponsive. 

Chimp Haven referred all press requests to their public relations agency, PCI PR. But after L.A. Material sent a list of questions asking how Walter first became involved with Chimp Haven and how his donations were put to use at the sanctuary, the PR agency stopped answering emails. 

One organization that did answer questions was Pasadena City College, which received $2.8 million from LA Rises, the fund’s single biggest beneficiary. PCC is using the grant to transform a campus parking lot into a “hands-on, outdoor learning space” for students to learn the construction trades.  

The Construction Trades Lab, which broke ground in January 2026, is slated to begin training future construction workers in Spring 2027. Though the lab is not yet open or operational, a recent YouTube Short advocating trade careers uploaded by the Governor’s office shows Newsom and students constructing house frames in a parking lot on the Pasadena City College campus.

In the frenzied final weeks before the Los Angeles mayoral primary, progressive star Nithya Raman’s supporters have become increasingly vocal about their frustrations with activist Rae Huang’s campaign, beseeching Huang to drop out in social media posts. 

But the overtures have also come from inside the campaign: A senior member of Raman’s campaign urged Huang to drop out last week and back Raman, Huang told L.A. Material.

There are no party designations on the Los Angeles mayoral ballot. But the fate of Raman’s candidacy will almost certainly depend on the city’s leftmost flank of voters and the question of who they’ve anointed as their standard bearer. With Mayor Karen Bass leading in the polls, Raman and Republican reality TV star Spencer Pratt have been battling for second place and a spot in the November runoff. 

That makes Huang’s candidacy – currently polling at about 4% — a potential spoiler for Raman. 

L.A. Material’s Matt Hamilton has the scoop.

FEUD IN THE WOOD: Six years after the privately-financed $5 billion SoFi Stadium opened, Rams owner Stan Kroenke is demanding that Inglewood pay up. Following up on earlier reporting done by The LA Local, the New York Times has a story on the frayed relationship between Kroenke and Inglewood Mayor James Butts over a 2015 development agreement that Kroenke says entitles him to $400 million for improvements to the Hollywood Park area. The mayor claims the contract is invalid.

VERTICAL UNLIMITED: If you’re a producer teeming with 2-minute scripts about hunky mafia bosses, poor maids marrying billionaire CEOs, or really anything where characters settle disputes by slapping each other, you’re in luck. Sunset Las Palmas Studios is now offering standing sets catered to vertical microdrama productions. The Hollywood Reporter has the latest.

DIASPORA DISPUTE: With just weeks to go before the World Cup begins, LAist has a dispatch on the mixed feelings among L.A.'s Iranian diaspora about the men’s national team. While some believe the team represents the Islamic Republic and should be boycotted, others hope the team’s play will bring together Iranians of all political leanings.

PERRY ASSISTANT SENTENCED: Matthew Perry's former live-in personal assistant was sentenced to more than three years in prison Wednesday for his role in the actor's death. The assistant had helped Perry procure drugs and injected him with a fatal dose of ketamine.

In today’s archival footage flashback from 1996, Angelyne, local legend known for her billboards, rack and pink Corvette, gives CNET a sneak peak at her brand new website. Or as she put it, "I just love the idea of popping out of a computer ... and the internet is becoming a big, huge, luscious chocolate cake."

AND FINALLY… A poem to pair with your morning coffee: “Zazen on Ching-t’ing Mountain” by Li Bai, translated from the Chinese by Sam Hamill.

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