Karen Bass' brother sues her city

Good morning, it’s Wednesday June 10 and you can expect a real summer day (mid 80s). 

When I called up a source this week to tell them about the news we are publishing today, the person on the other end of the phone gasped.

Here's the story: As Mayor Karen Bass fights for reelection, her own brother is suing the city his sister leads.

Bass’ older brother, whose home burned down in the Palisades fire, last month joined a lawsuit accusing officials of creating dangerous conditions that led to the deadly 2025 blaze. I discovered the suit, which has not been reported before, when checking dockets of various cases that I routinely monitor in the local and federal court system — the humdrum work of being a journalist.

On one level, this lawsuit is procedural. The litigation over the Palisades fire — in which property owners have sued the city, the State of California and various telecommunications companies — has been pending for more than a year, with more and more residents joining the sprawling case as it moves through Los Angeles Superior Court. Kenneth Bass and his wife, Cindy, are just two of thousands who lost their homes and are pursuing their right for fair and just compensation.

Jennifer Gray Thompson, founder of the nonprofit After The Fire USA, which supports cities and fire survivors in recovery after wildfires, told me: “I don’t think he has any choice."

But Kenneth Bass is no ordinary plaintiff. His younger sister is the mayor of the nation's second-largest city, and her administration's response to the Palisades fire has, for better and for worse, defined much of her tenure as she seeks reelection.

Worried that L.A.'s party scene is in decline? There might be some parties you don't know about.

In a new L.A. Material exclusive, contributor Arielle Dachille boarded a yacht docked at an undisclosed location to attend a murder mystery soiree with a twist: a lot of sex.

The event was a "play party," hosted by one of several L.A. clubs dedicated to providing inclusive spaces for people to make consensual, intimate connections — in this case while in character. Dachille spoke to party guests like “Katya Dikov," “Ram Dat-ASS,” and “Ser Ignacius Whoredini” about the perils and pleasures of play parties — and why they might be an antidote to the apps.

IT’S OFFICIAL: Republican Steve Hilton clinched the second spot in the California governor’s face and will face Democrat Xavier Becerra on the November ballot, positioning Becerra to likely be California’s first Latino governor in the modern era.

TRUST FUND ACCESS: Nick Reiner is fighting to get access to his trust fund to pay his legal fees, according to court filings. Charged with killing his parents Rob and Michele Reiner, the 32-year-old pleaded not guilty earlier this year. 

SHH, RUDIN’S BACK: As lead producer of Death of a Salesman, Scott Rudin was a big winner at the Tonys, but not one of the six people who accepted prizes for the show “thanked Rudin or even mentioned his name in their speeches,” the New York Times reports. (Rudin was long one of the most celebrated and feared producers in Hollywood and on Broadway, until his career imploded due to his long-known bullying behavior.)

CHINA’S MYSTERIOUS PROPAGANDA MACHINE: Ex-Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang pleaded guilty to acting as a foreign agent. But what could Beijing want from a small-time elected official in the “Chinese Beverly Hills”?

TRADER JOE’S SHOOTING VERDICT: Eight years after Silver Lake Trader Joe’s employee Melyda Corado was fatally struck by a police bullet during a 2018 shootout, the assailant in the violent standoff was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of other charges. 

WORLD CUP STRIKE AVERTED: Workers at SoFi Stadium announced a tentative deal with the stadium’s food-service operator. There is a provision in the deal allowing workers to walk off the job if they feel threatened by immigration enforcement officers at the stadium. 

WAITING ON THE SUPREMES: A looming Supreme Court ruling could force California to stop accepting ballots that arrive after Election Day (current state law allows ballots to be collected up to seven days after, so long as they are postmarked by Election Day). But it’s unclear if ending that grace period would actually make for a substantially faster count, since the main bottleneck for counting purposes stems from verifying mail-in ballots that arrive by Election Day.

For today’s peek inside our subscriber-only Discord server, @milktoast gives a micro-review of Two Rose’s pizza pop-up in the #i-was-here channel.

AND FINALLY… A poem to pair with your morning coffee: “Happiness” by Raymond Carver.

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