Good morning, it’s Thursday, July 9, and you can expect blistering temps with a heat advisory through Friday evening.
We found local politicians’ Yelp reviews.
Karen Bass left rave reviews for the staff at Amy's Angels Cleaning when they pulled off a last-minute scrub of her home. District Attorney Nathan Hochman praised the “great massages” at Spencer’s luxury spa in West Hollywood.
When former Congresswoman Katie Porter got into a spat with the owner of Massage Heights in Newport Beach, she penned a 500-word jeremiad against the establishment.
Where do L.A.’s civic leaders dine off the clock, change their oil and groom their pets? What local businesses do they love — and which have they gone scorched earth on?
I spent hours scouring the digital footprints of local officials to identify their Yelp and Google Maps accounts. The result is an interactive map featuring more than 100 reviews from 18 of the region’s most influential civic leaders.
READING MATERIAL
CASE IN LIMBO: The founder of an L.A. taco stand empire was charged in connection with the grisly death of one of her employees. But the prosecution is in danger after ICE detained one of the defendants and ordered another to leave the country, according to the L.A. Times.
MANPOWER WOES: The LAPD is considering shutting down its police academy so it can deploy instructors on the street during the 2028 Olympics, the L.A. Times reported. Some worry that such a pause would set back the department's efforts to replenish its dwindling ranks.
CRIMINAL CRACKDOWN: Federal prosecutors in L.A. charged more than three dozen people who they said orchestrated a sprawling criminal network run by jailed kingpins in India, the New York Times reported. One defendant, a police chief in India, allegedly imprisoned the overseas relatives of an L.A. family in an attempt to extort $400,000.
LUXURY GAS: A premium gas station that calls itself the “first nice gas station” will open in Beverly Hills as soon as 2027, Fox11 reported. Maggie’s, founded by a food-tech entrepreneur, will sling ceremonial-grade matcha, artisan soft-serve, and pastries from local bakeries.
RAW MATERIAL
For today’s peek inside our subscriber-only Discord server, Xander W has a mini farmers market review.
AND FINALLY… A poem to pair with your morning coffee: “What the Living Do” by Marie Howe.
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