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Published April 6, 2026 4:17 PMUbefest is a celebration of all things Ube, the purple yam that's become beloved not just in the Filipino diaspora but across the country. The festival has also become a broader appreciation of Filipino cuisine, and one of the vendors, Emerson Baja, the owner of Long Beach Lumpia, came in to offer AirTalk host Austin Cross some of his tasty food.
Check out Ubefest at the Cerritos Center for performing arts on Saturday April 11, at 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday April 12, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Note: the festival is free.Full Story, a festival meant to highlight the purple yam that’s become beloved not just in the Filipino diaspora but across the country. In that time, the food festival has grown in the number of vendors and become a broader appreciation of Filipino cuisine.This year's event is happening Saturday April 11 and Sunday April 12. One of the festival’s vendors, Emerson Baja, owner of, has been involved with the event for years, and he came into the studio to talk to host Austin Cross.Baja’s pop-up menu was inspired by a variety of things, with the traditional aspects of his menu coming from his family and other aspects by food he experimented with while attending Long Beach State. He became a probation officer after he graduated college, but his heart was always with food, specifically lumpia, which he served at a potluck.For the segment, Baja brought in a variety of lumpias: traditional Shanghai; pork chile verde; veggie pancit pizza; and ube cheesecake turon.When Emerson mentioned the Shanghai lumpia being a homemade recipe, Cross added, “Home is delicious! You have a home like this?” “It’s finger-licking good over here,” Cross said after his first bite of the ube cheesecake turon lumpia. He added: “It’s really special because it has an aftertaste of a very heartwarming pastry…feels very homey.”Conservative commentator and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Hilton announces his campaign for California governor at the Pier Plaza in Huntington Beach Tuesday, April 22, 2025.President Donald Trump has endorsed Steve Hilton for California governor, a move that could possibly consolidate Republican voters ahead of the still wide-open primary election in June.Hilton, a former Fox News host based in the Bay Area who previously served as a political adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron, has campaigned on the goal of improving California’s hostile relationship with the federal administration.Many Republican strategist believed that the party’s best chance to win both spots in the primary relied on Trump’s staying out of it. Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco are the only two Republicans among the 10 notable candidates in the primary field. With Democratic voters split, Hilton and Bianco have risen to the top of public polling in the race, threatening to leave the majority party in the state without a candidate in the top-two general election.President Donald Trump has endorsed Steve Hilton for California governor, a move that could possibly consolidate Republican voters ahead of the still wide-open Hilton, a former Fox News host based in the Bay Area who previously served as a political adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron, has campaigned on the goal of improving California’s hostile relationship with the federal administration. He and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco are the only two Republicans among the 10 notable candidates in the primary field. “I have known and respected Steve Hilton, who is running for Governor of California, for many years. He is a truly fine man, one who has watched as this once great State has gone to Hell,” Trump wrote early Monday on his social media site, Truth Social. “Steve Hilton has my COMPLETE & TOTAL ENDORSEMENT. He will be a GREAT Governor and, importantly, WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!!!” With Democratic voters split, Hilton and Bianco have risen to the top of public polling in the race, threatening to leave the majority party in the state without a candidate in the top-two general election. Now, Trump’s endorsement could boost Hilton and allow a Democrat to overtake Bianco. “It certainly increases the chances that a Democrat is going to make it into the top two,” said Tim Rosales, a Republican strategist. “The Bianco campaign has to reassess and reposition themselves in the wake of this, but the Democrats still don’t have a clear front-runner.” In the most recent public polling, Hilton and Bianco have occupied a crowded top five alongside three Democrats: Rep. Eric Swalwell, investor Tom Steyer and former Rep. Katie Porter. Hilton and Bianco often split the Republican Party’s support about evenly in polling, and a March primary election simulator created by Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc., put the odds of a Republican-only general election at If that were the case, the state would have a Republican governor for the first time in more than two decades.Political Breakdown, Hilton touted his relationship with U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and vowed to work collaboratively with the Trump administration to boost California’s timber industry and manage forests. “There’s a whole set of positive things we can do if we work more closely with the federal government on that issue,” he said.that as of last week, he hadn’t spoken to Trump about the gubernatorial race, he’s repeatedly invoked the president’s own campaign slogan, saying that as governor, he would “Make California Great Again.” Trump remains deeply unpopular in California, with just 30% of likely voters approving of the job he is doing as president, per afrom the Public Policy Institute of California. But that same survey found Trump’s support remains strong among California Republicans, with 76% approval. “Republican voters still hold the president in pretty high regard,” Rosales said. “It certainly does make Hilton the front-runner amongst Republicans, and in a top-two primary like this, where you’ve got a crowded field, anything that a candidate can do that really solidifies a base of voters is critically important.” The loyalty of the GOP base has allowed Trump to play kingmaker in past California primary elections. In 2018, he endorsed businessman John Cox, boosting Cox into the general election and dashing the prospects of an all-Democrat general election between Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.of ballots cast in last November’s special election, when California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50 to redraw congressional maps to favor Democrats. Last month, Bianco seized more than 650,000 ballots, callingMany Republican strategists, however, believed that the party’s best chance to win both spots in the primary relied on Trump’s staying out of it. The state’s GOP also hasn’t weighed in, though it’s expected to decide whether to make an endorsement at its upcoming convention next weekend.explores the weird and secret bits of SoCal that would excite even the most jaded Angelenos. He also covers mental health.UCLA, Cal State University Los Angeles and Cal State Dominguez Hills announced Monday a collective $110 million investment from the Ballmer Group.UCLA, Cal State University Los Angeles and Cal State Dominguez Hills on Monday announced a collective $110 million investment from the Ballmer Group to support the training of new mental health workers.Cal State Dominguez Hills says its $29 million gift is the largest in the university’s history. Most of the money awarded from the group founded by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will go toward scholarships of up to $18,000 a year for students studying in fields related to mental health. It’ll also help launch a new program that aims to train hundreds of mental health workers to focus on South L.A. neighborhoods.In a report published in January , the California Department of Healthcare Access and Information said all counties across the state are facing a shortage of non-prescribing licensed clinicians, with more than 55,000 needed to meet demand statewide.Keep up with LAist. If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.Published April 6, 2026 3:23 PM, tens of thousands of fans are regularly tuning into the livestream of the nest overlooking Big Bear Lake for a peak at the fuzzy eaglets.The chicks, which hatched Saturday night and Easter Sunday morning, will be referred to as Chick 1 and Chick 2 for now, according toWhy it matters: Some fans worried about the second chick struggling to hold its head and getting enough food last weekend, but both eaglets are doing “great,” according to Jenny Voisard, Friends of Big Bear Valley’s media manager.“Trust the process, trust the eagles, and settle in and enjoy these cute little fur balls because they change every day,” Voisard said. “And you don't want to miss this time, because they're just so precious.”, tens of thousands of fans are regularly tuning into the livestream of the nest overlooking Big Bear Lake for a peak at the fuzzy eaglets. The chicks, which hatched Saturday night and Easter Sunday morning, will be referred to as Chick 1 and Chick 2 for now, according toThe eaglets are still gaining strength in their first few days of life — learning to move neck muscles and pick up pieces of meat from mama Jackie and papa Shadow’s beaks. Those early feedings can be challenging or awkward, and the organization often refers to the chicks as “bobbleheads” at this stage. Some fans worried about the second chick struggling to hold its head and getting enough food, but both eaglets are doing “great,” according to Jenny Voisard, Friends of Big Bear Valley’s media manager. “Trust the process, trust the eagles, and settle in and enjoy these cute little fur balls because they change every day,” Voisard said. “And you don't want to miss this time, because they're just so precious.”estimated to beChicks multiply in size over the first weeks and months of life, establishing a pecking order along the way, according to the nonprofit. Viewers may notice Chick 1 and Chick 2 headbutting each other, a sibling rivalry behavior that the organization calls “bonking.” Voisard said it’s “totally normal” in the nest, especially since the chicks can’t see very well at this stage. “It won't last too long,” she said. “There is plenty of food for them to eat, and so they shouldn't be in competition with each other.”For Jackie and Shadow, everything now revolves around stocking up food and making sure the chicks are safe, warm and dry in the nest, Voisard said. “They do a very good job, and we've been seeing fish deliveries and other prey the last couple of days and the chicks are hungrily gobbling it up,” she said.Now that the chicks have hatched, many people are wondering what their names will be — and offering suggestions. The nonprofit said it’s seen hundreds of requests to name one of the chicks “Sandy” in Steers was an environmental advocate who helped launch the eagle livestream and the late executive director of Friends of Big Bear Valley. She died in February, a few weeks before the But the organization said that’s not what Steers would have wanted. Voisard said Steers loved having Big Bear third-grade students select the eaglets’ names, and Friends of Big Bear Valley plans to keep the tradition going. “We are working on a way to honor, memorialize Sandy in something that’s more permanent,” Voisard said. The naming privileges are usually given to the third-graders because they study bald eagles in school, but last year was a bit of an exception. The fourth- and fifth -grade classes were invited to help select names because Jackie and Shadow didn’t have chicks in"We want to make sure we're doing it the way that wanted to do it, and those kids live for being able to do this,” Voisard said. “It's a right of passage.”. A random list of names will be pulled from the submissions and shared with Big Bear third-grade students for the final vote.Every state in the West is expected to face an above-normal threat of wildfire this summer, according to the latest projections released Wednesday by the National Interagency Coordination Center.: Citing an ongoing snow drought, rapid snowmelt, and a recent unprecedented heat wave, the latest maps feature red spilling across the Southwest and into the Rockies, Pacific Northwest, and northern California. Overall there's been less snowpack and higher temperatures than pretty much any winter on record. It’s a situation that climatologists have said would be virtually impossible without climate change, and the maps reflect that reality.The one notable spot on the latest maps that seems safe for now is Southern California, though that’s because the fire season there doesn’t usually start until later in the summer, or even into fall.the latest projections The government-run center publishes monthly reports predicting fire risk for the four months ahead, and the change since the March outlook is staggering. The agency denotes elevated risk in red on its maps, and the June forecast from March 2 showed a small swath of rouge in the Southwest. But, citing an ongoing snow drought, rapid snowmelt, and a recent unprecedented heat wave, the latest maps feature red spilling across the Southwest and into the Rockies, Pacific Northwest, and northern California. “We’re probably not going to be in great shape this year,” said Matthew Hurteau, director of the Center for Fire Resilient Ecosystems and Society at the University of New Mexico. While it’s normal for the Southwest to experience a relatively early fire season, before the summer monsoons hit, what really stood out to him was how quickly the red moved north. “It’s really early for that.” Projections for June wildland fire risk from the National Interagency Coordination Center released on March 2, 2026 and updated on April 1, 2026 . June typically sees snow lingering in many mountain ranges and snowmelt wetting the landscape, he said. Not this year. The latest outlook reports that the snow melt-off in the Four Corners region came “not just several weeks or months earlier than normal, but also four to six weeks earlier than the previously recorded earliest melt-off dates.”also desiccated the West. Albuquerque, for example, recorded its earliest ever 90-degree reading on March 21, more than six weeks sooner than its previous earliest date, in 1947. The daily average of 73.1 degrees Las Vegas recorded in March would have broken the city’s April record.than pretty much any winter on record. It’s a situation that climatologists have said would be virtually impossible without climate change, and the maps reflect that reality. “It doesn’t mean that all of these areas are going to burn,” said Alastair Hayden, professor at Cornell University and a former division chief in the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Last year, for example, the Pacific Northwest saw an above-normal risk but was largely spared. Local patterns, such as wind and precipitation, play a major role, too. “But, when I look back at the forecast, fires usually tend to be in one of these locations.” The one notable spot on the latest maps that seems safe for now is Southern California, though that’s because the fire season there doesn’t usually start until later in the summer, or even into fall. There are also surprising splotches of red, like in Florida, which is experiencing a drought. But the West is by far the largest area of concern. “Keep an eye on July,” said Hurteau. “The Fourth of July is the single highest ignition day of the year.” The sheer expanse of land that could be at risk simultaneously worries Hurteau. “Our fire suppression apparatus is in part dependent on the whole region not being on fire at the same time,” he said. Fire crews count on being able to hop from hot spot to hot spot. If there are too many at once, resources could run thin. The number of acres across the country that have burned through March is already 231 percent of the 10-year average. A wet spring, however, could change everything. It recently rained in Albuquerque where Hurteau is based, and, if it continues, the fire risk could go down dramatically. That’s what happened last year. “I’m sure that’s what all the fire people are hoping for too, because that would be nice,” said Hurteau. “But hope is not a great strategy.” Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at
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