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1,000 park workers who were fired in DOGE cuts are reinstated

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1,000 park workers who were fired in DOGE cuts are reinstated

Park rangers fired from the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and Channel Islands National Park heard Thursday that their jobs will soon be reinstated.

The nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Assn. said in a news release Thursday that as a result of recent court orders, “the National Park Service is authorized to fully reinstate 1,000 previously terminated probationary employees at national parks across the country.” Fired workers included rangers, law enforcement officers, firefighters and other critical personnel, the group said.

“The American people love our national parks and want them protected for future generations,” Theresa Pierno, the group’s president and chief executive, said in a statement. “It’s time the administration listened. We won’t stop fighting until these attacks on our national parks come to an end.”

Workers contacted Thursday by The Times declined to speak on the record, fearing it would jeopardize their reinstatements.

On Feb. 14, about 1,000 National Park Service permanent workers who hadn’t finished their probationary period were fired as part of a waste-cutting effort led by Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk’s White House advisory team, which he calls the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

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The Channel Islands National Park visitors center in Ventura, Calif.

(John Antczak / Associated Press)

The decision was the second park-related cut by the Trump administration that was met with widespread opposition spanning the political spectrum. In January, thousands of seasonal park workers were told they wouldn’t be hired this season. Public outcry in defense of national parks broke out in the form or protests and social media posts, and the Trump administration walked back the effort about a month later.

On March 1, thousands of people — including hundreds at local fixtures like Joshua Tree National Park, the Channel Islands Ventura office and the Santa Monica Mountains — rallied at parks to show their support for fired permanent park workers. Another nationwide “Protect the Parks” rally is planned for Saturday with events scheduled in Calabasas and Ventura.

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Fired workers included about eight staffers at Santa Monica Mountains near L.A. and six at Channel Islands. At the Santa Monica Mountains, fired workers included an emergency response worker and a park ranger trained in land management.

Two archaeologists tasked with surveying land at the Santa Monica Mountains were also fired. Katie Preston, one of the archaeologists fired, told The Times at the March rally that it was unclear how the $400,000 allocated for them to survey the park for cultural resources would be spent without any staff left to do the job. Only 30% of the Santa Monica Mountains have been surveyed, meaning potential historical landmarks and sacred Indigenous sites remain unknown and unprotected.

Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park. Scorpion Ranch, 2019.

Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park. Scorpion Ranch, 2019.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

At Channel Islands, marine scientist Kenan Chan, who surveyed the park’s kelp forests and tide pools, was fired. Channel Islands National Park has collected data through its full-time staff and seasonal workers on its kelp forests and tide pools since 1982. His firing meant only two full-time workers were left to conduct the research.

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Chan said Thursday on Instagram after a “month full of uncertainty, stress, sadness and frustration” he was grateful to be headed back to work. Chan thanked everyone who had rallied to support the fired workers.

“I still have not received any official documents confirming I am once again an employee, but I am hopeful,” Chan said. “We are back. We did it.”

Park ranger Lydia Jones, who was fired from Badlands National Park in South Dakota, said Thursday on Instagram that she was thrilled to share that she had been reinstated but was still concerned by the possibility of future cuts.

“With plans for wide-scale reductions in force throughout federal government, there is still the possibility that my position could be cut again,” Jones said. “However, one thing is certain: I will continue to do my job to the absolute best of my ability, as long as I am able, in service to the American people.”

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Fashion’s Climate Reckoning Is Just Getting Started

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Fashion’s Climate Reckoning Is Just Getting Started
From dangerous heat on factory floors to flooding across sourcing hubs, climate risks are catching up with fashion’s supply chains. While new recycling initiatives attempt to scale to address the industry’s waste and emissions problem, easing regulation in Europe raises questions about the path forward heading into 2026.
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The 2025 Vibe Scooch

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The 2025 Vibe Scooch

In the 1998 World War II film “Saving Private Ryan,” Tom Hanks played Captain John H. Miller, a citizen-soldier willing to die for his country. In real life, Mr. Hanks spent years championing veterans and raising money for their families. So it was no surprise when West Point announced it would honor him with the Sylvanus Thayer Award, which goes each year to someone embodying the school’s credo, “Duty, Honor, Country.”

Months after the announcement, the award ceremony was canceled. Mr. Hanks, a Democrat who had backed Kamala Harris, has remained silent on the matter. On Truth Social, President Trump did not hold back: “We don’t need destructive, WOKE recipients getting our cherished American awards!!!”

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How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Keiko Agena

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How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Keiko Agena

Keiko Agena likes to create moments of coziness — not just on Sundays, but whenever she possibly can.

“Oh, there’s my rice cooker,” she says when she hears the sound in her Arts District home. “We’re making steel-cut oatmeal in the rice cooker, which by the way, is a game changer. I used to have to baby it and watch it, but now I can just put it in there and forget it.”

Sunday Funday infobox logo with colorful spot illustrations

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

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The 52-year-old actor, who played music-loving bestie Lane Kim in the beloved series “Gilmore Girls,” delights in specific comforts like a bowl of warm oats, talking about Enneagram numbers and watching cooking competitions with her husband, Shin Kawasaki.

“It sounds so simple, but I look forward so much to spending time on the couch,” Agena says with a laugh.

It is time that she’s intentional about protecting, especially amid her kaleidoscope of projects. Over the last couple of years, Agena starred in Lloyd Suh’s moving play “The Chinese Lady” in Atlanta, acted in Netflix’s “The Residence,” showcased her artwork in her first feature exhibit, “Hep Tones” (some of her ink and pencil drawings are still for sale), and performed regularly on the L.A. improv circuit. And her work endures with “Gilmore Girls,” which turns 25 this year. Agena narrated the audiobook for “Meet Me at Luke’s,” a guide that draws life lessons from the series, and is featured in the upcoming “Gilmore Girls” documentary “Drink Coffee, Talk Fast.”

She shares with us her perfect Sunday in L.A., which begins before sunrise.

5 a.m.: Morning solitude

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I like to be up early-early, like 5 a.m. I like that feeling of everything being quiet. I’ll go into the other room and do Duolingo on my phone. I am a little addicted to social media, so the Duolingo is not just to learn Japanese, but also to keep me from scrolling. Like, if I’m going to do something on my phone, this is better for me. I think my streak is 146. Shin is Japanese, from Toyama. So I’ve been meaning to learn Japanese for a while. For him and his mom.

Then I’ll do [the writing practice] Morning Pages. I don’t know when I learned about Julia Cameron’s book [“The Artist’s Way”] — probably around 2000. I know a lot of people do it handwritten, but I’m a little paranoid about people, like, finding it after I die. So if I have it on my computer and it’s password protected, I can be really honest.

Then a lot of times, I’ll go back to bed. Shin, as a musician, works at night, and so he wakes up a lot later. So I’ll fall back asleep and wake up with him.

9 a.m.: Gimme that bread

I don’t do coffee anymore because it’s a little too tough for my system, but I’ll walk with Shin to Eightfold Coffee in the Arts District. It’s tiny but very chill. Then we’re going to Bliss Bakery inside the Little Tokyo Market Place. We get these tapioca bread balls. If you make any kind of sandwich that you would normally make, but use that bread instead, it ups the game. It’s life-changing. The Little Tokyo Market Place is not fancy or anything, but it has everything that you would want. There’s Korean food. They have a little sushi place in there. You can get premade Korean banchan and hot food in their hot food section. They also have a really good nuts section. It’s just one big table with all these nuts, just piles and piles.

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10 a.m.: Nature without leaving the city

We’ll go to Los Angeles State Historic Park near Chinatown. I like that place just because it’s very accessible. Like, they have accessible bathrooms and I’m always checking out whether a place has good bathrooms. We call it Flat Park because it’s a great walk. Like, you’re not really out in nature, but there’s a lot of greenery. You can take your shoes off and at least touch grass for a second.

11:30 a.m.: Lunch and TV cooking shows

One of my favorite salad-sandwich combos is at Cafe Dulce in Little Tokyo. A Korean cheesesteak and a kale salad. That’s always like a — bang, bang — good combo. So we might go there or Aloha Cafe, though it’s not fully open on Sundays. But I love it because I grew up in Hawaii. They have this great Chinese chicken salad and spam musubi and other Hawaiian food that is so good.

We’ll bring home food and watch something. Cooking competition shows are my cream of the crop. My favorite right now is “Tournament of Champions” because it’s blind tasting. To me, that’s the best way to do it. “The Great British Bake Off” is Shin’s favorite. He loves the nature and the accents as much as the actual cooking. He just loves the vibe, the slow pace of the whole thing.

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I’m such a TV girl. I love spending time on the couch and eating a meal and watching something that’s appetizing with my favorite person in the world. I’m lucky because I get to do that a lot.

2 p.m.: Browse the aisles

I’ll go to this bookstore called Hennessey + Ingalls. I love art and architecture and design, but you can’t always buy these massive books. But you can go into this bookstore and look at them and it’s always chill.

If I have time, I’ll walk around art supply stores. Artist & Craftsman Supply is a good one. I’ll look at pens, pencils, stickers, tape, washi tape, different kinds of paper, charcoals. In my art, I try to find things that aren’t meant for that particular purpose, like little things in a hardware store that I’ll use it in a different way.

5 p.m.: Downtown L.A. in its glory

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We really love to walk the Sixth Street Bridge. It’s architecturally beautiful and they’re building a huge park over there, so we’ll walk around and check it out, like, ‘Which trees are they planting? Can you see?’ We sort of dream about how it’s coming together. But the other beautiful thing about that walk is that if you go at sunset and you walk back toward downtown, it’s just gorgeous. Los Angeles doesn’t have the most majestic skyline, but it’s so picturesque in that moment.

6:30 p.m.: Cornbread and Enneagrams

I’ll head to the Park’s Finest in Echo Park. It’s Filipino barbecue. It’s just so savory and rich and a special hang. Their cornbread is really good. Oh, and the coconut beef, but I’m trying to eat less beef. They have a hot link medley. Oh my gosh, just looking at this menu right now, my mouth is watering. OK, I’ll stop.

One of my favorite things to do is ask friends about their Enneagram number. So the idea of sitting with friends over a good meal and asking them a bunch of personal questions about their childhood and what motivates them and what their parents were like and what their greatest fear is and then figure out what their Enneagram number is? That is a top-tier activity for me.

9 p.m.: Rally for improv

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Because I get up so early, if 9 o’clock, I’m ready to go to sleep. But I am obsessed with improv, so on my ideal day, there’d be a show to do. There’s this place called World’s Greatest Improv School in Los Feliz. It’s tiny and they just opened a few years ago, but the vibe there is spectacular.

Then there’s another place where my heart is so invested in now called Outside In Theatre in Highland Park. Tamlyn Tomita and Daniel Blinkoff created it together and not only is the space gorgeous — I mean, they built it from scratch — they have interesting programming there all the time. They’re so supportive of communities that are not seen in mainstream art spaces. It’s my favorite place. Sometimes I’ll find myself in their lobby till 12 o’clock at night. The kind of people I like to hang around are the people that hang out in that space.

11 p.m.: Turn on the ASMR and shut down

I am firmly an ASMR girl and I have been for years. I have to find something to watch that will slow my brain down. Then it’s pretty consistent. I don’t last very long once I turn something on. My eyelids get heavy and it chills me out.

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