ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Williwaw Social, a downtown Anchorage entertainment venue that hosted concerts, parties and community events for nearly 10 years, announced on Facebook that it will close its doors on Friday.

In a post from the venue’s official account, Williwaw Social thanked Anchorage residents, artists, staff and guests for supporting the business over the past decade. The announcement described the venue as a gathering place for live music, celebrations, rooftop events and nightlife in downtown Anchorage.

The post did not state a reason for the closure.

Showdown Alaska, which has partnered with Williwaw Social for events, posted a separate statement saying the closure came as a surprise to its team. The organization clarified that Showdown Alaska and Williwaw Social are separate entities that operate independently.

Showdown Alaska said its Sundown Summer Concert Series will continue as scheduled on F Street. In the caption of its post, the organization said Drake Night and Showdown Throwdown will be rescheduled at new venues, and ticket holders will receive more information by email.

Williwaw Social’s announcement thanked Anchorage for its support and described the closure as the end of a chapter for the venue.

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com

• The Arizona Game and Fish Department is warning people to be “bear aware” this Memorial Day weekend.
• Human food is the most common cause of conflicts, as bears search for the 5,000 calories they need daily.
• To stay safe, secure all food and trash, and never keep food inside a tent when camping.

Smokey Bear will not just be watching for fires this Memorial Day. He might be watching for food, too. 

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is warning outdoor recreationists to stay “bear aware” through the long weekend. 

Food is the most common culprit of human-bear conflicts, according to the wildlife agency. Bears can show up to campsites, parks, even grocery stores in search of something tasty — they’ll eat just about anything in pursuit of the 5,000 calories they need a day during the summer, officials say.

“Bears are dangerous. They might look cute or cuddly, but they certainly have the capacity to inflict harm on humans,” said Paul Greer, a wildlife manager supervisor at the Game and Fish Department’s Region 1 office in Pinetop, in a May 20 news release. 

But black bears are also shy and secretive. Available human food can lure them out of their forested hideaways, especially during dry periods like late spring, early summer and Arizona’s prolonged drought, which limit their natural food supply. 

This Memorial Day weekend, revelers should be mindful of not leaving any food outdoors. That includes trash, barbecue grills, pet food and birdseed.  

“If humans do their part, then the bears may pass through without getting the reward of those attractants, the trash and the human sources of food — the bears will just move on,” Greer said. 

Wildlife: As Arizona’s drought persists, black bears are abandoning their cubs

Bears learn to hunt for human food

Each March, black bears emerge from their winter hibernation, sometimes with new cubs in tow. 

About 5,800 roam across 10,000 square miles of nontribal lands in Arizona, mostly in the northern and eastern parts of the state where the Sonoran Desert gives way to pinyon pine, juniper and oak woodlands. They are most concentrated along the Mogollon Rim, the Mazatzal Mountains and the Pinaleño Mountains. 

Bears are usually active in the morning and evening, foraging for their usual fare — berries and nuts. But a few develop a taste for something more. It’s rare for bears to show aggression toward people, but bears that become accustomed to humans and human food can be public safety risks. 

“When bears gain access to human food or garbage, it can quickly lead to food conditioning, where bears begin associating people and developed areas with an easy meal,” said Sarah Sparhawk, a public affairs specialist at the National Park Service. 

There have been two deadly bear attacks on humans in Arizona since the 1990s. The most recent was in 2023 in Prescott. 

Michael Colaianni, a public affairs director at the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said apart from a few typical reports of bears spotted on private land, there are no recent bear incidents or injuries in Arizona to report at this time. 

Bears in the woods: Mother bear and cub released back into the wild after capture in Crown King

Here’s how to stay safe from bears

Bear safety tips to keep in mind this weekend:

• Keep food secure and inaccessible to bears.
• When camping, don’t keep food in a tent and don’t burn leftover food on a grill.
• When hiking, don’t wear scented lotion or perfume, keep pets on a leash and make noise or hike in groups.
• In case of a black bear encounter, do not run or play dead. Instead, back slowly away while maintaining eye contact. Make yourself look bigger by waving your arms in the air or pulling your shirt/jacket up over your head.
• If attacked, fight back.
• If you see a bear in your neighborhood, do not approach it.

Follow Arizona’s wildlife: Sign up for AZ Climate, The Republic’s weekly environment newsletter.

Unacceptable bear behavior, such as entering or attempting to enter human dwellings, tents or vehicles, approaching a human after it becomes aware of the human’s presence and any other aggressive behavior should be reported to the Game and Fish Department’s dispatch center at 623-236-7201. In an emergency, call 911.

Sarah Henry covers environmental issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to sarah.henry@arizonarepublic.com.

Environmental coverage on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.

Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at environment.azcentral.com and @azcenvironment on Facebook and Instagram.

It’s been 16 months since a massive fire tore through one of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery storage facilities in rural Monterey County, spewing toxic gas into the air as it smoldered for several days, and, even today, cleanup is far from complete.

It will take at least several more months, and possibly another year, before the charred, waterfront power plant owned by Texas-based Vistra Corp. is cleared, Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church said.

The process is slow because it is dangerous, with thousands of batteries yet to be removed and crews working carefully to avoid reigniting a fire. “Of course, quicker would be better, but safety has to be first,” Church said.

The blaze in Moss Landing provoked hostility toward battery projects in California, where state officials are pursuing an aggressive goal of 100% clean energy usage by 2045 to increase the grid’s capacity and combat the catastrophic effects of climate change.

A safe energy transition

Battery energy storage systems hold excess energy generated during the day — by solar panels, for instance — and release it into the power grid during times of high demand, including evening hours. California has invested heavily in battery storage, which, my colleague Hayley Smith reported, grew more than 3,000% from 500 megawatts in 2020 to more than 15,700 megawatts in 2025.

A new bipartisan bill introduced this month in the U.S. House of Representatives aims to keep this transition safe.

The Better Energy Storage and Safety Act would dedicate federal funding of $30 million annually over the next five years toward research and stress testing for the systems.

It was authored by Rep. Jimmy Panetta, a Democrat whose Central Coast district includes Moss Landing, and co-led by Rep. Pat Harrigan, a North Carolina Republican.

Despite efforts by the Trump administration to stymie green energy, Panetta said in an interview, “you have to accept the reality of renewables … That’s why we want to ensure that it’s as safe as possible.”

A fast energy transition

The Moss Landing fire has represented the proverbial elephant in the room in the midst of California’s rapid energy transition, Church said.

He has called for more local control over where battery systems are built and been a vocal advocate for more safety regulations, saying the catastrophe in Moss Landing should be learned from, not written off as “an inconvenient accident.”

With proper engineering, lithium-ion battery storage sites pose little risk of catching fire, Shirley Meng, a molecular engineering professor at the University of Chicago and internationally known battery expert, told me last fall. She said safety has improved dramatically in recent years and that the failure rate is about 1 in 10 million for all types of lithium-ion batteries.

California is now speeding review for large-scale renewable energy projects through a new fast-track permitting program that does not require sign-off from county and municipal governments — a fast-track process that Church has criticized.

Last fall, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new state law — prompted by the Moss Landing accident— that requires battery storage safety standards and requires developers to coordinate closely with local fire departments.

Stacey Shepard, a spokesperson for the California Energy Commission, said in an email that “today’s battery systems are governed by rigorous safety standards,” use improved technology and “are placed in outdoor containers rather than inside buildings,” unlike in Moss Landing site.

The cause of the Moss Landing fire is still under investigation

Firefighters let it burn for days, citing the dangers of dousing lithium-ion battery fires with water, which can cause dangerous chemical reactions.

The blaze ignited inside a former turbine building that contained a 300-megawatt system made up of about 4,500 cabinets, each containing 22 individual battery modules, according to Vistra Corp.

Of the 99,000 individual LG battery modules in the building, about 54,450 burned, according to Vistra. Justin Daily, a spokesman for the company, said in an email that as of May 8, more than 31,000 battery modules had been removed, de-energized and shipped to recycling facilities.

“We are now working to enable safe access to batteries in the damaged portion of the building,” he said.

Today’s top stories

Multiple wildfires trigger unhealthful air quality alert in SoCal

Apartment scouts are on the rise in Los Angeles

• They aren’t real estate agents or brokers. Rather, they are savvy entrepreneurs who tour apartments, share listings online and, in some cases, work one-on-one with clients to find a place that fits their specific aesthetic and budget.
• The demand for apartment scouts highlights the pressures of L.A.’s competitive rental market, where vacancies are scarce and rental rates are among the highest in the country.

What else is going on

Commentary and opinions

This morning’s must-read

Another must-read

For your downtime

On May 22, Disneyland’s Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will include a new mission as well as new destinations such as the gas-like locale of Bespin, seen here in concept art provided by Disney. The tweaks are tied to the film “The Mandalorian and Grogu.”

(Disney Parks)

Advertisement

Going out

Staying in

Question of the day: Sticker shock: Send us examples of California houses with sticker prices that truly shocked you.

Is it worse than this burnt-out three-bedroom in Torrance that sold for over $1 million?
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally … the photo of the day

A firefighter pauses while clearing brush in the Sandy fire in Simi Valley.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s photo is from Times photographer Kayla Bartkowski on a hill in Simi Valley near the Sandy fire, one of multiple blazes consuming more than 20,000 acres.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Hailey Branson-Potts, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, Fast Break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.