Imperfect Paradise: Money, politics and power: Casey Wasserman remains head of LA28 Olympics despite connections to Jeffrey Epstein. What does this mean for Olympics planning?
02/20/2026 | 21 mins.
LA 2028 Olympics head Casey Wasserman is facing growing pressure to resign from his post after recently released Epstein files revealed emails Wasserman exchanged with Ghislaine Maxwell. The board behind LA28 — the private planning committee in charge of organizing the 2028 Games — has voted to keep Wasserman at the group’s helm, despite many city officials calling for his resignation, including L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. LAist reporter Libby Rainey has been tracking the Olympics and joins Imperfect Paradise to discuss what power the mayor has to remove Wasserman, the relationship between the city and LA28 and what it means if Wasserman does step down. Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.
Imperfect Paradise: Inside an Orange County immigration court. What it reveals about the Trump Administration’s changing policies
02/13/2026 | 29 mins.
As the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown continues, we explore what’s happening on the legal side of immigration enforcement. A group of court observers at Santa Ana Immigration Court is trying to help immigrants and asylum-seekers who appear there get a fair shot under the law. LAist Orange County Correspondent Jill Replogle tells us about her experience following the court observers and how what’s happening in these courtrooms determines the fate of undocumented immigrants across the U.S. We also discuss how immigrants, lawyers, and even judges are trying to keep up with the administration’s rapidly evolving immigration policies. Read more of Jill's reporting at LAist.com. Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.
Imperfect Paradise: After disasters, California mandates timely reports. Why it matters that more than 100 of them are years overdue
02/06/2026 | 20 mins.
Catastrophic fires are becoming more and more common across California. After-action reports about the fires and other disasters can help officials prevent past mistakes. But the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, or CalOES, has failed to deliver legally mandated reports on time following disasters for years. LAist Science Reporter Jacob Margolis looks at why the agency is so far behind, whether anyone is being held accountable and the worrying consequences for all Californians when we can’t learn from past emergencies until years later. You can read all of Jacob Margolis’ reporting at LAist.com. Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.
The Other Moonshot - Part 1: Ignition Starts (Awards)
01/30/2026 | 45 mins.
In this first episode of "LA Made: The Other Moonshot": America aims for the moon. President John F. Kennedy stands proudly behind the mission to advance the country and welcomes a diverse team to get the job done. That team includes three Black engineers who have a studded background — Charlie Cheathem, Nathaniel LeVert and Shelby Jacobs. However, the three men quickly realize that social progress is slower than scientific advancement.
Imperfect Paradise: A Cambodian Genocide survivor was undergoing the legal immigration process and had protections against deportation. So why was she detained by ICE indefinitely?
01/30/2026 | 23 mins.
Sithy Yi and her family fled Cambodia to the U.S. following the takeover of their home country by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. But Yi’s visa application process has taken years, and despite complying with ICE, she’s been detained. LAist Watchdog Correspondent Jordan Rynning joins us to breakdown Yi’s story and how new policy changes from the Trump administration will affect Yi’s fate and the legal status of so many other immigrants like her. Grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/paradise Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.
“LA Made” is a series exploring stories of bold Californian innovators and how they forever changed the lives of millions all over the world. Each season will unpack the untold and surprising stories behind some of the most exciting innovations that continue to influence our lives today.
Season 3, "LA Made: The Other Moonshot," tells the story of three Black aerospace engineers in Los Angeles, who played a crucial role in America’s race to space, amid the civil unrest of the 1960s. When Joanne Higgins was growing up in Compton in Los Angeles, she heard her godfather, Charlie Cheathem, tell stories about his key role in the Apollo mission to the moon. As an adult, she realized that his experiences — and those of other Black engineers — had been left out of the history books. She set out to record for the first time the accounts of these men, now in their 90s, whose crucial contributions to the early days of the Apollo mission have been overlooked — or taken credit for by others — despite their ingenuity and determination.
Season 2, “LA Made: The Barbie Tapes,” tells the backstory of the world’s most popular doll, Barbie. Barbie is a cultural icon but what do you really know about her? Hear Barbie's origin story from the people who created her. Co-hosted by Antonia Cereijido and M.G. Lord, author of Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll, hear the wild stories from never-before-heard tapes of interviews with Barbie inventor Ruth Handler, her wardrobe designer and the sculptors and fabricators, and the innovative marketers who made her what she is today. This 3-part series premieres July 6, 2023.
Season 1, “LA Made: Blood, Sweat & Rockets,” tells the hidden story of the fearless, groundbreaking and ambitious crew who shaped our quest to outer space and ushered in the early days of space exploration at Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at CalTech. Known as the “Suicide Squad,” the team’s road to triumph was fraught with controversies involving the occult, a suspected spy ring, unplanned explosions, and a suspicious death. Join writer and life-long aerospace fanatic M.G. Lord as she uncovers their story and reveals the shocking origins of rocket science in this 12 episode season.
Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live. This podcast was made possible with support from the Committee for Greater LA in partnership with the Weingart Foundation.
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