Today on AirTalk: LA Phil next music director, L.A. and O.C. judicial races, annoying jingles, L.A. city attorney accusations, AI Google search, and Mono Lake basin.
In a much-anticipated decision, the L.A. Philharmonic has appointed Daniel Harding to succeed Gustavo Dudamel as the new creative director of the organization. Currently Music Director of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Italy, Harding’s tenure will begin in the 2027/28 season.
Listen to the conversation:
Guests: Kim Noltemy, LA Philharmonic President and CEO, and Mark Swed, Classical Music Critic for the L.A. Times
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The man: Daniel Harding was born in Oxford in 1975, and came to international attention in 1998 when he conducted Don Giovanni at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in a Peter Brook production at 22.
The job: The Philharmonic music director is responsible for a number of jobs, including overseeing the orchestral programming for the organization, as well as the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles.
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Ballots are out for the June 2 primary, and choosing Superior Court judges is one of the hardest jobs on it. L.A. County has 15 judgeships up, 11 contested. Orange County has two contested seats.
Listen to the conversation:
Guests: Cato Hernández, LAist reporter, and Hon. Stuart Rice, retired L.A. County Superior Court judge and past president of the California Judges Association
The job: Superior Court judges hear family law, landlord-tenant disputes, contract cases, theft, murder and probate. They reach the bench through gubernatorial appointment or election and serve six-year terms. A seat only appears on the ballot when an incumbent is challenged.
Why it's hard: These are nonpartisan races, and California's ethics code limits what candidates can say about how they'd rule. Bar association ratings, endorsements and courtroom experience are some of the few signals voters have.
L.A. County: Notable races include Office No. 2, where incumbent Judge Robert S. Draper faces pending ethics charges and a challenge from Deputy District Attorney Tal K. Valbuena. In Office No. 81, sitting Judge David Walgren faces attorney Dan Kapelovitz.
O.C. County: In Office No. 13, two senior deputy District Attorneys, Ann Cho and Robert Mestman, are running for an open seat. In Office No. 41, sitting Judge Ami S. Sagel faces attorney Charles E. Pell.
What are the most annoying commercial jingles?
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The VERY unforgettable Kars4Kids jingle that has graced our earbuds for the last lifetime and a half has been officially banned from the airwaves in California, thanks to a lawsuit that took the group behind the jingle to court over the misleading of its donors.
Listen to the conversation:
Larry talks with LAist listeners
Join the conversation: We want to hear from you! What is the most annoying, but undoubtedly catchy, commercial you can remember? Give us a call at (866) 893-5722 or email us at atcomment@laist.com
After days of concern that a chemical tank in Garden Grove could explode and affect a large swath of the city, authorities say the worst-case scenario of a large explosion is off the table.
Check-in on the Garden Grove tank leak
Guest: Jordan Rynning, Watchdog correspondent at LAist
The latest: Authorities rolled back evacuation orders Monday evening for tens of thousands of Orange County residents near a Garden Grove tank holding toxic chemicals. Around 16,000 residents still remain under evacuation orders, according to Garden Grove police.
What’s next: Evacuation centers will remain open for residents who cannot return home, and further updates from authorities are expected today. You can keep up with the latest on LAist.com.
With files from LAist.
L.A. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto at an April 2025 news conference.
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As she runs for re-election, L.A. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto faces turmoil and claims of unethical behavior from career prosecutors in her office, who have accused her of favoring political donors in criminal cases and questioned her administrative decisions and demeanor.
LA city attorney accused of favoring her donors
Guest: Nick Gerda, Watchdog Correspondent for LAist
The claims: The allegations have been laid out in emails and a memo obtained by LAist, as well as a sworn declaration to a court. In emails to colleagues earlier this year, two supervising prosecutors questioned the city attorney’s directive to drop a price-gouging case against a major campaign donor. One claimed it’s part of a pattern by Feldstein Soto.
Her response: In interviews with LAist, Feldstein Soto denied ever allowing money or personal relationships to affect her decisions. “That’s not how I roll,” she said. Instead, Feldstein Soto said her decisions were based on a policy she put in place to follow the Constitution.
‘A different agenda’: Feldstein Soto said pushback from her office’s prosecutions branch is in response to her efforts to reform the City Attorney’s Office. “I was elected to change the status quo. I’m still doing that. And people who benefited under the old status quo have a different agenda,” she said.
With files from LAist.
Google is making major changes to its search engine.
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After 25 years, Google has decided it’d like to make its biggest change yet to its search engine by using AI to more directly answer questions users have. We’ll discuss what that means for online searches and their greater implications for the web at large.
Google search to become more AI-integrated
Guest: Tripp Mickle, New York Times reporter covering Silicon Valley
What’s new: Google plans to have its AI mode as the default option for its search engine, using its latest flash model, Gemini 3.5.
Possible implications: With Google planning to prioritize AI responses at the expense of web searching, that likely means less overall website traffic.
Mono Lake on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada on May 20, 2023.
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Mono Lake, the salty, otherworldly basin on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, supplies up to 16,000 acre-feet of water a year to Los Angeles. A new book from Historian Robert B. Marks, who lives near the lake, traces the basin 10,000 years back, from the Kootzaduka'a people through the era of diversion to today's contested recovery.
SoCal History: the Mono Lake basin’s role in our water supply
Guest: Robert B. Marks, author of Deep Time in the Mono Lake Basin: Nature and History over the Last 10,000 Years
The history: The L.A. Aqueduct began drawing from Mono Basin tributaries in 1941. By 1982, the lake had dropped 45 feet, its salinity had doubled, and its ecosystem was collapsing. Lawsuits brought by the Mono Lake Committee and the National Audubon Society reshaped American water law, culminating in the State Water Board's 1994 Decision 1631 capping L.A.'s diversions.
Yes, but: The lake is roughly 9 feet below the level state regulators set as its target back in 1994, and a new state-commissioned report from UCLA researchers concludes that LADWP should curtails its diversions to avoid.
Join the conversation: Have you visited Mono Lake, or do you have a connection to the Eastern Sierra? Give us a call at (866) 893-5722 or email us at atcomments@laist.com.
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