Headlines: Guerrilla Tacos Gets a New Chef; Shrooms Are Safer Than Weed

Welcome to L.A. TACO’s daily news briefs, where we bring our loyal members, readers, and supporters the latest headlines about Los Angeles politics and culture. Stay informed and look closely.

—Arts District: The Los Angeles taco institution Guerrilla Tacos has promoted former Executive Sous Chef Crystal Espinoza to Culinary Director for Guerrilla Tacos, GoGo's Tacos, and Guerrilla Cafecito. Espinoza previously worked as the sous and pastry chef at Union in Pasadena and Knead Pasta Bar at Grand Central Market and was part of the opening team at Simone. She will be joined by Chef Miguel Perez, who will take on the role of Chef de Cuisine at Guerrilla Tacos. "At Guerrilla Tacos, she is able to reconnect with her Mexican roots while pulling influence from the diverse cultures of the city she has grown up in," says Brittney Valles, Guerrilla Taco's Managing Partner. Espinoza is a native Angeleno and mother.

—New York Times writers, more than 1,100 of them, have pledged to walk out of work today in a strike for better wages. An act of protest of this scale has not happened there since 1970. Management at The NYT, while initially “blindsided” by the walkout threat, according to a source. Amanda Hess, Critic at Large at the paper and the Second Vice President at the New York Times Guild  [CNN]

—Hollywood: The old L.A. Weekly building in Culver City is officially a thing of the past. It was a hell of a run. [@cbxweb/Twitter]

—LA Times released their coveted annual 101 List. It features former TACO MADNESS champions such as Sonoratown, Villa's Tacos, and Chicano-owned Heritage BBQ from San Juan Capistrano. [LA Times]

—Van Nuys: A boy was hospitalized after a stabbing near Van Nuys High School. Police were searching for suspects who stabbed two juveniles near Van Nuys High School Wednesday. Authorities did not release the victims' ages. [CBS]

—Rialto: A man carrying an AR-15 style paintball gun was shot at the Rialto Police Department parking lot. [CBS]

—Shrooms are safer than weed. That's according to the annual Global Drug Survey, which polled close to 120,000 people in 50 countries about their drug and alcohol use.⁠ More than 12,000 respondents said they'd done shrooms, and just 0.2 percent of them said they needed emergency medical care afterward, a rate that was five to six times lower than LSD, cocaine, MDMA, and alcohol, and three times lower than weed.⁠ [VICE]

—L.A. Indigenous and Human Rights Activists Odilia Romero of CIELO and Felicia “Fe” Montes of Mujeres de Maíz were both recognized during Lizzo's acceptance speech when she won The Public Choice Award for People's Champion. [CIELO]