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.
—2022 Taco Madness winner Villa's Tacos has been on KTLA and NBC this week, and will be talking with Ryan Seacrest on the radio today. [NBC, KTLA]
—56-year-old Steve Lee Dominguez was arrested this week and charged with two counts of bias-motivated interference with federal protected activities, after harassing participants in a Stop Asian Hate rally in Koreatown last year. [NBC]
—A third grade teacher in Glendale has received threats and been transferred from her classroom out of safety concerns after showing videos celebrating gay pride and love in 2021. [LAT]
—Joe Buscaino has dropped out of the LA Mayoral race to support billionaire Rick Caruso. [LAist]
—The California Coastal Commission has rejected a plan for a massive desalination plant in Huntington Beach, despite it having a pretty cool name. [LAT]
—Kendrick Lamar dropped his new album, "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers," last night. [Complex]
—The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation is providing 500 South Los Angeles students with new shoes, through nonprofit Shoes That Fit. They'll also be going to a game. [ABC]
—A 16-year-old was killed and two others hospitalized in a shooting at a Corona apartment building. [NBC]
—Restaurant critic Merrill Shindler takes a look at the make-them-yourself tacos at Encanto in Los Feliz. [The Eastsider]
—A woman in El Salvador was just sentenced to 30 years in prison for homicide after losing her unborn fetus in a medical emergency. [Vice]
—Several elementary students ate chips believed to be laced with weed in Perris and were taken to the hospital. [Yahoo]
—"A group of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputies working in the county jail in Castaic are part of a white supremacist, Ku Klux Klan–themed gang that engages in misconduct and violence against incarcerated people," writes journalist Cerise Castle. [Knock-LA]
—A look into Emtrain's laudable efforts to launch and adhere to a four-day work week. [NBC]