Reporter Eddie Sun: 

I’m at the Eagle in Silver Lake reporting on the recreational rugby team, Los Angeles Rebellion when cheers suddenly ring out throughout the bar.
The Rebellion players huddle up and egg on a couple of guys in a beer-chugging contest using language that’s too profane to include. The players who score their first tries (think: touchdowns) are mildly peer-pressured to strip naked and run around the bar –– great for audio and… erm, not so good for video.
Is this a college frat house? No, it’s a queer rugby club having a great time at a gay bar, enjoying their lives in a way we don’t normally associate with queerness. They play sports, smoke cigars, and engage in funny shenanigans. And they can do it all feeling that their queer identities are affirmed, not alienated. 

It was amazing to see this group of free-spirited people find their community and share with me a slice of queer life that doesn’t get much shine. I hope you’ll find the Rebellion as interesting as I did.

Queer rugby club is shattering perceptions of men in contact sports

The Los Angeles Rebellion offers a safe space for queer athletes to enjoy the perks of organized sports, without the toxic masculinity that is often present in heterosexual sports settings.

“Inclusive rugby challenges what some might assume about masculinity and femininity,” says Eric Anderson, president of the Rebellion. “[It challenges] how people present themselves and what we assume about each other.”

“I wanted to have a community that's not exclusive to a gay bar,” says Jose Flores, who’s been with the group for a couple of years. 

He continues, “I'm inspired to read more because some of us like to read a lot, or I'm inspired to be more free-spirited because some of us are wacky and kooky.” 

In May, the Rebellion will travel to Rome for the Bingham Cup where they’ll join 180 other inclusive clubs from around the globe for the "world cup" of queer rugby.

Animal highway in Agoura Hills: Construction means freeway closures

The southbound 101 freeway in Agoura Hills will be closed 11 PM to 4 AM for the next few weeks as Caltrans continues building what’s described as the world’s largest wildlife bridge. The temporary annoyance for drivers will provide safe passage from the Santa Monica Mountains to the Santa Susana Mountain Range for species that need to roam for food and breeding.

“If we do not build this wildlife crossing, it is almost certain that mountain lions will not have a future in the Santa Monica Mountains. But it's also biologically important for all wildlife there. The Santa Monica Mountains is one of the 36 biodiversity hotspots in the world,” says Beth Pratt-Bergstrom, California director for the National Wildlife Federation. 

The bridge will also serve as a natural habitat for the animals, featuring trees, soil, and native plants. Humans will not be allowed there.

The project — funded by public and private dollars — is expected to be finished in 2026.

Shoppers mourn 99 Cents Only as stores wind down operations

99 Cents Only stores — 371 locations in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas — are shuttering permanently. In 1982, a Los Angeles resident launched the first store. The chain grew to offer low-cost groceries, household items, and knick-knacks. 

After the company announced plans for closures, bargain hunters started wiping many aisles bare, leaving some stores with an apocalyptic zombie-movie feel.

Shoppers are mourning the store’s role in their lives, including Cindy Deveraux, who says, “I’m actually really very sad. I can come here and buy party favors and things that make your budget go further. I’ve been so grateful to shop here for many, many years. My whole family comes here. It’s a treat.” 

While 99 Cents Only is a fun place to get cheap candy and water guns, it fills a more critical need for some people. 

Porsche Hicks recently became housed after living on the streets for 10 years, and she relies on the low prices. “I actually buy meats, cheese. Sometimes I buy cereal. It's going to be a real crisis once they are permanently closed.”

Saving orphaned sea otters: Aquariums in Long Beach and Monterey team up

Sea otters were nearly hunted to extinction in the early 20th century for their pelts, but thanks to conservation efforts, their numbers in California have rebounded from about 50 in 1938 to around 3,000. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has played an important role in this ecological success story, fostering abandoned otter pups for later release into the wild. 

Now the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach is joining the initiative. In February this year, it received its first orphaned otter, who is identified by the number 968. Staff members have been rehabbing her with the help of their adult female otter named Millie, also a rescue. 

Millie serves as a surrogate mother to 968, teaching her ocean survival skills. The plan is to release 968 back into the ocean in late summer or early fall, shares Megan Smylie, manager of the sea otter program at Aquarium of the Pacific. 

“Millie is teaching [968] how to sufficiently groom her coat. The sea otter’s fur coat is probably their first and best defense at staying warm in the cold waters that they live in. … It's actually creating a waterproof barrier between their skin and the water, and it helps keep them warm.”

Smylie continues, “In addition to that, Millie's teaching 968 how to manipulate prey items. Here at the aquarium, we are offering … different types of prey for her to practice this. … Millie is bringing [968] food and offering it to her. And then teaching the pup how to play with the food and really manipulate those shelled items so that she can pull all of the meat and calories out of that prey.”

LA CIRCLE team tries to replace police in homeless response

Crisis and Incident Response through Community-led Engagement (CIRCLE) is a program that former LA Mayor Eric Garcetti started not long after the murder of George Floyd in 2020, as part of a nationwide call to re-imagine policing. Mayor Karen Bass’s office runs it now. 

The idea is to divert some 911 calls from police to civilians — often people with “the lived experience,” many of whom were formerly incarcerated. CIRCLE has two aims: To reduce the number of interactions between non-violent people and police and to house more people. 

The city is also evaluating whether the program is giving time back to police, so they can focus on preventing and responding to more serious offenses. 

For this reason, the LA police union supports programs like the CIRCLE team. One LAPD captain who would only comment on background says, “We’ll take all the help we can get.” 

“What has been happening all over the country with police brutality — this program is an advantage in that we get to divert that from happening,” says Monse Mota, a CIRCLE participant. “Police brutality has an impact in my life. My brother was shot by the police. So this work makes it rewarding.”

Venice Beach and Hollywood were the first neighborhoods to pilot the CIRCLE program. Now it’s also in Downtown LA, South LA, Sherman Oaks, and the San Pedro/Harbor area.

CIRCLE employs 99 people, and since 2021, the City of LA has spent a little more than $19 million on it.