Many Native American boarding schools closed long ago and are viewed as sites of trauma, but Sherman Indian High School in Riverside is different. It’s still open and thriving, and its mission is to support tribal traditions and identities. LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer says it’s highly likely the Omicron variant has already reached Los Angeles, and recommends people take advantage of rapid testing during the holiday season. And we talk to a nurse in Riverside about why her peers are leaving the profession and the toll it takes on hospital staff and patients.

In 1991, actor Steve Martin wrote and starred in “LA Story,” a satirical romantic comedy in which a wacky weatherman tries to win the heart of an English newspaper reporter struggling to make sense of early 1990s Los Angeles. Thirty years later, we speak with Martin about whether the LA stereotypes that made the film so hilarious still hold up. The global supply chain and American overconsumption has got many people reevaluating their holiday gift purchases. How about giving a local experience like bungee jumping or improv classes, instead of more … stuff? And the winner of the LA Award in the 2021 KCRW Radio Race tells the story of a coyote in Woodland Hills that got too close for comfort.

“Chicano I & II: The Mexican American Heritage Series” aired on KNBC-TV in July of 1971 and examined history from the Chicano perspective. The program reran once in 1972, then the film reels remained untouched in a garage for 50 years. Now the show’s original host and USC have revived nine of the 20 episodes for the public to view. To achieve its ambitious organic waste reduction goals, the state of California is supporting local governments and hunger relief organizations starting or expanding food rescue programs. Students and staff at Anaheim High School voted to keep their mascot, “the Colonist,” despite accusations that it’s culturally insensitive and racist.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s new movie, “Licorice Pizza,” is about growing up and falling in love in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s. He looks back on growing up in LA and realizing he didn’t need to go to film school to make movies, and explains why winning awards is the last thing on his mind when trying to finish a 10-hour work day. Also, KCRW speaks with a real-life politician portrayed in “Licorice Pizza” — Joel Wachs, who sat on the LA City Council from 1971 to 2001. He explains the dramatic shift in LA politics during the 1970s, and why he chose to stay closeted for most of his life.

It’s been two months since Carson residents started smelling rotten eggs and getting headaches. LA County declared a state of emergency, paid for thousands of hotel rooms, and are spraying thousands of gallons of odor neutralizer on the nearby Dominguez Channel every day for weeks. Now the county says Carson is safe, and it will stop paying for rooms this week. But the residents who are already home say the problem isn’t solved. The LA Auto Show is back in action after being canceled last year due to COVID, and the spotlight has shifted from internal combustion engines (ICE) to electric vehicles (EVs). Plus, two new solo exhibitions in LA feature artists who mix landscapes with history, mythology, and more to create abstract paintings.

For the first time in the 68-year history of the California School for the Deaf in Riverside, their football team is one game away from capturing the division championship. This comes after suffering seven straight losing seasons. The Division 2 Final Championship takes place November 27 at the school’s home field.

Also, how would statewide redistricting affect Congressional seats in Orange County?

Koreatown performance artist Kristina Wong suddenly had no work when the pandemic began, so she started creating face masks. Soon her so-called “Auntie Sewing Squad” included people nationwide, making masks for hospital workers, migrant workers, and more. Now eight times a week onstage in New York City, Wong recounts how she sparked a mini-movement at her red Hello Kitty sewing machine in Koreatown. Instagram’s “The Hood Foodie” shares his journey through sobriety and why reviewing mom-and-pop restaurants helped give him purpose. And the latest U.S. Census numbers have prompted redistricting processes all over the country, including in LA County.

The Santa Susana Field Lab — overlooking Chatsworth, Simi Valley, and Canoga Park — was a nuclear testing site for America’s space exploration programs from 1948 until 2006. In July 1959, it suffered a partial nuclear meltdown — which was covered up — that released clouds of radiation. In the decades since, arguments have dragged on about how to clean up the contaminated site and who will pay for it. This saga is the focus of a new documentary called “In the Dark of the Valley.” KCRW talks with director Nicholas Mihm and two people in the film — Melissa Bumstead, who lives near the site, and KNBC-4’s investigative reporter Joel Grover, who’s been following the story for the last six years. Journalist Warren Olney also shares how he helped break the story of the Santa Susana meltdown decades ago.

As the winter season approaches, LA County might be spared from another major COVID-19 spike. That’s due to rising vaccination rates and the lasting power of booster shots, says Paula Cannon, professor of microbiology and immunology at USC’s Keck School of Medicine. 

On the first Saturday each month in Ladera Heights, a group of volunteers picks up trash along the stretch of La Cienega Boulevard by Slauson Ave. “Several residents and myself, we don't want to look at this anymore. If they're [city authorities] not going to do it, unfortunately, we're going to get out there and we're going to do it ourselves,” says Ray Craycraft, founder of the 28-month-old group.

Also, desert tortoise populations are heading toward extinction. Can they be saved?

Why does affordable housing take so long and cost so much to build? KCRW’s Anna Scott and KQED’s Saul Gonzalez team up to find answers. They look at LA voter-approved bond measure Proposition HHH, which hits its five-year anniversary this month. “Freewaytopia” is a new book about the 527 miles of freeways that criss-cross LA County. And OC supervisors are preparing to vote on new district maps, but they’re being criticized for a lack of public debate over where to draw the new lines.