The Brief

A jury last week awarded nearly $2 million to a former California prison psychiatrist who claimed the state retaliated against him when officials began raising questions about how he earned high incomes from two government agencies.

A decade ago, Anthony Coppola held a senior position at a former state prison in Tracy and a part-time assignment as a psychiatrist at Alameda County’s Santa Rita Jail.

He also kept a massive bank of unused personal leave from his state job, totaling over 1,000 hours. Court records show he took two personal days a week to draw down that balance and used the time to work for Alameda County.

It added up to a combined income of about $550,000 a year, with about $300,000 from the state and about $250,000 from the county, according to public records at the website Transparent California.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation opened an internal investigation into whether he was misusing leave — “double-dipping,” as one official put it — and that contributed to a chain of events that Coppola argued drove him into early retirement.

He alleged that the corrections department singled him out when it removed hundreds of hours of leave he accrued in more than two decades as a prison psychiatrist, and that it was in retaliation for him taking medical leave after he faced questions from supervisors about his second job.

The corrections department countered that Coppola was improperly granted too many hours of leave during a period when he was working on call and that it simply corrected his balance of accrued time.

A San Joaquin County jury found for Coppola last week and awarded him $1.8 million plus another $2 million in attorneys’ fees.

“It’s really ridiculous because their theme was, we did everything we did because we gotta respect the rights of the taxpayers,” said Coppola’s attorney, Lawrence Bohm.

“And I’m thinking, you clowns could have settled this case. You should have settled this case. The moment he filed his lawsuit (in 2017), you could have settled this case for a hundred grand and put him back to work.”

The corrections department said in a statement to CalMatters that it is evaluating its options.

“CDCR is disappointed by the verdict and is evaluating what, if any, further action to take,” said corrections department spokesperson Mary Xjimenez.

Public employees' personal leave balances

At the heart of the case was Coppola’s accrued time off. California state workers are supposed to cap their time off at 640 hours — equivalent to 16 weeks of vacation. But the state cannot force them to use the time, and some public employees accumulate more hours to cash them out upon retirement.

Allowing Coppola to keep the hundreds of hours of improperly awarded credits, the state argued, would have been a gift of state funds, and illegal.

Moreover, the state alleged that Coppola was only working two days a week at the prison, and the state alleged in its trial briefs that Coppola was frequently absent and “seldom around” during working hours .

The state further alleged that Coppola could not take medical leave because he wasn’t eligible – he hadn’t worked 1,250 hours in the year before he took leave because he was only coming in to work two days a week.

Coppola never hid his work in Alameda County from leaders at the prison known as Deuel Vocational Institution. His supervisor signed off on his outside work when he began it in 2003, according to Coppola’s trial briefs.

“The number of days Dr. Coppola worked at Santa Rita Jail varied over the years until 2013 when Dr. Coppola began using accrued but unused leave credits from (Deuel) so he could work more time at the jail,” his attorneys wrote.

Coppola, who began working in California prisons in 1996, took medical leave in October 2016, citing health issues and workplace stress.

At that point, he alleges, a “cabal” of supervisors conspired to get rid of him.

In December 2017, a corrections department attorney issued a report in which she concluded that Coppola had been improperly accruing leave credits for years and asked the corrections department’s internal affairs unit to investigate.

The internal affairs investigation did not fault Coppola with any wrongdoing, according to court filings from the corrections department.

In the meantime, a human resources investigation by the corrections department determined that Coppola improperly accrued his leave credits, and docked him hundreds of hours of leave.

He then filed a lawsuit.

Coppola retired from the state prison system in 2019. Deuel Vocational Institution closed in 2021.

High pay for California prison doctors

The state’s trial brief paints Coppola as a person prone to taking offense. When his supervisor moved his office to a different location, for instance, he took that as a demonstration of animosity, the state alleges.

The state described those interactions as“ irrelevant and red herrings … general animosity towards Coppola is not illegal.”

Coppola’s trial brief shows that there appeared to be some animosity toward him.

“I’m going to be politically incorrect and say he needs to act like an adult,” one of his supervisors said when he took medical leave, according to Coppola’s trial brief. Another supervisor responded that Coppola “may need interventional psychiatry.”

Incorrect jail records led Coppola’s supervisors to believe for a time that he had been working at the Alameda County jail at the exact same hours he was supposed to be working at the prison.

“OMG,” responded Coppola’s direct supervisor, Dr. Carrie Anaforian, according to the trial brief, “he’s such a weasel.”

California’s prison and jail psychiatrists are among the state’s highest-paid employees and are in high demand because of a shortage of providers. The starting salary for prison psychiatrists last year was almost $286,000. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new contract for them a year ago that promised raises and bonuses worth at least $42,000.

California’s prison psychiatrist shortage continues to cost the state in other ways. In late June, a federal judge ordered the state to pay $112 million in fines for defying years of court orders demanding that the state improve its “chronic mental health understaffing in the state prison system.”

“The shortage is absolutely having an impact both on the care and well being of the patient,” said Bohm, Coppola’s attorney. “It’s having an impact on the recordkeeping. It’s having an impact on the way administrators are enforcing things. Unfortunately, the one place it is not having an impact is treating mental health better.”

Some government funding streams for L.A. County’s public health system are drying up, and officials are turning to private philanthropy to fill the gap.

A new privately funded foundation launched Thursday to strengthen public health services after $50 million in federal, state and local funding cuts to the county’s Department of Public Health since early last year.

“It is really a hard day for our community when we have to ask for private donations to fund a public good, but unfortunately, we've lost too much money to not take this important step,” said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

In February, the county’s Public Health Department closed seven clinics, with six remaining open. About half of the patients seen in those clinics are uninsured, according to county officials. The department also cut hundreds of staff positions.

Ferrer is on the board of the new foundation, The Fund for Advancing Public Health LA, which held its first meeting Thursday.

She said the fund will help the county maintain its basic public health infrastructure, including disease prevention, health promotion, environmental health, and emergency response efforts.

Other board members include several health insurance executives, as well as actors Sean Penn and Danny Trejo. Board member Saree Kayne of the R&S Kayne Foundation pledged $150,000 to the fund Thursday. Kayne said she hopes the donation encourages others to give.

The foundation aims to raise $2 million this year.

More cuts expected

L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell said it’s crucial to have an alternative funding stream to protect services for the county's most vulnerable residents.

“We are saving public health,” Mitchell said. “This fund represents a new approach, one that brings together government philanthropy in the private sector to invest in community-based solutions, protect vulnerable populations, and strengthen our public health infrastructure.”

Officials say more public health cuts are coming, through the federal budget law known as the "Big Beautiful Bill," which slashes funding for Medi-Cal.

The county Department of Public Health anticipates losing up to $300 million in revenue over the next three years because of the federal budget bill and other potential funding freezes. Federal funding accounts for almost 50% of the public health budget, according to county officials.

Mitchell also led an effort to put a half-percent county sales tax increase to fund public health on the June ballot.

If approved by voters, that proposal, known as Measure ER, is expected to raise about $1 billion a year for county safety net health services, including about $100 million for the public health department.

Board members

The Fund for Advancing Public Health LA announced its founding board of directors, which includes:

• Dr. Barbara Ferrer, LA County Department of Public Health director
• Debbie I. Chang, Blue Shield of California Foundation CEO
• Sean Penn, actor and co-founder of Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE)
• Martha Santana-Chin, LA Care Health Plan CEO
• Saree Kayne, R&S Kayne Foundation CEO
• Danny Trejo, actor and restaurateur
• Jarrett Barrios, an executive at the American Red Cross
• Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Charles R. Drew University College of Medicine Dean
• Kristin McCowan, an executive at the Los Angeles Dodgers

The Rose Bowl in Pasadena may be a centenarian, but it’s holding up pretty well as it continues to host events on its way to a starring role in the LA28 Olympics.

But before it can host the soccer final, it needs fixes, especially to the infrastructure serving the bathrooms and drinking fountains. Fears of a toilet backup while in the world’s spotlight led Rep. Laura Friedman to seek federal funds for upgrades. On Thursday she announced she secured just over $1 million.

“Two years from now, athletes around the world are going to compete for gold right where we are standing. This is not the time to find out whether or not these pipes are up to the task,” Friedman said.

The planned work, she added, will lead to improved water flow capacity and water drainage, eliminating the risk of backups and emergency maintenance.

The funds came from the House of Representatives Interior and Environment subcommittee. The fixes, an official said, will be completed by the LA28 Olympics.

The funds, however, are a drop in the bucket when it comes to what’s needed to make needed improvements to the Pasadena venue.

Officials, including (left to right) Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation President Dedan Brozino, Deputy Fire Chief of the City of Pasadena Tim Sell, Congresswoman Laura Friedman, and Rose Bowl Stadium CEO Jens Weiden announced infrastructure funding for the 103-year old Rose Bowl.

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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/LAist

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“Over the  next 20 years there's about $200 million that we need to put in and that's everything from updating light fixtures to updating gas, water, wastewater lines, etc.,” said Dedan Brozino,  president of the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation, the nonprofit that supports the Rose Bowl stadium's preservation and enhancement.

Getting venues ready will be expensive

The money is a much-needed win at a time when elected officials in city, county, state and federal offices have been struggling to find the funds to get L.A.-area venues ready for the global Olympic stage in two years.

The entrance to a men's bathroom at the Rose Bowl.

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A $360 million proposal to spruce up asphalt in parking lots around Exposition Park won’t be done in time for the Olympics, as originally planned. Meanwhile, just up the street, there’s concern that a $2.6 billion expansion of the L.A. Convention Center, which is hosting Olympic wrestling, fencing and judo in 2028 won’t be ready for the Olympics.

Additionally, to save money, LA28 organizers moved Olympic diving to the Rose Bowl complex last year because it has two Olympic-sized pools, while the Exposition Park complex doesn't and would need expensive upgrades.

Topline:

About the chick: The chick hatched March 14. The zoo opened its Cape vulture enclosure in February 2025 after years of planning to encourage the birds to roost and nest, welcoming a new breeding pair that year. When it grows to be an adult, it’ll have a wingspan of 8 1/2 feet.

About the enclosure: The L.A. Zoo said it spent years developing the vulture habitat, which was designed to mimic the vultures’ natural environment in South Africa. Dominick Dorsa II, the zoo’s director of animal care, said in a statement the successful hatching is “a testament to the design and construction” of the habitat.

How to see the chick: You can’t for the time being. Zoo officials are keeping it away from visitors until the chick matures, though you can still see adult Cape vultures at the zoo’s enclosure.

Though visitors will have to wait until the chick matures to see it in the enclosure, you can still take in the impressive eight and a half foot wingspan of the adult Cape vultures.

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Courtesy Jamie Pham/L.A. Zoo

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What zoo officials are saying: “Welcoming a Cape vulture chick is a thrilling moment for our team and a beacon of hope for African vultures,” the L.A. Zoo’s curator of birds Rose Legato said in a statement. “Vultures are one of nature's most misunderstood marvels, and I cannot wait for our guests to eventually watch this chick grow and learn just how vital they are to our ecosystems.”

About the species: Cape vultures are listed as a vulnerable species due to human activities and encroachment. According to the L.A. Zoo, African vultures are more closely related to eagles and hawks than vultures native to the Americas, like the California condors that just hatched last year at the L.A. Zoo.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

What should have been a celebration for formerly incarcerated youth completing a reentry program at the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory (BHAC) last week instead ended with seven students and two staff members detained by the Los Angeles Police Department, according to witnesses. 

Now, nearly a week later, BHAC staff and city officials are demanding answers from the LAPD, with some accusing officers of racial profiling. 

According to the LAPD, officers observed a large group gathered on the corner of Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and Mott Street around 4:16 p.m. on March 26. Authorities then requested backup for what they described as “a large group surrounding officers,” LAPD Public Information Officer Tony Im said. 

The group, classified by police as an “aggressive gang group,” consisted of seven 18-year-old students from the BHAC’s Bridge Academy Movement (BAM) program and two BHAC staff members.

The BAM program pays formerly incarcerated youth to complete 200-250 hours in media and visual arts training to prepare them for creative careers. That day, students were set to showcase their work at the BAM program graduation for families and community members. 

Rene Weber, a teaching artist at the BHAC, had been with the students setting up for the ceremony minutes before the incident occurred. 

According to Weber, the students had gone to coffee across the street at Milpa Kitchen as they often did, when staff were alerted that they were being detained. 

Weber said he arrived to find students and a staff member pressed against the wall in handcuffs. 

Video from the scene, taken by a staff member at the BHAC, shows multiple officers surrounding the group. At one point, an officer orders a person to “get on the wall” and displays a stun gun.  

“No, none of that, these are kids right here,” the staff member replies.

Another staff member, Teotl Veliz, recorded a large police response.  

“I counted 12 cop cars, that’s at least 25 cops, and they had a helicopter,” Veliz said. “It was just so comedic, tragically comedic, that it was on their graduation day too.”

Officers established a perimeter with yellow tape along the side of Ashley’s Beauty Salon as local business owners and witnesses gathered around the students. 

“I was just incredibly disappointed in LAPD… because it became so apparent to everybody, all at the same time, that it was racial profiling and nothing else,” Veliz said.

Weber said officers gave shifting explanations for the stop at the scene, including blocking the sidewalk and possible underage vaping. After Weber told the officers that all of the students were 18, they said they would investigate whether the group had any gang affiliation. 

Police have not responded to questions about what led officers to believe that the group was gang-affiliated. 

Weber recalled pleading with the officers to let the group go and explaining to them that they worked across the street. Community members and local business owners also stepped in to vouch for the students. 

“Our job is to help them gain a new perspective on life,” Weber said. “They’re coming out of juvenile detention and they’re turning their lives around. We can do our part in keeping them off the streets and keeping them doing better but what does it mean if they’re going to be profiled and treated exactly the same way?” 

In total, seven 18-year-old students and two staff members were detained. BHAC staff said one student and one staff member were taken to Hollenbeck Community Police Station and released less than two hours later after advocacy from community members and Councilmember Ysabel Jurado.

The incident ultimately resulted in an infraction for smoking a cannabis e-vape on a public sidewalk, according to a photo of the infraction shared with the Beat. LAPD did not provide details about the people taken to Hollenbeck Station or the infraction. 

The graduation ceremony was cancelled that night and is expected to be rescheduled in April. 

“Graduation should be a moment of pride and possibility — not fear,” Jurado said in a statement. “I’m seeking answers about what occurred, and this underscores the need for stronger relationships between law enforcement and community organizations so moments like these are protected, not disrupted.”

Carmelita Ramirez‑Sanchez, the conservatory’s executive director, said she was grateful to the community and Jurado for advocating for the students’ release. Jurado met her at Hollenbeck Station within 20 minutes of being alerted to the incident, she said. 

“They had store owners, señoras, barbers, that ran out and were trying to explain to the police who our kids were,” Ramirez‑Sanchez said. 

Still, she said the incident tarnished what should have been a joyous celebration.

“I imagine that what this does is derail this entire idea that you can be an active participant in your own restorative growth,” she said.