The Brief

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

California sued the Trump administration Monday to block what it says is an unprecedented power grab: using emergency authority to force the restart of an offshore oil operation shut down more than a decade ago.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, argues a March 13 order by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright oversteps his authority under the Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era law.

“No matter how much President Trump may claim there's a so-called national energy emergency — it's just not true,” Attorney General Rob Bonta told reporters. “The U.S. already produces significantly more oil and gas than we use — it's a completely fabricated claim intended to curry favor with the oil industry.”

The legal fight pits the Trump administration and Sable Offshore Corp. against California officials and environmental groups — and comes as fuel prices jump in the wake of the Iran conflict. Sable, which bought the system from ExxonMobil in 2024, has told investors that production could increase from about 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to more than 50,000 if it restarts, sending oil to refineries in Los Angeles, Bakersfield and the Bay Area.

California argues the emergency powers law is meant to prioritize contracts during emergencies — not to override state law or force a pipeline restart. The state says the administration failed to meet the law’s basic requirements, including showing an actual energy shortage.

Wright’s order marked the most aggressive federal intervention yet in a yearslong dispute. A March 3 legal opinion from the U.S. Justice Department had laid the groundwork, concluding that the emergency order could preempt state law — and even override a 2020 federal consent decree requiring approval from the California State Fire Marshal before the pipeline can restart.

Environmental groups and experts have argued that forcing the pipeline back into production would not lower gasoline prices but would put coastal wildlife at risk and set a troubling precedent for federal power over state law. The Trump administration has long sought to expand offshore oil leasing along the West Coast, which has drawn fierce opposition in California.

Sable is facing mounting legal pressure on multiple fronts. In December, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration ruled that the infrastructure qualifies as an interstate pipeline and issued an emergency permit approving a restart plan — a move environmental groups and the state of California challenged. That case is pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In February, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge ordered the pipeline to remain shut down, ruling that earlier federal intervention was not enough to override an injunction requiring Sable to obtain state approvals before restarting.

Representatives for Sable, the Energy Department and the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Plans to install automated license plate readers along Western Avenue to target suspected sex trafficking is no longer moving forward after Council District 13 declined a donation of cameras from weapons and technology developer Axon Enterprise.

The district is now considering cameras that would not use license plate reader technology, according to a spokesperson for Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez.

The cameras would be maintained by the Bureau of Street Lighting, and the councilmember is expected to bring a proposal to the City Council before the end of the year. 

LAPD had previously said it planned to install 18 cameras along Western Avenue between Olympic and Santa Monica boulevards, a corridor the department has targeted for sex trafficking. The department said the cameras would include live-feed monitoring and license plate recognition technology and could be operating by July.

LAPD declined to provide updates over the summer. 

Axon Enterprise, which supplies the LAPD with body-worn cameras, stun guns and other equipment, offered to donate the cameras to the department’s Olympic Station, according to CD13 spokesperson Andoni Elias Nava.

“We are against ALPRs. We don’t want to see them in our district,” he said. “So once we realized what that was, we said we don’t really want them in our district.” 

A spokesperson for Axon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

On Monday, Senior Lead Officer Harry Cho said the cameras had been expected to be funded by CD13 and CD10 but that CD13 had pulled its funding.

“Right now, there’s no cameras that are city-operated on Western,” Cho said at the Wilshire Center-Koreatown Neighborhood Council meeting. 

Senior Lead Officer Lucy Bermudez confirmed Thursday that the cameras have not been installed along the Western corridor and that the project is on hold.

Nava disputed Cho’s account that the district had pulled funding for the cameras.

“We never committed any kind of funding. The cameras from Axon were supposed to be fully funded by Axon. They were a donation to PD,” he said. “There was no funding that was given to be pulled in the first place.”

He said the district plans to install a different type of camera, but that the details are still being worked out over the next few months, including how many cameras would be installed. 

The section of Western Avenue between Olympic and Santa Monica boulevards runs through both CD13 and CD10. A spokesperson for CD10 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

LAPD initially described the cameras as part of a broader effort to combat human trafficking along Western Avenue ahead of the World Cup and the 2028 Olympics. The department said the cameras would help identify people involved in human trafficking and people targeting minors.

Advocates of sex workers have raised concerns that the cameras would increase police surveillance along the corridor and further criminalize people who work there.

Jayme Kusyk, a Koreatown resident and member of the abolitionist group Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, said replacing ALPRs with conventional surveillance cameras would not eliminate the concerns raised by sex workers.

“Certainly we definitely want less cameras up, so to any extent they’re fighting that, that’s great,” she said. “But a camera is a camera is a camera. It doesn’t have to be enabled with ALPR technology to still be really harmful.”

She said even conventional CCTV cameras could increase criminalization of sex workers.

“It still increases criminalization. It won’t decrease demand,” she said, adding that clients could become more volatile if they believe they are being watched.

At an Olympic Division Community Police Advisory Board meeting on Nov. 4, LAPD Officer Dan Chavez said officers conducted an operation that morning that resulted in multiple arrests related to sex work, including one person arrested on suspicion of pimping.

One of the sex workers “provided our officers with information saying that she was being pimped by this person and they were able to arrest that individual,” he said. 

The city also recently debated the use of Axon’s license plate reader technology.

On Oct. 6, the City Council voted 10-4 to assert jurisdiction over the Police Commission’s approval of an Axon pilot program that would install automated license plate readers on city streetlights. Soto-Martínez, who represents CD13, and Heather Hutt, who represents CD 10, both voted in favor.

The council later voted to veto the pilot, but the measure failed because it needed 10 votes to overturn the Police Commission’s approval. The veto received nine votes on Oct. 27. Hutt and Soto-Martínez both voted in favor of the veto.

Los Angeles Documenter, Ashley Bolter, contributed reporting for this story from the Nov. 4 Olympic Area Community Police Advisory Board meeting. The L.A. Documenters program trains and pays community members to document proceedings at public meetings. Learn more about the program here.

This is the Nov. 13 issue of Make It Make Sense, LAist's elections newsletter, also published on LAist, breaking down the results of the 2026 general election. Sign up here to receive issues in your inbox through the end of November.

We’ve made it through yet another week! Election Day may feel worlds away now, but plenty of races are still being sorted out. Here’s what you need to know before we all unplug for the weekend.

What happened in the election in your neighborhood?

With more than 100 cities in our region, it’s impossible to keep track of every local race. But we’re featuring a few hyperlocal highlights here that caught our eye this week, including suggestions that readers flagged for us:

• Data centers in Alhambra: Alhambra voters are resoundingly rejecting data centers. Measure DB, which would effectively ban the centers in all areas of the city, is passing with nearly 84% of the vote so far. The Alhambra City Council voted unanimously this summer to put the measure before voters on the November ballot. Alhambra becomes the second city in the state to pass a ban on data centers by public vote, after Monterey Park voters overwhelmingly passed a ban in the June primary.
• Close contests in Diamond Bar: Two of the council races in this L.A. County city are incredibly close — separated by less than 1 point. Ruben Torres is leading Steve Tye in District 1 by just 14 votes. District 4 is even tighter, with Lee Mao ahead of Chia-Yu Teng by 12 votes! Remember this whenever you feel like your voice may not matter at the ballot box.
• Neck and neck in Costa Mesa: We’re also on the edge of our seats for Orange County’s Costa Mesa race for City Council District 3, where Democrat Cara Stewart leads Republican Daniel Morgan by 327 votes. Earlier this week, only one vote separated the two.
• Fontana’s next mayor: This Inland Empire city may be in for a new mayor. Over the weekend, Jocelyn “Joz” Sida, another democratic socialist backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, took the lead by 14 votes in a packed field against four-term Republican Mayor Acquanetta Warren. That gap has since grown to over 1,600 votes. 
• Sales tax whiplash: With the rising costs of well … everything … some voters are being asked to raise their city’s sales tax. We mentioned in an earlier issue that L.A. city voters raised their combined sales tax rate to 10.75% to fund the fire department, but elsewhere in the county, Hermosa Beach residents are rejecting Measure HB (57.11%), which would add a half-percent sales tax on local purchases. It was expected to raise roughly $2 million each year for the beachfront community to keep up with public safety services and infrastructure. Meanwhile, San Gabriel residents took a different approach, so far voting to approve Measure PS (59.41%). This would increase the sales tax by 1% to support emergency response, infrastructure and schools, among others. That means San Gabriel’s sales tax is on track to rise to 12%, which would be the highest in the county.
• Schrödinger's charter city: Voters in the city of Orange are rejecting Measure K (65% “no”). In a nutshell, it would switch the city’s governing structure from a general law city to a charter city, which gives it authority to build a local constitution instead of being bound by every state rule. Opponents of the measure framed it as a way for City Council members to skirt around term limits. Meanwhile, in Rosemead in L.A. County, over 71% of voters are giving the green light to becoming a charter city under Measure RC.
• Inglewood measures still too close to call: Both of the city’s measures would have major implications for its budget (currently facing a $30 million deficit), but the outcomes aren’t quite set yet. Measure AT, which removes a cap on tax revenue to the city from SoFi Stadium and adds a new tax on tickets to Intuit Dome events, leads “yes” by only 147 votes. Measure BB, which would ban most commercial advertising on billboards and city streets, is trending toward “no” at 51.7%.

Where did the winning candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America end up?

• What's happening: The midterm elections saw a “blue tsunami” nationwide with a wave of wins for Democrats — but there’s been a deeper undercurrent locally with candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America. The Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America endorsed nine candidates this past election. Seven of those candidates are winning their races, including in Los Angeles, Burbank, West Hollywood and Inglewood. Another candidate secured an appointment on a South Bay school district board, and the last race in L.A. City Council District 9 is still too close to call.
• Looking at L.A.: It was basically a DSA sweep for the biggest Los Angeles city contests. Nithya Raman will be the next mayor, and Marissa Roy won her city attorney race by a landslide. You can read more about how it’s shaking out in O.C. here, too.
• Backing in Burbank: Burbank is about to have a DSA-majority City Council, which the local chapter says is the “first one ever on the West Coast.” The DSA members up for election, Mike Van Gorder and Nolan Southerland, came in second and third out of 13 candidates. Van Gorder and Southerland will join current Councilmember Konstantine Anthony to make up the DSA majority on the five-member council.
• Moving into the House: Angela Gonzales-Torres unseated incumbent Jimmy Gomez in the race for House District 34, which includes downtown L.A., Boyle Heights, Eagle Rock and Koreatown. The Highland Park local will be a newcomer to Capitol Hill.
• Other DSA races: In West Hollywood, Stephen Post came in third out of 14 candidates running for city council, securing his seat in the chamber. In the race for Inglewood Unified School District Board of Education, Trustee Area 3, Yaritza González has earned more than double her challenger's votes. And for the Centinela Valley Union High School District Board, Estefany Castañeda was the only candidate on the ballot, earning an appointment to Trustee Area 5.
• What experts tell us: Tom Hogen-Esch, a professor of political science at California State University, Northridge, said that with more people entering the bloodstream of local politics in L.A., the region is going to get a more representative electorate that includes a lot of younger voters and renters, for example, which he expects to have had a big impact on election night. “I think we've entered a new era in L.A. politics where owners of single-family properties — these high propensity voters — are no longer calling the shots anymore.” However, he said it’s way too soon to expect any kind of radical populist and socialist-leaning policies in the city. “I wouldn't expect a revolution from [Raman’s] time as mayor.”

School repair bonds are passing in SoCal — but not statewide

• What’s happening: The election results so far show that dozens of school bonds on state ballots are failing, as reported by our newsroom partner CalMatters. Just over 85 California school districts put bonds on the ballot, totaling $12.4 billion, with 50 on track to pass as of earlier this week. But voters in L.A. and O.C. seem more receptive to the idea, passing bonds across the board for a dozen school districts.
  
  • L.A.: Ten school districts are asking for about $1.2 billion. That includes Bellflower, Glendora, Hawthorne and Temple City. All of the proposals are passing by decently wide margins, except for Glendora, which is sitting a hair above the threshold at 56.4%.
  • O.C.: A pair of school districts, Laguna Beach and Westminster, are asking for $211 million for their campuses. Both are passing with more than 68% of the vote.
• What are bonds, anyway? School districts will often ask voters to approve bonds to pay for repairs, renovations and construction. A bond is like a loan the school districts take out, with property owners in each area paying it back through a bump in property taxes. You can learn more in our newsroom’s thorough guide here.
• What’s next: Bonds need 55% of votes to pass. LAist surveyed local districts with bonds ahead of the election, and their priorities include fixing deteriorating roofs, plumbing, updating classrooms and school security systems, among others.

Voters rule on the judiciary

• L.A. County judges: All but one of our local races for the L.A. County Superior Court are settled — Office No. 131 between Donna Tryfman and David Ross, who are separated by around 5,000 votes, with Tryfman in the lead. This race has narrowed drastically since Election Day, which makes sense because the candidates were very similar on paper as career public defenders. The other seats were won by deputy district attorney Maria Ghobadi in seat 64, deputy public defender Justin Allen Clayton in seat 65 and deputy public defender Anthony "A.J." Bayne in seat 87.
• Statewide justices: California voters also had two retention elections for the state Supreme Court and a long lineup of appellate justices to decide. (Reminder: These courts are about settling novel issues in law and checking cases for mistakes, respectively. We vote on justices through “yes/no” retention elections every four years.) All justices facing voters are on track to keep their jobs by decent margins. That’s not a shocker — sitting justices regularly win retention with around two-thirds of the vote, according to our analysis, and that’s where the vast majority are headed. However, for the state’s highest court, more than 2 million voters skipped these races so far compared to the way more known governor’s race.
• What’s next: For the Superior Court, new judges will start in January. They must attend a judge orientation within six months and judicial college within two years. New judges don’t get to decide what courtroom they’re assigned to — they go where the needs are. Retired L.A. County judge Stuart Rice previously explained at an LAist event, “You’re most likely going to be assigned to either a traffic court [or] a low-level criminal court, such as misdemeanors, no felonies. You may be doing eviction cases.”
• How you can follow their work: Once an elected judge starts the job, it’s a bit harder to keep track of their performance unless it’s egregious or otherwise newsworthy. That being said, you can attend their public courtroom proceedings and read up on them through outlets like the Metropolitan News-Enterprise or Daily Journal.
  
  • Speaking of following judges … The primary had a highly unusual judicial race with an L.A. County judge, Robert Draper, facing misconduct proceedings. He ended up losing reelection then to a deputy district attorney. Well, the state’s judicial watchdog has finally handed down a decision: Draper has been removed from the bench for “severe misconduct.”

Is it over yet?

These results are based on about 12.9 million votes that have been counted so far statewide — more than 3.1 million in L.A. County and more than 1.1 million in Orange County.

L.A. County estimates just 37,500 ballots left to count, and Orange County estimates 18,080. Statewide, there are about 900,000 ballots left to count.

We mentioned previously that this year's count was definitely faster in L.A. County, but it's looking like the same is true statewide, too. An analysis from the California Voter Foundation found that counties across the state counted 89% of ballots seven days after Election Day, compared to 84% in the same time frame in the 2024 election and 72% in 2022.

The next local ballot count drop will start around 4 p.m. this afternoon. We’ll be back in your inbox next week to round up the last of the race calls and then say goodbye when it’s over.

— Cato and Makenna

📰 Catch up quick

You can get caught up on our past issues here:

• Nov. 12: A shakeup in Santa Ana
• Nov. 10: The billionaire tax fails
• Nov. 9: An L.A. City Council shakeup, plus lots of failed props
• Nov. 7: A progressive becomes CA’s insurance head
• Nov. 6: The L.A. city attorney race comes to a close
• Nov. 5: Nithya Raman wins the L.A. mayor’s race
• Nov. 5: All 8 L.A. city measures could pass
• Nov. 4: We’ve got a new governor, plus voter ID fails

Otherwise, you can keep up with the results here:

• L.A. County
• Orange County

A year after ICE raids swept through Los Angeles, attendance at six county parks still hasn’t recovered, according to researchers from UCLA and UC Berkeley.

The parks lost an estimated 150,000 visitors across the past two summers compared with 2024, a decline researchers link to immigration sweeps.

The joint report, released Thursday by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute and the UC Berkeley Latinx Research Center, reviewed data from six fee-charging parks in LA County: Santa Fe Dam, Castaic Lake, Whittier Narrows and Kenneth Hahn recreation areas, as well as Frank G. Bonelli and Peter F. Schabarum regional parks.

LA County parks lost an estimated $380,000 in potential revenue

The study counted about 21,000 fewer vehicle entries in 2025 and 17,000 fewer in 2026. Across 12 matched summer weekends in June, July and August, entries fell 17%. Researchers estimated four visitors per vehicle to calculate attendance. 

The decline in visitors is believed to have cost the parks about $380,000 in additional entry fees.

Two parks, however, did see modest gains in visitors: Schabarum and Kenneth Hahn.

Parks near Latino communities saw the biggest declines

The report’s authors also found significant drops at parks near large Latino communities. Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale saw an estimated 8,500 fewer vehicle entries in 2025, while Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, near South El Monte, saw 7,000 fewer.

“Our latest findings show how these effects extend to something as simple as families spending a day in nature,” said Nicholas Vargas, one of the report’s authors and a professor at UC Berkeley, in a prepared statement. “Angelenos are already dealing with the economic pressures of rising costs. Losing safe access to parks where they can relax, experience the joys of community, and get away from those stresses only makes things harder.”

L.A. County considers most county property, including parks, sensitive locations. However, that designation does not prevent immigration agents from entering public areas.

Many people have described how the raids have impacted their daily lives. That disruption extends to everyday activities, from visiting public spaces to caring for their families and running their businesses. Local elected leaders have tried to provide some level of protection. 

Federal immigration raids surged in the Los Angeles area in 2025, with particularly intense confrontations between federal agents and community protestors that summer. Before the raids, park use was relatively consistent, the report’s authors noted, with community members using the athletic facilities and gathering for family birthday parties.

Find immigration coverage and resources, including know-your-rights information, mental health support and more here.

The post LA County park visits plunged after the 2025 ICE raids. Attendance still hasn’t recovered. appeared first on LA Local.

After decades of planning and years of construction, the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is officially open in Exposition Park.

The center is space shuttle Endeavour’s new permanent home and a 200,000-square-foot expansion of the California Science Center. The multi-level galleries feature 100 artifacts and 100 new hands-on exhibits for visitors to explore.

Endeavour is the star of the show in the shuttle gallery, towering 20 stories tall in its vertical launch position. It’s the world’s only display of an authentic space shuttle system, according to museum officials.

Dozens of astronauts attended a ceremony Friday morning under the space shuttle, including the crew of Endeavour's final mission and its commander U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly. Kelly described Endeavour as "the greatest spaceship that ever was."

His colleague, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, said that having grown up in Pacoima in the San Fernando Valley, he knows what this moment means for thousands upon thousands of children who will be coming through the new center.

"Who will be inspired not just to become future scientists and engineers — I guarantee you some of those young girls and boys will be a future astronaut," Padilla said during the ceremony.

The California Science Center has free general admission. The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is also free to visit, except for a $4 online reservation service fee for those who aren’t members of the museum.

Here’s what you need to know.

How do I get there?

The California Science Center is located at 700 Exposition Park Drive. Keep an eye out for the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center’s shiny silver building poking into the sky.

The exterior of the California Science Center and the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.

(

California Science Center

)

Parking for cars and school buses is $20 until 5 p.m. and $24 after 5 p.m. Parking for charter buses, limousines, RVs and other larger vehicles is $42.

For public transportation, you can take the Metro E Line to the Expo Park/USC Station.

You can learn more and find directions here.

How do I get in?

There are timed reservations for the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center because of expected high demand. You can find all the details and learn more here.

You’ll enter through the second floor of the California Science Center, to the right of the escalators if you’re facing forward and across from the Ecosystems exhibit.

There is no time limit once you’re inside. The California Science Center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Hundreds of students were the first visitors officially welcomed into the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.

(

Makenna Cramer

/

LAist

)

What do I need to know once I get inside?

Restrooms are on every level of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, and a food court is on the first floor of the California Science Center.

If you need a baby changing room, it's located in the gender-neutral/family restrooms.

Where can I find merch?

You can exit the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center through a gift shop. There’s also the Explorastore toward the entrance of the building.

California Science Center’s expansion for space shuttle Endeavour to open this fall

(

Makenna Cramer

/

LAist

)

What are some must-see stops?

It’s tempting to run straight for the space shuttle, but there are tons of other exhibits and artifacts to see along the way.

After taking a glass elevator up the side of the space shuttle, you can look over the gallery and Endeavour from a glass-floor platform.

(

Mike Kelley

/

Courtesy ZGF Architects

)

Endeavour spans about 20 stories tall.

(

Makenna Cramer

/

LAist

)

Walter Cho, chairman of Korean Air, celebrated the first aircraft installed in the Korean Air Aviation Gallery, including the front of a real Boeing 747-400 that was built for the airline in 1993.

(

Makenna Cramer

/

LAist

)

Three thematic areas in the Kent Kresa Space Gallery include humans in space, robots in space and Rocket Science, according to the museum.

(

Makenna Cramer

/

LAist

)

The trio of galleries span four floors, covering 100,000 square feet of exhibit space, according to the museum.

(

Makenna Cramer

/

LAist

)

In the Korean Air Aviation Gallery, you can walk through the front 70 feet of a Boeing 747 where you’ll be able to take a five-minute video “flight” from Los Angeles to Seoul, according to the museum.

In the Kent Kresa Space Gallery, you can program the path of a miniature rover on Mars and build your own robotic spacecraft for a mission. There are also artifacts on display that are on loan from the Smithsonian, including flown capsules from NASA’s Mercury and Gemini projects.

Last but not least, in the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, lies Endeavour. You can see the space shuttle from multiple levels, including underneath the main engines and from a glass-floor platform that takes you above the entire gallery. There’s also a pair of silver slides that fly down 45 feet to represent the shuttle’s descent and landing.

Go deeper

• California Science Center visitors will see space shuttle Endeavour in launch position this fall
• Endeavour’s new home is more than halfway done. Here’s a first look at the exhibits
• Another Major Milestone For The Space Shuttle Endeavour’s 'Go For Stack' Mission Is Here
• The Final Lift For Space Shuttle Endeavour’s 'Go For Stack' Mission