The Brief

The California Air Resources Board is getting a new leader at a pivotal moment, as it battles President Donald Trump's administration in court and contends with growing scrutiny from Democrats and voters questioning the price of the state’s climate principles.

Liane Randolph has chaired the board of the state’s top air and climate regulator since 2020. She oversaw a range of policies including landmark clean-car and truck rules, a fuel standard with implications for gas prices and the state’s signature carbon trading program, cap-and-trade. This week, Gov. Gavin Newsom nominated his senior climate advisor, Lauren Sanchez, to replace her.

Randolph, in an interview, told CalMatters her departure was part of her “personal journey,” something she began considering earlier this year.

“I've worked really hard over the last almost five years, and I'm ready for a break,” she said. “I am confident that the transition will go incredibly smoothly.”

Observers say the handover highlights the air board’s key role at a time of political pushback and consumer resistance.

“Pretty much all of the major areas in climate that [the air board] touches are going to be in really significant periods of challenge,” said Danny Cullenward, a climate expert and vice chair of an independent committee that analyzes the cap-and-trade program. “This is not an easy time to take over an agency. It’s a time when sound strategy — and not just autopilot — is going to be required.”

California’s climate ambition meets Trump opposition

Newsom’s 2020 order to phase out gas-car sales by 2035 was a watershed moment for California climate policy. His executive order was a headline-grabbing strike at the oil industry, meant to accelerate not only the state’s adoption of electric cars, but the nation’s.

Newsom said Randolph would be the champion of that effort as his pick to lead the air board just a few months later, calling her “the kind of bold, innovative leader that will lead in our fight against climate change with equity and all California’s communities at heart.”

But Randolph faced a larger challenge than her predecessors: a Trump administration bent on thwarting California’s authority. The White House immediately criticized Newsom’s order as an example of how “extreme the left has become,” evidence that liberal policymakers wanted to “dictate every aspect of every American’s life.”

While Randolph's air board made significant policy during the years of the Biden administration, Trump attacked those efforts once he returned to office.

“Liane didn't have the time or the circumstances to pivot toward a new, adjusted strategy,” said Daniel Sperling, a former member of the board, now the director of the Institute for Transportation Studies at UC Davis. “She inherited the trajectory that California was on, and that the governor was articulating, and then she got undermined by the Trump administration.”

For the gasoline car ban, the air board held months of marathon hearings filled with car owners, environmentalists and industry lobbyists. In 2022, the board approved the measure that Newsom wanted. More rules soon followed, targeting diesel trucks, locomotives and other major polluters.

Ethan Elkind, a climate law expert at UC Berkeley, said Randolph steered the board through a difficult time.

In disputes involving environmental justice groups, he said, “she really listened to people,” building consensus and lowering tensions.

“She's always very diplomatic,” Elkind said. “She was mild-mannered, she wasn’t polemical, she didn’t use it as a perch to pontificate. She seemed very measured and steady and took her role as the public face, and the need for outreach, very seriously.”

Policies moving the state toward zero emissions vehicles have struggled, as federal and state regulators have pulled industry in opposing directions.

The Biden administration signed off on California’s clean-car rules last year. But the state air board withdrew one of its most aggressive measures on diesel trucks, as well as rules on locomotives, harbor craft and other polluters, in anticipation of Trump’s return.

“There's not a full understanding of how aggressive the administration's attacks on all of California's efforts to achieve climate action have been,” Randolph said at a CalMatters event in San Francisco. She pointed to the Trump administration’s withdrawl of a rule aimed at cleaning up nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks.

“That has nothing to do with electric vehicles,” Randolph said. “It was all about just attacking California's authority, and letting the big companies who supported the administration continue to pollute communities.”

Catherine Reheis-Boyd, a senior advisor to the Western States Petroleum Association, said that under Randolph’s tenure, California’s ambition got ahead of consumers and technology. Her pushback echoed the broader clash with the Trump administration, which has targeted electric cars as costly for consumers and impractical.

“We have no problem with electric vehicles,” Reheis-Boyd said, at the San Francisco CalMatters event. But “we think there should be a free market.”

Searing climate battles at home

Last November, the air board revamped its Low Carbon Fuel Standard, a program that uses financial incentives to encourage cleaner fuels as the state phases out gasoline and diesel.

The fight exposed twin challenges arising from within the state: rising costs and lingering environmental harms not addressed by the climate policy. Consumer advocates raised alarms about gas prices, while environmentalists warned that boosting alternatives like biofuels made from cow manure or soybeans offered limited climate benefits.

Phoebe Seaton, co-director of the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, said her group “strongly disagrees” with the expansion of the fuel standard program but credited Randolph’s leadership for showing up and listening to all parties.

“We are especially grateful for the time Chair Randolph dedicated to meeting in Pixley and Fresno with people impacted by dairies,” Seaton said.

Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board, speaks during an EVgo fast charging station launch event at El Mercado Plaza Shopping Center in Union City on Sept. 25, 2023. The event highlighted California achieving its goal of installing 10,000 direct current fast chargers for electric vehicles. Photo by Loren Elliott for CalMatters Central valley politicians criticized the program for making fuels less affordable. Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, a Bakersfield Democrat looking to unseat a moderate Republican in Congress, called for Randolph’s resignation earlier this year. She argued that the air board failed to study the economic impacts of its new standard. Her office did not respond to a request from CalMatters for comment.

Cullenward said the air board hasn’t always clearly said what its programs cost consumers. While Newsom and the legislature will extend cap-and-trade, the board still must decide how to reshape the program after pausing work on it during the reauthorization fight.

“One of the toughest things about this process is that being really honest about what's working — and what's not working — and what the costs of the different options are, is going to be essential,” Cullenward said. “Historically, that's not something staff have ever embraced.”

Newsom praised Randolph for stepping in during a time of uncertainty and leading with “vision and resolve.” She will leave at the end of the month, before the end of her term, which lasts through 2026.

Questions about costs, affordability and environmental concerns will continue to hang over the air board as it decides how to steer cap-and-trade and other programs in the years ahead.

Randolph, in her remarks Wednesday, said California regulators must get creative in the face of federal attacks, while also addressing public concerns and communicating why the state’s policies matter.

“All of the impacts of climate change make things fundamentally unaffordable,” she said.

Newsom’s point person steps in

Randolph’s replacement, Lauren Sanchez, has been the governor’s point person on climate from within the executive office. Translating Newsom’s vision into state policy at a key turning point while also leading a 16-member board and managing the agency’s vast, highly technical staff will present a new challenge.

Sanchez built her climate credentials on the international stage and inside the governor’s office, where she helped steer billions in budget funding for climate programs and advised Newsom on this summer’s high-stakes energy and climate package.

“He turned to the aide he trusts most on climate,” said Dean Florez, the state Senate appointee to the air board. “Lauren’s been at his side drafting the playbook and steering the billions. This isn’t a change in course, it’s keeping faith with his own circle.”

Before joining Newsom’s office in 2021, Sanchez served as a climate negotiator at the U.S. State Department and later advised John Kerry in the Biden administration. She also held senior roles at the California Environmental Protection Agency and the air board, coordinating climate policy across state agencies and shaping California’s international climate work.

“Lauren has been my most trusted climate advisor and the chief architect of California’s bold climate agenda,” Newsom said. “She is a force in her own right: her expertise, tenacity, and vision will serve California well as the Board works to protect our communities and defends our climate progress against relentless attacks from Washington.”

Sanchez played a central role in weaving climate priorities into the state budget in recent years, said Jamie Pew, climate policy advisor with NetxGen Policy. Cap-and-trade pays for a climate credit that consumers see on their utility bills; Pew said Sanchez advocated for expanding the credit during the recent legislative negotiations.

“Lauren has been a champion for getting cap and invest done this year, which will ensure that funding for critical climate programs will continue to grow at a time when federal rollbacks threaten the transition,” Pew said.

Next week, the state's top air and climate regulators will vote on amendments narrowing a previously rescinded truck rule to public fleets. The board is also advancing an emergency regulation to keep its clean-car and truck standards enforceable as the board battles the federal government in court.

Many of the air board's recent accomplishments have run into roadblocks this year. As expected, Trump quickly moved to block California’s mandates aided by Congress, signing three measures in June against clean cars and two others targeting diesel trucks.

Adrian Martinez, a lawyer with Earthjustice, said California’s air board faces “perilous times.”

“Everyone breathing in California depends on it,” he said.

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

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority told its employees Friday to stop work, shut down their computers and stay off agency systems while it looked into “a potential security issue affecting our systems,” its chief executive confirmed to LAist.

That shutdown order was still in place Monday evening, according to a LAHSA official not authorized to speak on the record.

Gita O'Neill, the agency’s interim CEO, told LAist on Friday evening that the agency did not “yet have enough information to say definitively whether any sensitive or confidential personal information was accessed.”

She has not answered questions about whether or not services for unhoused people are disrupted.

Gita O’Neill, interim CEO of LAHSA, speaks ahead of the annual homeless count on Jan. 20, 2026.

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Jordan Rynning

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LAist

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LAHSA holds highly sensitive information collected from people experiencing homelessness in the region. The agency oversees the Homeless Management Information System, or HMIS, which includes unhoused people’s names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and disabilities, as well as self-reported mental health and substance abuse history, income sources and domestic violence history.

In a statement Monday, LAHSA said it had taken its internal computer systems offline “as a precaution” and “engaged outside cybersecurity specialists to investigate the nature and scope of the incident.” The statement, sent on O'Neill's behalf by outside public relations strategist Trevor Daley, continued to call it “a potential cybersecurity incident.”

The agency is “taking steps to maintain essential operations,” the statement added, saying LAHSA “remains open” while the investigation continues. It said the agency is working with its technical and legal teams.

What staff were told

Friday’s email to "Team LAHSA" carried the subject line "URGENT: Log Off and Shut Down for the Week." LAist obtained a copy, and O'Neill confirmed by text message that she had sent it.

“As a precaution while we look into a potential security issue affecting our systems, we're asking all staff to stop work and take their machines offline for the remainder of today and through the weekend,” the email said.

It told employees to “Log off and shut down your LAHSA computer” and not to log back in or connect to LAHSA systems, including email, “until you receive an all-clear from us.”

The email also told staff to report anything “unusual” before shutting down, such as “files renaming on their own, unexpected pop-ups or messages.”

What LAHSA leadership has said

In a texted response to LAist on Friday evening, O'Neill said she asked staff to take their computers offline “out of an abundance of caution” while the agency’s IT team assessed the situation.

“Our IT team is actively reviewing the situation now and working to understand exactly what occurred and whether any information was affected,” she wrote. “Protecting people’s personal and confidential information is a top priority in that review.”

Leaders of three LAHSA-funded service providers told LAist on Monday afternoon that they had not received any communications from LAHSA about the potential cybersecurity issue. All three use the HMIS system that holds unhoused people’s personal details.

Previous attacks against another LA housing agency

Another L.A. housing agency was previously hit by cyberattacks. The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles — a separate agency known as HACLA — has said hackers got inside its network in 2022 and may have accessed people’s names, Social Security numbers, financial accounts numbers and medical information.

Two years later, HACLA was breached again, according to an official notice, with hackers potentially accessing names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and phone numbers.

LAist reporter Aaron Schrank contributed reporting to this story.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath announced Monday that she is running to be the county’s first elected chief executive. Horvath is the only candidate so far to enter the race, which is set for 2028.

The new executive post will take the place of the county’s appointed CEO and implement key priorities of the county Board of Supervisors. The executive will oversee the county budget, which is currently roughly $50 billion, and labor relations with more than 100,000 employees.

Horvath was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2022 and was re-elected in June to another four-year term. She represents the county’s 3rd District, which covers the San Fernando Valley and parts of the Westside and Central Los Angeles. She is a former mayor of West Hollywood.

The supervisor made her announcement Monday via social media and her campaign website. She called the race a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

The backstory

Voters created the position in 2024 when they approved Measure G, which was proposed by Supervisors Horvath and Janice Hahn.

Among other changes, the measure allowed the Board of Supervisors to expand from five to nine members by 2030 and established an independent Ethics Commission, which held its first meeting last month.

The pushback

On Monday, Supervisor Kathryn Barger issued a statement saying she believed it was “premature” to campaign for the new county executive position when it remained unclear whether “the office itself is constitutional.”

Barger pointed to questions raised by former federal judge Stephen Larson about whether California’s Constitution allows an elected county executive to veto board decisions, control county contracts and take on powers state law currently gives the Board of Supervisors.

“Moving forward with an office that would fundamentally change how Los Angeles County is governed, without first resolving these questions, is putting the cart before the horse,” Barger said in her statement. “We need clarity.”

The primary election is scheduled for March 7, 2028.

The Los Angeles Unified School District said it’s reviewing how to proceed after Google’s announcement last week that it will not allow schools to use its search engine unless they opt in to using artificial intelligence.

Google said that in the coming months, access to products like Gemini and Google Search would be turned off by default until schools turn them on, saying it believes “schools should have control over AI in their classroom.” But Google Search, by default, includes an AI chatbot and uses AI to summarize search results — meaning that schools that restrict AI would not have access to Google Search.

Earlier this school year, LAUSD implemented a moratorium on students using generative AI on district-issued devices.

“We are reviewing Google’s announcement and its potential implications for schools, educators and students,” said a spokesperson for LAUSD. “Los Angeles Unified believes emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, have the potential to enhance teaching and learning when introduced thoughtfully, responsibly and with clear safeguards.”

“Search and A.I. are deeply integrated,” Chris Phillips, vice president for education at Google, said to The New York Times. He told the outlet that if a school bans AI, students “will not have access to search, and they’ll see a message from their school that indicates it’s not available.”

What are schools doing now?

Currently, students in LAUSD can still use Google to search for information, a district spokesperson said, but the AI mode — in which students can converse with the company’s chatbot, Gemini — is turned off. Some searches may still show an AI-generated summary or overview. The district has asked Google for a modification to allow the summaries to be turned off.

If a school does opt in to artificial intelligence, Google said it will offer a “guided learning” tool in its chatbot for student accounts “to help them work through problems without skipping straight to answers.”

The announcement has prompted outcry from advocates. "Google forced its AI products into classrooms, and parents fought back," said Lila Byock, founder of Schools Beyond Screens, the group that pushed for LAUSD’s AI moratorium, as well as the district’s screen time limit. "Now Google is refusing to take no for an answer. … Schools Beyond Screens calls on district leaders to reclaim their authority from corporate interests and divest from Google."

The district’s ad hoc committee on generative AI is scheduled to have its next meeting on Nov. 13.

Rep. Thomas Massie moved Monday to force a vote to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, setting the stage for a dramatic vote on whether to remove one of the Trump administration’s most prominent figures following sweeping election losses.

The impeachment resolution was introduced by Massie, a Kentucky Republican, as soon as the House opened for the first day of sessions after the midterms. It largely focuses on the war in Iran but also includes references to Hegseth’s role in carrying out military actions in Yemen and Venezuela.

Massie said the secretary’s actions amount to “high crimes and misdemeanors” and his leadership at the Pentagon “thus warrants impeachment.”

A vote in the House could come by mid-week, putting pressure on Republicans — many of whom blamed their election wipeout on the Iran war — but next steps are highly uncertain.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried to prevent this outcome, and warned lawmakers against impeaching the Defense secretary while the U.S. is engaged in military actions in the Middle East.

“Impeaching a Cabinet secretary right now, especially the Department of War in the middle of hostilities abroad would be a terrible, terrible look, a terrible thing for our allies and our enemies to see that,” Johnson, a Republican, said as he opened the chamber.

“We don’t impeach Cabinet secretaries for political gain or for cheap tricks, and I think that’s what this is and I think everybody knows it.”

Most House Democrats are expected to support impeaching Hegseth, with Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries saying over the weekend it’s time for the Defense secretary to go.

If the House votes to impeach Hegseth, it would next go to the Senate for a potential trial. Republicans remain in the majority in both chambers, until the new Congress convenes in January with Democrats in control.

Hegseth issues his own defense and prepares for a fight

Hegseth maintains he’s eager to litigate the military actions that he and President Donald Trump have taken against Iran, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and Venezuela’s previous leaders.

“If you want to take issue with what we did in Epic Fury or Rough Rider or nabbing Nicolás Maduro, you’re taking issue with the troops and what they accomplished, which is historic,” Hegseth told reporters Monday, using the military code names for the Iran war and campaign of strikes to halt the Houthis’ attacks on shipping in the Middle East.

Hegseth also announced that he would hold a rare news conference on Tuesday — his first in over 180 days — on the impeachment threat. His last briefing was in May, and he has not held one on the Iran war, strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats or other U.S. military actions since then.

The Pentagon chief is bearing the brunt of anger and calls for his ouster after the Iran war and its economic impact contributed to severe Republican losses in the midterm elections that cost the party control of Congress.

Hegseth waves off impeachment push as ‘noise’

Hegseth, after giving a speech at the Naval War College in Rhode Island, brushed aside the impeachment push.

“There’s a lot of politically motivated people who may have substantial policy disagreements, but their disagreements are with success,” he told reporters. He added that “if we want to litigate” the military actions that the Trump administration has taken, “I’m happy to do it all day long.”

“My team, we’re not worried about the noise — it’s what I told the troops, too — ‘don’t worry about the noise,’” he said.

Asked about Vice President JD Vance blaming the Iran war for the massive GOP losses in the election, Hegseth noted that Trump said he would do it again, and “I agree.”

He largely repeated a line that Secretary of State Marco Rubio said to reporters a day earlier: “It doesn’t have to be necessarily popular, but it can be necessary.”

Hegseth argued that the war was necessary because “someone had to confront the Iranian regime’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon” and said “the choice was don’t act and wish it away or take a bold move.”

Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Trump defended Hegseth to reporters on Sunday night.

“He’s guilty of two things, basically winning two wars,” Trump said. “I believe we saved the Middle East and Israel combined. And it’s awfully hard to say let’s impeach somebody who did that.”

Pentagon chief insists ‘Iran is devastated’

Hegseth reiterated that “Iran is devastated,” even though the Islamic Republic has been able to keep striking military bases in the Middle East that are used by the United States, causing billions of dollars in damage, as well as commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Disruptions to shipping in the waterway, where one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war, have led to higher energy prices that hit voters’ pocketbooks.

He said the next steps on the war are up to Trump, including telling Iran: “Hey, we’re done, and we’re going to watch your nuclear material. You better not move it.”

Hegseth’s defense of the war comes after about 6 in 10 voters said the U.S. made the “wrong decision” in taking military action against Iran, according to The AP Voter Poll, a survey of more than 100,000 voters in the United States.

With anger in Congress rising, Hegseth has been on a social media blitz, posting a video last week acknowledging the threat of impeachment. He said it would be “all about the politics of personal destruction” and insisted that “won’t work with me. You can rest assured of that.”

Since then, scores of political appointees within the Pentagon have posted images of Hegseth emblazoned with the words, “Stand. Fight. Defend the Republic.” The White House also posted a video to social media that featured praise from Trump.

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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.