The Brief

A hearing began this week to determine whether Orange County prosecutors continue to hide evidence of misconduct in the wake of a long-running informant scandal that has tainted criminal cases and marred the county justice system's reputation over the past decade.

The judge presiding over the proceedings questioned whether Orange County law enforcement has reformed its ways in the wake of widespread misconduct allegations that were investigated and confirmed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein said that he had read assistant public defender Scott Sanders' 424-page "tome" detailing the allegations and concluded that the effort to withhold evidence in the case "looks like a conspiracy," although he quickly walked back his use of the term and said "it seems like there was some type of plan involved" to refuse to turn over evidence to the defense team.

The judge also questioned whether the Orange County District Attorney's Office had made meaningful enough reforms in the wake of the informant scandal and the subsequent DOJ investigation. He asked a senior prosecutor in the Orange County District Attorney's office to report back with specifics about what "remedial actions" had been taken.

The hearing resumed Tuesday morning, and is scheduled to restart again next Monday.

Backstory on a scandal

The hearing is being held in the context of a decades-old murder case that was ordered retried in 2022 after Sanders said he discovered that the top prosecutor in the case, Ebrahim Baytieh, now a Superior Court judge, had failed to turn over evidence that could have helped his client's defense.

Sanders has accused Baytieh of being at the center of an "enormous web of deception" designed to cover up misconduct that helped prosecutors win cases while cheating defendants out of their right to a fair trial.

Efforts to reach Baytieh were unsuccessful. A spokesperson for the Orange County Superior Court told LAist that sitting judges are prohibited from commenting on active cases.

The proceedings threaten to reopen an embarrassing chapter in Orange County law enforcement history — the "jailhouse snitch scandal" — which led to overturned convictions and dropped or lessened charges in dozens of criminal cases. Sanders says new details he uncovered could give defendants in nearly 100 other cases evidence to question whether law enforcement carried out misconduct. Such evidence could potentially lead to additional cases being reconsidered and convictions overturned.

The case in the spotlight

The case at the center of the hearing involves Paul Gentile Smith. He is accused of stabbing Robert Haugen to death and setting his body on fire in Haugen's Sunset Beach apartment in 1988. Baytieh handled the case against Smith when he was a prosecutor. Smith was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2010.

But starting in 2014, when the O.C. snitch scandal broke, evidence came to light that jailhouse informants were misused in his case. As part of the probe into the allegations, O.C. sheriff's deputies refused to testify about their use of informants in the Smith case, which led a judge to throw out Smith's murder conviction and order a new trial.

Sanders is now asking a judge to drop charges against Smith completely because of what he says is continued law enforcement misconduct.

As for Baytieh, O.C. District Attorney Todd Spitzer hired an independent law firm to look into Baytieh's handling of the case, and Baytieh was subsequently fired in 2022. The former prosecutor went on to win election to the O.C. Superior Court a few months later, with endorsements from dozens of current and former judges and law enforcement leaders.

Spitzer issued a statement to LAist this week that his office had already addressed misconduct by Baytieh in the Smith case and that dropping charges against Smith would be "unconscionable."

Why this matters

Sanders argued this week that law enforcement's misconduct in the Smith case went beyond the misuse of jailhouse informants. And he says it continues to this today, despite O.C. law enforcement's assertions that they've made reforms.

Sanders said 15 pieces of evidence in the Smith case, including letters between investigators and informants and an interview with a key witness, hadn't been turned over to Sanders until he discovered, recently, that they existed.

Prosecutors are required by law to turn over any evidence that could be favorable to defendants. Failing to do so is known as a "Brady violation."

Sanders told the judge that he thought prosecutors were "absolutely" still withholding evidence that could help Smith's case. He said given the history of misconduct in the case, and what he said was an unwillingness by the DA's office to investigate that misconduct, "it's just not reasonable to think that when they came across exculpatory evidence, they turned it over."  

The judge said he would let Sanders make his case. That gives the defense team an initial win, since the judge could have denied Sanders' request to hold a hearing on the misconduct allegations and proceeded with Smith's trial.

The judge also said he wanted to determine whether Smith could get a fair trial considering the hostility against Sanders among Orange County law enforcement. He noted that this hostility had been documented in an appeals court ruling that dated back to Sanders' discovery of the use of a secret, unconstitutional jailhouse informant program while defending Scott Dekraai, accused of killing eight people in a Seal Beach beauty salon.

Sanders said he had additional evidence of law enforcement hostility against him: He said that O.C. Sheriff Don Barnes had recently filed a complaint against Sanders with the state bar, including allegations related to the Smith case.

In an email to LAist, Carrie Braun, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office, denied that Sheriff Barnes had made allegations to the California State Bar about Sanders in regards to the Smith case. She wrote that despite Sanders' assertions, the sheriff had no hostility toward him for uncovering informant misuse "because those issues resolved nearly a decade ago."

The State Bar would not confirm whether a complaint against Sanders had been filed, per their rules.

The snitch scandal origins

It was Sanders who first exposed the widespread and abusive use of jailhouse informants by Orange County prosecutors and law enforcement.

That led to a federal civil rights investigation that lasted six years and ultimately concluded the Orange County District Attorney's Office and Orange County Sheriff's Department "engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct … that systematically violated criminal defendants’ right to counsel."

When the report was released in 2022, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke wrote that: "The failure to protect these basic constitutional guarantees not only deprives individual defendants of their rights, it undermines the public’s confidence in the fundamental fairness of criminal justice systems across the county.”

'Full accounting' still due?

The misconduct happened under the previous O.C. district attorney, Tony Rackauckas, who lost his re-election bid to Spitzer in 2018. Spitzer has implemented reforms and pledged not to tolerate cheating among prosecutors and law enforcement.

But, years later, Sanders says he's still uncovering misconduct that prosecutors haven't owned up to.

"It sometimes feels like we haven't made an inch of headway," he told LAist last week.

California lawmakers are expected to adopt a $356 billion state budget today that would largely avoid or delay billions of dollars in social service cuts Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed last month.

Then, the (real) budget negotiations can begin.

Today’s vote is only a formality, because lawmakers are constitutionally required to pass a balanced budget by June 15 each year to continue collecting their pay. They have until the end of the month to strike a deal with Newsom before the new fiscal year starts July 1.

In the next two weeks, legislators will have to settle their differences with Newsom on health care cuts, funding for schools and homelessness and more.

Here are five takeaways from the Legislature’s spending plan:

Punt and soften healthcare cuts

Faced with federal funding cuts under the tax and spending law President Donald Trump signed last year, Newsom proposed several measures to limit healthcare coverage for undocumented immigrants as well as refugees, asylees and human trafficking survivors.

Top legislative Democrats want to delay those cuts by a year while looking for alternatives to soften the impact.

Newsom also wants to raise the monthly Medi-Cal premium undocumented immigrants pay from $30 to $50. But lawmakers prefer waiting him out, proposing to leave the decision to the next governor.

“I don’t think it’s about Gavin Newsom,” said Sen. John Laird, a Santa Cruz Democrat who chairs the budget committee. “It’s really about trying to stretch as far as we can in the hope that we don’t have to make those cuts.”

The Legislature rebuked Newsom’s proposal to reinstate stringent Medi-Cal asset tests for seniors and adults with disabilities by July, instead pitching a less restrictive limit to take effect in fiscal year 2027-28. With bipartisan support, the lawmakers also rejected Newsom’s proposed cuts to the In-Home Supportive Services program.

They did, however, agree to Newsom’s plan to spend $300 million to subsidize private healthcare for low-income Californians.

Restoring some child care, TK-12 money

Democratic lawmakers want to add 22,000 state-funded child care slots over the next few years. They also rejected Newsom’s proposed reduction of 6,800 state-supported spaces due to declining federal and state funding.

The new slots would prioritize children ages 3 and under. Advocates who applauded the proposal say it would address a gap left unfilled by Newsom’s transitional kindergarten expansion to reach 4-year-olds.

Banking on a rosier revenue forecast, state lawmakers proposed $2.7 billion more in funding for TK-12 schools and community colleges than Newsom did in May.

Schools and educators were hoping for more. They wanted the Legislature to reject Newsom’s proposal to withhold $3.9 billion in constitutionally guaranteed school money — an accounting mechanism to prevent overpaying schools in case the projected revenue doesn’t materialize.

“We demand that the Legislature and the governor follow the law, stop with the gimmicks and the shell games, and fully fund our schools,” said David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association. “Our union is prepared to do whatever it takes to hold them accountable if they don’t. Our students deserve no less.”

More generous with counties

The Legislature’s spending plan would give counties more money to step up eligibility checks for Californians applying for food stamps and health care benefits, reviews that are now required under Trump’s spending bill.

It would also allocate $125 million to help counties reestablish indigent care — a program serving low-income Californians that largely went away under Obamacare.

State lawmakers also want to set aside $900 million for the state’s homelessness fund, whereas Newsom included just $500 million in his proposal.

More revenue, please

Newsom proposed three new tax measures and lawmakers are on board with them:

• Applying a sales tax on most company software, like Slack and Microsoft Suites
• Capping tax credits big corporations claim
• Extending a tax on Medi-Cal health providers, which the state has relied on to qualify for more federal funding.  

The proposals come at a time when California voters have rejected most local tax initiatives during the June primary. But Newsom’s proposals require no voter approval — just the support of two-thirds of each legislative chamber.

There’s still an appetite among lawmakers to make corporations pay up. Senate Democrats had proposed a monthly charge on big employers for having employees enrolled in Medi-Cal, but have now backed away from the plan, instead asking the next governor to pitch “fully viable options” next year.

Save more money for rainy days

There’s a consensus between the Legislature and the governor to raise the ceiling on the revenue the state can deposit into its rainy day fund. The question is how much. State leaders are constitutionally required to make deposits into the account each year, but the balance cannot exceed 10% of the state’s general fund tax revenue under current law.

Changing that amount would require voter approval. Lawmakers are considering placing a measure on the November ballot that would allow them to sock away more money for lean years. They have a tight deadline of June 25 to settle on what they want to put before voters.

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

Iran will play its first World Cup match in Los Angeles tonight against New Zealand, just one day after the U.S. and Iran announced they had come to an agreement to end the war.

The Iranian national team arrived in L.A. yesterday, ending months of speculation about if they would make it to the tournament. The team's participation in the World Cup has been in question since the U.S. and Israel first bombed Iran in late February.

"I have felt the tension from the first moment we arrived at this World Cup," Iran captain Mehdi Taremi said through an interpreter at a press conference at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, the Associated Press reported. "At any tournament when there is tension, we won’t have the same beautiful experience we always talk about with peace and joy."

Iran's forward Mehdi Taremi gives a press conference at Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood on June 14, 2026.

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Iran's team faced a number of obstacles to make it to Los Angeles. In March, the sports minister for Iran said the team could not participate. President Donald Trump also made conflicting comments on if Iran should come to the U.S. to play.

The team had been scheduled to train in Tucson, Arizona, but were relocated to Tijuana, Mexico. Members of the team's staff had their visas denied, and Iran fans have also had visa troubles.

“Without any doubt, this will impact negatively the spirit of football,” Iran's head coach Amir Ghalenoei said Sunday, per AP. “These conditions, they have impacted our technical focus, but I have really tried to make sure that my players focus on strategy and techniques.”

Iran's head coach Amir Ghalenoei takes part in a training session at Carson Sports Park in Carson, California on June 14, 2026.

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FIFA President Gianni Infantino insisted last week that Iran's participation was never in question.

"When people were saying well, it would be impossible for Iran to come to the World Cup, I told them and I promised them that they would come," he said at a press conference.

Now that Iran has made it to Los Angeles, it's unclear how the team will be received. The L.A. area is home to the biggest Iranian community outside of Iran. And the diaspora's response to the team playing here in "Tehrangeles" is mixed.

People wave US and pre-revolutionary Iranian flags as they protest the Iranian regime outside of SoFi Stadium on June 7, 2026, ahead of the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

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Even with signs that the war may be coming to a close, it's been a devastating year in Iran and for Iranians abroad. Demonstrations against the government inside Iran in December and January and the killing of thousands of demonstrators there led to protests against the Iranian state in Los Angeles. Then came the war, which also brought people to the streets, but has sparked divided opinions within L.A.’s Iranian communities.

Some in Los Angeles can't separate their feelings about the government from their opinion of Iran's national team. Others say they're rooting for Iran. One thing many agree on is that there are bound to be demonstrations in and around the stadium.

There's also the question of how Iran's national team will perform, and if it can make it past the first round of the World Cup.

Tonight's game kicks off at 6 p.m.

Crude oil prices are down sharply on Monday morning, after President Donald Trump, Iranian leaders and Pakistani negotiators all indicated that a deal to end the war with Iran will be signed on Friday.

President Trump posted online about the deal on Sunday evening. Oil futures prices promptly sank around 4%, after markets reopened for trading following their typical weekend break. Prices had already fallen significantly on Thursday and Friday in anticipation of a deal.

By Monday, prices were down nearly 13% from where it had been in the middle of last week. The cost of one barrel of Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was around $83, and West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, around $80. At one point in this conflict, global oil prices had touched $126 a barrel.

While oil prices remain elevated compared to pre-war prices, which were in the $60s, they are now cheaper than they have been at any point since the very first days of this conflict.

Cheaper crude oil should push U.S. gasoline prices down, which should in turn help with high levels of inflation. The war in Iran had driven the national average up by as much as $1.50 a gallon; prices have eased in recent weeks, as crude prices dropped on expectations of a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but gasoline remains more than a dollar higher than the pre-war average.

Trump's initial post on Sunday evening said he was authorizing "the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz," and directed ships to "start your engines." Before the war, approximately 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passed through that waterway, and the disruption of traffic has caused the greatest oil supply shock in history.

In a follow-up post, Trump later said that the strait would reopen "upon the signing of the Deal on Friday, for purposes of mine removal."

Markets hope this time, the deal is real

Throughout this conflict, oil prices have repeatedly fallen on headlines promising an imminent deal to reopen the strait; however, they've never dropped this low. Significantly, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has played a central role negotiating between the U.S. and Iran, has confirmed that a deal has been reached.

"Washington has an incentive to avoid a spike in gasoline prices ahead of the midterms, while Tehran is seeking sanctions relief and restored export revenues, and the global economy has a strong interest in keeping the Strait of Hormuz open," writes Claudio Galimberti, the chief economist for the research firm Rystad Energy, in a note. "On rare occasions, these incentives align in a coherent way, and that is the strongest argument that this is more than another short-lived diplomatic cycle,"

While risks remain, Galimberti says, a reopening of the strait would begin to reduce global inflationary pressures, which have been mounting.

A rapid reopening of the strait would ease pressure on the world's oil consumers, particularly in Asia and Europe. However, it would not mean an immediate return to pre-war oil supply levels and prices.

"It could be months before things return to something like the way things were before the war, at least as far as flows out of the Strait of Hormuz go," says Kevin Book, a managing director at Clearview Energy Partners, an independent research firm.

That's because some oil and natural gas production fields and refineries have been taken offline, or damaged in the conflict. "The facilities that have been shut down, some of them can start fairly quickly. Others may take months," he said.

Transit takes time, too. Ships also need to move in and out of the strait, and from there around the world.

And over the past few months, the world has tapped into its stockpiles of oil in order to make up for missing supplies; refilling those inventories could keep upward pressure on oil prices for months.

Before the war began, the world had been oversupplied with oil, which was keeping prices low. Book says it's not clear whether returning to "normal" will mean returning to that status quo.

"It's not obvious that we'll be in a surplus any time soon," he says.
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With all the political drama, high ticket costs, immigration problems, and transit worries leading up to this year's edition of the FIFA World Cup, much of that has washed away now that the games are underway. And what a thrilling start to the five-week soccer tournament we've witnessed across the co-hosts Mexico, Canada and the United States.

Let's get you caught up, and look forward to the week ahead.

We're a U.S.-based media organization. So, of course, we need to start with the dominant and, arguably, best World Cup game the American men have ever played (yes, the U.S. has won the Women's World Cup four times). Last Friday's opener at Los Angeles Stadium against Paraguay had it all.

Starting with the score: 4-1. That's the most goals the U.S. men have tallied in a World Cup match. Striker Folarin Balogun netted two of them — the first multi-goal game by a U.S. player since the very first tournament in 1930.

Defender Chris Richards returned to the lineup after missing both pre-World Cup warm-up games because of an injury. And he made an immediate impact: successfully completing every one of his 83 passes (the most by any player in a World Cup match since 1966). Regarding injuries, the status of star forward Christian Pulisic remains unclear. He was subbed out at halftime because of a calf problem. After the game, he walked gingerly to the team bus.

From top-to-bottom, the U.S. sparkled and dazzled. It was a great start. But one game does not a tournament make.

The U.S. did get a preview Saturday of its next two opponents in Group D: Turkey and Australia. Turkey has more players in Europe's top-tier leagues, including bona fide stars like Real Madrid's Arda Güler and the Juventus attacker Kenan Yildiz. None of that mattered to the underdog Australia, which stunned Turkey 2-0. That sets up next Friday's USA-Australia game to be a big one — if the Americans win, they will be in the driver's seat in their group and a great position in the later knockout round.

John McGinn of Scotland controls the ball during the team's opening World Cup match against Haiti on Saturday in Foxborough, Mass.

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Another World Cup shocker: Scotland, playing its first World Cup in 28 years, is atop Group C after defeating Haiti. The reason that's notable? They share the group with soccer royalty: Brazil (a record five-time champion) and powerhouse Morocco. Those two are expected to advance to the knockout round, but they played to a 1-1 draw, putting Scotland in the lead. For now.

Speaking of draws, Qatar and Switzerland finished 1-1 on Saturday. With the tie, Qatar earned its first-ever World Cup point. This is just Qatar's second World Cup (it automatically qualified for the 2022 tournament, which it hosted and lost all three of its games). On Sunday, the Netherlands and Japan played to a 2-2 tie in a battle of Group F heavyweights.

Curaçao, the smallest country (population: 158,000) to play in a World Cup, made its debut against Germany. And for a short while on Sunday, the tiny Caribbean country believed. Germany scored an early goal, and Curaçao then equalized. For the next 17 glorious minutes, the two remained deadlocked. Then Germany began doing Germany things, winning 7-1 (a famous World Cup score for them).

Looking ahead to the rest of the week, we'll be paying attention to three particular opening group games. The first is Monday between Iran and New Zealand at Los Angeles Stadium. There had been speculation as to whether Iran would participate after the U.S. and Israel attacked the country in February. Iran had been expected to set up its training camp in Tucson, Ariz., but the team moved to Tijuana, Mexico, citing the ongoing hostilities and security concerns. The U.S. government is only allowing the Iranian team to enter the country the day before each of its three group matches.

On Tuesday, France and its superstar Kylian Mbappé will open their World Cup campaign against Senegal in a highly anticipated Group I showdown. Also Tuesday, defending champion Argentina and Lionel Messi will begin their campaign to win back-to-back titles, starting with Algeria in Group J. Only two countries have successfully defended a World Cup title: Italy in 1938 and Brazil in 1962.

As a reminder, you can keep up with all our World Cup coverage from NPR's correspondents and our network of member stations here.

NPR's Becky Sullivan contributed reporting from Los Angeles
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