The Brief

Senior Gia Duarte of Fairfax High School has earned a spot at UC Berkeley, one of the top universities in the nation, despite not having reliable Wi-Fi or a computer at home.

The Los Angeles native said she was often teased by friends for logging so many hours of screen time on her phone — but that’s because she used a mobile hotspot for internet access. When that wasn’t enough, she’d stop by the Salvadoran American Leadership and Educational Fund (SALEF) to study and borrow a computer. That’s a community resource center in the Westlake neighborhood, run by her aunt, Jocelyn Duarte.

“They opened up so many programs and mentorship [opportunities] that also gave me an advantage to get into my dream college … and also gave my community access to knowledge and opportunities that they didn't have before,” Gia said.

After a robbery left the center without any devices, SALEF partnered with AT&T in 2022 to continue fighting the area’s digital divide. The telecom giant donated about a dozen computers, and now hosts free digital literacy trainings at three locations in L.A. County.

This type of public partnership among corporate companies, local government and nonprofits is growing in response to concerns that people in low-income communities are being left behind.

There’s now an array of free community resource centers across the county to help residents get online, fill in job applications, see a doctor via telehealth or do school homework.

Where to find free internet access and training resources

AT&T Connected Learning Centers

AT&T helps fund seven computer labs in California, including three in L.A. and one location in Orange County. All centers are equipped with high-speed internet and devices.

They’re designed to help kids, college students, adults and seniors learn basic computer skills like paying bills and submitting college applications. But the centers also provide free tutoring and mentorship opportunities.

• Coalition for Responsible Community Development’s YouthSource Center: 3101 S Grand Ave. (213-743-6193)
• Vermont Slauson EDC Technology Training Center: 1130 W. Slauson Ave. (323-753-2335)
• Salvadoran American Leadership & Education Fund (SALEF): 421 S. Bixel St. (213-480-1052)

Teen Tech Centers

There's a network of after-school centers called Community Impact Hubs. There are five Teen Tech Centers currently open, with three planned to launch by the summer and four more in 2025.

The goal is to help prepare at least 2,000 local youth annually for “creative career opportunities,” including jobs in the music and film industries, funded by the Greater L.A. Education Foundation, the Annenberg Foundation and Best Buy.

“It's like a really incredible classroom,” said Sam Gelinas of the Greater L.A. Education Foundation. “You have a green screen for film … kids playing [with] VR headsets on … or podcasting in the recording studio. It's sort of a messy creative learning space.”

The North Valley Caring Services location had a grand opening last month. Here’s a list of current and upcoming centers:

Currently open:

• Bresee Foundation, 184 Bimini Place, L.A., 90004
• Legacy LA, 1350 San Pablo St., L.A., 90033
• Vermont Slauson Economic Development Center, 6109 S. Western Ave., L.A., 90044
• North Valley Caring Services, 15453 Rayen St., L.A., 91343
• Antelope Valley Boys and Girls Club, 727 West Lancaster Blvd., Lancaster, CA 93534

Opening soon (Summer 2024):

• YMCA Long Beach at the Carmelitos Housing Development, Carmelitos Housing Community, 1000 E. Via Wanda Way, Long Beach, 90805
• Weingart East L.A. YMCA, 2900 Whittier Blvd., L.A., 90023
• Metro LA Boys and Girls Club at Watts/Willowbrook, 1339 E 120th St., L.A. 90059
• Dorris Dann Kids Campus, 4316 Peck Road, El Monte, 91732

Opening in 2025:

• Color Compton, 306 W Compton Blvd., #200A, Compton, 90220
• Southeast Rio Vista YMCA at City of Maywood, 4801 E 58th St., Maywood, 90270
• L.A. County Juvenile Detention Center

Bell Tech Center

The center, located at 4357 E Gage Avenue, is open to the public Monday through Thursday. It’s a community resource center/computer lab operated by the nonprofit Southeast Community Development Corporation. Children are also able to participate in free after-school computer skills training, as well as robotics courses.

L.A. County libraries

L.A. County offers free Wi-Fi at all of its libraries and parking lots. Residents can even borrow a laptop for use inside the library and for customers to borrow and take home (call your nearest library location for availability). Residents with a library card in good standing can print up to 10 free pages a day.

Many public libraries have a team of “digital assistants” onsite that can offer free, basic tech support for residents. It’s part of L.A. County’s Delete the Divide initiative. Read more about that here.

L.A. Public Library system

The city of Los Angeles offers free Wi-Fi at all 73 locations and other resources through its Tech2go program.

Patrons can borrow a "computer bundle" for up to six months, which includes a mobile hotspot, a Chromebook and a mouse. The service is available at 25 branches, click here for participating locations. Residents can also borrow a mobile hotspot on its own for six weeks.

Human-I-T

The nonprofit Human-I-T offers low-cost internet plans and devices, as well as a free online digital skills training in both English and Spanish. Haga clic aquí para español. You can also sign up for free, bilingual one-on-one tech support.

Searching by neighborhood

L.A. County also partners with the nonprofit EveryoneOn to help families stay connected. You can plug in your address here to find a comprehensive list of service programs available in your neighborhood, including low-cost internet plans and digital skills training.

A tool from the group BroadbandNow allows you to plug in your zip code and compare internet plans and prices in your area. You can also check the state’s interactive broadband map to see what type of service is available in your building or house.

And here is a list of broadband resources from the Digital Equity L.A. coalition, including a fact sheet that’s available in both Spanish and English.

Orange County prosecutors have charged a woman with involuntary manslaughter after her 14-year-old son allegedly struck and killed an 81-year-old man with an e-motorcycle.

Tommi Jo Mejer was initially charged with child endangerment and accessory. She was arrested days after her teenager allegedly struck Ed Ashman while doing wheelies in the middle of the street in Lake Forest in April.

On Friday, Orange County District Attorney's Office added the charge of involuntary manslaughter — one day after Ashman, a Vietnam veteran and substitute teacher, died.

Prosecutors say the e-motorcycle the boy was riding is 16 times more powerful than an e-bike and requires a license and a minimum age of 16 to ride. They also say Mejer, in another incident last year, was warned by law enforcement of potential criminal charges if her son continued to illegally ride the bike.

Mejer is scheduled to be arraigned on May 21. If convicted on all counts she faces up to seven years and eight months in prison.

Since January, the Orange County District Attorney’s office has filed child endangerment charges against three parents for allowing their children to illegally ride e-motorcycles.

A federal appeals court has restricted access to one of the most common means of abortion in the U.S. by blocking the mailing of mifepristone.

A panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is requiring that the abortion pill be distributed only in-person at clinics.

Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, the two makers of mifepristone, have directly asked the Supreme Court to grant them emergency relief, to allow mifepristone to remain available through telemedicine as the case continues.

"The Fifth Circuit's order has unleashed regulatory chaos," reads the GenBioPro emergency application to the Supreme Court. The brief also points out that access via pharmacies is restricted by the new order. "Today, patients who planned to pick up a mifepristone prescription at their local pharmacy may no longer be able to do so, regardless of which state they live in."

Since the Supreme Court's 2022 ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed enforcement of abortion bans, prescriptions by mail has become a major way that abortions are provided — including to states where bans are in place.

"Every abortion facilitated by FDA's action cancels Louisiana's ban on medical abortions and undermines its policy that 'every unborn child is human being from the moment of conception and is, therefore, a legal person,'" the ruling states.

Judges have long deferred to the Food and Drug Administration's judgments on the safety and appropriate regulation of drugs.

FDA officials under President Donald Trump have repeatedly stated the agency is conducting a new review of mifepristone's safety, at the direction of the president.

The appeals court judges noted in their ruling that FDA "could not say when that review might be complete and admitted it was still collecting data."

In a court filing, Louisiana's attorney general and a woman who says she was coerced into taking abortion pills requested that the FDA rules be rolled back to when the pills were allowed to be prescribed and dispensed only in person.

A Louisiana-based federal judge last month ruled that those allowances undermined the state's abortion ban but stopped short of undoing the regulations immediately.

"This is going to affect patients' access to abortion and miscarriage care in every state in the nation," said Julia Kaye, an ACLU lawyer. "When telemedicine is restricted, rural communities, people with low incomes, people with disabilities, survivors of intimate partner violence and communities of color suffer the most."

Mifepristone was approved in 2000 as a safe and effective way to end early pregnancies. It is typically used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol.

Misoprostol is an older medication that is also used to treat gastric ulcers. It can be used alone to induce abortion and may remain available via telemedicine. The two-drug regimen is preferred because it generally causes less cramping and bleeding for most patients.

When mifepristone was approved in 2000, the FDA initially imposed strict limits on who could prescribe and distribute the pill — only specially certified physicians and only after an in-person appointment where the person would receive the pill.

Both those requirements were dropped during the COVID-19 years. At the time, FDA officials under President Joe Biden said that after more than 20 years of monitoring mifepristone use, and reviewing dozens of studies involving thousands of women, it was clear that women could safely use the pill without direct supervision.

The conservative-majority high court overturned abortion as a nationwide right in 2022 but unanimously preserved access to mifepristone two years later.

That 2024 decision sidestepped the core issues, however, by ruling that the anti-abortion doctors behind the case didn't have legal standing to sue.

NPR staff Selena Simmons-Duffin and Diane Webber contributed to to this report.
Copyright 2026 NPR

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced several significant rule changes for the 99th Oscars, including AI protections for actors and writers as well as expanded eligibility for international films.

In a statement to NPR, the Academy on Saturday said the changes are in response to listening to the global filmmaking community and addressing barriers to entry in its eligibility process.

The Academy added that its rules and eligibility standards have always evolved alongside technologies such as sound, color, and CGI, and that AI is no different. Awards rules and guidelines are reviewed and refined each year.

A blow for Tilly Norwood 

Among the most noteworthy changes, the Academy now explicitly states that only roles, "demonstrably performed by humans with their consent" are eligible for Acting awards. In other words, AI creations like the much-hyped Tilly Norwood cannot hope to win a Best Actress Oscar anytime soon.

Particle6, the production company behind Norwood, did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment on Saturday about its creations' ban from consideration. In March, Norwood commented, "Can't wait to go to the Oscars!" in an Instagram post announcing its newly released music video.

The Academy also requires screenplays to be "human-authored" and said it reserved the right to investigate the use of generative AI in any submission.

Meanwhile, qualifying flesh-and-blood human actors can now be nominated for multiple performances in the same category if those performances get enough votes to land in the top five. So, someone like Anne Hathaway, who has five major movies scheduled for release in 2026, could now theoretically sweep the nominations – though that outcome seems extremely unlikely.

"If an actor has an extremely prolific year, might we even see someone swallow up three of the five nominations?," wrote Deadline's awards columnist and chief film critic Pete Hammond about the changes. "Probably won't happen, but it's now possible."

Under previous rules, an actor could only receive one nomination per category. If they had two high-ranking performances in Best Actor, for example, only the one with the most votes would move forward.

International films prioritizes filmmakers over countries

While international films can still be the official selection of their countries, now they can qualify by winning the top prize at a major international festival such as the Palme d'Or at Cannes, the Golden Lion at Venice, or the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.

Historically, countries "owned" the nomination, and only one film per country was allowed. The new rules allow multiple films from the same country to compete if they are critically acclaimed, and it shifts the honor from a geopolitical entity to the filmmakers themselves.

Largely positive response

The changes have prompted a largely positive reaction from the film community on social media, such as on the popular The Shade Room entertainment and celebrity-focused Instagram feed, where commenters widely praised the "human-only" move to protect creative jobs.

The Academy's Awards Committee oversees the rules in tandem with branch executive committees, the International Feature Film Executive Committee and the Scientific and Technical Awards Executive Committee.

The rules are scheduled to go into effect next year, covering films released in 2026.

Copyright 2026 NPR