The Brief

If you’ve tried to complete the latest Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA, there’s a chance you’ve come across a website that’s sporadically available. Or, if you’ve managed to get in, you may have been asked to spend some time in a virtual waiting room.

On Dec. 31, the U.S. Department of Education debuted a new version of the application, which millions of students will complete to gain access to federal grants, loans, and work-study funds to pay for college.

While there have been issues, though, federal and state officials say that the financial aid system is poised to help more students this year.

What does the new FAFSA do for me?

The new “Better FAFSA” is meant to be less cumbersome. Student and family tax information will now be transferred directly onto the application. According to the department, some students will have to answer as few as 18 questions, down from 103 on the previous form.

The aid eligibility formulas have also been changed so that more students from low-income backgrounds qualify for the Federal Pell Grant. The department says more students will now receive the maximum award, currently set at $7,395.

“You're increasing access, and you're deepening that award amount for students that really need it,” said Shelveen Ratnam, a spokesperson for the California Student Aid Commission. “Overall, I think the changes to the FAFSA are great, and I'm excited to see how it helps students access more aid.”

How can I get the FAFSA website to work better?

Notwithstanding those changes, students and families have expressed deep frustration with the new website, calling the sporadic access “ridiculous” and “unacceptable.”

In an online update, the department said the website will be available for pockets of time during its initial “soft launch.” (It has not indicated when this period will end.) This, the department added, enables staff to monitor the website’s performance and fix any glitches. The waiting room feature helps “control website volumes to ensure optimal performance.”

In an email, a department spokesperson told LAist that: “A soft launch is a standard way of rolling out popular online tools and products—it means ramping up availability and volumes gradually to avoid spikes and to allow the team to adjust the technology to real world conditions.”

The spokesperson noted that “Many federal agencies have adopted this best practice; the Department of Education followed a similar approach for the Student Debt Relief and SAVE application launches over the last year.”

So far, over half a million students have completed their FAFSA applications.

Department staff is currently focused on making the website available for longer stretches of time. On Tuesday of last week, it was available from 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. ET. By Friday, the website was open from 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. ET. Students and families can track the website’s availability on social media, including Instagram and X.

What are other important changes?

The new FAFSA allows applicants to automatically import information from the Internal Revenue Service. However, if the student or their contributors (biological or adoptive parents, stepparents, or spouses) don’t provide consent and approval to have their federal tax information transferred, the student won’t be eligible for aid.

Returning students should also note that the new FAFSA replaces the “Expected Family Contribution” (EFC) with the “Student Aid Index” (SAI). Financial aid offices at each college will use that number to determine how much federal student aid a student would receive if they attended their campus.

Students can now send their FAFSA information to up to 20 colleges or trade schools.

How can I prepare to complete the form?

To apply, students will need their Social Security numbers. If they are dependents, they will also need the full name, birthdate, Social Security number, address, and email address of their contributors.

Before sitting down to fill out the application, students and families should also have the following information at hand:

• Records of child support received
• Current balances of cash, checking, and savings accounts
• Net worth of investments, businesses, and farms

The student and each contributor will need their own StudentAid.gov account. A parent or spouse who does not have a social security number can still create their own account.

How do FAFSA’s issues affect Cal Grant deadlines?

The Cal Grant is a California-specific form of financial aid that does not need to be paid back. These grants are for students attending a campus in the California State University or University of California systems. They are also available for students attending California Community Colleges or qualifying career colleges and technical schools.

Students must apply using the FAFSA or California Dream Act Application (CADAA) and meet all eligibility, financial, and GPA requirements of either program.

Because the 2024-25 FAFSA wasn’t launched until December, the California Student Aid Commission has extended its deadline for students attending a 4-year institution to April 2, 2024. For community college, students must apply by Sept. 2, 2024.

Ratnam, the spokesperson for the California Student Aid Commission, said this was done to ensure that students and families have “adequate time to fill out their application.”

Can undocumented students get financial aid?

Undocumented students are not eligible for federal financial aid, but, in California, they can receive assistance by completing the CADAA.

Much like the Department of Education, the California Student Aid Commission has made changes to this application to make it less cumbersome.

Previously, undocumented students had to fill out an affidavit in addition to the CADAA to access state financial aid and an exemption from non-resident tuition rates. Many students completed one form but not the other, out of confusion or lack of awareness. As a result, thousands of eligible students have been missing out on financial aid. The affidavit is now embedded in the application, which also features clearer language and question prompts.

Updated April 25, 2026 at 23:44 PM ET

President Trump and the first lady are uninjured after a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday in Washington, D.C. A suspect is in custody, according to a statement from the U.S. Secret Service.

In remarks from the White House after the incident, the president said a Secret Service agent is "doing great" after being shot in a bulletproof vest. The Secret Service said the incident took place at a security screening area inside the venue near the entrance to the main ballroom where the event was taking place.

Trump shared surveillance footage online which appears to show law enforcement reacting to an assailant sprinting through an area of the hotel.

He also posted pictures of a man, shirtless, with his eyes closed lying face down on a carpet. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said that charges would be filed against the suspect soon.

At a law enforcement press conference, Jeffery Carroll of DC's Metropolitan Police said that the suspect "was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives."

Getty Images photographer Andrew Harnik takes photos as a security official points his weapon after an incident at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.

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Law enforcement said they believe the suspect was a guest at the hotel. He is being charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon, with more charges likely, according to Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

He is being evaluated at a local hospital and was not hit by gunfire, according to law enforcement.

A chaotic scene

What sounded like gunshots were heard by gathered reporters shortly after 8:30 p.m. ET in the Washington Hilton. Several guests were seen fleeing the ballroom where hundreds of journalists, politicians and attendees were gathered — including Trump, Vice President Vance and other members of the administration.

Video from inside the room showed security quickly clear the guests on the main stage — including the president and first lady. Someone can be heard shouting "stay down."

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is taken out of the ballroom by security agents during a shooting incident at the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner.

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President Trump took to social media shortly after being rushed out to praise the Secret Service.

"Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted quickly and bravely. The shooter has been apprehended, and I have recommended that we 'LET THE SHOW GO ON' but, will entirely be guided by Law Enforcement. They will make a decision shortly. Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we'll just, plain, have to do it again," Trump wrote.

Law enforcement was seen evacuating prominent cabinet officials to rooms within the hotel, including Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy and FBI Director Kash Patel.

The president said in a later post that all cabinet members are safe.

First lady Melania Trump and President Trump were sitting next to each other just before they were rushed out of the ballroom at the Washington Hilton.

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Several members of Congress were seen leaving the event by foot, including Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.

"I said earlier tonight that journalism is a public service, because when there is an emergency, we run to the crisis, not away from it. And on a night when we are thinking about the freedoms in the First Amendment, we must also think about how fragile they are," Weijia Jiang, the president of the correspondents' association, said. "I saw all of you reporting, and that's what we do. Thank God everybody's safe and and thank you for coming together tonight. We will do this again."

Attacks on Trump and the press

Both the president and members of the press have been targeted for violence in recent years.

During his 2024 reelection effort, Trump was injured in a shooting at a July rally in Pennsylvania when a bullet whizzed past his head, grazing his ear. Two attendees were wounded, and rally-goer and former fire chief Corey Comperatore was killed.

A Secret Service sniper shot and killed the perpetrator.

In September 2024, a Secret Service agent saw a man holding a semi-automatic rifle hidden in the tree line at Trump International in West Palm Beach. The suspect fled in his car and was arrested a short time later.

White House Correspondents Association President and CBS Senior White House Correspondent Weijia Jiang pauses while coming back to the stage to speak after a shooting incident at the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner.

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He was later sentenced to life in prison.

During the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol building, more than a dozen journalists were attacked in targeted assaults by rioters, according to a tally by the Freedom of the Press foundation. "Murder the media" was etched into a doorway during the attack.

In 2018, a man mailed pipe bombs to people and organizations he perceived to be critics of Donald Trump, including CNN offices in New York and Atlanta. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The Washington Hilton, which played host to Saturday's dinner, is also the site of past political violence — in 1981, President Reagan was shot and seriously wounded outside of the hotel.

Three others were also injured in the attack, including Reagan's press secretary James Brady, who sustained brain damage and was permanently disabled in the attack. He became a gun control activist, successfully lobbying alongside his wife Sarah Brady for a background check system for firearm sales.

The White House Press Briefing Room, where Trump made brief remarks after the incident, was later renamed in his honor.

— Deepa Shivaram contributed to this report.

Copyright 2026 NPR

Before they ever picked up a paintbrush, youth artists behind a new mural in MacArthur Park started by listening.

“We interviewed people in MacArthur Park about their experiences living in the community,” said Tania Castro, a recent high school graduate and one of 20 young artists who worked on the project. “Some stories were a little bit sad because they said they lost their jobs and they need more opportunities.”

Those conversations shaped “Roots of Our Labor,” a new mural unveiled this week by LA Commons across the street from MacArthur Park. The project, led by artists Luis Mateo and Shakir Manners, draws from stories collected in a yearlong process from more than 75 residents in and around MacArthur Park.

Castro says those stories were about more than struggle.

“They also said they loved the community. In the park, you can see a lot of vendors selling things like fruit and ice cream,” she said. “And the kids love it.”

Youth artists and members of LA Commons pose for a photo in front of the "Roots of our labor" mural during its unveiling event on Thursday, April 23, in MacArthur Park.

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The mural shows a tree bearing avocados and oranges, with a trunk made of intertwined hands and a farmer harvesting the fruit. On one side, a tamale vendor is depicted selling food, and on the other, an ice cream vendor pushes a cart as children gather around him. In the background, scenes from MacArthur Park play out. 

In a neighborhood where ongoing immigration raids have fueled fear and instability, and where MacArthur Park is often defined by visible homelessness and crime, organizers said the mural is intended to highlight the diverse communities who live there and to frame the park as a shared space of connection, culture and daily life.

“I enjoyed making it because it really teaches us about the importance of community and being more inclusive and kind to each other,” said high school artist Leslie Gonzalez. “Most of the people we talked to told us about their backgrounds and they weren’t that pleasant but they still pushed through and got together for each other.”

Painted in March at the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), the mural is installed on the southeastern side of the UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center.

“Immigrants are critical to the community, especially here in MacArthur Park,” said Beth Peterson, community arts program director at LA Commons. “And I think the mural does a beautiful job of really sharing that story. It really shows how the hands of immigrants have really hung together to form this very beautiful community that we live in today.” 

Detail of "Roots of Our Labor" mural at UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center. The mural celebrates workers in the Westlake community.

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For the lead artists, working alongside youth was central to how the art took shape.

“This artwork honors both the neighborhood and the people who shape it,” Mateo said. “Working with youth was essential to the process, allowing the mural to emerge from shared reflection rather than a single perspective.”

The new mural builds on LA Commons’ ongoing work in the area, following another mural unveiled last September at MacArthur Park Elementary School. “Roots of Our Labor” is the organization’s second mural supported by Stop the Hate, a statewide initiative led by the Asian American and Pacific Islander community aimed at addressing hate incidents and promoting cross-cultural understanding.

LA Commons, a nonprofit arts organization that creates community-based public art projects through partnerships and a mix of public and private funding, has been in the MacArthur Park area for more than 20 years. Its first public art project in the neighborhood was in 2003. “Roots of Our Labor” is its 22nd public art project in MacArthur Park.

Detail of "Roots of Our Labor" mural at UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center. The mural celebrates workers in the Westlake community.

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Manners, the artist, described the mural as a reflection of what he sees as the underlying spirit of MacArthur Park.

It represents “the unseen hands that sustain communities, emphasizing that true progress is built collectively through persistence, sacrifice and shared purpose,” he said.

For Gonzalez, the mural is personal as well as something tied closely to her community.

“I feel like a light has shone on me and I’m proud of it because I’ve never done anything this big before,” she said. 

The post New mural celebrates labor, multicultural community around MacArthur Park appeared first on LA Local.

The phone lines at the East L.A. Sheriff’s Station are back up after more than two months of outages caused by copper wire theft.  

The update comes just one week after Boyle Heights Beat reported on the issue, and residents raised concerns at a Maravilla Community Advisory Committee (MCAC) meeting on April 7 about difficulty reaching the station by phone for non-emergencies.

According to the East L.A. Sheriff’s Station, service was restored on Thursday, April 23. By Friday, all dispatchers were back working in the station after temporarily operating out of an off-site communications trailer connected via satellite. 

“This was made possible due to the concerted efforts of the East Los Angeles Sheriff Station Captains Hinchman and Kusayanagi, AT&T, and our Communications & Fleet Management Bureau,” the station said in a statement to the Beat. 

The station also thanked Assemblymember Jessica Caloza’s office and community stakeholders who contacted AT&T to express urgency.

Sheriff’s officials previously said they had called Caloza’s office to help speed up repairs by communicating with AT&T.

What went wrong

According to Sgt. Michael Mileski, the outage was caused by an incident on Feb. 13, where several thousand dollars’ worth of copper wiring was stolen from an electrical vault near the station. Fiber optic cables were damaged in the process, which affected a significant portion of the Eastern Avenue corridor in Boyle Heights and East L.A., disrupting phone lines for 100,000 residents for five days, Mileski said. 

AT&T said in a statement that copper cable outages generally take five times longer to repair on average than fiber outages. 

Copper wire theft has plagued the Eastside in recent years, leaving communities in the dark and disabling public facilities.  

LA Documenter Alex Medina contributed reporting for this story. LA Documenters trains and pays LA residents to take notes at local government meetings around Los Angeles. You can find meeting notes and audio at losangeles.documenters.org

The story Phone lines restored at East LA Sheriff’s Station after 2-month outage due to copper wire theft appeared first on LA Local.

Californians this fall will decide whether to require voters to show proof of citizenship before casting ballots.

A GOP-backed voter ID ballot initiative on Friday qualified for the Nov. 3 ballot, marking a significant win for San Diego Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, who led the signature-gathering campaign. DeMaio and other Republican operatives have pushed for tighter voter restrictions in deep-blue California for years.

If voters approve it, they would be required to show a government-issued ID each time they go to the polls, while mail-in ballots would need the last-four digits of an ID, such as a driver’s license. The secretary of state and county election offices would also be required to verify voters’ registration each time they vote.

Currently, voters only need to provide an ID and Social Security number when they register to vote. Thirty-six states require or recommend voters show some form of identification at the polls, according to a 2025 report by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“This is an initiative that’s incredibly popular amongst Democrats and Republicans,” GOP state Sen. Tony Strickland of Huntington Beach told CalMatters. “I think the only way we don’t get this passed is if we get [outspent]. So we’re working very hard with an on-the-ground campaign apparatus.”

Strickland and others who have helped lead the campaign attribute the initiative’s rapid certification to Julie Luckey, mother of tech billionaire Palmer Luckey who helped seed the majority of the $10 million the campaign committee has raised in the past year.

Voting rights groups say the initiative will suppress turnout among eligible voters who don’t have the documents on hand, many of whom are disproportionately poor and people of color.

Opponents, including the state’s most powerful labor unions, plan to campaign heavily against it.

Voter fraud is rare in California. However, claims of fraud and concerns about election integrity have risen since President Donald Trump touted false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Californians broadly support voter identification at the polls but are split along ideological lines when given specific details about the ballot measure, according to a 2026 poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Government Studies. When told the measure is meant to combat voter fraud and that it could suppress eligible votes, support dipped to 37%.