The Brief

Seeing is believing — at least, that is how Jae’Shaun Phillips feels about attending Sacramento State, the California State University with the largest Black student body, with over 2,000 students. He is in the inaugural class of the Black Honors College, a new initiative created to support future Black scholars and leaders.

Now, Sacramento State is leading similar charges statewide. For one, the university is hosting the Cal State system’s new Office for the Advancement of Black Student Success, which oversees efforts to better serve Black students throughout the Cal State system. Secondly, on a wider scope, this office will soon manage a special designation for California colleges and universities that demonstrate a strong dedication to their Black students.

A new law taking effect Jan. 1, enacted as SB 1348, creates the first official Black-Serving Institution designation in the country. The designation will be given to qualifying colleges that vow to take a more aggressive approach to address California’s systemic obstacles that have kept Black students at the lowest college-going and graduation rates. Though it’s not stated in the law explicitly, the intent is that both public and private nonprofit institutions are allowed to apply, according to the office of Democratic state Sen. Steven Bradford of Inglewood, who authored the law. This designation is not federally recognized nor will campuses receive federal funding.

Besides meeting other student support requirements, the designation is only available to institutions that have a Black student enrollment of at least 10%. For campuses that can’t meet the 10% threshold, they must have at least 1,500 students who are Black. Students like Phillips find comfort in these numbers.

“I feel like it pushes me further, just seeing a lot of motivated people, our colors, trying to [succeed] in college,” Phillips said.

This is not the reality for most Black college students who find themselves a minority in the majority of California classrooms. California colleges and universities educate over 217,000 Black college students in a pool of over 3.4 million.

Dr. James W. Reede Jr. lectures students on the environmental impacts of California policies in the seminar hall of the Black Honors College at Sacramento State University on Oct. 3, 2024.

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California’s Black students trail behind their peers academically. Two-thirds of the state’s Black students start at community colleges yet only 35% transfer to a four-year university within six years, compared to 45% for white students, according to an independent study using California Community Colleges data. Cal States lag in graduating their Black students at 49% within six years compared to 62% overall, according to U.S. Department of Education data. At the UCs, where Black enrollment is the lowest, 78% of Black students graduate in six years but are still 8 percentage points behind the general population.

Bradford finds those statistics “concerning,” further noting that Black undergraduate enrollment nationwide has declined 25% between 2010 and 2020. Bradford hopes this new law will reverse the enrollment decline by recognizing colleges that are “accepting and open and there to support African American students.”

In California, no colleges or universities meet either of the two primary federal designations for serving Black students: Predominantly Black Institutions, which must have at least a 40% Black student population, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which apply to schools established before 1964 with a primary mission to educate Black students.

How campuses will qualify as Black-Serving Institutions

The Office of Black Excellence will oversee the applications from campuses seeking the Black-Serving Institution designation. Designees will be selected by a governing board consisting of the lieutenant governor, the chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, two members of the public, and college and university officials representing public and private, nonprofit higher education institutions.

To qualify for the designation, schools must have established programs dedicated to Black student success, a yet-to-be-determined track record with Black retention and graduation rates, and a five-year plan to boost those rates.

Bradford’s office says the governing board will clarify ambiguities in the law regarding application requirements and determine the logistics once it convenes in January. The law does not outline the requirements for two-year nonprofit private institutions applying to the designation nor does it stipulate a deadline for when the first Black-Serving Institution will be recognized. The law is also unclear about which student enrollment data, self-reported or federal, schools will use to show eligibility and whether they can include both undergraduate and graduate students.

Could your college qualify as a Black-Serving Institution?

Self-reported data introduces the potential for inconsistency in how the board vets the institutions — in some cases the numbers nearly double. For example, the UC system indicates that 4.5% of its undergraduate students are Black. However, according to federal Department of Education data, that number is just 2.3%.

According to 2022 federal counts of undergraduates and graduate students, 60 California colleges and universities meet one or both of the student population requirements to be a Black-Serving Institution. Of those schools, 32 are private nonprofits, 24 are community colleges, three are Cal States, and only one is a UC — UCLA with 3.6%, or 1,681, Black students. However, according to UC’s self-reported data in 2022, two of the 10 UCs reported more than 1,500 Black students. That number jumped to four in 2023.

This is because the UC system counts a person of mixed race as a single race based on a hierarchy that places the highest priority on Black students. UC data rules state that a student who self-identifies as Black and any other group will be reported in UC’s system as Black. Meanwhile, federal data counts mixed-race students in a separate “two or more” category.

The Cal State and community college systems also publish internal demographic numbers that vary somewhat from federal data. Unlike the UC, these systems use a category of two or more racial groups. Private, nonprofit institutions operate independently, making it difficult to assess each college’s internal methodology.

How many Black students? Depends on the data source

The threshold to qualify as a Black-Serving Institution is 1,500 Black students or 10% of total students as Black. How many University of California schools could qualify depends on how demographic data is collected. Number of undergraduate and graduate students reported as Black in 2022 Note: Both data sources are from 2022 because it is the most recent federal data available. UCSF is the only school that would've made the 10% threshold.

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Chart: Jasmin Shirazian and Erica Yee, CalMatters

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Some California campuses are already dedicated to Black student success

A few campuses that have confronted inequities served as the blueprint for the new Black-Serving Institution designation. Keith Curry, president of Compton College, and Luke Wood, president of Sacramento State, worked closely with Bradford’s office to conceptualize the law.

Both presidents say they recognize the limitations imposed by Proposition 209, passed in 1996 to ban race-based admissions and education programs, and emphasize that their programs focus on minority students but are open to everyone.

In 2022, Curry proclaimed Compton College a Black-Serving Institution, encouraging educational leaders to serve Black students “unapologetically” in an Op-Ed for Diverse magazine. Located south of Los Angeles, Compton College has 1,204 Black students, a quarter of its population.

Curry said he harnesses the power of culture to boost student interest with events such as Black Welcome and Black Graduation. This past spring, rapper Kendrick Lamar spoke at graduation, creating some social buzz.

In 2021, Compton College created a new leadership role, director of Black and Males of Color Success. In the role, Antonio Banks connects students to tutoring services, basic needs resources, and specialized programming. He also oversees the Men’s Leadership Academy, which hosts weekly events dedicated to community building, such as the recent “Babyboy: Building Emotional Intelligence to Combat Toxic Masculinity.”

Banks said they focus on fostering community and “helping students become advocates, both in their own fight for education, [and] the fight for others.”

Curry believes his Black-centered approach is already working. During the 2023-24 academic year, returning Black full-time equivalent students increased 34.6% from the previous year, according to Compton’s data. Banks says it will take one to three years to fully reveal the impact of their programs on graduation rates.

In the Cal State system, Wood has been a leading advocate in supporting Black students. A 2023 report by the chancellor’s Black Student Success Workgroup acknowledged the university system’s failure to produce equal outcomes for its Black students. The report made recommendations to all Cal State universities, including recruiting faculty with a high record of success in serving their Black students, implementing inclusive curriculum, and establishing a Black Resource Center on every campus. Much of what the report entails, Sacramento State has already established.

Sacramento State hosts over a dozen groups and resources dedicated to supporting Black and marginalized students. “We’re trying to create an experience outside of the classroom that celebrates Black history, life and culture in a way that you would only see at an institution that is a HBCU,” Wood said.

Sacramento State President Luke Wood on Sept. 22, 2023.

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An example is the Black Honors College, which focuses entirely on Black academia and culture. Select students receive specialized staffing and resources for seminars, coursework, therapy, research opportunities, housing, and more. The university has also started establishing pipelines with some community colleges with large Black student populations, including Merritt College in Oakland and Compton College.

Business major Phillips attended predominantly white grade schools in Tracy, California. One of the reasons he chose Sacramento State was the community it has built for Black students.

He said initiatives like the Black Honors College have special impact on “kids who are very strong in academics, but may not have that home life that really supports them, or for kids who have a lot of capability, potential and talent, but [are not] being promoted or pushed through all the way to see that full potential.”

Wood says their efforts have already helped in recruiting and graduating Black students. Applications overall were up by around 4,000 this fall, with a 17% increase for enrolled Black freshmen and a 40% increase among Black community college transfers. Four-year graduation rates for Black students rose to 1 in 4 graduating in 2024, compared to 1 in 5 in 2019.

Students have mixed feelings about campus support

Universities that pursue the new Black-Serving Institution designation seek to attract students like Nora Thompson, who is studying administration of justice at Merritt College and has always wanted the HBCU experience. Merritt serves a 20.4% Black student population. Thompson has plans to transfer to North Carolina Central University, an HBCU, in the spring. She dreams of becoming a judge like her grandfather.

“I had to work 30 times harder to be seen as a student and as someone who cared about their education,” Thompson said. “For most people, their HBCU changes their life … I wanted to experience feeling like being part of a community in every possible way, not just education wise.”

She lamented having to leave the state — and pay out-of-state tuition — just to experience a flourishing Black academic setting. Thompson says that even with the Black-Serving designation, California’s Black student populations are not enough to keep her here.

Further north in a more remote area of the state, junior journalism major and Black Student Union president at Cal Poly Humboldt, Kaylon Coleman, is not satisfied with his experience at the university — from the subtle racism by his classmates to the few opportunities to learn from Black scholars.

Cal Poly Humboldt is a predominantly white institution. Federal data as of 2022 shows that of the 6,025 students enrolled, only 179 were Black — far below the minimum to qualify as a Black-Serving Institution.

As a freshman, Coleman was told by counselors that the Black Student Union had a history of disbanding due to low Black student enrollment. He turned to the Umoja Center for Pan African Student Excellence, the university’s cultural center for those who are Black identifying or of African descent. A friend of Coleman’s revived the union, and he joined.

Like many students attending universities with small Black populations, Coleman said it’s exhausting to speak up about the behavior of those around him.

“It’s hard to be that one person — Black person — in your class, or the one to explain why this was a microaggression, or why this was racist, or why you can’t touch my hair, stuff like that,” Coleman said.

Coleman feels that students attending schools without the Black-Serving Institution title will be left behind. He believes that Black students at every California college deserve to reap the benefits that would come with the label.

Kyira Todmia, a senior in neurobiology, physiology, and behavior at UC Davis, shared a slightly different experience. In 2022, federal data reported Davis had 783 Black students, representing 2% of over 39,000 students total. However, it self-reports 1,472 Black students, or 3.7% of the population. She says that while her school may not have a large Black student population, the student resources are strong.

Todmia built her social circle around the African American “learning community” in student housing as a freshman. She also hangs out at the Center for African Diaspora, where students have access to study spaces, tutors, peer advisors and events.

During Todmia’s four years at Davis, she’s only had one Black professor. Because few Black students are in STEM majors, at times she is the only Black student in classes of 300 to 500 people. At least in her learning community, she said, she was able to see rooms full of Black folks every day — even if they weren’t in most of her classes.

For Sen. Bradford, now 64, the new law is personal. Bradford reflected on his own experience as a biology student at Cal State Dominguez Hills in the 1980s.

For a campus that earns the Black-Serving Institution designation, Bradford said, “It’s going to be an environment that’s going to be welcoming, that’s going to be supportive. I only wish that had existed when I entered college over 40 years ago.”

The man arrested in connection to the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday night was identified as Cole Allen by two sources familiar with the matter. The sources spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Shooting details

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., third from left, 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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The shooting took place outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton where the dinner was underway. President Donald Trump Saturday released what appears to be video surveillance footage that shows a man quickly moving past security officials, who then draw their weapons. Trump, who was safely evacuated with his wife, Melania, and other top officials, also shared images of a shirtless man detained on the floor of the hotel via his Truth Social account late Saturday.

Todd Blanche, the acting U.S. Attorney General, told Meet the Press on Sunday morning that they believed the gunman was targeting "administration officials" but didn't want to be more specific since the investigation was still underway. He said the targets "likely" included the president.

He also said investigators believed the gunman had traveled to D.C. from California via train and was staying at the hotel with two firearms. Blanche said the man purchased those firearms within the last couple of years.

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

Jeanine Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said at that same news briefing that the gunman would face federal charges. Authorities say the man will be charged Monday.

What we know about the gunman's SoCal ties

FBI personnel confer with Torrance police officers on the street of the house connected to Cole Tomas Allen, the shooting suspect at the White House Correspondents' Dinner late Saturday.

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The FBI searched a home in Torrance late Saturday connected to Allen.

According to a LinkedIn profile under his name, Allen obtained a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 2017, and a master's degree in computer science from California State University at Dominguez Hills in 2025.

The profile also says that one of his employers is C2 Education, a tutoring and college test prep center with a location in Torrance where he was named "Teacher of the Month" in a December 2024 post.

A search of California's Commission on Teacher Credentialing did not surface a credentialed teacher by that name.

Statements from local schools

As news reports spread identifying the gunman as a California teacher from Torrance, the Torrance Unified School District said in a statement Saturday night that the alleged gunman is not an employee of the school district and has never worked there.

"While details are still emerging and facts remain under investigation, early reports have referenced a teacher from Torrance as being involved," the statement from Torrance Unified said. "We want to clarify that the individual named in the news is not an employee of the Torrance Unified School District and has never worked in our district."

Cal State Dominguez Hills, in a statement, said a man with the name of the alleged gunman had graduated from the school in 2025, but could not confirm if it was the same person.

"A student named Cole Allen graduated with a master’s degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2025. The university cannot confirm if this is the same suspect identified in the April 25 shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner," the statement said.

Caltech also said they had not independently confirmed the alleged gunman was the same person who attended their university.

"An undergraduate student by the name of Cole Allen graduated from Caltech in 2017," university officials said in a statement, "Based on media reports, we are aware that federal authorities have identified a suspect by the name of Cole Allen in the April 25 shooting incident at the Washington Correspondents’ Dinner. We do not have details from the investigation to confirm that the suspect and our undergraduate alumnus are the same person."

The math club at Bella Vista Elementary School is not a quiet affair — not with more than a dozen 10- and 11-year-olds stacking sets of mahjong.

But before the games can begin, it's time for math lessons.

"Remind me, math is the study of what?" fourth grade teacher Andy Luong asks the class.

Buena Vista elementary school teacher Andy Luong goes over different elements of mahjong with the afterschool math club.

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Some of the 16 students that make up the mahjong math club at Bella Vista Elementary, with club co-founder Rachel Hwang.

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"Pattern, patterns," the kids say.

Luong clicks through several slides, each featuring a mahjong tile the students call "seven sticks."

 "When you first learned this tile, what did you use to memorize this?" Luong, co-founder of the Mahjong Math Club, asks.

"They look like sticks," a boy says.

Luong locks in on a slide for a few seconds, just a flash. It features six tiles, divided into two rows. He asks the class how many tiles they see.

 "Three on the top and three on the bottom," a girl says. " So when I saw the pattern, I was like, 'Oh, it's six.'"

Luong nods. " Recognizing those patterns are a lot faster than counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6," he says.

The game that never goes out of style

The tile game of mahjong is believed to have started in China in the 19th century, after decades if not centuries of evolution. It spread globally, adopting regional specificities, including in the U.S. after it landed in the late 1910s from Shanghai by way of an American businessman. A few decades later, a group of Jewish American women established the National Mah Jongg League in New York.

The game never stopped being a staple of Chinese and many Asian cultures — anywhere in the world.

Intergenerational Mahjong is a monthly series held in Monterey Park, one of many new mahjong social clubs in L.A.

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In recent years, fueled in part by the COVID-19 shutdown, an interest in the game has sparked among young Asian Americans. They form or attend social clubs in L.A. dedicated to the pastime, creating their own bond with the game.

Luong is one of them. When he was growing up in Illinois, the game came with certain connotations.

" Mahjong has such a bad rap in the Asian American community," Luong said, who moved to the San Gabriel Valley about a decade ago. "Part of a big reason why my parents don't play is because they associate it with gambling."

The 30-year-old finally gave the game a spin in 2024, learning it from third grade teacher and math club co-founder Rachel Hwang. She cut her teeth by watching her family play. Naturally, she threw Luong in the deep end.

" I was like, 'Here, we're just gonna play,'" Hwang said. " I just put the tiles on."

"I was so overwhelmed. It's like, 'What do you mean I had to get a set? A set of how much?' I'm like, 'I don't know what I'm doing,'" he said.

Still, Luong fell head over heels, quickly becoming a regular at the mahjong social clubs (in fact, it was at one of those events where I first met him) and a student of the game.

In learning it, Luong figured out how to teach it.

Principal Jennifer Martinez of Bella Vista Elementary in Monterey Park

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"He was the one [that] as a learner didn't grow up playing this game," Hwang said. "He was the one that found the tutorials, watched the tutorials, and he really, from a learner's perspective, figured out what a kid needed to learn and how they needed to learn in order to play the game."

Last year, Luong submitted a proposal to start a math club focused on mahjong at the school.

" It was pretty much slam dunk. It explores other avenues of the cultural experience that we want our students to learn," said Jennifer Martinez,  principal of Bella Vista Elementary School.  "It was something that we wanted to get off the ground right away and support."

Since September, the club has been meeting on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. It was so popular Luong and Hwang brought in help to run the club.

“ I don't feel like they're really doing math,” said Ruolin Chen, a kindergarten teacher who was recruited. "It's like they're learning from playing or playing from learning.”

Let the games begin

Fifth graders Emily Le and Brianna Azpeitia at the mahjong math club.

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Fifth grader Liam Torres.

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Back in the classroom, Luong clicks to a last slide to remind the club how to maximize "points" with certain "hands." This semester, the club is playing Hong Kong style mahjong — three point minimum win.

Finally, it's game time. The group of mainly fourth and fifth graders take their seats at the tables: mixing the tiles, stacking them into starting formation, casting the die, so on and so forth.

Then, they build their hand, meticulously rearranging the 13 tiles according to their suits — or in math club parlance, patterns.

The clank of tiles and sounds of "pong" and "gong" soon fill the air.

Pattern recognition, strategy, situational awareness, probability, learning when to pivot or to fold — those are some of the learnings the math club intends.

"Andy is so structured," Hwang said of Luong's design of the club. " The first two weeks, they didn't even play a game. It was like, 'Let's look at the tiles. How many tiles do you see? Pick out and group them into sets.'"

Fifth grader Uma Alvarado.

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Fifth grader Benjamin Garcia.

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Fifth grader Uma Alvarado shows me her hand. She's going all "pong" — trying to assemble four sets of three identical tiles. It'd be worth three points if she wins.

Alvarado says what brings her to the club is the opportunity to hang out with her schoolmates. But trying something new is pretty cool too.

"I get to mix the tiles and find new ways to play a game I have never been introduced to before," she adds.

At another table, fourth grader Bonnie Kuang says the game keeps her on her toes.

Fourth grader Bonnie Kuang (left) and fifth grader Ian Maldonado.

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Fourth grader Sofia Mandic explains how the club has taught her pattern recognition.

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"I think it's fun to use different strategies, and maybe I need to change strategy mid-game," Kuang said. "And I like it when I win."

Sofia Mandic, her same grade classmate and opponent across the table, says the pace of the game makes quick tile recognition key.

"You need to think fast. You need to think to yourself if you need it or not," Mandic says, because oftentimes, there are just seconds to make a decision.

Bringing mahjong into the classroom

Pattern recognition, strategy, situational awareness, probability, learning when to pivot or to fold — those are some of the learnings the math club intends.

"Andy is so structured," Hwang said of Luong's design of the club. " The first two weeks, they didn't even play a game. It was like, 'Let's look at the tiles. How many tiles do you see? Pick out and group them into sets.'"

It's all part of a teaching method known as "counting collections" that focuses on hands-on, student-centered learning experiences to build informal math knowledge. It's one aspect of a body of research called Cognitively Guided Instruction, which all math teachers at Bella Vista are trained in. Luong is applying it to guide his approach.

A slide used in the mahjong math club to teach kids how to calculate points.

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A slide used in the mahjong math club teaching kids how to increase points with certain combinations.

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" We need to have them see there's four different types of tiles. There's [Chinese] characters, there's sticks, circles, and there's honorary tiles," Luong said. "They're not going to know unless they actually see it and they use their hands."

Even then, it's a lot to process. It could be downright overwhelming when a kid has to juggle all the elements all at once during game play.

"The very first time that we actually started playing, some of them didn't finish a game. It took an entire period," Luong said.

It took about a month into the club before the mechanics of the game — things like drawing a tile, discarding the ones they don't want — became routine; and another two months for the kids to play faster and without supervision.

Teachers Rachel Hwang, Ruolin Chen and Andy Luong. They run the Mahjong Math Club at Bella Vista Elementary in Monterey Park.

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"A lot of the students who don't know Mandarin, or have any Chinese background, are starting to recognize the characters. I'm really proud to say that," Luong said.

Ultimately, the teachers want the kids to take away from the game a lesson about life.

"What we really want the kids to do is not to have such a fixed mindset," Luong said.

" We want them to, A) be flexible, B) change up your game plan," Hwang said. "It's OK. Life is going to throw curve balls at you."

Updated April 26, 2026 at 11:13 AM ET

President Trump and the first lady are uninjured after a shooting 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 Washington Hilton hotel near the entrance to the main ballroom where the event was taking place. There are no reports of further injuries.

The suspect has been identified as Cole Allen, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

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.

Cole 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.

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." Law enforcement said they believe the suspect was a guest at the hotel.

He was evaluated at a local hospital after the incident and was not hit by gunfire, according to law enforcement.

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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A chaotic scene

Gunshots were heard by gathered reporters shortly after 8:30 p.m. ET. 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."

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

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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"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," Trump wrote.

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

"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."

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 and Ryan Lucas 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 LA Local

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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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Courtesy LA Commons

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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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Courtesy LA Commons)

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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. 

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