The Brief

Next year, California will set up trust accounts for children in low-income families who lost a parent or guardian to COVID. But before any money can be claimed, the state now has the herculean task of trying to find kids who are eligible.

“There’s no central list,” said Kasey O’Connor, executive director of the HOPE for Children Trust Account Program. “So it's really us building this from the ground up, so it's strictly based on outreach right now.”

In 2022, the legislature created the HOPE program, becoming the first state in the nation to fund baby bonds for kids orphaned by COVID. Eligible children will have at least $4,500 in a trust fund by the time they’re 18 years old. The program also sets up accounts for children in the foster care system who, unlike kids orphaned by COVID, will be automatically enrolled.

The idea behind the accounts is to give children financial resources — support to buy a car or to go college — that typically comes with the help of parents, said Kristin Urquiza, co-founder of Marked By COVID and a member of the HOPE advisory workgroup. Urquiza, who lost her father to COVID in 2020, said her life trajectory would have been drastically different had she lost her father as a child.

“I wouldn’t have gone to college. I would have done everything in my power to be able to try and provide for us as we lost a breadwinner,” she said. “We're already seeing kids stepping up and serving as substitute parents.”

Where are the children?

At least 32,500 California children lost a parent or primary caregiver to COVID, according to an estimate in a report prepared for the legislature. “We were really looking at the social and financial ramifications of the pandemic,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor added that they’re targeting an estimated 10,000 low-income children, working with nonprofits, local school districts, churches, and unions to reach out.

Urquiza said it’ll be up to community-based organizations like hers to help find eligible children and get them enrolled. “We haven't systematically kept track of who has passed from COVID, and in particular, who has passed and has descendants,” Urquiza said.

Still, community groups only have so many resources, she said, adding, “There’s a big funding gap.”

“Our community based organizations, our nonprofit community, they're already doing so much with very little resources,” said Patrice Berry, chief impact officer at End Poverty in CA and a HOPE Advisory Work Group member. She and Urquiza said they’ve been looking into philanthropic funds to help support outreach efforts.

Who qualifies?

How kids are being identified

In addition to community outreach, O’Connor said the state is working with different state agencies to help with identification, including cross-referencing death certificates with the tax records to help find children in low-income families affected by COVID.

“It's just more piecemeal than our other programs that get to use birth data or anything else,” O’Connor said.

A separate savings account the state has for newborns and public school students, CalKids, currently has about 7% utilization rate, about two years after its launch. (Here's how you sign up for that one.)

Advocates are pushing for changes to the state’s death certificate so there’s a checkbox to indicate if a decedent had a dependent, so there will be a better tracking system for future kids who lose their parents.

Yesenia Jimenez, senior policy associate with GRACE/End Child Poverty, a group also working with the state, said outreach is particularly important given who was most affected by the pandemic — communities of color and non-English speaking households.

“When we think about who passed from the pandemic and you think about our essential workers… we already know that there are barriers,” she said. “It will be a significant task.”

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Jude Bellingham scored two goals 98 seconds apart, Harry Kane converted a penalty when England was down to 10 men, and the Three Lions handed Mexico its first World Cup loss at Estadio Azteca, a wild 3-2 victory on Sunday night to reach the quarterfinals.

England moves on to face Norway on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida, for a spot in the semifinals.

Bellingham stunned the crowd of more than 80,000 at a venue where Mexico was unbeaten in 10 World Cup matches, including three this year, when he scored on a header in the 36th minute and again in the 38th on a pass from Kane.

Julián Quiñones scored for El Tri in the 42nd minute, and the game appeared to turn in Mexico’s favor when England’s Jarell Quansah was sent off in the 54th for a dangerous foul on Jesús Gallardo.

But England was awarded a penalty for a challenge by Mexico goalkeeper Raúl Rangel, and Kane converted for his sixth goal of this tournament and 14th of his World Cup career, matching Gerd Müller of West Germany for fifth on the scoring list. Kane has six goals in this tournament, one behind Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland in the Golden Boot race.

Kane then committed a foul that made him the first player since at least 1966 to score and concede a penalty in a World Cup game. Raúl Jiménez converted the kick with a stutter-step approach to move El Tri within 3-2.

Mexico attacked relentlessly over the final 21 minutes, plus 11 minutes of stoppage time, but goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and England's defenders held steady.

Mexico has not reached the quarterfinals since hosting in 1986. Since then, it has lost in the round of 16 eight times, failed to advance past the group stage in 2022 and was disqualified from the 1990 tournament.

Billy Gene Mills, one of the first Black politicians elected to the L.A. City Council, died on June 27 in his Leimert Park home. He was 96.

In a social media post, his son James Edward Mills wrote that his father had been struggling with failing health for years.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement Mills "helped shape the arc of justice and opportunity in our city."

Mills was the first Black American to graduate from UCLA Law School in 1954 and went on to work as a civil rights attorney.

Los Angeles City Council members Gilbert Lindsay (left), Billy Mills (second from left) and Tom Bradley (second from right), pose for a photo with two unidentified men in City Hall council chambers around 1965.

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He was elected to the city council in 1963, representing District 8, and served until 1974. Mills was one of the first three Black men, along with Tom Bradley and Gilbert Lindsay, to join the city council.

While on the council, Mills “led the city to renewed unity and cooperation after the tumultuous Watts Riots,” UCLA wrote in a statement that accompanied a Public Service Award given to him in 2003. His tenure, UCLA noted, saw the installation of paved alleys and streetlights throughout South Los Angeles for the first time.

In 1974, Mills was appointed as a judge to the Los Angeles Superior Court by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan.

Mills is survived by five children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

SEATTLE — Folarin Balogun, the star striker of the U.S. men's national soccer team, is eligible to play in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16 game against Belgium on Monday.

In an unusual move, FIFA's Disciplinary Committee announced Sunday that it would suspend Balogun's one-game red card ban for a probationary period of one year, allowing him to play in any remaining World Cup games.

In a brief statement, the committee did not give a reason for delaying the suspension. Balogun's probationary period will be revoked and the one-game suspension enforced if he commits "another infringement of a similar nature and gravity," FIFA said.

Balogun received the red card last Wednesday during the 2-0 U.S. victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Round of 32 match. He had stepped on the ankle of Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemović as the two tangled while going after the ball.

The main referee initially declined to call any foul on the play, but after a replay review of slow-motion video and stills, a video referee recommended a red card. Afterward, U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino criticized the decision to grant a red, calling the contact "a normal action in football that happened by accident."

U.S. Soccer had not filed a formal appeal. But a spokesperson told reporters Sunday that the organization had been "engaged" with FIFA during the deliberations.

In a statement, U.S. Soccer said it would accept the decision and is pleased Balogun will be eligible to play. "Our full attention is focused on the Round of 16 match against Belgium in Seattle, and we look forward to the continued support of our amazing fans," the statement read.

"Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!" President Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

The team learned of the decision on Sunday morning while riding a bus to a training session in Seattle.

"I'm mostly just happy for him, seeing that smile on his face. He deserves to be playing in this game," said U.S. winger Christian Pulisic, who called the referee's decision to give Balogun a red card "extremely harsh."

The decision to delay a one-game red card suspension is highly unusual, although there had been precedent already at this World Cup. Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo received a three-game suspension last November for elbowing an opponent in a World Cup qualifying match. That suspension would have caused him to miss the first two games of the World Cup, but FIFA's Disciplinary Committee put the suspension on hold and allowed him to play.

It is unclear what factors may have led FIFA to allow Balogun to play.

Rules governing the use of VAR, or video assistant referee, say that slow-motion replay should only be used for "facts," such as the point of contact for physical fouls or handball calls, while normal-speed video should be used to judge the "intensity" of an offense.

However, on Wednesday, the video referee reviewed slow-motion footage and still images before recommending a red card.

Balogun's demeanor was notably calm and respectful after the controversial call. He shook hands with the referee after the game, and speaking to reporters on Friday, he said the contact had been unintentional but that he accepted the referee's decision.

"I never want to react out of anger and out of emotion," Balogun said. "There's still lots of people we're inspiring, little kids, boys and girls who are watching. We have to show the correct way to handle things even when you think it's unjust."

On Sunday, Pulisic told reporters he was impressed by how his teammate had handled himself. "Good things happen to people like that. And he was so positive and all for the team, and it just feels right," Pulisic said.

Monday's Round of 16 match against Belgium is one of the biggest in the history of the U.S. men's national team. A win would send the U.S. to the quarterfinals, matching the deepest run by the American men in the modern era of the World Cup.

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The La Brea Tar Pits are heading into a multimillion-dollar renovation — that means the museum will have to close to the public for two years.

The history

Built in 1977, the George C. Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits has a special place in the hearts of Angelenos who’ve ever taken a field trip to see its massive mastodon skeletons or dire wolf skulls. Don’t worry — all that stuff is staying, said museum educator Kay Lai.

Why now?

“This museum, as beloved as it is, definitely needs that refresh. And I’m really excited for the next generation of kids that get to grow up and make new memories here with this new space,” Lai told LAist.

What’s going to be new?

Lai said the museum refresh will include a new focus on Zed, an 80% complete Columbian mammoth found at the site. With new outdoor classrooms and a 1-kilometer pedestrian pathway that will take visitors past excavation sites, the idea is to make research more visible to the public.