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The Brief

The most important stories for you to know today
  • SMC program hopes to fill much-needed jobs
    Two men are shaking hands in front of a RV parked along a street. There's a grocery cart with bags of stuff next to them.
    Santa Monica College has launched a new program to train frontline workers in the homeless sector.

    Topline:

    There are some 1,300 jobs in the homeless services sector in L.A. County that have remained unfilled, according to Santa Monica College and others working in the sector. These jobs cut across a variety of roles, particularly entry-level positions on the frontlines.

    Why it matters: The Homeless Service Work certificate program at Santa Monica College was created to address that need — a model the college hopes will be replicated throughout California.

    The backstory: The passage of Measure H in 2017 helped fund the creation of these jobs — something Measure A, which voters approved this November, will continue to do.

    Tai Harris breathes and lives music. The Van Nuys resident worked in the business side of that industry for many years, but said she became "jaded" several years back. So she made a big career change seemingly out of left field — by diving headlong into working with Los Angeles' unhoused population at a local nonprofit.

    "I saw the position either on Craigslist or Indeed, and I was like, 'Wow, that sounds interesting,' you know, helping homeless individuals obtain resources," Harris said.

    In four short years, Harris climbed the ranks, becoming an associate director focused on housing the unhoused.

    But this year, she decided to go back to school to supplement the hands-on experience she's gained working in the sector. Harris is one of 20 students in a pilot certificate program — the first of its kind in the state — launched this year by Santa Monica College to train a workforce that is integral to solving this vexing challenge.

    "There's education around social work, there's education around music, but to have something specific to homeless service work, it was like, 'Whoa, I definitely want to know more about this and be involved,'" Harris said.

    Help wanted: Homeless service work

    There are some 1,300 jobs in the homeless services sector in L.A. County that have remained unfilled, according to SMC and others working in the sector. These jobs cut across a variety of roles, particularly entry-level positions on the frontlines.

    The passage of Measure H in 2017 helped fund the creation of these jobs — something that Measure A, which voters approved this November, will continue to do.

    "What's often overlooked is all the heroes that work behind-the-scenes and on the frontlines and work as case managers or work in outreach," said Steven Sedky, associate dean for career education at SMC. "But there's not enough of them to do the work."

    The Homeless Service Work program was created to fix that need — a model the college hopes will be replicated throughout California.

    "We have close ties to our local communities, we have close ties to industry leaders," Sedky said. "Community colleges are well positioned to do this work."

    A program years in the making

    The concept to create a pipeline was brought to the school in 2019 by a trustee, Nancy Greenstein, who was holding a series of conversations among residents in the Westside and those working in the sector on finding solutions to the crisis. An issue quickly came to the fore: staffing.

    "One is burnout," said Patricia Ramos, dean of academic affairs at SMC. "The work is really hard."

    Another reason is the mismatch in skill sets.

    "They seem to be getting a lot of students out of social work school and other places, and the education felt like it needed to be more hands on and more kind of helping students to become more resilient in all of the, you know, trauma that they were going to be facing in the job," Ramos said.

    The pandemic hit, but eventually these discussions regained steam, tapping into a bigger network with a more fleshed out vision that led to a partnership between the college and Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), which provides funding to offset costs like faculty salaries, student laptops, counseling and other student services under the certificate program.

    "We were, as a college, prepared to help scale and develop this workforce development system. And LAHSA came to us because they do training themselves and they are not able to develop and scale an academic program," Ramos said.

    A man in a beanie cap is standing at an open door of an apartment unit with a big smile on his face.
    (
    Michael Owen Baker
    /
    Courtesy LAHSA
    )

    A curriculum designed for students to hit the ground running

    In turn, industry leaders led the design of the four-course certificate curriculum that includes an internship to get on-the-ground experience — all combined to give students the training they need to engage and work with individuals while navigating a complex bureaucracy of services and government entities.

    "We really relied on the experts in the field who have decades of experience on what the skills, knowledge, and abilities needed to put into the curriculum," Sedky said. "Then one step further in the curriculum development process is thinking about how those fit into classes, what those classes are, and what that sequence is."

    The program has also brought in sector veterans to teach classes, including Leepi Shimkhada with L.A. County Department of Health Services, who is leading a course in health equity.

    "A lot of times in homeless case management we find people who have various degrees, which is great, right? It brings people from multiple disciplines together, but rarely do we have that person who has had formal training in what it means to be a case manager in homeless services, because it's really a complex space to be in," Shimkhada said.

    Often, she added, challenges facing unhoused people are often multifold, including health, mental health and substance abuse disorder.

    "There are funds for outreach teams, for interim housing programs, to provide ongoing supportive services when somebody moves into permanent housing, to do benefits advocacy, but we just need this workforce that's ready and willing and able to come in and do the work very quickly," Shimkhada said.

    A woman in a button-down shirt smiling into the camera.
    Tai Harris, a student in the new Santa Monica College certificate program on homeless service work.
    (
    Courtesy Tai Harris
    )

    Cultivating the next generation of leaders

    The program has drawn students from all walks of life, said Sedky at SMC. They include high school graduates and mid-career people who are considering a career change after having volunteered in the space.

    "We have a Ukrainian refugee. We have a bus driver who drives through Skid Row and wants to do more," Sedky added. "We have a few people that are already working in the sector and they want to move up in the sector."

    Harris from Van Nuys would fall into that category. She said the program has opened access to a wealth of knowledge from those who've worked in the industry for decades.

    "For me, it was to be able to learn more about policies and, you know, to have my pulse even more so on things that are going on and things that are coming in the future," Harris said.

    But it's also about being in a cohort of like-minded people — committed to the cause — who the program hopes will become next generation of leaders in the sector. Because the work is hard, burnout is real. The pay scale for entry level jobs, said Harris, is typically between $20 to $25 per hour.

    "It takes a certain type of individual to work in this field. No two days are the same. No two seconds, honestly, are the same," Harris said. "You have to be someone that really has a passion for this work. It's a great thing that this program has come about to be able to help get those next groups of people into this field."

  • Immigration enforcement continues amid tournament
    Large crowds of people walk in front of a stadium.
    All eight of the Southern California matches will be at SoFi Stadium, or L.A. Stadium, as it will be called during the World Cup.

    Topline:

    As Los Angeles revels in the World Cup, advocates who operate an ICE rapid-response hotline say they've seen an uptick in calls for help.

    The numbers: In June, Immigrant Defenders Law Center reported that its emergency phone line offering legal resources received nearly 900 calls — the second-highest number of calls in a single month this year.

    The context: The increase comes after months of concern over how ICE might interfere with the tournament. Despite fears, so far there have not been reports of immigration activity at the stadium or fan events. Immigration agents have been spotted outside SoFi Stadium during the matches hosted in L.A., but their presence has not appeared to include enforcement.

    What advocates are saying: "I'm so happy that ICE hasn't ruined the World Cup by doing these mass raids, but they are still doing them piecemeal and one by one," attorney Sarah Houston said. " In the background, the administration is still there, and these things are still happening. They're just not happening at SoFi Stadium."

    Read on ... for more on ICE's role in the World Cup.

    As Los Angeles revels in the World Cup, advocates who operate an ICE rapid-response hotline say they've seen an uptick in calls for help.

    In June, Immigrant Defenders Law Center reported that its emergency phone line offering legal resources received nearly 900 calls — the second-highest number of calls in a single month this year. Sarah Houston, the attorney who oversees responses to that hotline, said July was on track to potentially be even higher.

    The increase comes after months of concern over how ICE might interfere with the tournament. Despite fears, so far there have not been reports of immigration activity at the stadium or fan events. Immigration agents have been spotted outside SoFi Stadium during the matches hosted in L.A., but their presence has not appeared to include enforcement.

    Instead, Houston said the daily drumbeat of arrests has continued across Los Angeles.

    "I'm so happy that ICE hasn't ruined the World Cup by doing these mass raids, but they are still doing them piecemeal and one by one," she said. " In the background, the administration is still there, and these things are still happening. They're just not happening at SoFi Stadium."

    Houston said recent reports that her office has received included a father who was arrested at a routine immigration check in in downtown Los Angeles in front of his wife and child and a man who was injured and later hospitalized after ICE arrested him in Burbank.

    Meanwhile, immigrant arrests are up nationwide. The New York Times reported last week that immigration agents had detained more than 10,000 people in the span of five days, a sharp increase from earlier this year.

    Minky Worden, director of Global Initiatives for Human Rights Watch, said the spike taints the celebrations of the World Cup around the country, where communities have welcomed fans and teams from around the globe.

    "We have to look at the full context of these events. The soccer could be great. Your favorite team could be winning. The Mexico jerseys were just the best. … But what's happening behind the scenes?" she said. "Is the beautiful game covering up an ugly escalation of ICE arrests?"

    Human Rights Watch had called for an "ICE Truce" after reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would play a key role in tournament security, but FIFA and the federal government made no guarantees.

    In a statement provided by the Department of Homeland Security, acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis confirmed that the department was involved in policing the World Cup.

    “The safety and security of the American people and the millions of visitors attending these events remain our highest priority," Bis said in a statement. “International visitors who legally come to the United States for the World Cup have nothing to worry about. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are illegally in the U.S. — full stop."

    SoFi Stadium's food and beverage workers had threatened to strike over ICE's presence at the World Cup and made a deal with their employer averting the labor action just before the tournament started. Their new contract includes the right to walk off the job over safety concerns, including the presence of immigration agents at the workplace.

    So far, workers have felt safe on the job, despite spotting ICE and Homeland Security agents on the stadium's perimeter, according to Kurt Petersen, co-president of their union, Unite Here Local 11.

    But outside of the stadium, he said many of them have been affected by immigration enforcement in Los Angeles since the immigration raids that started last summer. Petersen said one union member was recently released from a detention center after being arrested on the street in front of his family.

    " Raids are continuing, right? People are being kidnapped off the streets," Petersen said. " This is by no means something that has ended."

    The final World Cup match in Los Angeles is this Friday.

    Rapid response networks and legal aid

    Local rapid response networks can be contacted for immediate legal support.

    • Los Angeles Rapid Response Network: (888) 624-4752
    • Long Beach ÓRALE: (562) 245-9575
    • Boyle Heights/East Los Angeles: (323) 805-1049

    Orange County Rapid Response Network offers multiple, downloadable guides, including what to plan for in case a family member is detained or arrested, and what to do in the first 24 hours after someone gets arrested, including how to find a loved one through ICE’s detainee locator system. Also, a list of free legal resources. Call (714) 881-1558

    USC Agents of Change created a free hotline to help people file motions to move their in-person immigration hearing appointments online. The service is available in English and Spanish. Call (888) 462-5211

    VietRISE has information and resources for Vietnamese community members facing deportation and those supporting them.

    Immigrant Defenders Law Center is available to support community members detained by ICE and their families. Call (213) 833-8283, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

    The Immigration Advocates Network offers a database to find legal services near you. The database includes nonprofits that offer free or low-cost legal services.

    The National Day Laborer Organizing Network is connecting jornaleros detained by ICE legal resources and mutual aid. If you know a laborer who has been detained, call (626) 799-3566

    The Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project offers free legal representation for immigrants, with a focus on helping children and families. Find more information on their website, and for general inquiries, call (213) 534-7594.

    The Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles offers free legal assistance for low-income immigrants in over eight languages, including for inquiries about asylum, DACA, naturalization and visas. You can find whether you qualify for legal assistance here.

    Southwestern Law School’s immigration law clinic provides free legal representation to low-income children and adults with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (clients under the age of 21), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (renewals only), U visas nonimmigrant status and U-based adjustment of status cases. Call (213) 738-5574 or email immigrationclinic@swlaw.edu.

    The Public Law Center in Santa Ana assists low-income residents of Orange County in filing for immigration relief and with deportation defense. Call (714) 541-1010, ext. 332, and leave a voicemail to request an appointment.

  • Sponsored message
  • CA colleges reveal their military weapons stockade
    A police officer pushes a protestor wearing a hoodie and scarf over their face. A bus drives past a crowd of protestors in the background as police stand and watch in between.
    A University of California campus police officer pushes a pro-Palestinian protester away from a moving San Diego Sheriff's bus with arrested protesters onboard at UC San Diego in San Diego on May 6, 2024.

    Topline:

    According to state law, campus police can own military weapons to uphold safety as long as they report it to the public. However, not every college follows every part of the law, according to an investigation by CalMatters into all 148 public colleges and universities in California.

    More details: Each campus’s state or district governing board — which gives permission for police to procure such items — has to annually re-approve a use policy, a chronicle of when the equipment has been used and an inventory. Once the report is approved and published online, campus police have 30 days to hold a conveniently located and “well-publicized” forum for the public to learn about and give feedback on the equipment, according to state law.

    Questions prompt campuses to act: Several campus police departments created reports after CalMatters’ inquiries, though the law requires the documents to be posted online as long as the equipment is usable. Not all reports or policies contained the details mandated by the 2021 law; in many cases campuses left out information, including manufacturers’ product descriptions, up-to-date inventories and equipment quantities. The University of California Board of Regents approved UC Berkeley’s annual report last September, but university police only published their equipment list on April 7, after four CalMatters inquiries.

    Read on... for more on California colleges revealing their military weapons stockade.

    For many public colleges and universities in California, keeping their campuses safe includes owning military-grade weaponry — AR-15s, stun grenades designed to cause temporary blindness and sonic weapons that resonate so loudly they are known in the armed forces as the voice of God.

    According to state law, campus police can only own military equipment if the college believes there is no other way to uphold civilian safety.

    That law, which passed in 2021, also requires police to make all their equipment dealings exceedingly clear to the public. However, not every college follows every part of the law, according to an investigation by CalMatters into all 148 public campuses in the California Community Colleges, University of California, and California State University systems.

    Each campus’s state or district governing board — which gives permission for police to procure such items — has to annually re-approve a use policy, a chronicle of when the equipment has been used and an inventory. Once the report is approved and published online, campus police have 30 days to hold a conveniently located and “well-publicized” forum for the public to learn about and give feedback on the equipment, according to state law.

    CalMatters attempted to compile the 2025 annual reports and use policies from every public higher education police department in the state that owns military equipment. Here is what we found.

    Questions prompt campuses to act

    Several campus police departments created reports after CalMatters’ inquiries, though the law requires the documents to be posted online as long as the equipment is usable. Not all reports or policies contained the details mandated by the 2021 law; in many cases campuses left out information, including manufacturers’ product descriptions, up-to-date inventories and equipment quantities. The University of California Board of Regents approved UC Berkeley’s annual report last September, but university police only published their equipment list on April 7, after four CalMatters inquiries.

    According to their own reports, San Jose State University and San Francisco State University own AR-15s even though Cal State’s policy does not authorize it. Cal State spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith said these AR-15s are standard issue, which would exempt them from the reporting requirement, even though San Jose’s report classifies them as specialized firearms and university police departments determine what equipment is standard issue. San Francisco’s semi automatic rifles are standard issue and won’t be listed in the annual report going forward, university spokesperson Robert King said.

    Campus police also must submit their yearly report to their district or state governing boards. Chico State and Cal State Northridge police said their reports are sent to the Cal State chancellor’s office, which the systemwide policy requires. But Klarissa Garcia, executive assistant to the chief of police at Cal State Dominguez Hills, said her department does not submit its report to any governing body.

    A close up of two police officers talking with one another with more in the background.
    University of California campus police officers talk amongst each other while a San Diego Sheriff’s officer holds a weapon behind them during a pro-Palestinian protest at UC San Diego in San Diego on May 6, 2024.
    (
    Adriana Heldiz
    /
    CalMatters
    )

    Multiple police departments said they did not hold a campus forum in 2025, including Cal Poly Humboldt and Cal State Sonoma, nor did they respond to inquiries about when the required public meeting was held. Many departments said they held meetings, but did not answer questions about how they publicized them, or said they posted announcements on social media without any record of it on their accounts.

    The Cal State Board of Trustees has not reviewed the systemwide equipment policy at a public meeting since 2022, though the policy is supposed to be renewed at least annually. Under the policy the board adopted, the trustees only need to check the policy again if the university system wants to authorize new types of equipment, Bentley-Smith told CalMatters. She added that Cal State will re-examine the policy to ensure it follows the law.

    Bentley-Smith also said that the AR-15s at Cal State’s San Jose and San Francisco campuses are standard issue, which would exempt them from the reporting requirement, even though San Jose’s report classifies them as specialized firearms.

    Several community colleges were missing military equipment policies and reports when questioned by CalMatters. The college system’s chancellor’s office does not track whether colleges follow the transparency law, according to its communications specialist Melissa Villarin.

    CalMatters used annual reports to create a mass inventory of the equipment found at California higher education institutions, which includes hundreds of semi-automatic rifles, thousands of munitions containing the same chemical as chili peppers, and hundreds of thousands of rifle munitions. Some reports did not list quantities despite the legal requirement, so CalMatters sourced other documents posted to campus websites or directly asked for those figures.

    The military equipment law, written by former Democratic Assemblymember David Chiu, now the city attorney of San Francisco, only applies to campus police departments with sworn police officers. Campus safety or security departments with unsworn personnel do not have to report their equipment. Over 40 community colleges told CalMatters they did not file a report.

    It’s not just police using military-grade tools. The Cal State Monterey Bay 2025 report states its Emergency Management team owns three camera drones, which, being remotely piloted aircrafts, are classified as military equipment under state law. The Emergency Management team reports to the campus chief of police but is not itself made up of sworn officers, according to interim police chief Yvonne Gordon.

    Following CalMatters’ inquiries, several campuses — as well as the Cal State system — said they are hereafter committed to following the military equipment transparency law in its entirety. In addition, some are downsizing their inventory.

    Defense-style weaponry in schools

    Military equipment forums held at universities are often sparsely attended, according to several police departments. But some students are impassioned about the issue. At a rally outside a UC Board of Regents meeting in January, UCLA’s chapter of the UC Divest Coalition, an anti-imperialism and anti-militarism student group, criticized the regents for spending tuition money on military equipment while the board convened yards away in a school ballroom.

    UCLA police use long-range acoustic devices — which emit focused beams of high-volume sound — as giant loudspeakers to broadcast announcements to large crowds. In the 2024-25 school year, the department deployed these “voice of God” tools 71 times, all during crowd management situations, defined by the university as assemblies, protests and demonstrations. Police at UC Santa Cruz used a similar acoustic device to give dispersal orders during the 2024 pro-Palestine student encampments.

    UCLA does not use the acoustic devices to produce high-pitched tones, which they are also capable of emitting, said Richard Mejia, the director of emergency communications and information for the university’s campus safety office. But pitch differs from loudness, which is measured in decibels: a long-range acoustic device can produce 160 decibels, and sounds over 120 can cause permanent hearing damage even during a short exposure. The university said it doesn’t prescribe a fixed decibel output, adding that it follows federal and scientific exposure regulations, including those from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which permits sudden noises up to 140 decibels. For reference, a bulldozer emits about 95.

    A low angle view of an encampment of tents and people on a lawn in front of a brick building at night. People look up at the sky to see a light from a helicopter.
    A helicopter flies over a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA on May 1, 2024. Groups of student protesters gathered at the encampment.
    (
    Ted Soqui
    /
    CalMatters
    )

    Not all inventoried equipment is approved for use by district or state governing boards. An October 2025 memo from San Jose State University states its police department owns 33 tear gas grenades, which burst into clouds of choking chemicals when released and, for some brands, cause “psychological and physiological effects.” The Cal State military equipment policy does not authorize using grenades to deploy tear gas or oleoresin capsicum, the chili pepper irritant.

    These grenades have “always been in our armory,” Captain Jermaine Thomas said. “We will never use them.” He added that the department plans to destroy them, along with the university’s submachine gun, which is also not authorized under Cal State policy.

    Bentley-Smith told CalMatters that the submachine gun was never added to the systemwide policy manual because the university never used or requested permission to use it.

    Campus forums vary in scope

    A promotional website for San Jose State’s 2025 community forum says the event covers current police initiatives without specifically mentioning military equipment, but Thomas said that subject was indeed discussed.

    About 21,500 students attend El Camino College in Los Angeles County, which announced its 2025 meeting, held in a gymnasium, during four other meetings held on campus: the College Public Safety and Security Committee, the Academic Senate, the College Council and the President’s Meeting. Police Chief Matthew Vander Horck said about 30 people attended. Meanwhile, Captain Jeffrey Chobanian of the UCLA Police Department, which serves about 49,000 students, said the department used social media to promote its 2025 forum, held on Zoom, but nobody attended.

    Some of the forums become question and answer sessions, like the ones held by San Bernardino Community College District police, according to their chief Blake Bonnet. Students and faculty come prepared, read the policy — which includes when and where the equipment can be used — to the officers and press them directly on how it will be enforced, Bonnet said.

    Bonnet said he publicizes the annual meeting through the police department’s online newsletter, Just the Facts, which contains crime logs and topical safety tips and is sent to students and staff every month.

    “People ask questions and seek clarification,” Bonnet said. “If you don’t understand the police world — which some people do, some people don’t — if you have a question, I would rather you ask so that we can understand your concern.”

    At UC Davis’ annual forum, meeting participants have asked about when and why officers can deploy weapons, which necessitates at least annual trainings, and how the equipment is shared with others — since the school has lent drones to other UC campuses for use in crowd control and can borrow equipment from other campuses in preparation for “major” protests and demonstrations. Last year, an attendee asked if other police forces can bring unauthorized military equipment to campus, according to meeting minutes. Captain Mark Brunet responded that they can.

    Rage against assault rifles 

    In February 2025, a Mt. San Antonio College police advisory committee composed of college and police personnel and two students met to discuss adding AR-15s to the department’s arsenal. Before long, other students caught wind of the plans. Student César Tlatoāni Alvarado said fellow students, especially veterans and students of color, were not comfortable with their campus becoming militarized.

    “The entire campus was talking about it,” said Tlatoāni Alvarado, who studies political science and world languages and global studies. They also served as the campus’s student trustee for two terms, from 2023 to 2025.

    By CalMatters’ count, over 25 public colleges own semi-automatic rifles, which shoot with more precision, accuracy and distance than handguns, according to several school policies.

    Tlatoāni Alvarado said they were fearful of the impact of a militarized police force on the campus protesting scene, which they said is active but peaceful.

    “I knew for a fact that this was being done to silence dissent on our campus,” Tlatoāni Alvarado said.

    Campus police officers tape of an area with a fountain in front of a brick building and trees.
    University of Sourthern California Public Safety officers tape off an area of Alumni Park during a pro-Palestinian protest on campus in Los Angeles on April 24, 2024.
    (
    Jules Hotz
    /
    CalMatters
    )

    The student led a coalition of campus clubs to demonstrate against the proposed purchases and vehemently protest at multiple police town halls. That April, nearly 20 students, faculty and alumni condemned the plan to buy AR-15s at the college district’s board of trustees’ monthly meeting. The protestors included the student trustee, who said several hundred students were involved in the overall effort.

    “There were so many students that were yelling,” Tlatoāni Alvarado said. “They were screaming at the administration. They were upset, they were frustrated. They felt betrayed.”

    As of June 2026, the college does not own semi-automatic rifles. “The discussion is still ongoing” on whether the college will seek them in the future, according to campus police chief Kelli Florman.

    Still, Tlatoāni Alvarado considers the students’ work a success.

    “It was a lot of work,” they said. “I was one of the students that had led the way in that campaign. But I couldn’t have done it alone. There were so many of us.”

    Fast track to compliance

    Compton College President Keith Curry said a February inquiry from CalMatters put the military equipment law on his radar for the first time. Campus police had issued semi-automatic rifles to patrol officers for over seven years, arguing that standard-issue pistols did not effectively protect civilians and officers during the 1997 North Hollywood bank robbery and shootout. The campus police department also owns incapacitating tasers and a submachine gun, the latter of which the college reports is for potentially lethal situations and to shoot through barriers. However, after some research, Curry realized his college never adopted an equipment use policy.

    “Once I understood that it was not implemented correctly, I went into action mode,” Curry said. “I was calling around, I was calling a police chief that I know, I looked on different websites. I had to dissect the bill to understand it, myself, about what’s going on.”

    Ultimately, Curry and Compton’s attorney wrote up a Corrective Action Plan that his district’s board of trustees unanimously approved on March 16. In accordance with the plan, the college approved an official policy in April, held a community engagement meeting in May, reviewed an annual use report in June and will update the police policy manual by September.

    The compliance review served as a general reminder to build transparency between campus police and their constituents, Curry said. In April, he announced the establishment of three new forms of oversight for campus police: a student committee, a community advisory committee, and a task force reviewing police procedures and policies.

    “As a leader, you have to understand what mistakes are made. You have to fix the mistakes,” Curry said.

    After a CalMatters inquiry, Chaffey College officials also discovered they had no policy, which Chief Steven Griffin amended by writing a policy that his college board then passed in April. Cal State Monterey Bay updated its website with an equipment policy. Southwestern College modified its annual report with munition quantities. And San Joaquin Delta College, Cuesta College, and the Riverside Community College District all said they are unsure whether their past documentation follows the law, but are working to ensure future compliance.

    Other college officials said adjusting their documentation to conform to state law made them reconsider the tools they have. After taking “immediate steps” to update MiraCosta College’s report, public and governmental relations director Kristen Gonzales said the campus police chief plans to “responsibly reduce (munition) inventory to a level that aligns with our actual operational needs and best practices.”

    Tlatoāni Alvarado said that while campus militarization is deeply concerning, he’s witnessing a growing trend of students resisting it.

    “College campuses are a focal point for where our activism can translate into real-world change,” they said. “Colleges are trying to quash that dissent. But what they need to know, and they need to be made aware of, is that there’s many more of us than there are of them.”

    Phoebe Huss is a contributor with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.

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

  • Front-runners, first-timers and surprises

    Updated July 08, 2026 at 13:28 PM ET

    Topline:

    There are plenty of expected names and some first-timers in the list of nominees for the 2026 Emmy Awards.

    Top contenders: The Pitt led all shows with 25 nominations, followed closely by the final season of Hacks with 24. But not far behind are the 19 nominations for the new, offbeat horror comedy Widow's Bay, including for outstanding comedy series and six actors, including lead actor Matthew Rhys. Just behind that, with 18 nominations, is the first season of Pluribus, creator Vince Gilligan's follow-up to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, led by nominated lead actress Rhea Seehorn.
    Some surprises: Half Man, Richard Gadd's follow-up to the highly acclaimed series Baby Reindeer, received only a nomination for Gadd's acting. The second season of Apple's Your Friends & Neighbors, starring Mad Men's Jon Hamm (nominated eight times for Mad Men, where he won once) was nominated for outstanding drama series, but that's it. The Lowdown, the exceptional FX series starring Ethan Hawke as an Oklahoma journalist, was shut out entirely.

    The hottest competition isn't where it used to be. There was a time when the limited or anthology series categories were where the most closely-watched races were happening. But this year, the nominees for outstanding program in that category are not the shows of the year. The second season of Beef was fine, Love Story: John F. Kennedy and Carolyn Bessette was very similar to other work under Ryan Murphy's umbrella, and Sarah Snook was fabulous in All Her Fault. But are these limited series the really interesting shows out there, the way they were in 2021, when The Queen's Gambit beat out Mare of Easttown, I May Destroy You, The Underground Railroad and WandaVision? They are not.

    As always, the first-timers are an interesting mix. Just from The Pitt, Gerran Howell (who plays Whittaker), Taylor Dearden (Mel), Patrick Ball, (Langdon), Fiona Dourif (McKay), Sepideh Moafi (Al-Hashimi), Jeff Kober (Duke), Tal Anderson (Becca) and Ernest Harden Jr. (Louie) got their first Emmy nominations. But so did Carey Mulligan, who's a three-time Oscar nominee, recognized here for Beef. Leslie Bibb, whose TV work goes all the way back to Popular on the WB in 1999, got her first Emmy nod for a guest spot on Hacks. Heated Rivalry wasn't eligible because it's Canadian, but Connor Storrie still got his first nomination for his guest appearance on Saturday Night Live.
    Some surprises: Half Man, Richard Gadd's follow-up to the highly acclaimed series Baby Reindeer, received only a nomination for Gadd's acting. The second season of Apple's Your Friends & Neighbors, starring Mad Men's Jon Hamm (nominated eight times for Mad Men, where he won once) was nominated for outstanding drama series, but that's it. The Lowdown, the exceptional FX series starring Ethan Hawke as an Oklahoma journalist, was shut out entirely.


    2026 Emmy nominees

    Outstanding comedy series

    Abbott Elementary
    The Bear
    Nobody Wants This
    Hacks
    Margo's Got Money Troubles
    Only Murders in the Building
    Shrinking
    Widow's Bay

    Outstanding lead actress in a comedy series

    Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary
    Ayo Edebiri, The Bear
    Elle Fanning, Margo's Got Money Troubles
    Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback
    Jean Smart, Hacks

    Outstanding lead actor in a comedy series

    Yahya Abdul Mateen II, Wonder Man
    Steve Carell, Rooster
    Matthew Rhys, Widow's Bay
    Jason Segel, Shrinking
    Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building

    Outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series

    Colman Domingo, The Four Seasons
    Paul W. Downs, Hacks
    Nick Offerman, Margo's Got Money Troubles
    Stephen Root, Widow's Bay
    Michael Urie, Shrinking
    Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary

    Outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series

    Dale Dickey, Widow's Bay
    Hannah Einbinder, Hacks
    Janelle James, Abbott Elementary
    Kate O'Flynn, Widow's Bay
    Michelle Pfeiffer, Margo's Got Money Troubles
    Megan Stalter, Hacks
    Jessica Williams, Shrinking

    Outstanding drama series

    The Diplomat
    The Gilded Age
    A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
    Paradise
    The Pitt
    Pluribus
    Slow Horses
    Your Friends and Neighbors

    Outstanding lead actor in a drama series

    Sterling K. Brown, Paradise
    Gary Oldman, Slow Horses
    Mark Ruffalo, Task
    Rufus Sewell, The Diplomat
    Noah Wyle, The Pitt

    Outstanding lead actress in a drama series

    Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age
    Chase Infiniti, The Testaments
    Keri Russell, The Diplomat
    Rhea Seahorn, Pluribus
    Zendaya, Euphoria

    Outstanding supporting actor in a drama series

    Patrick Ball, The Pitt
    Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
    Shawn Hatosy, The Pitt
    Gerran Howell, The Pitt
    Jack Lowden, Slow Horses
    Tom Pelphrey, Task
    Carlos Manuel-Vesga, Pluribus

    Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series

    Taylor Dearden, The Pitt
    Fiona Dourif, The Pitt
    Allison Janney, The Diplomat
    Katherine LaNasa, The Pitt
    Sepideh Moafi, The Pitt
    Julianne Nicholson, Paradise
    Karolina Wydra, Pluribus

    Outstanding limited or anthology series

    All Her Fault
    The Beast In Me
    Beef
    DTF St. Louis
    Love Story

    Outstanding lead actress in a limited or anthology series or movie

    Claire Danes, The Beast In Me
    Sally Field, Remarkably Bright Creatures
    Carey Mulligan, Beef
    Sarah Pidgeon, Love Story
    Sarah Snook, All Her Fault

    Outstanding lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie

    Riz Ahmed, Bait
    Jason Bateman, Black Rabbit
    Charlie Hunnam, Monster: The Ed Gein Story
    Oscar Isaac, Beef
    Matthew Rhys, The Beast In Me

    Outstanding supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or movie

    Linda Cardellini, DTF St. Louis
    Dakota Fanning, All Her Fault
    Laurie Metcalf, Monster: The Ed Gein Story
    Joy Sunday, DTF St. Louis
    Youn Yuh-jung, Beef
    Constance Zimmer, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette

    Outstanding supporting actor in a limited or anthology series or movie

    Jason Bateman, DTF St. Louis
    Richard Gadd, Half Man
    David Harbour, DTF St. Louis
    Richard Jenkins, DTF St. Louis
    Charles Melton, Beef
    Nick Offerman, Death by Lightning

    Outstanding reality competition program

    Dancing With the Stars
    RuPaul's Drag Race
    Survivor
    Top Chef
    The Traitors

    Outstanding variety series

    The Daily Show
    Jimmy Kimmel Live!
    Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
    The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
    Saturday Night Live

    See the full list of nominees. Winners will be announced at the 78th Emmy Awards ceremony, hosted by Mariska Hargitay on Monday, Sept. 14 in Los Angeles.

    Copyright 2026 NPR

    Liza Colón-Zayas and Jeff Hiller presented the nominees on Wednesday morning. Winners will be announced at the 78th Emmy Awards on September 14. Read analysis below or click here for the list of nominees.


    The nominations look familiar — up to a point. There are plenty of expected names in the list of nominees for the 2026 Emmy Awards: The Pitt led all shows with 25 nominations, followed closely by the final season of Hacks with 24. But not far behind are the 19 nominations for the new, offbeat horror comedy Widow's Bay, including for outstanding comedy series and six actors, including lead actor Matthew Rhys. Just behind that, with 18 nominations, is the first season of Pluribus, creator Vince Gilligan's follow-up to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, led by nominated lead actress Rhea Seehorn.

    The hottest competition isn't where it used to be. There was a time when the limited or anthology series categories were where the most closely-watched races were happening. But this year, the nominees for outstanding program in that category are not the shows of the year. The second season of Beef was fine, Love Story: John F. Kennedy and Carolyn Bessette was very similar to other work under Ryan Murphy's umbrella, and Sarah Snook was fabulous in All Her Fault. But are these limited series the really interesting shows out there, the way they were in 2021, when The Queen's Gambit beat out Mare of Easttown, I May Destroy You, The Underground Railroad and WandaVision? They are not.

    As always, the first-timers are an interesting mix. Just from The Pitt, Gerran Howell (who plays Whittaker), Taylor Dearden (Mel), Patrick Ball, (Langdon), Fiona Dourif (McKay), Sepideh Moafi (Al-Hashimi), Jeff Kober (Duke), Tal Anderson (Becca) and Ernest Harden Jr. (Louie) got their first Emmy nominations. But so did Carey Mulligan, who's a three-time Oscar nominee, recognized here for Beef. Leslie Bibb, whose TV work goes all the way back to Popular on the WB in 1999, got her first Emmy nod for a guest spot on Hacks. Heated Rivalry wasn't eligible because it's Canadian, but Connor Storrie still got his first nomination for his guest appearance on Saturday Night Live.

    Not all shows seeming to be awards magnets work out that way. Half Man, Richard Gadd's follow-up to the highly acclaimed series Baby Reindeer, received only a nomination for Gadd's acting. The second season of Apple's Your Friends & Neighbors, starring Mad Men's Jon Hamm (nominated eight times for Mad Men, where he won once) was nominated for outstanding drama series, but that's it. The Lowdown, the exceptional FX series starring Ethan Hawke as an Oklahoma journalist, was shut out entirely. Sometimes it's a relief and sometimes a disappointment, but things with plenty of energy behind them do miss out.


    2026 Emmy nominees

    Outstanding comedy series

    Abbott Elementary
    The Bear
    Nobody Wants This
    Hacks
    Margo's Got Money Troubles
    Only Murders in the Building
    Shrinking
    Widow's Bay

    Outstanding lead actress in a comedy series

    Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary
    Ayo Edebiri, The Bear
    Elle Fanning, Margo's Got Money Troubles
    Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback
    Jean Smart, Hacks

    Outstanding lead actor in a comedy series

    Yahya Abdul Mateen II, Wonder Man
    Steve Carell, Rooster
    Matthew Rhys, Widow's Bay
    Jason Segel, Shrinking
    Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building

    Outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series

    Colman Domingo, The Four Seasons
    Paul W. Downs, Hacks
    Nick Offerman, Margo's Got Money Troubles
    Stephen Root, Widow's Bay
    Michael Urie, Shrinking
    Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary

    Outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series

    Dale Dickey, Widow's Bay
    Hannah Einbinder, Hacks
    Janelle James, Abbott Elementary
    Kate O'Flynn, Widow's Bay
    Michelle Pfeiffer, Margo's Got Money Troubles
    Megan Stalter, Hacks
    Jessica Williams, Shrinking

    Outstanding drama series

    The Diplomat
    The Gilded Age
    A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
    Paradise
    The Pitt
    Pluribus
    Slow Horses
    Your Friends and Neighbors

    Outstanding lead actor in a drama series

    Sterling K. Brown, Paradise
    Gary Oldman, Slow Horses
    Mark Ruffalo, Task
    Rufus Sewell, The Diplomat
    Noah Wyle, The Pitt

    Outstanding lead actress in a drama series

    Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age
    Chase Infiniti, The Testaments
    Keri Russell, The Diplomat
    Rhea Seahorn, Pluribus
    Zendaya, Euphoria

    Outstanding supporting actor in a drama series

    Patrick Ball, The Pitt
    Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
    Shawn Hatosy, The Pitt
    Gerran Howell, The Pitt
    Jack Lowden, Slow Horses
    Tom Pelphrey, Task
    Carlos Manuel-Vesga, Pluribus

    Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series

    Taylor Dearden, The Pitt
    Fiona Dourif, The Pitt
    Allison Janney, The Diplomat
    Katherine LaNasa, The Pitt
    Sepideh Moafi, The Pitt
    Julianne Nicholson, Paradise
    Karolina Wydra, Pluribus

    Outstanding limited or anthology series

    All Her Fault
    The Beast In Me
    Beef
    DTF St. Louis
    Love Story

    Outstanding lead actress in a limited or anthology series or movie

    Claire Danes, The Beast In Me
    Sally Field, Remarkably Bright Creatures
    Carey Mulligan, Beef
    Sarah Pidgeon, Love Story
    Sarah Snook, All Her Fault

    Outstanding lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie

    Riz Ahmed, Bait
    Jason Bateman, Black Rabbit
    Charlie Hunnam, Monster: The Ed Gein Story
    Oscar Isaac, Beef
    Matthew Rhys, The Beast In Me

    Outstanding supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or movie

    Linda Cardellini, DTF St. Louis
    Dakota Fanning, All Her Fault
    Laurie Metcalf, Monster: The Ed Gein Story
    Joy Sunday, DTF St. Louis
    Youn Yuh-jung, Beef
    Constance Zimmer, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette

    Outstanding supporting actor in a limited or anthology series or movie

    Jason Bateman, DTF St. Louis
    Richard Gadd, Half Man
    David Harbour, DTF St. Louis
    Richard Jenkins, DTF St. Louis
    Charles Melton, Beef
    Nick Offerman, Death by Lightning

    Outstanding reality competition program

    Dancing With the Stars
    RuPaul's Drag Race
    Survivor
    Top Chef
    The Traitors

    Outstanding variety series

    The Daily Show
    Jimmy Kimmel Live!
    Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
    The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
    Saturday Night Live

    See the full list of nominees. Winners will be announced at the 78th Emmy Awards ceremony, hosted by Mariska Hargitay on Monday, Sept. 14 in Los Angeles.

    Copyright 2026 NPR

  • Voters to decide on keeping additional sales tax
    A welcome sign for Santa Ana, with palm trees in the background
    Santa Ana voters will be asked in November whether to keep a 1.5% sales tax from sunsetting in 2029.

    Topline:

    Santa Ana voters will be asked in November whether to keep a 1.5% sales tax from sunsetting in 2029. Money from this tax has helped the city fund street maintenance, public safety, youth services and homelessness services.

    Background: The tax measure was voter-approved in 2018 with an end date in mind. The measure included plans for the rate to go down to 1% by 2029 before completely going away in 2039.

    Why it matters: Santa Ana, like most cities, is dealing with a tight budget. If the Measure X tax were to sunset in 2029 as planned, the city would lose out on $30 million in revenue.

    Read on … for more on why city officials are bringing this to voters.

    Santa Ana’s Measure X — a 1.5% sales tax — is scheduled to decrease starting in 2029, meaning the city could lose out on $30 million in revenue. Voters will decide in November whether to let that happen or make the tax permanent.

    The City Council approved bringing a ballot measure to voters at Tuesday night’s meeting. Councilmembers Jessie Lopez and David Penaloza voted against the proposal.

    The tax measure was approved by voters in 2018 with plans to reduce the rate to 1% by 2029, then eliminate it in 2039. Money from the tax has helped the city fund street maintenance, public safety, youth services and homelessness services.

    Santa Ana, like most Southern California cities, is dealing with a tight budget. The tax provides more than $80 million annually, according to the city. Officials warned the council that the tax accounts for about 20% of the general fund. If it were to sunset, major cuts to services would be necessary, they said.

    “By allowing voters to decide in 2026, we will have three years to pivot, if needed,” Kathryn Downs, assistant city manager, said. “If Measure X were to be made permanent, we should expect to have a fairly small structural gap to address each year, less than 2%.”

    At Tuesday’s meeting, Mayor Valerie Amezcua called the timeline placed on the tax measure in 2018 ridiculous. And if the measure doesn’t pass in November, she said, “Whoever's sitting up here in 2029 … Good luck, because I don't know how you'll keep the lights on.”

    “Do you like the QOLT (Quality of Life) teams? Do you like your graffiti removed? Do you like your fire department responding? Do you like your potholes filled? Do you like the services that you're seeing? Do you like the new parks?” Amezcua added. “Because the conversation will be then, where do we cut and who do we cut?”

    Lopez said that in 2018, Measure X was presented to voters as temporary.

    “I strongly feel like I can’t break that deal with our constituents,” Lopez said.

    Councilmember Phil Bacerra said he reluctantly supported leaving it to voters but that the city can’t continue to rely on Measure X.

    “Measure X is not going to be enough for us to continue to provide even just the current level of services in the future,” Bacerra said. “To have to cut 20% services across the board. I don't want to have to do that … but we've got to do more. This is not going to be enough.”

    The city has until early August to file official ballot language with the Registrar of Voters.