The Brief

Since January, the Trump administration has taken a series of actions that touch virtually every aspect of higher education in Southern California, including campus protests and financial aid.

The changes could have huge consequences for students, educators and researchers.

For instance, allowing Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to access students’ personal data might discourage U.S. citizens in mixed-status families from applying for financial aid. The stripping of $400 million in federal grants and contracts from Columbia University for alleged acts of antisemitism could be a precursor to what's coming for Southern California campuses, several of which are under federal investigation.

This list doesn't cover every federal action on higher ed, but LAist tried to include the items that reverberate most clearly for the state and locally.

Federal staffing under Trump Administration

March 3: The Republican-led Senate voted to confirm Linda McMahon as the U.S. Department of Education’s new secretary. McMahon, a wrestling industry billionaire, has limited education experience. After her confirmation, she shared a speech titled “Our Department’s Final Mission,” echoing the president's goal of dismantling the agency. In her speech, McMahon pledged to eliminate “bureaucratic bloat” at the department. At the time, it was among the smallest federal agencies.

March 11: The U.S. Department of Education laid off nearly half of its workforce. The agency — which sends money to public K-12 schools, manages college financial aid for millions of borrowers, tracks student achievement, and enforces federal civil rights laws — started the year with 4,133 employees. Roughly 2,183 remain.

• The federal student aid office experienced the largest number of cuts, a move that could affect operations.
• The department also made particularly steep cuts to its civil rights office, which already faced a backlog of complaints. Seven of 12 regional Office for Civil Rights branches were shuttered, including one in San Francisco, which handled complaints filed in California. These cases involve families trying to get services for students with disabilities, allegations of bias related to race and religion, and sexual violence complaints.
  

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)

Feb. 14: The U.S. Department of Education directed colleges and universities to stop using race as a factor in student admissions or for any other consideration, including scholarships, housing and "all other aspects of student, academic and campus life." The department said it would enforce compliance at the end of February and punish institutions by withholding federal funding.

March 7: Trump signed an executive order to end public service loan forgiveness for people who work at places that “advance illegal immigration, terrorism, discrimination and violent protests.” Currently, borrowers are eligible for the program if they’re employed by a nonprofit engaged in: military service, public health, public education, public interest legal service, public service for individuals with disabilities and the elderly and other areas. This executive order has not gone into effect, because updating eligibility rules typically requires the Department of Education to undergo a lengthy federal rulemaking process.

March 14: The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights said that 45 schools violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act by partnering with The PhD Project, a nonprofit that helps students from underrepresented groups earn doctoral degrees in business. The program focuses on supporting Black, Latino and Native American students.

The department alleges that universities involved with the organization are engaging in "race-exclusionary practices.”

The schools under investigation include Cal Poly Humboldt, Cal State San Bernardino and UC Berkeley.

Lynn Pasquerella, the president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, told NPR the department is conflating efforts to provide an inclusive learning environment with violating civil rights obligations.

March 27, 2028: Amid pressure from the Trump administration, USC cut “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) from its list of stated values. In a message to students, faculty, staff and alumni, the university said it’s rebranding its DEI efforts as “Community,” in part because DEI “has evolved to encompass so many interpretations” and become “embroiled in broader cultural and political disagreements.” The university also said this decision was fueled by recent federal guidance.

Investigations related to campus protests

March 5: The U.S. Justice Department announced an investigation into University of California campuses to “assess whether UC has engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination ... by allowing an antisemitic hostile work environment to exist on its campuses.” The next week, UCLA committed to carrying out the recommendations of a previously established Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias. Those proposals include increased employee training and streamlining of the complaint process for antisemitic incidents.

March 7: The Justice, Health and Human Services, and Education departments, and the General Services Administration pulled $400 million in grants and contracts from Columbia University, saying the school failed to “fulfill their civil rights responsibilities to protect Jewish students from harassment.”

March 8: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident, at his university-owned apartment building. Khalil is a Palestinian refugee born in Syria who recently completed his studies at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. He was also a lead negotiator for Columbia University Apartheid Divest last spring, when encampments protesting Israel's war in Gaza sprang up at campuses across the country — including at Cal State LA, UC Irvine, UCLA and USC.

The Department of Homeland Security said Khalil had been arrested “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting [antisemitism].” The administration’s specific charges against Khalil remain unclear. Students across the country, including at UCLA, have protested his arrest.

March 10: The U.S. Department of Education published a list of other higher education institutions that, like Columbia University, it says have fallen short in combating antisemitism, including several Southern California campuses that held protests related to Israel’s war effort in Gaza. The local colleges under investigation include:

• Chapman University
• Pomona College
• Santa Monica College
• UC Santa Barbara
• USC

March 13: The Trump administration issued a letter to Columbia University with a list of “precondition[s] for formal negotiations” to regain federal funding. These include:

• Expulsions and multiyear suspensions for students who participated in encampments or the occupation of a university building last spring.
• Moving all disciplinary processes under the university president’s office.
• Adopting a formal definition of antisemitism.
• Placing the Middle East, South Asian and African Studies department under an outside chair for at least five years.

The administration also demanded “document[ed] compliance” by March 20. Columbia has announced disciplinary actions against students who occupied the building last spring, including “multiyear suspensions, temporary degree revocations and expulsions."

“Students who are Jewish need to be made to feel safe and secure on a campus — that's a given,” said William Tierney, professor emeritus and founding director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education at USC. “That's true of any student on a campus, whether the student is Jewish, Palestinian, Muslim, transgender, gay, straight, whatever. You cannot learn if you don't feel safe and secure.”

Still, Tierney described the Trump administration’s letter to Columbia as “extremely troubling,” in part because it leaves no room for discussion.

In his view, the letter basically says: “The king has determined that you need to do these things immediately. And we don't really want a response. We want you to tell us that you have done those things, period. And if you don't, we will cripple the university.”

“And the exact same thing’s going to happen at UCLA, at Stanford, at [U]SC, at Berkeley — at any research university in California,” he said.

Data sharing

February and March: The Department of Government Efficiency gained access to student loan data — including Social Security numbers, income and migratory status. This heightened fears among U.S. citizens with undocumented parents or spouses, who worry this sensitive information could create a risk of deportation.

• In early February, the University of California’s undergraduate student association sued the U.S. Department of Education to halt DOGE’s access to student financial aid files. In response, the department said it would temporarily block Musk’s group from accessing those records.
• A federal judge in Maryland granted a temporary restraining order in response to a similar lawsuit from the American Federation of Teachers, barring DOGE from accessing the information until March 10. The federation has filed for a preliminary injunction, and the government has opposed. A court is considering the case.

Other enforcement actions

March 28, 2025: Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he’s signed more than 300 letters revoking the visas of students and other visitors. “Some are unrelated to any protests and are just having to do with potential criminal activity,” he said. When a reporter asked about the process of identifying people for removal, Rubio refused to provide details. “We’re not going to talk about the process by which we’re identifying [them], because obviously we’re looking for more people,” he said.

When it first opened in 2015, Blue Butterfly Village was hailed as a rare sanctuary for women veterans overcoming homelessness.

But some tenants now say conditions at the taxpayer-subsidized San Pedro townhome complex have become so bad, they’re willing to give up their rental subsidies and take their chances on finding a home they can afford on their own limited income.

“I’d rather be freaking homeless than continue to live [at Blue Butterfly],” said Jade Easley, who served in the U.S. Army for nearly a decade.

She said that in 2024, the city’s Housing Department inspected her unit and found violations, such as faulty smoke detectors, defective stairs and bad plumbing. She said she frequently heard mice crawling in her walls.

Easley said she told property managers last year that locks on one of her doors were broken. The next month, she suffered a break-in. Seven months later, she said, the door still hadn’t been fixed, so she paid out of pocket to repair it herself.

Easley left Blue Butterfly earlier this year. She now lives with her two children in Tucson, Arizona. She said she moved there because rent is cheap enough to cover with her VA disability benefits. But she is now cut off from her social support system.

“This was not a choice to live here," Easley said. “I’ve lived outside before. I’ve lived deployed. But I never experienced mice in my home for that long of a period of time, clawing at my walls as I'm trying to sleep, and my kids running to my room saying something’s trying to get them.”

What happens after veterans get housed?

Easley is one of 12 current and former tenants who filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court last week against Blue Butterfly’s nonprofit landlord, Volunteers of America.

The tenants allege the organization and its affiliated groups have neglected the property, have failed to provide safe and habitable housing and have harassed residents who complained about worsening conditions.

According to the lawsuit, the property — which is nestled in a hillside down a winding private street lined with other abandoned military housing structures — has become infested with snakes, insects and other wildlife. Coyotes have crawled under poorly maintained fences, tenants say, and black widow spiders have taken over their patios.

Other alleged problems at the property include broken street lamps, sewage overflowing from defective septic systems, trash piling up as collections stopped and lax security that allowed one unit to operate as a “drug den” for years.

“It really has been stressful,” said Alisa Randell, a Public Counsel attorney representing the tenants. “There have been impacts on folks' mental health because of all of these issues not being able to get their homes fixed and not feeling safe and secure at this property.”

Raytevia Evans, a Volunteers of America spokesperson, declined an interview. She emailed a statement, saying the organization could not comment on active litigation.

“We regularly inspect our properties, including Blue Butterfly Village, and respond promptly to maintenance and safety requests from our residents,” the statement read. “We remain deeply committed to ensuring Blue Butterfly Village serves as a supportive environment for female veterans and their families, and we continue to collaborate with municipal partners and property management to address any outstanding maintenance or operational needs.”

Blue Butterfly Village is located down a winding private road. Residents must drive past derelict former military housing in order to reach their homes.

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The allegations come at a time when L.A. has been making progress on bringing unhoused veterans indoors. According to this year’s regional homeless count, about 2,250 veterans currently experience homelessness across L.A. County on any given night. That represents a decrease of about 42% from levels of veteran homelessness seen in 2020.

But veteran advocates said some of that decrease is the result of placing people in substandard housing where habitability concerns go unaddressed.

Rob Reynolds told LAist the Blue Butterfly allegations are similar to complaints he has heard from veterans placed in new housing on the VA campus in West L.A. He said those complaints also involve alleged lack of security, frequent staff turnover, pests and broken plumbing.

“I hope the plaintiffs in this case are successful in holding the defendants accountable, and I hope this leads to greater oversight and accountability for the property management groups operating veteran housing in Los Angeles,” Reynolds said. “They deserve better.”

Units received public funding, then failed city inspections

Easley said she spent about one year couch surfing and living in her car before moving into her unit at Blue Butterfly. At first, she said, her new home was “rainbows and sunshine,” describing it as a life-changing opportunity that gave her a reason to keep living.

But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Easley said, the property managers changed and problems in her townhome were left to fester. At the time, she was running a licensed, in-home daycare.

“I was actually pretty proud of myself because I finally was owning my own business,” Easley said. But she said neglect by the landlords left her home too unsafe to operate the daycare.

“I didn't want to be in my own unit,” she said. “I didn't want other people to be in my unit, so I just stopped that completely.”

A car with a popped hood is parked in a driveway outside of a townhome at Blue Butterfly Village in San Pedro.

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Disputes between landlords and tenants over habitability are fairly common in L.A. But the situation at Blue Butterfly is notable for how much taxpayer funding has flowed into the property.

The property consists of 74 two-bedroom townhomes. They were repurposed from existing structures that previously provided housing to military families stationed at a nearby Navy base. That housing was closed in 1997. The complex was redeveloped in part with about $12 million in state and local funding, loans, waived development fees and donated land.

Tenants living at Blue Butterfly typically pay up to 30% of their income on rent, with government-funded housing vouchers covering the rest. Some vouchers are administered through the HUD-VASH program, specifically targeted to housing veterans, while others are funded through mainstream Section 8 vouchers.

When landlords fail to fix deteriorating conditions, the local governments that administer these vouchers can place housing units under “abatement,” meaning rental subsidies will be withheld until homes pass future inspections.

LAist discovered through a public records request that the Housing Authority of the City of L.A. has placed at least three units at Blue Butterfly Village under abatement in recent years.

In 2024, Housing Authority officials told a Volunteers of America subsidiary they would not provide rental subsidies until the landlord fixed a faulty toilet, a broken bedroom door handle, a damaged refrigerator and dishwasher, non-functioning smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and cleared a mouse infestation.

‘It makes you feel like nobody cares’

Anesha Aird, a U.S. Navy veteran, spent about two years without stable housing after retiring from the military. She said she was usually able to pay for short-term hotel stays, but she spent some nights in her car.

Like Easley, Aird said her early days at Blue Butterfly were positive. But over time, her requests for maintenance and increased security on the property were ignored, she said.

At first, “we had proper security that stopped you at the gate, asked you where you were going, checked your name against a ban list to ensure that you were allowed to be on the property,” Aird said. “All of that is gone.”

Anesha Aird stands in front of her townhome at Blue Butterfly Village in San Pedro.

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When the attached townhome next to hers burned down in February 2024, the unit was left as a burned-out husk for about nine months, Aird said.

Before the repairs began, Aird said, she asked management to relocate her. She said she worried the construction noise and irregular work hours would disrupt her son’s home-schooling and trigger her post-traumatic stress disorder.

She said management denied her request.

“There are veterans here — veterans like myself with extreme PTSD and bad anxiety and depression,” Aird said. “It makes you feel like nobody cares.”

Tenants say they faced retaliation after asking for repairs

The tenants’ lawsuit alleges that Volunteers of America and other defendants violated the city of L.A.’s tenant anti-harassment ordinance by threatening to remove tenants and blaming them for conditions that landlords are responsible for maintaining.

Randell, the tenants’ attorney, said the lawsuit asks the court to require the landlords carry out repairs, restore services, end alleged retaliation and pay damages to compensate tenants for alleged overpaid rent and emotional distress.

“This site has a lot of promise,” Randell said. “We just want to see it live up to its promise.”

A spokesperson for the L.A. Housing Department said it currently had no records of open complaints or violations at the property. Officials with the Housing Authority of the City of L.A. did not respond to LAist’s request for information on current conditions at the complex.

Aird said she recently came home to find a three-day notice warning of a potential eviction on her door. She said she did not believe the threat would hold up in court. In any case, she plans to move out once she can find another building where she can use a housing voucher.

“I served this country honorably for 20 years,” Aird said. “All I'm asking is that I get treated with that same respect.”

Angelenos have escaped to Santa Barbara for generations. While neighboring Santa Ynez Valley captured the culinary spotlight in recent years, the coastal strip is striking back.

Fueled in part by a surge in commercial and real estate investments, and bolstered by the expansion of the California Michelin Guide, Santa Barbara and neighboring Montecito are experiencing a hospitality boom. (The region received a similar jolt more than two decades ago when the film Sideways spurred interest in Santa Barbara County’s wines and restaurants.)

The Basque restaurant has been open for just a year, but is regularly packed.

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With a string of buzzy new openings this past year — like Little Mountain and Monte’s in Montecito and Dom’s Taverna in downtown Santa Barbara — and more high-profile debuts on the horizon, including the return of legendary chef Thomas Keller to Southern California at the Coral Casino, the current momentum shows no signs of abating.

Underpinning this expansion are Santa Barbara’s long-standing institutions delivering genuine hospitality, alongside the region’s unrivaled bounty: pristine seafood, unmatched seasonal produce and world-class wines. This combination of heritage and innovation has transformed the American Riviera into a bona fide gastronomic destination.

While experiencing every notable establishment would easily require more than 48 hours, this ambitious itinerary covers significant ground. It purposely bypasses some well-trodden staples already in heavy rotation among Angelenos — such as Loquita, Bettina, Caruso’s, Cold Spring Tavern, La Super-Rica Taqueria and the like — to focus on lesser-known gems and standout newcomers.

Here is how to spend a gloriously food-centric weekend eating and drinking your way through Santa Barbara.

Friday

Happy Hour:

Arrive between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. to snag $2 off all drinks and food.

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Set your out-of-office message by midday Friday and escape north via the 101 or aboard Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner. Well-made drinks upon arrival are non-negotiable, and the veteran bartenders at The Pickle Room deliver exactly that.

Arrive between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. to snag $2 off all drinks and food. Order a signature Pickletini or classic Old Fashioned, pair it with a fried-to-order Reuben egg roll and settle into a space steeped in history.

The venue was once Jimmy’s Oriental Gardens, Santa Barbara’s last Chinese-owned business in its New Chinatown. When the Chung family closed the beloved restaurant in 2006, after 59 years, the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation stepped in to buy the property. Today, Clay Lovejoy operates both the adjoining Three Pickles sandwich shop and the bar.

For a slice of local Chinese American history, peruse the life-size photo exhibit dedicated to the founding Chung family along the bar’s back wall.

Kick off the weekend with The Pickle Room's signature Pickletini or classic Old Fashioned.

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Dinner:

The energy inside Dom’s Taverna is electric. Though open for just a year, the Arts District dining room is already packed with local couples, friends, and families.

Most people are here for Chef Dominique Crisp’s Central Coast spin on Basque cooking.

“It's intrinsically Basque to take whatever amazing ingredients are available, make them part of your menu, not really fuss it up,” Crisp said.

Herbaceous smashed papas brava at Dom's Taverna.

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Backed by strong ties to regional purveyors like 805 Seafood and La Pluma Farms, the menu changes almost daily. On a recent night, locally caught bluefin starred in both a crudo and pasta special, while the day’s oysters hailed from Morro Bay.

The menu is anchored by mainstays like wonderfully herbaceous smashed papas brava and arroza al forno made with morcilla from La Española Meats in Los Angeles’s South Bay. To drink, owner Raj Nallapothola’s Laie vermouth, served simply on the rocks with an orange slice and a green olive, cuts beautifully through the rich menu.

For the finale, a spoonful of whipped housemade Basque cheesecake topped with Osetra caviar delivers a perfect, decadent balance of sweet and savory.

Saturday

Coffee:

The third-wave coffee scene in Santa Barbara and its surrounding communities is exceptionally stacked, anchored by trailblazing stalwarts like Dune Coffee and Handlebar Roasters alongside hip newcomers like Little King.

Joining the lineup is Dawn, a breezy cafe attached to the State Street Drift hotel. With its central location and inviting indoor-outdoor seating, Dawn is a fetching option for classic espresso drinks, matcha, seasonal sippers — and prime people watching.

Breakfast:

Treat yourself with French Bordier butter at Oat Bakery.

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Ease into the day at Oat Bakery, a serene Scandinavian-inspired shop located just off State Street, with additional locations in Goleta and Montecito. Inside the minimalist, jewel-box space, co-owners and spouses Louise Ulrich-Fontana and Lou Fontana showcase a tightly edited lineup of Danish breads and pastries baked with locally sourced grains and minimal added sugar.

The dense, satisfying hygge buns are laced with cinnamon and packed with dates and walnuts, while the flaky frøsnappers feature an almond marzipan filling under a crust of toasty sesame and poppy seeds.

For the ultimate morning fuel, order the Danish breakfast: a crusty sourdough bun sliced and slathered with French Bordier butter, layered with Gouda and brightened with apricot-jalapeño jam. Grab a loaf of the bakery’s signature sesame charcoal sourdough for the perfect edible souvenir.

Lunch:

This family-owned restaurant draws crowds with its hyper-local catch, including box crab, sea urchin, and rock crab.

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Stearns Wharf is packed with touristy attractions, but the 46-year-old Santa Barbara Shellfish Co. is a refreshing exception. Perched on the West Coast’s oldest working wooden pier, this family-owned restaurant draws crowds with its hyper-local catch, including box crab, sea urchin and rock crab.

Order the uni, and it comes plated alongside its outer shell, spines still subtly moving. Delicately steamed crabs arrive with drawn butter and hefty metal crackers for extracting their meat.

Whether seated on the L-shaped patio with expansive views of the Pacific or along the dining room bar overlooking the busy open kitchen, there are no bad seats at this bustling pier-side eatery.

Cocktail Hour:

While staying overnight at Montecito’s storied San Ysidro Ranch starts at $2,500, the idyllic property, originally a Spanish land grant, has several food and beverage venues open to the public. Stroll the meticulously maintained grounds with a spritz, martini, or margarita in hand by ordering from the Garden Walk drinks menu available at The Speakeasy and The Stonehouse restaurant; live music starts at 5 p.m. daily.

For a secluded, moodier affair, duck into the eclectically appointed cocktail bar The Speakeasy — cool stone walls, low wooden ceilings, plush red booths and bold animal prints — for rare spirits and expertly made drinks.

Walk-ins are welcome, but reservations are encouraged on Fridays and Saturdays.

Dinner:

Little Mountain, a nine-month-old hotspot in Montecito’s Upper Village.

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Chef Diego Moya may be new to the Central Coast, but he has quickly mastered the region's micro-seasons. At Little Mountain — a nine-month-old hotspot in Montecito’s Upper Village — the Chilean American chef dazzles diners nightly with a skillful, less-is-more restraint centered around a wood-fired kitchen.

Moya trained globally at famed institutions like Paris’ L’Arpège and Bangkok’s Nahm, and most recently served as executive chef at Racines in New York.

On a recent visit to Little Mountain, freshly caught local lingcod was transformed into an irresistible ceviche with burnt tomato and basil. A gorgeous flank of ruby-red tuna came lightly brushed with guajillo, and paired with ripe honeydew and a fermented pepper-and-melon gazpacho. Even simple koshihikari rice, fortified with housemade butter and white sesame seeds, becomes a main event under the chef’s care.

Beverages — including wines, cocktails and spirit-free selections — mirror Moya’s culinary ethos, focusing on small-scale, sustainable and low-intervention producers.

Little Mountain is an important opening not just for Montecito, but for all of Southern California.

Sunday

Brunch:

Bistro Amasa is tucked into the ground floor of the 155-year-old Upham Hotel — the oldest continuously operating hotel in Southern California.

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Tucked into the ground floor of the 155-year-old Upham Hotel — the oldest continuously operating hotel in Southern California — Bistro Amasa is just the place for Sunday brunch.

Executive chef Julian Martinez and restaurateur Jesse Gaddy, the hospitality pros behind local favorite Barbareño, opened the restaurant late last year, bringing chill yet refined vibes to the historic Victorian property.

Grab a seat on the wraparound patio overlooking a quieter stretch of downtown and settle in for brunch classics done right. The shakshuka with vadouvan-spiced tomato ragu, over-easy eggs, and sautéed kale offers pure comfort; the grilled pan de cristal served alongside is ideal for sopping.

For something sweet, a small stack of pancakes made with house ricotta is served with butter and preserved lemon syrup. A slate of whimsical cocktails is on hand for the boozy brunch crowd, including a requisite espresso martini and a summery strawberry shrub highball spiked with vodka.

The Los Angeles Unified Board is reevaluating how students, educators and schools use artificial intelligence as some parents call for an in-classroom moratorium. A new board committee on AI use meets for the first time Wednesday.

“I think that success will look like, in a quickly changing world, knowing that we are being proactive to protect our students and safeguard their health, their wellbeing, and their development first and foremost,” said Kelly Gonez, the committee chair. “But also ensuring that we are truly preparing our students for the world that they will emerge into once they graduate from our schools.”

Gonez said the goal is to create AI policy recommendations that could then be voted on by the full board next year.

What’s AI use like in schools?

Recent surveys indicate that many students and educators are using AI, even as research about whether the tools help students learn are mixed.

LAUSD students 13 and older can use AI tools at their teacher’s direction and after they complete a lesson about “digital citizenship,” under current district policy.

The board voted to create the generative AI committee when it adopted student screentime restrictions in June. In addition to Gonez, the committee includes board members Nick Melvoin and Tanya Ortiz Franklin.

A group of LAUSD parents who advocated for those restrictions wants the district to block all student AI use until more research is done.

“I think the current policy needs to be discarded completely, and we need to start from scratch with the foundational question of what is the benefit of these tools in education?” said Anya Meksin, deputy director of Schools Beyond Screens and the parent of a district elementary school student.

How to weigh in in LAUSD's AI policies

The first LAUSD board generative AI committee meeting is 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Sept.2, where district leaders are scheduled to give a presentation about AI in education.

Community members can tune in to the meeting online, over the phone or in person at board room at 333 S. Beaudry Ave.. Registration for public comment starts at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Meetings are also scheduled for the following Wednesdays at 10 a.m.:

• Oct. 21, 2026
• Dec. 9, 2026
• Jan. 20, 2027
• March 3, 2027
• April 7, 2027

A jury found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of orchestrating the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur, marking the first conviction in a case that has gripped hip-hop fans for decades.

The 63-year-old Davis was convicted Monday of a single count of murder with a deadly weapon and could be sentenced to life in prison. The jury deliberated for less than 3 hours after a weekslong trial in Las Vegas.

After the verdict was read, Shakur's sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, cried and hugged the prosecutors. Also in the courtroom was Davis’ son, who covered his face with one hand.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors in closing arguments that Davis acquired a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight after they beat up Davis’ nephew earlier that night.

Palal acknowledged that Davis’ accounts of the killing evolved over the years but argued those differences reflected Davis’ changing motivations and efforts to protect himself. One critical detail, he said, remained consistent: Davis repeatedly placed himself inside a white Cadillac from which the shots were fired.

The panel of 16 jurors, four of whom are alternates, heard testimony from 24 prosecution witnesses and three defense witnesses over nine days.

“The core facts remain. The material facts remain,” Palal said.

The prosecution said Monday evening that the state would dismiss the gang enhancement part of the charge due to witness logistics.

The decades-old case

The trial brought to a head a decades-old case that for years has drawn the attention of hip-hop fans and true crime experts alike. Shakur, who was considered one of the most influential rappers of all time, was in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996, and stopped at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up beside him, and shots were fired. He died six days later from his wounds. Knight was also wounded but survived.

For years, nobody had been charged in the rapper’s death until Davis began making public statements, saying he was in the Cadillac and gave the gun to others in the backseat. Davis described the shooting as an act of retaliation after Knight and Shakur’s entourage beat up Davis’ nephew hours before the shooting.

Under Nevada law, someone who helps another person commit murder can be convicted of the crime. Davis is the only person still alive among the four men prosecutors say were in the Cadillac. The man who prosecutors say originally gave the gun to Davis is also dead.

Prosecutor says Davis' statements didn't need to be corroborated

Palal told jurors that if they believed Davis' statements, they did not have to be independently corroborated with additional evidence.

Still, he pointed to the rivalry between the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru, the fight with Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson and testimony that members of Shakur’s circle identified Anderson and Davis as suspects the night of the shooting. Witnesses had testified to the heated gang rivalry between the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru, which were associated with dueling record companies Bad Boy Records and Death Row Records.

“Who fired is not the question,” Palal said. Prosecutors haven't argued that Davis pulled the trigger, but instead that he was criminally responsible because he provided the gun and ordered the attack.

Palal also argued the shooting was premeditated, pointing to testimony and Davis’ accounts that the group searched for Shakur before spotting him on the road and making a U-turn. “It’s a plan, not an impulse,” Palal said.

Davis' own words are front and center

Palal held up Davis’ 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” and played an interview in which Davis encouraged people to buy it to get the “real truth.” Although the book contains a disclaimer saying some facts were changed, Palal argued that names, hotels and other details changed while the central account did not.

Palal also rejected the defense’s contention that Davis fabricated his accounts to make money. “It is an entirely different proposition to be profiting from a murder,” Palal said. “And that is what Mr. Davis is doing.”

Sanft also turned to his client’s memoir during his closing argument. While reading an excerpt, he said the N-word aloud, prompting people watching in an overflow courtroom to recoil and shake their heads.

In multiple interviews, Davis said he handed the gun to the back seat, but in others as well as in his book, Davis wouldn’t say who pulled the trigger.

In a rebuttal argument, prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo pointed to a scrapbook Davis kept containing articles about Shakur.

“This guy's scrapbooking his murder, for God's sake,” DiGiacomo told jurors.

The prosecution's witnesses included a gang expert who described Davis as the shot caller that younger gang members had to obey. Sanft asked jurors if there was any evidence that Davis had ever called the shots before or after the shooting.

During the trial, investigators said a Las Vegas hotel bill was found at Davis’ residence during a police search, but it wasn’t clear when it was dated — or where that evidence is currently located.

The case is nearly 30 years old, which has affected the kind of evidence presented in court. Prosecutors warned jurors that material collected in the ’90s is different from what law enforcement collects today, including hotel surveillance video from the night of the shooting.

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Landrum Jr. reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalist Rio Yamat contributed to this report from Las Vegas.