The Brief

The University of California serves 300,000 students, yet only one of the two students on the 26-member Board of Regents is allowed to vote. Now, student leaders are campaigning for a second vote, saying it would better ensure that UC policy reflects all students.

Regents are the top decision-makers of the UC system, and set policies for all campuses, including tuition increases. When one student has to represent the wishes of the entire student population, some feel other perspectives miss out. Last year, when one student regent voted in favor of raising nonresident tuition, the other student regent disagreed, but couldn’t vote on it.

Currently, the non-voting student spends the first year on the board as a “regent-designate.” That student then moves into the voting position the following year. The students are selected from an applicant pool of all UC graduate and undergraduate students and approved by the board.

By adding a second vote for student regents, UC would follow in the footsteps of the other two public higher education systems in the state. Legislation passed earlier this decade enabled voting power for two student representatives on the California State University and California Community College governing boards.

UC board policy, by contrast, cannot be changed through a legislative bill, but could be changed by measures voted on by the regents, or by a constitutional amendment approved by both the Legislature and California voters. Unlike Cal State and community colleges, the UC was established by the state constitution as a system that governs itself with very limited legislative oversight. An attorney general once likened the Board of Regents to a branch of state government, equal to the legislative, judiciary and executive.

If they choose to go for the amendment, student advocates would like to see it passed by the end of next year’s legislative session so the measure can appear on the November 2026 midterm elections ballot.

Student advocates take the lead

Current student regent Sonya Brooks, a doctoral student in education policy at UCLA, began her voting tenure in July, when she voted in a committee meeting against allowing the UC president to raise professional degree tuition. The committee voted to recommend the president be given this authority, with six in favor and three against. The full board then voted to affirm the authority.

“I've always been an advocate for all things justice,” Brooks said. “Now, because of this position and the opportunities that are available, I've really taken advantage to really help not only students… but also faculty and staff.”

The Regents of the University of California and its committees meet on the second day of a two-day session at the UC San Francisco Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2025.

(

Florence Middleton

/

for CalMatters

)

Miguel Craven, an energy systems graduate student at UC Davis, is shadowing Brooks this year as the non-voting student regent. He was UC Merced’s student government senator and president during undergrad, while also serving as a student observer to the regents.

He hopes to act as a bridge between students and regents, in a system that can structurally feel hard for students to participate in.

"It's not so much that the institution consults the students,” Craven said. “The reality is, it's the other way: the students have to consult the institution… It's up to the students to make that effort.”

Every year, the UC Student Association, a coalition of UC students and student governments, conducts a civic engagement campaign called UCweVOTE to teach students about electoral processes and encourage them to vote. This year, to boost student power on the Board of Regents, they are taking the lead in advocating for voting rights for the second student regent.

Aditi Hariharan, the association’s president and a fifth-year nutrition and political science double major at UC Davis, wants to see a broader range of student voices and backgrounds represented that cannot be captured in just one vote.

“The need for this campaign is the fact that students aren't a monolith,” said Hariharan. “Not every student views issues the same.”

Advocates believe a second voting student can also give weight to the student voice on more than one of the regents’ 10 committees. Regent committees often meet concurrently, meaning the voting student regent can only cast votes at one of them.

Committee deliberations often have big impacts on regent decisions, says former student regent Alexis Zaragoza. Non-voting student regents can attend committee meetings and contribute to discussions, but Zaragoza noted even this ability is not protected in policy. She wishes it was.

“If you have two student votes… maybe the other student votes a different way, right?” Zaragoza said. “And it kind of just shows, maybe students are actually kind of split on this issue, maybe your different backgrounds contribute in different ways. It no longer puts that pressure on one student to represent an entire populace.”

One issue on which students and student regents sometimes disagree is tuition. At the November 2024 regent meeting, the board, including Josiah Beharry, the student regent at the time, voted to increase nonresident tuition.

At the meeting, multiple students raised concerns about the tuition increase, including Craven as a student observer, who said the increase would limit accessibility at the UC by making the university less affordable for out-of-state and international students.

The two students were “not in agreement” on this issue, Brooks recalled. After the vote, Beharry asked Brooks how she would have voted in his shoes. She told him she would have voted against the increase. Beharry has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

A trip through the Legislature

In 2021, former Sen. Steve Glazer, a Democrat from Orinda in the East Bay, introduced Senate Constitutional Amendment 5, which would have required the creation of a second voting student regent. The Assembly Appropriations Committee determined that the amendment’s costs to the UC would be “minor and absorbable.”

However, Glazer told CalMatters that the committee decided the amendment would not progress, without specifying a reason.

In 1974, a constitutional amendment approved by California voters gave the board permission to have a student regent. The regents added the position in 1975. Then, in 1993, the regents created the regent-designate position by voting on a policy, without a constitutional amendment.

According to an assembly committee analysis of Glazer’s amendment, a constitutional amendment is not required to add a second student voter. This time around, the student association is considering simply proposing a policy change for the board to vote on rather than a constitutional amendment.

If the student association decides to go the amendment route, they would need a legislator to sponsor the bill, which would need the approval of several committees, a two-thirds vote in both the Assembly and Senate, and a simple majority of votes in a statewide election.

As with Glazer’s amendment, students say the change in voting power will not directly lead to extra costs for the university, because both student regents already attend all meetings on the UC’s dime. It would be a simple transition from a non-voting to a voting role.

Some students do still see value in having a non-voting student regent build understanding during the first year before receiving voting power. Brooks is an active participant at bi-monthly regent meetings, asking questions, chatting with students, and engaging in debates with other regents. But when she joined the board, “I didn't know A to Z,” she said. “If I didn't have that one year to grow, to meet people, to form these organic relationships… I would have completely been lost.”

All regents, including student regents, complete the same orientation. These training sessions teach them board policies and logistics, and include briefings with board leaders. So when student regents join the board, they know what they’re getting into, Zaragoza said.

None of the 18 regents appointed by the governor responded to CalMatters’ requests for comment on this story. The other seven members are “ex officio,” having regental power by virtue of another office they hold, such as the governor and Assembly speaker. These members don’t always attend regent meetings.

Craven thinks that a second student voter isn’t the sole solution to the lack of student representation. He’s interested in ways to expand student advocacy at the regents beyond the positions that exist.

“What does student representation mean?” Craven said. “Does that mean somebody who's actually voting, who sits on the board? Do we want to provide an additional space for students to be able to speak?… It's a discussion that has to happen.”

On Nov. 19, the regents will vote whether to re-affirm annual tuition increases for incoming groups of students, which was first implemented in 2021. Brooks said few students have shared concerns with her over the increases, but she plans to seek them out and talk to them.

“I will continue to reach out to students and vote accordingly,” Brooks said.

This story was originally published by CalMatters, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that explains California policies and politics and makes its government more transparent and accountable.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

The Serving Spoon has been an Inglewood cornerstone for four decades, dishing up grilled corn bread and fried turkey chops. 

Now, though, the whole country is in on the secret. 

The breakfast and lunch spot on Centinela Avenue was announced Wednesday by the James Beard Foundation as one of six winners of the America’s Classics Award, an honor the foundation says goes to “timeless” local institutions. The foundation is also responsible for the James Beard Award, one of the nation’s top culinary honors. 

The Serving Spoon joins a pantheon of other L.A.-area eateries to win the classics award including Guelaguetza, Langer’s Deli and Philippe the Original. 

Jessica Bane, part of the third generation to run the family-owned restaurant, said the honor is still sinking in, but that it validates decades of work. “It’s being done out of love,” Bane said.

The Serving Spoon has been an Inglewood cornerstone for four decades, dishing up grilled corn bread and fried turkey chops.

(

Isaiah Murtaugh

/

The LA Local

)

The award announcement hailed The Serving Spoon as an “anchor” of L.A.’s Black community, run by staff who genuinely care for their customers.“The restaurant is cherished for its joyful hospitality and as a place where all can gather and feel at home,” the announcement read. 

The Serving Spoon didn’t exactly need Beard recognition — the diner is often packed and already has  pedigree as Snoop Dogg and Raphael Saadiq’s breakfast spot of choice in the 2000 Lucy Pearl song “You” — but Bane said the award takes the diner’s reputation national.“The recognition is beyond appreciated,” Bane said. 

The Serving Spoon was founded in 1983 by Bane’s grandfather, Harold E. Sparks. He passed the restaurant down to Bane and her brother, Justin Johnson, through their parents. 

The menu looks much the same as it did four decades ago, Bane said, though some of the dishes have been renamed for regulars. 

During the Thursday lunch rush a day after the announcement, The Serving Spoon’s vinyl booths were packed, as usual. Bane oversaw the dining room while Johnson marshaled plates of fried catfish through the kitchen. 

Tina and Kevin Jenkins waited for a table outside. The L.A. natives each have been coming to The Serving Spoon since childhood. They live in Lancaster now, but make sure to come back to the diner whenever they’re in town. 

“It’s the atmosphere, our people, our music,” Tina Jenkins said.

Despite taxes on imports at levels not seen in a century, Long Beach’s seaport had a good year in 2025. And a decent January.

Port officials said Wednesday they started the new year by leading the nation in trade, responsible for moving more than 847,000 shipping containers in January — 51% of the total cargo at the San Pedro Bay Complex, which it shares with neighboring Port of Los Angeles.

In a call with reporters, Port CEO Noel Hacegaba said that despite a “fair share of doom and gloom” at the time, the seaport finished 2025 as its busiest year on record.

This comes days after President Donald Trump signed new, across-the-board tariffs on U.S. trading partners, and later added he would raise the tariffs to 15%. It’s a direct response to a recent Supreme Court decision that found his tariffs announced last April were unconstitutional.

The new tariffs would operate under a law that restricts them to 150 days, unless approved by Congress.

Asked to measure how much this will affect the seaport, traders, logistics companies and consumers, Hacegaba reiterated a word he has evoked heavily in the past 10 months: uncertainty.

“Our strong cargo volumes do not suggest we are not being affected by tariffs,” Hacegaba said, adding the Port saw a 13% decline in imports driven by major reductions in iron, steel, synthetic fibers, salt, sulfur and cement.

Economists are somewhat more confident, saying it would take nothing short of a national economic crisis to reverse the seaport’s fortunes. “Even if the market is affected, our standing at the Port of Long Beach, even compared to other ports, is strong,” said Laura Gonzalez, an economics professor at Cal State Long Beach.

But experts caution that the ruling will heap the most damage on businesses, especially smaller enterprises, as well as the average consumer who already bore the tariff’s costs last year.

Noel Hacegaba, CEO of the Port of Long Beach, held his first State of the Port in Long Beach on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.

(

Thomas R. Cordova

/

Long Beach Post

)

Tariffs added $1,700 in costs to the average U.S. household, as importers raised prices to offset higher import taxes — especially on clothes, shoes and electronics from China and other Southeast Asian nations.

Consumers, Gonzalez said, should budget over the next six months “for essentials.”

Priyaranjan Jha, an economics professor at UC Irvine, said historically trade policies since 2018 have shown that for every dollar of duty imposed, consumer prices rose by about 90 cents.

Even if tariffs are reduced or reversed, and pressure is relieved on importers, consumers shouldn’t expect lower sticker prices right away, he said. “Firms do not always reduce prices as quickly as they raise them, especially if contracts or inventories are involved.”

Richer San, a former banker and business owner in Long Beach, said he’s in regular talks with shops across the city’s historic Cambodia Town that have been crushed by the increased prices of imported ingredients.

“Most of these are family-owned businesses operating on very small profit margins,” he said, adding there is little to no margin to “absorb higher costs.”

Many companies managed to avoid price increases last year in part by stockpiling inventory in the first half of the year to be sold through Christmas and the start of the year. As stock dwindles, many businesses might be less willing to eat the cost of a new set of tariffs.

Marc Sullivan, president of Long Beach-based Global Trade and Customs, said his logistics company saw a brief boom last year in ordered goods, mostly medical equipment and pharmaceuticals.

But by June, orders dropped 35%, a trend that continues today. It’s forced him to freeze any new hiring in the past year and at least through the next six months as he waits for federal officials to settle on tariffs that will determine the cost of shipped goods.

“For the companies that I work with that are importing into the state here, it’s just ‘hold on and let’s see what happens,’” he said.

“I’d like to hire a salesperson to go out and chase new business, … but it’s just a bleak outlook,” he added.

In the interim, he’s received a steady flow of calls (that started “within minutes” of the ruling) from importers looking to claim refunds or recoup their tariff expenses. The U.S. Treasury had collected more than $140 billion from tariffs enacted under emergency powers, and the Supreme Court left the decision of how to appropriate the refund proceedings to lower courts.

His response: They might be stuck waiting for a while. “Customs doesn’t pay anything back quickly,” he said. “It could be a year before you ever see anything back to you.”

Sullivan said he knows of companies that spent upwards of $20,000 per shipment for months.

“They’re going to want that money to be able to reinvest it,” Sullivan said.

But some experts say that consumers, as well as small businesses, deserve a share of refunds.

“The importer may receive a refund even though consumers bore much of the cost,” Jha said. “Courts generally refund the statutory payer, not downstream buyers, but that opens the possibility of follow-on litigation. Small businesses that directly imported goods and paid tariffs should qualify for refunds.”

Topline:

A long turtle lineage: Dubbed “Porkchop” by aquarium staff due to her hefty appetite, the young female green sea turtle represents one of seven sea turtle species worldwide (six of which occur in U.S. waters). These animals have called our oceans home since at least the time of the dinosaurs — about 110 million years ago, according to NOAA. All species of sea turtles found in the U.S. are listed as either endangered or threatened and are protected by the Endangered Species Act.

Porkchop’s healing journey: Aquarium vets had to amputate Porkchop’s right front flipper after tangled fishing lines severely cut off her blood flow. She also had a fishing hook removed from her throat. First rescued after being spotted in the San Gabriel River by volunteers with the aquarium’s sea turtle monitoring program last March, her healing journey took nearly a year. She now swims and eats as well as her four-flippered kin and after a final physical exam, blood sample and X-ray, vets determined she was ready to return to her wild roots. She also now has a microchip, so if she ends up stranded again, scientists will know it’s her.

An ambassador for conservation: Porkchop became the aquarium’s first public-facing ambassador for its expanded green sea turtle rescue efforts. A new holding tank, viewable by the public, doubles the aquarium’s capacity to rescue green sea turtles and provides firsthand education about their conservation efforts. The aquarium is currently caring for another larger and older female green sea turtle — she weighs more than 200 pounds — rescued from the San Gabriel River in January. She’ll be in the public viewing tank in the coming months when she’s recovered a bit more.

How to help local green sea turtles: Green sea turtle populations are actually doing quite well in the San Gabriel River, but trash, debris and pollution remains a big threat. If you fish the San Gabriel River, never litter fishing lines or hooks. If you see a stranded sea turtle in the San Gabriel River or elsewhere, call the West Coast Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding Network’s hotline at (562) 506-4315. You can also donate to the aquarium’s rescue program.

If your child’s teacher hasn’t threatened to go on strike recently, they probably will soon.

Thousands of California K-12 teachers have walked off their jobs or voted to strike in the past few months, as part of a strategic, statewide effort by the California Teachers Association to boost salaries and benefits — and get the public’s attention.

“All these districts going out on strike — it’s not a coincidence at all,” said David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers union. “Everywhere in the state there are people with unmet needs. The conditions have been ripe for a long time.”

San Francisco teachers went on strike for four days this month. West Contra Costa teachers went on strike in December. San Diego, Woodland, Apple Valley, Duarte and Madera teachers planned to strike in the past few months but reached a settlement at the last minute. Teachers in Los Angeles, Oakland, Dublin, West Sacramento, Twin Rivers and Natomas have voted overwhelmingly to strike. In Berkeley, Soquel and other districts, teachers are holding rallies and appear headed for strike votes.

Ten local teachers unions under the umbrella of the California Teachers Association worked for years to align their contracts so they’d expire at the same time: June 30, 2025. The idea, Goldberg said, was to trigger a wave of negotiations and potential strikes to garner public attention and flex political muscle. Teachers unions from at least a dozen other districts have also joined the effort, even though they weren’t part of the original cohort.

“We’re a strong union with a lot of resources, and we’re taking advantage of that,” Goldberg said, whose union represents about 310,000 teachers. “Teachers are learning from each other, and getting some clarity on how to win resources for public schools.”

Public and political priorities

Teacher contracts vary by district, but the demands are similar: higher salaries, better benefits and amenities that affect student well-being, such as sanctuary protection for immigrants.

Considering the ever-escalating cost of living in California, the demands are not a surprise, said Julia Koppich, an education consultant who specializes in labor-management relations.

Teachers in expensive cities like San Francisco often can’t afford to live near their jobs, she said, noting that starting teachers in San Francisco Unified earn about $80,000. San Francisco’s starting police officers, by comparison, make about $120,000.

It’s been a frustration for the teaching profession for decades, she said. But districts don’t have much control over their revenues and substantial increases in spending would have to come from the state, she said.

“To be sure, the issue of marshaling sufficient resources is a district conversation about teacher worth,” Koppich said. “But, ultimately, it’s a state discussion about public and political priorities."

District financial hardships

At the same time that teachers are demanding more money, school districts are facing financial hardships. Declining enrollment, especially in urban districts, has meant half-empty classrooms and less money from the state, which funds schools based on how many students show up every day. Closing schools is the obvious answer, but that’s proven to be deeply unpopular and few school boards appear willing to take that step.

Another financial challenge has been the end of pandemic relief money. California schools received more than $23.4 billion in one-time grants intended to help students recover from pandemic-related learning loss. State and federal authorities advised schools to spend the money on temporary tutors, after-school and summer programs and other short-term expenses. But some districts, including Los Angeles Unified, San Diego Unified and San Francisco Unified, used some of their funds to increase teacher pay or hire permanent staff, which they’re now struggling to pay for after the grant money ended.

So even though the state has increased K-12 school funding the past few years, some districts are financially strapped. It’s unclear whether they can afford teachers’ demands for higher salaries or more generous benefits, said Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University.

Los Angeles Unified, for example, gave its teachers 5% raises plus a $2,000 one-time stipend and a $500 bonus. The district’s nurses, who are also represented by the union, got $5,000 stipends.

“The unions are saying, ‘We know you have an ATM back there. If you were nice, you’d push the buttons,’” Roza said. But districts’ money is tight, she said, “so we’re at a stand off.”

If districts agree to teachers’ demands, cuts will have to come from somewhere — most likely from programs considered non-essential, such as sports, electives, advanced placement classes and other offerings, she said.

It could also mean staff layoffs. Tutors, classroom aides and newer teachers would be the most vulnerable.

Those cuts would harm low-income students the most, Roza said, because they’re more likely to rely on special school programs and attend schools with newer teachers. Low-income students are also more likely to be affected by a strike, she said, because families typically have fewer options for child care and those students are more likely to suffer from academic disruptions.

School boards need to stand up for those students, she said, and do a better job negotiating with teachers unions. That entails more transparency about finances and a willingness to close under-used schools.

“It’s so irresponsible to erode services for vulnerable students because you don’t have a spine,” Roza said.

‘Kids as leverage’

Lance Christensen, vice president of education policy at the California Policy Center, said California should get rid of teachers unions altogether. Teachers deserve higher salaries, he said, but the teachers union does not always act in the interests of students.

The union devotes too much time to defending incompetent teachers, he said, and strikes are harmful to students and families. He also said the California Teachers Association has a political stranglehold on Sacramento that “overshadows every conversation in the Legislature, even if it’s not about education.”

He noted that charter schools and private schools are rarely unionized, and sometimes have better outcomes than traditional public schools. A handful of other states don’t allow teachers to collectively bargain, and at least 35 don’t allow teachers unions to strike.

“The union uses kids as leverage,” said Christensen, who ran for state superintendent of public instruction in 2022. “Right now, CTA is the biggest evil in California education.”

Next steps in San Francisco

In San Francisco, parent Meredith Dodson said she’s relieved the strike is over. Although most parents support teachers and believe they deserve better compensation, the strike was stressful for families and disrupted learning for thousands of students.

The $183 million settlement includes raises and improved benefits for teachers, which the district plans to pay for by draining its reserve funds.

Parents now are bracing for the inevitable cuts. The district’s finances remain shaky, and aren’t likely to improve any time soon.

“What comes next? Layoffs? Increased class sizes? State intervention?” said Dodson, who is executive director of the San Francisco Parents Coalition, a parent advocacy group. “There’s going to be some hard questions for the board, and they’re going to have to ask themselves, what’s best for kids?”

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