The Brief

An overnight curfew for downtown L.A. was extended to Wednesday night, with officials citing heightened tensions between protesters and authorities that have resulted in violence and property damage.

The curfew, confirmed by an official in the mayor's office, will again be in place from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday. It extends east to west from the 5 Freeway to the 110 Freeway; and from north to south from the 10 Freeway to where the 110 and 5 freeways merge.

The LAPD said it and other local agencies made 203 arrests during the first curfew overnight Tuesday of people accused of failure to disperse, 17 arrests of people accused of violating curfew, one arrest of a person suspected of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, and one arrest of a person accused of shining a laser at a police airship.

Although the initial curfew was for one night, Bass had cautioned that she would consult with law enforcement and other local leaders on whether to extend the restrictions.

Bass has also stressed that the area under curfew is a small fraction of the city, she described it as about 1 square mile in a city that's more than 500 square miles. [Fact check: The area appears to be slightly larger, although still a fraction of the overall city footprint.]

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has warned that non-residents caught within the curfew zone would face arrest.

"If you are in the curfew zone during the restricted hours without that legal exemption, you will be arrested. If you assault an officer in any fashion, you will be arrested," he said.

Catch up on where things stand

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced Wednesday that two Los Angeles County men had been charged with possessing Molotov cocktails during the protests in downtown L.A. and the city of Paramount. The charges carry a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison.

One of the defendants is a 23-year-old man from Paramount who is accused of throwing a lit Molotov cocktail over a wall and in the direction of sheriff's deputies during a protest on Saturday in that city. The other is a 27-year-old man from Long Beach, accused of holding a Molotov cocktail and a lighter during a protest on Sunday near federal buildings in downtown L.A.'s Civic Center. Both men are in custody, federal authorities said.

Two other people — a 32-year-old from Anaheim and a 43-year-old from Orange — face misdemeanor charges stemming from protests in Santa Ana. They're each accused of assault on a federal officer, according to prosecutors. They are accused of throwing objects, including water bottles and beer cans, during the demonstrations on Monday.

L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman on Wednesday announced the filing of charges in five cases related to the protests. The charges include assault of a peace officer, commercial burglary, grand theft, vandalism and reckless driving stemming from protests over the weekend. If convicted of the charges, the defendants face time in state prison.

Hochman noted that investigators are continuing to gather evidence and more charges could be coming.

"There's a tremendous amount of video out there... ," Hochman said. "For people who have already engaged in this activity, we're coming for you."

Among those charged is a Gardena man accused of passing out commercial-grade fireworks to others at a Sunday protest. Members of the group lit the fireworks and threw them at police officers, Hochman said. An officer was injured by the sparks from one of the fireworks, the district attorney said.

Two other defendants are accused in separate incidents of driving motorcycles into a line of officers in downtown L.A. The incidents happened minutes apart. Several of the officers were knocked down, and one was injured, Hochman said.

Both LAPD Police Chief Jim McDonnell and L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna spoke at the news conference and stressed that their respective departments respect the people's right to peacefully protest, but that officers and deputies would step in when someone breaks the law or puts others in danger.

"What we're talking about are the individuals who don't care about the issue at hand, because we will facilitate all peaceful First Amendment activity," Luna said. "But when you have people that are out here to commit acts of violence against our deputy sheriffs or police officers or just they're destroying our city, we're going to stop it."

Context on the protest response

Meanwhile, the protests continue mostly in relatively small areas of downtown L.A. and Orange County.

California state leaders have asked a federal court to block the Trump administration from using the military and the National Guard to police Los Angeles and other communities in the wake of immigration raids and the protests sparked as a result.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta are seeking a temporary restraining order in federal court. They filed the request Tuesday morning.

The Defense Department asked for 24 hours to file a response, and the court granted that request. Newsom and Bonta will then have a opportunity to respond.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer set a hearing on the state's motion for Thursday afternoon.

In addition, Newsom and Bonta filed a lawsuit Monday that focuses on the same issues. Bonta said this week that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unlawfully invoked a statute intended to prevent an invasion or rebellion even though that was not the case in Los Angeles.

“It’s not just immoral — It’s illegal and dangerous. Local law enforcement, not the military, enforce the law within our borders," Bonta said in a news release Tuesday. "The President continues to inflame tensions and antagonize communities. ”

About the protests — and White House — response so far

Protesters have confronted authorities in Los Angeles, Paramount and neighboring Compton since Friday over raids conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Tensions continued to rise Monday and Tuesday between protesters and authorities, and between federal and local officials over how to respond. As of Tuesday afternoon, aerial TV news footage showed multiple people being arrested downtown and a crowd of protesters temporarily forcing both directions of the 101 Freeway close.

Last weekend, Trump administration officials announced they were calling up the California National Guard in response to what the White House said were "violent mobs" attacking "ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles."

Trump indicated he would send more members of the guard to Southern California as well as other military support.

NPR confirmed later that 700 Marines would be sent to L.A. in a support role.

The 60-day deployment of National Guard and Marines to L.A. is expected to cost $134 million, Hegseth and other defense officials told a California congressman Tuesday.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass told AirTalk, LAist's daily news talk program, she had "no idea" what the National Guard troops and Marines heading for L.A. planned to do once they arrived, but she said she was certain they were not needed. She added that the city attorney is considering taking legal action against the Trump administration, similar to what Newsom and Bonta filed, although she doesn't know yet what the lawsuit would look like.

What we know about the ICE raids to date

At a news conference Monday evening, Bass said she knew of five ICE raids that had occurred across the region, with at least two occurring within the city of L.A.

" ICE does not tell anybody where they're going to go or when they're going to be there," Bass said.  "I can't emphasize enough the level of fear and terror that is in Angelenos right now, not knowing if tomorrow or tonight it might be where they live. It might be their workplace."

The mayor condemned the actions of the federal agents.

"At the beginning of this administration we were told raids would be to look for violent criminals, people who have warrants," she said.

"But I don't know how you go from a drug dealer to a Home Depot to people's workplaces where they just trying to make a living. It makes me feel like our city is actually a test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state or away from local government."

The federal immigration sweeps prompted anger, protest and resistance from onlookers and immigrant rights groups that have braced for this type of action for months.

Outside City Hall on Sunday, Eli Lockwood of Hacienda Heights told LAist she was there for a planned demonstration to protest what she said were “disgusting attacks on our communities.”

“We have to stand united against the attacks on the immigrant community because an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” she said.

By Sunday morning, hundreds of National Guard members were on duty in downtown L.A., where two protests — one permitted and one not permitted — converged near the federal detention center.

The growing protest made for a rowdy and tense scene, punctuated by the sound of flash bangs and tear gas.

How are officials responding to the raids and protests?

Newsom on Sunday formally asked that Trump rescind the deployment he had ordered Saturday.

The governor called the plan to take over deployment from the state "a serious breach of state sovereignty," and "purposefully inflammatory," adding that it "will only escalate tensions," and that he'd been in "close coordination with the city and county, and there is currently no unmet need."

Bass has said she supports Newsom's request, adding that she had tried to dissuade the Trump administration from sending in troops.

U.S. National Guard are deployed outside the federal prison in downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025, following a immigration raid protest the night before.

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Jae Hong

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"The last thing this city needs is civil unrest that is provoked," she said.

Trump said the move was needed on social media, turning the governor's name into an insult: "If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”

How is law enforcement scaling up?

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said the imminent arrival of U.S. Marines would be more of a logistical strain.

“The arrival of federal military forces in Los Angeles — absent clear coordination — presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city," he said in a statement.

Now, hundreds of more law enforcement officers are also heading to Los Angeles. Newsom said Monday he's working with partner agencies to send more than 800 additional state and local law enforcement officers into Los Angeles "to clean up President Trump’s mess."

"Chaos is exactly what Trump wanted, now we are sending in hundreds more law enforcement to pick up the pieces," he said in a statement. "State and local leaders stand together, coordinated and resolute to ensure the safety of the Los Angeles region.”

The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is now formally requesting the deployment of officers from a range of neighboring jurisdictions, including the California Highway Patrol and the sheriff's departments in Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Santa Barbara counties.

What's the role of the National Guard?

Two starkly contrasting pictures of conditions in the L.A. area continue to be offered by Trump and his allies, compared with local and state officials.

While Fox News and other conservative media used captions like "L.A. Riots" and the term "rioters" was trending on X, closer to home, authorities described isolated skirmishes and urged calm. Some national outlets seem to think Paramount, where some violence was reported, was located within the city of Los Angeles.

U.S. Rep. Nanette Barragán, whose district includes Paramount, told LAist Sunday morning that she'd been in close contact with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, which patrols the area.

"We don't need additional assistance," she said. "We have everything under control... the Sheriff's [Department] in Paramount got everything under control yesterday and LAPD has cleared out downtown last night without the help of National Guard."

The Sheriff's Department told LAist that two deputies had been injured Saturday, treated at a hospital and released. It also said people threw bottles and set off fireworks; some were detained.

Bass and other local and state leaders have urged protesters to remain peaceful, saying there is no place for violence or attacks on police as people exercise their First Amendment rights.

Barragán said her constituents are upset: "People are angry. ... They're concerned. There's a lot of anxiety about immigration enforcement."

The effect " is terrorizing the community, and now you send the National Guard, you know, against their own people, and that is of course going to escalate the situation, and we're trying to deescalate. And I think this administration knows what they're doing. They're trying to have a distraction."

What led up to Trump's action

The conflict in Paramount, a city of about 56,000 residents south of downtown L.A., attracted national attention after protests near a Home Depot extended into Saturday. Those protests appear to have begun when ICE agents were spotted in the area.

As the situation there was still developing, L.A. County Sheriff's Department officials said in a statement that "as the situation escalated, the crowd of protesters became increasingly agitated, throwing objects and exhibiting violent behavior toward federal agents and deputy sheriffs."

An anti-ICE protester challenges deputies in Paramount on Saturday.

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Carlin Stiehl

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At that point, the department said it requested additional resources "countywide." The statement did not reference the National Guard.

"We will protect your right to peacefully protest," Sheriff Robert Luna said in an interview included in the statement, "but we will not tolerate violence or destruction of property."

The Sheriff's Department also clarified that they were not participating in any immigration enforcement actions, saying: "When federal authorities come under attack and request assistance, we will support them and provide aid. However, this does not mean that we are assisting with their immigration actions or operations; rather, our objective is to protect them from any violent attacks. Any assault on federal or local law enforcement is unacceptable."

In Los Angeles by contrast, LAPD officials released a statement at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday calling the day's protests in the city "peaceful" and commending "all those who exercised their First Amendment rights responsibly," adding that the department "appreciates the cooperation of organizers, participants and community partners who helped ensure public safety throughout the day."

Later in the evening, LAPD officers ordered protesters in downtown L.A. to disperse and closed Alameda between Los Angeles Street and 2nd Street to both pedestrians and vehicles.

The scene late Saturday in downtown Los Angeles near the central jail.

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What we know about the ICE raids

Initially, ICE officials said 44 people were arrested in the raids, although some news reports placed the number at more than 120 by late Saturday.

"ICE officers and agents alongside partner law enforcement agencies, executed four federal search warrants at three locations in central Los Angeles," ICE spokesperson Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe said in a statement.

Confrontations between what appeared to be ICE officers and people in the streets of downtown L.A. could be seen in video aired on local television and shared on social media.

At times, uniformed agents or officers could be seen physically moving people who appeared to be blocking the officers and their vehicles.

Reports shared via the social media platform X said ICE was seen in the Garment District area of L.A. Another video showed federal agents in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Westlake, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, known as CHIRLA, said her organization estimated there were at least 45 detentions.

Among them was Service Employees International Union California President David Huerta. They said Huerta had been injured and was receiving medical attention while in custody.

“What happened to me is not about me; this is about something much bigger," Huerta said in a statement released by the union. "This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that’s happening. Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals. We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice. This is injustice. And we all have to stand on the right side of justice.”

Several immigrant rights leaders and activists, along with some city elected officials, attended a large rally Friday evening to share their reactions to the federal operations and call for a stop to them. Later, more than 300 people marched a few blocks toward the federal detention center.

Protesters march after federal immigration authorities conducted an operation on Friday, June 6, 2025, in Los Angeles.

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Reaction from city officials

Since Friday, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has been vocal in speaking out against the ICE raids.

"As a mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Bass said in a statement Friday. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city.

"My office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations," the mayor continued. "We will not stand for this."

All 15 members of the City Council released a joint statement that echoed some of the same points the Bass made.

"We condemn this in no uncertain terms: Los Angeles was built by immigrants and it thrives because of immigrants," the statement read. "We will not abide by fear tactics to support extreme political agendas that aim to stoke fear and spread discord in our city.

"To every immigrant living in our city: We see you, we stand with you, and we will fight for you," the statement continued. "Los Angeles will continue to be a place that values and dignifies every human being, no matter who they are or where they come from.”

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said his department was not involved in the ICE operations.

“While the LAPD will continue to have a visible presence in all our communities to ensure public safety, we will not assist or participate in any sort of mass deportations, nor will the LAPD try to determine an individual’s immigration status,” he said.

After the sweeps, photographers captured several protesters being detained by officers. Addressing a crowd at a rally, L.A. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez pushed back against previous statements by the Trump administration that ICE would focus their efforts on dangerous criminals.

"It's never, ever, ever been the case," Hernandez said. "Because when they come for one of us, they come for all of us. And we have to remember that."

Dozens of immigration activists gathered in downtown Los Angeles to protest a series of federal immigration operations Friday, June 6, that resulted in several detentions.

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Frank Stoltze

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Councilmember Ysabel Jurado noted the timing of the ICE operations, stressing that they happened at a time when families and students are celebrating graduations and the LGBTQ+ community is celebrating Pride Month.

"What kind of government plans this during our most sacred moments of joy?" Jurado asked. "The footage speaks for itself. This is cruelty disguised as policy."

Mass deportations

Since Trump was elected, immigrant rights groups in Southern California have been on edge. Trump has promised “mass deportations” of unauthorized immigrants. There have been protests that have shut down freeways and high school walkouts by students protesting the administration.

“Los Angeles immigrant communities and allies have been preparing,” Andres Kwon of the American Civil Liberties Union told LAist in February.

The ACLU is part of the L.A. Rapid Response Network, a group of immigrant rights, legal and faith-based groups that has a hotline for people to report ICE activity and to seek help after a raid.

CHIRLA and other groups have hosted workshops that teach undocumented immigrants how to assert their constitutional rights, as well as how to prepare for worst-case scenarios. They’ve been telling people they don’t have to allow a federal agent into their home without a warrant and don’t have to reveal their immigration status.

The Los Angeles Unified School District began distributing “red cards,” also known as “Know Your Rights” cards, to help people assert their rights and defend themselves if they encounter federal immigration agents.

The effort came as the Trump administration announced it would allow ICE to conduct arrests in sensitive areas such as schools and churches, dismantling policies dating back to 2011.

Before L.A., ICE conducted high-profile enforcement actions in Chicago and Boston. Last week, an ICE raid on a restaurant in San Diego’s South Park neighborhood resulted in multiple arrests. While the raid was taking place, crowds gathered outside the restaurant where many people protested the action, filming the officers on their cellphones and surrounding their vehicles.

Detentions under Biden

Removals of immigrants by ICE and Customs and Border Patrol in the L.A. area were on the rise before Trump came into office. But the Washington Post reported earlier this year that ICE had struggled to boost arrest numbers despite an infusion of resources.

ICE/CBP removals in the L.A. Area of Operations, which includes much of Southern California, increased by more than 180% between the 2022 and 2024 fiscal years, according to ICE data. More than 3,551 people were removed in fiscal 2024, which ended Sept. 30.

Detentions also rose, according to the data.

While national detentions remained fairly constant over the past four years, L.A.-area detentions increased by 155% from 2022 to 2024, when 3,857 people were detained.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Chris Newman, legal director and general counsel for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said earlier this year.

While in office, former President Joe Biden was under increasing political pressure to address illegal immigration.

“The Biden administration was focused on recent arrivals and people with criminal history,” Newman said.

From 2023 to 2024, the L.A. area had significant increases in detentions (432% increase from 217 to 1,154) and removals (547% increase from 223 to 1,443) of people who had not been convicted of crimes.

How we're reporting on this

Many reporters, editors and producers have been contributing to this story, which first published on Friday, June 7, with Frank Stoltze's byline, Dana Littlefield edited. Stoltze who was at the scene of the initial news conference and also reported from downtown L.A. over the weekend with Jared Bennett. Among other key contributors in the days since: Jordan Rynning, Josie Huang, Dañiel Martinez, Destiny Torres, Fiona Ng, Jason Wells, Ross Brenneman, Matt Ballinger, Erin Stone, Makenna Sieverston and Megan Garvey.

This is a developing story. We fact check everything and rely only on information from credible sources (think fire, police, government officials and reporters on the ground). Sometimes, however, we make mistakes or initial reports turn out to be wrong. In all cases, we strive to bring you the most accurate information in real time and will update this story as new information becomes available.

The heat is piling on Southern California this week, with temperatures rising to potentially dangerous levels over the next few days.

The National Weather Service issued an extreme heat warning for much of the region that will be in effect from Tuesday at 10 a.m. to Thursday at 8 p.m. Forecasters expect temperatures to peak on Wednesday.

L.A. County: Interior valleys and mountains could see temperatures in the triple digits, with some places approaching 110 degrees. Inland coastal areas, including downtown L.A., are expected to hover in the upper 90s. Beaches will be mostly in the upper 80s but could hit 90 degrees.

Orange County: Inland areas will be mostly in the 90s, but could reach 100 degrees in places. O.C. beaches are expected to stay a bit cooler, around 80 degrees.

The Inland Empire: Much of Riverside County and San Bernardino County are likely to be over 100 degrees, with some areas reaching 110.

The Coachella Valley: Not technically under a heat warning, but highs approaching 115 degrees are expected in the desert.

The elevated temperatures are expected to pose a high risk of heat-related illnesses, especially for people over 65, young children and other sensitive populations. People who work outdoors or do not have air conditioning are also particularly at risk.

“The biggest concern is heat exhaustion or even heat stroke,” said Devin Black, meteorologist with the NWS office in Oxnard. “Best course of action is: try to stay hydrated and stay indoors as much as possible. If you have to go outside, limit your activity.”

The heat wave is also expected to exacerbate the risk of wildfires, with fire danger likely highest late in the day on Wednesday.

It also comes on the heels of a hot, muggy weekend. A heat advisory from the National Weather Service remained in place Monday after almost a week and will stay in effect until the extreme heat warning kicks in Tuesday morning.

The humidity factor

There’s one other reason this week is going to feel hotter, and sweatier, than usual: the humidity.

Southern Californians got a taste of it this weekend, especially if you spent time outside. The muggy air came with overcast skies and a sprinkling of rain in places.

But forecasters say the humidity will also cause the heat to build progressively throughout the week — and that it will keep temperatures warm overnight, providing little respite from the heat of the day.

Much of the recent heat has been driven by a high pressure system that has settled over the southwestern U.S. High pressure systems trap warm air beneath them and compress the air, warming it further.

At the same time, the system is currently centered to the northeast of Southern California, and as it rotates clockwise, it draws tropical moisture northward from Mexico, increasing humidity.

This monsoonal moisture is not unusual for this time of year. It's the humidity, combined with other factors — including the high pressure system, warm offshore winds and a reduced marine layer — that are driving this week’s abnormally high temperatures, according to National Weather Service meteorologists.

There is relief at the end of this hot, humid tunnel. Forecasters expect temperatures to drop back into the 80s at the end of the week, but the humidity is likely to stick around through the weekend.

Need a place to get out of the heat?

You can find cooling centers via the following links:

• L.A. County
• Orange County
• San Bernardino County
• Riverside County

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Soh Yun Park wants the Korean community to know that she’s listening. Or more importantly, there are nearly 70 volunteer counselors, the majority who speak Korean, who are available to talk with them.

Last year, she founded with her husband a phone line primarily focused on helping the Korean-speaking community during mental health challenges in their lives.

The organization is based in Koreatown, but its reach goes beyond the neigborhood.

“Hearing such heavy stories makes my heart ache,” she said. ”But it’s an honor to be the ears that listen.” 

She and her husband, Sang Kyun Park, founded the Youstar Foundation’s warmline, one step below the type of hotline that’s called during an emergency, in a means to reach the community that is experiencing high rates of suicides and a stigma in asking for help. 

The thrust of the Youstar Foundation’s warmline is to reduce that stigma around mental health and address the generational struggle in seeking support. Whereas most warmlines offer mental health support for diverse groups of people, this warmline offers a free emotional support telephone service for Korean Americans. 

QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) training for suicide prevention, organized by YouStar Foundation.

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Photo Courtesy of Soh Yun Park

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In many ways, Soh Yun Park’s trajectory to mental health advocacy was not a straight line.

She was born and raised in South Korea and finished college before immigrating to the United States to join her family. Her background was a bit different from her current work as she originally majored in engineering, then worked as an accountant after moving to the U.S.

In 2002, Soh Yun Park met her husband who was working as a journalist at the time. In his work, Sang Kyun Park noticed people struggling from difficulties with physical health to battles with mental health. He wanted to do something to help. 

In response, Sang Kyun created a magazine that advertised local community service organizations in hopes that they would reach the people who needed them.

After receiving a call from a mother whose child was diagnosed with leukemia and required a bone marrow transplant, Soh Yun and her husband decided to create the Youstar Foundation. The organization began with a mission to spread awareness about cancer. 

But roughly six years after they started dating, Sang Kyun Park became ill and had a serious health crisis. 

“My husband has bipolar disorder,” Soh Yun Park said. “ That’s when I realized how serious this illness was, but we didn’t fully know how to treat it.”

At the time, she searched for a pyschologist, but the language barrier was a huge hurdle.

“If you can’t communicate, it’s terrifying,” she said.

Despite Sang Kyun’s diagnosis from a young age, he was unable to find proper treatment in Korea. 

“It’s hard to test different doctors when you are already in an emergency state,” Soh Yun Park said. 

After 10 years of combined therapy and medication, she saw her husband improve and the effects that therapy can have on someone in a crisis situation. She wanted to help others do the same. 

That’s when the couple shifted their organization’s mission to helping the Korean community talk about their mental health struggles.

But Soh Yun Park understood the stigma of getting mental health care in the Korean community. 

“They hide it, which prevents them from getting help,” she said “This leaves not just the individual, but the whole family hiding in darkness.”

The warmline was meant to serve as the first step in getting out of the shadows. 

Out of all Asian groups in Los Angeles County, Koreans were found to have the highest rate of suicide, according to the latest available data. 

With recent federal policies cutting funding for mental health resources and mental health becoming a rising concern in Koreatown, Youstar Foundation’s warmline is one way to address the issue.

Park shares her experience in organizing healing seminars for Korean Angelenos.

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Courtesy of Soh Yun Park

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For a city like Los Angeles where more than half of the population are immigrants, the warmline reduces barriers for Korean American immigrants by operating in two languages, Korean and English. 

Cheryl Eskin, licensed marriage and family therapist and senior director of the teen hotline program, Teen Line, said these types of resources often go unnoticed among the people who need them the most.

 “These resources are staffed by kind, compassionate people who are ready to listen and support without judgement,” Eskin said. 

The worry about being judgme keeps many people from asking for the very help they need, she said.

“Cultural and societal factors often come into play with people believing that their problems are not worthy of support or reveal that something is ‘wrong’ with them,” Eskin added.

Park’s work with the Youstar Foundation aims to address this type of barrier. 

The line emphasizes the benefits of having counselors who share the same cultural background as their callers, who can relate to parent behaviors and generational hardships specific to the Korean community. 

YouStar Foundation’s warmline can be reached at 213-221-2813. Visit YouStar Foundation’s website for more info on their resources. Available from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. The foundation hopes to expand the program to 24-hours within the next three years. 

If you or someone else requires mental health support, call the 24/7 LACDMH Help Line at 1-800-854-7771 or call/text 988 to reach the national Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. 

This story was produced under The LA Local’s Youth Journalism Program. To learn more or to get involved, click here.

California’s largest public pension fund just had a banner year, riding a soaring stock market to record its second consecutive double-digit annual investment return.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System announced Monday that it gained 14.8% on its investment portfolio in the 2025-26 financial year, more than doubling its target of 6.8%.

CalPERS Chief Executive Officer Marcie Frost in remarks to the board described the return as the fund’s best year since 2014, excluding 2021 when markets rebounded from a crash caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“Our team has maintained a disciplined approach to building the health of the pension system, and our improved funded status shows this effort is paying off for our 2.4 million members,” she said in a written statement.

By the numbers

CalPERS finished the budget year with a portfolio valued at $637.1 billion — about $80 billion more than a year ago.

The investment return is an important number to California government agencies because they have to cough up more money to cover losses when CalPERS comes up short.

CalPERS is considered underfunded because its assets are worth less than what it owes in total to the people who earn and receive benefits through it. Its assets are now valued at 85% of what it owes to members.

That number is also a milestone in CalPERS’ recovery from its losses during the Great Recession. CalPERS’ assets were worth about 68% of what it owed to members a decade ago before it began a set of policy changes that effectively required government agencies and public employees to pay more toward their pensions.

What this means for union negotiations

The earnings report comes at a moment when public safety unions are urging lawmakers to boost retirement benefits for police and firefighters for the first time since former Gov. Jerry Brown scaled back retirement perks with a 2012 law. The big number could make legislators more confident in saying yes to the unions and modifying Brown’s pension reform law.

Some groups have been urging CalPERS to simplify its investment strategies in the interest of making more money faster, which would relieve some pressure on government agencies and taxpayers. That criticism came up in last year’s CalPERS election, where several unsuccessful candidates characterized the fund as underperforming.

Two former CalPERS board members now involved with an organization called the Retired Public Employees Association — Margaret Brown and J.J. Jelincic — have focused on the pension fund’s stakes in private equity, investments that sometimes include high fees and uncertain values. They supported a failed bill in the Legislature this year that would have compelled CalPERS to disclose more information about those investments.

“These are very good results, however you need to think about how you got there,” Jelincic told the CalPERS board. “You expanded high risk private equity and you moved into higher risk segments within that asset class.”

How they got here

Last year the CalPERS board adopted a so-called total portfolio approach that empowers Chief Investment Officer Stephen Gillmore to make decisions more quickly and in the interest of the overall fund rather than specific asset classes — such as private equity or real estate. The policy directs CalPERS to keep 75% of its portfolio in equities and 25% in bonds.

Frost and Gillmore view private equity as an important segment in the portfolio. The pension fund formally opposed the legislation that would have required more transparency about private equity, which the fund projected would have cost it billions of dollars in missed opportunities.

“Investing in the private markets gives us potential to earn higher returns while spreading our risk from the often volatile public stock market,” Frost told the board.

CalPERS earned a 17% return on its private equity investments last year and a 24% return on its investments in stocks. The S&P 500 climbed by 21% over that timeframe.

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

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

The Jordan Brand tent that went up in Inglewood for NBA All-Star Weekend earlier this year is going to become a permanent fixture for school district events, according to a district official. 

Jordan built the structure at 106 E. Manchester Blvd. — a parcel owned by the Inglewood Unified School District — for a string of February promotional events during All-Star festivities at the Intuit Dome and Kia Forum. 

James Morris, the district’s county administrator, told The LA Local that Think True LLC, the company that leased the site from the district, plans to convert the heavy-duty but temporary structure into a permanent event space.

Morris said the district can’t use the building for instructional activities — that would require a rigorous architectural approval from the state — but will be able to use it for events such as career fairs and PTA fundraisers. 

“It’s going to be a pretty awesome event space,” Morris said. 

Think True initially signed a six-month lease with the district in December. The company tore down the vacant former Inglewood Adult School building that sat on the property and built the Jordan tent within months. 

Instead of paying rent, the lease required Think True to build the temporary structure and to allow the district to use the space for events. 

At the end of June, Think True and the district extended the lease until Oct. 20, according to meeting records. 

Morris said the marketing agency will use the remainder of the current lease to add a permanent basketball court, bathrooms, an HVAC system and other amenities needed to get a permanent certificate of occupancy. The new lease still requires no rent payments, though the district is still allowed to use the structure. 

Morris said the lease could be extended again, though no agreement has yet been reached. Think True did not respond to an inquiry from The LA Local.