The Brief

In halting childcare and welfare benefits to hundreds of thousands of low-income Californians, the Trump administration says it’s “concerned by the potential for extensive and systemic fraud.”

“These concerns have been heightened by recent federal prosecutions,” states the funding freeze letters to California from Trump-appointed officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

When pressed for details about what specific prosecutions justify the freeze in California, administration officials have offered few specifics. Confirmed fraud concerning the targeted programs appears to be a tiny fraction of the total spending.

The letters don’t mention any prosecutions here in California, as the administration cites it as justification for cutting off billions of dollars in support for food, housing and childcare.

A spokesperson for the federal agency declined to comment when asked what prosecutions the letter refers to, and for the basis for the broader fraud concerns cited as the reason for cutting off funds.

Prosecutions that have been brought around child care benefits amount to a small fraction of 1% of the federal childcare funding California has received, according to a search of all case announcements on federal prosecutors’ websites covering the whole state. The U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees such prosecutions, has not responded to a request asking if additional cases exist.

At a news conference Friday, LAist asked Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor for the region, if he knew of any federal prosecutions of childcare benefit fraud besides a single 2023 case previously cited by federal officials. Essayli did not point to any other federal prosecutions. The region he oversees includes over half of California’s population, including the counties of L.A., Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino.

In a separate emailed response to questions from an NPR reporter, the White House pointed to an article about a separate case in San Francisco that did not indicate it involves the federal funds being frozen.

What’s not known is the scale of complaints federal authorities have received about California’s spending with these three programs, and to what extent cases will be brought in the future. It’s also unclear how problems with California’s spending on these programs compare with other states that are not being targeted with funding freezes.

Last year, a federal Government Accountability Office review found about three-quarters of states — 37 of 50 — had negative findings in audits about their oversight of the largest program the administration is freezing funding to in five blue states.

That federal program is called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF.

Mississippi has an ongoing fraud scandal over misuse of $77 million in TANF and other welfare dollars — much of which was used to benefit wealthy athletes like former NFL quarterback Brett Favre.

Former pro wrestler Ted DiBiase Jr. is currently on trial in a federal case alleging he conspired to fraudulently get millions in TANF welfare dollars through sham contracts for services that were never provided, as part of Mississippi's fraud scandal.

Mississippi is not among the five states the Trump administration is freezing TANF funds to, all of which are run by Democrats.

One known federal case in California

In order to determine what federal prosecutions the administration is using to justify cutting California off from federal safety net programs, LAist ran searches through all announced cases over the past decade-plus by all four federal prosecutor offices in the state. It shows a total of one case mentioning childcare benefits fraud, brought in San Diego in 2023 over $3.7 million in alleged stolen funds.

The amount alleged to be stolen was equivalent to less than $1 out of every $10,000 California received from the funding the administration is freezing over the timeframe of the announcement search.

The federal agency that distributes the funds, HHS, has a nationwide watchdog office that investigates fraud in the programs being frozen. It’s known as the Office of Inspector General, or OIG.

The inspector general’s office has thousands of reports online about fraud and misspending across HHS’ vast programs nationwide.

But a search found no reports around problems with spending in California among the three programs impacted by the spending freeze.

“As your search confirms, there aren’t public OIG-released materials on fraud in these programs occurring in California,” said a spokesperson for the inspector general’s office.

That contrasts with Minnesota, where large-scale fraud cases have been brought in recent years over theft of federal dollars meant for food and other social services. An OIG report last year found Minnesota did not comply with requirements around documenting attendance and payment to childcare providers.

In an apparent error, one of the administration’s funding freeze letters to California asks for documents about Minnesota’s processes.

Criticism that Minnesota officials failed to prevent fraud in their state drove the state’s Democrat governor, Tim Walz — who ran for vice president against Donald Trump’s ticket in 2024 — to announce Monday he was dropping out of running for reelection.

That same day, the administration announced it was expanding the funding freeze to include California and three other Democrat-led states, in addition to Minnesota.

The following morning, President Trump alleged — without giving specifics — that corruption in California is worse than Minnesota.

“California, under Governor Gavin Newscum, is more corrupt than Minnesota, if that’s possible??? The Fraud Investigation of California has begun. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP,” the president wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

The White House has not responded to LAist requests for an interview with President Trump.

Governor Newsom has drawn criticism in recent years for vetoing a bill to more closely track spending and outcomes for tens of billions of state homelessness dollars, which had passed unanimously in the state Legislature.

CalWORKS

In response to NPR’s questions about the basis for the funding freeze, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget pointed to the San Diego case and a local prosecution by the San Francisco DA last year involving up to $400,000 in childcare funds.

It’s unclear if the San Francisco childcare case involved the same funding streams that are being frozen. The DA’s office and White House have not responded to a request for clarification.

The other, and by far largest, issue pointed to by the White House was described as $108 million lost from California’s welfare program, CalWORKS.

“CalWorks, a TANF recipient, had lost more than $108 million in cash benefits due to welfare fraud," the White House statement said with a link to a news release from the Orange County DA's Office.

LAist looked into it, and the situation is more complex. The DA’s news release says the losses are related to a scam called EBT card skimming.

That’s when scammers steal benefit card money from welfare recipients’ benefit cards. When that happens, the state covers the losses out of state funds, according to CalMatters.

The CalWORKS EBT cards are mostly funded by state and local dollars, according to state figures. About a third of the funding for those cards comes from TANF, the largest federal program being frozen.

The White House has not responded to follow-up questions.

EBT card skimming is an issue nationwide, not just the states where funds are being frozen, according to news reports.

Legal challenge

Trump has pardoned or commuted the sentences of several people convicted of large-scale frauds, including commuting the 20-year prison sentence of a man convicted in a case alleging $1.3 billion in fraudulent health claims to the federal government. The Justice Department called it the largest health care fraud scheme ever prosecuted up to that point.

At a news conference Thursday, Vice President J.D. Vance said the Justice Department would be creating a new high-level position to oversee fraud prosecutions. That official will be directly overseen by Trump and Vance, according to the vice president.

Later in the day, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a lawsuit seeking to stop the funding freeze, filed by California and the other blue states targeted by the freeze.

The next day — Friday — a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing the freeze for now. Further arguments and decisions in the case are expected in the coming weeks.

NPR correspondent Jennifer Ludden contributed reporting to this story.

The University of Southern California board of trustees has appointed interim president Beong-Soo Kim to be its 13th full president.

Kim was named as the interim leader in February 2025 and began the role this summer. He most recently served as USC’s senior vice president and general counsel, and as a lecturer at the law school. Prior to joining USC, he worked at Kaiser Permanente and was a federal prosecutor for the Central District of California.

Kim succeeds Carol Folt, who was brought on to stabilize the university following a series of scandals under the administration before hers. She formally stepped down from her role in July, following criticism of her ability to handle student protests and concerns over fiscal stewardship.

Soon after his term began, Kim oversaw the university’s effort to manage a $200 million deficit, which also led to hundreds of layoffs.

“We did have to make some difficult decisions last year with respect to our budget and layoffs,” Kim told LAist. “And I'm really pleased that as a result of those difficult decisions, we're now in a much stronger financial position and really for a number of months have been really focusing on the opportunities that we see on the horizon.”

In a call with LAist, and joined by USC board chair Suzanne Nora Johnson, Kim touched on bright spots and some of his priorities. He also touched on the relationship between USC and the Trump administration before a sudden ending to the call.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

LAist: You've talked about addressing the mass layoffs and budget challenges. What do you see as the way forward?

Beong-Soo Kim: Our research expenditures have actually been going up over the last year, over the last couple of years. We're focusing on: How do we provide the best possible educational value to our students? We're focusing on how to maintain and strengthen our academic culture of excellence, open dialogue and engagement with different viewpoints.

And we're also really kind of leaning into artificial intelligence and asking questions as a community about how we incorporate AI responsibly into our education, into our operations, into our research. And there are obviously a lot of important ethical questions that we're working on, and it's really an quite an exciting time to be in the position that I'm in.

What are you excited for?

Well, a couple things that we're really looking forward to are, as part of the anniversary of the United States, we're going to be hosting a National Archives exhibition [of] founding documents in late April. We're also looking forward to helping host the L.A. Olympics in 2028. We have our 150th anniversary coming up in 2030 as a university.

So there's a lot that's on the horizon. We also have the Lucas Museum opening up across the street later this year and, of course, George Lucas is one of our most beloved Trojan alumni. So there's so much vitality, so much energy on the campus right now.

USC has, for the most part, avoided the sort of conflicts that the University of California system and elite private institutions across the country have had with the Trump administration. What can you share about how you plan to manage USC’s relationship with the federal government?

Well, we really make an effort to engage with all levels of government, as well as foundations, the private sector, community groups. That kind of engagement is really more important nowadays. Universities can't just go off on their own. It's important for us to partner and find opportunities to work with others. And that's what we've been doing.

And that's part of the reason why I think that our research has continued to go strongly. And I give a lot of the credit to our faculty and researchers who can continue submitting grant applications and continue to do research in areas that are critically important to the benefit of our community, our nation, and our world. And I think that we -—

Suzanne Nora Johnson: —Actually I'm so sorry, but we have to complete the board meeting, and we've got to run. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. We'll be in touch. Bye. Thanks. Bye.

Huntington Beach will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision striking down the city’s controversial voter ID law.

What’s the backstory?

Huntington Beach voters approved a measure in 2024 allowing the city to require people to show ID when casting a ballot. That contradicts state law — voters in California are asked to provide ID when they register to vote but generally not at polling places.

The ensuing court battle

The state and a Huntington Beach resident promptly sued the city over the voter ID law and won an appeals court ruling striking down the law. The California Supreme Court declined to review the decision earlier this month. The state also passed a law prohibiting cities from implementing their own voter ID laws.

Then, the City Council voted unanimously this week to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.

Does the city have a shot?

The Supreme Court gets 7,000 to 8,000 requests to review cases each year. The Court grants about 80 of these requests, so the city’s chances of getting the court’s attention are statistically slim.

There’s also a question of whether or not the city’s voter ID case meets the Court’s criteria for review — SCOTUS addresses questions of federal law. Mayor Casey McKeon said it does, in a news release, noting a 2008 Supreme Court decision that upheld a state’s voter ID law — in Indiana. But Huntington Beach is a city, and the question in its voter ID case is whether or not a city can implement its own requirements for voting, even if it clashes with state law.

Go deeper

• Huntington Beach's controversial voter ID law is illegal
• Huntington Beach clashes with California over voter ID requirement in court
• HB Mayor defends Voter ID measure as Gov. Newsom seeks to ban it
• Listen 26:32

  The Trump Administration wants your confidential voter data. What’s behind their battle with CA and other states?

When last year’s Eaton Fire burned the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, cantor Ruth Berman Harris helped save what she could from the flames.

Despite best efforts, the campus and nearly everything in it was destroyed.

“I had a colleague calling me and asking me what I needed, and I wasn't able to say,” Berman Harris, one of the spiritual leaders of the synagogue, told LAist. “I don't think I was able to say what I needed for about a year.”

In the months that followed the fire, people from around the world stepped up to replace what was lost, including prayer books, clothes and candlesticks. Several donated challah covers, a decorative cloth that’s placed over the braided bread before being blessed and eaten on Shabbat.

A parking sign at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center after the Eaton Fire.

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And while much of the community’s focus is directed toward larger items that need to be replaced — the buildings included — smaller, ceremonial items can make a big difference, too.

Karen Fink, a Van Nuys resident, donated a hand-woven challah cover that she made for the temple. Her weaving guild was already making dish towels for L.A. fire survivors.

“You've got so many things that need to be done and replaced,” Fink said.

“I just always like to think about who it's going towards, what it's going to be used for, that it should be used well and loved,” she continued.

‘Love through the threads’

On Jan. 7, 2025, as the flames closed in on the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, Berman Harris rushed through smoke and falling embers to rescue all 13 sacred Torah scrolls, pieces of parchment with Hebrew text used at services, including weekly on Shabbat.

Berman Harris now works out of an office building in Pasadena, a few miles away from where the center stood.

More than 400 families gathered to worship at the temple before the fire. About 30 families lost their homes, and 40 others were displaced, she said. The congregation has been gathering at the First United Methodist Church in Pasadena.

The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which burned during the Eaton Fire, in January 2025 (top) and in January 2026 (bottom).

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“The silver lining of when you go through a traumatic loss is that you don't realize A, how strong you are and B, how not alone you are,” said Berman Harris, who has been a part of the congregation for 14 years.

She said the temple has received many gifts to help them rebuild, but Fink’s challah cover will be used for communal celebrations and holidays to give it an extra layer of “kavod” — of holiness.

Challah covers, usually embroidered with Hebrew words and symbols, are a traditional sight on a table prepared for a Shabbat meal, where both the bread and a cup of wine are blessed before eating. The decorative cover is a symbolic way of honoring the bread, while the wine is being blessed first.

“Because you say the blessing over the bread last,” Fink told LAist. “It gets to have this lovely cover so it doesn't get embarrassed.”

Fink said she used one of her more intricate patterns, featuring white and blue threads in a repeating pattern of the Star of David.

The challah cover woven by Karen Fink when it was fresh off the loom.

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She said it took a couple of hours to wind the thread, about a day to get the project set up on her small loom and another three days to get through the top six rows of stars.

Once the challah cover was complete, it took a few months to get it to Berman Harris, but Fink said she wanted to help in a way that felt more personal than mailing a check.

“They were able to get their Torah scrolls out,” Fink said. “But all the other things that maybe aren't required, but are helpful in enhancing the spirit of Shabbat, the spirit of a synagogue, you know, that was all lost.”

Starting to settle

Berman Harris said the donations have not only helped rebuild their ritual spaces, they were gifted “with love.”

“They're not things you buy on Amazon,” she said. “These are things that you cherish because you can feel the love through the threads.”

Cantor Ruth Berman Harris showing off the handmade challah cover Karen Fink weaved for the congregation.

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The synagogue has received other challah covers that they’ve distributed to families in the congregation.

On the anniversary of the fire, Josh Ratner, senior rabbi at the temple, told LAist’s AirTalk program that Jewish people have overcome “so much” throughout history.

People embrace inside a tent on the grounds of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center during a commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the Eaton Fire on Jan. 6.

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“I think that that gives us some firm foundation to know that we can recover from this as well,” he said. “And not just recover, but really our [history] … is one of rebuilding even stronger than before.

“Each time there's been a crisis, we've been able to reinvent different aspects of Judaism and to evolve."

Students carry lanterns they created as symbols of hope as they enter the grounds of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center during a commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the Eaton Fire.

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