A nurse with the Kern County Public Health Department gives a shot of the COVID-19 vaccine to nine-year-old patient Bajron Perez during a vaccination drive at the old courthouse in Wasco on Feb. 26, 2023.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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Topline:
Whether federal cuts are legal is still undecided. But local health departments have closed clinics, stopped programs, cut immunization appointments and laid off workers anyway.
Why now: Across the state, county health and human services departments have made significant reductions to bread-and-butter programs as a result of the Trump administration’s funding cuts and freezes. Kern, San Luis Obispo, Orange and Los Angeles counties, as well as the city of Long Beach, are among those reducing health services. The state’s budgetary crisis and subsequent public health cuts have also strained local resources.
Why it matters: California cities and counties have closed public health clinics, eliminated family planning programs, stopped dental services, reduced appointment availability for immunizations, instituted hiring freezes and laid off dozens of local health workers. At the end of the month, because of cuts in Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, most county health departments will shut down nutrition programs focused on teaching low-income families how to stretch their food stamp dollars and cook healthier food.
Read on... how DOGE cut billions in public health dollars and more on how counties across California are eliminating programs.
Earlier this year, Selena Peña spent her days helping Kern County residents learn how to lead healthier lives through nutrition and fitness classes. She was part of a public health team focused on reducing high rates of obesity and heart disease.
But in July the county eliminated the program, citing the loss of $12.5 million in federal public health funding. It was early in a series of cascading cuts to Kern’s health programs this year. Other counties are making similar decisions.
Across the state, county health and human services departments have made significant reductions to bread-and-butter programs as a result of the Trump administration’s funding cuts and freezes. Kern, San Luis Obispo, Orange and Los Angeles counties, as well as the city of Long Beach, are among those reducing health services. The state’s budgetary crisis and subsequent public health cuts have also strained local resources.
California cities and counties have closed public health clinics, eliminated family planning programs, stopped dental services, reduced appointment availability for immunizations, instituted hiring freezes and laid off dozens of local health workers. At the end of the month, because of cuts in Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, most county health departments will shut down nutrition programs focused on teaching low-income families how to stretch their food stamp dollars and cook healthier food.
Kern has the highest rate of diabetes-related deaths in the state, and 78% of adults are overweight or obese, according to state data. Peña, who was born and raised there, has seen firsthand how poverty, lack of education and language barriers contribute to poor health. That’s why she was thrilled to do work that helped people like her mom begin to take control of their health.
The irony is not lost on local health leaders that while U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vocally pushes an agenda targeting leading causes of chronic disease like obesity and heart disease, local programs to address these issues and more have been gutted. His recent “Make Our Children Healthy Again” strategy report called out poor diet and lack of physical activity as primary drivers of chronic disease among kids.
“It’s not good enough to say this is important,” said Bernadette Boden-Albala, dean of the school of population and public health at UC Irvine. “They talk about nutrition, but where’s the money on nutrition?
Health departments are well-positioned to improve community health outcomes, Boden-Albala said, because their services are often aimed at improving systemic barriers that make it harder for people to be healthy. They focus on food insecurity, health education and access, disease prevention and surveillance, mental health and regulations to promote safety.
The work is preventative in nature, and without it communities will have more illness, higher costs and fewer health care options, said Long Beach Health and Human Services Director Alison King.
“When public health funding is reduced, prevention work is often the first to be impacted,” King said.
Long Beach has lost nearly $4 million in federal grants with the largest cut affecting its HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention program.
These policies “will reverberate for the rest of this administration if not well beyond that,” said Arthur Reingold, professor of epidemiology at UC Berkeley School of Public Health and global infectious disease expert.
Those cuts targeted money that health departments had used to bolster their response to the COVID-19 pandemic by shoring up laboratory capacity, community outreach and immunization programs. In turn, many counties hired dozens of public health workers and were able to expand other services.
The grants were, in some cases, scheduled to last until 2027. Their abrupt termination left counties scrambling.
“We couldn’t even prepare for the end of this funding. That was what was so catastrophic for us,” said Brynn Carrigan, Kern County public health director. “We received notification the day after the stop-funding order was effective.”
California sued to prevent the Trump administration’s cuts, and a federal judge ruled in May that the money must be restored while the lawsuit plays out. But in many ways, the tug of war between federal cuts and state litigation still left local governments with no choice but to eliminate services. If the courts were to ultimately side with the Trump administration, counties would have to repay the money to the federal government.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, pop-up food distributions in Los Angeles served 1,600 tourism industry workers facing reduced wages or job loss.
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Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Regional Food Bank
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“At the end of the day all of the liability and all of the risk is on the county, and we're talking millions of dollars,” Carrigan said.
That’s why programs like Peña’s healthy habits team and others have been terminated.
Her team — called “Know Your Numbers” — checked residents’ blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol and body mass index before providing seven weeks of free dietary and exercise classes to show them how their numbers improved.
“Our health should be a priority. We should want to combat the things that make us unhealthy: Diseases, tobacco, unhealthy foods,” said Peña, a member of Service Employees International Union Local 721. “It’s discouraging when the government doesn’t want to care for the health of the public.”
California counties eliminate dental, other programs
In Kern County, the department has also been forced to close a clinic serving rural farm communities, stop most mobile clinic services, reduce appointment availability at its primary Bakersfield clinic by 67%, and eliminate 35 jobs.
More than 170 miles south, Orange County Health Director Veronica Kelley has grappled with the same difficult decisions. Public health has “not been whole for decades,” Kelly said, but the early federal grant terminations have been especially harsh. They cost Orange County $13.7 million over the next two years.
In May, the county closed its emergency dental clinic. A month later, the children’s clinic and family planning clinic also closed. A federal program to help new moms with diapers, breastfeeding support and food has also been reduced. In October, the county will lose an additional $4 million to combat obesity and food insecurity.
“If we do care about the health of Americans and people who live here and the health of Orange County residents, then we need to put more focus on funding these services,” Kelley said.
The department tried to make reductions in areas where other community providers could absorb the patient load and have the least impact on access to services, Kelley said. But the county isn’t blind to the probability that more cuts will happen in the coming years, as federal support for Medicaid decreases substantially.
Most counties rely on Medicaid to provide mental health services and inpatient substance abuse treatment. It also helps pay for public health clinics where people can get immunizations and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Counties that run public hospitals are facing even greater uncertainty.
Los Angeles public hospitals brace for Medicaid cuts
In Los Angeles County, the health services department projects it will have a $1.85 billion annual deficit by 2028-29 largely due to Medicaid cuts. The department operates four public hospitals, and 80% of its patients rely on Medicaid for health insurance.
At a recent county supervisors meeting, county Chief Executive Fesia Davenport said federal cuts will likely result in thousands of layoffs and could precipitate the closure of a county hospital.
There are no current plans to close any hospitals, said Jorge Orozco, chief executive of L.A. General Medical Center, but the department has instituted a hiring freeze. County officials are also considering consolidating services that might be provided at multiple hospitals like radiation oncology and delaying maintenance and capital improvement projects.
Still, a deficit of that magnitude will be impossible for the county to fully absorb.
“Belt tightening efforts and cost efficiencies really are not sufficient to make up $1.85 billion,” Orozco said. “That’s really catastrophic.”
The L.A. County Department of Public Health earlier this year also lost $45 million in federal grants and has instituted a hiring freeze.
Orozco said cuts to the health care safety net will ultimately impact everyone in L.A. County. One-third of all trauma cases are taken to a county hospital, he added.
“Our safety net system really serves a huge segment of our population here at L.A. General,” Orozco said. “So the impact of service reductions, the impact of budget reductions, will be felt not only to the most vulnerable, but really all of our community.”
Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.
What we know: The city is in the very early stages of planning how to transform the 192 acres into a park. The preliminary report shows some potential amenities of the park, such as gardens, biking trails, art galleries, a community center and much more.
Background: After a long legal battle between the city and the Federal Aviation Administration, a settlement was reached that ruled that the city could close the more than 100-year-old airport. The park was controversial among residents because of air quality and noise concerns, and was the subject of many legal battles in recent decades.
What’s next? The city wants to hear from residents. You’re encouraged to review the framework and fill out this survey. Feedback will be accepted until April 26.
Elly Yu
typically reports on early childhood issues and from time to time other general news.
Published April 1, 2026 1:41 PM
Thousands of immigrants, including refugees and asylees, in California are set to lose their food assistance benefits, known as CalFresh, starting this month.
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Brandon Bell
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Getty Images
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Topline:
Thousands of immigrants who are lawfully in California are set to lose their food assistance benefits, known as CalFresh, starting this month.
What’s new: The changes apply to certain immigrants who are here lawfully, including refugees and asylees. It also applies to people from Iraq and Afghanistan who have special visas for helping the U.S. military overseas.
Why now: The new restrictions stem from H.R. 1 — also known as the “Big Beautiful Bill” — which Congress passed last year.
What’s next: Officials estimate 23,000 people in Los Angeles County will be affected. State officials say noncitizens who are currently receiving benefits will continue to get them until it’s time to renew their benefits — adding that people might be able to receive benefits again if their legal status changes to lawful permanent residents.
Thousands of immigrants who are lawfully in California are set to lose their food assistance benefits, known as CalFresh, starting this month.
The new restrictions stem from H.R. 1 — also known as the “Big Beautiful Bill” — which Congress passed last year.
The changes remove eligibility for certain noncitizens, including people with refugee status and victims of trafficking. It also applies to immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan who have special immigrant visas for helping the U.S. government overseas.
”These are folks … many of whom have large families that we have a commitment to as a country because we welcomed them and invited them here to find a place of refuge,” said Cambria Tortorelli, president of the International Institute of Los Angeles, a refugee resettlement agency. “They’re authorized to work and they’ve been brought here by the U.S. government.”
The federal spending bill, H.R. 1, made sweeping cuts to social safety net programs, including food assistance and Medicaid. In signing the bill, President Donald Trump said the changes were delivering on his campaign promises of “America first.”
Officials estimate 23,000 people in Los Angeles County will be affected. The state estimates about 72,000 immigrants with lawful presence will be affected across California.
CalFresh is the state’s version of the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Undocumented immigrants have not been eligible to receive CalFresh benefits.
State officials say noncitizens who are currently receiving benefits will continue to get them until it’s time to renew their benefits — adding that people might be able to receive benefits again if their legal status changes to lawful permanent residents.
Who the changes apply to:
Asylees
Refugees
Parolees (unless they are Cuban and Haitian entrants)
Individuals with deportation or removal withheld
Conditional entrants
Victims of trafficking
Battered noncitizens
Iraqi or Afghan with special immigrant visas (SIV) who are not lawful permanent residents (LPR)
Certain Afghan Nationals granted parole between July 31, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2023
Certain Ukrainian Nationals granted parole between Feb. 24, 2022, and Sep. 30, 2024
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Nearly every student in the California State University system has used artificial intelligence tools, but most don’t trust the results, are worried about how AI will affect their future job security and want more say in systemwide AI policy.
CSU AI survey: CSU polled more than 94,000 students, faculty and staff, making it the largest survey of AI perception in higher education. Nearly all students have used AI but most question whether it is trustworthy. Both faculty and students want more say in systemwide AI policies. Faculty are divided about the impact of AI on teaching and research.
The results: Educators want a say in how and which AI tools are used. Students across the CSU system want to be included in those discussions. Some professors teach students how to use AI and encourage students to use it, while others forbid its use in the classroom. In addition to clarity around use of AI policies, students in this year’s survey said they want training that will be relevant to their careers. “I want to learn AI tools that are actually used in my industry, not just generic chatbots,” a mechanical engineering student responded. “Show me what engineers are actually doing with AI on the job.”
Nearly every student in the California State University system has used artificial intelligence tools, but most don’t trust the results, are worried about how AI will affect their future job security and want more say in systemwide AI policy.
That’s according to results of a 2025 survey of more than 80,000 students enrolled at CSU’s 22 campuses, plus faculty and staff — the largest and most comprehensive study of how higher education students and instructors perceive artificial intelligence.
Nationwide, university faculty struggle to reconcile the learning benefits of AI — hailed as a “transformative tool” for providing tutoring and personalized support to students — and the risks that students will depend on AI agents to do their thinking for them and, very possibly, get the wrong information. Educators want a say in how and which AI tools are used. Students across the CSU system want to be included in those discussions.
Some professors teach students how to use AI and encourage students to use it, while others forbid its use in the classroom, said Katie Karroum, vice president of systemwide affairs for the Cal State Student Association, representing more than 470,000 students.
“Both of these things are allowed to coexist right now without a policy,” she said.
Karroum said that faculty practices are too varied and that what students need are consistent and transparent rules developed in collaboration with students. “There are going to be students who are graduating with AI literacy and some that graduate without AI literacy.”
In February 2025, the CSU system announced an initiative to adopt AI technologies and an agreement with OpenAI to make ChatGPT available throughout the system. The system-wide survey released Wednesday confirms that ChatGPT is the most used AI tool across CSUs. The system will also work with Adobe, Google, IBM, Intel, LinkedIn, Microsoft and NVIDIA.
Campus leaders say the survey and accompanying dashboard provide much needed data on how the system continues to integrate AI into instruction and assessment.
“We need to have data to make data-informed decisions instead of just going by anecdote,” said Elisa Sobo, a professor of anthropology at San Diego State who was involved in interpreting the survey’s findings. “We have data that show high use, but we also have high levels of concern, very valid concern, to help people be responsible when they use it.”
Faculty at San Diego State designed the survey, which received more than 94,000 responses from students, faculty and staff. Among all responding CSU students, 95% reported using an AI tool; 84% said they used ChatGPT and 82% worry that AI will negatively impact their future job security. Others worry that they won’t be competitive if they don’t understand AI well enough.
“Even though I don’t want to use it, I HAVE TO!” wrote a computer science major. “Because if I don’t, then I’ll be left behind, and that is the last thing someone would want in this stupid job market.”
Faculty are divided about the impact of AI on teaching and research. Just over 55% reported a positive benefit, while 52% said AI has had a negative impact so far.
San Diego State conducted its first campuswide survey in 2023 in response to complaints from students about inconsistent rules about AI use in courses, said James Frazee, vice president for information technology at the campus.
“Students are facing this patchwork of expectations even within the same course taught by different instructors,” Frazee said. In one introductory course, the professor might encourage students to use AI, but another professor teaching the same course might forbid it, he said. “It was a hot mess.”
In that 2023 survey, one student made this request: “Please just tell us what to do and be clear about it.”
Following that survey, the San Diego State Academic Senate approved guidelines for the use of generative AI in instruction and assessments. In 2025, the Senate made it mandatory that faculty include language about AI use in course syllabi.
“It doesn’t say what your disposition has to be, whether it’s pro or con,” Frazee said. “It just says you have to be clear about your expectations. Without the 2023 survey data, that never would have happened.”
According to the 2025 systemwide survey, only 68% of teaching faculty include language about AI use in their syllabi.
Sobo and other faculty who helped develop the 2025 survey hope other CSU campuses will find the data helpful in informing policies about AI use. The dashboard allows users to search for specific campus and discipline data and view student responses by demographic group.
The 2025 survey shows that first-generation students are more interested in formal AI training and that Black, Hispanic and Latino students are more interested than white students. At San Diego State, students are required to earn a micro-credential in AI use during their first year — another change that was made after the 2023 survey.
Students in this year’s survey said they want training that will be relevant to their careers. “I want to learn AI tools that are actually used in my industry, not just generic chatbots,” a mechanical engineering student responded. “Show me what engineers are actually doing with AI on the job.”
The California Faculty Association, which represents about 29,000 educators in the CSU system, said in a February statement that faculty should be included in future systemwide decisions about AI, including whether the contract with OpenAI should be renewed in July.
“CFA members continue to advocate for ethical and enforceable safeguards governing the use of artificial intelligence,” the CFA said in the statement, asking for “protections for using or refusing to use the technology, professional development resources to adapt pedagogy to incorporate the technology, and further protections for faculty intellectual property.”
EdSource is an independent nonprofit organization that provides analysis on key education issues facing California and the nation. LAist republishes articles from EdSource with permission.
Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published April 1, 2026 12:00 PM
Tennis courts featured in an April Fools' Day social media post by Irvine.
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City of Irvine
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Instagram
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Topline:
Many Southern California cities and institutions are dropping big, grabby news today — from the city of Irvine going "pickle-ball" only, to the Huntington Botanical Gardens announcing it'll be bottling the scent of the famed corpse flower as a perfume.
Why now: Before you go "what the what" — remember today's the first day of April.
Read on ... to find a roundup of some of the April Fools' jokes from your city and local trusted institutions.
Many Southern California cities and institutions are dropping big, grabby news today. Before you go "what the what" — remember, it's the first day of April.
Here's a roundup of some of the April Fools' news dump items.
Irvine, the 'pickleball-only' city
Irvine announced that it'll be converting all tennis courts into pickleball courts by 2027. That's one notch for Team Pickleball in the ongoing turf war between tennis lovers and pickleball players over the fight for court space to engage in their beloved sport.
"Starting today, April 1, all tennis courts are being converted to pickleball courts as part of a citywide effort to make Irvine a pickleball-only City by 2027," the post stated. "We don’t just think this is a good idea … we dink it’s a great one."
Over in Long Beach, Mayor Rex Richardson announced the city's reigning royalty, the Queen Mary, will be renamed after another queen.
"After careful consideration, I am proud to announce that the Queen Mary will officially be renamed the RMS Queen Latifah," he said. "Long Beach is stepping into a new era as a major music destination — with a new amphitheater, a deep cultural legacy and a future built on sound. It’s only right that our most iconic Queen reflects that energy."
In real-real news, LBC native and everyone's favorite Olympics commenter Snoop Dogg is headlining the grand opening show of the Long Beach Amphitheater in June. That's the new waterfront venue near the RMS Queen Latifah.
Suspense writer James Patterson has more than 200 novels to his name, selling more than 450 million copies. If anyone deserves his own namesake branch, it would be Patterson, no?
The Los Angeles Public Library certainly dinks so, announcing today the James Patterson Canoga Park branch, "with wall to wall Patterson books and programming centered around this prolific author."
The opening of the corpse flower has become an annual event at the Huntington Botanical Gardens. The event brings legions hoping to get a whiff of the famed flower's "pungent aroma."
The San Marino institution announced that it's bottling the scent, as part of its new "The Huntington's Stank Collection."
"A musky gym sock note opens this unique fragrance, with a sweet, rotten-egg base to ground it. Smells like you — but smellier," the post explained.
