Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, pays for the in-home care that Cynthia Williams provides for her sister and daughter. Williams spoke at a town hall Feb. 20.
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Jenna Schoenefeld
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KFF Health News
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Topline:
A standing-room crowd of over 200 people at a recent town hall in Tustin voiced opposition to the House approved Republican budget plan that could shrink Medicaid spending by $880 billion over 10 years.
What cuts could mean for California: A spending cut of that magnitude would have a huge impact in California, with nearly 15 million people — more than a third of the population — on Medi-Cal (which is California's name for its Medicaid program). More than half California's children are covered by Medi-Cal. And over 60% of Medi-Cal’s $161 billion budget comes from Washington.
The arguments: Critics of the House budget plan, which would extend the tax cuts enacted in President Donald Trump's first term, say it helps the rich at the expense of society’s most vulnerable — an argument that was vigorously repeated at the Tustin town hall. But supporters of the plan say that extending the tax cuts, key provisions of which are set to expire at the end of this year, would avoid a large tax hike for average Americans and benefit low-income families the most.
Read on ... for responses from Southern California Republican House members, who did not attend the town hall.
Cynthia Williams is furious with U.S. House Republicans willing to slash Medicaid, the government-run insurance program for people with low incomes or disabilities.
The 61-year-old Anaheim resident cares for her adult daughter, who is blind, and for her sister, a military veteran with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health conditions. Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, pays Williams to care for them, and she relies on that income, just as her sister and daughter depend on her.
“Let’s be real. We shouldn’t have to be here tonight,” Williams told a raucous standing-room crowd of over 200 people at a recent town hall. “We should be home, spending time with our loved ones and our families, but we’re here. And we’re here to fight, because when politicians try to take away our healthcare, we don’t have the option to sit back and let it happen.”
The House last month approved a Republican budget plan that could shrink Medicaid spending by $880 billion over 10 years, only partially paying for an extension of expiring tax cuts from President Donald Trump’s first term, plus some new ones he has promised, totaling as much as $4.5 trillion.
A spending cut of that magnitude would have a huge impact in California, with nearly 15 million people — more than a third of the population — on Medi-Cal. Over 60% of Medi-Cal’s $161 billion budget comes from Washington.
Attendees applaud speakers during a Tustin town hall last month organized to protest potential cuts to Medicaid.
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Jenna Schoenefeld
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KFF Health News
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Williams was among about a dozen providers, patient advocates, disabled people and family members who stood up one after the other to tell their stories. Rep. Young Kim, a Republican whose district includes this relatively affluent Orange County city, declined an invitation for her or a staff member to attend. But her constituents delivered their message loud and clear to her and the other Republicans in Congress: Hands off Medicaid.
Josephine Rios, a certified nursing assistant at a Kaiser Permanente surgical center in Irvine, said her 7-year-old grandson, Elijah, has received indispensable treatments through Medi-Cal, including a $5,000-a-month medication that controls his seizures, which can be life-threatening. Elijah, who has cerebral palsy, is among the more than 50% of California children covered by Medi-Cal.
“To cut Medicaid, Medi-Cal, that’s like saying he can’t live. He can’t thrive. He’s going to lie in bed and do nothing,” Rios said. “Who are they to judge who lives and who doesn’t?”
Josephine Rios, speaking at the Feb. 20 town hall in Tustin, worries about her grandson who has cerebral palsy and relies on Medi-Cal.
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Jenna Schoenefeld
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KFF Health News
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Two-thirds of Californians across party lines oppose cuts to Medi-Cal, according to a new survey by the California Health Care Foundation and NORC at the University of Chicago.
The town hall here was one of three organized by Fight for Our Health, a coalition of health advocacy groups and unions, to target Republican House members whose California districts are considered politically competitive. The other two were in Bakersfield, part of which is represented by Rep. David Valadao, and Corona, home to Rep. Ken Calvert. Multiple other town halls and protests have sprung up across the country in recent weeks.
The coalition has reprised a campaign — part of a broader national movement — that fought against the GOP’s unsuccessful 2017 effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
The Republicans’ loss of House control in the 2018 midterm elections has been widely attributed to their stance on healthcare. Valadao was among the GOP members who lost their seats in 2018, though he took his back two years later.
Still, he voted for the House budget proposal last week, despite the fact that about two-thirds of the population in his district is on Medi-Cal — the highest in the state — and even though he is one of eight GOP House members who sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson warning about the “serious consequences” of deep cuts to Medicaid. Valadao’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Calvert, who’s been in the House for 32 years and eked out reelection last November, also voted for the budget, as did Kim. All nine GOP members of California’s congressional delegation supported it, as did all House Republicans except one.
A woman protests Medicaid cuts outside the Tustin town hall.
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Jenna Schoenefeld
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KFF Health News
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Critics of the budget plan say it helps the rich at the expense of society’s most vulnerable — an argument that was vigorously repeated at the Tustin town hall. But supporters of the plan say that extending the tax cuts, key provisions of which are set to expire at the end of this year, would avoid a large tax hike for average Americans and benefit low-income families the most.
“American families are facing a massive tax increase unless Congress acts by the end of the year,” Calvert said in a statement to KFF Health News before the vote. He vowed the GOP would not touch Social Security or Medicare. He did not offer similar assurances on Medicaid, but said, “We are not interested in cutting the social and healthcare safety net for children, disabled and low-income Americans. We are focused on eliminating waste, fraud and abuse.”
The House budget proposal does not specify spending cut details, though it instructs the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid and Medicare spending, to cut $880 billion — a large chunk of the up to $2 trillion in total cuts. The GOP’s razor-thin majority means Johnson will have a narrow path to get a more detailed budget passed. Republican support, whether from fiscal hawks who want deeper spending cuts or House members worried about slashing Medicaid, could ebb and flow as the details are hashed out.
Moreover, the House must reach a compromise with the Senate, which has passed a much narrower budget resolution that leaves the big tax cuts out for now.
Like Kim, Valadao and Calvert declined invitations to attend or send staffers to the town hall meetings in their regions. At the Tustin meeting, multiple speakers chided Kim for her absence. At one point, the large screen behind the podium flashed a picture of an empty chair with the words, in large block letters, “Congresswoman Kim, we saved you a seat.”
Kim spokesperson Callie Strock said in an email that Kim and her local staff had preexisting commitments that night. She added that Kim is “committed to protecting and strengthening our healthcare system.”
But those in attendance were clearly worried.
“It’s a moral obligation for all of us to look at the most disadvantaged people in our country and take good care of them,” said Beth Martinko, whose 33-year-old son, Josh, has autism and relies on Medi-Cal for his care. “This has no place in politics.”
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach on Oct. 17, 2018.
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John Robinson
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Topline:
After 70 years as the epicenter of Long Beach football, the iconic Veterans Memorial Stadium will be demolished later this month to make way for a modern replacement, slated for completion in 2029.
More details: The $250 million transformation will have an 18-acre footprint and include a new stadium that pays homage to the original as well as a massive sports complex featuring a 2,500-seat arena, fields for football, soccer and track, basketball and volleyball courts, athletic training and rehab facilities, offices, kinesiology classrooms and a hall of champions. The project is funded by Measure LB, an $850 million bond measure that finances LBCC construction.
Why it matters: The leveling of Vets Stadium closes a celebrated chapter of Long Beach history. The stadium hosted high-profile local and national sporting events, served as a movie set for Evel Knievel and became woven into the fabric of the city. It has accommodated countless graduations, and Long Beach City College and numerous area high schools will have to relocate their commencement ceremonies during construction.
Read on... for more on what the stadium meant to Long Beach.
After 70 years as the epicenter of Long Beach football, the iconic Veterans Memorial Stadium will be demolished later this month to make way for a modern replacement, slated for completion in 2029.
The $250 million transformation will have an 18-acre footprint and include a new stadium that pays homage to the original as well as a massive sports complex featuring a 2,500-seat arena, fields for football, soccer and track, basketball and volleyball courts, athletic training and rehab facilities, offices, kinesiology classrooms and a hall of champions. The project is funded by Measure LB, an $850 million bond measure that finances LBCC construction.
The leveling of Vets Stadium closes a celebrated chapter of Long Beach history. The stadium hosted high-profile local and national sporting events, served as a movie set for Evel Knievel and became woven into the fabric of the city. It has accommodated countless graduations, and Long Beach City College and numerous area high schools will have to relocate their commencement ceremonies during construction.
Graduation caps fly in the air after the completion of the Wilson High School commencement ceremony at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach Monday, June 14, 2022.
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Thomas R. Cordova
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Long Beach Post
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From its inception, Vets Stadium was intended to be a monument for the people of Long Beach, living and dead. During World War II, seventeen homesick soldiers stationed in the South Pacific wrote a letter home to Long Beach, which appeared on the front page of a 1945 edition of the Press-Telegram. As alums of Poly and Wilson high schools, the soldiers implored the city to build a stadium and dedicate it to those who “went beyond the final yard marker” — including their own classmates who had died.
They enclosed $75 as their contribution to the proposed stadium, and the city took it from there, passing a $550,000 bond measure to fund construction. By 1950, the city had erected a colossal arena (significantly over budget, forcing the city to dip into its special projects fund) with 12,500 east-facing seats, the Press-Telegram reported. It boasted a double-decker press box, equipped with a snack bar and its own toilets — a state-of-the-art facility meant to attract visitors to Long Beach, according to a 1951 publication in the public library’s archives.
“The sheer capacity of it was such a big deal,” and it became a significant regional stage, said Mike Guardabascio, sports reporter and editor at The 562 and author of the book “Football in Long Beach.”
The stadium’s size meant it could accommodate state track and field championships, college and pro football, motorcycle racing, roller derby and rugby. It became the site of holiday food drives, large-scale swap meets, Covid-19 vaccinations and the distribution of emergency sandbags.
Yet its defining identity has been the heartbeat of high school football. Even after Long Beach City College acquired the venue from the city for $1 in 1987, Vets was the home stadium for Poly High School’s powerhouse program.
Few events in Long Beach draw tens of thousands of fans, Guardabascio said. But high school football games had a magnetic pull, and spectators consistently sold out the stadium, he said.
Veterans Memorial Stadium at Long Beach City College on Thursday, July 7, 2022.
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Brandon Richardson
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Long Beach Post
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The noise coming from the stands was deafening — “like nothing else that you would ever hear,” Guardabascio said. He was a senior in high school at the time and remembered how much attention was dialed into the game. “You just had that feeling of Long Beach being the center of the world,” he said.
In the years since, as other large sports arenas became options, Vets Stadium became less of a go-to choice in the region, Guardabascio said. And the structure is now crumbling — pieces of concrete are falling off the back; a hole in the floor of the press box bathroom offers a window to the ground several stories below, he said.
The rebuild could reassert the city as a central player in the wider sports scene, Guardabascio said. He pointed to the exceptional sports facility upgrades Long Beach City College has already executed, including its pool and beach volleyball courts.
Still, the demolition of a symbol for the city weighs heavily on some. “Our whole football history runs through that place,” Guardabascio said. “Everyone who grew up caring about sports and football in Long Beach has memories of being there.”
Elly Yu
reports on early childhood. From housing to health, she covers issues facing the youngest Angelenos and their families.
Published August 14, 2026 5:00 AM
Childcares have been losing older preschoolers which have traditionally helped subsidize younger kids.
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Elly Yu
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LAist
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Topline:
Childcare providers in California are struggling to stay afloat, as they’re losing enrollment to transitional kindergarten. That’s according to a new report from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley. And the upshot is that it could make child care in California even harder to find.
The backstory: The state fully implemented a new grade for 4-year-olds called transitional kindergarten last school year. But private child cares are losing that enrollment.
Why it matters: Between 2019 and 2025, about 1,100 preschools have closed across California. Experts say parents will have fewer options to choose from if the trend continues for their children 4 and under.
Parents could soon be headed for an even bigger child care crunch in California, experts say.
That’s because the rollout of a new grade for 4-year-olds in the state’s public schools is having unintended consequences for child care businesses, according to a new report by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley.
Child cares have historically cared for children 5 and under, but the report found they’re losing more 4- and 5-year-olds to transitional kindergarten, a universal option that was fully implemented last school year.
Sue Carrera, who runs a home daycare in Inglewood, said that before the pandemic, she had an average of 12 kids enrolled in her program. Now, she has only four — the lowest since she opened up her business in 2008 — as she’s seen children move to the public school system earlier.
“ I don't really see myself staying in this business for any lengthy period of time,” she said.
The way that part of the child care business model worked was that older-age preschool children have helped subsidize the cost of caring for infants and toddlers, who are more expensive to care for, said Anna Powell, the report’s lead author.
“ When we're tinkering with a model where there's — ‘it already kind of barely makes ends meet’ — it absolutely can cause big ripple effects and potentially lead to system-level closures,” Powell said.
The report, which used a survey of thousands of child care providers, found that at child cares based at facilities, average enrollment of 4- to 5-year-olds fell by five children from 2023 to 2025. It also found that at the same time, providers haven’t been able to make an easy shift to caring for more babies. The teacher to child ratio is higher for infants (1 to 4) than for older preschoolers (1 to 12).
“ There's no resources to help them buy cribs that they didn't need before, and now suddenly they must have on site. There's no resources for educators who are used to, after decades, working with 4- and 5-year-olds, learning, 'How do I need to adapt my craft to work with these younger children?’” Powell said.
The study recommends California invest in the early education system in the same way it has invested in transitional kindergarten.
If more preschools close down the line, it could mean families may struggle more to find child care in an already scarce environment, said Debra Coleman, director of the L.A. County Office for the Advancement of Early Care and Education.
In 2022, there were licensed spaces in L.A. County to be able to serve only 4% of children under 2 years old.
“If you have less options, you will have less choices of where to go. It might impact the capacity,” Coleman said. “ It might take us from a very fragile system to a fractured system.”
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Lucas Brady Woods
covers the weather and disasters, among other climate and science topics.
Published August 13, 2026 5:08 PM
A low pressure system is bringing mild, cloudy weather to Southern California this weekend, with heat expected to return next week.
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Apu Gomes
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Getty Images
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Topline:
Forecasters say Southern California will be relatively cool and cloudy for the next few days after a summer of repeated heat waves.
The details: Highs along the coast will be in the 70s over the next few days. Inland areas of L.A. and Orange counties will get up to the 80s. The cloud cover will likely be widespread on Friday and much of Saturday, but concentrated mostly in the morning hours and along the coast.
The science: A system of low pressure air has moved into the region. Low pressure systems force air to rise, and as air rises it cools. It also eventually condenses, often forming cloud cover. Meanwhile, a deep marine layer and onshore winds are helping push those clouds farther inland.
Read on … to learn how long this reprieve from the heat will last.
Southern California is getting a dose of unseasonably cool weather — a welcome break after a series of hot, humid heat waves over the last few months.
Lower than normal temperatures are expected to stick around through the weekend.
Highs along the coast will be in the 70s over the next few days. Inland areas of L.A. and Orange counties will get up to the 80s. Even the Inland Empire is expected to peak at about 90 degrees on Friday.
The cooler temperatures are also expected to come with cloudy skies across the region.
The cloud cover will likely be widespread on Friday and much of Saturday, but concentrated mostly in the morning hours and along the coast, where skies could stay cloudy through the afternoon.
The cool, mild conditions won’t last long, though.
Forecasters say temperatures will start to tick back up on Saturday. They will stay below normal seasonal levels for a few days, but the summer heat will be back by the middle of next week.
So this weekend might be a good time to go on a hike or host that barbecue.
Low pressure equals mild temperatures
The cool weather is a pretty stark change.
Just a few weeks ago, the National Weather Service was issuing warnings across Southern California for extreme heat and predicting nearly record-breaking temperatures. Now, atmospheric conditions have shifted.
Much of that suffocating heat was driven by a massive system of high pressure air hovering over the Southwestern U.S.
High pressure systems trap warm air beneath them and compress it, further warming the air and preventing cooler air from displacing it.
This week, the high pressure system finally loosened its grip.
“That ridge of high pressure kind of broke down, and then a trough of low pressure developed off and along the coast of California,” said Devin Black, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Low pressure systems force air to rise, and as air rises it cools. It also eventually condenses, often forming cloud cover.
That’s one reason behind the clouds in Southern California this week.
Meanwhile, a deep marine layer and onshore winds are helping push those clouds farther inland. Forecasters note that the low pressure system and onshore winds are also keeping humidity levels up.
Despite the cloud cover and moisture, it’s unlikely there will be much, if any, rain. Some minimal precipitation could be possible in Ventura and Santa Barbara county mountains.
The low pressure system and marine layer will start to shrink on Saturday, allowing heat-generating high pressure to move back into the region.
By Christopher Damien, Alejandra Molina |Boyle Heights Beat
Published August 13, 2026 4:42 PM
Cleanup continues Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026, at the Lineage warehouse.
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Laura Anaya-Morga
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Boyle Heights Beat
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Topline:
Friday is the deadline set by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass for the removal of all rotting food from the Lineage Logistics cold storage facility in Boyle Heights. Bass reiterated on Thursday that all of the approximately 88 million pounds of food that had been stored inside when the facility caught fire in June is expected to be removed by Friday. But Los Angeles Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents District 14 where Lineage is located, said Thursday afternoon that the cleanup efforts will likely not meet the deadline.
Lineage appears not on pace to meet deadline: Lineage is clearing between 1% and 1.5% of food each day, according to their progress reports. This roughly aligns with the weekly goal AQMD ordered Lineage to maintain, 10% or 8.8 million pounds of food removed each week. At that pace, it is unlikely they’ll be able to remove the remaining 7% of food waste in the next 24 hours.
What happens if the deadline is not met? Bass’ executive order does not provide details on what will happen if Lineage does not meet the Friday deadline for clean up.
The deadline set by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass for the removal of all rotting food from the Lineage Logistics cold storage facility in Boyle Heights is fast approaching.
Bass reiterated on Thursday to The LA Local that all of the approximately 88 million pounds of food that had been stored inside when the facility caught fire in June is expected to be removed by Friday.
City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents District 14 where Lineage is located, said in a press release Thursday afternoon that the cleanup efforts will likely not meet the deadline.
“I fully support the Mayor leveraging all the enforcement, cost-recovery, and accountability tools available to make clear that when the City establishes a public-health deadline, corporations are expected to meet it — and there are consequences when they do not,” Jurado said in the statement.
The company’s reports on the cleanup progress, similarly, have not appeared to be on pace with meeting that deadline. And some residents believe the putrid air they’ve had to live with for months will linger indefinitely despite the bureaucratic goal posts being met or moved.
Here’s what we know about the final phase of cleanup.
What is the deadline?
Workers continue to clear out the Lineage warehouse in Boyle Heights.
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Steve Saldivar
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The LA Local
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Soon after a fire broke out on the roof of the 500,000-square-foot cold storage facility on Los Palos Street on June 17, the managers cut the power to the two massive refrigerated rooms in the building. While firefighters took about a week to contain the blaze, the millions of pounds of food inside quickly began to rot in the summer’s heat.
Bass on June 29 issued an executive order requiring the removal of all remaining food in 45 days, or Friday, Aug. 14. Food cleanup began in early July.
Meanwhile, residents of Boyle Heights, East L.A. and several other neighboring communities who were left to deal with the putrid odors, have made more than 4,000 air quality complaints to regulators since early July.
It’s not the only deadline Lineage Logistics faces.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District, which regulates air pollution in the region, issued 19 notices of violation alleging the odors created a public nuisance. Last week, the agency ordered the company to meet dozens of cleanup and air quality control standards, including enforceable requirements for food removal and full facility cleaning.
That agency set a separate deadline of weeks for the food and other material to be removed before the remaining freezer room is fully sanitized.
What’s been cleaned up so far?
The freezer that was extensively damaged by fire has been cleared. The remaining freezer held the vast majority of the rotting food that has been polluting the air in nearby neighborhoods.
Lineage Logistics has for weeks reported on its website about its progress toward 100% cleanup.
Residents can get a sense of their pace for cleanup by tracking their reports:
Aug. 7: 85% of food waste had been removed
Aug. 11: 92% of “bulk food cleanup” was completed
Aug. 12: 93% of food had been cleaned up
It’s unclear how exactly Lineage is arriving at these measurements and how the city or some other agency is independently verifying this progress.
Will they meet the deadline?
The deadline set by Mayor Karen Bass for the removal of all rotting food from the Lineage Logistics cold storage facility in Boyle Heights is fast approaching.
Lineage is clearing between 1% and 1.5% of food each day, according to their progress reports. This roughly aligns with the weekly goal AQMD ordered Lineage to maintain, 10% or 8.8 million pounds of food removed each week.
At that pace, it is unlikely they’ll be able to remove the remaining 7% of food waste in the next 24 hours.
Unless they significantly accelerate, this puts full food cleanup somewhere into next week. That revised timeline better aligns with the one Dominic DiCarlo, vice president of global safety and compliance for Lineage, outlined during the AQMD hearing last week.
DiCarlo added that the company expects to spend between $80 and $100 million on the cleanup and related expenses, which has been described as continuing around the clock.
Lineage did not respond to The LA Local’s request for more information about their progress toward the mayor’s deadline on Thursday.
What happens if they blow the deadline?
Jurado reported Thursday that Lineage would not meet the deadline, and expressed frustration with what residents have had to deal with.
Jurado’s statement reflected this: “For nearly two months, families in Boyle Heights have lived with unbearable odors, flies and pests, truck traffic, uncertainty, and disruption to their homes, businesses, and daily lives. They were told there was a deadline, and they had every right to expect that deadline to mean something.”
Bass’ executive order does not provide details on what will happen if Lineage does not meet the Friday deadline for clean up. Her office told The LA Local that it will provide more information on Thursday about the consequences if the deadline is not met.
Bass was among several local elected officials who had pushed AQMD to levy fines on Lineage for its air pollution violations, which it did not do. She has pushed city agencies to prevent Lineage from reconstructing the facility and continuing its business there. Local lawmakers have also introduced legislation that could increasingly regulate similar businesses in the future.
AQMD can levy penalties if Lineage does not meet its deadlines for cleanup in the coming weeks.
What are residents saying?
Residents on Prado Street were still hopeful Thursday that cleanup would be finished by the deadline.
“Ojalá,” that’s what Irma Soto said when she was asked if she believed workers would finish in time. “I hope they finish so this could all end.”
“It smells horrible,” she added as the stench emanated from the neighborhood early Thursday afternoon.
Soto said she’s been seeing more trailers picking up debris lately. Her neighbor said there appears to be more nighttime work near the facility recently.
“Who knows if they’ll finish, but they are working faster,” the neighbor said.
