The Brief

When Airbnb recently launched its campaign to drum up support for more short-term rentals in Los Angeles, it said the effort would produce taxes that would help solve the city's budget crisis and save city employees' jobs.

But labor organizations are split on the effort that's being pushed by the so-called "Save Our Services" coalition, which is touted as being community-based but whose spokesperson is an Airbnb representative. The coalition proposes loosening an L.A. law to allow a limited number of people to rent out second homes as vacation rentals. Currently, the city limits short-term rentals to primary residences.

The campaign first drew attention for what it didn't say: The effort was funded and organized by Airbnb. As first reported by the L.A. Times, the coalition's website advertised union endorsements and other business and community supporters even before Airbnb added its own name to the list.

Justin Wesson, Airbnb’s senior public policy manager, cited saving union jobs as a goal when explaining why the company launched the campaign.

“It’s pretty simple: New tax revenue from tourists can give Los Angeles much-needed funding for city services and union jobs that are at risk,” Wesson said in a statement earlier this month.

Kurt Petersen, co-president of hotel workers union Unite Here Local 11 and an opponent of the campaign, was quick to point out that Wesson used to work as chief of staff for the L.A. County Federation of Labor.

"Obviously he's going through his Rolodex and seeing who he can get to back this absurd measure," Petersen said.

"Save Our Services" canvassers have knocked on more than 300,000 doors across Los Angeles over the past month, according to an Airbnb spokesperson.

How city unions are responding

There's no consensus among unions that represent city workers about the campaign.

Endorsements for Airbnb's effort include IBEW Local 18, which represents workers at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. That union did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

But other prominent city unions say they're against the effort, citing high housing costs for their members.

"Our union sees this for what it is: just the latest attempt by Airbnb to further deregulate short-term rentals and exacerbate the ever-worsening affordable housing crisis in Los Angeles," said Mike Long, the communications director for SEIU 721, which represents around 11,000 city sanitation workers, mechanics, traffic officers, and other workers.

What about the union jobs claim?

The "Save Our Services" campaign launched as L.A. has been facing a budget crisis.

Mayor Karen Bass's 2025-2026 budget originally proposed more than 1,600 city staff layoffs, citing a nearly billion dollar shortfall. That number dropped to around 600 in budget revisions and is now down to 75 after negotiations with labor leaders and the city council, according to the mayor's office.

Roy Samaan, president of Engineers & Architects Association, the labor union for around 6,000 city planners, accountants, and other staff, said his union had managed to make an agreement with the city to take layoffs off the table. He claimed Airbnb had not reached out to ask for the union's support for its campaign, calling the coalition's language around the city's recent budget shortfall "opportunistic."

"They're taking up the fact that we almost had such disastrous layoffs as a cover for this," Samaan said. "It's a little bit frustrating, to be totally frank."

As of Thursday evening, the "Save Our Services" coalition website still said the city was planning to lay off more than 600 workers.

"The mayor is committed to protecting city services and is working urgently to continue momentum in decreasing layoffs to zero," Zach Seidl, the mayor's spokesperson, said in a written statement.

What are other unions saying?

Other labor supporters listed on the "Save Our Services" website and flyers include California IATSE Council, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, and several Teamsters backers, including the international union, the Teamsters National Black Caucus, Teamsters Joint Council 42, and Teamsters Local 911 — a union local that no longer exists as an independent entity.

Before Airbnb's publicly campaign was announced, Teamsters 911 merged into another local — Teamsters Local 986 — in June, according to a press release from that union. That merged local is not listed on the coalition’s website and did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Airbnb also did not respond to questions about the Teamsters Local 911 endorsement

Representatives for IATSE, which represents entertainment workers, declined to comment. Teamsters Joint Council 42 and IUPAT did not respond to direct inquiries, but both groups provided brief written statements through an Airbnb spokesperson.

“Los Angeles cannot cut its way out of a $1 billion budget deficit at the expense of Angelenos,” said Eric Tate, executive secretary treasurer with Teamsters Joint Council 42 in the statement. “We strongly urge the Los Angeles leaders to pass the 'Save Our Services' proposal now.” Robert Smith, director of government affairs of IUPAT District Council 36 in Southern California also offered support for Airbnb’s plan.

“The [vacation rental revenue] plan is a practical solution that limits the number of new accommodations for travelers while creating millions in new annual revenue for L.A.’s long-term recovery,” he said in a statement.

One of Airbnb's biggest foes in this showdown is Unite Here Local 11, which last week launched its own campaign for a "New Deal" for the 2028 Olympic Games, calling for major investment in new housing units and a moratorium on Airbnb.

Petersen, that union's co-president, told LAist the Airbnb campaign was " a corrupt scheme of stupidity and greed."

Airbnb’s Justin Wesson fired back.

“Airbnb has brought together groups like the NAACP, Community Build, and the Teamsters as L.A. faces yet another crisis,” he said. “Referring to this coalition as ‘stupid’ or ‘greedy’ shows exactly how out of touch Unite Here leadership is. We’ll stay focused on helping to close the city’s budget gap.”

The Federation of Labor did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

National and local organizers are calling on communities to abstain from work, school and shopping Friday in recognition of May Day.

The “economic blackout” is modeled after January protests in Minnesota following the surge of immigration enforcement and shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens.

“Our vision includes an economy that works for everyone with a living wage, strong labor protections and programs that keep families housed, fed, educated and healthy,” said Francisco Moreno, executive director of the Council of Mexican Federations in North America, in a Tuesday press conference.

The organization is one of more than 100 involved in planning a Los Angeles May Day rally with the theme, “solo el pueblo shuts it down:  no school, no work, no shopping.”

This year’s largest planned gathering starts at MacArthur Park, a longtime hub for day laborers and street vendors. Last July, immigration agents in armored vehicles descended on the park. The ongoing immigration raids and city policies have contributed to the challenges street vendors face.

“Starting there really sends a message that we're here,” said Kristal Romero, press secretary for the  Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. “We're standing with this community, and if you take on one of us, you take on all of us.”

May Day’s history in LA

May Day, sometimes called International Workers' Day, started after an 1886 strike tied to the fight for an eight-hour work day. The protest turned violent after police attacked workers. In the 1990s, L.A. organizers started to connect the labor movement with advocacy for immigrant rights.

This year’s event also marks the 20th anniversary of 2006’s massive rallies in support of immigration reform.

Romero said the Federation has offered training on de-escalation, conflict resolution and non-violent protests and that hundreds of people will act as “peacekeepers” during Friday’s rally and march.

“ A lot of times, folks can get caught in echo chambers and it may really feel hopeless,” Romero said. “The big point of these events is to inspire hope to show people we're all here, we're all fighting for the same thing.”

Los Angeles County

MacArthur Park

Time: 10 a.m.
Location: March begins at the corner of South Park View Street and Wilshire Boulevard and heads toward downtown L.A.
Organizers: Los Angeles May Day Coalition

L.A. City Hall

Time: Noon
Location: City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., downtown L.A.
Organizers: Union del Barrio and the Community Self-Defense Coalition

Boyle Heights

Time: 3 p.m.
Location: Mariachi Plaza, 1831 First St.
Organizers: Centro CSO

Long Beach

Time: 10 a.m.
Location: March starts at The Marketplace, 6501 Pacific Coast Highway, and ends at Mother’s Beach.
Organizers: Long Beach Indivisible, more details here.

San Fernando Valley

Time: 10 a.m.
Location: Northeast corner of Topanga Canyon and Victory Boulevard, Woodland Hills
Organizers: Indivisible Woodland Hills, SF Valley Brigade, others

Santa Clarita

Time: 10 a.m.
Location: 24292 Valencia Blvd.
Organizers: Indivisible CA27

Orange County 

Orange

Time: 3 p.m. rally
Location: City Hall, 300 E. Chapman Ave.

Time: 5 p.m.
Location: Orange Plaza Circle, Chapman Avenue and Glassell Street
Organizers: OC Indivisible Coalition

Santa Ana

Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Sasscer Park, 600 W. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana
Organizers: OC May Day Coalition

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

The LAPD has sharply accelerated its use of drones in policing, including deploying them to protests in the city to survey crowds.

The department conducted 3,030 drone flights to support various calls for police service and 480 for high-risk operations from June through December 2025, according to a presentation provided to the L.A. Board of Police Commissioners Tuesday.

Detective Michael Hackman, manager of the department’s Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems program, told the commissioners that the department has already surpassed that number of flights in the first four months of 2026, indicating LAPD has accelerated the program’s use significantly.

The report comes as activists and media have questioned the department’s use of drones during recent protests against federal immigration enforcement.

The Intercept reported last week that a public portal tracking drone flight data captured the department conducting more than 30 drone flights during the Jan. 31 ICE Out protest in downtown. About the same number of flights were documented during the March 28 No Kings protest. 

Several people at the commission meeting and on social media have made similar statements about seeing drone activity at protests. Some have called on the department to restrict its use of various surveillance technologies, including drones, saying they can be used to identify people vulnerable to the federal government’s immigration enforcement activities. 

“Would you acknowledge that there are concerns in the community regarding privacy issues and whether the drones are used to record activity for the purpose of identifying participants?” Commissioner Teresa Sánchez-Gordon asked on Tuesday.

Hackman responded that the drones flying over peaceful protests aimed to provide the LAPD with “crowd awareness, crowd behavior assessments and crowd size assessments.”

“We’re not interested in recording or filming my face to try and later identify me,” he said.

Hackman added that one of the drone flights at the March 28 protest was in response to a report of a person possibly throwing objects at people and police.

The department’s drone policy states officers cannot use drones to record or photograph “First Amendment assemblies for the purpose of identifying participants not engaged in unlawful conduct.” And Hackman reiterated to the commissioners that the department did not record anyone who was not suspected of any crime, though he did not say if the March 28 drone flight recorded members of the crowd.

Hackman added that the drones operate in much the same way that the department has used police lookouts and helicopters to watch crowds in the past. 

The LAPD launched its Drone as First Responder pilot program last summer, which it said aimed to test deploying unmanned aircraft to calls for service before police officers could arrive. The drones have video and recording capabilities, and LAPD has said they are used to survey scenes to see if people are armed, or if police don’t need to respond at all. That pilot program was later made permanent, and a more than $2 million donation was recently approved by the L.A. City Council to purchase more drones and other equipment.

The Echo Park Neighborhood Council submitted a letter to the City Council last month in opposition to the drone program expansion. 

“LAPD’s track record shows a pattern of misusing existing tools: riot gear, tear gas, and less-lethal ammunition have been deployed against peaceful protesters, World Series celebrators, and ordinary residents,” wrote Windy O’Malley on behalf of the neighborhood council. “There is no demonstrated correlation between LAPD’s continued growth and a safer Los Angeles.”

The vast majority of the 3,000 flights last year were drones that deployed at calls for service before officers, including several hundred flights for training pilots. Additionally, the department’s SWAT team used drones 33 times during various operations. Its bomb and hazardous materials teams used them during seven operations.

Commission President Rasha Gerges Shields asked, in light of department staffing worries, if it was possible to quantify how much money the drone program is saving the department by eliminating officers from some calls.

Hackman said they are working on calculating that, but department officials have estimated, “about 10% of all calls could be handled by the [drones] arriving first on scene.”

The post LAPD is using drones more than ever to watch crowds during protests and respond to calls appeared first on LA Local.

The Federal Communications Commission has ordered The Walt Disney Company's ABC to seek early broadcast license renewals for the eight TV stations it owns.

The move follows criticism from first lady Melania Trump who objected to a joke about her made by late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel. President Donald Trump followed up with a social media post calling for Kimmel to be fired.

As the early license renewal order went out, FCC Chair Brendan Carr criticized ABC's parent company, Disney. Speaking on a podcast hosted by Katie Miller — whose husband is White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — Carr said there are multiple ways the FCC can handle broadcast licenses.

"You can accelerate when a license comes due and say, 'hey, we have significant concerns with the value of conducting your operations. We want to review your license now and decide if you're in the public interest,'" Carr said. "If we find that a broadcast hasn't been doing that, then the statute requires us to issue a hearing designation order."

Carr criticized Disney's diversity, equity and inclusion policies, but did not specifically mention Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The FCC's order comes after Kimmel made a joke during a sketch on his late night show — a mock speech for an alternative White House Correspondents' Dinner. "Our first lady Melania is here. So beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow," Kimmel quipped.

The sketch aired three days before the actual White House Correspondents' Dinner, when a heavily armed man allegedly attempted to enter the ballroom where President Trump and other senior members of the administration were present. The suspect, Cole Allen, was charged Monday with attempting to assassinate the president.

In a post on X, Melania Trump called Kimmel's joke about her "hateful and violent" and urged ABC — which airs his show — to take action.

Kimmel responded on his show the following Monday, defending the joke. "Obviously [it] was a joke about their age difference, and the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together." He said it was a "light roast" and was "not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination. And they know that." Kimmel added that he's been very vocal for many years against gun violence.

This is not the first time, Kimmel, ABC or Disney have faced backlash from the Trump administration. In September, Disney briefly suspended Kimmel's show after the comedian said the "MAGA gang" was trying to score political points from the assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk. The comments prompted a backlash from conservatives, and Carr warned that the FCC could take action against ABC affiliates that continued airing the show.

"Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr said on a podcast hosted by Benny Johnson in September. "These companies can find ways to change conduct … or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."

Kimmel's show was reinstated six days later after leading entertainment figures and even conservatives, including Senator Ted Cruz criticized Kimmel's sidelining.

Now, the FCC is ordering Disney and ABC to file a license renewal application for the stations within 30 days. Those licenses were not scheduled for renewal until 2028 at the earliest.

In a statement, a Disney spokesperson said the company has always complied with FCC rules and is confident it meets the qualifications to remain a license holder.

The new FCC order is drawing scrutiny from Democrats on Capitol Hill and others in Washington. "The FCC has just pulled out a sword to hang over every single news organization in America," Sen. Elizabeth Warren told NPR. "And to say: you report things that Donald Trump doesn't like and your entire station, your entire outfit, your entire business model could just disappear in the blink of an eye."

FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez, the commission's lone Democrat, wrote in a statement, "This is the most egregious action this FCC has taken in violation of the First Amendment to date." The commissioner added, "As part of its ongoing campaign of censorship and control, the White House called publicly for the silencing of a vocal critic, and this FCC has now answered that call."

First Amendment advocates have also weighed in, "this is all an exercise to intimidate broadcasters," Andrew J. Schwartzman, a longtime public interest media lawyer, told NPR.

Schwartzman said the process of early license renewal could take years and could ultimately result in broadcasters losing their licenses, calling it "harassment." He went on to say that, "Brendan Carr knows full well that he lacks any legitimate legal basis for taking action against these broadcasters. He's trying to harass and bludgeon them," Schwartzman said.

Schwartzman is representing a group of former FCC chairs and the Radio Television Digital News Association, which filed a petition in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The group is asking the FCC to repeal its News Distortion policy, which Schwartzman argues is being used to influence coverage, including commentary from figures like Kimmel.
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