The Brief

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has been called to testify before Congress for an investigation into “potential waste, fraud, and abuse” of federal homelessness funding.

The House of Representatives Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency sent a letter to Bass Wednesday about its concerns with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, specifically “reports of blatant corruption” in LAHSA’s contracting process and "potential misallocation" of federal dollars.

“Homelessness in California is a long-standing problem, most notoriously in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles,” the letter signed by chairman Tim Burchett states. “The problem has grown worse during your tenure as mayor.”

LAHSA told LAist it consistently welcomes audits and external assessments to continually improve its work, and none of the reviews have ever found evidence of fraud or corruption.

"Both internal and independent audits have recommended operational enhancements, and LAHSA has delivered demonstrable progress," a spokesperson for the agency said in an email. "This improvement is reflected in key performance indicators across vital system components, including interim housing occupancy and permanent housing utilization rates."

Bass’ office didn’t immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

What does the letter say?

The mayor is being asked to testify Sept. 15 on Capitol Hill for a hearing called "Fixing Fraud and Failure in Federally Funded Homelessness Services.”

The subcommittee is also asking for years worth of documents, including specific communications between the mayor’s office, LAHSA and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors going back to 2020.

Two of LAist’s articles were cited in the letter, including last year’s reporting on LAHSA’s former top official Va Lecia Adams Kellum.

LAist discovered through public records requests that Adams Kellum signed a $2.1 million contract and two other contract amendments with Upward Bound House, the Santa Monica-based nonprofit where her husband worked in senior leadership. A LAHSA spokesperson told LAist at the time that the contracts had inadvertently ended up in front of Adams Kellum to sign.

The backstory

LAHSA and the Trump administration are in a legal battle over federal homelessness funding, after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development suspended LAHSA from federal grant activity in June, citing alleged mismanagement by the agency.

A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction on the suspension last month, with HUD Secretary Scott Turner vowing on social media to “fight this legally.”

A trial is scheduled to start in February.

Santa Monica College has money problems. Spending has outpaced revenues over the last three fiscal years. And the college doesn’t have enough in its coffers to pay for retirement benefits.

That’s according to the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, the body responsible for evaluating community colleges. The organization has moved to “enhanced fiscal monitoring” of SMC.

In a statement to LAist, Mac Powell, president of ACCJC, said, “Enhanced monitoring is part of the Commission’s routine annual process for identifying and working with institutions that may be experiencing financial pressures; it is not, by itself, an accreditation sanction or adverse action.”

More than 25,000 students are enrolled at SMC, with over 50% identifying as first generation. The school has around 320 full-time faculty and 852 part-time faculty. On their website, SMC touts itself as the “#1 Transfer College” to University of California schools, Loyola Marymount University and the University of Southern California.

In a letter to Santa Monica College informing them of the increased monitoring, ACCJC Vice President Melynie Schiel wrote that a three-year decline of the ending cash balance and multiple open labor agreements factored into the “at risk” designation.

Santa Monica College declined an interview with LAist. But in a post online, Santa Monica College President Kathryn Jeffery wrote that the at-risk category was largely “backward-looking.”

So what does ‘enhanced fiscal monitoring’ mean?

Gaining accreditation from a body like the ACCJC allows SMC to qualify for federal funding and to distribute financial aid to students.

Every year, institutions accredited by the ACCJC submit financial information, including reserves, operating revenues and deficits, salary and benefit costs, enrollment trends and audit findings.

If institutions fall in the “at risk” category like Santa Monica College, they are placed on increased monitoring. This helps ACCJC “better understand the circumstances, remain informed about the institution’s response, and track progress over time,” Powell said.

During this time, ACCJC staffers will meet with representatives from Santa Monica College “and the institution provides information regarding the circumstances contributing to its fiscal condition and the actions it is taking in response,” Powell said.

Is SMC’s accreditation at risk?

In short: No.

“Santa Monica College is accredited by ACCJC and, at this time, is not in danger of losing its accreditation, nor is an adverse accreditation action by the Commission currently anticipated,” Powell said. “The purpose of enhanced monitoring is precisely to identify concerns early and provide appropriate oversight while institutions work to address them.”

Are there any other colleges in Southern California in the same boat?

Powell said ACCJC typically doesn't make public whether a college is subject to increased monitoring.

“We are aware that Santa Monica College has chosen to publicly disclose its own fiscal monitoring status. That disclosure was made independently by the institution and does not reflect a change in ACCJC's policy regarding the confidentiality of this information for other member institutions,” Powell added.

What is Santa Monica College doing to address their fiscal woes?

Jeffery wrote in a memo to employees posted on the college website that the at-risk rating “does not account for far-reaching actions the College has taken since,” noting actions like layoffs and contract non-renewals, employee furloughs and salary freezes; and cutting vacant positions.

Amid a growing nationwide backlash against license-plate cameras, California this week, for the fifth year running, failed to enact regulations on the technology.

A bill in the Legislature would have strengthened privacy protections on how license plate data is collected and shared. It also would have guarded against misuse of automated license plate readers by law enforcement officers.

But after clearing the state senate the bill was stopped in the Assembly by majority leader Cecilia Aguilar-Curry on Monday, the final day the Legislature meets this year, before it could be introduced for a floor vote. It was one of a handful of bills that enjoyed strong support from lawmakers and looked poised to pass but died under mysterious circumstances.

All the bills California lawmakers have proposed since 2022 to reform or update regulations on license plate tracking by law enforcement agencies have failed to pass or become law. A similar bill passed last year but was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“It’s a really disappointing outcome at a time when there is bipartisan concern about this mass surveillance tool,” UC Berkeley Center for Law & Technology codirector Catherine Crump told CalMatters. Crump testified in support of the bill in July.

Lawmakers pushing for more regulation of the readers point to police misuse of the data they collect, including illegally using it to help federal immigration enforcers and stalking people.

But law enforcement agencies say many of the proposed regulations would cripple a tool they say has helped solve a wide range of crimes.

“We were concerned that this bill was going to limit the utility of ALPR data to solve crimes, find missing persons, exonerate innocent individuals, and so the fact that it did not pass, we're glad for that,” California State Sheriff’s Association legislative director Cory Salzillo told CalMatters.

Mounting privacy concerns

Failure to pass the bill or even bring it up for a final vote comes at a time when opposition to license plate readers is growing in and beyond California. Police in Los Angeles and Redwood City and elected officials in California localities like El Cerrito and Campbell have ended contracts with the license plate reader company Flock Safety in recent weeks. Nationwide, more than 200 cities or law enforcement agencies ended license plate reader contracts in August, more than any other month since 2021, according to Secure Justice, a group led by Brian Hofer, a Bay Area privacy advocate who was held at gunpoint after a license plate reader incorrectly told sheriff’s deputies he was driving a stolen car.

License plate readers use cameras and artificial intelligence to log the plate numbers of passing cars. The readers are joined into networks used by law enforcement and information from them can be shared locally or nationwide. The tech can locate criminal suspects or missing persons, but it’s also been tied to police misconduct and immigration enforcement in violation of state law. More than 230 California police or sheriff’s departments currently use license plate readers, according to bill author Senator Sabrina Cervantes, a Democrat from Riverside.

An automated license plate recognition camera near an orchard along Avenue 7 ½ outside of Firebaugh on Aug. 26, 2026.

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Larry Valenzuela

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CalMatters

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“It’s unfortunate that Senate Bill 1013 did not get the chance to be voted on before the deadline passed, but I look forward to continuing to fight for the privacy rights of Californians next year,” she wrote in a statement shared with CalMatters.

Cervantes argued in July that protections in the bill are necessary to prevent unlawful data sharing, because license plate readers routinely collect information about the movement of millions of law-abiding Californians, and to stop other forms of police misconduct. Lawmakers say license plate readers were unlawfully used by law enforcement officers to stalk or harass private citizens in Los Angeles, Marin, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, and Shasta counties.

Enforcement agencies outside of California have put the technology to even more controversial use. Oakland activist Crystal Zermeño, who attended a protest against the technology outside City Hall last month, said she’s concerned about the tech being used to track women who get abortions or by federal authorities. After Cervantes’ bill died, she asked, “How could we not as a state have the political will to do this in a moment when all of these [federal immigration enforcement] attacks are happening and we have limited defense?”

Cervantes’ Senate Bill 1013 would have restricted state law enforcement agencies to using license plate data only for locating criminal suspects or missing people, would have made police take privacy and cybersecurity training, would have restricted sharing with national databases by default, and would have required the attorney general’s office carry out random audits of license plate reader activity for misuse.

Had the bill come up for a vote, it still might have died, given support for the readers as tools of law and order. Nearly 40 law enforcement agencies and police unions opposed the bill.

Regulations in the measure had already been weakened, trading a requirement that police delete license plate data after 30 days for one that they “archive” it after 60 days, at which point they would need to obtain a warrant to search the data, unless it was connected to an active investigation or vehicle hunt. Police argued that old license plate data had helped solve cold cases and missing people investigations, and some, like the California State Sheriff’s Association, opposed the bill even after it was watered down. Newsom vetoed last year’s bill in part because it would have ordered police to delete license plate data after 60 days.

CalMatters reporting last year and this year found that local law enforcement agencies across Southern California repeatedly shared information with federal immigration agencies, a violation of a state law. A 2020 state audit and investigation by Attorney General Rob Bonta found similar violations of state law that prohibits sharing license plate reader data with out-of-state or federal law enforcement agencies. Since June 2024 the California Attorney General’s Office has contacted 18 law enforcement agencies about possible or known violations of Senate Bill 34 and filed a lawsuit against the city of El Cajon near San Diego to stop the practice.

There are roughly 70 documented instances nationwide where police officers misused automated license plate readers to do things like track their wives, stalk formal partners or pursue love interests, according to the Washington Post, including former Riverside County sheriff’s deputy Alexander Vanny, who used Flock to stalk his former fiancée and was sentenced to six years in prison in February.

The technology can also inaccurately label some drivers as criminal suspects, leading to potentially violent confrontations. A Los Angeles Police Department audit released in July found that one out of three vehicles identified as stolen by Flock cameras were inaccurately identified.

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

While Labor Day is meant to celebrate your hard-earned time off from work, many people mark it with a barbecue — which often means manning the grill while everyone else relaxes with a plate and a cold beverage.

This year, let someone else handle the shopping, the setup and the cleanup — but you still get to do the grilling. We found three spots around L.A. and Orange County where the whole point is cooking your own meat, no backyard or grocery shopping required.

Venice Room (Monterey Park)

The Venice Room's vintage neon sign has marked the Monterey Park dive bar and steakhouse since 1955.

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Courtesy The Venice Room

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If you're from the San Gabriel Valley/East L.A. area, there's a good chance you know The Venice Room. Open since 1955, it's an old-school Italian-themed dive bar/steakhouse. In other words, heaven on earth.

The move is to order an NY strip or ribeye, and they'll hand you raw-cut beef, plus a potato and garlic bread, which you grill yourself on one of the gas grills in the back. Don't forget the seasoning at the prep bar, 'cause no one wants a bland steak.

Vibe: Think dim lighting, warm leatherette red booths, weekend karaoke and plenty of regulars — ex-bikers and retired cops rubbing elbows — belting out their own versions of War's "Slippin’ Into Darkness”.

Price: $25-35 for a steak dinner; "for 2" special with house wine runs about $75-79

Thien An Bo 7 Mon (Garden Grove)

Thien An Bo 7 Mon has served Little Saigon's bò 7 món for over three decades.

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Courtesy Thien An Bò 7 Món

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The Little Saigon institution, Thien An Bo 7 Mon, has built a reputation around bò 7 món, the Vietnamese "seven courses of beef" tasting menu. While that kind of menu is common at similar restaurants, what makes the version at Thien An Bo 7 Mon unique are the two courses that call for a hands-on approach.

That starts with bò nhúng dấm, where you cook thin slices of beef yourself in a simmering vinegar hot pot, along with bò nướng sa tế, lemongrass-marinated beef that you grill tableside on a small cast-iron grill. Just make sure to leave room for the remaining five courses.

A spread from Thien An Bo 7 Mon's bò 7 món, the "seven courses of beef" tasting menu that's made the Little Saigon spot a Garden Grove institution.

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Ben Wishner

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Courtesy Thien An Bo 7 Mon'

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Vibe: Family-owned since 1989, the warm, lively dining room is great for big groups and feeding a crowd. Expect long tables, lots of family celebrations and friendly, helpful staff who will walk you through each course if it's your first time.

Price: The seven-course beef runs around $21.99 per person; expect a full bill closer to $30 a head once you add sides and drinks, or go the extra mile and order their famous baked catfish (which starts around $50 for a whole fish).

Dollar Hits (Historic Filipinotown and West Covina)

Be transported to a street party in Manila.

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Courtesy Dollar Hits

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The Filipino street-food-stall-meets-buffet, which has been running since 2013, is one of my favorite L.A. dining experiences. Where else can you enjoy $1.50 skewers you've grilled yourself in a parking lot while gazing up at the DTLA skyline, contemplating these moments of greatness as an Angeleno?

Choices include pork, chicken, offal cuts, and items such as kwek-kwek (deep-fried, hard-boiled eggs) and longaniza. The move: grab skewers from inside, pay and then head out to the charcoal grills set up in the parking lot to cook them yourself.

Customers grill their own skewers over open flame on the sidewalk outside Dollar Hits.

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Brandon Killman

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LAist

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Vibe: Long communal tables, red plastic stools, charcoal smoke drifting through the parking lot, families and big groups crowding in late — it can feel like you've been transported to a street party in Manila.

Price: Most skewers run $1.50 each; easy to eat well for $10-15 a person, though it adds up fast if you're loading up a table for a crowd. The L.A. location also offers cafeteria-style lunch combos under $12 before 2 p.m.

A bill to clarify how schools should spend California’s $1 billion annual investment in arts education is headed for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk after legislators reached a compromise with a champion of the original initiative.

“I’m delighted to come to an agreement that will further arts education for kids in California,” said Austin Beutner, former superintendent of Los Angeles Unified and chief architect behind Proposition 28, California’s ambitious vision for music, theater, drama and fine art in K-12 schools.

The bill, AB 2440, seeks to streamline and clarify some of the finer points of Prop. 28, which voters overwhelmingly passed in 2022. Prop. 28 requires schools to use their new arts funding to supplement – not replace – existing programs. But schools’ confusion over Prop. 28 rules had led dozens of districts to return their arts money to the state, for fear of spending it incorrectly and getting sued.

That was the case with Los Angeles Unified, which Beutner sued in 2025, claiming the district cut existing arts programs and replaced them using Prop. 28 money – an allegation the district denies. That case is pending in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Clarifying Prop. 28

AB 2440, by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Democrat from Torrance, aims to allay schools’ apprehension about spending their arts money. Among other things, the bill more closely aligns Prop. 28 with the state’s existing arts framework, so schools would have an exact definition of what constitutes an arts class.

The bill also makes clear that schools can pool their Prop. 28 money and share arts teachers and other resources. And it addresses murky issues such as whether arts funding from outside groups, such as band boosters or nonprofits, counts as part of schools’ existing arts budgets.

Beutner originally balked at the bill when he learned of it, saying it “gutted” the intent of Prop. 28 by giving schools too much leeway in how they spent their money. He feared that more districts would use Prop. 28 money to backfill cuts to existing programs, rather than add to the overall arts offerings.

His opposition threatened to derail the bill, but he and the bill’s supporters reached a compromise after news coverage in CalMatters and other outlets. The new version of the bill contains the line: “The local education agency shall certify that all provisions of (Proposition 28) have been implemented at each of its school sites.”

‘This will mean more art’

That amended language was enough to satisfy Beutner, who withdrew his opposition in mid-August.

“My hope is that this causes districts to further reflect on whether they’re in compliance with Prop. 28,” Beutner said. “I’m delighted we were able to collaborate on this.”

The bill passed unanimously.

Kyle Holmes, director of statewide arts initiatives for California County Superintendents, a prominent supporter of Muratsuchi’s bill, said he’s thrilled it appears headed for passage.

“For kids, this will mean more art,” Holmes said. “That’s the heart of this bill, making sure schools have better access to Prop. 28 funds, giving schools the clarity they need to get funding to students.”

Prop. 28 still has a few obstacles, though. A big one is finding arts teachers. Some districts have had arts teacher vacancies for six months or more, as the existing supply hasn’t met the demand. A recent Stanford Research Institute study found a shortfall of 5,000 arts teachers in California.

“We’re seeing more and more colleges offering credential programs for the arts,” Holmes said. “But more young people need to know that if you’re interested in teaching the arts there’s a clear pathway to a high-paying career.”

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