The Brief

Three candidates for the job of leading Los Angeles laid out competing visions this week for how they would handle the city’s homelessness crisis and disagreed about Inside Safe — Mayor Karen Bass' program for moving people off the streets.

During part of a two-day forum Monday, Bass defended her signature program, which clears tent encampments by offering motels rooms and other temporary shelter, as well as her administration's record on homelessness.

She promised, if she won a second term, to build a larger temporary shelter system and to fix problems that have slowed payments from the city to nonprofit organizations.

“L.A. has decreased street homelessness two years in a row, 17.5%,” Bass said, speaking to a gathering of homeless-service providers. “The only reason that happened is because of everybody in this room.”

A day later, Councilmember Nithya Raman and tech entrepreneur Adam Miller suggested alternatives to Inside Safe, noting its cost.

Raman said she would scale up a different city program — Time Limited Subsidies, sometimes referred to as rapid rehousing. The program provides temporary rental assistance at about one-third the cost of Inside Safe, according to the city administrative officer.

Miller said he would phase out Inside Safe entirely and replace it with tiny-home villages at a fraction of the price of Bass' program.

Homelessness is a major issue for voters in the June primary. More than 43,000 people remain unhoused in the city of L.A. despite years of record city spending — about $1 billion annually in recent years, according to the City Controller’s Office.

Fourteen candidates are running for L.A. mayor. The top five leading contenders were invited to the forum held in downtown L.A. and hosted by homeless shelter operator Hope the Mission.

Candidates Spencer Pratt and the Rev. Rae Huang declined to participate.

Mayor Karen Bass spoke Monday at the Original Pantry Cafe in downtown L.A. at at event hosted by homeless shelter Hope The Mission.

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Aaron Schrank

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LAist

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Housing First?

The candidates disagreed on “housing first,” an approach to homelessness assistance that prioritizes getting unhoused people into permanent housing without first requiring them to be sober, employed or meet other conditions.

Bass said she believes in the policy but argued the city has applied it too rigidly for decades, leaving people unsheltered while they wait years for permanent housing to be built.

“I agree with the notion of housing first, but I don't think people should be on the street waiting for you to build something,” Bass said.

Raman, an L.A. City Council member since December 2020, said the question isn't what comes first but what each person needs. The biggest gap right now is mental health resources, she said.

“When I see someone who's on the street who has deep mental health challenges, I can't get any help for them,” Raman said. “I can't get somebody out there to help them.”

Miller, who is CEO of homelessness nonprofit Better Angels, said L.A. needs to move away from housing-first policies in favor of more temporary shelters coupled with treatment and other support.

“Housing first doesn't work,” Miller said. “We have to stabilize them in interim housing first with services and then move them to permanent housing.

"That's the only way we're gonna keep people off the street.”

L.A. City Council member Nithya Raman spoke Tuesday at the Original Pantry Cafe downtown.

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Aaron Schrank

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LAist

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Inside Safe

Since late 2022, the city has spent more than $390 million on Inside Safe to clear 121 homeless encampments and place about 5,800 people into interim housing, according to the regional Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA.

About 25% of those people are currently living in permanent housing, according to LAHSA. About 30% of them reside in temporary shelters. About 40% have returned to homelessness.

According to a February report by Los Angeles' city administrative officer, the average nightly cost of an Inside Safe motel room is about $225.81, or roughly $82,420 a year. That’s compared to $86.37 per night for other shelter options.

Bass defended the program but said it needs to bring down costs. She said she’s exploring the possibility of building and operating shelter sites on city-owned land to reduce leasing costs.

Raman said people are staying in temporary shelter for more than a year — comparing it to being left in an emergency room.

“I believe in encampment resolution,” she said. “What I don't believe in is bringing people indoors and then just leaving them there with no support and no resources.”

Miller said he would try a different approach, tiny-home villages, but acknowledged that ending Inside Safe would take time.

“You can't turn it off Day 1 because we’d have too many people that are back on the street,” he said.

The average construction cost of a tiny-home village is about $42,000 per unit, according to the nonprofit A-Mark Foundation.

Adam Miller, CEO of homelessness nonprofit Better Angels, argues L.A. needs a political outsider to get the homelessness crisis under control.

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Aaron Schrank

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LAist

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Ending homelessness 

Each of the candidates expressed a desire to make big reductions in the city's unhoused population over the next few years, and perhaps eliminate it entirely.

Bass pointed to a 17.5% reduction in street homelessness over two years and said her goal for a second term is to end unsheltered homelessness — meaning those living on the streets — not just manage it.

“There's no reason for us to have street homelessness by the end of the next four years,” she said. “There just really isn't.”

Raman said she shares that ambition. She had already pledged to reduce street homelessness by at least 50% before the 2028 Olympics and "eliminate long-term encampments."

“I think we can end street homelessness in this city," she said, "but we cannot just pay lip service to it.”

Miller’s campaign platform includes a goal to reduce street homelessness by 60% and reduce homeless encampments by 80%. Miller has not previously held an elected government office, but he argued the city needs fresh leadership more than it needs political experience.

“L.A. has lost hope,” he said. "We need to have the belief that this is a problem that can and should be solved.”

The primary is June 2. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters will advance to face each other in a November runoff.

Federal immigration agents detained at least two people late Friday outside Adventist White Memorial Hospital in Boyle Heights, where protesters had gathered after reports of immigration enforcement activity, according to rapid response groups. Protesters remained at the hospital into the early hours of Saturday, where immigration agents maintained a large presence.

It appears the incident began after people witnessed someone being detained and taken into the hospital before a crowd of protesters came to rally against ICE agents, according to Raquel Roman, executive director of Proyecto Pastoral and member of the Boyle Heights Immigrant Rights Network.  

That’s when ICE agents detained two protesters who are U.S. citizens, Roman said. 

Video posted on social media appears to show one person being detained. In the video, at least three officers in tactical vests are seen detaining someone at the intersection of Boyle and Pennsylvania Avenues around 11:30 p.m.

A group of about six more officers in tactical vests and masks can be seen walking around the area as another, whose vest says “Police ICE,” yells at the person recording to “back up” and “do not impede with the arrest.”

“You’re arresting U.S. citizens,” the person recording says. “18 USC 111, they’re interfering,” the officer replies, referring to Title 18, Section 111 of the U.S. Code: Assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees. 

In the video, a bystander who says the person being arrested is his brother can be seen speaking to the officer. 

“Your brother assaulted a federal agent. He’s being arrested for assaulting a federal agent; he’s coming with us,” the officer tells them. 

Boyle Heights Beat reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for more information about the incident but has not yet received a response.

The Los Angeles Police Department was first called to the scene at 11:59 p.m. to respond to a “large group causing a disturbance,” according to LAPD Officer Norma Eisenman. LAPD responded again at 2:24 a.m. as crowds continued to gather outside of the hospital. 

“Officers responded to maintain public safety and keep the peace. At no point did LAPD officers assist federal immigration authorities with enforcement activities or detain any individuals in connection with immigration enforcement,” Eisenman said. 

Video posted on social media by Izzy Ramirez shows a line of agents blocking the emergency loading dock around 2:30 a.m. as a crowd continues to shout at the agents and make noise.

“It was horrible for the local community. The ICE presence was a lot more than I’ve seen it visibly before,” said Roman. 

Japhet De Oliveira, corporate communications executive at Adventist Health, shared the following statement:

“Federal agents brought a person in their custody to our emergency department, and we cared for that patient with dignity and privacy, as we do for every patient. When agents formed a line across our ambulance entrance, which we did not request nor authorize, we diverted ambulances to nearby hospitals for about two hours to ensure every patient received timely care. White Memorial does not participate in immigration enforcement. We know last night frightened our neighbors. No matter what happens outside our doors, everyone who comes inside is our patient, and our focus will only be on that patient, and it will not change.”

Doctors at Adventist White Memorial last year reported that ICE agents were violating the privacy rights of detained patients and prohibiting contact with patients’ family members. While the hospital released guidelines to protect patients and support staff,  doctors and advocates have said they fall short.

Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents Boyle Heights, said she was “deeply troubled” by the reports overnight and demanded answers from hospital leadership. 

“I am calling on Adventist Health White Memorial to publicly disclose its agreements with ICE and end any voluntary medical-services contract with the agency. Every patient, including anyone in federal custody, must continue to receive appropriate, uninterrupted medical care. Hospital leadership must take immediate, concrete steps to protect patient privacy, support healthcare workers who advocate for their patients, and ensure that medical decisions remain with patients and their care teams.”

The Boyle Heights Immigrant Rights Network will lead a protest against ICE outside White Memorial at 2 p.m. Saturday.

ICE activity was also reported near Mariachi Plaza at 5:50 a.m. Saturday, according to witnesses, and outside the East LA Sheriff’s Station, where agents have been seen detaining people in the LA County- designated ICE-Free zone.

This is a developing story and will be updated. 

The post ICE detains two U.S. citizens protesting outside White Memorial Hospital, rapid response groups say appeared first on LA Local.

A California appeals court has found that “ER” and “The Pitt” have enough similarity that a lawsuit brought by the widow and estate of “ER” creator Michael Crichton alleging “The Pitt” is an unauthorized reboot can move forward.

A three-judge panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled unanimously on Wednesday that the trial court judge was correct to reject a motion to throw out the case from “The Pitt” production company Warner Bros. Television, which also produced “ER.” But the judges dismissed Noah Wyle — the star of both shows and a producer on “The Pitt” — as a defendant along with two other producers who worked on both series.

The lawsuit is a clash between the makers of multiple Emmy-winning TV series that were each among the most important and acclaimed shows of their eras.

Crichton, the author of “Jurassic Park” and many other novels that became hit movies and TV shows, wrote the pilot script for “ER,” the NBC show about a Chicago emergency room that redefined the medical drama genre and drew tens of millions of weekly viewers in its run from 1994 to 2009.

The lawsuit brought by Sherri Crichton was filed two years ago, before a single episode of “The Pitt” had aired. The HBO Max series that shows a real-time day in the life of a Pittsburgh emergency department has since become perhaps the most lauded series in television, winning two Emmys for best drama for its first two seasons and two best actor Emmys for Wyle.

Along with more technical legal issues, the judges had to decide whether the shows had at least the minimal similarity that would give the lawsuit enough merit to move forward. Their decision applies only to this early legal challenge and they did not rule on whether the plaintiffs had proved the “The Pitt” is derivative of “ER.”

The court agreed with the plaintiff that “both shows provide commentaries on the healthcare system; they focus specifically on the emergency room and the difficult conditions under which the medical staff operates. Both shows take place, with little exception, in the emergency room, as opposed to other medical shows which track patients as they move out of the emergency room, or indeed never enter it.”

The opinion also said that both feature “very fast pacing, and reactions to multiple overlapping crises. The fast-paced dialogue is (to a layperson) frequently incomprehensible shorthand and jargon, lending an air of immediacy and accuracy.”

Warner Bros. Television said in a statement that “WBTV continues to maintain that ‘The Pitt’ is an entirely original series and that the claims against it are without merit. Nothing in the Court of Appeal’s decision establishes otherwise, and WBTV looks forward to defending its position as the case proceeds.”

The defendants argued in legal filings that the shows have “generic similarities” that would exist in “any dramatic story” that features “overworked doctors and staff.”

The panel also unanimously dismissed as defendants Wyle, John Wells, who created “The Pitt” and worked on “ER,” and R. Scott Gemmill, a “Pitt” executive producer who also worked on both shows. The judges found there was no evidence the three men knew the provisions of the Crichton contract that the lawsuit alleges they interfered with.

Sherri Crichton’s lawsuit alleges “The Pitt” is a rebranded version of an unauthorized “ER” reboot that she had rejected.

Her husband had secured a coveted “frozen rights” provision in his contract for the series, prohibiting Warner Bros. from proceeding with any sequels, remakes, spinoffs or other productions derived from “ER” without Crichton’s consent, or his estate’s consent after his death from cancer in 2008.

After the production company could not reach an agreement with Sherri Crichton over a proposed “ER” reboot, the TV studio proceeded to develop and produce a series based on the same premise without permission, the lawsuit alleges.

People may have been getting high off cannabis earlier than previously thought — at least 2,800 years ago, a new study suggests.

Archaeologists who led a dig at a monumental tomb in Siberia said they turned up evidence of the earliest known use of cannabis for psychoactive purposes.

The findings point to cannabis consumption at least 300 years earlier than previously known use in neighboring China.

Ancient drug use has long intrigued scholars. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote about inhabitants of Central Asia smoking cannabis around 440 B.C., and recent archaeologists have found the seeds in tombs across its highlands.

The team from Germany, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland said analysis of hair in the royal tomb where cannabis seeds turned up sheds new light on the plant’s role in ancient societies.

“It’s extremely rare that we have both preserved plant parts and human soft tissue with the active compounds in it in the same context,” said co-author Gino Caspari, an archaeologist at the University of Bern.

It’s not clear whether the cannabis was consumed through inhalation or ingestion, he said.

The dig took place starting in 2017 at a large burial mound at the Tunnug 1 site in the Uyuk Valley of southern Siberia, home to one of the earliest monumental tombs showing material culture of the Scythians — ancient nomads who migrated from Central Asia to southern Russia and Ukraine.

The team, deployed “essentially out in the middle of nowhere,” lived in tents for months and faced a spring-to-autumn season that variously featured swamps, snowstorms, frosts and swarms of mosquitoes. Herds of horses ran freely across the grassy steppe.

Larger artifacts on the site include weapons in the burials, horse gear and animal-style motifs. But the team “struck gold” as it also found tiny black spots that turned out to be cannabis seeds along with preserved human hair, Caspari said.

“It’s only so often as an archaeologist that you do get to drug test a person that’s been dead for almost 3,000 years,” he said.

Radiocarbon dating on some of the more than 1,000 seeds helped establish the time of origin, and “they are not there by accident” but deposited within the tomb, suggesting that the plant material had significance in the community, he said.

Results were published Thursday in the journal Science.

Not all independent experts were convinced.

The hair analysis “is scientifically weak” and there’s not enough evidence to tell whether cannabis was used, wrote Volker Auwaerter, head of the forensic toxicology section at the University Medical Center in Freiburg, Germany, in an email.

“For a central part of the study, the article falls far short of what would have been possible,” Auwaerter said. “This matters because the hair data carry the abstract’s main claims (cannabis consumption and use for its psychoactive properties).”

Today, scholars don’t consider ancient accounts trustworthy without corroborating evidence. Because the cannabis plant has other uses — seeds are pressed for oil and fibers used for cloth — their presence alone doesn’t confirm drug use.

Auwaerter, who was not part of the study, said the data didn’t distinguish consumption from external exposure — in other words, the hair could have picked up traces of weed simply by being buried together with it. He said a lab test involving forensic toxicology expertise would have been advisable and easy to arrange.

But Elisa Guerra Doce of the University of Valladolid in Spain, who has written about use of consciousness-altering substances in European prehistory, said toxicological hair analysis was not new in archaeology and has been used to identify consumption of psychoactive substances. She was not involved in the study.

In an email, she credited the authors for showing, through their methodology, that “cannabis was not merely deposited as a funerary offering but was actually consumed by individuals associated with the burial rite.”

Micki Boden wanted a wedding cake that checked off a couple of big boxes — personalized and tasty. Instead of a traditional tiered cake, the San Fernando Valley native went with a favorite from her school days.

“My favorite cake of all time is the coffee cake that I ate through my entire K-12 education going to LAUSD public school,” Boden said.

Boden attended elementary school in Studio City and middle school in Sherman Oaks before graduating from a Reseda high school.

Boden and her husband, Matt Stollman, met in 2016 while working on the reality television show Big Brother and eventually started dating. The two got engaged in 2025.

With the groom’s family traveling from the East Coast for their wedding in October, the couple wanted to provide a uniquely L.A. experience.

Micki Boden and Matt Stollman cut into their LAUSD coffee cake wedding cake.

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Micki Boden

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“We wanted something that was gonna be fun, that was gonna be memorable for people,” Boden said.

They held their wedding at the Valley Relics Museum in Van Nuys, surrounded by San Fernando Valley memorabilia, and got a California favorite — an In-N-Out truck — to serve guests.

The search for a cake that fit 

But when it came to the wedding cake, the couple struggled to find something suitable. Neither Boden nor Stollman liked frosting, and traditional wedding cakes didn’t excite them.

“We explored the more traditional tiered cake setup, and it just wasn’t meshing well,” Boden said.

Boden kept returning to the coffee cake she ate throughout her years in public school. Los Angeles Unified School District had published its official recipe online, but she wasn’t confident she could bake it herself. So she reached out to the district to ask for help.

The Stollman's wedding cake, decorated by the chef at Mulholland Middle School in Lake Balboa, sits in a pastry box.

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Micki Boden

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How LAUSD made it happen 

Thomas Cohen, a public relations representative at the district, and Manish Singh, the director of food services, arranged for a chef at Mulholland Middle School in Lake Balboa to prepare the wedding cake. The chef also shaped part of the cake into a heart just for the couple.

Singh said the district doesn’t take cake orders from the public — but made this exception.

“We were doing it just to make one of our Angelenos, an ex-LAUSD student, make her special day even more special,” Singh said.

For the bride, it was the icing on her big day.

“I think it’s all just part of being an L.A. student,” she said. “The fact that we have these amazing memories from childhood, I think it’s just so meaningful for a lot of people.”