The Brief

Long Beach was recently recognized as one of the country’s top digital cities for its digital equity work and programming, something officials say is an effort that won’t lose steam in 2026 despite federal funding cuts.

The survey was from the national research and advisory institute, the Center for Digital Government, which focuses on policies and practices in state and local governments. Long Beach was among five cities nationwide to grab high marks in the Digital Cities Survey, which looks at how local governments use technology to address social challenges.

Lea Erikson, Long Beach’s director of technology, credited the recognition to the city’s approach to digital equity.

“We're not relying on federal funds to advance our work. And so even though it does definitely minimize what we can do, I'm really proud of what we have been able to do despite that,” Erikson said.

Why was Long Beach named? 

Over the years, the coastal L.A. County city has grown into an epicenter for digital equity to grant more residents access to the internet.

According to the survey, the city advanced digital equity, among other things, through programs such as its “Pitch Long Beach!” — an initiative that allows the public to submit pitches on how to implement and explore technology as a way to improve city services.

Long Beach has also partnered with the California Emerging Technology Fund to launch a multilingual internet service enrollment hotline to help residents navigate telehealth, job searching and online learning.

“One of the things I think makes Long Beach a leader in this space is we have a dedicated staff to digital inclusion, and they're not dependent on federal funds, so they're actually funded by local government resources,” Erikson said.

Why are programs at risk? 

In May, the Trump administration canceled the $2.75 billion Digital Equity Act, which the president called “racist” and “illegal.”

The cancellation put a stop to programs all over the country, including digital courses for seniors and laptop distributions in rural areas.

The Federal Communications Commission voted in September to end E-Rate discounts to libraries and schools for hotspot lending and school bus Wi-Fi. Officials said the initiatives “exceeded” or were “inconsistent” with the commission's authority. This decision effectively shut off funding for digital loaning programs.

Locally, the repercussions were felt instantly. Los Angeles County Library announced it would sunset its laptop and Wi-Fi hotspot lending programs shortly after the decision.

What are officials saying for 2026 and beyond? 

Erikson said federal headwinds won’t stop the city’s digital equity work.

The city is working to create its own fiber-optic network by 2027 to offer free Wi-Fi in public places in an effort to save residents money and get them online.

“We're hoping to have that go out to bid … next year. We would hopefully have that done in about a two-year timeframe, so it might be a little delayed, but we have local funding for that as well,” Erikson said.

Sophie Kinsella, who wrote the massively popular Shopaholic book series, has died. The writer, whose real name was Madeleine Sophie Wickham, was 55 years old. Last year, she announced she had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in 2022.

Her death was announced on Instagram on Wednesday: "Despite her illness, which she bore with unimaginable courage, Sophie counted herself truly blessed — to have such wonderful family and friends and to have had the extraordinary success of her writing career. She took nothing for granted and was forever grateful for the love she received."

Kinsella's novels were a sensation; they sold tens of millions of copies and were translated into dozens of languages. The first two books in the Shopaholic series were adapted into the 2009 movie Confessions of a Shopaholic, starring Isla Fisher.

In an NPR interview from 2019, she said her novels focused on young women and their travails, even though she was herself a mother with five children.

"I just think there's something exciting about the time of life where you're on the lookout for opportunities in all directions. You're looking at your career. You're looking at finding someone to love. Everything is ahead of you," she said. "And for me, the — kind of the wide, open horizon is so exciting. There is something exhilarating about meeting a stranger in a coffee shop and thinking, 'Where's this going to go?'"

Copyright 2025 NPR

After the January fires, thousands of Southern Californians suddenly faced having to apply for FEMA assistance and battle insurance companies to rebuild what was lost.

Faculty, students and volunteers at Pepperdine University were on the ground within days of the Eaton and Palisades fires offering free legal assistance and relaunching the Disaster Relief Clinic, which provided pro bono services after the Thomas and Woolsey fires in 2017 and 2018.

Since then, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law's Disaster Relief Clinic has assisted more than 300 fire survivors, according to the university. The clinic has helped recover at least $750,000 in FEMA assistance and millions more from insurance claims.

“We provide really good legal help for people that have been damaged by the fire[s],” David A. DeJute, the clinic’s director, told LAist. “It makes me feel like I'm providing something of value and worth back to the community.”

About the clinic

The clinic is designed to help fire survivors with a wide variety of legal issues they may face as they go through the recovery and rebuilding process, including having to find rental housing, working with remediation companies to clean up ash and navigating insurance policy limits.

Pepperdine University faculty, students and volunteers were on the ground within days of January's fires, offering free legal assistance to survivors.

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Courtesy Pepperdine University

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DeJute, who’s also an adjunct professor with Pepperdine’s law school, said the weeks after the fires were a “little like triage” as the clinic focused on helping people prioritize their next steps.

“When you have someone in your family die, you experience trauma and shock and remorse, and nobody is surprised that it affects your mood and your ability to process information,” he said. “Same thing happens when you've lost your home.”

DeJute said some of the most common legal issues that come up at the clinic have to do with FEMA applications, landlords and price gouging.

If a survivor needs more help than the clinic can handle, like with litigation, it will refer them to other lawyers who’ve agreed to take clients pro bono, according to Pepperdine.

The clinic also has trained around 600 lawyers to bring free legal services to their own communities after a disaster, according to the university. DeJute said that includes a student who stepped in to help after the deadly flash flooding in Texas this summer.

A survivor’s story

Pergrin Jung’s family home was “completely destroyed” in the Palisades Fire in what he described to LAist as “the worst days of our lives.”

Jung, like many other survivors, wasn’t sure how to start picking up the pieces.

“Not only were we in a state of shock,” he said. “But also, none of us really knew what the next steps would be.”

Jung reached out for help with an insurance claim for his homeowner’s policy and said the clinic was a “staple” every step of the way. He said students and staff helped explain the legal system, gave feedback on letters he sent to the insurance company and guided his strategy throughout the process.

“Having this resource made all the difference to us,” Jung said. “They were invaluable.”

Educational experience

The clinic is run by Pepperdine faculty, staff and law students who get hands-on experience operating as attorneys under DeJute’s supervision.

The students are tasked with communicating with clients, diving into details of their legal needs, pushing back against price gouging and managing issues with mortgage companies, to name a few.

Taylor Wedlock, a third-year law student, said the clinic was an opportunity to do her part for the community, especially after her father, an L.A. fire captain, spent about a week fighting the Palisades Fire.

“We weren't just doing FEMA appeals or applications,” she told LAist. “We're going to … help to get this survivor his instruments back so he can so he can start his, you know, his musical career again.”

Wedlock said the clinic helps students apply what they learn in law school textbooks and lectures while exploring the more personal aspect of being a lawyer.

Wedlock recalled the relief in her client’s voice when she got approved for FEMA rental assistance after more than six months of denials, for example. She said she considers that one of her major wins of the semester.

“It may seem impossible to come back from such devastation, but there are options,” Wedlock said. “There are a lot of people who are willing to help.”

How to get involved

People seeking disaster-related legal assistance from the clinic can fill out the request form here. (Please note: A staff attorney or law student will respond to each request, but filling out the form doesn’t create an attorney-client relationship, according to Pepperdine.)

The clinic also has online resources available, including advice on dealing with FEMA and insurance, as well as training for attorneys looking to provide pro bono legal services in their communities.

Los Angeles police officers used more than 1,000 less-lethal munitions and wounded six protesters on June 8, according to a state-mandated report released by the department.

The protests continued, along with the LAPD’s use of crowd control munitions, but the department has missed the deadline for several reports required by state law.

LAPD used less-lethal munitions for crowd control on at least four separate days in June — including the first “No Kings” protest on June 14 — and has not published reports on those incidents.

Court documents identify more than a dozen people who were struck by less-lethal munitions between June 9 and June 14. At least four were hospitalized for their injuries. The LAPD has posted video evidence of officers launching volleys of 40mm rounds and tear gas at protesters, but the only new report of crowd control weapons being used after June 8 is from an incident months later on Oct. 25.

The delay puts the LAPD in violation of Assembly Bill 48, a law that went into effect in 2022 to regulate the use of crowd control weapons like 40mm launchers, pepper balls and tear gas. All agencies that use those weapons for crowd control are required to follow up by reporting the reason the weapons were needed, how many were used and how many injuries they caused. The reports must be posted publicly to the agency’s website within 60 days in most cases, or 90 days if an extension is justified.

In a statement, the LAPD acknowledged that the department is “currently outside the 90-day public posting requirement,” saying the delay “stems from the extraordinary volume and complexity of incidents that occurred during that period.”

The department added that the forms will be posted to their website after internal review.

Hundreds of other California law enforcement agencies do not appear to follow AB 48’s reporting requirements, as LAist reported in September, reflecting what experts said was a lack of enforcement mechanism in the law.

In a statement to LAist, City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez called on the LAPD to produce the reports required by state law.

“As we face federal raids that brutalize our communities without transparency or accountability, the City of LA cannot mirror those same tactics,” the statement said. “We must act with moral clarity and protect our residents by fully complying with disclosure laws.”

Critical Incidents

The LAPD has released video evidence documenting three “critical incidents” in which people were sent to the hospital after less-lethal munitions were used against them.

State law requires law enforcement agencies to release any video recordings of incidents where either a firearm is discharged or use of force leads to serious injury or death. The LAPD posts these videos and written descriptions of the incidents on their website.

Two of the released videos show police officers shooting people in the head with 40mm rounds, though AB 48 bans aiming less-lethal rounds at the head, neck, or any other vital organs. The third shows a protester shot multiple times by less-lethal munitions before he was arrested and taken to the hospital for a fractured finger.

One video shows Marshall Woodruff, an L.A. photographer and filmmaker, get struck in both the arm and the face by less-lethal rounds as LAPD officers let loose dozens of rounds toward protesters on June 14.

In video and written descriptions of the incident, the LAPD claims the crowd began assaulting officers by throwing objects, including rocks and bottles, leading to the use of less-lethal munitions. In body camera footage made public by the department, it appears at least one object was thrown toward the officers from somewhere in the crowd.

Woodruff later told reporters he needed “four or five” hours of surgery to repair damage to his eye.

That same day, police officers shot Jack Kearns in the back of the head as he was running away. The department says in written and video descriptions of the incident that he broke through their skirmish line. Court records filed by the L.A. chapter of Black Lives Matter allege that Kearns was not noticed by police until he was nearly a block away and moving in the opposite direction.

Blood can be seen on the back of Kearns’ baseball cap in the video as he asks officers to call a medic.

Kearns told reporters in June that he suffered brain bleeding and was in the hospital for three days.

A few days earlier, on June 10, Daniel Robert Bill was shot multiple times by less-lethal munitions before he was arrested and taken to the hospital for a fractured finger.

In body camera video released by LAPD, Bill is seen standing still in front of an LAPD skirmish line when officers began to push him back with batons and opened fire with less-lethal launchers.

The police department has been accused of using less-lethal munitions against members of the media after June 8, including the use of a 40mm round that struck Australian reporter Lauren Tomasi on June 9.

A lawsuit by the L.A. Press Corps and news outlet Status Coup has identified 12 members of the media, including Tomasi, who are alleged to have been struck by less-lethal rounds from June 9 through June 14.

None of those incidents have been reported as required by AB 48.

Concerns about potential misuse

The L.A. City Council voted last week to continue allowing the LAPD to use 40mm less-lethal launchers and tear gas.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell argued in council chambers that such weapons are a "de-escalation tool” that reduces the need of the department to use deadly force.

Some civil rights attorneys and other experts have told LAist they believe the LAPD’s use of less-lethal munitions against protesters has gone too far.

Adrienna Wong, a senior staff attorney with ACLU SoCal, told LAist in June that the indiscriminate use of force against protesters that month violated the law and the First Amendment rights of demonstrators.

“We have seen evidence that kinetic projectiles and chemical agents have been used indiscriminately, have injured people that have been protesting peacefully, are journalists or are in a crowd of people, and that seems to violate the express purpose of these laws,” Wong said.

Jeff Wenninger is a former LAPD lieutenant who led a unit that investigated all officer-involved shootings and use-of-force cases from 2013 until his retirement in 2024. He told LAist he thinks the LAPD has been too quick to use less-lethal munitions.

He pointed out that one of the two circumstances where less-lethal force is allowed is in response to a risk of serious bodily injury or death, which is the same as the requirement for lethal force.

The other allowed circumstance, according to AB 48, is to “bring an objectively dangerous and unlawful situation safely and effectively under control.”

Wenninger said the law requires officers to have specific targets when using these weapons, rather than indiscriminately deploying them to disperse crowds.

“ A lot of the articulation and the justification for [less-lethal force] being used tends to suggest to me that law enforcement agencies don't actually really understand the law,” Wenninger told LAist.

Long-term pain

While they are called “less-lethal,” crowd control munitions can cause serious injury or death.

Martin Santoyo has filed a lawsuit against the LAPD for allegedly shooting him in the groin with a 40mm launcher from just feet away.

Santoyo has said in court documents that he was “lawfully exercising his First Amendment right to protest and posed no risk of harm to anyone.” Then, Santoyo claims, an officer intentionally shot him suddenly and without warning “from within several feet.”

He required emergency surgery on his testicles after he was shot, according to court documents, and he said he has endured months of “tremendous physical pain.”

Will Horowitz, a lawyer for Santoyo, told LAist his client needed a month of recovery before he was able to return to work.

The city of L.A. can also expect to feel some fiscal pain when lawsuits alleging misuse of these less-lethal munitions make their way through courtrooms and settlement negotiations.

Santoyo’s civil lawsuit includes accusations of negligence, assault, battery and violations of his constitutional rights. As cases like his mount, so will the potential liability payments that have already been rapidly increasing in recent years.