The Brief

Long Beach could be home to a new minor league baseball team as soon as the 2026 season after the City Council unanimously voted on Tuesday to kickstart the process.

The approved motion creates a partnership with the city, Long Beach State and team officials to bring the Long Beach Baseball Club to Blair Field.

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said the move could unify the city and boost the local economy.

“This isn’t shifting a team from somewhere else to here,” Richardson said. “It’s creating a brand new professional baseball team for Long Beach.”

He said the move could also open the door for other professional sports teams to the coastal city, such as women’s basketball, soccer and more.

Long Beach’s history of playing ball

A minor league team in Long Beach is not new; it’s been tried several times before.

The latest was the Long Beach Armadas, which played in the city between 2005 and 2009. Before that, between 1995 and 2003, the Long Beach Riptides planted roots in the city, as well as the Long Beach Breakers in the early 2000s.

The city has also seen a number of great players, including:

• Jered Weaver, a three-time MLB All-Star pitcher and played for the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim and the San Diego Padres.
• Bobby Grich, former second baseman for the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim.
• Evan Longoria, who played for the Long Beach State Dirtbags and went on to become a three-time MLB All-Star.
• Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn went to the World Series twice with the San Diego Padres. 

Richardson says baseball runs deep in the city.

“In this moment, we think bringing a professional team to Long Beach will do a lot to inspire future generations, but also just to instill more unity and inspiration in our community,” Richardson said.

What we know about the partnership 

The city is facilitating the partnership with Long Beach State and baseball team officials for the use of Blair Field, which is home to CSULB’s Dirtbags.

“We remain open to conversations with the city and other third parties about additional uses of Bohl Diamond at Blair Field that complement the use of the stadium,” said Bobby Smitheran, CSULB’s executive director of athletics.

According to Richardson, the draft aims to identify, address and minimize any neighborhood concerns.

It is unclear how much the partnership will cost the city, but any “financial impacts” will be outlined in a report. That drafted proposal must be approved by the council. According to city staff, a date hasn’t been set for consideration.

Background on the future club

The Long Beach Baseball Club ownership group includes Oakland Ballers co-founders Bryan Carmel and Paul Freedman. Each team is independently owned and operated within the Pioneer Baseball League, which is a Major League Baseball partner league and not an affiliate.

If the team is formed, it could be the 13th team added to the league roster.

The Oakland Ballers have already seen major success and fan turnout, according to Carmel.

“For us, we had the recipe and it felt like this is the perfect place to try to bring the same kind of approach to a pro baseball team,” Carmel said at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

What’s the reaction been? 

Long Beach resident and former Major League Baseball player, Chase d’Arnaud, said the future team could keep the game alive.

“My brother and I would go and watch minor league games there. We’d bring our gloves, we’d get autographs … We trained there, we dreamed there,” d’Arnaud said. “Blair Field is where serious baseball players from this region grow up wanting to play.”

Richardson said the energy in the city has shifted since announcing the move to bring professional baseball to Long Beach.

“People love sports. They love baseball, and they want to root for the home team in Long Beach,” Richardson said. “There's an identity, there's a culture, there's a grit associated with this city. And so this is the right step for us.”

Bringing high-level baseball to Blair Field, d’Arnaud added, will give the community something special.

“It gives kids role models. It brings families back together at the ballpark,” d’Arnaud said. “And it keeps the dream alive for the next generation.”

With California electric rates stuck at nearly the highest in the nation, the state’s utility regulator is poised to lower the payout shareholders can receive from California’s three large investor-owned power companies.

In a proposed decision, the California Public Utilities Commission recommended dropping the “return on equity” by 0.35% each for Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric. If approved, shareholders of all three companies would see a potential return next year of just under 10%. Such returns for PG&E and Edison haven’t dipped below double digits in at least 20 years.

Utilities said the decline would affect their ability to bring in needed investment for their work. Critics of the decision said that the decline is too small to meaningfully impact ratepayers’ bills, even if it’s a step in the right direction.

“California and other [public utility commissions] authorize rates of return that are far in excess of the statutory requirement,” said Mark Ellis, former chief economist at Sempra, which owns San Diego Gas & Electric.

The California Public Utility Commission is expected to vote on the decision in December.

Californians pay the second-highest electric rates in the U.S. after Hawaii, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. A number of factors go into those rates, including wildfire mitigation costs. PG&E in particular has attracted the ire of California customers for its frequent rate hikes within the last year.

Baked into those bills is the return on equity, money meant to compensate shareholders for the risk of doing business. These shareholder return rates are set by each state’s utility regulators and hover nationally around 10%. If approved, PG&E’s rate would be 9.93% (down from 10.28%), Edison would be 9.98% (down from 10.33%), and San Diego Gas & Electric would be 9.88% (down from 10.23%). These rates are not automatically guaranteed – utilities can fall short of this return if they don’t keep down costs, such as project overruns or unexpected lawsuit fees.

A small change in this rate can be a difference of millions of dollars for ratepayers. The return is a percentage of the rate base, the total value of a utility’s assets it can earn a return on; this includes projects such as building a new power plant, for example. The rate bases for California’s three large investor-owned utilities have steadily grown each year as they add new customers and projects, increasing the amount that shareholders can receive.

PG&E, for example, had a 10% shareholder return in 2023, a possible return of about $125 million. Had it been 1% lower, the potential return would have been $12.5 million less.

“The proposed cost of capital decision needs refinement to better reflect California’s unique risks and market realities,” said Edison spokesperson Jeff Monford. “Making those refinements in the final decision will enhance SCE’s ability to finance essential infrastructure projects for a more reliable, resilient and ready electric grid.”

PG&E spokesperson Jennifer Robison echoed this sentiment, saying the decision “fails to acknowledge current elevated risks to help attract the needed investment for California’s energy systems.”

Anthony Wagner, spokesperson at San Diego Gas & Electric, said, “A decision that accurately reflects these realities is essential to enabling investments that reduce wildfire risk, strengthen reliability, replace aging infrastructure and advance California’s clean energy transition for the benefit of the communities we serve.”

Utilities routinely request these rates be pushed higher because they are a key part of what goes into utilities’ credit rating, affecting the interest they pay on loans for infrastructure investments. But in recent years, experts and consumer advocates point to a mismatch – the utility industry is typically considered low-risk, but critics say the shareholder return rates don’t reflect that. Rates for U.S. 10-year treasury bonds, which are considered the benchmark for a risk-free investment, are about half of the national average for approved utility shareholder return rates. And it’s costing utility ratepayers across the country as much as $7 billion annually, according to academics.

Ellis, the former Sempra economist, said there is a way to lower shareholder returns while keeping customer bills in check and maintaining credit ratings that the commission has not yet explored – changing the balance of debt and equity each utility has.

“You really need to understand credit,” he said. “This is where they’re going to get you.”

The commission is allowed to set the debt-equity balance when it determines shareholder returns, but it left this unchanged for all three utilities in its proposed decision for 2026. Keeping shareholder return rates high as the main means for keeping credit ratings up, Ellis said, unnecessarily burdens ratepayers.

A little-noticed provision in the sweeping "One Big Beautiful" legislation enacted by the GOP over the summer sharply limits the amount of federal student loans that students earning professional degrees — including medical school — can borrow.

It also imposes even stricter borrowing caps for other health fields including nursing and public health. The Education Department does not consider graduate education in those fields "professional" education, though officials described that as a technical and regulatory decision, rather than a value judgment.

The loan changes will hit next July when an open-ended federal loan program known as Grad PLUS will stop making new loans. From that point on, med students won't be able to borrow more than $50,000 a year — or more than $200,000 over the four years. Many private med schools already cost north of $300,000, including living expenses.

"That will automatically give a lot of people some pause to think about where they're accepted and what their finances are," said Vineet Arora, vice dean of education, at the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine.

Given that most medical students already come from the upper 40% of family income, Arora added, "we already have fewer medical students coming from sort of middle class and lower income families." Lack of access to loans, she said, may well skew it even more.

On top of those new restrictions, a federal regulation posted October 30 — already facing a court challenge — adds new conditions to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which enables health workers who work in high needs areas and make payments for 10 years to erase debt.

The new Trump administration policy said loan forgiveness won't be an option for people working for an entity engaging in, among other things, illegal activities involving immigration, gender-affirming care, or "terrorism" aimed at "obstructing or influencing" federal policy. It will be up to the Education Secretary to decide which organizations will be ineligible.

These limits on how aspiring doctors or other health providers — nurses, occupational therapists, social workers, dentists and more — can finance their education likely foretell a more affluent, and less diverse, health care work force in the future, said Atul Grover, who recently stepped down from his long-time policy post at the Association of American Medical Colleges. He is now a visiting scholar at Stanford and a health sector consultant.

But champions of the legislation, including Senate HELP Committee chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy, who put forth a version of this legislation earlier this year, have argued that it will bring about changes in higher ed financing that will push down tuition costs and protect people beginning careers from "from drowning in debt."

These new loan changes come on top of a slew of recent court rulings and administration policies that crack down on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in higher ed.

Grover said the new policies will "disproportionately discourage and decrease the likelihood" that students from lower income families attend — or even apply — to med school.

"Once you tell them, 'Oh, you're going to have to borrow $300,000 to go to med school,' they're like, well, that's out, right?'" Grover said.

Narrowing who can afford medical education

Since the landmark June 2023 Supreme Court ruling banning consideration of race in admissions, Black and Latino enrollment to medical school has dropped.

That trend, and the new Trump administration policies, could mean fewer young doctors practicing in underserved communities, both rural and urban. Some new doctors will of course still choose to practice there, including some who themselves grew up in such communities. But many may feel like they have to choose high-paying specialties over primary care to get out from piles of loans.

The Association of American Medical Colleges said the new loan limits will likely worsen the physician shortage, already forecast to hit up to 86,000 doctors by 2036 — on top of existing shortfalls in underserved communities.

"If future medical students face greater financial barriers — especially those from low-income, rural, or first-generation backgrounds — we risk shrinking the supply of qualified applicants. Fewer students entering medical school now means fewer residents and practicing physicians later," the AAMC said in an emailed statement.

The AAMC declined further comment, as did several administrators and spokespeople for med schools.

Along with physicians, the changes will affect students in dentistry, and various advanced pharmacy and psychology degrees considered professionals, along with chiropractors and podiatrists, according to an Education Department memo.

But advanced nursing degrees, along with health practitioners like occupational and physical therapists, are not on that list. And for these "nonprofessional" graduate school tracks, the annual loan limits would be $20,500. Organizations representing those practices hope to win some changes in policy before the regulations are finalized but they have not been successful during months of debate.

"Misinformation on TikTok has caused confusion about the Trump Administration's ongoing actions to implement student loan caps for graduate students," The Department of Education's Press Secretary for Higher Education Elle Keast said in a statement Monday. "The Trump Administration is implementing long-needed loan limits on graduate loans to drive down the cost of programs."

Nurses disagree.

"At a time when health care in our country faces a historic nurse shortage and rising demands, limiting nurses' access to funding for graduate education threatens the very foundation of patient care," American Nurses Association president Jennifer Menik Kennedy said in a statement. "In many communities across the country, particularly in rural and underserved areas, advanced practice registered nurses ensure access to essential, high-quality care."

Benefits of a diverse health care workforce

Making graduate training in the health professions less attainable could change the makeup of the health care work force.

That runs counter to mounting evidence, outlined in a major National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine report last year called Ending Unequal Treatment , that a health care work force that looks like America is actually good for America's health.

It's not that a white doctor or nurse can't provide excellent care to a Black or Latino or Asian patient — or vice versa. That happens each and every day. But shared experience, the racial, linguistic and cultural matches between patient and provider known as "concordance," can improve doctor-patient communication. Some data show it improves patients' ability to manage chronic conditions like diabetes or hypertension.

"What the data says is that when we have a diverse and inclusive workforce that is representative of the populations that are served, that we actually see improved health outcomes," said Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, executive director of the Institute for Policy Solutions at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, who served on the National Academies panel.

"Across all the health professions," he said, "we see that there's underrepresentation in terms of the people that need providers who can bring to their practice their sort of lived experience." That can include speaking languages in addition to English to enhance communication with patients.

According to data from the AAMC and its osteopathic medicine counterpart reported in JAMA Network Open, since the 2023 Supreme Court ruling incoming Black or African American student enrollment fell 11.6% and Latino by 10.8%. Asian and White student enrollment rose.

A number of universities run assorted "pipeline" enrichment programs to help high school students, or even younger kids, explore and prepare for careers in science and medicine. Some of those are still ongoing, and structured to avoiding running afoul of the DEI rules.

But an approach that med schools used after the Supreme Court, sometimes called "holistic admissions," ran into opposition from the Trump administration. The idea was to look broadly at med school applicants -- at those who may have overcome adversity for instance, not just those with the highest MCAT scores.

That was encouraged under the Biden administration. But President Donald Trump in August issued a "presidential memoranda" outlining how the Department of Education should crack down on "overt and hidden racial proxies."

"Greater transparency is essential to exposing unlawful practices and ultimately ridding society of shameful, dangerous racial hierarchies," Trump wrote.

Many health educators say the primary problem though, is the high cost of education for health fields.

Champions of the changes, including Cassidy and the Department of Education, argue that as borrowing is limited, the pressure will mount on schools to cut tuition.

But some in the education field say that while they too would like to see education become more affordable, they don't think these policies will achieve that. With NIH support under threat, taxes rising on endowments on some large prestigious universities,, and feuds between the administration and elite institutions relief is not likely, Guilamo-Ramos noted

But more affordable education, he said, would be good for students – and good for patients.

"One way that we can optimize health for everyone and save money is by ensuring that we have the best workforce, which means it being representative and then motivating people, all different kinds of people, to pursue careers in health and not only ones that would be the most lucrative."

Copyright 2025 NPR

The century-old partnership between the U.S. military and Scouting could be coming to an end.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is planning for the military to sever all ties with Scouting America, saying the group once known as the Boy Scouts is no longer a meritocracy and has become an organization designed to "attack boy-friendly spaces," according to documents reviewed by NPR.

In a draft memo to Congress, which sources shared with NPR but which has not yet been sent, Hegseth criticizes Scouting for being "genderless" and for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

The military has provided support to the Scouts for more than 100 years, assistance that was formalized in 1937. But in one memo, Hegseth says, "The organization once endorsed by President Theodore Roosevelt no longer supports the future of American boys."

The proposal calls for the Pentagon to no longer provide medical and logistical aid to the National Jamboree, which brings in as many as 20,000 scouts to a remote site in West Virginia. It also states that the military will no longer allow Scout troops to meet at military installations in the U.S. and abroad, where many bases have active Scout programs.

A source told NPR the documents were being prepared at the Pentagon to communicate Hegseth's decision to Congress, but that they had not been sent yet. The source requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the documents.

In response to an inquiry from NPR, the Pentagon sent a statement attributed to "a War Department official" saying they wouldn't comment on "leaked documents that we cannot authenticate and that may be pre-decisional."

Scouting America released a statement saying the organization is proud of its long affiliation with the military and will work to continue it.

"Scouting is and has always been a nonpartisan organization," the statement read. "Over more than a century, we've worked constructively with every U.S. presidential administration — Democratic and Republican — focusing on our common goal of building future leaders grounded in integrity, responsibility, and community service."

Congress requires the Pentagon to support the scouting program's Jamboree, a gathering of thousands of young scouts held every three or four years. The U.S. military lends trucks, ambulances and medical teams, and puts on aviation and skydiving demonstrations, all at no cost to the Scouts. For the military, it's both a training exercise and an opportunity to recruit highly motivated, civic-minded kids.

But the law includes an exemption: the Secretary of Defense can withhold support  if he determines providing it would be "detrimental to national security."

Drafts of a report to Congress obtained by NPR show Hegseth invoking that clause — accusing Scouting America of fostering "gender confusion."

His memo to the House and Senate Armed Services committees argues the Scouts have strayed from their mission to "cultivate masculine values." It also claims that with international conflicts and a tight budget, sending troops, doctors and vehicles to a 10-day youth event would harm national security by diverting resources from border operations and protecting U.S. territory.

President Trump waves to the crowd after his speech during the National Boy Scout Jamboree in 2017.

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Saul Loeb

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AFP/Getty Images

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President Trump, the honorary leader of Scouting America by nature of his elected office, praised the crowd at the Jamboree in West Virginia in 2017. "The United States has no better citizens than its Boy Scouts. No better," the president told the crowd. He pointed out that 10 of his cabinet members were former Scouts.

Hegseth was never a Boy Scout, and has said he grew up in a church-based youth group that focuses on memorizing Bible verses. Last year, as a Fox News host, he complained about the Scouts changing their name and admitting girls back in 2018.

"The Boy Scouts has been cratering itself for quite some time," Hegseth said. "This is an institution the left didn't control. They didn't want to improve it. They wanted to destroy it or dilute it into something that stood for nothing."

What Hegseth says about the Scouts echoes his moves at the Pentagon, cutting DEI programs and firing some senior female and African-American officers, while suggesting diversity hires weaken the organization.

A draft memo to top Pentagon leaders about Scouting America, which was also shared with NPR, picked up on that theme. "Scouting America has undergone a significant transformation," the memo states. "It is no longer a meritocracy which holds its members accountable to meet high standards."

NBC first reported in April that the Pentagon was considering breaking with Scouting America, citing sources familiar with the move. In a statement to NBC, Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's chief spokesman, said, "Secretary Hegseth and his Public Affairs team thoroughly review partnerships and engagements to ensure they align with the President's agenda and advance our mission."

Banning Scout troops from meeting on military bases in the U.S. and overseas troubles Kenny Green. He's a retired Army Staff Sergeant who served as a sniper in Iraq and is the parent of three Scouts — two girls and a boy. Because of his military service, his family has moved frequently.

"We went from Louisiana to Alaska. From Alaska to Germany. From Germany to Texas," he said. But at every military base there was a Scout troop that could help ease the transition to a new home. "We don't have to say a word to them, let them go see the other kids, and they'll be immediately integrated in."

Green was surprised by the proposal to cut all Pentagon ties with the Scouts.

"It's gonna be kind of harsh the way I say this… It's kind of like they don't care about us more than they care about their perceived message. Scouting… It probably is not a perfect organization, but … I can't even say how vast their benefits are, especially for military families."

Scouting has long been a part of military recruiting efforts. As many as 20 percent of cadets and midshipmen at the service academies are Eagle Scouts, according to statistics from Scouting America. Moreover, enlistees who've earned Eagle get advanced military rank and better pay. That practice would end.

The potential impact is causing friction at the Pentagon. In one memo sent to the department's Undersecretary for Policy Elbridge Colby, Navy Secretary John Phelan warns the proposed new policy might be "too restrictive." Up to a third of the Navy's officers in training, he writes, have some scouting background.

"Passive support to Scouting America through access to military installations and educational opportunities aboard said installations serve as a crucial recruiting and community engagement tool for the [Navy]," Phelan wrote in the memo, which NPR also viewed. "Prohibition of access could be detrimental to recruitment and accession efforts across the department."

Whether Hegseth's argument — that supporting the Jamboree and allowing Scout troops on military bases harms national security — will pass muster with Congress is unclear. But the statute also requires the report be submitted "in a timely manner." Planning for next summer's Jamboree is already well underway.

Included in the documents NPR reviewed is a draft letter to the head of Scouting America, informing him that the Secretary has disapproved the use of DoD personnel and equipment for the Jamboree - detailing what will not be available. It concludes, "You have our best wishes for a safe and successful National Scout Jamboree."

Copyright 2025 NPR

After 15 years starring in CBS sitcoms like Mike & Molly, Bob Hearts Abishola, and Young Sheldon, Billy Gardell is back doing what he’s always done best: stand-up comedy.

The actor and comedian brings his “Less Is More Tour” to the Shore Forum Theatre in Thousand Oaks on Friday. He shared details about his 173-pound weight loss, why he’s rooting for Gen Z, and what he thinks we all have in common on LAist’s Morning Edition.

Once a standup, always a standup

Gardell’s been doing standup for almost four decades. But even after all that TV success, he couldn’t stay away from the stage.

“During my second show, Bob Hearts Abishola, I thought maybe I’m done with standup,” he said. But then he went to see a friend perform at the Irvine Improv and got “that weird twitch” in his shoulder. He said his wife immediately knew he was going back.

Rooting for Gen Z

Part of Gardell’s act focuses on his 22-year-old son and the challenges young people face today. He said, unlike some comedians, he’s not here to bash the young’uns.

“They’re dealing with stuff that we never dealt with,” he said. “Look, I’m from Gen X. We were feral cats, and we overcompensated and raised a generation of house cats. Now we can’t be upset that they’re not great at dealing with stuff.”

Finding what connects us

Gardell steers clear of politics in his act. He said he focuses on the human condition. With AI looming and social media fracturing our sense of community, he sees “an erosion of decency and kindness.”

“When you give an opinion, you’re just lecturing somebody,” he said. “But when you share experience, now you’re including somebody.”

So what does he think we all have in common?

"We're just looking for a hand to hold, a roof to live under, and a job to pay for it. And when you keep it that simple, you bring people together," he said.

The show closes with an homage to his father, weaving together stories about love, forgiveness, and common sense — what Gardell calls “connective tissue” that people are “thirsty for.”

The “Less Is More Tour” will be at the Shore Forum Theatre in Thousand Oaks on Friday. Get tickets here.