Yusra Farzan
covers Orange County and its 34 cities, watching those long meetings — boards, councils and more — so you don’t have to.
Published January 3, 2025 12:45 PM
Huntington Beach, CA - January 16: Huntington Beach Mayor Grace Van Der Mark listens to speakers from Protect Huntington Beach during a Huntington Beach City Council meeting in Huntington Beach City Hall Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag
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Los Angeles Times
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Topline:
A jury trial set for August could decide if the city of Huntington Beach switches to district elections.
What's currently in play: Currently, Huntington Beach elections use the at-large method, where residents cast ballots for all City Council members. If the city is forced to switch to the by-district method, residents will only vote for a councilmember who lives within their geographic area.
Why now: In May, the nonprofit Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and Victor Valladares, a Huntington Beach resident, filed a lawsuit against the city alleging the at-large method has led to “vote dilution for Latino residents and has denied them effective political participation in elections.”
A jury trial set for August could decide if the city of Huntington Beach switches to district elections.
Currently, Huntington Beach elections use the at-large method, where residents cast ballots for all City Council members. If the city is forced to switch to the by-district method, residents will only vote for a councilmember who lives within their geographic area.
In May, the nonprofit Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and Victor Valladares, a Huntington Beach resident, filed a lawsuit against the city alleging the at-large method has led to “vote dilution for Latino residents and has denied them effective political participation in elections.”
The city has argued that Latino candidates like Tito Ortiz and Gracey Van Der Mark were successfully elected to office and is refusing to switch to by-district elections.
A spokesperson for the city did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What the lawsuit says
Kevin Shenkman, the attorney representing Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and Valladares, said the two Latinos elected to the City Council in recent years were not preferred by Latino voters in the city.
“Huntington Beach is a political mess. It's just not a well functioning city government,” he said. “It is controlled and subject to the whim of the most extreme factions and I think that's both a symptom of the at-large election system and also why the city of Huntington Beach has taken this approach so far.”
By-district elections, he added, ensures every neighborhood and community is represented, resulting in decisions that better reflect all constituents.
Valladares is the executive director of the Oak View ComUNIDAD. The neighborhood, he said, has been neglected and bypassed for years, plagued by health and environmental concerns from an open landfill.
“It's very well documented that the city is against affordable housing,” Valladares said. “Well, we know in our community, there's people that are doubled up or tripled up living in need of access to affordable housing and these folks are not listening to constituents in the community.”
Move to by-district elections
In recent elections, Irvine and Cypress used the by-district method for the first time. And in recent years, other cities in Orange County, including Anaheim, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Tustin, Westminster, Los Alamitos and Las Palma, have made the switch to district elections under threats of lawsuits by Shenkman.
Highs in the 90s and 100s will be with us all week
Matthew Ballinger
is the senior editor for climate and environment coverage at LAist.
Published March 16, 2026 10:36 AM
Extreme heat is coming again to Southern California this week.
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Angel Di Bilio/Getty Images
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iStockphoto
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Topline:
A rare March heat wave is pushing temperatures 20 to 35 degrees above normal — from Big Sur all the way to San Diego. The National Weather Service is warning Californians to take precautions, such as avoiding strenuous activity in the hottest hours of the day, to prevent heat illness.
This heat wave will be with us for a while: the highest temperatures will be Tuesday through Friday.
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National Weather Service
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Why now: The heat wave is here, and the hottest weather is forecast for Tuesday through Friday. At the beaches, temperatures will approach or exceed 90 degrees, according to the latest National Weather Service. Inland, expect high 90s or even low 100s.
Heat warnings and advisories
Heat warnings and advisories will be in effect at least through Friday for much of California.
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National Weather Service
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Orange and San Diego counties are under heat advisories or extreme heat watches through Friday.
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National Weather Service
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Why it matters: Extreme temperatures can cause heat exhaustion and heat stroke, which can be deadly. If a person becomes confused, dizzy or loses consciousness, it's time to call 911. This rare March heat event could also break temperature records.
What to do:Stay as cool as you can — seek out air conditioning, wear loose-fitting clothing and avoid strenuous activity in the heat of the day. Stay hydrated, as well: drink lots of water, and avoid caffeine and alcohol.
Make plans now to prevent heat illness.
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National Weather Service
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What's next: We'll have to wait for the weekend for relief. Expect slight cooling Saturday, and then noticeably cooler weather on Sunday.
Food and miscellaneous flea market vendors at the El Salvador Corridor along Vermont Ave. at 12th St. in the Pico Union neighborhood.
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Gary Coronado
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The LA Local
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Topline:
Even with fears of immigration raids and falling sales, vendors in the El Salvador Corridor say they feel safer working together in a large group.
The backstory: The corridor, especially the sidewalk along Vermont Avenue where most vendors set up tents, serves a mix of local residents and visitors who come specifically for lunch, drawn by pupusas, raspados, fruit, and other goods. In early November, federal agents carried out a major immigration raid, detaining several vendors and prompting others to quickly pack up and flee. Videos shared on social media showed people abandoning their stands as officers moved through the streets. The disruption, vendors say, continues to hang over the street and hurts business.
One example: Maria Godoy, one of the vendors of the corridor, said vendors have relied on a WhatsApp group text maintained by the Koreatown chapter of the LA Tenants Union’s Koreatown and the rapid response group Union del Barrio. The messaging services comes alive when there is ICE activity to warn people in the community.
Read on... for more about how street vendors on this corridor are working together.
Like many vendors along the El Salvador Corridor in Pico Union, Maria Godoy sells goods alongside others on the sidewalk of Vermont Avenue between 11th and 12th streets. Being together offers some sense of solidarity, she said, but fear still lingers.
“With the other vendors, I feel more supported because we’re all together, but there’s also fear that at any moment ICE could come bother us,” Godoy said. “They might come back, so we’re always on alert.”
Some vendors have their papers — permanent resident cards — while others are undocumented. Whatever their status, the vendors are worried about the next immigration sweep that could come through their corner of the world.
Godoy said vendors have relied on a WhatsApp group text maintained by the Koreatown chapter of the LA Tenants Union’s Koreatown and the rapid response group Union del Barrio. The messaging services comes alive when there is ICE activity to warn people in the community.
The corridor, especially the sidewalk along Vermont Avenue where most vendors set up tents, serves a mix of local residents and visitors who come specifically for lunch, drawn by pupusas, raspados, fruit, and other goods.
In early November, federal agents carried out a major immigration raid, detaining several vendors and prompting others to quickly pack up and flee. Videos shared on social media showed people abandoning their stands as officers moved through the streets.
The disruption, vendors say, continues to hang over the street and hurts business.
Street vendor Beatriz arrived in Los Angeles from El Salvador. She sells a variety of fruits and vegetables, including strawberries, mangoes, and pineapples, along 12th street and Vermont Avenue also known as the El Salvador Corridor.
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Marina Peña
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The LA Local
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For more than a decade, Godoy has sold vitamins, cold medicines and arthritis creams along the corridor, many of them products from Mexico and Central America that are hard to find elsewhere in Los Angeles.
But the 52‑year‑old vendor said business has sharply declined in recent months. Her sales, she estimates, have dropped about 60 percent since August.
“The situation is really bad. The economy has gone down a lot and for those of us who run small businesses, sales have dropped just too much. We used to have a lot of tourists who would come, but not anymore,” Godoy said. “This is all we have to survive. We have to pay rent, bills, we always pay taxes, and now we’re not making enough to pay those taxes. Now we’re working and just able to cover the rent.”
The cost of buying items has also increased, Godoy said, but in the current economy she can’t pass those additional costs on to customers.
“People get used to the prices and they notice when something goes up, so we can’t always charge them more because they won’t buy it,” she said.
The only products for which her sales have remained steady are cold and flu medicines.
Another woman, who The LA Local is not naming because she is undocumented, arrived in Los Angeles about a year and a half ago from El Salvador. The single mother began selling fruit along the corridor in December and the possibility of an immigration raid affects her daily work, she said.
She explained how vendors have organized themselves to protect one another.
“Among ourselves, vendors, we are taking care of each other. We have made ways to protect ourselves. If we see something, we warn each other. If something happens, we’re ready to get together and link arms so that if they take one, they take all of us. If they see a van, someone already warns,” she said.
She sells mangoes, strawberries, pineapples, oranges, mandarins, coconuts, tomatoes and honey — items locals continue to seek out, especially in warm weather — but like Godoy, she said that “sales are slow because people are afraid to go out.”
Lorena Lopez, another vendor, sells ceviche made with clams, shrimp, and octopus along the corridor. Before that, the 45-year-old sold pupusas and yuca. She has been working there since 2013 and said that having many vendors around has both upsides and drawbacks.
The El Salvador Corridor along Vermont Ave. in the Pico Union neighborhood on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
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Gary Coronado
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The LA Local
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“If I feel like people are looking out for me, I really feel at ease. It helps a lot and makes me feel safer,” Lopez said. “When there aren’t many vendors here, there are fewer customers. It feels better when more vendors are around, watching out for each other. But at the same time, with more of us here, there’s more competition for customers.”
To help small businesses recover from the economic impact, Los Angeles County started the Small Business Resiliency Fund. The program, run by the Department of Economic Opportunity, gives up to $5,000 in direct financial help to businesses affected by immigration enforcement, covering rent, payroll, and other expenses.
They have already distributed more than $5.1 million in grants to 1,239 small businesses affected by immigration enforcement. The businesses range from storefronts to home-based businesses and sidewalk vendors.
The vendors The LA Local spoke to said they haven’t yet applied for these funds.
Still, with sales down, Godoy said many vendors like her are hoping for support that matches their needs on the ground.
“We would need help with direct resources because right now we’re stuck in the same place with no sales,” she said. “We can’t get a storefront because there aren’t enough sales, so we’re out here on the street. I think people lack empathy and at the same time they’re afraid, and the economy is also bad. When gas goes up, everything goes up.”
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An offshore oil platform in the Santa Barbara Channel.
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Marli Miller
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Universal Images Group via Getty Images
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Topline:
The Trump administration invoked emergency powers under the Defense Production Act Friday, ordering the restart of the Santa Ynez offshore oil platform and pipeline along the Santa Barbara County coast that was shuttered after a spill released thousands of barrels of crude into the Pacific 11 years ago. The move, which comes in response to skyrocketing fuel prices in the wake of the Iran conflict, brought an immediate threat to sue by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Why it matters: The order also marks the most aggressive federal intervention yet in a yearslong dispute. On one side is the Trump administration and Sable Offshore Corp., a Houston-based startup that has been trying to restart the pipeline. On the other are California officials and environmental groups who oppose the effort.
The backstory: Sable, which bought the system from ExxonMobil in 2024, has told investors that production could increase from about 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to more than 50,000 if the system restarts, sending oil to refineries in Los Angeles, Bakersfield and the Bay Area. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening. The ruptured pipeline released crude oil onto beaches north of Goleta in May 2015, killing hundreds of birds and marine mammals and triggering one of the worst California coastal oil spills in decades.
Read on... for more about this pipeline.
The Trump administration invoked emergency powers under the Defense Production Act Friday, ordering the restart of the Santa Ynez offshore oil platform and pipeline along the Santa Barbara County coast that was shuttered after a spill released thousands of barrels of crude into the Pacific 11 years ago.
The move, which comes in response to skyrocketing fuel prices in the wake of the Iran conflict, brought an immediate threat to sue by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The order also marks the most aggressive federal intervention yet in a yearslong dispute. On one side is the Trump administration and Sable Offshore Corp., a Houston-based startup that has been trying to restart the pipeline. On the other are California officials and environmental groups who oppose the effort.
Sable, which bought the system from ExxonMobil in 2024, has told investors that production could increase from about 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to more than 50,000 if the system restarts, sending oil to refineries in Los Angeles, Bakersfield and the Bay Area. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening.
The ruptured pipeline released crude oil onto beaches north of Goleta in May 2015, killing hundreds of birds and marine mammals and triggering one of the worst California coastal oil spills in decades.
Sable was blocked from restarting operations by court orders requiring approval from California regulators — a requirement the Trump administration has tried to override.
On Friday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement that the Trump Administration “remains committed to putting all Americans and their energy security first. Today’s order will strengthen America’s oil supply and restore a pipeline system vital to our national security and defense, ensuring that West Coast military installations have the reliable energy critical to military readiness.”
Newsom said, however, that California will sue the Trump administration over the move.
“Donald Trump started a war, admitted it would spike gas prices nationwide, and told Americans it was a small price to pay,” Newsom said. “Now he's using this crisis of his own making to attempt what he’s wanted to do for years: open California’s coast for his oil industry friends so they can poison our beaches.”
“The Trump administration and Sable are defying multiple court orders, and we will see them back in court,” Newsom said.
The Energy Department did not immediately provide CalMatters with a copy of the order. A March 3 legal opinion from the Justice Department concluded that a federal order under the Defense Production Act of 1950 could preempt state law in the Sable case. It also said such an order could override a 2020 federal consent decree stemming from the 2015 Refugio spill that requires approval from the California State Fire Marshal before the pipeline can restart.
Earlier Friday, the White House issued an executive order expanding and clarifying the energy secretary’s authority to act under the Defense Production Act.
Environmental groups challenging the legality of Sable’s plans condemned the move.
“This is a revolting power grab by an extremist president,” said Talia Nimmer, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, which has challenged the pipeline restart in state and federal court. “Trump is misusing this Cold War-era law just to help a Texas oil company skirt vital state laws that protect our coastline, and Californians will pay the price.”
Nimmer said forcing the pipelines to restart would not lower gasoline prices but would expose coastal wildlife to the risk of another spill. Allowing the federal government to override state law so an oil company can restart the pipelines, she said, would set a dangerous precedent. The Trump administration has long sought to expand offshore oil leasing along the West Coast, which has drawn fierce opposition in California.
In December, federal officials sought to shift authority over the pipeline from California regulators to Washington when the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration ruled that the infrastructure qualifies as an interstate pipeline. It issued an emergency permit approving a restart plan.
Environmental groups and the state of California challenged that move and are awaiting a ruling in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
A representative for Attorney General Rob Bonta could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday. After the Justice Department released its memo outlining the legal basis for the move, Bonta spokesperson Christine Lee said the state was reviewing that development.
“The Trump Administration’s desire to put oil and gas interests over our communities and a clean environment continues unabated,” Lee said, on Tuesday. “We are reviewing this development and cannot comment on legal strategy.”
Last month, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge ordered the pipeline to remain shut down, ruling that the Trump administration’s earlier intervention was not enough to override an injunction requiring Sable to obtain state approvals before restarting.
The Academy Awards were last night in Hollywood, hosted by Conan O'Brien. The stars walked the red carpet in a wide range of styles.
Keep reading... to check out the gowns, suits and jewels chosen by stars.
The Academy Awards were Sunday night in Hollywood, hosted by Conan O'Brien.
One Battle After Another took home best picture, in addition to awards for Paul Thomas Anderson for best director and best adapted screenplay. Sinners star Michael B. Jordan won best actor, and Hamnet's Jessie Buckley won best actress.
Michael B. Jordan
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Angela Weiss
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AFP via Getty Images
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Amy Madigan
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Kate Hudson
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Wunmi Mosaku
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Ethan Hawke
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Chloé Zhao
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Emma Stone
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Delroy Lindo
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Jessie Buckley
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Benicio del Toro
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Renate Reinsve
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Leonardo DiCaprio
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Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas
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Wagner Moura
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Raphael Saadiq
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EJAE
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Timothée Chalamet
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Danielle Brooks
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Liza Powel O'Brien (left) and Conan O'Brien (right)
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Demi Moore
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Jeremy Pope
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Zoe Saldaña
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Catherine Shepherd (left) and Brandi Carlile (right)
