The Brief

A Long Beach state lawmaker is pushing legislation that would require local agencies to release 911 call records from immigration detention centers. It’s part of a growing effort in Sacramento to address what experts decry as a critical lack of oversight into the privately managed facilities — oversight failures they say have led to sexual assault, inhumane living conditions and death.

The bill, introduced by state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, would make audio and video recordings of emergency calls to local agencies — be it from a detainee, staff member or attorney — accessible to the public through standard record requests. Agencies, including police and sheriff’s departments, would be legally required to hand them over without delay.

The push comes as the eight privately run immigration detention centers in California, with a combined capacity of nearly 10,000 beds, have seen their populations surge. The average daily population rose 72% — from about 3,100 people in April 2025 to 5,300 this April — as federal immigration enforcement expanded under the Trump administration.

Experts say that as populations grow, conditions have worsened.

State Justice Department inspectors have found inadequate medical care, delays in treatment, overcrowded rooms and meager food portions in facilities. They have also documented excessive use of force by guards and allegations of sexual assault that have gone unchecked.

Between September 2025 and March 2026, six people died at two private detention facilities in California, Adelanto ICE Processing Center and Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico.

A CalMatters investigation published in March found that numerous sexual assault reports last year at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego went without any proper investigation by local authorities.

When reporters sought records — including audio of 911 calls routed to the sheriff’s office — the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department refused, citing a law enforcement exemption in existing public records law.

Gonzalez believes this will close that gap. Under Senate Bill 423, any call for service would have to be disclosed. The bill includes privacy safeguards: identifying information for crime victims would be protected, and agencies could withhold information if its release would interfere with an active investigation.

State Sen. Lena Gonzalez and Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire listen as lawmakers debate a package of measures to redraw the state’s Congressional districts and put new maps before voters in a special election, at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025.

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Rich Pedroncelli

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The spirit of the legislation, Gonzalez said, is to address the difficulty of accessing the recordings specifically at federal immigration detention centers, which are run by for-profit companies and don’t follow rules set by California’s Public Records Act. The private contractors can and do refuse to release internal incident reports, emergency call logs or security records.

For those trying to build a case or prove instances of abuse in a facility, a recorded call might be the only glimpse into a facility’s operations or way of verifying horrors described by detainees.

“These are in-the-moment recordings of what is happening at the detention facility,” said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the ACLU National Prison Project. “The dispatcher is often asking for critical facts and information about what is happening, and the person on the call is giving their best impression of what exactly is happening at the time of the emergency.”

Sometimes calls are placed by facility staff seeking an ambulance — these facilities often lack the medical capacity to treat detainees — or reporting misconduct by their coworkers, Cho said.

Without passage of bills like this, Cho said, it will only become more difficult to build cases and prove these conditions exist.

Since last January, the federal government has shut down several programs meant to safeguard detainees, such as those informing them of their rights. They have closed oversight offices and eliminated protections for transgender detainees. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also said it will no longer report the deaths of those recently released from custody, even if their time in detention may have led to it.

Elected officials, once able to make unannounced visits to detention facilities, now must give advanced notice and may be barred from talking with detainees.

Gonzalez, who chairs the state’s Latino caucus, said she and other members requested a visit to the Adelanto ICE facility. They await confirmation.

Momentum for greater state oversight is building in Sacramento, she said, as the issues faced in the detention centers have become “top of mind” for the caucus with multiple bills expected to come to a vote this year, including one for a detainee bill of rights and another that requires additional health inspections inside the facilities.

“We’re all hitting it in different ways, as much as we can,” Gonzalez said.

State leaders are feverishly negotiating with special interests behind a few high-profile measures ahead of a Thursday deadline to withdraw them from the November ballot. Top Democrats have already announced an agreement between Uber and the state’s trial lawyers to pull rival initiatives they had each spent tens of millions of dollars promoting.

It’s a dance that happens every election cycle: Interest groups seeking policy changes spend big on voter initiatives, using them as leverage in exchange for favorable deals from state leaders, who often prefer to reach compromises to kill controversial proposals rather than take their chances with voters.

Legislative leaders can also place measures on the ballot. By Monday, they had already agreed to an affordable housing bond. They are also expected to approve a proposal to increase the cap on deposits into the state’s rainy day fund by Thursday.

Here are the highlights:

A deal between Uber, trial lawyers

Uber and California’s trial lawyers have likely avoided an expensive battle ahead of the November election by going through the state Legislature instead of voters.

Uber had collected enough signatures for a ballot initiative that would have capped attorney contingency fees and limited how much California crash victims could recover for medical costs — and not just those injured while riding in an Uber. Attorney groups had qualified a competing initiative to increase the ride-hailing company’s liability for sexual misconduct against riders and drivers.

The company and the attorneys reached a compromise in Senate Bill 623, which would cap medical cost recoveries in cases that involve medical liens, which allow crash victims to get medical treatment without paying upfront while their case is pending. It would not restrict lawyers’ contingency fees as Uber had proposed in its ballot measure, which critics said would have made it harder for crash victims to get legal representation. It will be limited to crashes that occur in an Uber or other ride-hailing service.

The legislation would also prohibit attorneys from recommending medical providers with whom they have direct ties.

Meanwhile, Uber will have to tighten its driver background checks and renew them every year, including rejecting drivers who have been convicted of certain violent offenses or those found guilty of driving under the influence, in the past seven years.

A group of medical providers that spent money against Uber’s initiative did not return multiple requests for comment about the deal. Likewise, the Consumer Attorneys of California, which had raised about $77 million for its initiative — almost as much as the $78 million Uber had allocated for its campaign, which also declined to comment beyond a statement it had agreed on with the company.

It reads in part: “This agreement protects patients from unnecessary treatment or getting overcharged, ensures access to medical care and legal representation, and strengthens safety measures.”

Consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog had also opposed Uber’s ballot measure but said the deal “strikes a fair balance.”

The bill “doesn’t do harm to the average Uber rider (who has health insurance),” Jamie Court, president of the group, told CalMatters.

If lawmakers pass the bill and send it to the governor, it would take effect next year.

Affordable housing bond

A record-breaking $11.25 billion affordable housing bond appears headed to the California ballot this November.

The governor, Assembly and Senate agreed on the language of Senate Bill 417, known as the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026, which would have Californians borrow $10 billion to pay for the construction, rehabilitation, acquisition and preservation of affordable housing, plus another $1.25 billion to help veterans buy homes.

If approved by voters, the bond should help more than 40,000 people buy a home, help create or preserve tens of thousands of affordable units and support high-paying construction jobs, according to the Newsom administration.

“California’s future depends on whether people can afford to put down roots, raise a family, and build a life here,” the governor said in a news release.

A recent report found nearly 40,000 planned units of affordable housing in California are ready to be built but are stuck waiting for funding.

The bond is not officially a done deal. The Legislature still needs to pass the bill by Thursday and the governor must sign it before the housing bond appears on your ballot.

What’s happening with the billionaire tax?

The state’s largest health workers union appears poised to bring its high-profile billionaire wealth tax before voters despite Newsom’s late-hour efforts to strike a deal to remove it from the ballot.

Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West has proposed a one-time 5% wealth tax on the state’s roughly 200 billionaires. If approved by voters, the tax would generate roughly $100 billion primarily for healthcare with some money reserved for schools and food programs, according to SEIU-UHW.

The union says the money is needed to backfill federal healthcare cuts that forced California to cut its Medi-Cal health insurance program for low-income residents and people with disabilities.

Newsom, who emerged as an early opponent of the tax, steadily ramped up pressure against the union over the past week, joining forces with other labor groups such as the California Teachers Association and healthcare powerhouses like Planned Parenthood and the California Medical Association, which ran digital ads against the tax. Billionaires and Silicon Valley moguls also oppose the tax, which they argue would decrease state revenue in the long term by driving wealthy Californians out of the state.

Last week, SEIU-UHW called on Newsom to accept a 2% version of the tax in lieu of the original 5%, but Newsom swiftly rejected that proposal, calling it “poorly designed.”

In a recent interview with The Lever, SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan said Newsom could “pull some rabbit out of the hat” to reach a compromise, but he had doubts. “We're prepared to go forward, and we will be on the ballot in November.”

Rainy day fund reform

Lawmakers are expected to vote this week to send a proposed constitutional amendment to voters to increase how much money the state can save in a good financial year.

Currently, the state cannot deposit more than 10% of its general fund tax revenue into its rainy day fund. The proposal, titled “Save for California’s Future Act,” would double that amount and allow the state to use some excess revenues to pay down its $20 billion federal unemployment insurance debt acquired during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The proposal comes as California faces a multi-year budget deficit despite growing revenue, prompting state lawmakers and Newsom to search for long-term solutions to stabilize the state’s finances. California is heavily dependent on income tax and capital gains of its wealthy residents, making the state vulnerable to economic downturns.

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

Updated June 23, 2026 at 17:17 PM ET

A bipartisan majority in Congress has voted in favor of a war powers resolution to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities with Iran.

The Senate voted 50 to 48 on Tuesday afternoon, with four Republicans joining Democrats in support. They were Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski.

The measure, which is not legally binding and will not be sent to the White House for a signature, was approved by the House earlier this month.

"Today, Congress stood up to Donald Trump and voted to end his costly, unnecessary, and devastating war with Iran," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement after the vote. "The message from the only branch of government with the power to declare war is unmistakable: the Trump administration must withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities in Iran."

President Trump criticized the resolution after it passed the House, writing on Truth Social that lawmakers voted "to limit my War Powers, right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Who would do such an unpatriotic thing. They know where the negotiations stand. The Democrats are fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome. They would rather have our Country fail than give me another, of many, victories."

Tuesday's vote comes at a moment when the U.S. and Iran are engaged in delicate negotiations to permanently end the conflict, the initial terms of which have been broadly criticized by members of both parties.

Copyright 2026 NPR

A chance of dry lightning and thunderstorms could increase fire risk across the region as this week’s heat lingers, according to the National Weather Service.

The Antelope and Cuyama valleys could see temperatures as high as 106 degrees. Tuesday and Wednesday will be the hottest period for most of Southern California. The L.A. County Department of Public Health also issued a Heat Advisory through Thursday for valleys and mountain communities. The advisory is issued when hot weather may cause heat-related illness for some people.

To top it off, meteorologists say there will also be increased humidity.

What does the fire risk look like?

The National Weather Service says there will be fire risk through Sunday across L.A. County.

Devin Black, a meteorologist at the agency, said possible fires might have higher potential to grow due to south and southwest winds blowing as high as 40 mph.

The risk is highest in the L.A. County Mountains and Antelope Valley.

Is there a chance of storms, too?

There’s a 5% to 15% chance of thunderstorms, according to NWS. Those storms might bring dry lightning and erratic winds across the eastern San Gabriel Mountains and Antelope Valley tonight, which Black said increases fire risk.

What about conditions near the warehouse fire?

Black emphasized that the possibility of erratic winds can only happen if there is a storm this afternoon. If they do, the winds might make the smoke near the warehouse fire blow in another direction and spread to other areas. A particle pollution advisory was extended to Wednesday by air quality officials for the Los Angeles area.

Punk rock — known for its fast, aggressive sound — evolved out of an underground anti-establishment subculture in the 1970s and 80s. Bands like the Black Flag, The Ramones, and X led the way, particularly in Southern California.

While the anniversary of punk’s inception is contested, the Skirball Cultural Center is celebrating the 50th anniversary in the United States, exploring how a generation of misfits challenged the rules and helped reshape culture from the margins, with its latest exhibit titled "Outsiders, Outcasts, Rebels and Weirdos: Punk Culture 1976–86."

Cate Thurston is the chief curator of the exhibit. She joined AirTalk, LAist’s daily news program, to talk about how the local punk scene played a pivotal role in shaping the genre.

L.A.’s punk wave

It wasn’t until the mid 70s that L.A.’s punk scene took off, partially because popular venues were still banking on the mainstream soft rock scene of the time.

Map of the robust Punk scene across the LA Basin, featured in the Skirball exhibit.

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“There wasn’t the traditional club infrastructure for it,” said Thurston, adding that punk bands would play wherever they could, including places like the Ukrainian Cultural Center and even more unorthodox venues like roller rinks.

Hong Kong Cafe vs. Madame Wong’s

Performer at the Hong Kong Cafe in Chinatown on Nov. 7, 1981.

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Los Angeles Photographers Collection

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L.A. Public Library

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In the late 70s, two Chinese restaurants — Hong Kong Cafe and Madame Wong’s — sat directly across from each other in L.A.’s Chinatown. These venues led the local punk movement and even had a well-documented rivalry, which you can see reported in the L.A. Times.

Amy in Fullerton called into AirTalk to share that her brother actually started the Hong Kong Cafe.

“We were the first club outside of the Masque to play bands like Fear, X, Black Flag, the Germs, and art bands like Nervous Gender, The Bags, and Alice Bag,” she said.

“Both the Hong Kong Cafe and Madame Wong's were considered institutions in the L.A. punk scene that paved the way for all sorts of punk bands with different styles,” Thurston said.

Madame Wong’s closed its doors in 1985, and Hong Kong Cafe followed a decade later, shutting down in 1995.

Rooted in rebellion

Americans in the mid 70s felt the weight of economic uncertainties, including high gas prices and inflation — not unlike today.

Thurston said this is part of the reason punk rock was born, out of a form of resistance to the overproduced, corporate music in the mainstream at the time.

Bondage pants, leather jackets, and torn T-shirts

A red parachute anarchy shirt from1977, designed by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren.

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Young punk outfits on display.

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Sarah M Golonka

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Stage diving at a Circle Jerks concert at the Country Club in Reseda in 1982.

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Ann Summa

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Assorted punk pins.

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Sarah M Golonka

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Alice Bag of the Bags in Los Angeles in 1978.

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Melanie Nissen

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Courtesy of the Skirball Cultural Center

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Thurston said the punk movement was just as important off the stage as it was on.

“ This is a story of the children it didn't get better for, who created their own world where they fit in and where they found a place for themselves,” she said. “ It was visually different than anything out there at that moment.”

"Outsiders, Outcasts, Rebels + Weirdos: Punk Culture 1976–86" is on display at the Skirball Cultural Center through September. Learn more here.