The Brief

At the California Republican Party convention in Garden Grove over the weekend, the theme was, “Going on the Offense.”

The opponent was clear: Proposition 50 on the November ballot has galvanized an often fractious state GOP.

All political eyes are on California and Proposition 50, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting plan. Big money is already flowing into the fight and campaign mailers are flooding mailboxes over a measure that could determine which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives.

It could attract as much as $200 million total from both parties and their allies from around the country.

The measure, if passed by California voters, would redraw the state’s congressional district maps in a way that at least five Republicans would likely lose their seats to Democrats. Right now, the GOP holds nine of California’s 52 seats. Democrats hold the rest.

“To the extent that Republicans already are an endangered species in California, this would be like an extinction level event,” said Jon Fleischman, a former executive director of the California Republican Party and convention delegate from Orange County.

The national spotlight is on California after the Texas Legislature passed a redistricting plan that will likely result in five more Republicans getting elected to Congress from that state.

Newsom has said his last-minute effort — the special election was called only last month — is in direct response to Texas. Newsom, an especially vocal critic of President Trump, has pointed out it was the president who encouraged Texas to draw new political boundaries to favor the GOP.

Shawn Steel, a national Republican committee member from Seal Beach who attended the convention, said the fight over Proposition 50 has unified the state GOP.

“We’ve got people in the same room on this issue who hated each other for 20 years,” he said. “Those days are over, at least for the next 58 days.”

Conventioneers celebrate Trump

But for Proposition 50, there was a lot to celebrate at the convention, which was held at the Hyatt Regency Orange County and attended by more than 1,000 people. Many people said they were thrilled about President Donald Trump’s first six months in office.

“I wake up everyday happy and joyful that he’s still president,” said Johnnie Morgan, 74, a delegate from South L.A., citing Trump's policies on transgender people and deportations.

“He’s fearless and he stands for this country, and no matter what anybody throws at him, he stands strong,” said Bonnie Wallace, a delegate from Pasadena.

As usual, vendors sold all manner of Trump paraphernalia, including hats, sequined blouses and jewelry with the president’s name.

The hallways of the Hyatt were plastered with campaign signs for candidates ranging from governor to local party vice chair. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton are the two most prominent Republican candidates for governor. Both attended the convention.

Newsom is termed out of office next year.

But it was the topic of Proposition 50 that people came back to time and again.

“It's just pure cheating again,” said Wallace, 47, who teaches dance classes. “It’s election fraud.”

Help from Schwarzenegger

Under Proposition 50, voters would override the political map drawn by an independent citizen’s redistricting commission and replace it with one drawn by Democrats. The new lines would govern elections in 2026, 2028 and 2030. Another independent commission would be appointed to determine boundaries for the 2032 election.

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who co-authored the measure that created the state’s independent redistricting commission more than 15 years ago, is expected to campaign against Prop 50.

Fellow Republicans say his participation is considered key to winning over independent voters.

“I think he’s clearly the most recognized name against Prop. 50,” said Roxanne Hoge, chair of the L.A. County Republican Party.

Fighting Newsom

At a convention workshop designed to educate people about how to campaign against the measure, some party leaders urged people to avoid the complicated topic of redistricting and instead focus on California’s Democratic governor.

“Just ask if Governor Newsom and the legislative body in Sacramento deserve more power,” Assemblymember David Tangipa of Fresno told one convention workshop.

The attendees shouted, “No!”

Orange County Republican Party Chair Will O’Neill said he believes Newsom’s ascent to power is what Prop. 50 is all about.

“This is to feed the presidential ambition of a governor who has gotten way over his skis,” he said.

Steel, the national Republican committee member from Seal Beach, agreed.

“We want to embarrass Newsom so he doesn’t have a chance to be president in the future,” he said.

Plans to mobilize voters

Whether Prop. 50 passes or not will likely come down to which party is more successful at getting voters to the polls.

“It’s going to be a high- profile, high- dollar campaign,” Fleischman said. “These kinds of campaigns really have two aspects to them — it's voter education and voter turnout.”

Some said one way to convince people to vote no on the measure is to show them the maps.

O’Neill described the maps as a tangled web of lines that resemble elephants and spiders, noting how they sweep up Democrats to form new Democrat-majority districts.

Steel said the party needs to “awaken the base” in the way Trump did last year.

“This is a big deal. This is the future of our party,” he said.

But only about 25% of voters are registered Republican in California. So reaching out to independents will be key. That’s where Schwarzenegger comes in.

Independents represent 22% of voters. Democrats represent 45%.

Still, Republicans at the convention were optimistic.

“I think we have a good shot at having this not pass,” said Matthew Craffey of Los Angeles. “But it's going to be a fight.”

The 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Los Angeles are officially two years away, and applications are now open to volunteer at the Games.

Organizers are seeking 60,000 people for roles like providing translation or guiding guests and athletes. They want volunteers for job categories including communications, driving, ceremonies and technology.

The bulk of volunteer positions will be in Los Angeles, with some opportunities in Oklahoma City, which will host a handful of competitions, and the Olympic soccer tournament sites, too.

Volunteering presents a potential way for some locals who balked at high ticket prices to participate in the summer Games, but they're a substantial commitment. Volunteers need to be available for 10 eight-hour shifts during either the Olympics or Paralympics if they want to participate.

A large volunteer program is a regular facet of the Olympics. In 1984, the last time L.A. hosted, nearly 29,000 people volunteered during the event.

To volunteer this time around, applicants need to be at least 18 years old and be proficient in English. Volunteers don't need to be local to Los Angeles or live in the U.S.

The first step is applying through LA28. Selected applicants will then have a chance to be interviewed in person in Los Angeles or online.

This summer's World Cup has been a bonanza for corporate sponsors.

Hydration breaks are "powered by Powerade." Each game crowns a Michelob Ultra "superior player of the match." Even the signs announcing player substitutions have a label slapped on: Rexona deodorant, which is owned by Unilever. They're the "official personal care sponsor" of this World Cup.

This relentless branding is nothing new for major sporting events, but it has provoked outrage in Los Angeles, where protests during the tournament took aim at FIFA's corporate partners, saying they betrayed the city's values.

At a demonstration in downtown L.A. last week, advocates rallied against a number of high-profile sponsors of the tournament, including Home Depot, the official "home improvement retailer" for the 2026 World Cup.

Its signature orange branding has been splashed across tournament activations this summer, but in the L.A. area its parking lots have been the sites of high profile immigration raids. Last summer in Monrovia, a man was killed fleeing ICE activity in a Home Depot parking lot after he ran onto a freeway and was hit by a car. In another incident, federal agents jumped out of a Penske moving van at the Westlake Home Depot and detained 16 people.

" Their parking lots have been turned into hunting grounds," said Miriam Arghandiwal, an organizer with the Boycott Home Depot Coalition.

" FIFA has been intentional in allowing the people's game to become the billionaire's game, and there's no better example of this than its choice in sponsors," she said at the protest.

The group also railed against FIFA partners Hyundai and Kia, citing a 2022 report that suppliers of Hyundai and Kia had used child labor in its Alabama factories. LAist has reached out to Home Depot and the Hyundai Motor Group, which also owns Kia, for comment.

Demonstrators said they wanted FIFA to make corporate accountability a metric of accepting a sponsor.

" We know mega-events like the World Cup can only happen with the support of host communities, local infrastructure and resources, with the workers throughout various supply chains that make these events possible," said Valerie Lizárraga with the nonprofit Jobs to Move America.

The group was also gathered to demand action from the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission, which runs the L.A. World Cup Host Committee. Demonstrators said they were dissatisfied with the committee's guidance on human rights for the World Cup.

A spokesperson for that commission deferred to FIFA for comment on corporate sponsorships. FIFA did not respond to LAist's request.

Last week, a small group of climate activists also demonstrated outside SoFi Stadium against Saudi energy company Aramco, another major FIFA partner. They were calling on FIFA to drop the fossil fuel giant as a sponsor.

The World Cup is wrapped up in Los Angeles after Friday's quarterfinal match between Spain and Belgium. But advocates rallying in L.A. say they are looking toward the future.

" Things like the World Cup [and] the Olympics are events that are fueled by people," said Father Thomas Carey, a member of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. "The question is, do we hold them to account to take care of and protect the people who work for them and the people who attend their games?"

Next year, Los Angeles will host the 2027 Super Bowl. And the year after that will be the Olympics.

The Trump administration is abandoning its most aggressive attempt to end gender-affirming care for youth nationally, according to an official document obtained by NPR.

The document shows that the Department of Health and Human Services will not be finalizing a proposed rule that would have blocked all Medicaid and Medicare funding for hospitals that provide pediatric gender-affirming care.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told NPR in a statement: "CMS does not comment on future rulemaking or speculate on potential actions. The Trump Administration rejects ideologically driven surgical interventions on vulnerable children."

(Surgery is very rare among transgender people under age 18, and the rule applied to all gender-affirming care, which is mainly therapy and medications for children.)

A "victory" for trans rights, but not a "retreat" by HHS

The fact that the Trump administration is backing off from this action is "a victory for people who are defending the rights and interests of trans people," says Sam Bagenstos, a professor at Michigan Law who served as general counsel at HHS under the Biden administration. "But I don't think it indicates a more general retreat from the aggressive posture of the Trump administration."

Bagenstos notes that this type of leverage — a "conditions of participation" rule for the Medicare and Medicaid program — has historically been used by HHS to compel states and hospitals to meet basic health and safety standards. Things like "making sure that you have stockpiles of certain kinds of equipment, making sure that you have certain kinds of emergency protocols, making sure that you have certain staffing ratios," he explains.

The proposed rule was unprecedented, Bagenstos says, because it instead would have prohibited certain kinds of treatments for a certain population. He says it seemed unlawful in a variety of ways. For one, "it violates the Medicare Act, which says that Medicare and Medicaid can't be used to control the practice of medicine within the state — states get to regulate the practice of medicine," Bagenstos says.

Medical groups opposed the change

Normally, HHS would propose a rule, accept public comment for 60 days, and then finalize the rule so that it could take effect. In this case, after proposing the rule in December and receiving more than 30,000 comments, the administration is abandoning the rule. At least in the next year, it will not be finalized and will not take effect.

The American Medical Association and the Children's Hospital Association both submitted comments urging the agency to rescind or withdraw the proposed rule. Major U.S. medical groups say that puberty blockers and sex hormones are safe and can be effective for transgender young people.

Even so, gender-affirming care for youth is banned in 27 states after a flurry of laws passed over the last several years. In the remaining 23 states, many hospital clinics that offer gender-affirming care have continued to operate, while others have shuttered in the past year citing pressure from the Trump administration.

That pressure has come in the form of this proposed rule, another rule that would bar federal Medicaid reimbursement for transgender pediatric patients, and a declaration from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that aimed to redefine the standard of care. (Interestingly, the press release issued when those actions were unveiled in December is now missing from the HHS website, as is the Kennedy declaration document.)

The Medicaid rule is currently in the final stage of review and appears to be on track to take effect in the coming weeks. A coalition of Democratic-led states sued over the so-called Kennedy declaration and succeeded in blocking it in federal court in Oregon. The Trump administration has not appealed that decision so far.

Protesters who are against gender-affirming care for young people gathered outside Boston Children's Hospital in September 2022.

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Carlin Stiehl for The Boston Globe

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Getty Images

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At the same time, the Department of Justice has issued administrative and criminal subpoenas to hospitals seeking full personal medical files for transgender youth and employment files for their medical providers, although many of those attempts have been blocked in court so far. The Trump administration has also reached settlements with hospitals in Texas and Ohio that involved establishing "detransition" clinics.

And last month, when the Supreme Court allowed states to bar young transgender girls from sports, the White House issued a press release saying that the decision "Bolsters President Trump's Push to Eliminate Transgender Insanity." The release listed actions targeting transgender people across the federal government, from passport markers to military service to research funding.

Will hospitals that ended care for trans youth restart it?

While the Trump administration does not appear to be backing down from anti-transgender actions broadly, its decision not to finalize its most aggressive healthcare rule is significant, says Katie Keith, director of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative at Georgetown University who also worked in the Biden administration. Those other efforts are not nearly as durable as a finalized rule that takes effect, she notes.

The decision of the Trump administration not to finalize this rule "should give hospitals more confidence to either resume or continue offering the care," she says. Because the rule was never in effect, "I would argue that they should have been doing this all along anyway."

Kellan Baker agrees. He's a senior adviser for health policy at the Movement Advancement Project think tank, which focuses on LGBTQ issues. "This administration may have checked itself in one of the most extreme expressions of its agenda and I think people should take solace in that," he says. "But at the same time, this administration is continuing to show that its ultimate goal is eliminating healthcare for trans people and that it is apparently prepared to use almost any means necessary to do so."

The Medicare and Medicaid rule could theoretically be revived at some point, since it has not been formally withdrawn. An entry in the Trump administration's recent unified agenda sets a final action date for the proposed rule as December 2028, just before President Trump leaves office.

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