The Brief

Probably the most-read information about candidates up for election this November are the words directly under their names on the ballot. It's called a "ballot designation," like a mini biography. These bios are especially important in races where there's not a lot of information about candidates, said retired election lawyer Fredric Woocher.

And they're often squabbled over in court. "People give a lot of thought into what to use," Woocher said of candidates' ballot designations. "And it is often subject to potential abuse."

Some candidates, Woocher said, "will try and come up with a phrase that they believe will be most appealing to the voters and secure the most votes regardless of whether it's the most accurate description of what they do."

The rules

Ballot designations are supposed to tell voters what the candidate does with the majority of their time and/or how they make a living. Candidates have to do it in three words, although "words," in this particular area of state election law, has a bit of a different meaning — all geographies are considered one word. (For example, "City of Hermosa Beach" is considered one word.)

California has lengthy rules about what candidates can and can't say about themselves in those three words. Here are a few of them:

• "Retired" might be OK, but only if the candidate has permanently given up their job or vocation and hasn't taken up another one. 
• Candidates can't use words like "veteran," "scholar," "philanthropist," or "concerned citizen" to describe themselves because these words are considered a "status" under state election law, not a job. 
• Adjectives like "specialist," "leading," and "expert" are generally forbidden under state law because they might "suggest an evaluation of the candidate's qualifications, honesty, integrity, leadership abilities or character."  
• Candidates for judgeships on the ballot have to use their official titles, like "Deputy District Attorney" per a 2017 law. Previously, judicial candidates would list themselves as “violent crimes prosecutor,” “child molestation prosecutor,” or “domestic violence attorney” to grab voters’ attention. 

To figure out what to say about themselves in their ballot designation, candidates start with a worksheet that resembles a job application, including a list of references who can verify their work experience.

But despite all these rules, ballot designations frequently end up in court.

Some examples of challenges

The Orange County Registrar of Voters says it gets between eight and 25 legal challenges to candidates' ballot designations — and to other language on the ballot — each election cycle. Judges make the final call on whether or not a candidate's ballot bio is legal.

In one example from this election, Sarah Schneider, a city council candidate in San Clemente wanted to have "educator" below her name. Her challenger, Zhen Wu, took her to court, saying the term was misleading since Schneider doesn't work in a classroom but rather in a school library. Wu won and Schneider is listed as a "library media technician" on the ballot.

In another example, Victor Valladares, an activist in Huntington Beach, challenged City Council candidate Chad Williams' right to use "Navy SEAL Speaker" as his ballot designation. Valladares argued in his complaint that the bio was "false and misleading" because Williams is not currently a Navy SEAL and is actually a motivational speaker.

A judge agreed and ordered Williams to change his bio to just "speaker," but the candidate appealed and was allowed to keep "Navy SEAL Speaker" on the ballot. The appeal is still pending.

Williams defended the title in an interview with LAist, saying his speaking engagements are based on his prior military experience. "They're not inviting me out because I'm Chad Williams. They're inviting me out because I'm a Navy SEAL veteran," he said.

But Williams acknowledges that the words "Navy SEAL" carry cache. "It's a serious threat to my opponents because it's a very powerful ballot designation," he said.

Why applying the law is complicated

Woocher, the election lawyer, said deciding whether or not a ballot designation complies with state law is not an exact science. "A lot of these involve tough calls for the judges, to be honest with you, because people are so creative in what they try and come up with," he said.

A classic example of that creativity is the former Santa Monica city council candidate, Jerry Rubin. Santa Monica officials repeatedly refused to let Rubin use "peace activist" for his ballot designation. So Rubin tried something even more innovative — in 2003, he persuaded a judge to let him officially change his name to Jerry Peace Activist Rubin.

Rubin is not running in this election. But Wade Kelley, another candidate with an unusual ballot title is running for city council in Santa Monica.

Kelley, who frequently plays his guitar on Santa Monica’s 3^rd Street Promenade, told LAist in an email that he wanted his ballot designation to be “peaceful promenade protester, or Promenade, homeless advocate,” but was told those weren’t vocations under election law.

So, his designation on the ballot? "Guitar guy."

News that Warner Bros. Discovery is up for sale has Hollywood buzzing. The legendary film studio, which has grown to include streaming services and cable channels, is currently accepting non-binding bids until Thursday. According to company spokesperson Robert Gibbs, they expect to have a decision about the sale by Christmas.

It's become something of a Hollywood parlor game to guess who will ultimately take over the business, which was founded in 1923 by four brothers: Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack Warner. They owned a movie theater in Pennsylvania before coming to Hollywood to make movies.

Warner Brothers Pictures found one of its first silent picture stars in a German shepherd named Rin Tin Tin. By 1927, the studio made history with its feature-length "talkie" picture: The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson.

Over the years, Warner Brothers has made or distributed countless iconic films including: Casablanca, The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon in the 1940's. The list goes on, with titles like A Clockwork Orange, Goodfellas, Barbie, as well as Bugs Bunny and all the Looney Tunes cartoons.

Warners Brothers has had multiple owners over the decades. Three years ago, Warner Media, as it was called, merged with Discovery. And in June, the company announced it would split in two, with film, TV and streaming studios in one camp, and in the other, mostly legacy cable channels, including CNN.

The planned split has not yet happened, and a new buyer might get the entirety of Warner Bros. Discovery and its film and TV libraries.

As the film industry continues to consolidate, there's speculation that Warner Brothers' old rival Paramount could take over. Having just merged as Paramount Skydance, CEO David Ellison has already made several overtures.

The idea of streaming giant Netflix buying the company has raised antitrust concerns on Capitol Hill. In an earnings call last month, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told investors, "We've been very clear in the past that we have no interest in owning legacy media networks. There is no change there."

Industry watchers suggest other suitors could be Comcast, Amazon, or an investor who's not already in the entertainment business.

Regardless of whoever does end up buying the company, theater owners say they hope making movies for cinemas will be a priority.

"As long as we have more movies," says Daniel Loria, senior vice president at The Boxoffice Company, which analyzes data from studios and theaters. "That doesn't mean the same amount, doesn't mean less, but more movies. I think you're going to find folks in the movie theater industry support any business decision that gets us there."

Loria recalls that after Disney purchased Fox and Fox Searchlight, their combined studios significantly reduced the number of films they released in the theaters. Crunching the numbers, Loria says in 2016, a year before the merger announcement, Disney and Fox released a total of 38 theatrical films. This year, the consolidated studios released 18.

That's a problem for theater owners who've been struggling to bring audiences back to cinemas after the COVID-19 pandemic shut them down; they're competing with movie-watching on TVs, computers and phones.

Some theater owners and cinephiles also fear studio conglomerates will only greenlight a few big-budget blockbusters, leaving the lower budget indies behind.

"The concern is you're going to see less of that risk taking, less of that experimentation and less of that embracing new directors, new filmmakers in the future," says Max Friend, the CEO of Filmbot, the ticketing platform for independent cinemas in the U.S. "It's really important that there are studios that are funding and supporting, cultivating that kind of work."

He points out that this year, Warner Brothers made a string of critical hits, including Ryan Coogler's Sinners, the horror film Weapons and Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another.

Friend wonders if the next owner will take similar risks with future original, creative films.

Warner Bros. Discovery is a financial supporter of NPR.

Copyright 2025 NPR

A downtown hearing kicked off Wednesday, during which a federal judge will consider holding the city of Los Angeles in contempt of court. The hearing is the latest step in a long-running legal saga regarding the city's response to the region’s homelessness crisis.

The hearing was ordered by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who has been overseeing a settlement in a lawsuit brought against the city by the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, a group of downtown business and property owners. L.A. Alliance sued the city, and county, in 2020 for failing to adequately address homelessness.

Several witnesses are expected to testify during the contempt-of-court hearing, including Gita O’Neill, the new head of the region’s top homeless services agency, and Matt Szabo, the L.A. city administrative officer.

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger watched at least part of Wednesday’s hearing in the courtroom.

Why now?

Carter said in court documents that he’s concerned “the city has demonstrated a continuous pattern of delay” in meeting its obligations under court orders. During a hearing last week, the judge pointed to several delays, including recently reported issues related to data and interviewing city employees.

The judge noted that similar concerns have come up at previous hearings. Carter told attorneys for the city in March 2024 that he “indicated to the mayor that I’ve already reached the decision that the plaintiffs were misled” and “this is bad faith,” according to court transcripts.

The judge said in a Nov. 14 order that he’s concerned the “delay continues to this day.”

The contempt hearing is expected to cover whether the city has complied with court orders and provided regular updates to the court under the settlement agreement.

Reducing delays

Attorneys for the city have pushed back against the hearing, filing objections with the judge and making an unsuccessful emergency request with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to block it from happening.

City authorities also asked the appeals court to press pause on the judge’s order to appoint a monitor in the case to make sure the city stays on track with the settlement. The city argued that Carter handed the monitor “a blank check to interfere with the democratic process,” according to court documents.

The appeals court partly denied the city’s request. It allowed Wednesday’s hearing to move forward, but it agreed to pause the appointment of Daniel Garrie as monitor.

In light of that response, attorneys for the city have argued that looking at the city’s cooperation with Garrie “would be inappropriate” during the hearing and that L.A. “cannot be held in contempt for either the substance or the manner of its compliance with the order,” according to court documents.

Previous hearings related to the settlement have elicited tense questioning of witnesses and harsh words from the judge, who has been vocal about reducing delays and moving the case forward.

In an opening statement Wednesday, Theane Evangelis — one of the attorneys representing the city — urged the judge to “turn down the heat” on the closely watched case. Evangelis said the “city is constantly under fire” in court while L.A. has made “enormous strides” in getting people off the streets.

Elizabeth Mitchell, lead attorney for L.A. Alliance, said the city treats transparency as a burden.

She said Wednesday that the “city still fights oversight harder than it fights homelessness” and that the court should address L.A. 's “consistent” delays throughout the case.

What’s next?

The hearing will resume Dec. 2, when more witnesses can appear in person.

City authorities told the court they believed a one-day hearing wouldn't be enough time to go over all the evidence.

If the judge does find the city of L.A. in contempt of court and that it "isn't doing what it promised to do," the consequences could range from nothing all the way up to serious sanctions, according to Matthew Umhofer, an attorney for L.A. Alliance.

Umhofer told LAist after the hearing that sanctions could include the court ordering more intensive monitoring of the city’s performance, imposing new requirements on the city, monetary penalties or possibly a receivership.

Carter previously stopped short of seizing control of the city’s hundreds of millions of dollars in homelessness spending and handing it to a court-appointed receiver, deciding against that option in a June ruling.

L.A. Alliance is considering asking for an extension to the settlement agreement, Umhofer said.

“The city has gotten away with not complying for a very long time,” he said. “So extending the agreement can be among the things that we might ask for ... given the pattern of delay and obstruction."

Evangelis and Bradley Hamburger, another attorney representing the city, declined LAist’s request for comment after the hearing.