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L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman has just announced she is running, reports the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, after L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said Friday she wouldn't run for the seat.
Why now: The deadline to file papers to run for L.A. mayor is noon Saturday.
The noon deadline to file papers to run for L.A. mayor is just hours away, and the field of challengers to Mayor Karen Bass is becoming clear.
L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman has just announced she is running, reports the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.
The news comes as the field of high-profile candidates has thinned in recent days and weeks. Last night, L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath announced she will not run for mayor, ending months of speculation.
Horvath said she was skipping the race to focus on her reelection bid.
My decision is clear. pic.twitter.com/ViYOPRuoCe
— Lindsey P. Horvath (@LindseyForLA) February 7, 2026
" I am choosing not to run for mayor and instead to focus on my reelection for Los Angeles County supervisor, not because I'm stepping away from a challenge. I'm stepping even more into the one we've already started," Horvath said.
Days ago, former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner dropped out after the death of his daughter.
Developer Rick Caruso said last month he would not make another bid after running in 2022.
Other challengers to Bass include reality TV star Spencer Pratt and community organizer Rae Huang.
Voters will head to the polls June 2 for the primary.
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Authorities have released the identities of two of the three people killed in Thursday's car crash into a Ranch 99 supermarket in Westwood. One of the deceased is 42-year-old woman Deris Renoj. The other is Zih Dao, a 28-year-old man.
Two of the victims are employees at the Chinese super market, while the third is a customer. Authorities did not release additional details associated with the two names.
The backstory: The deadly crash happened around noon Thursday, when a sedan driven by a 92-year-old woman rammed into the grocery store on Westwood Boulevard after hitting a bicyclist and losing control of the car. Additional people were injured.
Go deeper: At least three dead, several injured after car crashes into Westwood 99 Ranch Market
Topline:
In the first week of Black History Month, President Donald Trump posted a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on social media — a video clip showing the Obamas' faces on apes.
What the White House said: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the clip before it was deleted hours later, saying "please stop the fake outrage." Leavitt said it was from an "internet meme" that depicted Trump as king of the jungle while Democrats were shown as characters from The Lion King. Trump's clip did not include any of the longer video Leavitt referred to, which also includes other Democrats, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, depicted as animals.
Why it matters: The racist trope depicting Black people as apes or animals has historically been used to dehumanize Black people and to justify slavery. Criticism of Trump and his post came swiftly, including from some otherwise allied with Trump.
In the first week of Black History Month, President Donald Trump posted a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on social media — a video clip showing the Obamas' faces on apes. The post was later deleted, and the White House blamed a staffer for "erroneously" posting it. On Friday evening, Trump refused to apologize for the post: "I didn't make a mistake," he told reporters aboard Air Force One.
The post was one of dozens Trump shared in the middle of the night on his platform Truth Social and came at the end of a minute-long video promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the clip before it was deleted, saying, "Please stop the fake outrage."
Leavitt said it was from an "internet meme" that depicted Trump as king of the jungle while Democrats were shown as characters from The Lion King. Trump's clip did not include any of the longer video Leavitt referred to, which also includes other Democrats, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, depicted as animals.
The racist trope depicting Black people as apes or animals has historically been used to dehumanize Black people and to justify slavery.
Criticism of Trump and his post came swiftly, including from some otherwise allied with Trump.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican, said he was "praying it was fake."
"It's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The president should remove it," said Scott, who is Black.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Friday evening that he had spoken to Scott, adding, "He's a great guy. He understood that 100 percent."
Asked if the post had hurt Republican support amongst Black voters Trump said no.
"We did criminal justice reform. I did the historically Black colleges and universities — I get them funded. Nobody has been — and that's why I got a tremendous, the highest vote with male Black voters that they've seen in many, many decades.
Trump went on to insist that he was the "least racist president you've had in a long time."
Trump has a history of making racist remarks toward Black people and other people of color.
For years, he pushed the false narrative that Obama was not born in the U.S., and he has previously used derogatory language to describe African countries.
He also falsely claimed former Vice President Kamala Harris "turned Black" during the presidential campaign. Harris identifies as Black and Indian American.
Copyright 2026 NPR
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Singer-songwriter Dwight Yoakam has lived in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. But coming up during the 1980s in the clubs of L.A. and the San Fernando Valley, you might say his style is more California Country than anything. Yoakam recently sold out The Roxy for a concert benefitting Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles. The 69-year-old musician and actor had a lot of backup from a younger generation of country acts.
The quote: Yoakam was joined on stage by Grammy-nominated people like Lukas Nelson — as in Willie’s son — guitar prodigy Marcus King and others. “It’s flattering on a personal level that five artists of that generation would come and collaborate with me to do this. But more importantly it was gratifying to hear their response to the charitable cause of Children’s Hospital,” Yoakam said.
The backstory: Yoakam and wife Emily Joyce had a very personal inspiration for organizing the benefit concert. Back in 2020, during the peak of COVID, their own infant son was seen at Children’s Hospital. They were relieved it was nothing, but the experience made a mark on their family.
Next concert: Yoakam will play Ontario’s ONT Field on March 21, right before heading out on tour with ZZ Top. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.
Singer-songwriter Dwight Yoakam has lived in Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee. But coming up during the 1980s in the clubs of L.A. and the San Fernando Valley, you might say his style is more California Country than anything.
Yoakam recently sold out The Roxy for a concert benefitting Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles. The 69-year-old musician and actor had a lot of backup from a younger generation of country acts.
He was joined on stage by Grammy-nominated people like Lukas Nelson — as in Willie’s son — guitar prodigy Marcus King and others.
“It’s flattering on a personal level that five artists of that generation would come and collaborate with me to do this. But more importantly it was gratifying to hear their response to the charitable cause of Children’s Hospital,” Yoakam said.
Yoakam and wife, Emily Joyce, had a very personal inspiration for organizing the benefit concert. In 2020, during the peak of COVID, their own infant son was seen at Children’s Hospital. They were relieved it was nothing, but an experience Emily relayed to Yoakam changed him.
“She heard the little boy behind in another recovery bed come to. Five or six. And his eyes opened — I guess his father was there with him at his bedside. And he said ‘Was I brave daddy?’ And I said: ‘Wow, it puts everything in life in quick perspective.’"
Yoakam said the experience stuck with Joyce so much that she was determined to put a benefit show together. And it was heartening having so many of his friends back him up for the "Rockin’ for the Kids" concert, Yoakam said. The night even had a surprise on-stage FaceTime call from actor Billy Bob Thornton. The actor and director — who cast Yoakam in his 1996 film Sling Blade — was originally scheduled to help emcee the event, but was stuck at an iced out movie shoot in New Jersey.
Yoakam came out to the warm California sun in the late 70s, and it wasn’t long before he was gigging hard at long gone honky-tonks like The Palomino and The Corral in the San Fernando Valley.
“[I] spent a year of my life on the off nights [at The Corral] — let me tell you — that’s the real world,” Yoakam recalled. “The time I was out there doing, you know, five sets a night. You’d start at nine and end at two in the morning... And you know I really made my bones there.”
It wasn’t long before Yoakam’s California Country music was mixing and merging with a new scene in L.A. One that blended the punk rock ethos with the twang of country.
“The crossroads of time and place happened again in the early 80s with the quote ‘Cowpunk’ movement. A lot of them were punk rock bands. Like The Dills became Rank and File. The Plugz — with a Z — became Los Cruzados,” Yoakam said.
He would go on to share the bill with bands like X and The Blasters. And Yoakam was embraced by crowds of punk rockers too.
“I said, ‘You know what? We don’t have to play The Roundup out in the Valley, we don’t have to play just The Palomino. I said ‘We can go over the hill,’” he said.
Yoakam remembered it was Bill Bentley, a former music editor for the LA Weekly, who saw him performing at The Palomino and then invited him to play Club Lingerie on Sunset Blvd.
“That introduced me to a different audience. And then we started playing... the rock n’ roll side of the hill,” Yoakam said.
By 1986, Yoakam was playing at The Roxy for the record release party for “Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.” The live performance was recorded and included on later releases of the album.
“We did the record release party, 40 years ago in March, at The Roxy. It was kind of a full-circle moment. Interesting book-end, if you will, from 1986 to now,” Yoakam said.
Yoakam will play Ontario’s ONT Field on March 21, right before heading out on tour with ZZ Top.
Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.
Topline:
Thousands more students joined walkouts on Friday to protest the Trump administration’s militarized crackdown on immigrants, detainment of children and violence against U.S. citizens protesting the raids.
Walkouts across the region: By mid-afternoon, nearly 12,500 students, from more than 85 schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District had walked out, according to a district spokesperson. Hundreds of students, from Pasadena and the greater San Gabriel Valley to Orange County, also marched in the community.
Why it matters: In conversation with LAist, multiple students said they live in fear of being separated from their families. They also worry that their parents could be mistreated if they are detained by federal agents.
Thousands more students joined walkouts Friday to protest the Trump administration’s militarized crackdown on immigrants, detainment of children and violence against U.S. citizens protesting the raids.
By mid-afternoon, nearly 12,500 students from more than 85 schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District had walked out, according to a district spokesperson. Hundreds of students in other districts — from Pasadena and the greater San Gabriel Valley to Orange County — also marched in their communities.
At Olive Vista Middle School in Sylmar, about 100 students—some as young as 11—walked out of their science, English, and math classes, then walked to a nearby park.
For many students, Friday’s walkout marks the first time they’ve ever participated in a protest. And after months of watching federal immigration agents violently detain people on social media, the students told LAist that protesting — on behalf of their communities and in honor of Renee Good and Alex Pretti — filled them with a sense of freedom and power.
Isaac, a seventh grader, walked out of science class.
“This felt like I was breaking out of some sort of chamber,” he told LAist. “I felt like I was being free for once.”
Many of the 12-year-old’s family members are from Mexico and he’s been worried about what could happen if they’re detained.
“I'm standing up for my family and my friends, our community, really,” he said. “The most we [can] do is what we're doing right now.”
After months of being scared every time his parents go to work, Isaac said the protest was a type of salve.
“It makes us feel better,” he said. “It makes us stronger.”
A few weeks ago, M, an 11-year-old sixth grader at Olive Vista Middle School, asked her mom, Maritza Ocegueda, why students in Minnesota and elsewhere were walking out of school. LAist has agreed to refer to her solely by her first initial, after her mom raised concerns for her safety.
Ocegueda shared with her daughter that she walked out of Van Nuys High School as a junior in 2006 to protest proposed federal immigration legislation. Nearly 40,000 students from across Southern California joined the movement.
“ I was floored,” Ocegueda said. “It inspires me and gives me that little bit of hope… Maybe we can make a change.”
M decided to organize a walkout at her school concurrently with other students in the community.
She made several lunchtime announcements about a walkout on Friday, Feb. 6 at 10:24 a.m.
“If you'd like to join, please come over here and if you have any questions, just ask me.”
Those announcements did not come easily to M, who is soft spoken and admittedly shy. “ I try to be the bravest I can,” she said. “ I want [my classmates] to understand how serious this [is] … [The federal government is not] letting people be themselves, like, they can't go to Home Depot without feeling unsafe.”
M, and several other students said some teachers and administrators discouraged their organizing. M said at one point she was pulled out of class for more than an hour to talk about the walkout.
“ One of the things I told the school [is] you dropped the ball because this is a learning moment,” Ocegueda said. However, she said she’s open to more conversations with school and district leaders on how to support students.
A Los Angeles Unified School District spokesperson provided a statement that said students were informed that walkouts are not school-sponsored, there are spaces on campus for students to exercise their freedom of speech and that they would be marked absent for missed class periods. A similar message was posted to the school’s Facebook page Thursday afternoon.
“Administrators routinely meet with students to share safety information and clarify options for on-campus expression—not to threaten or discipline,” the statement read. “Leaving campus during instructional time without permission is discouraged; that message is about safety and supervision, not suppressing speech.”
M said that other teachers were more supportive and helped her spread the word about the walkout to other students.
“ What I've learned is students should not have to come protest 'cause that's what the adults should be doing,” M said. “Adults should know better to help out the community and students should not have to come out.”
By mid-morning, students began to trickle out of Olive Vista.
As students joined the group of young activists, those already outside cheered and passing cars honked their horns in support. One SUV had a Mexican flag poking out of the sunroof.
Out by the curb, some of their parents, including M’s mom, were waiting. The adults encouraged the students to stick together and made sure the group waited for the light to turn before crossing the street to Sylmar Park.
Once they gathered, the middle schoolers held up homemade signs and flags of Latin America.
One student turned to a friend and nervously quipped: “I just really hope we don’t get shot or tear gassed.”
In conversation with LAist, multiple students said they live in fear of being separated from their families. They also worry that their parents could be mistreated if they are detained by federal agents.
Eleven-year-old Alejandro, for instance, usually goes to Sylmar Park to play baseball. Today, he said, he went to the protest to honor his mom and dad, Mexican immigrants from the states of Michoacán and Jalisco.
To critics who think he should have stayed in class, he said: “They don't understand how much we love our parents.”
“I just don't like how Donald Trump is calling us ‘animals,’ when we're the ones working our asses off to live paycheck to paycheck, while he's up there sitting in his chair throwing out orders at Kristi Noem,” said eighth-grader Jesús, referring to the Secretary of Homeland Security.
The 13-year-old had his family and his neighbors in mind during the protest, along with 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, whose deportation the federal government is working to expedite.
“The little boy who was captured with his little bunny hat, he was captured and he was sent to prison,” Jesús noted. “And that's just crazy, because how are you going to let a little kid inside a prison?”
The federal immigration activity in the San Fernando Valley has also left him feeling nervous, even when he is on campus. “I'm trying to study and then I just get reminded: maybe there's somebody waiting outside to take us.”
As the students chanted and waved their signs, adults passed out snacks, water and pizza purchased with money donated from the community.
“They're here with clear intentions and they're here for a purpose,” said Michelle, the parent of another young protestor who requested LAist only use her first name. “I’m just proud of them.”
Los Angeles Unified School District offers resources for families concerned about immigration through its website.
Families who need assistance regarding immigration, health, wellness, or housing can call LAUSD's Family Hotline: (213) 443-1300
M, the organizer, said she wouldn’t have used that term to describe herself before the protest.
“Now that I'm looking at myself, I do see myself as a helper,” M said. She plans to continue helping her community, for example by distributing food and clothes to unhoused neighbors.
And she has some advice for any aspiring student organizers.
“ I was a shy kid, so I want them to be brave and speak up,” M said.
She said she planned to finish up the day at school after she ate.
