The Brief

A local political kingmaker got a street named after him in Huntington Beach — by the same people whose political careers have benefitted from his tens of thousands of dollars in contributions. The honoree, Ed Laird, was feted last Friday in a ceremony held in front of his business Laird Coatings, with campaign signs for many of his beneficiaries flanking the podium.

Commerce Lane, a block-long street in an industrial part of the beach town is now also Honorary Laird Lane.

The ceremony was staffed by the city, and the speakers were a veritable who's who of conservative Orange County politics, including U.S. Rep. Michelle Steel and state Assemblymember Diane Dixon, both of whom are up for reelection. Laird has donated at least $5,500 to Dixon's campaign this election cycle, and at least $3,300 to Steel's current campaign, according to state and federal campaign finance data.

Huntington Beach's conservative City Council block — four out of seven members — all took to the podium, including Councilmember Tony Strickland, the former state senator and assemblyman who's again running for a state Senate seat in 2026. Laird donated $5,500 to Strickland's campaign in June, records show, and he donated to all four council members' campaigns in 2022.

Former Huntington Beach Congressman Dana Rohrabacher showed up — all the way from his home in Maine — with a guitar and a song he wrote. Rohrabacher represented coastal north O.C. for 30 years until he lost reelection to a Democrat in 2018.

"God bless the folks, like Ed Laird, who built this great country," he sang while strumming, "and God bless our rights to speak and to pray."

Huntington Beach Councilmember Dan Kalmick, a Democrat, called the event "an unfortunate use of taxpayer resources."

The honoree

Laird's nearly 50-year-old family business, Laird Coatings, makes specialized paints and coatings for the aviation and plastics industries. He recently handed over the reigns of the company to one of his sons. In a video last year, Laird said the firm does about $30 million in business annually and has 50 employees.

Laird has been active in civic affairs and local nonprofit groups for decades, including serving on the board of the local Boy Scouts of America chapter (a scout camp in Irvine is named after him), and on the board of the Bolsa Chica Conservancy, an environmental group. The list of awards he's accumulated throughout the years is long, including recognitions from the American Cancer Society, Kiwanis, and the Lincoln Club, a powerful conservative donor group in O.C.

At the ceremony, Councilmember Strickland said Laird is "like the Bob Hope of Huntington Beach. You never turn down a charity." Councilmember Casey McKeon called him "very kind, very generous, very caring with his time, with his resources, with his investment in the community through his business."

Along with his philanthropy, Laird has had his hands in conservative politics for decades, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to local, state and federal candidates and causes. McKeon said when he started to get involved in local politics, he was told Laird was a "kingmaker."

Asked later whether he thought "kingmaker" was an accurate description, Laird told LAist: "I think it's overdone. I just like to support good people and I support conservative people."

Nonetheless, at the street-naming ceremony, many of the speakers thanked Laird for helping them launch their political careers. Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark seemed on the verge of tears while talking about how Laird promised to stand by her during a tough time in her campaign.

"His words of support were all I needed to continue on this fight, and now I stand here as a Mayor of Huntington Beach," Van Der Mark said.

Campaign finance records show Laird donated at least $5,500 to Van Der Mark's 2022 City Council campaign, as well as to her 2018 school board campaign.

Laird is also, apparently, deeply involved in city affairs. When he took the podium at the street-naming event, Laird said he had been "right in the middle" of negotiations between City Attorney Michael Gates and the operator of the city's annual airshow, Kevin Elliott, which ended in a controversial settlement in which the city agreed to pay Elliott's firm up to $7 million.

"I sat in my driveway at home, my wife thought I came home for dinner," Laird told the crowd of close to 100 people, "and for four hours I was talking between Michael and Kevin and the deal was struck that was fair to the city."

Ed Laird gets a hug from Rep. Michelle Steel at his honorary street-naming event.

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Jill Replogle

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LAist

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Laird and local PACs

Much larger than his individual contributions are the sums Laird has poured into political action committees (PACs) over the years. Unlike direct donations to candidates, which have limits, PACs can independently spend as much as they want to support or oppose ballot measures and candidates.

Laird is the principal donor to the Huntington Beach People's Action Committee — whose address is the same as Laird's business on Commerce Lane, now also called "Honorary Laird Lane." Laird gave $23,500 to the committee during the first half of 2024, according to the most recently available campaign finance disclosure form.

The committee spent more than $20,000 to promote three measures on the Huntington Beach ballot in March, including one requiring voter ID at polling places, and another limiting the types of flags that can be displayed on city property.

For the upcoming November election, the committee has spent more than $17,000 on postcards opposing Gina Clayton-Tarvin, an outspoken, liberal school board trustee who's running for reelection. It has spent at least another $9,000 to support two of her opponents.

The committee has also funded mailers opposing the re-election of Huntington Beach City Councilmember Kalmick, who frequently spars with the conservative council majority. Laird also helped bankroll an effort to recall Kalmick and another six members of the City Council in 2021 for not putting up enough of a fight against state mandates to make room for more housing. (Among those he tried to recall was former Councilmember Mike Posey, whose previous campaigns Laird had supported financially.)

"They really wanted to turn Huntington Beach into a San Francisco, you know, with high rises all over," Laird told LAist. "We're a little beach town and we welcome new people and there's some infill that can be done, but to take homes and make it into four apartments isn't our lifestyle here in Huntington Beach."

The recall was unsuccessful.

Kalmick, Clayton-Tarvin and some of Laird's other political foes have filed multiple complaints with the state Fair Political Practices Committee (FPPC) against Laird and the Huntington Beach People's Action Committee. They allege, among other things, that the committee repeatedly missed state deadlines for disclosing their donors and campaign spending. The FPPC opened an investigation into the committee in 2022, which now encompasses at least 12 of those complaints. The investigation is ongoing, according to the FPPC's website.

Laird told LAist he didn't know about the FPPC investigation, and he said the committee's treasurer might not be caught up on the latest campaign disclosure rules. He called the complaints by Kalmick and others "inconsequential" and "harassment."

'Shady gray area'

Kalmick, who made a brief appearance at the Laird street-naming ceremony, called it "absolutely a political event."

"I think that this was an unfortunate use of taxpayer resources to help support a campaign donor to these people," he said.

Tracy Westen, a government ethics expert with the nonprofit Common Cause, said he didn't think the street-naming or the ceremony violated any state election or ethics laws, but it could "raise eyebrows."

"It's a shady gray area," he said. "It may raise in the minds of some that this is favoritism in exchange for contributions. It creates a little bit of that appearance."

Van Der Mark, the mayor, called Laird a "pillar in our community" in an interview with LAist after the ceremony. She said Laird, through his work with the local Boys and Girls Club and Boy Scouts of America, had "given thousands of kids opportunities" for activities like camping that they might not have had otherwise.

Asked whether she was concerned that the street-naming could be perceived as payback for his political contributions, Van Der Mark said, "No."

"Just because he endorses, supports people who he has faith in doesn't mean that he doesn't deserve recognition just like everybody else that gives back to their community," she said.

Initial street-naming backlash

The City Council initially discussed officially renaming Commerce Lane as "Ed Laird Lane" in May. But other businesses on the street protested — one business owner told LAist they calculated the address change would have cost them $200,000 to $300,000 each, for things like printing new advertising and changing their address on business licenses.

In the end, Laird himself asked the city not to inconvenience his neighbors with the name change. The council majority voted to put up the ceremonial signs instead.

Laird later told LAist that he appreciated the recognition, which he said the City Council majority insisted upon. "But I don't like being in the limelight," he said.

Five news reporters and two members of the military who were invited to an event at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California were briefly detained at gunpoint by security officers who thought they were gate crashers, according to local news reports.

The incident happened Monday ahead of an invitation-only groundbreaking for a new training facility for missile operators at the federal airfield near Santa Barbara, Calif. Reporters from Noozhawk and KEYT were among those detained, and both outlets published articles detailing the detainment.

In a statement to Noozhawk, a Space Launch Delta 30 Public Affairs spokesperson called the incident a breakdown in communication.

“Vandenberg Space Force Base is experiencing an increased number of unauthorized entry attempts,” the statement said. “Every potential unauthorized presence must be treated as a legitimate threat until proven otherwise. While we recognize this may have been unsettling, the security of the base and its personnel is our priority.”

The reporters and military members were part of a convoy being escorted onto the base by uniformed public affairs staff in a government minivan when they were suddenly ordered out of their vehicles with their hands up, according to news reports.

Officers pointed guns, sirens were sounded and barricades went up at the gate entrance, KEYT reported.

The two military members assigned to the base — one enlisted and one a junior officer — were handcuffed and placed in base vehicles, while the civilians were ordered to sit on a curb, Noozhawk reported.

The reporters for outlets also including KSBY-TV and the Santa Maria Times/Lompoc Record were held for more than 30 minutes, causing them to miss the event. All were let go without further incident.

“We respect the military’s need to provide security for the base,” Tom Bolton, Noozhawk’s editor in chief, said in a statement Wednesday. “But clearly what occurred was unfortunate and unnecessary, and potentially dangerous, as firearms were drawn.”

Bolton said he hopes to have a conversation with base leadership later this week to review what happened in the hopes of preventing a similar occurrence in the future.

As severe wildfires burn across the Western U.S., California has adopted the toughest rules in the country to help protect communities from burning. Homeowners in wildfire-prone areas will be required to limit plants within five feet of their house, a protective measure that wildfire experts say can help prevent homes from igniting.
Research shows that dry, dense vegetation around buildings can cause wildfires to spread. In extreme conditions, high winds carry a deluge of tiny, burning embers far beyond the fire itself. When those embers get caught in vegetation, they can ignite, spreading flames to nearby buildings and homes.
Wednesday's vote by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection comes after years of debate and delays. The state originally considered rules that would have restricted all vegetation within five feet of a house, aside from well-maintained trees. That generated pushback from some communities, concerned about losing greenery in their gardens and the cost of yard maintenance.
California regulators ultimately struck a compromise about plants allowed within the five-foot zone, known as Zone Zero. Lawns, flowers and non-woody plants up to 18 inches tall will be allowed, unless they are located directly under the roofline of a house. Trees will be allowed, though branches must be trimmed five feet away from a structure. The rules will apply to new construction right away, but will be phased in for existing structures, affecting almost 2 million homes in high-risk areas.

State regulators say the rules reflect the new reality of more extreme wildfires, driven in part by rising temperatures from climate change. More than 57,000 homes and buildings have been destroyed in California in the last decade, according to state regulators.

"California's faced an existential crisis that has affected our health, that has affected our finances related to our ability to buy and sell homes, to insure homes and has put us in a very precarious place," testified Yana Valachovic of the University of California Cooperative Extension at Wednesday's hearing, who also advised the state on the new rules.

Growing tensions across Western states

California's debate reflects growing tensions across the Western U.S. about how communities should prepare for wildfires. Wildfire experts warn even fires that start in open, wildland areas can quickly become urban fires, destroying thousands of homes in neighborhoods that residents never thought were at risk, like in the 2025 Los Angeles fires. This summer, more than 800 homes were destroyed in Spokane, Wash., by three wildfires that burned through dense neighborhoods.
Across several states, homeowners in public meetings have said wildfire regulations threaten private property rights, reduce urban wildlife habitat and require costly maintenance.
"You are about to approve a set of regulations that will cost millions of California homeowners tens of billions of dollars," testified Dave Lefkowitz, president of the Mandeville Canyon Association, a community group in the Los Angeles hills. "The math is insuperable."

Vegetation management rules were recently defeated in both Oregon and Washington after strong public pushback, including misinformation that spread online. Some community groups wanted regulators to wait for more scientific research on wildfire spread.

Research shows plants can increase risk

In experiments, researchers have shown that even green plants can ignite in the dry, windy conditions of an extreme wildfire. Analyses of past California wildfires have also shown that homes with vegetation predominantly within 6 feet of the exterior walls were at higher risk of being lost. Managing vegetation also creates "defensible space" for firefighters, providing better access for defending a structure.

California has long been at the forefront of wildfire policy, pioneering regulations that other states have adopted. For almost 20 years, California's wildfire building codes have required homes to use fire-resistant materials for construction. A handful of other states recently adopted similar codes. Research shows that while there are no guarantees a house will survive a fire, protections are strongest when homeowners address both building materials and vegetation. Even in some of the most severe wildfires in recent years, some homes made it through.
California regulators say the widespread regulations are needed because voluntary measures don't provide enough protection. Communities are safest when all homeowners comply, since one home with dense, dry vegetation can spread fire to its neighbors. Insurance companies in California are also required to provide discounts to homeowners that make their homes more fire-resistant.

New rules depend on inspections

While California's new rules provide more flexibility for homeowners, some wildfire experts say they don't go far enough, given that any combustible material next to a house could pose a risk. The new vegetation rules will be enforced by local fire departments and state agencies that do home inspections every year. Those inspectors will bear the brunt of educating homeowners and ensuring compliance.
"I want the board to understand what this compromise asks of local inspection programs," Todd Lando of the Central Marin Fire Department testified at the hearing. "A clean Zone Zero is a five-minute inspection with one question: Is anything combustible within five feet? Easy for the homeowner to understand and take action on." Lando says the new rules will involve more conditional judgements by inspectors, opening up debate with homeowners that could affect compliance.

California regulators say inspectors will focus on educating homeowners at first, before compliance becomes mandatory. For existing homes, the new vegetation rules will go into effect in 2029 at the earliest.

Copyright 2026 NPR

Clemente Larraín, a doctoral student from Chile, chose his program at UCLA because it offered subsidized childcare on campus. His young daughter was enrolled for free, giving him the peace of mind to focus on his studies.

Now, the university has thrown a wrench in those plans.

In an email to families enrolled in UCLA’s Early Care and Education program, Darnell Hunt, executive vice chancellor and provost, announced two university-run childcare centers will close at the end of the 2026-27 academic year because the university has determined “the program is not sustainable.”

“ For international students, this is the worst news because we don't have networks here," Larraín said. "We don't have family. Some of us have some friends, but not too close to just trusting them to our kids.”

He earns around $3,000 a month working on campus, which he said barely covers his rent, forcing the family to dig into savings. Meanwhile, his wife is waiting for a work permit so she can start to bring in additional income.

Having to find full time care for their daughter is causing immense stress.

“ This obviously changed radically the experience of the graduate students with family at UCLA,” Larraín said.

Limited childcare options for parents

The announcement comes as a changing landscape is making it harder for parents to find childcare across California. A new report by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley found that the rollout of a new grade for 4-year-olds in the state’s public schools is having unintended consequences for childcare businesses. Those businesses have typically cared for children 5 and under but are now losing more children to transitional kindergarten.

Between 2019 and 2025, about 1,100 preschools have closed across California.

Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi, an associate professor of Asian American studies at UCLA, has two children enrolled in a UCLA-run childcare center, which she said costs her around $6,000 a month — and that’s at a subsidized rate.

“Having a high-quality, safe, reliable childcare option for my children just allows me to do my job as a UCLA professor, which includes research and publishing, but also teaching and mentorship of undergraduate and graduate students,” Gandhi said. “I'm really not sure how I'll be able to do that job if I don't have adequate childcare next year.”

Gandhi said the only alternative she has for her daughter is Bright Horizons Westwood, which is part of a large chain of childcare facilities across the U.S.

“ But to be honest it doesn't have as good of a kind of teacher-child ratio as [UCLA's Early Care and Education] does, and it has a super long wait list,” she said.

LAist has reached out to the childcare facility to ask about its waitlist, teacher-child ratio and rates.

Earlier this year, Gandhi said, tuition at UCLA’s Early Care and Education program increased by 4%, Gandhi said. At the time, UCLA also announced it would eliminate “all food program services (which includes all meals, baby formula and food, milk and snacks), discontinuing support for diapers and formula, not backfilling vacant positions, and other cost reducing measures.”

After families protested, the university backed down.

‘Disconnected from its mission’

Yvonne Yang, an assistant clinical professor at UCLA in psychiatry, called it "callous and heartless," even "cruel" that the university decided to close down the childcare centers.

“It means to me that the university has completely become disconnected from its mission and basically lost its soul and is focusing only on profits,” said Yang, who is also a physician and researcher at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center.

Yang said she’s now competing with all the families enrolled in the UCLA program for the limited childcare options available on the west side.

 ”When our kids were young and still breastfeeding, moms are welcome to just walk up to the daycare and to feed our kids during the workday, which is so much better than having to pump,” she said. “It's just a way of maintaining that connection with your kids so early in that transition.”

Having the childcare center on campus allowed her to integrate having a family life and being a professor, she said.