The Brief

Law enforcement unions and real estate interests are teaming up to fund an expensive campaign to defeat incumbent Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón and elect his challenger Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney who has promised to undo Gascón’s progressive policies.

The numbers dwarf the amount of spending on Gascón’s behalf, a reversal from four years ago when criminal justice reformers from around the country flooded his campaign coffers with money and lifted the one-time cop-turned-reformer to victory.

Gascón is the nation’s most prominent progressive prosecutor and the results of the race may be a bellwether for the criminal justice reform movement nationwide.

Much of the money is going to campaign ads that feature a dystopian L.A. rife with crime and homelessness and that blame Gascón for the problems — unfairly, according to his supporters and criminologists.

Outside committees working to help elect Hochman have raised more than $7.2 million compared to $605,000 for Gascón, according to an analysis conducted by LAist.

A coalition led by the labor union that represents L.A. County sheriff’s deputies leads the way with $1.35 million in contributions to back Hochman.

“This has turned into our most important race in the county,” said Derek Hsieh, executive director of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs. The association also represents district attorney investigators.

“It feels out of control on the streets to first responders,” Hsieh said.

Gascón’s supporters say they have hope despite the outsized spending for Hochman.

“It's still a relatively unknown office and both candidates are relatively unknown,” said the Rev. Zachary Hoover, who leads LA Voice Action, a multi-faith community organization.

He added Hochman would take the office “backward toward tough on crime” policies that harm people of color and poor people.

Who are the donors?

Gascón's agenda includes reducing mass incarceration by shortening prison time for people convicted of non-violent crimes and seeking early release for some people who are already locked up and deemed to not be a danger to the public. And those are some of the reasons why police unions from around L.A. County and beyond are spending to oust him.

The Sacramento-based California Correctional Peace Officers Association — the union that represents state prison guards — has poured in $500,000.

Gascón is also getting opposition within his own office. The union that represents frontline prosecutors who work for Gascón contributed $60,000 to the effort to defeat him in November. The union has been among the district attorney’s sharpest critics — over what some say are his heavy-handed management style as well as his policies.

Longtime Republican donor Gerald Marcil tops real estate interests spending to defeat Gascón. He donated $450,000. Marcil heads Palos Verdes Investments, which owns apartment complexes around L.A.

“This election has the biggest effect on the quality of life in L.A. County of any of the other elections,” Marcil said of the district attorney race. He is joined in six-figure donations by Douglas Emmett Properties and Kilroy Realty.

Billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who built and owns The Grove and The Americana malls, has contributed $250,000 to bounce Gascón. He said the D.A. is to blame for the crime rate.

Violent crime went up 7% in 2023 from 2020 in L.A., the year Gascon took office, according to the state Department of Justice. More recently, violent crime has been trending downward.

Property crime jumped 20% during the same time frame and continues to rise.

But there are two big caveats. One is COVID. Crime jumped dramatically during the pandemic.

The other is the fact that these are crime trends we’ve seen across the country — in big cities with and without progressive prosecutors.

“People feel uncomfortable in neighborhoods all around Los Angeles,” said Caruso, who ran for L.A. mayor in 2022.

One expert agreed that people feel uncomfortable about crime, but was unwilling to blame Gascón for the crime rate.

“I think that district attorneys, who have a lot of power over individual outcomes, have a much smaller influence on the overall crime rate relative to police,” said Emily Owens, who chairs the criminology department at U.C. Irvine.

She noted the crime rate is relatively low, compared to previous decades, and argued that some of the fear is “based on one or two news stories that whip people up.”

A different politicial environment

Police and real estate interests opposed Gascón when he first ran for office. The difference this time is that support for Gascón is lagging — especially after his weak performance in the primary when he finished first but with only 25% of the vote.

Gascón was elected on a progressive agenda in a year that saw the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and widespread street protests calling for criminal justice reform nationally.

Gascón attracted support from around the country. George Soros alone contributed $2.25 million. This year, Soros is sitting out.

Soros spokesperson Michael Vachon said Soros’ attention is focused on the presidential contest.

“This reflects the unprecedented stakes facing the nation and should not be misconstrued as an abandonment of Gascòn or other local leaders who are implementing effective and humane approaches to public safety,” Vachon said in a statement. “Los Angeles County District Attorney Gascòn has George Soros’ endorsement."

'An uphill battle' for Gascón

In a poll released earlier this month, Gascón trailed Hochman by a significant margin. The survey from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, found 51% of likely voters favored Hochman and 21% backed Gascón. Twenty-eight percent were undecided.

“Even the most principled of political donors are essentially investors when it comes right down to it,” said Dan Schnur, who teaches political communications at the University of Southern California and UC Berkeley. “If they don’t see that investment as having a likelihood of paying off, they don’t make it.”

When Gascón ran for district attorney four years ago, that was at a “singular moment” for the reform movement, Schnur said.

“Voters were much more willing to explore reform efforts and it's not like they’ve turned their back on those efforts but they are just a lot more cautious than they were four years ago,” he said.

Individually, Gascón has also raised far less than Hochman. Gascón has raised about $870,000 to Hochman’s $4.6 million.

Supporters of Gascón remain confident they can overcome the deficit in the polls.

“There’s a huge number of undecideds,” said Hoover, from LA Voice Action.

A coalition led by Hoover’s group has raised $605,000 to support Gascón. Half the money comes from the Progressive Era PAC. Bay Area criminal justice reform advocate Quinn Delaney, the Smart Justice California Action Fund and SEIU 2015 have kicked in $100,000 each.

Hoover called the race “an uphill battle” for Gascón.

“I’m a man of faith, so I try to practice hopefulness,” he added.

LAist data journalist Maloy Moore contributed to this story.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Singer D4vd has been charged with murder in the death of a 14-year-old girl who was last known to be alive nearly a year ago and whose dismembered and decomposed body was found in September in his apparently abandoned Tesla, prosecutors said Monday.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said the 21-year-old D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. She was reported missing by her family in 2024, when she was 13. Authorities, who described her Monday as a “runaway,” said she was 14 when she was killed.

A criminal complaint says he had engaged in continuous sexual abuse of Rivas Hernandez from September 2023 to September 2024.

Prosecutors allege he killed her using a sharp object on or around April 23, 2025 — the date she was last known to be alive and was headed to the singer’s house in the Hollywood Hills — and mutilated her body about two weeks later.

The murder charges included special circumstances — lying in wait, committing crime for financial gain and murdering the witness in an investigation — that could carry the death penalty. Prosecutors haven’t announced whether they will seek it. Burke is also charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a body.

Attorneys for the Houston-born alt-pop singer said he was innocent in a statement released after homicide detectives arrested him on Thursday at a home in Hollywood.

“Let us be clear — the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death,” the lawyers said. A new request for comment to Burke’s lawyers on the charges was not immediately answered.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman called the case “a parent’s nightmare.”

“Celeste, a 14-year-old at that time, went to Mr. Burke’s house in the Hollywood Hills. She was never heard from again,” Hochman said at Monday’s press conference.

The long-dead body of Rivas Hernandez was found inside a Tesla that was towed from the Hollywood Hills on Sept. 8, a day after she would have turned 15. Her family had reported her missing from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.

Authorities did not publicly name Burke as a suspect until his arrest. And his lawyers’ statement last week, in which said they “will vigorously defend David’s innocence,” was the first time they weighed in publicly.

The singer had been under investigation by an LA County grand jury looking into the death. The probe was officially secret, but its existence — and his designation as its target — was revealed in February when his mother, father and brother objected in a Texas court to subpoenas demanding they testify.

The 2023 Tesla Model Y was registered in the singer’s name at the Texas address of his subpoenaed family members, according to court filings from prosecutors. It had been towed from an upscale Hollywood Hills neighborhood where it had been sitting as though it was abandoned.

Police investigators searching the Tesla in a tow yard found a cadaver bag “covered with insects and a strong odor of decay,” court documents said. Detectives partially unzipped a bag and found a head and torso.

Investigators from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office removed the bag and “discovered the arms and legs had been severed from the body,” according to court documents. A second black bag was found under the first, and dismembered body parts were inside it. No cause of death has been publicly revealed, and police got a judge to block the release details of the autopsy. On Friday, the medical examiner told The Associated Press the court order remained in place after Burke’s arrest, and suggested to ask the police whether they would ask to lift it. Hochman said Monday that the coroner’s report would be released “shortly.”

The family of Rivas Hernandez has remained private and has not made any public statements on her death or the case.

“I had the chance to meet with some of the family members of Celeste and their grief in incalculable as to what happened to their daughter,” Hochman said.

D4vd, pronounced “David,” gained popularity among Gen Z for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit “Romantic Homicide,” which peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. He then signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records and released his debut EP “Petals to Thorns” and a follow-up, “The Lost Petals,” in 2023.

The Associated Press confirmed that D4vd was dropped by Interscope last year.

When the body was discovered, the singer continued his North American tour, but when reports of his possible involvement spread widely, he canceled the final two shows and a European tour that was to follow.

—

AP Music Writer Maria Sherman contributed reporting from New York.

The post Singer D4vd charged with murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, found dismembered in his car appeared first on LA Local.

Former state Controller Betty Yee dropped out from the governor’s race on Monday, saying she couldn’t see a path to get donors and additional support from undecided voters with six weeks left before the primary.

“It was becoming clear that the donors were not going to be there,” she said. “Even some of my former supporters just felt like they needed to move on as well.”

She did not immediately endorse another candidate, but said she would do so in the next few days.

Yee was one of the earliest to enter the race, announcing her candidacy more than two years ago. She ran on her experience handling the state budget and her family’s middle-class, immigrant background.

A progressive who supported continuing the state’s greenhouse gas reduction mandates, Yee also emphasized her ability to balance the budget and spoke often about the importance of growing the state’s economy and auditing state programs for fraud. In recent days, she had begun styling herself as “Boring Betty,” promising drama-free state government experience.

But pragmatism never translated into star power. Yee has stayed at or near the bottom of the polls, never garnering more than about 3% of likely voters, and consistently lagged in fundraising.

That made her one of California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks’ unnamed targets of a public campaign to pressure lower-polling Democrats to drop out of the race. With many Democrats in the race potentially splitting the liberal vote, Democrats were concerned two Republicans could possibly win the top-two primary election in June.

Yee, the former vice chair of the party, insisted she had grassroots support and wouldn’t be forced out of the race by a slate of wealthy, male candidates. She and the other candidates of color banded together to denounce their exclusion from a USC candidate debate last month after the university used a formula based on polling and fundraising to decide who to invite. The debate was ultimately canceled.

“This has been my life story, frankly, as a woman of color,” she told reporters in March. “I’ve been overlooked, I’ve been underestimated and pushed aside.”

The chances of Democrats getting locked out of the general election have gone down since former Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out over a week ago over sexual assault allegations and after President Donald Trump endorsed Steve Hilton on the Republican side.

But Yee has little cash on hand to continue, and the race is entering its most expensive phase yet with multiple candidates launching television ads last week.

Her exit leaves only one woman in the race, former Rep. Katie Porter.

Like Swalwell, Yee dropped out after a March state deadline to file or withdraw for the race, so her name will remain on the ballot in June.

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

April 30 is your last chance to claim any cash you qualify for with California’s Middle Class Tax Refund — a one-time payment approved by state lawmakers back in 2022.

According to the Franchise Tax Board — the California agency responsible for these funds — 32 million residents received a total of $9.2 billion in payments.

MCTR payments ranged from $200 to $1,050, and what you got depended on how you filed your 2020 tax return. For example, if you listed yourself as a single filer and made less than $75,000, you qualified for $350. If you filed jointly with your spouse and listed a dependent, and made less than $150,000, you were eligible for $1,050. The program even included taxpayers making up to $500,000 if they filed jointly.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators approved MCTR payments as a response to the jump in gasoline prices that came after the United States banned Russian oil imports at the start of 2022.

More than 7 million Californians received the funds through direct deposit — but another 9.6 million people received the rebate through a debit card that was mailed to the address listed on their 2020 tax return.

Recent data from the FTB shows that 90% of cards have been activated over the last four years. But around 57% of these activated cards still have some balance on them — meaning around $2.95 billion in total funds have yet to be used by Californians.

If you’ve ever received a MCTR card in the mail, you have till April 30 before the card expires — and you lose the funds it contains.

Keep reading for what to know about claiming your possible MCTR cash before the end of the month.

How do I know if I qualified for this money?

If you can find them, check your 2020 tax returns — because while the MCTR program began in 2022, what taxpayers received was based on how they filed back in 2020.

April 30 is the deadline to claim any remaining funds from California’s 2022 Middle Class Tax Refund. The state’s Franchise Tax Board said 32 million residents have already received $9.2 billion in payments.

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Diego Cervo

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State officials set up several tiers that decide how much taxpayers get from MCTR, based on their income:

• Tier 1: If you filed single in 2020 and made up to $75,000, you qualified for $350 of MCTR money, plus an additional $350 if you had at least one dependent. If you filed jointly and made up to $150,000 together, you qualified for $700 and an additional $350 if you had at least one dependent.
• Tier 2: If you filed single in 2020 and made up to $125,000, you qualified for $250, plus an additional $250 if you had at least one dependent. If you filed jointly and made up to $250,000 together, you qualified for $500 and an additional $250 if you had at least one dependent.
• Tier 3: If you filed single in 2020 and made up to $250,000, you qualified for $200, plus an additional $200 if you had at least one dependent. If you filed jointly and made up to $500,000 together, you qualified for $200 and an additional $400 if you had at least one dependent.

If I qualified for an MCTR debit card, when did I receive it?

The FTB said it mailed out all debit cards between October 2022 and January 2023 — and that it then sent reminder letters in spring 2023 and spring 2024 to taxpayers who had not activated their cards yet.

After April 30, your card will no longer work anywhere, and you will no longer have access to this money.

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Each card came in its own window envelope with “California Middle Class Tax Refund” printed on the return address.

The state flag’s grizzly bear and the state seal are printed on the front side of all MCTR cards, and all have the same expiration date: “04/26”

“Cardholders are urged to spend their funds or transfer them to a bank account by April 30, 2026,” a spokesperson for the FTB told KQED in an emailed statement.

After April 30, your card will no longer work anywhere, and you will no longer have access to this money.

How do I know how much money I have left on my card?

The MCTR cards are administered by a private company called Money Network. You can either call Money Network’s customer service line at 1-800-240-0223 or create an account at the MCTR website set up by the company.

Keep in mind that you will be asked to confirm the number on your card and your entire Social Security number. You can also register your debit card on Money Network’s app.

If there are two names printed on your card — which usually happens for taxpayers who filed jointly — you can register your card using the name that appears above the other.

I found my MCTR card, but I’m having trouble using it

While the FTB tracks MCTR funds, Money Network — the private company that made the cards — is now responsible for helping cardholders. If you have never used your card, it’s possible that the security controls on the card placed it on hold.

“This is a standard fraud-prevention measure and does not mean the funds are unavailable,” the FTB said.

To get rid of the hold and start using your card, you’ll have to contact Money Network’s customer service at 800-240-0223. Customer service representatives are available on weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“Callers should have their personal information available to verify their identity,” the FTB wrote. “We advise people to call the Money Network Customer service line as early in the day as possible.”

There have been reported cases of cardholders calling Money Network and not getting a hold of anyone. State officials did not provide specific information on what other options taxpayers have if they cannot reach Money Network staff. KQED also reached out to Fiserv, the parent company of Money Network, which declined an interview.

I lost my MCTR debit card. Can I request a replacement?

Unfortunately, not any more, as April 8 was the last day to request a replacement card. State officials say this last day was chosen to ensure recipients would definitely get their new card before the program ends on April 30.

If you do know where your card is, but want to temporarily lock it to prevent anyone else from using it, you can prevent unauthorized transactions by logging into your card’s account at the MCTR website.

And if you just never got a card, it’s possible that you received this money via direct deposit to the bank account you listed when filing your 2020 taxes.

What will happen to all the money that’s not claimed?

State law requires that all unused funds still remaining on expired credit cards be transferred to the state’s General Fund, where the money for these payments originally came from.

This will affect both activated and unactivated cards.

Unions representing private security guards would gain a new advantage in organizing under California legislation that would compel companies to reach labor contracts if the firms want to provide use-of-force training.

State Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas’ Senate Bill 1203 also seeks to raise pay for security guards and it would require their companies to offer more rigorous training.

Smallwood-Cuevas, a Democrat from Los Angeles, said guards on average make around $44,000 a year, the state poverty line, despite their companies generating an estimated $34 billion in revenue. She said guards also are being asked to take on increasingly dangerous roles without enough training.

“This bill asks us to stand up with these officers to strengthen and improve these working conditions and to ensure that across California that we are not only improving safety, but we're also helping to build a safety pathway for workers in this sector,” Smallwood-Cuevas told the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee last week.

The committee voted to advance her bill to the Senate Public Safety Committee which is scheduled to discuss the measure Tuesday.

Security companies say the measure would add at least $1 billion to their costs each year and lead to fewer guards protecting the public.

“California has led the nation in training requirements, and we applaud that,” Dean Grafilo, a lobbyist for private security firm Allied Universal told the committee. “However, this bill goes much further than is necessary or reasonable, and we simply cannot ignore the staggering financial burden this bill will impose on our industry and, by extension, California.”

There are an estimated 330,000 private security personnel in California, making the industry one of the state’s largest workforces, Smallwood-Cuevas said. California businesses and local governments are increasingly hiring guards to protect them from smash-and-grab robberies and other crimes. Security firms also will be called upon at this year’s World Cup games in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, the 2027 Super Bowl in Inglewood and the 2028 Olympics in California.

The measure, according to the business committee’s analysis, would expand training standards, increase annual training for security guards and require companies to compensate guards for time spent training.

It would only allow companies to provide “power to arrest” and use-of-force training if agreed to in union contracts. Those agreements would require workers to earn at least 30% above California’s $16.90 minimum wage and get overtime.

The bill also would require state regulators to review and set minimum wages for security guards by 2028. Security industry officials say even a $1-an-hour raise for security workers would add $750 million to their costs each year.

“SB 1203 will eliminate jobs making companies that seek to automate security functions more competitive thereby displacing the very people the bill intends to help,” David Chandler, president of the California Association of Licensed Security Agencies, Guards & Associates, wrote in a letter to lawmakers.

Labor is a powerful Capitol force

The bill is the latest effort by labor unions to use the Legislature to pressure companies to allow unionization. The most notable recent effort was a multi-year legislative push that successfully got ride-share companies to back legislation that allowed their drivers to unionize.

About 20% of private security guards are unionized, according to the industry, slightly higher than the rest of the state’s workforce, in which about 15% of workers are unionized.

Unions have tremendous clout in the Legislature, due in large part to the money they spend on the political campaigns of Democratic lawmakers. Unions also deploy their networks of organizers to advocate for their chosen candidates.

Service Employees International Union, the bill’s sponsor, is arguably the most influential labor organization in the state. The union and its affiliates have donated at least $21.4 million to lawmakers’ campaigns since 2015, according to the CalMatters Digital Democracy database.

Meanwhile, 33 of the 120 members of the Legislature are current or former union members, according to a California Labor Federation tally.

Some, like Smallwood-Cuevas, used to work for the unions that would benefit from their legislation.

Before entering politics, Smallwood-Cuevas once worked as an organizer for a local affiliate of SEIU that unionized security officers. Her campaigns have received at least $119,100 from SEIU and its affiliates since 2021, according to Digital Democracy.

Committee backs union bill

The union’s political clout as well as lawmakers’ sympathies for underpaid workers doing a dangerous job was on display last week at the business and professions committee. No committee members voted against the bill.

Sen. Bob Archuleta, a Democrat representing Norwalk, asked Smallwood-Cuevas if he could be added to the bill as a symbolic co-author.

“We use the term ‘first responders,’” he told the committee. “Sometimes it is these individuals and individuals like them that are first responders.”

Archuleta, a former reserve officer at the Montebello Police Department, said he used to arrive at crime scenes and “sure enough, there was a security officer there,” telling police “I got your back.”

Archuleta’s campaign has received at least $79,600 from SEIU and its affiliates, according to Digital Democracy.

One Democrat on the business committee expressed concerns.

Sen. Caroline Menjivar, a Democrat representing the Van Nuys area, said she didn’t have a problem with the bill’s intent to raise wages for guards. After all, she said she worked for five years as a security guard.

But she said she felt the bill’s training requirements were duplicative or would override a law that the Legislature had passed last year on security personnel standards and training.

She said she also had concerns the requirements in the bill could end up preventing companies from hiring qualified training consultants due to restrictions limiting who’s authorized to do that work.

“Right now, there are certain retired police officers that are turned to by security companies to provide that training,” she said. “And they’re no longer going to be given that option.”

Despite her concerns, she did not vote on the bill instead of casting a formal “no” vote.

As CalMatters has reported, legislators regularly dodge tough votes instead of voting “no” to avoid angering influential lobbying organizations.

Menjivar’s campaign has received at least $16,900 from SEIU, according to secretary of state filings.

“There were provisions within SB 1203 that she liked and a hard ‘no’ vote would send the signal that there is nothing the author or sponsors can do to move her to an ‘aye’ vote down the line,” Menjivar’s spokesperson, Teodora Reyes, said in an email.

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