The Brief

Seventy days remain until Long Beach voters join the rest of California in deciding how — or specifically by whom — they will be represented over the next six years.

The special election comes after California Democrats last week passed the “Election Rigging Response Act,” which would allow the state legislature to impose new Congressional district maps that would apply only to federal elections in 2026, 2028 and 2030.

The measure, passed 57-20 in the state Assembly and 30-8 in the state Senate, was proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom as a counterpunch to the Trump Administration, which first urged state lawmakers in Texas earlier this month to redraw their maps to favor Republicans.

If approved by voters, Newsom’s ballot measure will redraw California’s congressional makeup next year, giving Democrats a chance to win five more seats in the 2026 midterms. Democrats control 43 of California’s 53 seats, while Republicans hold a slim 219-212 majority in the House.

In service of that national political fight, the measure would make substantial changes to how Long Beach is represented at the federal level.

Currently, the city is divided between the 42nd and 44th Congressional Districts, represented by Democratic Reps. Robert Garcia and Nanette Barragán, respectively.

Barragán’s district would retrench from Long Beach, retreating to the neighborhoods north of Del Amo Boulevard and west of Downey Avenue, as it loses voters in West Long Beach and the communities that border Lakewood. Inversely, the congresswoman would gain Huntington Park and parts of Commerce.

Meanwhile, Garcia’s district would undergo a major change.

In the proposed map, the second-term congressman would claim a greater chunk of Long Beach, assuming the northwest neighborhoods of Wrigley, Bixby Knolls and Los Cerritos, among others.

Garcia would lose Lakewood, Downey and Gateway City neighborhoods like Commerce and Huntington Park. In exchange, he would take neighboring Seal Beach as the district stretches along the coast, absorbing Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and parts of Newport Beach.

Matt Lesenyie, a political science professor at Cal State Long Beach, said Wednesday the new districts in and around Long Beach bank heavily on Garcia’s popularity in the region, as the 42nd District would siphon Republican neighborhoods out of the 45th and 47th districts — two districts that Democrats Derek Tran and Dave Min won by slim margins last November.

Tran, a Cypress Democrat, won the 45th District seat over Republican incumbent Michelle Steel by 0.2% of the vote — a difference of 653 votes. And Min, a Costa Mesa Democrat, won last November by fewer than three percentage points, or 10,000 ballots.

Inversely, bluer cities in Garcia’s former district, like Bellflower and Downey, will be added to the 41st Congressional District, shoring up Democrat votes to wage a stronger challenge against the current representative, Republican Ken Calvert.

“If I was a strategist, I’d say you have votes to spare in Long Beach and northeast of Long Beach, Paramount,” Lesenyie said. “You don’t have a surplus south of that district.”

In a phone call last week, Garcia said the redrawing might change local priorities and make for some lively town halls, but it will not alter his overall message to voters.

“Whether it’s here or my current district in southeast LA, whether it’s in Orange County, people want to make sure that we’re taking on corruption in government,” Garcia said. “People want to make sure that programs are responsive to protecting health care and social security. They want to make sure we’re providing funds for parks and for infrastructure. … So none of that message is going to change.”

The newly proposed map makes the 42nd seat solely a beach district, as opposed to a mix of coastal and inland communities that sometimes differ on their needs. More attention could be paid toward laws that affect coastal cities, as well as grants that pay for improved water quality, wetland conservation and infrastructure at seaports.

But the district’s Democratic hold hinges on Garcia’s clout; without him or someone of similar name recognition, the new map could allow for a competitive Republican challenge.

The change, in terms of voter registration, will dilute its population of registered Democrats, from 53% to 40%. Republicans would jump from 18% to 30%, while there would be 5% more without a party preference.

“Without an experienced politician like Garcia, this could become basically a swing district,” Lesenyie said.

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, center, along with Congresswoman Nanette Barragán on the left and Rep. Robert Garcia, discuss the effects of the tariffs in Long Beach.

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Thomas R. Cordova.

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Long Beach Post

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State Sen. Tony Strickland, who has worked as a political consultant in Huntington Beach, said the right Republican would focus on “bread and butter” issues like the rising cost of living, as well as high energy costs, crime and “overreaching” building regulations.

But it would be an uphill battle for any Republican, Strickland added.

“Right now, our district that we live in and our map is a very competitive seat that you have to actually campaign hard and earn the people’s vote versus an overwhelming Democratic seat,” he said. “So for a Republican, it would be to try to bring affordability and common sense to California.”

Lesenyie, however, thinks the most formidable Republican would be a culture warrior, one who makes few concessions to moderates and instead taps into the prevailing disdain among those in Orange County against the cultural pace and leanings — such as on gender identity and reproductive health — of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Concessions would be a “poison pill” on either side, Lesenyie said.

Will Newsom’s plan pass?

It’s unclear how people across California feel about the move. Even among supporters, it will be a measure of whether they see it as a necessary sacrifice to their own democratic process.

A UC Berkeley/Politico/Citrin Center poll taken earlier this month found that California voters resoundingly want redistricting power kept with the state’s independent commission. But another survey by the same coalition last week found that 63% of respondents think California should “fight back” against efforts in Texas and other Republican-led states to stack the deck in Congress.

Typically, Congressional districts are redrawn every 10 years, immediately following the release of U.S. Census results. Lines are agreed upon by California’s 14-member independent redistricting commission, a power it has controlled since 2010. If Newsom’s measure is approved, these new maps would circumvent the current ones until the state’s independent redistricting commission draws new boundary lines in 2031.

A mid-decade redistricting is rare, and usually only happens as the result of a court order that found some violation of the Voting Rights Act.

Proponents of Newsom’s plan, like former Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama have lauded it as a necessary response to the Trump Administration’s own push to strengthen Republican power in Texas.

The resolution reiterates California’s support for “fair, independent, and nonpartisan redistricting commissions,” and asks for federal legislation to require a system nationwide.

It also has trigger language, meaning the new maps would only take effect if Texas or another state moves forward with a mid-cycle redistricting.

But that hasn’t stopped rising opposition, most notably other California Republicans and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who argue that wresting map-drawing powers from the state’s nonpartisan commission undermines its democratic process and further erodes public trust.

Strickland called the move “authoritarian,” saying a system “where the elections are predetermined” and noncompetitive are not good for democracy.

“We have the gold standard here in California,” Strickland said, adding that unlike places like Texas, Illinois, Massachusetts — where legislators draw the maps — the system in California is designed to promote fair and engaging competition. “It’d be a shame to throw it away.”

It also won’t be cheap. An estimate by Assembly Republicans tallies the cost at more than $235 million to taxpayers, according to CalMatters.

At a town hall in Signal Hill on Monday, Garcia gave a preview of the pitch voters should expect from Democrats.

Speaking to a crowd of 70 or so people, he said he wholeheartedly supports the state’s independent commission, but, “If Republicans are going to go this extreme and try to rig an election, I think the governor’s right, and I think the response is appropriate.”

“I believe that Democrats can no longer play this respectability politics game and say we’re going to do the better thing,” Garcia continued. “I know not everyone agrees with that. ‘We’re going into the mud. We’re doing what they’re doing.’

“But I think we’ve reached a point where what’s on the line, I strongly believe, is a future where we can actually have a government that helps people and not cause so much damage to our democracy,” he said.

Editor’s note: This story was corrected to show Garcia is in his second term, not third.

Facing a multi-million-dollar budget shortfall for the upcoming school year, Pasadena Unified's school board voted unanimously this week to finalize a plan to send layoff notices to more than 160 staff members as part of an effort to balance its budget that began last fall.

The district has maintained that the job reductions are necessary because of a $30 million budget deficit, part of a financial crisis made worse by the Eaton Fire.

California schools must notify employees about potential layoffs for the following school year by March 15. The number of current employees who will be out of a job next year is still unclear, in part, because people may be reassigned to vacant positions. In the past, PUSD has also rescinded some layoff notices before they took effect.

Parents, teachers and union leaders at the Thursday meeting criticized the district for targeting teachers and school staff for layoffs instead of administrative positions.

“ Teaching for PUSD means anxiety every March as it approaches, because we don't know if we're going to get to keep our job or not,” said Genevieve Miller, a PUSD teacher who said her children also graduated from the district. “ There's a different way forward.”

Board members acknowledged the decision they made was difficult.

“ I just want to be very clear that this is not the outcome that anybody prefers,” Board member Yarma Velázquez said. “Workforce reductions and the continuous, year after year position of being in this place where we have to reduce positions is draining and it is painful.

“I am very aware of what the implications are for all of the people that work here at PUSD.”

The board meeting

At the meeting, which started at 4 p.m. and nearly lasted until midnight, parents highlighted the potential of families and teachers choosing to leave the district because of the layoffs.

“ Right now, the [PUSD] community is in fight mode, as you can see from the turnout and other comments being made here tonight,” said parent Neil Tyler. “But if you approve these resolutions as proposed tonight, a large chunk of the community will quickly shift to flight mode and the death spiral of this district will begin.”

Jonathan Gardner, president of United Teachers of Pasadena, told the board that the cuts meant the district would lose dozens of middle and high school teachers and child development staff.

“ The best thing for kids and staff is always stability and making sure that we have full staff,” Gardner said. “The priorities should be working from the student experience out. Instead, what we see is millions and millions of dollars being spent on contracted services and millions and millions being spent on extra staffing at the central office.”

Speakers also noted that Pasadena Unified had endured years of budget cuts, which affected teachers, librarians and office staff.

Others said PUSD was failing to meet its requirement under California law to commit at least 55% of the district’s education expenses to teacher salaries.

LAist reached out to the district for comment on this but has not yet received a response.

Pasadena Unified board members said the cuts were necessary, especially after warnings from regulators that they could be out of compliance with requirements to balance the budget.

“For the sake of the district's solvency, I feel like it would be irresponsible if I took an action that put this district in jeopardy,” board member Michelle Bailey said Thursday night. “I can't in good conscience take that kind of action.”

About the budget issues

Concerns over declining enrollment numbers, which are tied to funding, have been growing since the Eaton Fire.

A report commissioned by a state agency recommended that the state increase its funding for the school system to help with fire recovery.

Some observers said Pasadena Unified’s budget issues date back much longer than that.

“Over the past 30 years, Pasadena Unified has faced a mounting fiscal calamity, one that you can no longer ignore or postpone,” Octavio Castelo, director of business advisory services for the Los Angeles County Office of Education, told Pasadena Unified’s board in November. “Despite your best efforts and intentions, the district has not been able to live within its means."

Cutting staff will likely mean losing some school programs, including language and music.

“ You have Mary Jackson [Elementary in Altadena] — it's a science magnet school, and they're cutting the science teacher,” Gardner, the teacher’s union president, told LAist. “That's the heart of the school.”

What happens next

The layoff notices are expected to be sent to affected staff members by mid-March.

The district will have until summer to finalize the list.

K-12 education reporter Mariana Dale contributed reporting.

The Los Angeles Unified School Board voted unanimously Friday to place Superintendent Alberto Carvalho on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.

The FBI searched Carvalho’s home and district offices Wednesday. A DOJ spokesperson said the agency had a court-authorized warrant but declined to provide additional details. The FBI told LAist media partner CBS LA that the underlying affidavit remained under court-ordered seal.

The board also appointed current Chief of School Operations Andres Chait as acting superintendent after the seven-hour closed meeting Thursday and Friday.

“I know that this is a very challenging time,” said Board President Scott Schmerelson in a brief public statement after the decision was announced. “I want you to know that the board believes in you, supports you and knows that you will continue to do your very best to support the students and families of the district.”

Schmerelson clarified in an email to LAist that he was referring to Chait. The seven-member board exited the meeting room without taking questions. Carvalho was not present and has not made a public statement since the searches Wednesday.

The district posted a statement online later in which Schmerelson wrote that “today’s action is aimed at fulfilling our promise to students and families to provide an excellent public education without distraction.”

The board’s decision provided clarity about district leadership but did not shed light on the reason for the searches, which have been the subject of widespread speculation.

“While we understand the need for information, we cannot discuss the specifics of this matter pending investigation,” read the district’s statement.

Who is the acting superintendent?

Chait has worked for the district for nearly three decades. The chief of school operations’ responsibilities are varied and include athletics, the district’s office of emergency management and staff investigations. Chait has presented to the board on everything from school safety to the cell phone ban and the district’s calendar.

Chief of School Operations Andres Chait has worked for LAUSD for nearly three decades.

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“I am humbled by the board’s confidence in appointing me to serve as acting superintendent during this critical time," Chait said in the district’s statement. "Our focus remains clear: to ensure stability, continuity and strong leadership for our students, families and employees."

What we know about AllHere, LAUSD’s AI tool

A spokesperson for the FBI in Miami confirmed Wednesday’s L.A. searches are linked to a search of a South Florida home the same day. That property, identified by local media outlets, belongs to Debra Kerr, who was associated with the company LAUSD contracted to create a short-lived AI tool called AllHere.

Federal authorities have not connected AllHere to this week’s investigation.

Los Angeles Unified approved a $6.2 million contract with AllHere in June 2023 to develop a tool that would create an “individual acceleration plan,” using district data and featuring an artificial intelligence chatbot.

LAUSD debuted “Ed” the following March as a "personal assistant" to students that would point them toward mental health resources and nudge students who were falling behind.

Within three months of its debut, the company behind Ed, AllHere, furloughed the bulk of its staff; its CEO was later charged with fraud. The district defended the process it used to debut that chatbot, which cost $3 million.

Parents and educators demanded transparency after the district shut down the chatbot.

Many questions remain

The federal investigation comes at a time when LAUSD is financially strained, cutting hundreds of jobs and facing pressure from the district’s largest labor unions to settle new contracts.

SEIU Local 99, which represents school support staff and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) have issued statements calling on the district to clearly communicate about the status of the superintendent and the investigation.

"UTLA educators and our school communities have long raised concerns about LAUSD rapidly increasing spending on education tech and outside contractors, while investment in classrooms and educators has declined,” UTLA wrote in a statement provided to LAist.

Carvalho has been superintendent of LAUSD since 2022, and the board unanimously renewed his contract in 2025. Prior to coming to L.A., Carvalho had worked for the Miami-Dade County school district for decades, 30 years as a teacher and the last 14 years as the district's supervisor.

Carvalho's time at LAUSD has included a number of wins for the district, including gains in test scores and participation in AP classes.

After threatening to sever ties with Scouting America and kick the youth group off military bases worldwide, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday gave a six-month reprieve to the organization formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America.

Hegseth made the announcement in a video posted to X, framing it as an ultimatum to Scouting to conform to the Trump administration's anti-DEI agenda. He detailed his many criticisms of the group, saying Scouts had "lost their way" by changing the organization's name and "watering down" what he called "the focus on God as the ruler of the universe."

He accused the Scouts of promoting "an insidious, radical, woke ideology that is anti-America and anti-American."

Hegseth also made clear he thinks the organization should go back to being exclusively male. " Ideally, I believe the Boy Scouts should go back to being the Boy Scouts as originally founded, a group that develops boys into men," he said. "Maybe someday."

The Pentagon's promise to reevaluate its relationship with Scouting in six months was nonetheless a retreat of sorts for Hegseth. Today's announcement came after word of Hegseth's plans to shun Scouting sparked weeks of backlash, including from some Republicans. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska has said of Hegseth's plans: "I've heard a lot of dumb stuff, but this is up there."

In a meeting with Scouting officials in January, Hegseth had demanded that the organization change its name back to Boy Scouts and remove some 200,000 young girls from its membership.

" I knew in the meeting that my board, my organization, was not gonna make those changes," Scouting America CEO Roger Krone said in an interview with NPR.

Krone explained that the organization considers including girls to be a service to families.

" When I was a youth, we left parts of the family in the parking lot on Friday night when we went camping," Krone said. "Long before I came back to Scouting, our board made several decisions, by a vote of our national council, that we were gonna serve the entire family."

A week after the Pentagon meeting, Scouting officials sent a letter to Hegseth outlining proposed concessions. While they wouldn't change the name or kick out girls, they would drop a Citizenship in Society merit badge that promoted diversity and had been instituted after the killing of George Floyd. They would also add a Military Service merit badge, waive membership fees for military families and offer a public rededication "of duty to God, duty to country, and service."

Even after the concessions, which Scouting officials said they planned to implement regardless, a spokesman told NPR the group expected an announcement from the Pentagon severing ties was imminent. But after NPR reported on the rift, Krone said Scouting's members and alumni started lobbying against breaking the century-old partnership.

Hegseth has for years criticized Scouting for allegedly caving to progressive politics. He repeated the claim Friday. "Scouting became an organization that no longer supported and celebrated boys," Hegseth said. "They even welcomed the destructive myth of gender fluidity and transgenderism to infiltrate their membership."

The Secretary also highlighted another concession. "Scouting America will modify its policy to make clear that membership will be based solely on biological sex at birth and not gender identity," he said. "That means that the application, any application, will have only two sex designations, male and female, and the application must match the applicant's birth certificate."

Krone noted that the Scouting application already has only two sex designations. " Tomorrow it will be the same application that we had yesterday," he said. "We ask for that information so we can operate our units in a way that ensures that our kids are safe and are safeguarded."

In the wake of sexual abuse allegations that resulted in a $2.46 billion victim compensation fund, Krone says Scouting has implemented stringent policies. Along with other practices, he said they ask for gender information " so that we know from a tenting standpoint and from a bathroom standpoint how to run our programs."

Severing ties with Scouts would have meant banning scouts from meeting on military bases, withdrawing military medical and logistical assistance to the quadrennial Scout Jamboree and eliminating the program that allows Eagle Scouts to enlist at advanced rank and pay.

As reported by NPR, the Pentagon had gone so far as to coordinate with the heads of the different branches on what a separation might mean. The Pentagon circulated a draft notification internally meant for the congressional Armed Services Committees, justifying the withdrawal of military support for the Jamboree. The memo, reviewed by NPR, claimed that providing medical and logistical help to the campout, scheduled for July, would threaten national security.

With this six-month trial period, base access for Scout troops will continue and Jamboree assistance is moving forward for now, including recruitment coordination. As Hegseth pointed out on X, many boy Scouts have become high-ranking military officers, or have served the country in other ways.

"Six Boy Scouts have been elected president of the United States," Hegseth said. "Eleven of the 12 Men to walk on the Moon [were] boy Scouts."

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