The Brief

There were calls. And texts. And emails — all nudging Brian Helleland to use his role on the board of directors at CalOptima Health to ensure the agency kept backing a planned healthcare center in Westminster.

The messages were coming at all hours — the first one after 11 p.m. — from Hang Nguyen, a top regulator in Orange County for the state Department of Public Health, using her work email. Nguyen is in charge of investigating complaints against healthcare facilities, including the one Helleland works for.

An email obtained by LAist.

(

CalOptima via public records request.

)

LAist obtained email, text and other correspondence between Nguyen and CalOptima officials, who run Orange County’s Medi-Cal system, through a public records request.

In one email that she asked Helleland to pass on to his fellow board members, Nguyen wrote that she would personally benefit from the project for elderly Vietnamese-speaking adults in surrounding Little Saigon, saying her parent lived in the area and would be the health center’s “first patient.”

In another exchange about CalOptima’s pending vote on whether to revoke its endorsement of the healthcare center, Nguyen texted that she wouldn’t send any investigators to Helleland’s hospital while he and the rest of the CalOptima board were meeting to decide the Little Saigon health center’s fate. She ended that text with “lol.”

Text messages between Hang Nguyen and Brian Helleland, a top executive at a Providence hospital, obtained by LAist.

(

CalOptima via public records request

)

The health center, designed to follow a federal model known as Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly was planned by a company called 360 PACE. At the time Nguyen was pushing Helleland to move the project forward, the health center’s fate was suddenly uncertain because CalOptima officials had recently become aware of a whistleblower lawsuit. That lawsuit was filed against 360 Health Plan, an affiliate of 360 PACE, accusing the firm of defrauding the government and insurance companies out of millions of dollars during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to serving on the CalOptima board, Helleland is chief regional executive of the Providence hospital system and chief executive of Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Orange. He read the messages — coming from someone with the power to order hospital inspections and issue penalties — as a subtle threat and alerted CalOptima officials, according to emails obtained by LAist through records requests and interviews with CalOptima officials.

Those officials referred the exchange to federal law enforcement and Nguyen’s employer, the California Department of Public Health.

In a statement to LAist, CalOptima Director Norma Garcia-Guillen, who heads the board’s legal ad hoc committee, wrote: “We take any potentially implied or explicit threat attempting to influence board members and their policy decisions extremely seriously, which is why we immediately referred the matter to our own counsel, and then ultimately the appropriate law enforcement agencies.” Helleland declined an interview request from LAist.

LAist sought comment from Nguyen in person at her home in Westminster and her office, as well as via her work email and phone number. She did not respond.

Ultimately, Nguyen’s efforts to sway the CalOptima board on behalf of the Little Saigon health center failed. Its members voted unanimously in February to revoke their letter of support for 360 PACE.

In a text to Helleland after the vote — also disclosed to LAist under the Public Records Act — Hang Nguyen downplayed fraud allegations against the company, which derailed the deal.

She emailed CalOptima board member Helleland to call the whistleblower a “disgruntled employee.” Hang Nguyen wrote: “Again, allegations are allegations until there are facts to prove it."

In an emailed statement to LAist, Mark Smith, a spokesperson for the California Department of Public Health, where Nguyen works, said it could not comment on personnel matters. The statement said the department is reviewing the allegations against Nguyen “and will take all necessary and appropriate actions.”

Smith wrote that the Department of Public Health, where Nguyen has worked since 2007, and its staff “do not have any authority” over the type of facility Nguyen urged Helleland to support. He also said Nguyen’s job duties do not include advocating for this type of facility, which is overseen by federal health officials and a different state agency, the California Department of Health Care Services.

The long shadow of Andrew Do

CalOptima officials were concerned by what appeared to be a pressure campaign from a state regulator with seemingly no official stake in their decision-making. But they said they were even more disturbed by her apparent connections to other key players in high-stakes county politics.

CalOptima is now investigating Hang Nguyen’s connections to a pair of prominent local businessmen, Gary and Larry Nguyen, whose companies received millions in taxpayer dollars during Andrew Do’s leadership at CalOptima and on the Board of Supervisors.

Until recently, Do was among the most powerful politicians in Orange County. He abruptly resigned from CalOptima’s board in February 2023 after the state announced plans to audit hiring practices and large pay hikes during the time Do was chair of CalOptima’s board.

Then, in October 2024, nearly a year after LAist started reporting on potential corruption in Orange County, Do pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge stemming from his actions while on the Board of Supervisors. Prosecutors called his actions a brazen plundering of public money. He is awaiting sentencing, scheduled for June 9, and faces up to five years in prison.

“ This investigation is not over,” then-U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said at the announcement of Do’s plea deal last year. “We are taking the first step on the path to justice and accountability and we will follow every lead.”

Curious connections set off CalOptima’s alarm bells, officials said

The Nguyen brothers, their family members and business partners are major players in Orange County’s healthcare scene, particularly elder care. They own numerous businesses registered in California, Nevada, Washington and Delaware. The brothers also have extensive real estate holdings in Orange County.

Gary Nguyen's company 360 Health Plan ran the county’s COVID-19 testing “super-sites” during the pandemic under the name 360 Clinic. 360 PACE is also a Nguyen brother company.

The Nguyen family businesses include a real estate firm, Yorba Myrtle LLC, which was poised to profit enormously from an eight-digit Tustin property deal with CalOptima in 2023. Do signed that deal as the chair of CalOptima’s board at the time.

After Do was indicted, CalOptima officials said they voted to scrutinize contracts entered into during his tenure. While those contracts were under scrutiny, Hang Nguyen reached out to Helleland about the health center. And CalOptima officials learned she'd reached out earlier about the Tustin deal.

About the Tustin property deal

The Tustin deal was conditioned upon getting approval from the city of Tustin for CalOptima’s planned use for the property as a daytime healthcare center and overnight recuperative care facility.

Hang Nguyen's name shows up in emails, obtained by LAist through public records requests, in back and forths with Veronica Carpenter, chief of staff to CalOptima’s chief executive, and David Tang, Gary Nguyen’s partner in Yorba Myrtle, the real estate firm that owned the Tustin site.

In one email, Hang Nguyen introduces herself to Carpenter, a former deputy chief of staff for Andrew Do, as a state Department of Public Health employee “who oversees all healthcare facilities.” At one point, Hang Nguyen offers to join a meeting with city officials to “explain further on the benefits of the proposed program” although, again, she had no official role in the proposed project.

Ultimately, the city rejected the proposed facility and the property deal fell through. By then, the county had put $750,000 into escrow for the project — $450,000 was forfeited to Yorba Myrtle.

About the whistleblower lawsuit that derailed 360 PACE

Before the Tustin property deal, the Nguyen brothers had a pandemic-era deal with Orange County through the company 360 Clinic to provide drive-through testing at the Anaheim Convention Center and OC Fairgrounds.

In May 2024, a former senior employee at 360 Clinic sued, alleging she was abruptly fired after voicing opposition to what she claims were executives’ plans to illegally boost their reimbursement from the federal government and private insurance providers for COVID-19 testing. The former employee, who was hired to oversee billing and regulatory compliance, also alleged that company executives conspired to:

• Refer patients from their testing sites to physicians groups, including ones in which they held financial interests, in violation of anti-kickback laws.  

• Bill the federal government and insurance companies more for specialized testing than was medically necessary.
• Double bill the federal government and private insurance for the same patients.

CalOptima officials said they first learned about the lawsuit this January from an Orange County Register article. They promptly asked the board to consider temporarily rescinding their support for 360 PACE’s Little Saigon health center while the lawsuit played out.

Last month, an O.C. Superior Court judge ruled that the whistleblower lawsuit against 360 Clinic can go forward, despite defendants’ efforts to force the complaint to be handled through private arbitration. The next court date in the case is scheduled for July 31.

360 PACE pulls the plug on Little Saigon health center

As the forensic probes sought by CalOptima and the Orange County Board of Supervisors get underway, officials from both agencies told LAist they don’t yet know when those results will be made public. But the concerns have already felled at least one project.

On a recent visit to the site of 360 PACE’s planned health hub for Little Saigon’s elderly residents, half-unpacked boxes sat in what would have been a waiting room. The company’s logo, a pink flower next to the name “360 PACE” was stenciled on the wall behind the reception desk. The location sits on a well-trafficked commercial corridor, just a few blocks from Westminster City Hall.

Pfeifer, the company spokesperson, told LAist in an email that 360 PACE had decided to pull the plug on the project. “This was a difficult choice, as 360 PACE had invested years of its time, millions of dollars and developed a program that would provide culturally competent care to underserved seniors, especially Vietnamese and API populations in Orange County,” Pfeifer wrote.

He blamed the decision on “numerous regulatory delays and bureaucratic hurdles” and said the high cost of maintaining the facility without patients was no longer sustainable. “The emotional and financial toll on our team has been substantial," Pfeifer wrote.

Paul Hoang, who runs a mental health clinic in Little Saigon and sits on the board of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Orange County chapter, said a health center like the one proposed by 360 PACE is desperately needed in the community. Many people in the first wave of Vietnamese refugees to arrive in O.C., in the late 1970s, are reaching an age where they can no longer care for themselves.

“Within the next five to 10 years, there’s going to be an epidemic in the Vietnamese community of elders with no one equipped to care for them,” he said, especially for those with Alzheimer's disease or dementia.

Hoang said, whether or not the whistleblower’s fraud allegations against the founders of 360 Clinic and 360 PACE are substantiated, “the allegations themselves have a ripple impact, they cause people to lose trust.

“In terms of needs and missed opportunity here, it’s going to be a huge setback,” he said.

LAist correspondent Nick Gerda and senior reporter Ted Rohrlich contributed to this report.

Coming next: Inside Gary and Larry Nguyen’s multimillion dollar business dealings with Orange County.

Demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday in a number of communities across the L.A. region for the latest No Kings protests.

In Pasadena, hundreds of demonstrators started their march at Pasadena City College in the morning, which ended with a rally at Pasadena City Hall.

The energy was joyous, as a large truck with live musicians led people in protest. Many participants said they thought it was important to show up to voice their opposition against the actions of the federal government.

“Especially things like taking away rights from trans people and sending people to ICE detention,” said Tatiana Becker of Pasadena, who now lives in London, England. “This country is not one that I recognize, and I remain an American voter, an American taxpayer."

Before the start of the march, organizers stressed the importance of a nonviolent demonstration. Students, seniors, parents with their children and pets cheered as drivers along Colorado Boulevard honked in support.

“We're here to voice our opinion, and provide numbers," South Pasadena resident Irene Barry said. "We just need to come out in numbers, make sure everybody knows that most people aren't happy with the situation."

Downtown protest

Meanwhile, in Downtown L.A., between 50,000 and 100,000 people were expected in what No Kings organizers said was one of the largest demonstrations in the region.

Protesters met at Gloria Molina Grand Park and City Hall beginning at 2 p.m., with a march scheduled to loop back to the same location.

As the evening went on, some protesters continued to the Metropolitan Detention Center on Alameda, between Aliso and Temple.

LAPD officials issued a dispersal order around 5:30 p.m. in that area, warning protesters to leave or be arrested. Less-than-lethal weapons were deployed.

An LAPD spokesperson told LAist they made a total of 75 arrests — including eight minors — with no reported injuries among those taken into custody.

The Department of Homeland Security claimed two federal officers were hit by cement blocks thrown by protesters and required medical attention.

By 8 p.m., the tactical alert was lifted after police cleared most demonstrators from the area.

High school seniors across California are anxiously awaiting word on their public university acceptances. But thousands of other soon-to-be graduates are virtually locked out. A key reason? Nearly half haven’t taken the required classes.

Statewide, 54% of high school students pass the classes minimally needed to enroll in the University of California or California State University systems as freshmen, according to a CalMatters analysis of traditional high schools. In recent years, the state has provided extra funding to help schools boost their numbers, but the readiness rate has only inched up.

Low-income, Black and Latino students have among the lowest class-completion rates. English learners and students with disabilities also have low rates, but the numbers have climbed slightly the past few years.

California’s two public university systems require all students applying for admission to earn a C or better in a suite of courses. The requirements are four years of English, three of math, two years each of science, social science and foreign language, and one year of art.

Known as the A-G requirements, they often dictate a student’s schedule beginning in ninth grade or even earlier. It’s easy for a student to fall off track — by getting a D or F in a class, for instance, or by skipping a tough class like chemistry or trigonometry, or by not taking a class if their school doesn’t offer it.

CalMatters looked at data from the 2024-25 school year for 1,468 public high schools, excluding about 800 alternative high schools, some specialized schools with high A-G rates, continuation schools and juvenile detention programs. The analysis shows that 222 of those schools posted A-G completion rates of less than 30%. More than 400 schools had A-G rates exceeding 70%.

Researchers weigh in

Schools may have few students completing the full suite of A-G courses for a variety of reasons, said Sherrie Reed Bennett and Michal Kurlaender, education researchers at UC Davis who wrote a 2023 analysis on the gaps in A-G rates across public high schools. Some schools may offer the courses, but students don’t enroll in them. Or students earn below a C in these courses and don’t retake them after school or during the summer. Next, teachers may not allow students to repeat assignments in order to avoid having to retake a class; some schools allow this.

Meanwhile, nearly a tenth of traditional high schools didn’t offer the needed courses, the researchers’ data show.

Ideally, all students should be enrolled in A-G courses, Bennett and Kurlaender said. It’s the only way to guarantee that all students have the option of enrolling in a four-year university after high school.

Within 16 months of finishing a traditional high school, 86% of students who graduated with the required UC and Cal State courses enrolled at a college or university. Among students who didn’t complete that A-G sequence, just 55% enrolled, with the vast majority entering a community college, according to the latest state data from 2023.

A Compton high school’s big leap

Last spring, Dominguez High in Compton Unified had among California’s highest percentage of students graduating who met the UC and Cal State requirements — 96% were A-G ready, according to the California Department of Education.

“To this day, you get that sense of, like, ‘Wait, who, Compton?'” said Jorge Torres, the district’s director of college and career readiness, on how the district’s recent turnaround is a constant surprise to people he meets at conferences. At Dominguez High, around 91% of students are eligible for a federal school meal waiver, making the campus’ student body among the poorest in the state.

Reaching the high A-G rate took about 10 years, said Torres, and is the result of a few key decisions the district and the school’s principal made. In 2015, the district created Compton Early College High School, which emphasized a college-going culture for its students and exposed many to a wide array of community college courses. By 2020, all of the school’s students were graduating on time and completing the necessary courses for UC and Cal State eligibility.

But the school is smaller than Compton Unified’s other comprehensive high schools. Could they scale their results across the district’s larger high schools?

This meant Dominguez no longer offered classes that didn’t meet the UC and Cal State standards, said principal Caleb Oliver. He added an extra period during the school day so students could retake an A-G course without staying late or enrolling in the summer.

The school also revised its student counseling model so that two counselors stay with the same cohort of students for all four years. Torres said that too made a difference. So did adding a counselor who focuses only on college admissions and preparation at all of Compton Unified’s traditional high schools.

The year the school adopted the A-G graduation requirement, about two-thirds of its seniors finished high school having met the UC and Cal State admission criteria. By 2024, when the first freshmen held to the higher standard were graduating, about three-quarters of students graduated A-G ready. The next year, the rate jumped more than 20 percentage points, to 96%.

The work that district and school staff put into Dominguez High School “seems like a strong example of best practices,” said Iwunze Ugo, a researcher at the Public Policy Institute of California who has published reports on A-G rates. Dominguez and several other schools at Compton Unified have earned state recognition this year as “distinguished” campuses.

Gisele Genovez, a Dominguez senior, will have taken 14 community college courses by the time she graduates this spring. She applied to UC and Cal State schools with nursing programs and earned acceptances to several. “This school has really shown the importance of taking college courses, how it will benefit you, and it’s not something that you’re going to regret in the future,” she said.

As a Dominguez freshman, Alexis Hernandez didn’t think he’d attend college because he assumed he’d be priced out as a low-income student. But the school’s A-G requirement prepared him anyway.

“Just going to work after high school” was the route for students from low-income families, he thought. By 11th grade, he was excited to apply to college the following year and live on a university campus that’s within driving distance of home.

Now a senior, Hernandez has taken one community college course and has been accepted to several Cal State and UC campuses while he awaits results from other campuses. How will he choose which nearby school to attend? Whichever awards him the most financial aid, he said.

According to state data, slightly more than half of Dominguez students head to college within 16 months of graduating, though the latest figures are from 2023. That’s a bit lower than previous years, but lately, fewer of the school’s college-bound students enroll in community college and more attend four-year universities.

Past a certain point, the school is limited in what its students choose to do after high school, Oliver said. Colleges play a role in attracting students as well.

Programs that expose admitted students to free summer courses and introduce research-tested study skills can be the determining factor for an admitted student deciding whether to enroll, he said. Oliver noted such a program at nearby Cal State Dominguez Hills, a university that enrolls about two dozen Dominguez High students annually.

But students benefit “if they sign up for it,” he cautioned. “Everything is if they sign up for it. We can offer, but we need you to take hold of it.”

‘D equals diploma, C equals college’

Schools with lower A-G completion rates tended to have higher numbers of English learners or students in special education. Plenty of those students enroll in A-G courses, but if they need extra support, such as speech therapy or language development, for a period or two a day, it’s difficult to complete all the required courses needed to gain admission to UC or CSU, school administrators said.

Bennett and Kurlaender at UC Davis said that’s a poor excuse, and that far more students in special education or who are English learners should be able to complete A-G courses. To help schools boost their numbers, the state provides grants for schools and districts to hire tutors, expand college counseling or take other steps.

At Mt. Diablo High and Ygnacio Valley High, both in Concord, nearly 90% of students are English learners or low-income. Both schools also have higher-than-average numbers of students with disabilities. And both schools had A-G completion rates under 25% last year.

“This is a huge priority that we’re working hard on,” said Heather Fontanilla, director of college and career readiness for Mt. Diablo Unified School District, which includes both schools. “Ultimately, we want students to have post-secondary choices, including the chance to go to a four-year college. We do not want their transcript making decisions on what options they have available.”

The district is trying to raise its numbers by changing more courses to be A-G eligible, although the tough part is getting students to pass those classes. Students have to earn a C or better in an A-G course for it to count toward college admission, but only need a D for the class to satisfy the graduation requirement.

“We tell the kids, D equals diploma, but C equals college,” said Fontanilla. “All it takes is for a student to get below a C and everything starts to spiral.”

That’s because students who get below a C have to retake the class if they still want to enroll at a 4-year college. Make-up classes are typically held after school, a potential conflict for students who have jobs or family responsibilities.

So the district has started offering tutoring for students who are struggling, in hopes of saving their A-G eligibility before their C slips to a D. The district is also expanding outreach to parents so they can better support their children’s college-preparation efforts.

Manteca High in San Joaquin County also has a low A-G completion rate, close to 30%.

“We have a great graduation rate,” said Clara Schmiedt, assistant superintendent, noting that Manteca High’s graduation rate is nearly 95%, and the school was recently named a California Distinguished School. “But raising our A-G rate is a priority for us.”

One issue at Manteca High has been chemistry. Many students have struggled to pass, so the district is introducing a new curriculum and adding a new science teacher. Another problem is foreign language. The school only offers a few French classes, so students taking French might not be able to fulfill the foreign language requirement for A-G.

The district is also trying to change the culture around college. It’s expanding its dual enrollment program at a local community college, and sends dozens of students every summer to an academic institute at University of the Pacific in Stockton.

“We’re really trying to innovate,” Schmeidt said, “so students have as many opportunities as possible.”

We already knew that Democrat Tom Steyer, a billionaire running for California governor, is rich. But how rich?

In 2024, Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor, reported a total income of $39 million, thanks to the duo’s massive investments in the global stock market. That’s more than all nine of his major opponents in the governor’s race and their partners made that year combined, according to their federal tax returns released this week.

A 2019 state law, designed to better inform California voters, requires candidates for governor to release their federal tax returns to qualify for the June primary ballot. Among major candidates, only Chad Bianco, Matt Mahan, Katie Porter and Tony Thurmond have already filed their 2025 tax returns.

Here are some highlights:

Tom Steyer

Income: $39 million in 2024, primarily from massive investments in the global stock market. He and his wife also made $6 million in passive income in Luxembourg, Netherlands, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands in 2024. They collected $38,000 in royalties from other properties and earned $23,000 from TomKat Ranch, their 1,800-acre cattle ranch in Pescadero.

Federal taxes paid: $5.4 million in 2024 — 54 times the average annual California household income.

Their earnings swing with the market: In 2021, they reported $160 million in income from investments and paid $39 million in taxes. But in 2022, they made a paltry $8 million and paid $1 million.

The couple regularly files tax returns in dozens of states each year (19 in 2024) and pays taxes abroad, too. Steyer also has a United Kingdom bank account, which at one point had a balance of $61 million in 2024.

The pair is big on philanthropy, donating $18 million in 2024, including $3 million in stock to Yale University and $1.5 million in stock to TomKat Foundation, the couple’s philanthropic nonprofit.

Steve Hilton

Income: $7.5 million in 2024, including $250,000 from Fox News and $6.7 million his wife, Rachel Whetstone, made as chief communications officer at Netflix. The couple also earned $360,000 from global investments but reported a net $3,000 loss in capital gains.

The couple received another $25,000 that year in rent from three properties in London, including two flats in the trendy Camden area. Hilton, a Republican, reported losing more than $226,000 on his media company, CR Productions.

Federal taxes paid: $2.8 million in 2024.

Eric Swalwell

Income: $461,000 in 2024, including his $184,000 congressional salary and $247,000 from his wife Brittany’s consulting work. The couple had a $41,000 home mortgage interest deduction in 2024. Rivals have challenged the Democrat’s California residency, though he lists a Bay Area rental as his primary residence.

Federal taxes paid: $83,000 in 2024.

Katie Porter

Income: $300,000 in 2025, nearly all from her salary as a law professor at the University of California-Irvine. Porter, a Democrat, also collects royalties from book sales: She made $140,000 in 2023 from books she authored, including two textbooks and her memoir, I Swear: Politics Is Messier Than My Minivan, published that year. She earned $18,000 in 2024 and $3,500 last year in royalties.

Federal taxes paid: $58,000 in 2025.

Chad Bianco

Income: $590,000 in 2025, jointly with his wife Denise Bianco. Bianco’s return doesn’t break down the Republican’s wages, but his base salary as sheriff was $348,000 in 2024, after the Riverside County Board of Supervisors gave him a 27% pay raise that May.

He was already the highest-paid sheriff in the state in 2023, earning more than $593,000 in total compensation, which includes benefits such as a pension and health care coverage.

Federal taxes paid: $127,000 in 2025.

Xavier Becerra

Income: $490,000 in 2024, jointly with his UC Davis physician wife Carolyn Reyes. That includes Becerra’s nearly $250,000 salary at the time as U.S. Health and Human Services secretary in the Biden administration. The couple leased out four single-family homes that made them a net profit of $110,000.

Federal taxes paid: $116,000 in 2024.

Tony Thurmond

Income: $309,000 in 2025 — $203,000 as superintendent of public instruction and $18,000 from Integrated Community Services, a San Rafael-based disability supportive service where he worked as a supportive living aide, one of several side jobs the Democrat has held. Wife Vanessa Wiarco earned $87,000 as community engagement manager with KVCR Public Media at San Bernardino Community College.

Federal taxes paid: $52,000 in 2025.

Antonio Villaraigosa

Income: $1.4 million in 2024, most of which came from Actum, a business consulting firm with offices worldwide, including Los Angeles and Sacramento, and his own firm, Antonio Villaraigosa LLC. He also collected a $125,000 pension as the former Democratic mayor of Los Angeles. He and his wife, Patricia, filed their taxes separately.

Federal taxes paid: $462,000 in 2024.

Betty Yee

Income: $211,000 in 2024, almost all of which came from pensions and Social Security benefits. Yee, a Democrat, reported $1,300 in consulting and teaching income, and her husband, Steven Jacobs, is a rabbi with no reported income. The couple received $54,000 from selling a timeshare in October 2024. In 2021, the couple also reported $3,400 in gambling income in 2021.

Yee, who was California's controller until January 2023, received an annual salary of roughly $157,000 in 2022 and $13,000 in 2023, when the job ended in January.

Federal taxes paid: $24,000 in 2024.

Matt Mahan

Income: $507,000 in 2025, including his San Jose mayoral salary of $226,000 and his wife Silvia Scandar Mahan’s salary of $267,000 as president of Cristo Rey San Jose High School. In 2024, the couple claimed $14,000 in clean energy credits for using solar-powered electricity.

Federal taxes paid: $99,000 in 2025.

CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang and Juliet Williams contributed reporting. 

At the end of last year, community newspaper the Palisadian-Post shuttered its doors after 97 years in operation.

Subscriptions evaporated after January’s fires, as did advertisers, according to a departing message from former owner Alan Smolinisky.

In the months since, a pair of longtime Palisades residents have stepped up to acquire the beloved community paper.

Under new management

“The Palisadian-Post was a part of the reason we moved to Pacific Palisades, because the paper's role in providing a part of the character of the community was that strong,” said Tim Schneider, co-owner of the new Palisadian-Post.

Schneider had tried to buy the paper before — 24 years ago, when he and his family first moved to the Pacific Palisades.

“We've chronicled our children growing up in the pages of the Palisadian-Post, like a lot of Palisadians,” said Laura Schneider, also co-owner of the newspaper.

The married couple comes from long careers in the publishing industry. When they heard about the paper shutting down last December, they sprang into action and began negotiating a purchase.

Tim says that despite the struggles the community faces, it’s a dream come true to have the chance to continue a nearly century-old tradition with the Pali-Post.

Laura (left) and Tim Schneider (right) , the new owners of the Palisadian-Post, pose for a picture.

(

Suzanne Trepp

/

Palisadian-Post

)

Something old, something new

The paper’s relaunch is set for May 4, the paper's 98th anniversary.

“The first step in the relaunch process is going to be gathering community feedback,” said Laura.

The two have been making calls to former employees and residents of the Palisades, looking for input on what they want out of this new iteration. One thing they say they’d like to see is a sustained focus on the recovery.

“ He needs to hire a news reporter who's focused on the rebuilding of the Palisades. That's a huge theme, obviously, all the aspects of the rebuilding,” said Bill Bruns, editor emeritus with the Palisadian-Post. Bruns was a longtime editor who's been advising the Schneiders on the relaunch.

After January, Tim says people went to various sources to get information to track the Palisade Fire's chaotic aftermath. He thinks a newspaper like the Pali-Post is a better place to provide readers with authoritative and reliable information.

He says he wants the paper to be a central information hub for the thousands of Palisadians who have been displaced.

“ We have 5,000 Palisadians living in Santa Monica, more than 3,000 Palisadians living in Brentwood," he estimated. "So our approach with the Palisadian-Post is to use it as the connective thread that ties together Palisadians."

Former Pali-Post editor Bill Bruns stands in front of the old "Pacific Palisades Post" building on Via de la Paz. The building held the newsroom as well as the paper's printing press.

(

Bill Bruns

/

Bill Bruns

)

Staging a comeback

In its new iteration, the paper will be strictly digital, with a new website, daily newsletter and community calendar to give readers a full range of events in the neighborhood — recovery-related or otherwise.

In time, the couple hopes to bring back a physical edition of the paper.

Several former advertisers the Schneiders have talked to are committed to coming back.

“ I'm happy to say, not only have all of them committed to supporting the new Palisadian-Post, but we've heard from dozens of businesses that have indicated an interest in getting involved for the first time,” said Tim.

Beloved favorite columns of the paper are returning too, like the local Two-Cents section written by residents.

The first event planned is going to be the "Pali Bee" — the local Spelling Bee that the newspaper sponsored in previous years.

Laura says that despite the last 15 months of difficulties, the sense of community in the Palisades remains strong. The two hope that strength will get the newspaper and the community back on its feet.

“ That's something very special about this town, and that's something that we hope that we can tap into as we bring the Palisadian-Post back," Laura said. "This town has tremendous heart. And that's a big part of the story that we wanna tell."