Topline:
Demonstrators across the U.S. took to the streets on Saturday as part of a nationwide No Kings rally to protest the policies of the Trump Administration.
Why now: The demonstrations are part of a larger No Kings movement that emerged in a first wave of protests last June.
Keep reading... for scenes from SoCal and around the nation.
Demonstrators across the U.S. took to the streets on Saturday as part of a nationwide No Kings rally to protest the policies of the Trump Administration. The demonstrations are part of a larger No Kings movement that emerged in
a first wave of protests last June
.
From major cities to small rural towns, NPR station photographers and LAist staffers were on the ground documenting the events in their communities.
Read more from SoCal:
A sign
Topline:
A federal judge is expected to consider whether to hold the city of Los Angeles in contempt of court for allegedly failing to keep up with its obligations in an agreement to provide shelter for unhoused residents.
Why now: U.S. District Judge David O. Carter scheduled a hearing for next week after meeting in court Wednesday with representatives from the city and a group of downtown business and property owners known as the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights.
The occasionally tense meeting was the latest to gauge progress in a long-running legal settlement over the city’s response to the homelessness crisis.
Carter set the contempt hearing for next Wednesday, giving city officials time to produce documents the court has requested and for both sides to subpoena witnesses, potentially including L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.
How we got here: During the hearing, Carter pointed to several delays attributed to city authorities.
For example, the monitor the judge appointed recently to help to make sure the city stayed on track under the settlement said he had trouble setting up interviews with city employees.
The monitor, Daniel Garrie, reported in court documents that he was told to refer all requests to the city’s attorneys, which he said “slowed progress.”
The judge warned that failure to comply with his orders could “result in sanctions” for the city.
What the attorneys say: Elizabeth Mitchell, lead attorney for L.A. Alliance, told LAist the court made clear there had been a lack of transparency from L.A. officials.
“I think the city has made it a pattern and practice of obfuscating, delaying, avoiding accountability and really fulfilling its obligations,” Mitchell said after the hearing. “They're spending a tremendous amount of effort and money to avoid their obligations.”
Bradley Hamburger, an attorney with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher , the law firm representing the city, declined LAist’s request for comment after the hearing.
What's next: Carter set the contempt hearing to start Nov. 19 at 9 a.m.
Read on … for more about how we got here.
Topline:
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and three co-conspirators were indicted Wednesday on 23 counts of bank and wire fraud, allegedly committed from 2022 to 2024, during her time working for the governor.
The indictment: It alleges that Williamson, a longtime Democratic strategist, worked with Greg Campbell, a prominent Sacramento lobbyist, and Sean McCluskie, the chief of staff to former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, as well as two other unnamed co-conspirators to steal $225,000 from an unnamed former official’s dormant campaign account for McCluskie’s personal use. Williamson is also accused of falsely claiming more than $1.7 million in business expenses on her taxes. She used the funds to purchase luxury handbags, chartered jets and a nearly $170,000 birthday trip to Mexico, the indictment alleges.
What's next: Williamson was scheduled to appear in federal court Wednesday afternoon. A spokesperson for Newsom distanced the governor from his former top aide, saying, "While we are still learning details of the allegations, the governor expects all public servants to uphold the highest standards of integrity.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and four co-conspirators were indicted Wednesday on 23 counts of bank and wire fraud, allegedly committed from 2022 to 2024, during her time working for the governor.
The indictment alleges that Williamson, a longtime Democratic strategist, worked with Greg Campbell, a prominent Sacramento lobbyist, and Sean McCluskie, the former chief of staff to former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, as well as two other unnamed co-conspirators to steal $225,000 from an unnamed former official’s dormant campaign account for McCluskie’s personal use.
“Collectively, they funneled the money through various business entities and disguised it as pay for what was, in reality, a no-show job,” FBI Sacramento Special Agent in Charge Sid Patel said in a news release.
Prosecutors allege that Williamson and one of the unnamed co-conspirators, described only as a former California public official who owned a political consulting firm, used their political strategy firms to funnel money out of a campaign account, believed to be Becerra’s, into an account controlled by McCluskie. They allegedly disguised the funds as payments for McCluskie’s spouse, who was described in the indictment as a stay-at-home parent.
Williamson is also accused of falsely claiming more than $1.7 million in business expenses on her taxes. She used the funds to purchase luxury handbags, chartered jets and a nearly $170,000 birthday trip to Mexico, the indictment alleges.
Williamson, who previously held a high-level position in Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration, was well known for her negotiating ability. When she left his office, Newsom said in a statement that he would miss her "insight, tenacity and big heart.”
The indictment indicated that Becerra had no knowledge of the scheme, and he confirmed as much Wednesday afternoon in a written statement via his spokesperson, Owen Kilmer.
“The news today of formal accusations of impropriety by a long-serving trusted advisor are a gut punch,” said Becerra, a prominent candidate to succeed Newsom in next year’s gubernatorial election. He added that he had fully cooperated with the U.S. Justice Department and would continue to do so.
“As California’s former Attorney General, I fully comprehend the importance of allowing this investigation and legal process to run its course through our justice system.”
Williamson was scheduled to appear in federal court Wednesday afternoon.
A spokesperson for Newsom distanced the governor from his former top aide.
“While we are still learning details of the allegations, the governor expects all public servants to uphold the highest standards of integrity,” said Izzy Gardon, Newsom’s spokesperson, in a written statement.
“At a time when the president is openly calling for his Attorney General to investigate his political enemies, it is especially important to honor the American principle of being innocent until proven guilty in a court of law by a jury of one’s peers,” the statement said.
Patel, the special agent in charge, said in a news release that the charges were “the result of three years of relentless investigative work.”
“The FBI will remain vigilant in its efforts to uncover fraud and corruption, ensuring our government systems are held to the highest standards.”
This article was
originally published on CalMatters
and was republished under the
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license.
Topline:
After more than two years of discussion and debate, the Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to significantly lower annual increases in most of the city’s apartments.
The details: L.A.’s current rent control rules guarantee landlords the right to raise rents at least 3% every year. Increases can be as high as 10% in some apartments during periods of high inflation. But under the reforms passed by 12 of the council’s 15 members, rent increases would never rise above 4%, even if inflation in the overall economy runs higher.
The backstory: This is the first overhaul of the city’s rent increase formula since 1985. Tenant groups have long complained that the current rules increase costs faster than incomes for many renters, pushing some toward eviction and potential homelessness. Landlord groups decried the changes, saying the city is further clamping down on their ability to keep up with skyrocketing insurance premiums and steep maintenance costs.
Read on … for details on the full debate at L.A. City Hall.
After more than two years of discussion and debate, the Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to significantly lower annual rent increases in most of the city’s apartments.
L.A.’s current rent control rules guarantee landlords the right to raise rents at least 3% every year. Increases can be as high as 10% in some apartments during periods of high inflation.
But under the reforms passed by 12 of the council’s 15 members, rent increases would be capped at 4% annually, and an additional 2% increase for landlords who cover utilities would be eliminated. The exact rate each year would be equal to 90% of the change in the region’s consumer price index, a government measure of economic inflation.
“We need to make a change to this formula,” said Nithya Raman, chair of the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee ahead of the vote. “Extraordinary rent increases are driving people out of the city.”
The rules passed by the majority of councilmembers would set a new floor of 1% in years of low inflation. Councilmembers Bob Blumenfield and John Lee voted against the changes, and Councilmember Curren Price recused himself from the vote because he is a landlord.
This is the first overhaul of the city’s rent increase formula since 1985. Tenant groups have long argued that the current rules increase costs faster than incomes for many renters, pushing some toward eviction and potential homelessness.
Landlord groups decried the changes, saying the city is further clamping down on their ability to keep up with skyrocketing insurance premiums and steep maintenance costs.
Before the new rules take effect, they still need to be drafted by the City Attorney’s Office and returned to the council for a final vote.
The changes represent a step toward but not a full adoption of the demands for a 3% cap at 60% of inflation from tenant groups. Humberto Altamira, an unemployed cook living with his wife in L.A.’s downtown Fashion District, said his family’s rent went up about $50 per month earlier this year, and they would struggle to afford another increase of 3% or more.
“We would end up homeless and living on the street,” Altamira said, speaking in Spanish.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the city banned increases for nearly four years . The new cap, while comparable to caps in many other Southern California cities, does not reflect the rising costs property owners face, said California Apartment Association spokesperson Fred Sutton.
“Reject arbitrary magic numbers,” Sutton said. “These changes will not create a single new home, but they’ll make it even harder to build, making the housing crisis worse for everyone.”
The city’s rent control rules generally cover apartments built before October 1978, as well as new units that replace demolished rent-controlled units or are attached to older buildings.
Nearly two-thirds of L.A.’s residents live in rental housing. And because most of them live in older properties, the city’s rent control rules affect about 42% of all L.A. households.
Some councilmembers, including John Lee, said stricter rules would run counter to other local policies to spur housing development, such as Mayor Karen Bass’ executive directive to speed up the approval of affordable housing projects.
“Just as we are gaining momentum, we are considering a change,” Lee said. “This sends the message, ‘Do not build here. Do not invest in Los Angeles.’”
Other councilmembers said getting rental costs under control is key to addressing homelessness. At last count , about 43,500 people lack housing in the city.
“We have an eviction-to-homelessness pipeline,” Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said. “We get calls constantly from property owners about people experiencing homelessness around their buildings.
“We are struggling to deal with that crisis,” Hernandez continued. “We can’t house the number of people every year that are falling into homelessness. And a majority of that is because they can’t afford it.”
Renters and landlords crowded into City Council chambers to give public comment ahead of Wednesday’s vote.
Megan Briceño, who owns eight rent-controlled apartments, told LAist she has building permits to construct an accessory dwelling unit on her four-unit property in Mid-City L.A. Because the unit will be rent-controlled, she said the city’s changes could halt her building plans.
“I don't know how much longer I can continue to do business in a city that constantly feels like I'm fighting for my basic property rights, for a basic fair return,” Briceño said.
The process of reforming L.A.’s rent control ordinance was kickstarted in October 2023, when councilmembers Hugo Soto-Martinez and Bob Blumenfield asked for an in-depth review of the city’s rules.
LAist obtained the city-commissioned report produced in that process and was the first to publish it in September 2024.
Among other observations and recommendations, the report argued for eliminating an additional 2% annual increase landlords can impose if they pay for a tenant’s electricity and gas service. The report found that over time those increases can eclipse the entire cost of providing those utilities.
The reforms passed Wednesday include the elimination of this utility bump.
Topline:
A storm arriving in Southern California this week is expected to drop up to 3 inches of rain in most areas. But as much as 6 inches could fall along coastal slopes, including recently burned areas, prompting evacuation warnings starting Thursday.
A weatherman's woe: Forecasters were struggling Wednesday to pin down the exact timing, location and rainfall totals, according to the National Weather Service. The storm is difficult to predict because it's a low pressure system that has detached from the more predictable jet stream. The uncertainty means some places, such as Ventura County, could see as much as 5 inches of rain, while L.A. County receives just one. It will all depend on how fast the storm moves through and if it parks over a particular area.
Debris flows possible: Rainfall rates could reach 1 inch per hour — which exceeds the threshold for triggering post-fire debris flows. If you live in or around a hilly area that recently burned, you should be ready to evacuate just to be safe. L.A. County officials have already issued evacuation warnings for recent burn scar areas that go into effect 6 p.m. Thursday through 11 a.m. Sunday. (Whether it's fire season, rainy season or any season, it's good to be signed up for emergency alerts. Here's a guide .)
Wrapping it up: The storm could peak between Thursday and Saturday, and may stick around into Sunday. More rain could arrive late next week, but it's still a bit far out for the NWS to reliably tell.
