The Brief

Amid a flurry of political mail sent ahead of the upcoming election, Megan Shuham of Los Feliz received one piece in particular that gave her pause.

It featured a photo of Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman — a progressive, MIT-educated urban planner — next to one of L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón, known for his fight against mass incarceration by seeking lighter penalties for people convicted of crimes.

A caption on the mailer reads: “Nithya Raman and George Gascón broke their promise to keep us safe.”

“It did surprise me,” Shuham told LAist. “The mailer was saying if you don’t like what Gascón’s doing, you’re really not going to like Nithya either."

“I don’t think the two are associated,” said Shuham, a stay-at-home parent who lives in City Council District 4, which is represented by Raman. “It felt like a reach.”

The mailer comes from an independent expenditure committee funded by a powerful real estate mogul and the labor union that represents Los Angeles police officers. Together with the firefighters union, they are spending more than $1 million in an effort to defeat Raman, whose district runs from Silver Lake west to Reseda, and includes all or parts of the Hollywood Hills, Studio City, and Sherman Oaks.

These forces want voters to see Raman the same as the embattled Gascón, who faces 11 challengers looking to unseat him, and beat back a growing progressive trend in L.A. politics.

Raman, however, has indicated her district is one of the safest in the city.

"All of the negative ads funded by outside spending say that crime and homelessness are spiking in our district. But it's not true ..." she said in a statement to LAist.

Citing the Police Department's own data, she noted that violent and property crime had fallen in the last two years, and "we've continued to steadily reduce street homelessness as we’ve brought hundreds of people indoors," she continued.

"So I don't think [the ads] are representing our district or their motivations honestly."

Major contributions from a real estate mogul, police union

Real estate company Douglas Emmett Management, owned by Dan Emmett, contributed $400,000 to the independent committee opposing Raman, according to campaign finance reports. The Los Angeles Police Protective League contributed $164,000.

The company refused to state its reason for the contribution.

“While we are committed to transparency, we do not discuss the specific reasons for our contributions,” Douglas Emmett said in a statement.

Raman, who chairs the City Council’s Homelessness and Housing Committee, was a vocal opponent of Dan Emmett’s ongoing attempts to evict tenants from more than 700 units at his Barrington Plaza high-rise in Westwood — something he said was necessary to install fire systems.

An outspoken supporter of tenants’ rights, Raman sided with residents who accused Emmett of staging the mass evictions so he could raise rents in the rent-controlled building. The residents argued that the sprinklers could have been installed without evicting anyone.

The ad makes no mention of Emmett’s dispute with Raman. Instead, it focuses on her opposition to a city ordinance that banned homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools, parks and daycare centers.

At a recent candidates’ debate, Raman said the law — known as 41.18 — had done nothing to solve homelessness.

“It has pushed people around the neighborhood without actually getting people off the street,” she said. “The focus of my work has been getting tents off of our streets.”

Raman faces two challengers in the March primary. Ethan Weaver is a deputy city attorney. Lev Baronian is a software engineer.

Weaver assailed Raman’s position on 41.18. “The purpose of [the law] is about protecting our children. It's not about solving homelessness,” he said.

Baronian said he “wholeheartedly” supports the ordinance. “In fact," he added, "I think we should look at more places where we need to prohibit tents."

Independent expenditures dominate

So far, Raman has collected more money in individual campaign donations — about $368,000 — than her opponents. Weaver has raised about $252,000; Baronian about $32,000.

But it is the independent expenditures that are dominating this race.

The independent expenditure committee opposing Raman and two others supporting Weaver have raised more than $1 million to defeat the incumbent.

The firefighters’ union is playing a major role. It has spent more than $300,000 in support of Weaver, with some of its ads blaming Raman for a 10% increase in homelessness during her term. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and Kilroy Realty also have made significant contributions to eject Raman.

Independent expenditure committees supporting Raman, whose donors include the hotel and restaurant workers union Unite Here Local 11 and Smart Justice, have attracted more than $200,000.

The race is shaping up to be a barometer on the city’s more progressive tilt in recent years, said Fernando Guerra, a professor of political science and director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles.

“Raman was the face of that early momentum, as well as George Gascón, and now both are under severe attack,” Guerra said.

Follow the money

Differences on key political issues

Raman and her two opponents differ substantially on several additional key issues.

At the debate, held last month at the Autry Museum, Raman said she opposed a hefty pay raise last year for L.A. police officers because of the burden it placed on the rest of the city budget.

“Now we’re in a $250-million deficit, which is only going to increase and impact all of the other services that matter for quality of life,” she said.

Weaver said he would have supported the raise, regardless of its affect on the budget.

“Morale is low because there is no leadership for LAPD in City Hall, and I’m running to provide that leadership,” he said.

Baronian said the raise mostly kept up with the cost of living and he “definitely would have voted in favor.”

Government reform is another point of demarcation among the candidates. Raman has said she strongly supports expanding the size of the 15-member City Council to make it more representative of L.A. residents.

Weaver and Baronian oppose expansion. Weaver said he would not support it “unless we do real structural reform on how power works.” (Read more about the candidates’ policy positions at the LAist Voter Game Plan.)

The ad campaigns against Raman play on the fears and frustrations of voters, some of whom say they have buyer’s remorse after supporting Raman in 2020.

“I actually voted for her and unfortunately I regret it,” said Elizabeth Lovins, a renter who sits on the board of directors of the Los Feliz Improvement Association.

“I’ve seen the quality of life degrade over the past five years,” she added, citing among other things RVs in front of homes “dumping waste.”

Jade Luu, a landscape architect from Silver Lake said she voted for Raman four years ago, but won’t be supporting her again.

“The increase in crime has been a major issue in my neighborhood,” Luu said. “Catalytic converters stolen, copper pipes cut, defecation, crazy people screaming obscenities, vandalism.”

Aida Ashouri, of the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council, said she believes L.A. is ”broken,” but she is unwilling to point to Raman as the problem.

“If we blame one person, we ignore all of the other structural issues that predated that person,” Ashouri said.

Amy Gustincic of Los Feliz agreed.

“It's very easy for someone running for office to say, ‘Yes, I’ll do that, I’ll fix that, I’ll make that better,’ and the incumbent has to talk about the realities of it,” she said.

One of Raman’s challenges is that the boundaries of her district changed dramatically during the 2021 redistricting process. Nearly 40% of the district now includes voters who have never seen her name on a ballot.

If no candidate garners a majority of the votes in the March 5 primary election, the two top finishers will face off in November.

Maloy Moore and Brian Frank contributed to this report.

Hundreds of people from across Greater L.A. journeyed to the Mojave Desert this weekend to protest living conditions at the Adelanto Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center, where an estimated 2,000 people are being held.

Current and former detainees say immigrants there face rotten food, denial of medication and solitary confinement.

The Trump administration, which has denied those charges, has promised to expand the network of immigrant prisons like Adelanto across the U.S., even as the number of people who’ve died in ICE custody grows.

The organizers stage a concert outside the detention center on Saturday to serenade the detainees, while also speaking to how the administration’s policies have harmed their communities.

Sandra Garcia was among dozens of people who boarded three buses outside the Pasadena Community Job Center. She decided to make the trek out of a sense of responsibility, she told LAist. Last summer, immigration agents raided her family’s tamale stand, pinned four of their regular customers to the ground and arrested them. She said it’s something her family can’t forget. Two of Garcia’s cousins have also been detained. One of them, she said, has already been deported.

Since then, Garcia has joined a rapid response network to help alert her neighbors to the presence of federal agents.

“ As a U.S citizen, I'm gonna continue pushing,” she added.

Sandra Garcia said two of her cousins were detained by ICE, as were four customers at her family's business in Pasadena.

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Heavenly Hughes, a longtime Altadena resident, said she joined the caravan “to show that Black and brown unity is important.”

Her parents, she said, bought their home in the early 1970s, and the community she grew up in was the product of redlining.

“Hardworking Black people built this community,” she said of Altadena. When the Eaton Fire broke out, “my friends, my peers, those who helped raise me — they lost everything in the fire.”

The day laborers at the job center have been integral to rebuilding the region, Hughes said. She was going to Adelanto to protest against the detention of these workers and to express her solidarity with them and their families.

“I love when I hear our community saying joy is resistance,” she said. “ We want the people there who are detained to hear our voices.  That they are humans. That they deserve to be treated right.”

Songs of resistance  

As desert winds blew, the activists made their way from the caravans to a mobile stage truck.

“It's heavy to be here,” said Elisa Schwartz, a resident of Valley Village who carried a sign that read: “We’ve seen this shit before.”

“As a Jew, I was raised to know that once you are othered, you are in serious danger,” she added.

To get to Adelanto from her home, Schwartz traveled nearly 100 miles. As she marched along the dusty highway with other protesters, she wished she could go out there every day.

“I hope [this] will mean something to them,” she said.

Demonstrators gathered at the front of Adelanto ICE Processing Center, in San Bernardino County. The privately run detention center has faced accusations of neglect and inhumane conditions, including in a recent lawsuit.

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Up on the stage, the musicians played folk songs about working class solidarity and resistance to repressive governments, like Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin'” and a rendition of Alí Primera’s “Techos de cartón.”

Some protesters created an altar near the stage in honor of those who recently died in immigrant prisons, or at the hands of federal agents. For a while, the mood was somber, and the activists weren’t sure that the detainees could hear the music. The unyielding gusts of wind didn’t help.

A few feet away, brothers Abe and Ben (who asked LAist not to share their last name out of fear of reprisal) distributed groceries from the back of their truck. When a parent or partner is detained, Abe noted, it can wreak economic havoc on a household. They wanted to do their part to help ease their burden.

They would know. In late February, Abe had been detained at Adelanto. And Ben had flown to visit him in Adelanto from the Bay Area.

“It was really hard to see, you know, my older brother, who I grew up with, in these conditions,” Ben said.

Abe, left, said he spent nearly a month in the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. He came to the demonstration with his brother Ben, right, to show support for people who are still inside.

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Abe was detained for three weeks after being arrested at an annual check-in. When asked about what it was like inside, he said he always ate canned food — “nothing was fresh” — and that getting medical attention could take up to a week. He most looked forward to the one hour per day he was allowed to be outside.

“You're behind the fence, inside the cages, but at least you're in the sun,” he said.

While he was detained, Ben’s friends suggested that he launch a GoFundMe page to help the family cover his brother's attorney’s fees. More than 200 people contributed. That level of support “was hope giving,” Ben said. Now that Abe is free, he, his brother and Abe’s wife decided to go to the protest and pay it forward.

Singers performed from a truck outfitted with huge speakers.

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Demonstrators gathered around a delivery truck that served as a stage for performers and speakers.

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Getting in contact with people inside

Jax Santana, whose father, Ramiro Santiago Pacheco Martinez, was detained last November, told the crowd that her father was a day laborer in Pomona; that he was the one who taught her to drive and cheered for her at her graduation; that she and her four siblings wanted him home.

As the sun began to set, the crowd moved the mobile stage across the street, closer to the detention center.

The musicians played more upbeat music including cumbia and quebradita.

Jax Santana came to the demonstration to speak out for her father, Ramiro Santiago Pacheco Martinez. He was detained in November and is being held at Adelanto ICE Processing Center.

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Demonstrators marched around the Adelanto ICE Processing Center on Saturday to demand the release of people detained at the facility. Their goal was to make enough noise that people inside the detention center could hear them.

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Santana took the mic for a second time. Using a government-approved messaging system, they were able to make contact with their father.

“He can hear us!” Santana told a cheering crowd. “They all can hear us!”

Then, Santana led the crowd in chanting: “No estan solos! You’re not alone!"

As the chanting died down, Santana shared one more message from their father: “You better be dancing,” he said.

A federal judge Monday dealt a major blow to the Trump administration's efforts to overhaul the nation's vaccine policies, including the controversial decision to slash the number of federally recommended vaccinations for children.

U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy in Boston put a hold on the decisions made by an influential Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisory committee, ruling that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had improperly replaced the entire committee.

The decision was hailed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other leading health groups that brought the lawsuit, as well as infectious disease experts around the country.

"Today's ruling is a historic and welcome outcome for children, communities, and pediatricians everywhere," said Dr. Andrew Racine, the pediatric academy's president.

The administration plans to appeal the decision, according to Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon. "HHS looks forward to this judge's decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing," Nixon wrote in an email to NPR.

Nixon, confirmed, however that the ruling had forced the CDC vaccine committee, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, to postpone a meeting that was planned for Wednesday and Thursday. The committee was expected to raise new questions about the COVID-19 vaccines and possibly revamp how federal vaccine policies are formulated.

The judge ruled that Kennedy and his committee had made arbitrary and capricious decisions, ignoring a long-used, well-regarded scientific process for developing vaccine policies. He wrote in his ruling, "the government has disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions."

The ACIP, whose members Kennedy fired and replaced largely with new members who also criticized vaccines, had issued a series of contentious recommendations, including a recommendation that all babies get vaccinated against hepatitis B at birth. The judge's ruling stays the appointment of 13 committee members appointed by Kennedy since June 2025, when the previous members were fired.

Administration lawyers had argued that the changes were the result of different interpretations of vaccine data.

"This is a significant victory for public health, evidence-based medicine, the rule of law, and the American people," Richard Hughes, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told reporters after the ruling.
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Team USA finished second in the overall Paralympics medal count, after 10 days of competition in which American athletes made dazzling debuts, defended titles and cemented legacies.

One of the many made-for-TV moments came just hours before the closing ceremony on Sunday, when the U.S. sled hockey team defeated rival Canada to claim its record fifth gold medal in a row.

"You don't ever start out and try to be the only five-time gold medalist in the sport," said captain Josh Pauls after personally achieving that very feat. "But to be with these guys, to lead them and kind of pass on that tradition, it's the ultimate honor."

The day — and the Games — ended with the closing ceremony in Cortina d'Ampezzo, featuring performances, speeches and the extinguishing of the Paralympic flame. American skiers Kendall Gretsch and Andrew Kurka, who are both leaving Italy with new medals, carried the flag for Team USA.

"I've been involved in four Games and have only been able to go to two closing ceremonies: in PyeongChang, where I won my gold and silver, and this year, where I won my bronze," said Kurka, who medaled in men's super-G. "It's been a career filled with ups and downs, but even the small victories count for me."

Andrew Kurka and Kendall Gretsch carry the U.S. flag during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games closing ceremony in Cortina on Sunday.

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At the ceremony, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons declared the Games — the 50th anniversary of the Winter Paralympics — officially over, and a success: "The biggest and most beautiful Winter Paralympics with more athletes, more nations, more women and more global broadcast and digital coverage than ever before."

A record 611 athletes from 55 countries competed in 79 medal events across six sports.

China topped the medal count for the second Winter Games in a row, with 44 total medals (15 gold), followed by the U.S. with 24 total medals, including 13 gold. The U.S. improved on its fifth-place standing from 2022. This is the same number of gold medals it won in 2018, in what officials are calling its "strongest gold-medal showing in the last 20 years."

A total of 28 American Paralympians and two guides reached the podium this year. Six of them won medals for the first time, and six of them earned multiple medals, according to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC).

In third place — both overall and in gold medals — was Russia, which was allowed to participate under its own flag for the first time since 2014 despite its ongoing war in Ukraine. Ukrainian athletes boycotted both the opening and closing ceremonies in protest.

But even in a moment of intense geopolitical upheaval, amid conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, the IPC's Parsons said the Paralympics offered "proof that sport can unite us through respect, fairness and human achievement."

"Paralympians, you rose above pressure, expectation and global tension to keep the focus where it belongs: on you and your sport," he said. "You expanded the imagination of the world. You have shown that excellence is universal and that determination knows no boundaries."

Parsons passed the proverbial torch to the next Winter Paralympics host: the French Alps for 2030. Those will follow the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Los Angeles.

Team USA highlights

Team USA's Declan Farmer, center, fights for the puck during the gold-medal match against Canada.

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On the ice: 

The U.S. sled hockey team got off to a strong start in an early-round match against Italy, when it beat the host nation 14-1 — the largest margin of victory in the sport's U.S. history.

It stayed dominant, outscoring opponents 46-6 throughout the tournament before becoming the first Paralympic or Olympic team to win five consecutive winter gold medals.

"You are going to enjoy something like this, for sure," Coach David Hoff said afterward. "But I don't know if it's just the wins. It's so much more than that. They just love playing together."

Team USA beat Canada 6-2 on Sunday, thanks to a hat trick from Jack Wallace — who was named "best defender" of the tournament — and goals by Kayden Beasley, Brody Roybal and four-time Paralympian Declan Farmer.

Farmer, the top scorer and official MVP of these Games, scored 15 goals and 26 points throughout the tournament to become the all-time leading scorer in Paralympic sled hockey history at just 28 years old. But he was quick to share the credit with his teammates.

"A lot of the guys stepped up and had their best games of the tournament, and we just carried each other," said Farmer. "I'm just so happy for the guys, we earned it together."

You're forgiven if you have deja vu from last month: This win makes the U.S. the first country to sweep all three Olympic and Paralympic hockey tournaments in one year.

Team USA also made history in wheelchair curling, with Steve Emt and Laura Dwyer finishing fourth in the brand-new mixed doubles event. That's the United States' best-ever Paralympic finish in the sport.

"In the two years we've been together, we've shown the world what we're capable of doing and we're going to go home, take some time off, relax, re-group and come back even better next year," said Emt, the most decorated Paralympic curler in U.S. history.

In Para Nordic Skiing (cross country and biathlon):

Oksana Masters competes in the para cross-country skiing 20km in Tesero, Italy, on Sunday.

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Eight-time, dual-season Paralympian Oksana Masters, the most decorated Winter Paralympian in U.S. history, is leaving Italy with four new gold medals and a bronze in biathlon and cross-country skiing events, bringing her career total to 24 medals.

That's despite a concussion, infection and injury that almost kept her from competing in the first place.

"I think that is what makes it so special, because nothing is guaranteed," Masters told NPR on Saturday. "A win's not guaranteed, and the podium's not guaranteed, and so that's been a really great motivator for this whole … year so far."

Four-time Paralympian Jake Adicoff, with guides Reid Goble and Peter Wolter, won four gold medals in four visually impaired skiing events to set a new record for the most Para cross-country golds won by a Team USA athlete in a single Games.

Joshua Sweeney, Oksana Masters, Sydney Peterson, Jake Adicoff and his guide Reid Goble of Team USA participate in the medal ceremony after the para cross-country skiing mixed 4x2.5km relay.

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"It's incredibly scary to put a high goal out to the public," the 30-year-old said. "I was doubting it so much this week, I didn't know what was going to happen, but the races came together and I'm just overjoyed."

One of those was the mixed 4x2.5km relay, where the all-star team of Adicoff, Masters, Josh Sweeney and Sydney Peterson came from behind in the final leg to defend the U.S. title.

Peterson, competing in her second Paralympics, won four medals — three of them gold — this time around.

And Kendall Gretsch, closing ceremony flag-bearer, won four medals at her third Winter Paralympics (and fifth total): one gold, one silver and two bronze. That brings her total medal count to 11 across Summer and Winter Games.

In Alpine skiing:

Andrew Kurka competes in the super-G leg of the para Alpine skiing men's combined.

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Andrew Kurka won bronze in the men's super-G sitting, adding to his silver and gold from 2018.

"I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to have a great career. Gold, silver, and bronze, happy to be done," said Kurka, who wrote on Instagram after the closing ceremony that he is stepping back from ski racing to deal with injuries.

In 2022, he competed with a broken nose, thumb and humerus bone, finishing fourth in the sitting downhill event before withdrawing from the rest of competition. Kurka said in Italy that he's broken over 20 bones in his career.

"When it comes to it, losing is nothing compared to the pain of failure," he said after winning bronze. "And when it comes down to today, I was just happy to get across that finish line without any injuries and in a relatively quick time. Usually, if I cross the finish line, it's pretty fast."

Meanwhile, Patrick Halgren won silver in the men's super-G standing event — the first for Team USA since 1998.

Patrick Halgren celebrates after winning a silver medal in the alpine skiing men's super-G standing on Monday.

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The 33-year-old wasn't necessarily a favorite for the podium, having placed 26th and 24th at his events in the Beijing Paralympics. But Halgren said he felt the presence of his late twin brother Sven — his source of encouragement to try para Alpine skiing — who died in a motorcycle accident in 2016. Halgren himself lost most of his left leg, and nearly his life, in a motorcycle accident three years earlier.

Halgren, who wowed the internet with his winning performance and rock-star persona, dedicated his win to Sven and called it the "best day of my life until tomorrow."

"You celebrate the victories the same as the defeats," he added. "I've been blessed to have to develop my character over the last 11 years, losing my leg, and could either roll over and die, or I could become the greatest Patrick Halgren on Earth, and that's what you're seeing."

In snowboarding: 

Kate Delson, center, and Brenna Huckaby, right, of Team U.S. pose for a photo on the podium during the medal ceremony for the para snowboard banked slalom.

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Three-time Paralympian Brenna Huckaby leaves Italy as the most decorated Paralympic snowboarder in history.

She won bronze in the women's banked slalom event — which she dominated in 2022 — to bring her career total to five medals. That came days after she finished sixth in the snowboard cross event, which she still saw as a win.

"I'm here representing a very small portion of people who want to see themselves represented," Huckaby said. "They want to know that if they lose their leg above the knee, life does not end. I accomplished that here simply by being. So I'm happy."

First-time Paralympian Kate Delson medaled in both of those events, winning gold in the banked slalom and silver in snowboard cross.

"I was just stoked to be here, I think it's such a fun course," Delson said after. "I got to get a medal with my teammate, [Huckaby], one of my best friends in the world, that's unreal."

On the men's side, Noah Elliott won gold in the banked slalom, a repeat of 2018, and silver in snowboard cross to double his career medal count.

Mike Schultz brought home a bronze medal in his final Paralympics, for which he outfitted many athletes with their prosthetics.

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And Mike Schultz earned his fourth career medal — bronze in banked slalom — at the last race of his third and final Paralympics.

"To finish my last run and bring home a bronze medal, that's storybook stuff there," Schultz said in an emotional Instagram video after watching a compilation of congratulatory messages from his U.S. snowboarding teammates, whom he called his family.

All the while, the 44-year-old outfitted many para athletes — including some who beat him — with high-performance prosthetics, a business he has run for over a decade, which he plans to pursue in retirement.
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