Topline:
A majority of the Supreme Court justices seemed skeptical of the Trump administration's argument on birthright citizenship yesterday and appeared ready to rule in favor of upholding automatic citizenship for babies born on U.S. soil.
Keep reading... for details on the questions posed to lawyers, including conservative justices tough questions for President Donald Trump's solicitor general, D. John Sauer.
A majority of the Supreme Court justices seemed skeptical of the Trump administration's argument on birthright citizenship Wednesday and appeared ready to rule in favor of upholding automatic citizenship for babies born on U.S. soil.
That included multiple conservative justices, who had tough questions for Trump's solicitor general, D. John Sauer. Sauer argued the government's case against birthright citizenship, the practice enshrined in the 14th Amendment in the Constitution, which became law in 1868.
It states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
Sauer, however, asserted that contrary to the law as understood for 160 years, the 14th Amendment does not confer automatic citizenship on every baby born in the U.S. He told the court that the true meaning of the amendment was to grant citizenship to former slaves and their children, no more. And, therefore, President Trump was well within his rights when he signed an executive order barring citizenship for children born in this country to parents who are illegally here, or who are here legally, but on long-term visas.
But Chief Justice John Roberts was doubtful about that executive order.
"The examples you give to support that strike me as very quirky," Roberts told Sauer. "And then you expand it to a whole class of illegal aliens," he continued. "I'm not quite sure how you can get to that big group from such tiny and, sort of, idiosyncratic examples."
"We're in a new world now," Sauer contended. "A billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who's a U.S. citizen."
"It's a new world," Roberts replied, but "it's the same Constitution."
Not seeing a play button? Click here.
Justice Neil Gorsuch noted that the Trump executive order focuses on parents, but the 14th Amendment focuses on birthright for the child. He asked: how would you know who the father is, or the mother? What if they're unmarried? Whose house do they live in?
Justice Amy Coney Barrett questioned the practicality of the Trump proposal.
"How would it work?" she asked. "How would you adjudicate these cases? You're not going to know at the time of birth whether they have the intent to stay or not, including U.S. citizens by the way."
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wondered, "So [are] we bringing pregnant women in for depositions? What are we doing to figure this out?"
The justices also grilled Sauer about the landmark 1898 case of Wong Kim Ark, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Wong had birthright citizenship, because he was born in the United States. Sauer, however, maintained that Wong was only given birthright citizenship because his parents were legally domiciled in the United States.
"I think even your brief concedes that the position you're taking now is a revisionist one with respect to a substantial part of our history," Justice Elena Kagan said. "That's, in part, because of Wong Kim Ark and the way people have read that case ever since then."
Challenging the Trump birthright plan, the American Civil Liberties Union's Cecillia Wang told the Supreme Court that the 14th Amendment was enacted after the Civil War in order to have a universal rule of citizenship, subject to a closed set of exceptions, and that the birthright applies to all children born on U.S. soil.
"We can't take the current administration's policy considerations into account to try to re-engineer and radically re-interpret the original meaning of the 14th Amendment," Wang argued.
However, in reference to current perceived immigration problems versus those that existed at the time the 14th Amendment was enacted, Kagan posited: "What do we do if we think we have a new problem that didn't exist at the time of the 14th Amendment?"
Justice Brett Kavanaugh followed up, asking whether the provisions of the 14th Amendment are frozen in place.
Yes, replied Wang, because the framers of it were intent on putting the citizenship question out of the reach of Congress.
The decision, expected by this summer, will almost certainly result in a historic ruling, and Trump himself made his mark at the court Wednesday morning.
He became the first sitting president known to attend oral arguments, signaling the importance of this issue to him personally.
After leaving the courtroom before the arguments were over, he wrote on Truth Social, "We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow 'Birthright' Citizenship!" In fact, roughly three dozen countries offer it.
Trump arrived about 10 minutes before the arguments began, listened to Sauer field the justices' questions for a little over an hour and then left a few minutes after Wang began to make her case.
Volunteers with the ACLU, joined by immigrant rights organizations like CASA and the League of United Latin American Citizens, handed out fliers that read "protect birthright citizenship" and "14th Amendment."
"We're all out here to protect the fundamental right of birthright citizenship. It's written in the 14th Amendment," said Anu Joshi, a staff member of the ACLU. "It's what makes us America."
Among the crowd were several people who were citizens by birthright themselves.
"I am a birthright citizen so this hits really, really close to home because without birthright citizenship I wouldn't even have my citizenship in the United States," said Stephanie Sanchez, a first-generation Mexican-American who came to the rally. "Here I am representing my community and fighting back."
After the arguments, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero told the crowd he felt confident in the way the arguments played out inside.
"We are fighting for the heart and soul of this country. The fight to protect birthright citizenship is about our neighbors, our families, our kids. It's not about the past, it's about the future," he said. "We will only accept what is just and what is right."
Largely absent from the crowd were proponents of the president's position.
Domenico Montanaro, Ximena Bustillo and Anusha Mathur contributed to this story.
Copyright 2026 NPR
Topline:
The man arrested in connection to the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday night was identified as Cole Allen by two sources familiar with the matter. The sources spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
What happened: The shooting took place outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton where the dinner was underway. President Donald Trump and other top officials were safely evacuated.
About the alleged gunman: Todd Blanche, the acting U.S. Attorney General, told Meet the Press on Sunday morning that they believed the gunman was targeting "administration officials," but didn't want to be more specific since the investigation was still underway. He also said investigators believed the gunman had traveled to D.C. from California via train and was staying at the hotel with two firearms.
Read on... for statements from local schools about connections to a "Cole Allen."
The man arrested in connection with the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night was identified as Cole Allen by two sources familiar with the matter. The sources spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The shooting took place outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton, where the dinner was underway. President Donald Trump on Saturday released what appears to be video surveillance footage that shows a man quickly moving past security officials, who then draw their weapons. Trump, who was safely evacuated with his wife, Melania, and other top officials, also shared images via his Truth Social account late Saturday of a shirtless man detained on the floor of the hotel.
Todd Blanche, the acting U.S. Attorney General, told Meet the Press on Sunday morning that they believed the gunman was targeting "administration officials," but didn't want to be more specific since the investigation was still underway. He said the targets "likely" included the president.
He also said investigators believed the gunman had traveled to D.C. from California via train and was staying at the hotel with two firearms. Blanche said the man purchased those firearms within the last couple of years.
At a news conference following the shooting, Jeffery Carroll of D.C.'s Metropolitan Police said that the suspect said the suspect "was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives."
Jeanine Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said at that same news briefing that the gunman would face federal charges. Authorities say the man will be charged Monday.
The FBI searched a home connected to Allen in Torrance late Saturday.
According to a LinkedIn profile under his name, Allen obtained a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 2017, and a master's degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2025.
The profile also says that one of his employers is C2 Education, a tutoring and college test prep center with a location in Torrance, where he was named "Teacher of the Month" in a December 2024 post.
A search of California's Commission on Teacher Credentialing did not surface a credentialed teacher by that name.
“We were shocked to hear the news of the horrifying incident that transpired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. We are cooperating fully with law enforcement to assist them in their investigation. Violence of any kind is never the answer," C2 Education said in an email response to LAist seeking comments.
As news reports spread identifying the gunman as a California teacher from Torrance, the Torrance Unified School District said in a statement Saturday night that the alleged gunman is not an employee of the school district and has never worked there.
"While details are still emerging and facts remain under investigation, early reports have referenced a teacher from Torrance as being involved," the statement from Torrance Unified said. "We want to clarify that the individual named in the news is not an employee of the Torrance Unified School District and has never worked in our district."
Cal State Dominguez Hills, in a statement, said a man with the name of the alleged gunman had graduated from the school in 2025, but could not confirm if it was the same person.
"A student named Cole Allen graduated with a master’s degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2025. The university cannot confirm if this is the same suspect identified in the April 25 shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner," the statement said.
Caltech also said it had not independently confirmed the alleged gunman was the same person who attended their university.
"An undergraduate student by the name of Cole Allen graduated from Caltech in 2017," university officials said in a statement. "Based on media reports, we are aware that federal authorities have identified a suspect by the name of Cole Allen in the April 25 shooting incident at the Washington Correspondents’ Dinner. We do not have details from the investigation to confirm that the suspect and our undergraduate alumnus are the same person."
Topline:
Bella Vista Elementary School in Monterey Park is giving its after-class math club a different spin — by using mahjong.
How? It’s teaching fourth and fifth graders pattern recognition, strategy and probability through the traditional Chinese tile game.
Why now? The mahjong math club is the brainchild of fourth grade teacher Andy Luong, who learned how to play the game a couple years ago. In figuring out how to play the game, he learned how to teach it.
The math club at Bella Vista Elementary School is not a quiet affair — not with more than a dozen 10- and 11-year-olds stacking sets of mahjong.
But before the games can begin, it's time for math lessons.
"Remind me, math is the study of what?" fourth grade teacher Andy Luong asks the class.
"Pattern, patterns," the kids say.
Luong clicks through several slides, each featuring a mahjong tile the students call "seven sticks."
"When you first learned this tile, what did you use to memorize this?" Luong, co-founder of the Mahjong Math Club, asks.
"They look like sticks," a boy says.
Luong locks in on a slide for a few seconds, just a flash. It features six tiles, divided into two rows. He asks the class how many tiles they see.
"Three on the top and three on the bottom," a girl says. " So when I saw the pattern, I was like, 'Oh, it's six.'"
Luong nods. " Recognizing those patterns are a lot faster than counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6," he says.
The tile game of mahjong is believed to have started in China in the 19th century, after decades if not centuries of evolution. It spread globally, adopting regional specificities, including in the U.S. after it landed in the late 1910s from Shanghai by way of an American businessman. A few decades later, a group of Jewish American women established the National Mah Jongg League in New York.
The game never stopped being a staple of Chinese and many Asian cultures — anywhere in the world.
In recent years, fueled in part by the COVID-19 shutdown, an interest in the game has sparked among young Asian Americans. They form or attend social clubs in L.A. dedicated to the pastime, creating their own bond with the game.
Luong is one of them. When he was growing up in Illinois, the game came with certain connotations.
" Mahjong has such a bad rap in the Asian American community," Luong said, who moved to the San Gabriel Valley about a decade ago. "Part of a big reason why my parents don't play is because they associate it with gambling."
The 30-year-old finally gave the game a spin in 2024, learning it from third grade teacher and math club co-founder Rachel Hwang. She cut her teeth by watching her family play. Naturally, she threw Luong in the deep end.
" I was like, 'Here, we're just gonna play,'" Hwang said. " I just put the tiles on."
"I was so overwhelmed. It's like, 'What do you mean I had to get a set? A set of how much?' I'm like, 'I don't know what I'm doing,'" he said.
Still, Luong fell head over heels, quickly becoming a regular at the mahjong social clubs (in fact, it was at one of those events where I first met him) and a student of the game.
In learning it, Luong figured out how to teach it.
"He was the one [that] as a learner didn't grow up playing this game," Hwang said. "He was the one that found the tutorials, watched the tutorials, and he really, from a learner's perspective, figured out what a kid needed to learn and how they needed to learn in order to play the game."
Last year, Luong submitted a proposal to start a math club focused on mahjong at the school.
" It was pretty much slam dunk. It explores other avenues of the cultural experience that we want our students to learn," said Jennifer Martinez, principal of Bella Vista Elementary School. "It was something that we wanted to get off the ground right away and support."
Since September, the club has been meeting on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. It was so popular Luong and Hwang brought in help to run the club.
“ I don't feel like they're really doing math,” said Ruolin Chen, a kindergarten teacher who was recruited. "It's like they're learning from playing or playing from learning.”
Back in the classroom, Luong clicks to a last slide to remind the club how to maximize "points" with certain "hands." This semester, the club is playing Hong Kong style mahjong — three point minimum win.
Finally, it's game time. The group of mainly fourth and fifth graders take their seats at the tables: mixing the tiles, stacking them into starting formation, casting the die, so on and so forth.
Then, they build their hand, meticulously rearranging the 13 tiles according to their suits — or in math club parlance, patterns.
The clank of tiles and sounds of "pong" and "gong" soon fill the air.
Pattern recognition, strategy, situational awareness, probability, learning when to pivot or to fold — those are some of the learnings the math club intends.
"Andy is so structured," Hwang said of Luong's design of the club. " The first two weeks, they didn't even play a game. It was like, 'Let's look at the tiles. How many tiles do you see? Pick out and group them into sets.'"
Fifth grader Uma Alvarado shows me her hand. She's going all "pong" — trying to assemble four sets of three identical tiles. It'd be worth three points if she wins.
Alvarado says what brings her to the club is the opportunity to hang out with her schoolmates. But trying something new is pretty cool too.
"I get to mix the tiles and find new ways to play a game I have never been introduced to before," she adds.
At another table, fourth grader Bonnie Kuang says the game keeps her on her toes.
"I think it's fun to use different strategies, and maybe I need to change strategy mid-game," Kuang said. "And I like it when I win."
Sofia Mandic, her same grade classmate and opponent across the table, says the pace of the game makes quick tile recognition key.
"You need to think fast. You need to think to yourself if you need it or not," Mandic says, because oftentimes, there are just seconds to make a decision.
Pattern recognition, strategy, situational awareness, probability, learning when to pivot or to fold — those are some of the learnings the math club intends.
"Andy is so structured," Hwang said of Luong's design of the club. " The first two weeks, they didn't even play a game. It was like, 'Let's look at the tiles. How many tiles do you see? Pick out and group them into sets.'"
It's all part of a teaching method known as "counting collections" that focuses on hands-on, student-centered learning experiences to build informal math knowledge. It's one aspect of a body of research called Cognitively Guided Instruction, which all math teachers at Bella Vista are trained in. Luong is applying it to guide his approach.
" We need to have them see there's four different types of tiles. There's [Chinese] characters, there's sticks, circles, and there's honorary tiles," Luong said. "They're not going to know unless they actually see it and they use their hands."
Even then, it's a lot to process. It could be downright overwhelming when a kid has to juggle all the elements all at once during game play.
"The very first time that we actually started playing, some of them didn't finish a game. It took an entire period," Luong said.
It took about a month into the club before the mechanics of the game — things like drawing a tile, discarding the ones they don't want — became routine; and another two months for the kids to play faster and without supervision.
"A lot of the students who don't know Mandarin, or have any Chinese background, are starting to recognize the characters. I'm really proud to say that," Luong said.
Ultimately, the teachers want the kids to take away from the game a lesson about life.
"What we really want the kids to do is not to have such a fixed mindset," Luong said.
" We want them to, A) be flexible, B) change up your game plan," Hwang said. "It's OK. Life is going to throw curve balls at you."
Topline:
President Donald Trump was reported uninjured after a possible shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner tonight in Washington, D.C., the Associated Press says. Secret Service agents said a suspect is in custody.
What we know: What sounded like gunshots were heard by gathered reporters shortly after 8:30 p.m. ET in the Washington Hilton. Several guests were seen fleeing the ballroom where hundreds of journalists, politicians and attendees were gathered — including Trump, Vice President Vance and other members of the administration.
Trump's response: He is expected to appear at a press briefing shortly. He praised Secret Service after being rushed from the ballroom.
Updated April 26, 2026 at 11:13 AM ET
President Trump and the first lady are uninjured after a shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday in Washington, D.C. A suspect is in custody, according to a statement from the U.S. Secret Service.
In remarks from the White House after the incident, the president said a Secret Service agent is "doing great" after being shot in a bulletproof vest. The Secret Service said the incident took place at a security screening area inside the Washington Hilton hotel near the entrance to the main ballroom where the event was taking place. There are no reports of further injuries.
The suspect has been identified as Cole Allen, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Trump shared surveillance footage online which appears to show law enforcement reacting to an assailant sprinting through an area of the hotel. He also posted pictures of a man, shirtless, with his eyes closed lying face down on a carpet.
Cole is being charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon, with more charges likely, according to Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
At a law enforcement press conference, Jeffery Carroll of DC's Metropolitan Police said that the suspect "was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives." Law enforcement said they believe the suspect was a guest at the hotel.
He was evaluated at a local hospital after the incident and was not hit by gunfire, according to law enforcement.
Gunshots were heard by gathered reporters shortly after 8:30 p.m. ET. Several guests were seen fleeing the ballroom where hundreds of journalists, politicians and attendees were gathered — including Trump, Vice President Vance and other members of the administration.
Video from inside the room showed security quickly clear the guests on the main stage — including the president and first lady. Someone can be heard shouting "stay down."
President Trump took to social media shortly after being rushed out to praise the Secret Service.
"Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted quickly and bravely. The shooter has been apprehended," Trump wrote.
The president said in a later post that all cabinet members are safe.
"I said earlier tonight that journalism is a public service, because when there is an emergency, we run to the crisis, not away from it. And on a night when we are thinking about the freedoms in the First Amendment, we must also think about how fragile they are," Weijia Jiang, the president of the correspondents' association, said. "I saw all of you reporting, and that's what we do. Thank God everybody's safe and and thank you for coming together tonight. We will do this again."
Several members of Congress were seen leaving the event by foot, including Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.
"I said earlier tonight that journalism is a public service, because when there is an emergency, we run to the crisis, not away from it. And on a night when we are thinking about the freedoms in the First Amendment, we must also think about how fragile they are," Weijia Jiang, the president of the correspondents' association, said. "I saw all of you reporting, and that's what we do. Thank God everybody's safe and and thank you for coming together tonight. We will do this again."
Both the president and members of the press have been targeted for violence in recent years.
During his 2024 reelection effort, Trump was injured in a shooting at a July rally in Pennsylvania when a bullet whizzed past his head, grazing his ear. Two attendees were wounded, and rally-goer and former fire chief Corey Comperatore was killed.
A Secret Service sniper shot and killed the perpetrator.
In September 2024, a Secret Service agent saw a man holding a semi-automatic rifle hidden in the tree line at Trump International in West Palm Beach. The suspect fled in his car and was arrested a short time later.
He was later sentenced to life in prison.
During the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol building, more than a dozen journalists were attacked in targeted assaults by rioters, according to a tally by the Freedom of the Press foundation. "Murder the media" was etched into a doorway during the attack.
In 2018, a man mailed pipe bombs to people and organizations he perceived to be critics of Donald Trump, including CNN offices in New York and Atlanta. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The Washington Hilton, which played host to Saturday's dinner, is also the site of past political violence — in 1981, President Reagan was shot and seriously wounded outside of the hotel.
Three others were also injured in the attack, including Reagan's press secretary James Brady, who sustained brain damage and was permanently disabled in the attack. He became a gun control activist, successfully lobbying alongside his wife Sarah Brady for a background check system for firearm sales.
The White House Press Briefing Room, where Trump made brief remarks after the incident, was later renamed in his honor.
Deepa Shivaram and Ryan Lucas contributed to this report.
Copyright 2026 NPR
Topline:
“Roots of Our Labor,” a new mural unveiled this week by LA Commons across the street from MacArthur Park.
What they created: The mural shows a tree bearing avocados and oranges, with a trunk made of intertwined hands and a farmer harvesting the fruit. On one side, a tamale vendor is depicted selling food, and on the other, an ice cream vendor pushes a cart as children gather around him. In the background, scenes from MacArthur Park play out.
Before they ever picked up a paintbrush, youth artists behind a new mural in MacArthur Park started by listening.
“We interviewed people in MacArthur Park about their experiences living in the community,” said Tania Castro, a recent high school graduate and one of 20 young artists who worked on the project. “Some stories were a little bit sad because they said they lost their jobs and they need more opportunities.”
Those conversations shaped “Roots of Our Labor,” a new mural unveiled this week by LA Commons across the street from MacArthur Park. The project, led by artists Luis Mateo and Shakir Manners, draws from stories collected in a yearlong process from more than 75 residents in and around MacArthur Park.
Castro says those stories were about more than struggle.
“They also said they loved the community. In the park, you can see a lot of vendors selling things like fruit and ice cream,” she said. “And the kids love it.”
The mural shows a tree bearing avocados and oranges, with a trunk made of intertwined hands and a farmer harvesting the fruit. On one side, a tamale vendor is depicted selling food, and on the other, an ice cream vendor pushes a cart as children gather around him. In the background, scenes from MacArthur Park play out.
In a neighborhood where ongoing immigration raids have fueled fear and instability, and where MacArthur Park is often defined by visible homelessness and crime, organizers said the mural is intended to highlight the diverse communities who live there and to frame the park as a shared space of connection, culture and daily life.
“I enjoyed making it because it really teaches us about the importance of community and being more inclusive and kind to each other,” said high school artist Leslie Gonzalez. “Most of the people we talked to told us about their backgrounds and they weren’t that pleasant but they still pushed through and got together for each other.”
Painted in March at the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), the mural is installed on the southeastern side of the UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center.
“Immigrants are critical to the community, especially here in MacArthur Park,” said Beth Peterson, community arts program director at LA Commons. “And I think the mural does a beautiful job of really sharing that story. It really shows how the hands of immigrants have really hung together to form this very beautiful community that we live in today.”
For the lead artists, working alongside youth was central to how the art took shape.
“This artwork honors both the neighborhood and the people who shape it,” Mateo said. “Working with youth was essential to the process, allowing the mural to emerge from shared reflection rather than a single perspective.”
The new mural builds on LA Commons’ ongoing work in the area, following another mural unveiled last September at MacArthur Park Elementary School. “Roots of Our Labor” is the organization’s second mural supported by Stop the Hate, a statewide initiative led by the Asian American and Pacific Islander community aimed at addressing hate incidents and promoting cross-cultural understanding.
LA Commons, a nonprofit arts organization that creates community-based public art projects through partnerships and a mix of public and private funding, has been in the MacArthur Park area for more than 20 years. Its first public art project in the neighborhood was in 2003. “Roots of Our Labor” is its 22nd public art project in MacArthur Park.
Manners, the artist, described the mural as a reflection of what he sees as the underlying spirit of MacArthur Park.
It represents “the unseen hands that sustain communities, emphasizing that true progress is built collectively through persistence, sacrifice and shared purpose,” he said.
For Gonzalez, the mural is personal as well as something tied closely to her community.
“I feel like a light has shone on me and I’m proud of it because I’ve never done anything this big before,” she said.
The post New mural celebrates labor, multicultural community around MacArthur Park appeared first on LA Local.
