The Brief

The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk Wednesday at a college in Utah is the latest in a series of politically motivated violent acts just in recent months.

And they have spanned the political spectrum:

–The killing of a Democratic state lawmaker and her spouse in Minnesota and the shooting of another and his spouse;

– The Democratic Pennsylvania governor's residence firebombed while he and his family slept;

– Two Israeli embassy staffers shot and killed after an event at a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C.;

– Tesla charging stations set on fire;

– Shootings at a campaign office for Democrat Kamala Harris in Arizona;

– And, of course, two assassination attempts of President Donald Trump during the 2024 campaign.

Those are only some of the incidents in just the past 14 months.

This is undoubtedly a time of tremendous political volatility. The shooter's motivation is not yet known, but Kirk, who co-founded Turning Point USA (TPUSA), an organization focused on younger voters and spreading conservative ideas, was a prominent figure in Trump world.

His death is again spurring conversation around political violence in America – and what can be done about it. It's a complicated question without simple solutions.

Anyone with a heightened profile in this political climate – politicians, judges or otherwise – are facing increasing threats.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., noted earlier this month that Capitol Police have seen the number of incidents they consider threatening and concerning behavior up significantly – about 14,000 recorded so far this year, up from 9,000 in all of 2024.

Johnson said on CNN Wednesday night following Kirk's death that many members of Congress are "nervous" and want more security.

"They're exposed, all the time, everywhere," said Johnson, who considered Kirk a friend.

Kirk's prominent role

Kirk was close to Trump and his family, particularly his son, Donald Trump Jr. Kirk had been an aide to Trump Jr. during the 2016 presidential campaign before branching out and creating a brand in his own name to complement TPUSA, which he started in 2012 at the age of 18.

He was ubiquitous on social media. On Instagram and TikTok, for example, he and his podcast had more than 8 million followers on each platform. TPUSA had a popular annual conference attended by lots of young conservatives, who viewed him as something of a folk hero.

And he was responsible for turning a lot of younger voters, especially young men, into Trump voters.

Wednesday at Utah Valley University was supposed to be the start of what Kirk was calling, "The American Comeback Tour." It was slated to take him to nearly a dozen colleges, from Utah to Virginia, Minnesota to Louisiana.

This is what Kirk did often – he went to colleges across the country, holding court, casting doubt on liberalism and challenging anyone within shouting distance of a microphone to take to it and argue with him.

His conservative friends and followers describe Kirk as a Christian, a father and the nicest person they knew – someone who engaged in the "free marketplace of ideas," as Johnson put it on CNN.

Kirk was provocative and often clips of his talks and arguments on campus or what he said on his podcast went viral, often stoking controversy.

For example, here is just a selection of some of those things Kirk said:

– "White, college indoctrinated women will ruin America if we let them."

– "I'm sorry, if I see a Black pilot, I'm going to be like, boy, I hope he's qualified."

– "We should bring back the celebration of the M.R.S. degree."

– "Maybe one of the reasons that Taylor Swift has been so annoyingly liberal over the last couple of years is that she's not yet married, and she doesn't have children. … Reject feminism. Submit to your husband, Taylor. You're not in charge."

– "It is so materially insane to think that 1 in 5 American women will be raped in their life … meaning that they're lying about being raped, that they're lying about being sexually assaulted. Like a fraternity guy and a sorority girl at age 19 hooking up, both five drinks in at 2 a.m. and all of a sudden, like, she removes consent. Yeah, like, that's a murky, middle gray area."

– Of former TV personality Joy Reid, former first lady Michelle Obama, late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson: "They're coming out, and they're saying, 'I'm only here because of affirmative action.' Yeah, we know. You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person's slot to be taken somewhat seriously."

Some conservatives argue those statements are either, in their view, not controversial or that taking them out of context distorted his meaning. But the comments show why he was a lightning rod to liberals.

Some on social media reacted gleefully to Kirk's death, and some on the right described this as "war."

Political leaders who disagreed with Kirk, though, are emphasizing that violence is never justified or acceptable.

"We don't yet know what motivated the person who shot and killed Charlie Kirk, but this kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy," former President Barack Obama said on social media. "Michelle and I will be praying for Charlie's family tonight, especially his wife Erika and their two young children."

Former President Joe Biden similarly said, "There is no place in our country for this kind of violence. It must end now. Jill and I are praying for Charlie Kirk's family and loved ones."

Public opinion, threats and mixed messages

In this period of provocation and confrontation, a lot of Americans see threats to their ways of life.

Conservatives chafed under what they saw as a liberal lurch in the country during Obama's presidency. They saw the culture, the media — news, TV, movies – as too liberal, weak and enabling. And they feel too many talk down the good qualities of the country.

For those left of center, it's very different. They see threats to the marginalized – women, immigrants, minorities – because of leaders who they see as having given license to meanness, intolerance and conspiracy. And they see democracy itself under threat with Trump's strongman tendencies.

There's a lot of hopelessness that many people feel for different reasons about this political time, and that can lead to violence – even if it's a small few who might go that far.

Polling has shown that people have mixed feelings about polarization, civility and compromise.

A Georgetown University poll from 2023, for example, found overwhelming numbers of people said they want civility and compromise and believe respect for each other is the first step in having a government that works. More than 8 in 10 said so on each of those. More than 9 in 10 said respect was essential.

But the same respondents were also very dug in on their beliefs and not wanting to compromise them. More than 8 in 10 said they're tired of leaders compromising their values and ideals; more than 7 in 10 said those personal values are under attack.

When it comes to violence, 73% in an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll from July described political violence as a "major problem."

On acceptance of it, a University of Chicago survey from September of last year found 6% supported the use of force to restore Trump to the presidency. Another 8% supported it to prevent Trump from getting back to the White House.

Those are very small numbers — and there are margins of error to consider there, too – but the figures represent millions of people. And when there is that kind of political environment, plus a mistrust of the system and institutions, increased feelings of isolation and loneliness, all it takes is a few radicalized people in either direction to cause a violent event like the assassination Kirk.

Many leaders, like Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, are calling for calm and asking people to examine themselves.

"Our nation is broken," Cox said Wednesday. "We've had political assassinations recently in Minnesota. We had an attempted assassination on the governor of Pennsylvania, and we had an attempted assassination on a presidential candidate and former President of the United States and now current President of the United States. We just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be, to ask ourselves, 'Is this– is this it? Is this what 250 years has wrought on us?' I pray that that's not the case. I pray that those who hated what Charlie Kirk stood for will put down their social media, and their pens, and pray for his family. And that all of us, all of us will try to find a way to stop hating our fellow Americans."

Experts say there needs to be a unified message from political leaders and influencers on social media to set examples of civility — and to stop demonizing and dehumanizing others who disagree, but often the opposite takes place.

President Trump was close to Kirk and said he was like a son to him. Trump, though, who himself has been prone to base name-calling and political retribution, struck a different tone than Cox in his address to the country Wednesday night.

"It's long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible," Trump said.

But in the next sentence, he took a turn.

"For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals," he said. "This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now."

Trump himself was called "Hitler" by those upset with his presidency during a night out for dinner in Washington on Tuesday. He added in Wednesday's video message: "Radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives. Tonight, I ask all Americans to commit themselves to the American values for which Charlie Kirk lived and died."

There was no mention of the other examples where Democrats were the subject of violence or a call for those who agree with him to also take the temperature down. That's important because the country is not only in a time of political polarization, but people are also getting their information often only from partisan outlets.

And they'll hear and see only what their leaders and trusted sources tell them, worrying experts that not much will change any time soon.
Copyright 2025 NPR

The city of Long Beach has proposed cutting library hours and laying off librarians to help balance its budget. In response, educators, the local library foundation and union leaders are pushing back, saying the city can’t afford to lose a vital service for kids and families.

Under the budget proposal, five of the city’s 12 libraries — Bay Shore, Burnett, El Dorado, Harte and Michelle Obama — would drop from six days of service back to five, losing their Monday hours just a few years after those hours were added. (The city’s other libraries were already closed on Mondays, and all are closed Sundays.)

On an average Monday, those branches see a total of more than 1,000 visitors, according to city data.

“In a city the size of Long Beach, and with our population, we could be seeing a 2027 where there are no libraries open on Monday. I think that’s pretty crazy,” said Kristen Hernandez with the Long Beach Public Library Foundation. The nonprofit, which raises money for the local library system, is gathering signatures on a petition protesting the cuts. As of Friday, it had more than 1,800 signatures.

Changes to the city library system are a sliver of the cuts unveiled last week by Long Beach City Manager Tom Modica as part of a citywide winnowing in programs and services to close next year’s expected $58 million deficit.

Beyond cuts to programs and facility hours, Modica proposed laying off more than 260 city workers and cutting more than 200 additional vacant positions — about 4% of the city’s roughly 6,000-person workforce.

The proposed library cuts

Local libraries would lose 14 positions, 11 of them currently filled, including five library clerks, four library assistants, a vacant general librarian position at the Billie Jean King Main Library, and a mental health associate who serves as the library’s teen specialist. The plan also cuts funding for library pages who stock books and funding for security services, as well as nearly all print and digital newspaper subscriptions.

The combined cuts would save the department a little more than $1.4 million.

Elizabeth Cespuglio, a librarian at Billie Jean King Library, said that the library assistants at risk of being cut are responsible for planning and running workshops and programs at the branches, pulling materials, tracking which books and genres are most in demand, and staffing the information desk. Clerks handle check-outs, check-ins and library cards, while pages keep the shelves organized.

Perhaps most at risk, Cespuglio said, is the library’s mental health associate, Jasmin Flores, who spends her days building rapport with teens in need. Losing that specialist, she said, leaves her “quite fearful” for the patrons and staff alike, since the library’s other social worker focuses on unhoused adults and doesn’t have the time and energy to build the same relationships with youth.

Each day, Flores is the calming face for more than a dozen kids. Many of them are in and out of homelessness; some have been in juvenile detention. Others are LGBTQIA and struggle to find friends; others struggle to find food. She’s already told some that she may not be showing up anymore. It’s a difficult conversation, she said, having to console others for the loss of her job.

“It honestly breaks my heart that I probably will not be in that position anymore,” she said.

Flores’ main worry is that some of them will stop showing up. “We’ve built that rapport, and it hasn’t been easy to build,” she said. “It’s taken a while to get there, and I just hate to see all that go to waste.”

Librarians say they’re already stretched thin

The real problem, Cespuglio said, is that libraries are losing funding even as they’re increasingly in demand — more than 2,800 patrons visit daily across Long Beach’s 12 branches, an 8% rise since last year. The number of programs offered has increased by 50% in the past year, with more than 1,000 adult participants.

Annually, city libraries have continually climbed in foot traffic since the onset of the pandemic, though averages are still lower than in 2018 and 2019.

Branches have been understaffed for more than a decade, Cespuglio said, at least since the last time the city announced library layoffs in 2012.

“There’s still an expectation on the system for us to be doing all of these things and continue the same level of service as we’ve done,” she said. “Cutting those hours, or those Mondays, not only does it impact the public’s access to the library all over the city, but it has these other ramifications in the rest of the five days that the rest of us are working.”

The looming cuts have created an “undercurrent of anxiety” among staff who still don’t know who may lose their jobs, according to Cespuglio. Her own position is not at risk, but her partner’s is, and she said the possibility of losing half her household income is real. She said that rent in Long Beach has outpaced her pay raises for the 12 years she’s lived and worked in the city.

The bigger budget picture

The library cuts are part of a far larger fiscal reckoning for Long Beach.

The proposed layoffs stretch across more than a dozen departments and offices, hitting fire, police, homeless services, parks and libraries alike, as the city grapples with rising personnel costs, mounting legal payouts, the loss of federal grants and a local economic slowdown that has weighed on tax revenue.

City officials have said the strategy of previous years — pulling from cash reserves to delay layoffs — is no longer sustainable; the city drained tens of millions of dollars from its reserves, including its emergency fund, just to close out the current fiscal year.

Sashi Muralidharan, a labor representative with the city’s largest union, IAM Local 1930, said they will “fight for every job,” even as labor negotiations — which coincide with the budget talks — are looking grim.

Eighty percent of the positions proposed to be cut are represented by IAM, including 209 filled positions.

“Anything that does result in a layoff, we will be bargaining over those impacts to make sure that we lessen the negative impacts,” Muralidharan said.

At a Long Beach City Council meeting this week, nurses, union shop stewards, library staff and other city workers turned out to protest the cuts, arguing they would bring greater ramifications to the public’s quality of life and further enervate its remaining staff, pushing them to look for work elsewhere.

Nate Kim, a city nurse and negotiator with IAM Local 1930, told the council that while his own position had been renewed, many of his colleagues had not been so fortunate. “Many have been laid off already,” he added. Emily Quest, a resident who uses the library’s free craftspace, begged council members through tears not to cut the hours or the staff who run it.

Mayor Rex Richardson has proposed restoring 70 of the positions slated for elimination and says the city remains on track for its first structural budget surplus by 2028, even as another deficit, projected at $27.3 million, looms for the following year.

The City Council is expected to hold public hearings on the budget through the summer before a final vote in late September. You can find a schedule of hearings to attend here or fill out an online survey to share your priorities with the City Council, which must debate and pass the budget by Oct. 1.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Two months after an oil spill shut down streets in East Los Angeles and disrupted businesses along the Cesar E. Chavez Avenue corridor, many owners are still waiting for reimbursement.

The May spill forced street closures after crews punctured an underground pipeline, sending more than 25,000 gallons of crude oil onto nearby streets and into storm drains. Along the commercial corridor, owners of restaurants, barbershops and bike shops had to cancel appointments, delay deliveries or close their doors for a week as cleanup crews worked in the area.

What the spill cost businesses

In the days following the spill, a survey of nearly 50 businesses near the intersection of East Cesar E. Chavez and Eastern avenues found a 70% to 75% loss in revenue, according to Kelly LoBianco, director of the LA County Department of Economic Opportunity.

“You know how the barbershop gets on a Friday. … We lost a lot of business that week,” said Barber Avila, owner of Brooklyn Lab Barbershop. Avila preferred not to share his first name for this story.

For the past month, Avila has been working with LA County and pipeline operator Pacific Pipeline System (PPS) to submit documents – including tax records, sales reports and expenses – to show how the spill affected his business and file a claim for reimbursement.

Avila said his claim was approved this week and he is now awaiting payment.

Reimbursement has been slow

Many other businesses are seeking reimbursement from PPS, but the process has been slow, LoBianco said.

As of Tuesday, 19 businesses had filed claims. Only one had been approved, while three others were close to approval, LoBianco said. She did not have details on the amount reimbursed.

Veronica Ramos, co-owner of Ramos Industries, a commercial and residential glass and aluminum contractor, said she was reimbursed by PPS a week after submitting a claim. The spill caused contracted jobs to be canceled and deliveries to be rescheduled for a fee because trucks could not access the shop.

Ramos said her business had a bookkeeper who was able to quickly gather the required documents but she worries her neighbors may struggle to provide the needed records for a claim.

A PPS spokesperson said claims are still being accepted and processed. A third-party claims administrator has been helping businesses with the filing process in English and Spanish, the company said.

“We understand how important a timely resolution is for those affected and remain committed to working through each claim as efficiently as possible,” PPS said.

Cleanup could stretch into 2027

What lies ahead are months of soil testing and excavation to remove contaminated soil from the site of the spill, which county officials say could continue into January 2027. Neither Avila nor Ramos knew about the remaining work and worried about how additional street closures could affect their business again.

“It’s good to keep it in mind,” Ramos said.

Was your business affected by the oil spill?

Anyone who believes they were impacted by the oil spill can still contact the PPS claims line at 1-877-817-5465 to be connected to a third-party administrator who can guide them through the process in English and Spanish, PPS said. There is currently no deadline to submit a claim.

The Department of Economic Opportunity’s Office of Small Business (OSB) is continuing to provide guidance on claim preparation, documentation requirements, and submission for affected businesses. To book a one-on-one appointment, businesses can:

• Call OSB at (844) 432-4900,
• Visit OSB’s East LA Entrepreneurship Center located at 4716 E. Cesar E. Chavez Ave., or; 
• Email osb@opportunity.lacounty.gov. 

All impacted businesses seeking assistance should indicate that their request is related to the East LA oil spill.

How to avoid scams:

Rafael Carbajal, director of the LA County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA) said bad actors may prey upon communities during environmental disasters like the oil spill including contractors and legal services providers.

Carbajal said the DCBA office is helping residents verify contractors, legal services providers and is providing information on their website on how to recognize scams.

Residents who have concerns or questions can call the DCBA hotline at (800) 593-8222.

Composer Charles-Henri Avelange has wanted to find a way to honor firefighters with music since the 9/11 attacks.

Last month, that longtime dream started to take shape when over 85 orchestral musicians working in Hollywood gathered at a Sony Pictures Studio soundstage to record the “Fireman's Prayer.”

The poem, written by Alvin William “Smokey” Linn, was inspired by an apartment fire in 1958 in which three children died. It’s something every firefighter learns to recite.

Not long after moving to the U.S., Avelange found the Fireman’s Prayer inscribed on the wall of a firehouse in 2006 — and began singing a melody.

Avelange asked the firefighters whether the piece was already set to music. “Because to me, this is not just a prayer, it's an anthem,” he said.

Twenty-four hours later, he had written the first draft of the anthem.

Charles-Henri Avelange.

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Courtesy The Fireman's Prayer project

)

A $100,000 vision, and no idea how to pull it off 

Avelange’s vision was to have 200 to 250 musicians, including a children's choir, full adult choir, full orchestra and a 56-piece drum and bagpipe corps for the recording, which costs nearly $100,000. All proceeds from the song would go to firefighters.

 “Everybody who knows me eventually always heard about the Fireman's Prayer,” he said. “I have no idea how or when it will get done.”

Composer Charles-Henri Avelange has set the poem, The Fireman's Prayer, to music.

(

The Fireman's Prayer project

)

Then the January 2025  fires hit Los Angeles. Avelange and his wife found themselves just blocks from a Palisades Fire evacuation zone. They could see the firefighters protecting homes on their street.

“My wife, Jennifer … looked at me and she said, ‘Well, if this is not a sign, Charles, this thing is needed. It is really time.’”

Thanks to private donations, Avelange recorded with the Los Angeles Children’s Choir and the Los Angeles Master Chorale in May. He is still fundraising to record  the Pipes and Drums of California Professional Firefighters performing.

Last month, he was joined by Grammy-winning conductor Grant Gershon and many of Hollywood’s best musicians — some are survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires — to record the orchestral portion of an anthem he had heard only as digital samples for nearly 20 years.

Joining them in the audience were members of the firefighting community.

 “When I heard them playing, it sounded exactly the way it's supposed to and actually even better,” he said. “It was quite a magical moment.”

This is a developing story and will be updated. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:

• CalFire incident page
• City of Burbank
  

Evacuation orders for DeBell Restaurant and Golf Course and Stough Canyon Nature Center remain in place for a fire burning in Wildwood Canyon above Burbank.

Evacuation warnings for Churches Ct. and Country Club Drive were lifted at 6:20 p.m.

As of 5:55 p.m., the fire had burned 40 acres and 70% contained, according to Burbank.

The Walnut Fire broke out Saturday afternoon near the intersection East Harvard Road and Wildwood Canyon Road.

Hiking trails around the area are closed. The Starlight Bowl concert scheduled for tonight has been canceled.

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