The Brief

The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to lift a temporary restraining order that blocked “roving” immigration stops in Los Angeles and eight other California counties.

In an emergency appeal , the federal government argued the order poses a significant barrier to enforcing federal immigration laws. The request for a stay is filed on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket, so oral arguments are not likely.

An attorney for the plaintiffs in the initial suit — a coalition of civil rights, immigrant rights, and local government agencies — said they look forward to arguing the case before the high court.

"The federal government has now gone running to the Supreme Court asking it to undo a narrow court order—applicable in only one judicial district—that merely compels them to follow the Constitution.” said Mohammad Tajsar, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.

U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued the temporary restraining order last month in the Central District of California , citing “a mountain of evidence” that the government’s aggressive enforcement tactics likely violated people’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Trump's Solicitor General, D. John Sauer argued in the filing with the high court that Frimpong’s order puts a “straitjacket” on agents and “threatens to upend immigration officials’ ability to enforce the immigration laws … by hanging the prospect of contempt over every investigative stop of suspected illegal aliens.”

Frimpong ruled federal immigration authorities could not rely on four factors for reasonable suspicion: race, ethnicity, language, and location or employment; either solely or in combination.

'A racial profiling case'

“This is basically a racial profiling case: Can Latinos be shaken down in their communities and where they live because they look Latino?” Kevin R. Johnson, the director of Aoki Center on Critical Race and Nation Studies at UC Davis School of Law, said Thursday in response to the administration filing.

Starting in early June, heavily armed agents, often in masks and plain clothes or military-style uniforms, aggressively detained immigrants and U.S. citizens using heavy wartime equipment at Home Depots, car washes, and Latino markets across Los Angeles. Agents often filmed the arrests and shared the videos on social media, set to hip hop music . The Trump administration vowed to bring similar actions to cities across the nation, especially in blue states.

The federal government’s appeal to the Supreme Court follows a denial from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week to lift the temporary restraining order.

Multiple legal cases involving Trump’s immigration policies have already reached the Supreme Court, including the government’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans accused of being gang members. The Supreme Court lifted a lower court’s temporary restraining order that had blocked those deportations. Many of the high court’s rulings, especially on immigration issues, have sided with the administration in recent months.

“I think it’s not surprising that if you’re having some wins in the courts through appeals, you bring appeals,” said Johnson, who noted both Democrat and Republican administrations have used the appeal strategy.

Prior to the temporary restraining order, Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino , the leader of the LA operations, carried out military-style raids across large swaths of Los Angeles. Calmatters and Bellingcat mapped out over 100 locations of raids including 15 separate Home Depots.

After the lower court’s order, he moved operations northward to the state’s capital.

'No sanctuary anywhere'

“There is no sanctuary anywhere,” Bovino said after a July 17 raid at a Home Depot in Sacramento . “We’re here to stay. We’re not going anywhere. We’re going to affect this mission and secure the homeland.”

Frimpong’s restraining order did not entirely stop immigration enforcement in Los Angeles.

On Wednesday, heavily armed Border Patrol and other federal agents hid inside a Penske truck before jumping out and ambushing people at a Home Depot in an operation dubbed “Trojan Horse.”

In a written statement, the Department of Homeland Security said Border Patrol agents conducted a “targeted raid” at the Home Depot that “resulted in the arrests of 16 illegal aliens from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua."

Johnson of UC Davis said at least the federal government is pursuing a legal avenue to continue its actions, but if the temporary restraining order is lifted, it could cause “real damage” in the LA community.

“These roving patrols are terrifying communities,” Johnson said. “It’s going to have an impact on whether people are going to take their kids to school and whether people can take their kids to the doctor.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

LA County Library is shutting down its laptop loaning program on Dec. 30 after the Federal Communications Commission cut off assistance for programs meant to improve digital access.

The FCC ended e-rate discounts last month to libraries and schools for hotspot lending and school bus Wi-Fi. The commission argued that the program “exceeded” or was “inconsistent” with the commission’s authority.

Los Angeles will lose its free laptops 

Following the FCC’s vote, LA County Library reported that it would be winding down its digital lending services, starting with laptops.

It is unclear when exactly the Wi-Fi hotspot lending program will sunset.

Officials estimated that remaining American Rescue Plan dollars would allow the program to continue until March 2026.

Since launching the program in 2020, the public library system has seen more than 12,000 laptop checkouts, over 10,000 hotspot checkouts and nearly 15,000 hotspot holds. The services were meant to ensure access for residents who otherwise lack reliable internet.

Continuing these services would cost the library approximately $40,500 per month — an expense the department’s current budget cannot absorb, according to a library spokesperson.

What you need to know

If you want to borrow a laptop for a full six weeks before the program ends, you should check one out by Nov. 18.

Laptop kit holds may not be fulfilled because of waitlists.

If you currently have a checked-out laptop, you are asked to return the kit on or before your due date.

LA County library will continue to offer free Wi-Fi inside and within 25 feet of all library branches.

Villa Aurora is a sprawling home that sits atop a hillside in the Pacific Palisades. Built in 1927 as a demonstration of innovation, the Spanish-inspired house sweeps across a 19,000-square-foot lot overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The red clay tiles and wood ceilings recall the architecture of Andalusia and cement the home as a premiere example of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture.

But its construction wasn't just for show. It was also meant to attract people to the area, draw them outside the city center to the more rustic terrain and coastal bluffs just west of Beverly Hills — to a neighborhood whose roads were not yet paved.

Villa Aurora in the Pacific Palisades, a convening place for German and Austrian exiles

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USC Libraries

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Lion Feuchtwanger Papers Collection

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But in 1929, it all came crashing down as the economy did the same. The owners were forced to sell and Villa Aurora sat empty for years. That is, until a German couple arrived, exiles who fled Nazi German and remade Villa Aurora into a sanctuary for other émigrés.

"The house hosted intellectual gatherings, salons and artistic exchanges, a tradition that continues today," Claudia Gordon, the Villa's director told LAist 89.3's AirTalk host Larry Mantle on a recent show. She joined the program alongside author Thomas Blubacher, whose new book Weimar Under the Palms tells the story of German exiles who settled in the Pacific Palisades.

Why the Pacific Palisades?

Cheaper than New York, an unbeatable climate, the allure of Hollywood — there were many reasons to settle here.

" Between the time of the monarchy and the Nazi dictatorship, so many people gathered here," Blubacher said of the Pacific Palisades. "It became the center of German-speaking exiles."

That time was the early 1900s during the Weimar Republic, a historical period in Germany when free speech and intellectualism were still celebrated bastions of public life.

Many of the early émigrés from Germany to the Palisades were people of the film industry, like Ernst Lubitsch and Fritz Lang, who became prominent Hollywood directors.

 "In the 30s and 40s, the film people wanted to start a new life," Blubacher told AirTalk. "They wanted to be American and a part of the American culture."

Influencing an industry

During the height of Nazism, another wave of German and Austrian exiles would make their way to the Palisades. Vicki Baum, Thomas Mann, Lion Feuchtwanger are just some of those people, not only exiles but intellectuals in their own right who made their mark on Hollywood.

But as Blubacher recounts, the transition from Europe to Southern California wasn't easy. What they had left behind as intellectuals was a culture of coffeeshops and salons, where likeminded creatives would meet up to generate ideas and possibly collaborate on them. That was not the case in their new home.

"When they came here, it was very strange for them that that doesn't exist here," Blubacher added. "They needed a car, they needed a private invitation to meet other people. This was a total different culture."

Finding a home in Villa Aurora

In this vacuum of communal spaces to gather, German emigres created them by opening up their homes.

" Villa Aurora and the Thomas Mann house were centers where people could meet and congregate," Gordon said. Salka Viertel, a German immigrant as well as an actress and screenwriter, "was one of the salonnieres that brought people together," Gordon added.

Viertel held weekly salons on Sundays through the late 1940s, and welcomed the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Greta Garbo into her home.

Like any other immigrant community, the Germans had a steely resolve to build community. In 1987, Villa Aurora opened a residency program for German artists and intellectuals, supported by the German government.

 "It's an opportunity to honor the German exiles, which hadn't been possible before," said Gordon, "and to kind of keep the spirit of the salons of the get togethers of this transatlantic cultural exchange alive."

Today, the homes to the right and left of Villa Aurora are gone, burned to the ground by the January fires.

"It's a miracle that Villa Aurora is still standing," Gordon said.

The hillside is charred and the villa suffered some smoke damage. But somehow, the sprawling home in the hills and hub for cultural fellowship still stands.

Listen to the full conversation with Blubacher and Gordon below:

The former Huntington Beach city attorney is disputing allegations that he was fired for cause by the Trump administration after less than a year.

Why it matters

Michael Gates, a popular but controversial figure in Huntington Beach politics, told LAist on Friday he had made it known that he planned to resign prior to a supervisor telling him he no longer had a job.

Gates says he is going back to a job with the beach city.

How we got here

The Orange County Register published a story Friday, including a federal employment document, showing Gates was officially fired for cause. The document is undated and does not specify a reason.

The Department of Justice has not responded to LAist's records request for the documents.

The Register reported that a Department of Justice source said that Gates repeatedly referred to women colleagues by derogatory and demeaning names and had complained about the department employing a pregnant woman.

Gates said the allegations are a "100% fabrication" and that he is considering legal action for defamation.

Gates told LAist that the firing was an effort to reverse the narrative about a “dysfunctional” department.

“It was a very unprofessional environment,” Gates told LAist, adding that morale was low in the Civil Rights Division where he worked. “In terms of leadership, it was very dysfunctional,” he said.

This is a developing story. We'll have more reporting throughout the day.

Starbucks baristas at some unionized stores across the country are on strike, including locations in Southern California.

Workers at coffee houses in Long Beach, Santa Clarita and Seal Beach walked off the job Thursday on "Red Cup Day" — an annual event where the coffee chain gives out free reusable cups. They joined baristas at the Downtown Disney Starbucks, who started their strike on Saturday and closed down the store.

The strike is part of a nationwide dispute between the union representing workers at more than 550 of the coffee chain's locations and Starbucks, who have been bargaining a contract for more than a year. Last week, unionized baristas voted to authorize a strike, accusing Starbucks of refusing to budge on their demands for higher pay and better hours.

"The cost of living is only going up. We're trying to go to school, we're trying to pay bills and it's just not enough," said Mai Tran, a striking barista at the Downtown Disney location from the picket line on Tuesday. "We just want to serve coffee…and we can't."

Starbucks said in a statement that it's the unionized workers who are refusing to bargain.

"Our commitment to bargaining hasn’t changed," Starbucks executive Sara Kelly said in a statement last week . "Workers United walked away from the table but if they are ready to come back, we’re ready to talk."

Starbucks said in a statement to LAist Friday that less than one percent of its stores were disrupted during the strike.

Disagreement over wages

One of the big disputes is pay. Starbucks Workers United is demanding a wage bump for baristas that the company says is unreasonable.

Neither side has made their exact proposals public, but Starbucks claims the union's demands are exorbitant and that its current pay and benefits together come out to an average of $30 an hour for baristas, which it called the "best in retail."

The union says its members need higher take home pay to make ends meet, and that limited hours can mean baristas don't actually have access to Starbucks benefits. Workers also point to a recent tracker published by the labor group the AFL-CIO that found that Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol made 6,666 times the median pay of a Starbucks barista in 2024. Niccol was offered tens of millions to leave his post as Chipotle's top executive for Starbucks last year.

" I am on strike because I have just about had it with Brian Nichols, our CEO. His greed is out of control," said Christi Gomeljak, who added that she has worked at Starbucks for more than five years and makes just above $20 an hour. "It would be so easy for them to give us a contract and to treat us fairly."

The strike is open-ended, so it's unclear when it might end. The union has said more stores could join the strike in the days and weeks to come.