The Brief

The chasm is widening between NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit that funneled federal dollars to public media until Congress killed that funding earlier this year.

NPR's legal team privately questioned the CPB's longtime chief executive, Patricia Harrison, under oath earlier this month, according to the radio network's legal filings, and is scheduled to do so publicly at a court hearing Tuesday morning.

In court documents, NPR has presented evidence to bolster its case that the board of the nonprofit corporation first approved a multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract for NPR to operate a satellite distribution system for public radio stations. Then, NPR alleges, CPB unlawfully yielded to political pressure by yanking the contract just days after President Trump warned that NPR should receive no more federal dollars. NPR contends it is yet one more example of a major institution yielding to the president's whim.

CPB rejects that, saying that it awarded the contract to a different group to better serve the nation's diverse array of public radio stations. NPR and CPB each declined comment for this story, citing the litigation.

The two institutions — along with PBS — have stood together at the core of public media for more than a half century. They formed a united front, at least publicly, as they lobbied lawmakers against clawing back the $1.1 billion already approved by Congress and signed into law by the president for the broader public media system.

Behind the scenes, however, CPB and PBS officials signaled they would not object to pulling funding for NPR, which has drawn the lion's share of Republicans' accusations of liberal bias.

A White House budget official warns CPB of her "intense dislike for NPR" 

NPR's legal documents offer the following chronology: In late March and early April, Trump called NPR and PBS "monsters" and demanded Congress eliminate federal funds for them.

On April 2, CPB's board directed officials to negotiate the fine print of a contract with NPR to operate the satellite for the next three years, according to NPR's filings. The radio network has operated the system, through which local radio stations receive and share programs, podcasts and other content, for four decades.

Two days later, a senior White House budget official met with three CPB executives.

"It would be a shame to throw the baby out with the bath water," the administration official, Katherine Sullivan, said, according to accounts from CPB officials cited by NPR in its legal filings. She suggested CPB could salvage its future and relayed her "intense dislike for NPR," Harrison wrote to NPR CEO Katherine Maher a few days later, according to NPR's recent filings in the case.

Harrison expressed deep fears that the White House could take an ax to CPB and public media more broadly. "These rumors have potential to turn into boy who cried wolf," Harrison wrote in her email to Maher. "Except the wolf is really coming." Within days, CPB's board moved to direct executives to refashion the terms of the contract so it could only be granted to an entity that stood entirely apart from NPR.

Patricia Harrison, right, accepts the Governors Award on behalf of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) from Henry Louis Gates Jr. during the Television Academy's 2025 Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sept. 7, 2025.

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Even as they moved to sever the NPR contract, and linked the decision privately to the political climate, court documents show several CPB executives told a newly hired Republican consultant they could not simply announce they were withdrawing the satellite contract from NPR to appease the White House.

"There are obvious political challenges, but we can't 'own that' outright," Debra Sanchez, CPB's chief of staff, wrote to the Republican consultant, Carl Forti, in one of several such exchanges captured in NPR's court filings. "So we are in a tight spot sort of. What are the strongest messages we can make about the 'why' or the 'because?'"

For all those efforts, when Trump and his Republican allies in Congress stripped public media of subsidies, it was the beginning of the end of CPB. The nonprofit laid off most of its staff last month and expects to shut down in January. Layoffs also have ensued at PBS and many public media stations.

NPR and CPB are battling in court over a separate pot of money, worth tens of millions of dollars, to operate the satellite system.

CPB argues NPR and public media stations may have separate interests

CPB argues that NPR is wrongfully acting as though it is entitled to operate the satellite in perpetuity. Its legal team has waved off NPR's arguments that it acted due to political pressure. Instead, CPB contends that, with the elimination of federal subsidies, the radio network's interests may diverge from those of local public media stations. CPB's lawyers say the decision to grant the contract to another group is intended to ensure that stations' long-term interests are protected.

The offer pulled from NPR — a three-year contract worth nearly $36 million — pales in comparison to the new one announced in September. That one is valued at $57 million over five years. CPB has awarded it to a consortium that includes New York Public Radio, American Public Media, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters and a consulting firm called the Station Resource Group, among them. It is called Public Media Infrastructure, reviving the dormant nonprofit Public Radio International.

Earlier this month, Harrison told officials at public media stations receiving a final round of federal grants that she would be compelled to reveal unflattering critiques of NPR's leadership as a result of the litigation.

"As this lawsuit moves forward, CPB will be required to place into the public record evidence of its concerns and the concerns of others about NPR's management, its resistance to innovation and reforms that many in our system have urged it to undertake, and its repeated dismissal of the importance of the federal appropriation that sustains public media," Harrison warned Oct. 13 in an email to station officials.

In court filings, CPB says the April decision came "after decades of studies by outside consultants" and embodied "a strategy of having an independent entity that was more inclusive of the broad range of public media entities across the country" than NPR.

NPR alleges political pressure behind a change of mind

By NPR's telling, the allegations represent a case study in what happens when institutions wilt under the president's unprecedented exercise of executive authority. CPB and the Trump administration are co-defendants in this case, which was filed by NPR and three Colorado public radio stations over Trump's executive order which sought to simply order the ending of all federal funding for public media. Yet CPB earlier sued Trump over his efforts to oust its board members, calling that unconstitutional.

As CPB pulled back from the contract understanding with NPR, Sanchez hired Forti, the Republican consultant. On his first day on the job, April 10, he wrote a memo defining CPB's challenge as he saw it: "BIAS: Belief both in Administration and among general public that the media is biased against conservatives and more specifically against Trump. NPR is high on those lists."

That same day, Trump posted online: "NO MORE FUNDING FOR NPR, A TOTAL SCAM!"

On April 14 — the same day that news broke that Trump would formally request Congress to rescind all future funding for CPB — CPB Chief Operating Officer Kathy Merritt called her counterpart at NPR, Ryan Merkley, to say the board had changed course. It would no longer award federal money to operate the public radio satellite and distribution system unless it were spun off NPR.

On Capitol Hill, as Trump's push to eliminate all federal subsidies for public radio, CPB executives mapped out a strategy to appeal to Republican Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia — red states where statewide public media networks carry broad appeal. (CPB's board chair had previously headed Wyoming PBS.)

But it was to no avail. The senators voted along with all but two of their Republican colleagues to successfully eliminate all funding for public media — helping to seal the fate of CPB.

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. It was edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editors Gerry Holmes and Vickie Walton-James. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

Copyright 2025 NPR

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Since 1977, Richard Santillan has been to every Opening Day game at Dodger Stadium. 

“The tradition goes from my father, to me, to my children and grandchildren. Some of my best memories are with my father and children here at Dodger Stadium,” Santillan told The LA Local, smiling under the shade of palm trees near the entrance to the ballpark Wednesday morning. He was there to protest the team less than 24 hours before Opening Day.

Santillan, like countless other loyal Dodgers fans, is grappling with his fan identity over the team’s decision to accept an invitation to the White House and owner Mark Walter’s ties to ICE detention facilities.

More than 30 people joined Santillan on Wednesday morning for a press conference held near 1000 Vin Scully Drive to convey a message directly to the team. 

“We are demanding the Dodgers stop participating in funding of inhumane treatment of families and do not go to the White House to celebrate with the criminal in chief,” Evelyn Escatiola told the crowd. “Together, we have the power to make a change.”

Escatiola, a former dean of East Los Angeles College and longtime community organizer, urged fans to flex their economic power by “letting the Dodgers know that we do not support repression.”

Jorge “Coqui” Rodriguez, a lifelong Dodgers fan, spoke to the crowd and called on Dodgers ownership to divest from immigration detention centers owned and operated by GEO Group and CoreCivic.

Jorge Coqui H Rodriguez speaks at a press conference outside Dodger Stadium on March 25, 2026, to demand the Dodgers not to visit the White House following their 2025 World Series win.

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In a phone interview a day before the protest, Rodriguez told The LA Local he did not want the Dodgers using his “cheve” or beer money to fund detention centers. 

“They can’t take our parking money, our cacahuate money, our cheve money, our Dodger Dog money and invest those funds into corporations that are imprisoning people. It’s wrong,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez considers the Dodgers one of the most racially diverse teams and said the players need to support fans at a time when heightened immigration enforcement has become more common across L.A.

The team’s 2025’s visit to the White House drew ire from the largely Latino fan base, citing the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on immigrants. 

In June, the team came under further scrutiny when rumors swirled online that federal immigration agents were using the stadium’s parking, which immigration authorities later denied in statements posted on social media accounts.

The team again came under fire after not releasing a statement on the impacts of ICE raids on its mostly Latino fan base at the height of immigration enforcement last summer. The team later agreed to invest $1 million to support families affected by immigration enforcement.

When he learned the Dodgers were pledging only $1 million to families in need, Rodriguez called the amount a  “slap in the face.” 

“These guys just bought the Lakers for billions of dollars and they give a million dollars to fight for legal services? That’s a joke,” Rodriguez said. “They need to have a moral backbone and not be investing in those companies.”

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, former Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershawsaid last week that he is looking forward to the trip.

“I went when President [Joe] Biden was in office. I’m going to go when President [Donald] Trump is in office,” Kershaw said. “To me, it’s just about getting to go to the White House. You don’t get that opportunity every day, so I’m excited to go.”

The Dodgers have yet to announce when their planned visit will take place. 

Santillan sometimes laments his decision to give up his season tickets in protest of the team. His connection to the stadium and the memories he has made there with family and friends will last a lifetime, he said. On Thursday, he will uphold his tradition and be there for the first pitch of the season, but with a heavy heart.

“It’s a family tradition, but the Dodgers have a lot of work to do,” he said.

A local favorite mom-and-pop bookshop in Eagle Rock is facing displacement due to a steep rent hike. The owners say theirs is just one of several small businesses along Eagle Rock Boulevard struggling to keep up with lease increases.

Over the past 19 years, many in the neighborhood have come to love READ Books for its eclectic collection of used titles and shop dog Florence.

Co-owner Jeremy Kaplan said it’s been a delight to grow with the community over the years.

“Like seeing kids come back in, who were in grade school and now they’re in college,” Kaplan said.

But the building where Kaplan and wife Debbie rent was recently sold, and the rent increased by more than 130% to $2,805 a month, Kaplan said. He told LAist it was an increase his small business simply could not absorb.

Kaplan said he originally was given 30 days notice of the rent increase. After some research, assistance from Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s office and some pro-bono legal help, Kaplan said he pushed back and got the 90-day notice he’s afforded by state law.

California Senate Bill 1103 requires landlords to give businesses with five or less employees 90 days’ notice for rent increases exceeding 10%, among other protections.

Systems Real Estate, the property management company, did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

What can small businesses do? 

Nadia Segura, directing attorney of the Small Business Program at pro bono legal aid non-profit Bet Tzedek said California law does not currently allow for rent control for commercial tenancies.

Outside of the protections under SB 1103, Segura said small businesses like READ Books don’t have much other recourse. And even then, commercial landlords are not required to inform their tenants of their protections under the law.

“There’s still a lot of people that don’t know about SB 1103. And then it’s very sad that they tell them they have these rent increases and within a month they have to leave,” Segura said.

She said her group is seeing steep rent hikes like this for commercial tenants across the city.

“We are seeing this even more with the World Cup coming up, the Olympics coming up. And I will say it was very sad to see that also after the wildfires,” Segura said.

Part of Bet Tzedek’s ongoing work is to advocate for small businesses, working with landlords who are increasing rents to see if they are willing to give business owners longer leases that lock in rents.

What’s next 

After READ Books posted about their situation on social media, commenters chimed in to express their outrage and love for the little shop.

While he looks for a new spot, Kaplan says he’s forming a coalition of local businesses and activist groups to see what can be done to help other small businesses facing similar displacement. He wants to address the displacement issue for businesses like his, which have made Eagle Rock the distinctive neighborhood that it is today.

Owl Talk, a longtime Eagle Rock staple selling clothing and accessories in a unit in the same building as READ Books, is facing a “more than double” rent increase, according to a post on their Instagram account.

Kaplan said he’s been in touch with the office of state Assemblywoman Jessica Caloza and wants to explore the possibility of introducing legislation to set up protections for small businesses like his, including rent-control measures or a vacancy tax for landlords. Kaplan said he also reached out to the office of state Sen. Maria Durazo.

By his count, Kaplan said there are about a dozen businesses within surrounding blocks that are at risk of closing their doors or have shuttered due to rent increases or other struggles.

When READ Books was founded during the Great Recession, Kaplan said he knew it was a longshot to open a bookstore at the same time so many were struggling to stay in business.

“It was kind of interesting to be doing something that neighborhoods needed. That was important to me growing up, that was important to my children, that was important to my wife growing up,” Kaplan said.

“And then somebody comes in and says, ‘We’re gonna over double your rent.”

Topline:

Frozen budget: Most of the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting budget comes from an assessment that people who own property illuminated by lights pay on their county property tax bill. The amount people pay depends on the kind of property they own and how much they benefit from lighting. A typical single-family home currently pays $53 annually, and in total, the assessments bring in about $45 million annually for the city to repair and maintain streetlights. Changing the amount the Bureau of Street Lighting gets from the assessment requires a vote among property owners who benefit from the lights.

Ballots: L.A. City Council’s vote gives city staff the green light to prepare and send out those ballots. Miguel Sangalang, who oversees the bureau, said at a committee meeting earlier this month that he expects to send out ballots by April 17. Notices about the ballots will be sent out prior to the ballots themselves.

Near unanimous vote: L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez was the only “No” vote Tuesday, saying she wanted to see a more current strategic plan for the bureau. Sangalang said the bureau developed a plan in 2022 that lays out how money will be spent. Councilmember Imelda Padilla was absent for the vote.

Vote count: Votes will be weighted according to the assessment amount. Basically, the more you’re asked to pay yearly to maintain streetlights, the more your vote will count. Ballots received before June 2 will be tabulated by the L.A. City Clerk.

How much more money: According to a report, the amount needed in assessments from property owners to meet the repair and maintenance needs of the city’s streetlighting in the next fiscal year is nearly $112 million.

Use of the money: Sangalang said at a March 11 committee meeting that the extra funds would be used to double the number of staff to handle repairs and procure solar streetlights, which don’t face the threat of copper wire theft. That would all potentially reduce the time it takes to repair simple fixes down to a week. Currently, city residents wait for months to see broken streetlights repaired. The assessment would come with a three-year auditing mechanism.