The Brief

Today's headlines:

• LADWP considers suspending shutoffs for nonpaying customers during extreme weather events.
• Pedestrian deaths in the region are four times the national average.
• Anaheim receives $5 million in federal funding for transportation improvements.

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Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman has missed nearly 3,000 votes since she was first elected in 2020, according to an analysis by LAist — a number that has been criticized by her opponent in the upcoming mayoral race.

A closer look at data from the L.A. city clerk reveals Raman ranks in the middle of the pack of the 15-member council when it comes to votes missed. She was eighth among her colleagues when it came to votes missed so far this year.

Last year she ranked third. In 2024, she ranked sixth.

The vast majority of those votes were unanimous or near-unanimous among the other council members, meaning her vote on those matters would not have changed the outcomes.

Still, the campaign of her mayoral opponent — incumbent Karen Bass — has stressed that the missed votes matter.

"This isn't just missing a few votes, it's about six years of Nithya Raman not showing up — for constituents wanting encampments outside of schools cleaned up or voting to make it cheaper to film here,” said Alex Stack, Bass’ campaign spokesperson.

“If you don't show up for your job, you shouldn't get a promotion," he said.

Bass brought up Raman’s City Council meeting absences during a debate earlier this month, and the campaign has since set up a website, titled NoShowNithya, devoted to highlighting those absences.

Raman’s campaign said she was officially excused from many of the meetings because she was appointed to represent L.A. on the Air Quality Management District board, which is charged with reducing local air pollution and improving public health.

Those meetings happened at the same time as some council meetings. The board meets on the last Friday of every month. The City Council meets three times a week — on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

“The data shows that Nithya’s attendance is in line with other council members,” said campaign spokesperson Liz Garcia. “These desperate attacks from Mayor Bass will not distract Nithya from campaigning to make LA a city that works and is affordable for everyone."

The numbers

City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian has missed the most votes so far this year — 393 — compared to Raman, who was ranked eighth at 233. Last year, Councilmember Monica Rodriguez ranked first with 631 and Raman ranked third with 556.

In 2024, Rodriguez ranked first with 741. Raman ranked sixth with 575.

Bass isn’t the only one who believes this is an issue.

“Attendance at meetings isn't ceremonial,” said Pomona College Associate Professor of Politics Sara Sadhwani. “It’s where amendments and laws get shaped, it's where budgets get fought over and it's where constituents' priorities either make it into policy or they don’t. So missing that work means missing those leverage points.”

“Generally, the expectation is that you show up for work,” she added.

In January, Bass removed Raman from the Air Quality Management District AQMD board, a role she’d been serving in since 2022 when she was appointed by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Nazarian was appointed to the air quality board to replace Raman.

As for Raman’s absences, her campaign sought to turn the tables on Bass. It pointed to the incumbent’s absences from commission meetings of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

Since joining, the mayor has skipped more than half of the meetings held by the L.A. Homeless Services Authority Commission, according to an LAist review of attendance records, despite the mayor’s insistence that homelessness is her No. 1 issue.

The Raman campaign also pointed to Bass’ absence during the early hours of the Palisades Fire when she was on a diplomatic trip to Ghana.

"This is ironic coming from a mayor who was missing during our city’s most devastating emergencies [and] failed to show up for more than half of LAHSA homelessness meetings,” Garcia said.

Bass’ office told LAist that, regardless of her attendance record, she has kept up to date on what LAHSA has been doing. The regional agency is responsible for managing the region’s homelessness response.

Earlier this month, following LAist’s reporting, Bass announced she was stepping down from the LAHSA Commission.

“It cuts both ways, and it's a reminder that both of these candidates are political insiders and have a track record with the city,” Sadhwani said.

Too many meetings?

The issue of missed meetings points to another question: Does the City Council meet too often? The city charter mandates that the panel meet three times a week. Its counterpart on the county level — the Board of Supervisors — meets once a week even though its budget is far larger.

In addition to deciding who will be L.A.’s mayor, voters in November will decide whether the number of mandated weekly City Council meetings should be modified. The council has placed a proposed change to the city charter that would require only one meeting per week.

The Pitt and Widow's Bay took home the top prizes in television at the Emmy Awards on Monday night. And actor Matthew Rhys became the first person to win in two lead acting categories in one night. Here are our takeaways from the 2026 Emmy Awards — and check out the list of winners and who wore what on the red carpet.

Widow's Bay was the hot comedy property. Drama series recognition was shared more widely. The Apple TV horror/mystery/comedy series Widow's Bay not only won outstanding comedy series, but also brought home awards for lead actor (Matthew Rhys), supporting actress (Kate O'Flynn), supporting actor (Stephen Root), along with writing and directing. The only "major" category it didn't receive an award in is lead actress (which went to Hacks' Jean Smart), where it didn't have an eligible candidate. On the other hand, while The Pitt took home outstanding drama series and Noah Wyle repeated last year's win as lead actor, Rhea Seehorn won lead actress for Pluribus, Allison Janney won supporting actress for The Diplomat, Tom Pelphrey won supporting actor for Task, Vince Gilligan won for writing Pluribus, and Saul Metzstein won for directing Slow Horses.

Matthew Rhys pulls off the double play. Rhys won for lead actor in both the limited series category (for The Beast in Me with Claire Danes) and comedy series (for Widow's Bay). This makes him the first actor to ever win lead performance awards in two categories in the same year. Rhys also won for lead actor in a drama series for his work in The Americans back in 2018, so he's won in three lead categories overall, and that's some serious versatility.

Rhea Seehorn wins an Emmy at last, while Jean Smart wins her last Hacks Emmy. For years, while she was on Better Call Saul, Rhea Seehorn was a frequently cited example of an overlooked performer. She was eventually nominated for her supporting role in that show twice, though she didn't win. In the Apple science fiction show Pluribus, creator Vince Gilligan's follow-up to Saul, Seehorn plays a miserable widowed novelist dealing with the end of humanity as she knows it. This time, she did not have to wait to be recognized. She won her first Emmy for lead actress in a drama for the show's first season. Meanwhile, Jean Smart completed an impressive sweep, winning lead comedy actress for the fifth time — meaning she won every year she was eligible for the now-concluded Hacks. Smart's character, the legendary comedian Deborah Vance, would likely enjoy having gone undefeated.

Host Mariska Hargitay had the time of her life. The opening number was corny and cringe — so much so that it almost came all the way back around to being endearing. But over the course of the evening, Hargitay made jokes about how long her show, Law & Order: SVU, has been on the air, she participated in skits, and she actually showed some chops with her delivery of standard awards banter. She is not a comedian by profession, but she was impressively game, and that may be the most important quality a host can bring. It was a strangely paced evening that ended with what seemed to be Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey trying to fill time, but Hargitay did what she could to keep the energy up.

2026 Emmy Award Winners

Outstanding drama series
WINNER: The Pitt
The Diplomat
The Gilded Age
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Paradise
Pluribus
Slow Horses
Your Friends and Neighbors

Outstanding comedy series

WINNER: Widow's Bay
Abbott Elementary
The Bear
Nobody Wants This
Hacks
Margo's Got Money Troubles
Only Murders in the Building
Shrinking

Outstanding limited or anthology series

WINNER: DTF St. Louis
All Her Fault
The Beast In Me
Beef
Love Story

Outstanding variety series

WINNER: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
The Daily Show
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
Saturday Night Live

Outstanding lead actor in a drama series

WINNER: Noah Wyle, The Pitt
Sterling K. Brown, Paradise
Gary Oldman, Slow Horses
Mark Ruffalo, Task
Rufus Sewell, The Diplomat

Outstanding lead actress in a drama series

WINNER: Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus
Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age
Chase Infiniti, The Testaments
Keri Russell, The Diplomat
Zendaya, Euphoria

Outstanding lead actor in a comedy series

WINNER: Matthew Rhys, Widow's Bay
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Wonder Man
Steve Carell, Rooster
Jason Segel, Shrinking
Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building

Outstanding lead actress in a comedy series

WINNER: Jean Smart, Hacks
Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary
Ayo Edebiri, The Bear
Elle Fanning, Margo's Got Money Troubles
Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback

Outstanding lead actress in a limited or anthology series or movie

WINNER: Sally Field, Remarkably Bright Creatures
Claire Danes, The Beast In Me
Carey Mulligan, Beef
Sarah Pidgeon, Love Story
Sarah Snook, All Her Fault

Outstanding lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie

WINNER: Matthew Rhys, The Beast In Me
Riz Ahmed, Bait
Jason Bateman, Black Rabbit
Charlie Hunnam, Monster: The Ed Gein Story
Oscar Isaac, Beef

Outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series

WINNER: Kate O'Flynn, Widow's Bay
Dale Dickey, Widow's Bay
Hannah Einbinder, Hacks
Janelle James, Abbott Elementary
Michelle Pfeiffer, Margo's Got Money Troubles
Megan Stalter, Hacks
Jessica Williams, Shrinking

Outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series

WINNER: Stephen Root, Widow's Bay
Colman Domingo, The Four Seasons
Paul W. Downs, Hacks
Nick Offerman, Margo's Got Money Troubles
Michael Urie, Shrinking
Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary

Outstanding supporting actor in a drama series

WINNER: Tom Pelphrey, Task
Patrick Ball, The Pitt
Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
Shawn Hatosy, The Pitt
Gerran Howell, The Pitt
Jack Lowden, Slow Horses
Carlos Manuel-Vesga, Pluribus

Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series

WINNER: Allison Janney, The Diplomat
Taylor Dearden, The Pitt
Fiona Dourif, The Pitt
Katherine LaNasa, The Pitt
Sepideh Moafi, The Pitt
Julianne Nicholson, Paradise
Karolina Wydra, Pluribus

Outstanding supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or movie

WINNER: Linda Cardellini, DTF St. Louis
Dakota Fanning, All Her Fault
Laurie Metcalf, Monster: The Ed Gein Story
Joy Sunday, DTF St. Louis
Youn Yuh-jung, Beef
Constance Zimmer, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette

Outstanding supporting actor in a limited or anthology series or movie

WINNER: David Harbour, DTF St. Louis
Jason Bateman, DTF St. Louis
Richard Gadd, Half Man
Richard Jenkins, DTF St. Louis
Charles Melton, Beef
Nick Offerman, Death by Lightning

Outstanding directing for a comedy series

WINNER: Hiro Murai, Widow's Bay
Randall Einhorn, Abbott Elementary
Christopher Storer, The Bear
Andrew DeYoung, The Chair Company
Lucia Aniello, Hacks
Mary Lou Belli, The Ms. Pat Show

Outstanding directing for a drama series

WINNER: Saul Metzstein, Slow Horses
Salli Richardson-Whitfield, The Gilded Age
Hanelle M. Culpepper, Paradise
Noah Wyle, The Pitt
Vince Gilligan, Pluribus
Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Task

Outstanding writing for a comedy series

WINNER: Katie Dippold, Widow's Bay
Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary
Tim Robinson, Zach Kanin, The Chair Company
Michael Patrick King, Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback
Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky, Hacks
Anthony King, Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat

Outstanding writing for a drama series

WINNER: Vince Gilligan, Pluribus
Peter Ackerman, Debora Cahn, The Diplomat
Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman, R. Scott Gemmill, The Pitt
Valerie Chu, The Pitt
Will Smith, Slow Horses
Brad Ingelsby, Task

Outstanding reality competition program

WINNER: The Traitors
Dancing With the Stars
RuPaul's Drag Race
Survivor
Top Chef

Updated September 15, 2026 at 10:28 AM ET

The Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump, rejecting his efforts to enact new mail-in voting restrictions for the midterm election.

The ruling released Monday by the high court means the U.S. Postal Service is expected to continue delivering ballots as usual.

Voting by mail has already begun in states including Alabama, North Carolina and Wisconsin, with more soon to follow — including Western states such as Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, where elections are held primarily or fully with mail ballots.

Under the still-blocked USPS plan, which followed an executive order by Trump, states would have had to turn over lists of voters' names and addresses and have certain specific barcodes on ballot envelopes in order to have them delivered by the mailing agency.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in Boston issued a preliminary injunction against USPS, blocking it from imposing those new ballot requirements on states. The judge found the requirements are likely illegal because the Postal Service has no authority to control mail-in voting. A second federal judge issued another preliminary injunction late Sunday.

Now, a majority of the Supreme Court decided to keep that injunction in place. The court said the Trump administration was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge.

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a short concurring opinion, saying "there is at least a fair prospect that the final rule falls within the Postal Service's statutory authority." But, he added, "applying the rule in the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act because state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections."

Indeed several Republican state election officials, including from the mostly vote-by-mail state of Utah, signed on to a Supreme Court brief, warning that any attempt to carry out the USPS plan now "will almost certainly lead to mistakes, delays, and confusion for both voters and election officials."

Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented from the order, and would have granted the administration's request to pause the Boston-based judge's ruling.

While the USPS plan remains paused for the midterms, the legal fight will likely continue over how the agency may try to implement it for future federal elections.

For now, challengers of the proposal are celebrating their victory.

"Today, the Supreme Court refused to allow the federal government to throw our elections into chaos just weeks before Election Day. The Postal Service exists to deliver Americans' mail — not to rewrite election rules, demand voters' personal information, or decide which ballots make it through the system," Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters, said in a statement.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James said in a separate statement that she was "truly relieved" by the high court's ruling.

"Voters should never have to wonder whether a ballot they legally cast will be counted because the federal government suddenly changed the rules," said James, whose state was among the 24 mainly Democratic-led states that sued alongside Washington, D.C. "We will keep fighting to make sure every eligible ballot is counted come November. Now, I encourage all eligible Americans to get out and vote — and vote early."

In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump blasted the Supreme Court's ruling as "a big loss for Republicans."

"These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court, they are merely a shell of their original selves," added Trump, who nominated Kavanaugh and fellow conservative Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett during his first term.

Trump praised Alito and Thomas as "legends" for disagreeing with the court's majority ruling.

The president also made a baseless claim that the USPS plan was a "solution to our totally CORRUPT and out of control Mail-In voting 'disaster.' "

Trump has previously said he issued the call for USPS to change its rule for mail ballots as a way to stop illegal voting by non-U.S. citizens, a problem that many studies and audits show is extremely uncommon. For this legal fight over the USPS plan, the administration's lawyers have provided the courts with no evidence of mail-voting fraud.

Trump has long been a vocal critic of the way about one-third of voters cast ballots in the last two federal elections. In 2024, the share of voters who reported casting ballots by mail was higher among Democrats (37%) than Republicans (24%), according to a national survey by the MIT Election Data and Science Lab.

In a social media post last year, Trump said he is "going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS" and claimed that "ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING."

This year, Trump himself voted by mail in Florida.

Editor's note: USPS is a financial supporter of NPR.

Edited by Benjamin Swasey

Copyright 2026 NPR

Ray Jayawardhana, a seasoned astrophysicist and university administrator, officially took over as Caltech’s 10th president on July 1.

The newly appointed president sat down with Larry Mantle on AirTalk, LAist 89.3’s daily news program, to talk about his plans for the future of the esteemed university.

Ray Jay and Caltech — it was in the cosmos

Jayawardhana, who goes by “Ray Jay,” told Larry he was always interested in the cosmos growing up.

He shared that, as a teenager in Sri Lanka, he wrote to the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) — NASA's leading space exploration center, which is managed by Caltech — to ask for images from the Voyager space missions they were conducting during the 1980s.

“I waited impatiently for a response, and one day, this large envelope with an oversized wheel of books arrived with a set of images of the outer planets and their moons,” he said. “That just delighted me to no end.”

Saturn and its satellites Tethys (outer left), Enceladus (inner left) and Mimas (right of rings) are seen in this mosaic of images taken by NASA's Voyager 1 on Oct. 30, 1980 from a distance of 18 million kilometers (11 million miles).

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This view of Jupiter was taken by Voyager 1. This image was taken through color filters and recombined to produce the color image. This photo was assembled from three black and white negatives by the Image Processing Lab at Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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JPL-Caltech

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This picture of Neptune was produced from images taken by NASA’s Voyager 2 in the summer of 1989 as it became the first spacecraft to fly by the planet.

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Today, he’s the first South Asian American to lead Caltech, overseeing the operations of the same Jet Propulsion Lab he wrote to in the '80s.

How he came to the U.S.

After attending St. John’s College in Sri Lanka, he decided to pursue higher education in the United States. He earned an undergraduate degree from Yale and subsequently his doctorate in astronomy from Harvard, quickly establishing himself as one of the world’s most renowned astrophysicists.

He previously held positions at Cornell University and Johns Hopkins.

Exoplanetary president

Aside from his main focus as the school’s head of administration, Ray Jay continues his own research exploring the formation of planets and stars, saying it keeps him intellectually engaged.

He's part of a team that works with the James Webb Space Telescope to observe and characterize so-called exoplanets — planets around other stars — with an eye toward the potential for life beyond Earth.

He’s confident in Caltech’s future with JPL

Universities like Caltech are on rocky terrain amid sweeping federal government cuts of public funding for scientific research.

Additionally, JPL's future is uncertain. NASA — which now owns and sponsors JPL — is opening its contracting to other research institutions for the first time, which could mean a bidding war.

The entrance to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

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Robyn Beck

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Losing the contract for Caltech would mean losing a stream of federal funding valued at $3 billion per year.

Jayawardhana said he’s confident Caltech and JPL’s partnership will continue, saying that the university's value proposition is unrivaled.

“It’s not only about the self-interest in continuing to ensure there's federal and public funding for research, it's also about enriching humanity,” he said.

NASA’s current contract with Caltech expires in September 2028.