The Brief

A Los Angeles Metro contractor hired a man with an open sexual assault case against him to be a transit ambassador, the green-polo wearing personnel that the countywide transportation agency brands as a friendly presence on its trains and buses.

The ambassador, Fernando Vinicio Chavez, met his next alleged victim while working on Metro’s system, according to police.

In August 2023, four months after he was hired, Santa Monica police arrested Chavez for assault to commit rape, according to a public information bulletin the department published.

“Chavez met the victim while working in Downtown Los Angeles and the victim agreed to meet after Chavez ended his shift,” according to the bulletin. The bulletin said the two went to the beach in Santa Monica.

He was arrested while wearing a green Metro-branded polo, a spokesperson for the Santa Monica Police Department said.

Metro’s ambassador program, which is managed by two third-party vendors, was established to place easily identifiable helping hands on the system that riders could rely on. The answer to how a potentially dangerous person was hired to help carry out this duty comes down to an imperfect backgrounding process.

An executive at Strive Well-Being, the vendor that hired Chavez, said the check the San Diego-based wellness company ran on him did not surface his pending sexual assault charges or anything else of concern. The company, which has a $30 million contract with Metro, has since adopted a “more comprehensive” background check, the executive said.

Metro will continue to rely on its vendors to facilitate the program until the ambassadors are brought into the agency’s in-house public safety department, which is in its early stages.

Details on the case

In June 2022, the Orange Police Department arrested Chavez. He was charged with forced sexual penetration by a foreign object and assault with intent to commit a sexual offense originating from an incident in October 2021.

Chavez was working as a ride-share driver at the time, and the victim was his passenger, a spokesperson for the Orange Police Department said.

Chavez posted bail for $100,000 in August through a bail bonds company after he was charged and originally pleaded not guilty to both counts. The office of the Orange County public defender did not respond to a request for comment from Chavez or the attorney who represented him.

Strive Well-Being hired Chavez in April 2023 to work as a transit ambassador while he was on bail awaiting trial.

Sanjay Sangani, the president of Strive Well-Being, said his company conducted a pre-employment criminal background check that searched for felony and misdemeanor records over a seven-year period.

Sangani and Metro cited the state’s Fair Chance Act as the reason Chavez’s legal history slipped through the cracks.

The law, which went into effect in 2018, prohibits most employers from asking about conviction history before making a job offer or considering arrests that don’t result in convictions in their decision to hire someone.

The law, however, does not prevent an employer from asking about “an arrest for which the employee or applicant is out on bail,” according to state labor code. 

When asked about this exemption, Sangani said Strive Well-Being would consider pending charges in its hiring decision.

“However, [the] Ambassador has to disclose that voluntarily to us or it must show up in the pre-employment background check report we receive,” Sangani said.

LAist has reached out to the company that Strive Well-Being used to conduct its background check and will update this article if it hears back.

A judge in Orange County placed Chavez back in custody in August 2023 after the Santa Monica arrest. Sangani told LAist Chavez was fired three days after his arrest.

In May 2024, Chavez pleaded guilty to assault with intent to commit a sexual offense in Orange County. The other charge from that case was dropped.

A judge sentenced him to four years in state prison. He was admitted to the California Rehabilitation Center, a medium-security prison in Riverside County sometimes called “Norco,” in June 2024, according to the state’s inmate search portal.

The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office declined to pursue charges from the alleged Santa Monica assault. When asked why a case wasn’t filed, the office referred LAist to its public records request process.

Through that process, LAist obtained a charge evaluation worksheet in which the District Attorney’s Office said there wasn’t enough evidence to pursue a case.

“Victim alleged that Suspect attempted to sexually assault her on the beach,” the charge evaluation worksheet stated. “Suspect said that he was ‘just chilling’ with Victim and never made a move on her. Due to lack of corroboration the case is declined for insufficient evidence.”

How did Metro and Strive handle the case?

Metro said that in the days following the 2023 arrest, it investigated the case with Strive Well-Being and worked with both contractors to “tighten background checks going forward.”

The augmented background still covers a span of seven years. It considers a total of 10 counties of residence of potential hires, up from the five county search that Chavez was subject to, and looks for applicant names on “multi-state” sex offender registries, Sangani of Strive Well-Being said. Originally, the background check considered only the national and California state sex offender registries.

Metro said it requested Strive Well-Being re-run the wider-reaching background check on Chavez and other ambassadors.

The charges against Chavez in Orange County didn’t show up on the more comprehensive background check, Sangani told LAist.

In October 2023, just two months after Chavez was arrested in Santa Monica, Metro recommended that the program be moved under the agency’s control. The move was pitched as a way to improve retention, efficiency and “uniformity in … pre-employment background checks,” according to the presentation staff presented to the Metro Board Operations, Safety and Customer Experience committee.

Metro said the decision to move the program in house wasn’t motivated by Chavez’s case. Instead, Metro said the move would offer ambassadors the job security that comes with union representation, a rich benefit package and a career path.

The ambassador program

Following the nationwide reckoning with police brutality and the murder of George Floyd, Metro, along with security and police forces across the country, reevaluated its approach to public safety.

A Metro Ambassador helps a person at Union Station in Los Angeles on this April.

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In 2022, Metro entered into agreements with two companies to “develop, operate, and manage a cohesive unit of qualified and effective public-facing personnel,” according to a presentation agency staff delivered to board members.

The Metro Board agreed to pay security firm RMI International more than $55 million to oversee 244 personnel and Strive Well-Being nearly $16 million for its 55 personnel.

In 2024, the Metro Board voted to increase Strive Well-Being’s contract since the original agreement to continue its services and account for additional ambassadors that were added under the wellness company’s purview. Strive Well-Being’s contract with Metro now totals more than $30 million.

Metro officially launched its transit ambassador program in March 2023. The agency now deploys 220 people on an average day across the system to help with wayfinding, direct riders to helpful resources and report wrongdoing.

Ambassadors engaged with Metro riders nearly 70,000 times per month on average last year. They also administered naloxone, the opioid-overdose reversing drug, around 11 times per month, according to an LAist analysis of Metro data.

According to a 2023 customer survey, more than 60% of respondents who had seen ambassadors on the system said that they help them feel safe.

The agency announced in May that outgoing San Francisco police chief Bill Scott will lead the new public safety department, which will bring the ambassadors together with law enforcement officers, security that enforces the system code of conduct and social service-oriented teams, like homeless outreach and crisis intervention specialists.

Metro cited lack of central accountability as one of the reasons for the new public safety department.

As part of its vision for a multilayered public safety department, Metro wants to increase the average daily deployment of ambassadors by 60%.

That means that once the new public safety department is fully stood up later this decade, there will be more than 360 ambassadors patrolling Metro trains and buses per day.

Metro said that once the ambassadors are brought in-house, they’ll be subject to the agency’s “stringent background checks.”

“Metro is authorized by the Department of Justice to access state and local criminal history records as well as subsequent arrest notifications for all personnel,” the agency said.

Los Angeles is known for its bustling city landscape and even the beaches, but don’t miss out on what our coast has to offer. Here are a few ways to enjoy what’s beyond the sand.

Whale watching

Set sail to see whales, dolphins and more on a whale watching cruise. Harbor Breeze Cruises is just off the coast of Long Beach and the Los Angeles Harbor. Tours run throughout the day and start at $30 or $45 per person. Another option, Newport Whales, is further south in Orange County. Prices for those tours range from $38 to $84.50 per person. Good news, whale watching season never ends, so there’s always something to see.

People wanting to get out on the ocean can give sportsfishing a try

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Sports fishing 

For a little more action, give sports fishing a try. Marina del Rey Sportsfishing offers 4.5-hour and 7-hour fishing trips every day. You can rent a tackle kit, which includes a rod and reel. Valid fishing licenses are required for people ages 15 and up. You can get one at most local sports stores.

Learning to surf at one of L.A.'s beaches is a great way to enjoy the ocean.

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Surfing lessons

If you’ve been meaning to take up a new hobby or sport, why not give surfing a chance? L.A. has no shortage of surf spots, meaning it also has no shortage of surf schools. Down at Santa Monica Surf Tours, $185 per adult or $165 per child gets you a 5.5-hour lesson that includes gear and lunch. Malibu Makos has “Surf Saturdays” where for $99 a person, you can get a 4-hour surf instruction with gear included.

As you drive up the high peaks of Catalina Island’s rural communities, endless views of the Pacific Ocean can be seen.

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Catalina Island 

From snorkeling to submarine tours, Catalina Island has excursions for everyone to enjoy. One-way tickets from Long Beach or San Pedro to Avalon cost about $45. Once you land, there’s no shortage of daytime adventures, including kayaking and fly fishing. You can find more information on activities here.

The Point Vicente Lighthouse trail in Rancho Palos Verdes is a breezy 1.6 miles and a great stop for ocean views.

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Beach Hikes 

Beach hikes might not count as an ocean exploration, but they can give you some of the best views of the Pacific. Here are a few (of many) coastal hikes for every skill level:

• Point Mugu Scenic and Overlook Trails Loop in Malibu - 2.6 miles
• Solstice Canyon Trail in Malibu - 2.9 miles
• Los Leones Trail in the Pacific Palisades - 4.2 miles

This story was originally published by CalMatters.

Democrat Xavier Becerra will advance to the November general election in the race for California governor, capping a sudden and dramatic ascent for a career politician who is running on his experience and his willingness to take on President Donald Trump.

Becerra, the former state attorney general, has secured nearly 27% of the vote in the June 2 primary, with about two-thirds of votes counted as of Friday afternoon. If elected in November, he would be the first Latino to serve as California governor in more than a century.

It’s still unclear who his opponent will be: Returns so far show Republican Steve Hilton most likely to advance with more than 26% of votes counted, though the trailing Democrat Tom Steyer has not conceded and could make up ground in the nearly three million votes that remain to be counted.

California uses a top-two primary system; the two candidates with the most votes advance to the November ballot regardless of party.

The November race could differ dramatically depending on the opponent. If it’s Hilton, Becerra would be heavily favored to win: Democrats in California outnumber Republicans nearly two-to-one, and Hilton is endorsed by Trump, whom Californians disapprove of in high numbers.

If it’s Steyer, California can expect an all-out slugfest between opposing wings of the Democratic Party, supercharged by the hundreds of millions of dollars Steyer has spent from his personal fortune on the primary alone.

While the hedge fund manager-turned-Democratic donor and climate activist has run a progressive campaign and garnered the support of Bernie Sanders surrogates, Becerra is favored by more of the Democratic establishment.

Becerra, who had lingered in the single-digits in polling, surged in popularity following the political implosion of former frontrunner Eric Swalwell, with establishment Democrats favoring the former Health and Human Services secretary and former state attorney general over former Rep. Katie Porter and the outsider Steyer.

It was a surprising and swift ascent for the mild-mannered career politician who was previously part of a crop of lower-polling Democratic candidates that party chair Rusty Hicks was publicly pressuring to drop out of the race.

“Guess what? The underdog stayed in the fight,” Becerra said at an election night rally Tuesday in Los Angeles, calling his near-victory “the everyday miracle of living in a state that regularly makes the improbable seem inevitable.”

The decision comes at a particularly consequential time for California. Residents face a crushing cost of living, nation-topping gas prices made worse by the war in Iran, wildfire risks that have driven insurance companies out of state, an unstable state budget, impending federal cuts to the state’s expansive health system and an economy dampened by immigration enforcement.

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

Nearly three months ago, the Los Angeles City Council voted to fund homelessness prevention programs to the tune of $177 million. Despite approval by Mayor Karen Bass, the funding still has not been cleared by City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto.

Now, city leaders want answers about the delay.

A motion introduced earlier this week by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado said the “contracts remain unexecuted without explanation.” The motion goes on to say the setback has caused “$17 million ... in emergency rental assistance to sit unused” and has put “services for those at risk of homelessness in jeopardy.”

If passed by the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee and later approved by the full council, Jurado’s motion would call on Feldstein Soto to report back to the council within 30 days about the reasons for the delay.

Representatives with the City Attorney’s Office did not respond to LAist’s repeated requests for comment.

Tenant aid providers said they’ve entered their third month without funding from the city. They said without an executed contract, legal aid organizations may soon have to lay off staff and stop taking eviction cases.

“The people who are providing the services are all in nonprofit organizations that don't have a great deal of extra funding to cover this contract that isn't being paid,” said Barbara Schultz, housing director at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.

How we got here

Feldstein Soto has held up the tenant aid funding since April 2025, when she refused to sign a previously approved five-year funding deal with the Legal Aid Foundation. At the time, she argued the contract should have gone through a competitive bidding process.

City officials responded by putting out a request for proposals. They ultimately selected the Legal Aid Foundation, along with several other tenant rights groups, to receive funding set aside for rent relief, tenant education, enforcement of the city’s tenant anti-harassment ordinance and programs that provide free attorneys to tenants facing eviction.

Much of the funding for these homelessness prevention programs comes from the city’s Measure ULA, also known as the L.A. “Mansion Tax.” That tax is now facing potential elimination from a statewide November ballot measure from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

The city attorney’s tenant rights track record 

Feldstein Soto has frequently clashed with tenant rights advocates.

She previously attempted to remove the word “right” from the city’s “Right To Counsel” ordinance, which supplies free eviction defense attorneys to qualified tenants.

Feldstein Soto also has faced criticism for not prosecuting more landlords accused of rent gouging in the wake of the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires.

She also was accused of failing to defend the rights of tenants at the high-rise apartment complex Barrington Plaza, who went to court to successfully fight wrongful evictions from landlord company Douglas Emmett, which donated to a campaign opposing Feldstein Soto’s opponent in the 2022 election.

Feldstein Soto launched an audit of the Legal Aid Foundation last year. So far, no findings have been released.

Schultz said the organization has provided all the financial and administrative documentation requested by the L.A. Housing Department related to the contracts.

Why it matters for renters

The Legal Aid Foundation is the lead contractor for the city’s eviction defense funding, but the money is shared with other legal aid organizations as well.

Elena Popp, who leads the Eviction Defense Network, said her small team of lawyers can’t continue to take on tenant cases until funding is approved.

“We're contemplating layoffs effective June 15 unless we can raise the part of the money that is our budget from the city,” Popp said. “If we lay people off, then tenants won't be served.”

Anna Urena, a paralegal with the Eviction Defense Network, says her organization would normally do intake for about 300 tenants per month.

“We're not taking on new cases. We're not representing new people right now because we don't know what's going to happen,” she said. “We really cannot leave our tenants behind.”

What’s next?

Jurado’s motion has not yet been scheduled for a vote in the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee.

Based on her third-place showing so far in the June primary election results, it appears Feldstein Soto will not be L.A.’s city attorney much longer. Popp said Feldstein Soto’s lame duck status doesn’t bode well for the contract getting signed soon.

“She now has no incentive to sign, and pressure on her will not get her to sign,” Popp said. “If that happens and the City Council doesn't take charge of this, maybe hire outside counsel to get the approval, then we won't see any money until the new city attorney comes in.”

Millions of people are about to pack stadiums across the U.S., Canada and Mexico for the World Cup, starting June 11.

Public health officials have been working to ensure the health and safety of the masses of fans they're expecting at the 104 matches across 16 cities through mid-July.

In the U.S., World Cup preparations are coming in a time of a diminished federal health presence and funding. It's upped the workload for host city health departments, as they're also strapped for federal funding.

Nevertheless, World Cup host city health officials say they're prepared for the many challenges that come with large-scale celebrations and gatherings.

"We've been focusing on expecting the expected" — issues related to weather, health and human behavior, says Dr. Marcus Plescia, district health director for Fulton County, Georgia, which includes Atlanta.

Planning for the event is ongoing, says Dr. Philip Huang, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services in Texas. "To be able to begin preparations a year out is a luxury for us, compared to a lot of the situations that we deal with," he says.

"We call Atlanta 'Hotlanta' for a reason"

For public health departments, the World Cup is a big deal –- but they're well prepared for the biggest challenges.

Summer heat, for instance. "We call Atlanta 'Hotlanta' for a reason," says Georgia's Dr. Plescia, "It's going to be hot and humid here -– so heat-related injuries are going to be an issue."

Atlanta is hosting eight World Cup matches and the team from Uzbekistan. At downtown Centennial Olympic Park, a month-long fan festival is expected to draw some 15,000 people a day. Cooling stations will offer air-conditioning and hydration.

Then there's feeding the crowds. "The biggest lift for us and for all health departments is that our environmental health workers have to inspect all of the food vendors — and there will be a whole lot of food vendors," Plescia says.

Inspectors will check every day to ensure the facilities are in working order and the food is safe to eat. "We want to make sure that people feel confident that they can go out to eat and have a good time –- and they don't have to worry about getting food poisoning," Plescia says.

When lots of people gather, germs tend to spread. "We're worried about sexually transmitted infections because there's going to be a lot of people here and it's going to be a festive atmosphere," Plescia says. "And then we're worried about things maybe we wouldn't have been worried about as much before, particularly measles." Measles is highly contagious among those who haven't been vaccinated, and there have been 30 U.S. outbreaks this year.

Dallas is hosting nine World Cup matches — the most of any city. The health department is stepping up disease surveillance in wastewater, expanding sites and covering more area, says Dr. Huang, the county health authority. Beyond looking for typical threats like influenza and COVID, they're also testing for "whatever might appear" through genomic sequencing, he says.

They're also broadening mosquito surveillance –- setting insect traps and testing for pathogens they can spread. "We always test for West Nile virus," Huang says, "But we're also increasing our testing for dengue, chikungunya and Zika because of all the [incoming] international travel."

Medical staff are also looking out for symptoms of Ebola or hantavirus, due to outbreaks.

Keeping track of which diseases are circulating means they'll be able to alert hospitals and the public quickly if they see a spike. "It's a lot of things we normally do but certainly more enhanced," Huang says.

They're also preparing health tips for the public in different languages: Wear a hat and sunscreen and hydrate when it's hot out. Bug spray and long sleeves help prevent mosquito bites. Stay home if you're sick. "It's the same messages [we always share], but it's really concentrated because we've got so many people coming during a hot period of time in Dallas," Huang says.

"Most of our staff are not taking vacations"

The World Cup finals are jointly hosted by New York and New Jersey on July 19.

Officials have been running practice simulations to prepare for outbreaks and mass casualty events. "We plan for the worst case scenario and go through it before it actually happens," says Dr. Alister Martin, New York City's health commissioner.

They've also set up "incident command" to "divert resources from normal stuff so that we can manage any potential emergencies," Martin says, adding that the operation will continue through much of the summer, for other big events planned in New York, including America's 250th anniversary, Pride month and the Puerto Rican Day parade.

In Los Angeles, which is hosting eight games, including the U.S. opening match versus Paraguay, risk-assessment teams will monitor the surroundings for chemical exposures and biological threats.

In L.A., diminished federal assistance means the health department is counting on existing staff to do the extra work. "Most of our staff are not taking vacations during the month of the World Cup because they'll need to work -– we'll be obviously accruing overtime costs," says Barbara Ferrer, the L.A. county health director.

And much of their regular work, like routine food inspections, gets put aside. "I know it would be easier if we weren't in a resource constrained environment," Ferrer says. "But I want to provide assurance that even in a resource constrained environment, we're well prepared."

Ferrer says they've successfully planned and managed other events of national significance, like the 2022 Super Bowl. "This work isn't new to us," she says, adding that staff are making great efforts "to make sure this is a joyous time in L.A. county and [that] we're all safe."

This year's experience will better prepare Los Angeles to host other events, she says — like the 2027 Super Bowl and the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Ferrer hopes these events will help authorities see that public health is key to public safety — and worth investing in.

Less of a federal presence

On the federal level, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which serves as the nation's public health agency, has a muted presence this year.

"Usually, the CDC is a visible lead when we have international events in the United States, particularly across the country, versus just in a single state," says Dr. Debra Houry, former chief medical officer for the CDC who resigned last year.

The current Trump administration has pushed thousands of workers out of the CDC workforce and tampered politically with some of its functions, such as setting vaccine policy and publishing scientific papers. The agency's scientists rarely speak directly with the public anymore; their messages are filtered through politically appointed leadership.

Other governmental groups that would typically be involved, such as the National Security Council's biosecurity group, the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, have been disbanded, left vacant or don't have permanent leaders, Houry says.

The diminished federal presence serves as the backdrop for the World Cup.

Emily Hilliard, press secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services which oversees the CDC and ASPR, wrote in an email response to NPR: "HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are actively coordinating with state, local, and global partners to ensure public health and safety during FIFA World Cup 2026 and enhance any measures, as needed."

Localities have found that the federal presence is late in coming, and not as coordinated as it may have been in the past, says Lori Freeman, CEO for the National Association of County and City Health Officials, which represents health departments.

Freeman says the CDC started holding coordination calls and issuing some guidance a few months ago –- long after host cities started their own preparations. She notes: "When it comes to merging public health, emergency response and preparedness, that is an area we worry constantly about because the federal government is the agency that must manage across state jurisdictions between and among states."

Some have stepped up to fill perceived gaps. For instance, Georgetown University has set up a Health Security Operations Center to track infectious diseases and send out daily reports, to inform places expecting an influx of travelers throughout the World Cup.
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