The Brief

The Trump administration has drafted a memo to Congress outlining its intent to end nearly all federal funding for public media, which includes NPR and PBS, according to a White House official who spoke to NPR.

The memo, which the administration plans to send to Congress when it reconvenes from recess on April 28, will open a 45-day window in which the House and Senate can either approve the rescission or allow the money to be restored.

The official, who spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity, confirmed the existence of the draft.

In a statement on Monday that did not refer to the memo, the White House said: "For years, American taxpayers have been on the hook for subsidizing National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news.'" The statement includes examples of what the White House said is "trash that passes as 'news'" and "intolerance of non-leftist viewpoints."

NPR produces the award-winning news programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered, while PBS is best known for its nightly PBS News Hour and high-quality children's programming, such as Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.

Earlier this month, on social media platforms, President Donald Trump blasted the two primary public broadcasting networks, posting in all caps: "REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT 'MONSTERS' THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!"

Trump is expected to propose rescinding $1.1 billion — two years of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB, a congressionally chartered independent nonprofit organization that in turn partially funds NPR and PBS.

In making the move, the president appears to be drawing impetus from a House Oversight subcommittee hearing in late March. The panel called the NPR and PBS chiefs to testify, alleging the networks' news coverage is biased against conservatives.

In a statement, NPR said: "Eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would have a devastating impact on American communities across the nation that rely on public radio for trusted local and national news, culture, lifesaving emergency alerts and public safety information."

"We serve the public interest. It's not just in our name — it's our mission. Across the country, locally owned public media stations represent a proud American tradition of public-private partnership for our shared common good," it said.

Paula Kerger, PBS CEO and president, said the Trump administration's effort to rescind funding for public media would "disrupt the essential service PBS and local member stations provide to the American people."

"There's nothing more American than PBS, and our work is only possible because of the bipartisan support we have always received from Congress," she said. "This public-private partnership allows us to help prepare millions of children for success in school and in life and also supports enriching and inspiring programs of the highest quality."

Accusations of political bias

At the hearing, the public broadcasting heads spoke of their mission to provide free, non-partisan news and programming to all Americans.

Some Republican lawmakers, however, vented about what they saw as biased reporting. "You can hate us all on your own dime," said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the chair of the subcommittee that held the hearing. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., complained about NPR's coverage of how he structured his investments with a shell company.

Republicans assailed NPR chief Katherine Maher for political messages she'd posted to social media long before she became the network's CEO and president in March 2024. Their questioning also focused largely on stories published before her arrival at NPR.

They queried PBS CEO and President Paula Kerger about a video involving a performer in drag singing a variation on a children's song for a young audience. (Kerger testified that the video was posted on the website of PBS's New York City member station and never aired on television.)

Both PBS and NPR provide locally grounded content and reach more than 99% of the population, at no cost to viewers and listeners. In many states and communities, the stations serve as a key component of emergency and disaster response systems.

Congress allocated $535 million for the CPB for the current fiscal year — an amount affirmed in a recent stop-gap bill passed by the Republican-controlled U.S. House and Senate. The CPB's budgets are approved by Congress on a two-year cycle in large part to insulate it from political pressures; Congress has appropriated funds through Sept 30, 2027.

Where public broadcasting's money comes from

NPR receives about 1% of its funding directly from the federal government, and a bit more indirectly; its 246 member institutions, operating more than 1,300 stations, receive on average 8% to 10% of their funds from CPB. In turn, they pay NPR to air its national shows. By contrast, PBS and its stations receive about 15% of their revenues from CPB.

The bulk of CPB funding goes to local stations — mostly to subsidize television, which is more expensive than radio.

Stripping away such financial support would wipe out smaller stations, the public broadcasting chiefs testified, especially in rural regions and other areas ill-served by corporate-owned media. It would also weaken the broader public media system. Alaska Public Media's chief executive testified that the funding was vital to his state network and to ensuring his reporters' stories found a broader audience.

"Without PBS, without NPR, you wouldn't hear stories — news stories, public affairs stories, community stories — from Alaska," Alaska Public Media CEO and President Ed Ulman said. "You wouldn't see them on the PBS NewsHour. This is vital. It's vital for Alaskans to know that they're connected to their nation, and that what we do in Alaska matters to our nation."

A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 43% of U.S. adults surveyed favored continued federal support for NPR and PBS, with 24% saying it should be cut. However, by political affiliation, the results were more stark, with 44% of Republicans favoring an end to federal funding of the public broadcasters, while 69% of Democrats said it should continue.

Trump administration launches attacks on media outlets

Over its five and a half decades of existence, public broadcasting has mostly enjoyed bipartisan support, allowing it to survive periodic conservative pushes to strip the system of taxpayer dollars.

But recently, Brendan Carr, Trump's pick to lead the Federal Communications Commission, launched an investigation of NPR and PBS, saying it appears that their corporate underwriting spots violate laws banning commercial advertisements.

The networks say the agency and Congress have encouraged them repeatedly to develop a greater share of private financial support. They have worked assiduously for years with the FCC to ensure that their spots fall within FCC guidelines. Other news organizations supported by the U.S. government have also moved into the crosshairs in the early months of the Trump administration.

In New York, a judge has placed a temporary restraining order on presidential adviser Kari Lake's attempt to shut down the federally owned Voice of America. In Washington, D.C., another judge ruled the government had to keep sending funds that Congress already had committed to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Those lawsuits — and others — argue that Trump has far exceeded the expansive powers of the presidency, usurping Congressional prerogatives, trampling on due process and eroding free speech rights.

Even so, the White House has succeeded in previously unimaginable ways; representatives of Trump's budget-slashing DOGE initiative, aided by Washington, D.C., police officers, forced their way into the U.S. Institute of Peace so that the administration could take it over. The institute, while funded by Congress, is an independent nonprofit like CPB.

Fired institute employees are now suing the Trump administration. U.S. Justice Department attorney Brian Hudak has said in court that plans already are underway to lease the U.S. Institute of Peace headquarters to the U.S. Labor Department. The judge overseeing the case has, to date, declined to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the transfer of assets to the government, although she said the administration has adopted a "bull in a china shop" approach.

Lake, who is also overseeing the effort to dismantle other federally funded international broadcasters, echoed Trump's remarks on NPR and PBS. "Defund ALL Fake News and Turn them Off," she tweeted, pointing to the hearing in late March as more grist.

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Correspondents David Folkenflik and Scott Neuman. 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

The California Privacy Protection Agency kicked off 2026 by launching a tool that state residents can use to make data brokers delete and stop selling their personal information.

The system, known as the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, or DROP, has been in the works for years, mandated by a 2023 law known as the Delete Act. Under it and previous laws, data brokers must register with the state and enable consumers to tell brokers to stop tracking them and selling their information.

Until now, those instructions had to be delivered to each data broker individually — not an easy feat, given that more than 500 brokers were registered in the state as of the end of last year. Making things even more difficult, some brokers obscured their opt-out forms from search results, as The Markup and CalMatters revealed in August.

The new system delivers privacy instructions to every registered broker at once. Launched on January 1, it is open to all California residents. By law, the hundreds of data brokers registered with the state must begin processing those requests in August.

Here’s how to take advantage of it.

Finding your advertising IDs

DROP asks you to provide some basic information — your name, email address, phone number, and zip code — so data brokers can find you in their systems. You can submit the form with just this information, but if you’d like a more thorough deletion, you can also provide your mobile advertising IDs from your phones, smart TVs, and vehicles. Including these IDs can help brokers match more of your data, but you have to take the time to collect them.

Click here to jump ahead if you want to provide basic information only, or continue reading for instructions on providing mobile advertising IDs for:

• Android phones and tablets
• Apple iPhones and iPads
• Vehicle ID numbers and smart TVs
• Personal computers

Android phones and tablets

The steps below may vary slightly depending on your device and operating system version, but the general process is the same:

Open Settings.

• At the top of the Settings screen, select the menu option with your name, followed by “Google services and preferences.”
• Select the All services tab.
• Scroll to the Privacy & Security section, and select Ads. Scroll to the bottom of that screen to get your advertising ID, which will look like a string of random numbers and letters separated by four hyphens. Save that ID for the DROP form.
• On the same screen, you can find options to reset or delete your advertising ID. The CCPA suggests resetting your ID “because it breaks the persistent tracking link that advertisers, data brokers, and apps use to build long-term behavioral profiles of your device.” Alternatively, deleting the ID should prevent ID-based data tracking from happening at all.
• On the same screen, you can find options to reset or delete your advertising ID. The CCPA suggests resetting your ID “because it breaks the persistent tracking link that advertisers, data brokers, and apps use to build long-term behavioral profiles of your device.” Alternatively, deleting the ID should prevent ID-based data tracking from happening at all.

Apple iPhones and iPads

Apple doesn’t provide a way for iOS users to see their mobile advertising ID, which it calls the Identifier for Advertisers, or IDFA. But it does provide a way for users to prevent trackers from accessing these IDs.

To turn off tracking, first, adjust your Screen Time settings:

• Open Settings. 
• Scroll down and select Screen Time. 
• Scroll down and select Content & Privacy Restrictions. 
• Scroll down and select Allow Apps to Request to Track.
• Select Don’t Allow Changes. 

Then, adjust your Tracking settings:

• Open Settings. 
• Scroll down and select Privacy & Security. 
• Select Tracking.
• Toggle OFF the option to Allow Apps to Request to Track.

Apple has its own ads system that doesn’t use an IDFA. To disable that:

• Open Settings. 
• Scroll down and select Privacy & Security. 
• Scroll down and select Apple Advertising.
• Toggle OFF the Personalized Ads option.

A quick note for our technically savvy readers: If you’ve already turned tracking off, you might be tempted to turn it back on to look up your advertising ID using a third-party app, but it’s unnecessary. Re-enabling tracking will reset the ID, limiting its usefulness to data brokers — they can’t continue tracking data or delivering personalized ads using a device ID that no longer exists.

Vehicle ID numbers and smart TVs

Vehicles can track their owners in surprisingly invasive ways, and you can provide a vehicle’s identification number, or VIN, in case data brokers have that information. Where your VIN is will depend on the vehicle, but common places include on the dash on the driver’s side, or on a sticker in the jamb of the front passenger door. Your vehicle registration documents should also have your VIN listed.

Smart TVs also use advertising IDs. Here’s a guide that provides some settings for common brands. If the guide doesn’t cover your smart TV, try checking under its privacy or advertising settings. But be aware that this is different from numbers like the model code and serial number.

Personal computers

Laptop and desktop computers use unique identifiers to share data, but these are harder to find than mobile advertising IDs. Instead, you can turn off tracking, which will delete those IDs. (Turning tracking on again will generally reset the IDs.)

• On computers running Windows, you can turn off your advertising ID by going to Settings. Depending on your OS version, select Privacy or Privacy & security. Then select General, and adjust your settings there.
• On Mac computers, navigate to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising. Then, toggle off Personalized Ads.

The California Privacy Protection Agency also provides some of its own guidance on finding advertising IDs.

Verify your identity

Go to the DROP website. You’ll be asked to accept the terms of use and be directed to a page that asks you to prove you’re a California resident. There are two ways to do so, and you can’t change methods once you’ve selected one of them.

1. The system allows you to verify your identity using personal information through a system called the California Identity Gateway. 

   If you select this option, you’ll be asked to provide some basic personal information, like a phone number, email address, California address, or your social security number. The gateway will use this information to attempt to verify your residency directly with the state. This option should be quick if you have an email address and phone number.
   

2. Alternatively, you can verify your identity to DROP using login.gov, a system that some federal and state agencies in the United States have adopted to allow residents to interact with government services. 

   To sign up for a login.gov account, you’ll be asked to provide an email address, create a password, and provide photos of government-issued identification. After signing up and verifying your identity, you should be able to move on to the next step. This option might take a little more effort than the first option, since ID is required, but might be faster if you’ve already signed up for an account for other purposes.

Fill out and submit the DROP form

After verifying your identity, you’ll get to a form where you can submit multiple versions of your name, up to three zip codes, up to three email addresses, up to three phone numbers, advertising IDs from your mobile devices and smart TVs, and VINs for your vehicles. You’ll be asked to verify your email addresses and phone numbers with single-use codes before submitting. (The agency notes there may be delays with some verification codes due to high volume.)

Topline:

The local angle: Here in L.A. (and at LAist), treating pets like your own kids is par for the course. We recently heard from AirTalk with Larry Mantle listeners about their own relationships with pets and children, revealing multiple and nuanced perspectives on whether they feel pets are replacing children.

Megan in Sierra Madre and her husband experienced infertility and couldn’t have kids. She reads to her pets, and even has wrapped a Christmas present for her dog this year. “I feel like our dog makes us a little family,” she said.

Marty in Fullerton is an estate planning attorney. He shared that planning for pets after their owners’ death comes up in his practice. “It’s a much more elaborate plan for the pet for somebody who doesn’t have children,” he said.

Lisa in Agoura Hills has both children and a dog wrote in, “Though the cost of having a pet is comparable, the experience is very different. I can't imagine life without my dog Marlo but he can't express or emote like my girls. He's actually much easier to manage!”

Samson in Echo Park said that pets are good practice for child rearing, saying, “If you can keep a pet happy, healthy and alive, you’re okay to have a kid.”

Listen to the full segment to hear AirTalk host Larry Mantle's thoughts on how his own take on if pups prepare you for preteens.

Democratic leaders criticized the shooting and the Trump administration's response to it.

"The killing of Renee Nicole Good was an abomination – a disgrace," said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries at a Thursday press conference.

"And blood is clearly on the hands of those individuals within the administration who've been pushing an extreme policy that has nothing to do with immigration enforcement connected to removing violent felons from this country."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that he saw the video of the fatal shooting: "You felt like your stomach was being punched. Looking at the video, there seemed no justification for what these agents did. There needs to be a full investigation at the federal level, though I have little faith in the FBI in doing a fair investigation."

Speaking to NPR on Thursday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison described the ICE agents' actions as an "escalation" and said Good was trying to get away from the situation without being aggressive.

"I think the use of force I saw raises such serious questions that there needs to be an intense investigation and perhaps this officer should face charges," Ellison said. "But that needs to be determined through an investigation."

Ellison said his concern was that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had already attempted to spin the shooting as a clear-cut act of self-defense on the agent's behalf and was trying to downplay the need for a thorough investigation.

"You would think that the Homeland Security secretary would be the first to say, 'let's suspend judgment and look into it.' That's not what we saw," he said.

Ellison said Good was "anything but" a domestic terrorist, as Noem had described her.

Good, Ellison said, "was a compassionate neighbor trying to be a legal observer on behalf of her immigrant neighbors."

Details of the shooting are disputed, despite video footage

Federal and local officials dispute the circumstances that led an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer to fatally shoot a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

President Trump and other members of his administration characterized the ICE agent's actions as an act of self-defense. State and local leaders, however, cast doubt on that account and called for a full and fair investigation.

The shooting occurred on a residential street in south Minneapolis — less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020. ICE agents were conducting targeted immigration enforcement operations at the time, according to Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin.

(Warning: The video at the following link includes violent actions and profanity.)

NPR and MPR have reviewed multiple videos of the shooting taken from different vantage points and posted to social media. The footage shows multiple officers near an SUV stopped in the middle of the road. One officer demands the driver exit the vehicle and grabs the car handle. The SUV reverses, then begins to drive forward, which is when a different officer near the front of the car pulls his weapon and fires into the vehicle. Three gunshots are heard, as the firing officer backs away from the SUV. Moments later, the vehicle crashes.

A bullet hole is visible in the windshield of a crashed vehicle on Portland Avenue in Minneapolis after an ICE officer shot and killed an observer on Wednesday.

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Ben Hovland/MPR

)

The Minneapolis City Council identified the woman as Renee Nicole Good.

"Renee was a resident of our city who was out caring for her neighbors this morning and her life was taken today at the hands of the federal government," the city council said in a statement. NPR member station MPR News has reached out to a family member of the woman.

On Wednesday night, large crowds of people filled the street at a vigil in south Minneapolis to mourn Good's death. Many held up posters criticizing ICE's presence in the city, while others carried signs that read "remember."

Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer, was one of many speakers who paid tribute to Good at the vigil, MPR News reported.

"She did not deserve to be gunned down in cold blood for standing up for her neighbor," Armstrong said.

At a press conference on Wednesday evening, Noem defended the use of force by an ICE agent, while calling the motorist's actions "an act of domestic terrorism."

According to Noem, ICE officials that morning were helping push one of their vehicles out of the snow when protesters appeared. Noem said the woman who was fatally shot blocked federal officers with her vehicle and refused to exit her car when officers ordered her to do so.

She added that the ICE officer who fired his gun had been struck by the car and was taken to a hospital, where he was later released.

"It's clearly established law that a vehicle driven by a person and used to harm someone is a deadly weapon," she said. "Deadly force is perfectly lawful when a threat is faced by a weapon, so I do believe that this officer used his training in this situation."

Members of law enforcement photograph a vehicle suspected to be involved in a shooting by an ICE agent during federal law enforcement operations on Wednesday in Minneapolis.

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Stephen Maturen

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Getty Images

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Noem said she also spoke with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and acknowledged that they hold "very different viewpoints" on the shooting.

The incident has worsened tensions between the Trump administration and Minneapolis, which has been the target of a large-scale immigration crackdown. Local officials said they expect protests to follow and urged residents to remain peaceful.

At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Walz said he was prepared to mobilize the state National Guard if necessary.

"They want a show. We can't give it to them," he said. "We can't give them what they want."

Federal and local officials clash over the shooting

In a statement, DHS spokesperson McLaughlin asserted that the motorist "weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them." She added that the ICE officer who pulled the trigger was "fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public."

Upon reviewing a video of the incident, President Trump said he also believes the shooting was an act of self-defense.

"The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara speaks with officers at the scene where a federal agent shot and killed an observer in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026.

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Ben Hovland

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MPR

)

People protest as law enforcement officers attend to the scene of the shooting involving federal law enforcement agents on Wednesday in Minneapolis.

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Tom Baker

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AP

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But local leaders have raised concerns about the Trump administration's account of the shooting.

At a fiery press conference, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey accused ICE of "trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody that is bull****. "

"This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed," he added.

The mayor called on ICE agents to leave the city, asserting that federal immigration authorities were ripping families apart and sowing chaos on Minneapolis streets.

Gov. Walz wrote on X that he has seen video of the shooting and told the public: "Don't believe this propaganda machine."

"The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice," he added.

Minneapolis police chief says he's 'very concerned' about use of deadly force

At a press conference, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said local police arrived at the scene to find a woman with a gunshot wound to the head. They performed life-saving measures at the scene, including CPR. The woman was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, he added.

Preliminary information, according to O'Hara, indicated that the woman was in her vehicle and blocking the road on Portland Avenue between 33rd and 34th St.

"At some point, a federal law enforcement approached her on foot, and the vehicle began to drive off. At least two shots were fired," he said, adding that the car then crashed on the side of the roadway.

O'Hara said he was "very concerned" with the tactics used by federal immigration agents. He noted that the use of deadly force is justified at times, but that most law enforcement agencies in the U.S. are trained to minimize the risks and the need for deadly force.

"In any professional law enforcement agency in the country, I think they would tell you it's obviously very concerning whenever there's a shooting into a vehicle of someone who's not armed," he said.

The shooting is being investigated by the FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. They will investigate the use of deadly force.
Copyright 2026 NPR

This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on Jan. 8, 2025.

Big changes are expected on the Eastside in 2026.

From long-awaited infrastructure upgrades to improve pedestrian safety, to fresh renovations that will beautify existing landmarks — and even a brand-new park — several projects across Boyle Heights and East LA are set to be completed this year.

Here’s a look at some of the projects you can expect to see in 2026.

A park under the 6th Street Bridge

Rendering of Leonard Hill Arts Plaza at the Sixth Street PARC.

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Courtesy of City of Los Angeles, Bureau of Engineering

)

Twelve acres of open and recreational space under the 6th Street Bridge are coming to Boyle Heights and parts of the Arts District by the end of this year.

The Sixth Street PARC (Park, Arts, River & Connectivity) will feature an arts plaza, complete with a performance amphitheater, garden and terrace seating. Other amenities include a café, dog park, fitness equipment and sports courts.

Community members have raised concerns about whether copper wire theft will impact the safety of the park but a representative of the Bureau of Engineering said security cameras and fortifications will be installed to protect park infrastructure.

The representative said substantial completion is anticipated to be in late 2026, with an opening date shortly after.

Long-awaited renovations are transforming Self Help Graphics & Art

A rendering of Self Help Graphics & Art’s central gathering space.

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Courtesy of Self Help Graphics

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Self Help Graphics & Art, an Eastside printmaking and art institution more than 50 years old, is set to complete its nearly $15 million renovation this summer, with a public reopening planned for the fall. Since 2011, the art organization has been housed in a former seafood packing plant on 1st Street in Boyle Heights, after leaving its longtime East LA location.

The 12,000-square-foot building is being transformed into a cultural center that meets museum standards, featuring seismic retrofitting, an expanded printmaking studio, upgraded gallery lighting and a larger multipurpose room for community gatherings.

While renovations continue, exhibitions featuring printmaking, mixed media and photography are on view at satellite locations in Los Angeles County.

You can once again set foot inside the historic Breed Street Shul

Restoration of the Breed Street Shul.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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After years of restoration, plans to transform the historic Breed Street Shul into a vibrant community and cultural hub are nearing reality. Built in 1923, the structure held its last service in 1998 and has long represented a cultural and religious anchor for the Jewish community on the Eastside.

For years, the shul sat in disrepair. The renovation of the shul’s smaller building was completed in 2011, allowing for limited events and tours until the pandemic. Work on the property’s main building began in 2024 and is more than halfway completed.

Planned upgrades include improved accessibility with ramps and an elevator. According to Steve Sass, president of the Breed Street Shul Project, the space will host film screenings, meetings and exhibitions, with reopening expected by the end of 2026.

Repairs to sidewalks along Cesar Chavez Avenue will make walking safer

The repairs will take place on a stretch of Cesar Chavez Ave.

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Courtesy of the Bureau of Engineering – City of Los Angeles

)

Boyle Heights residents should expect improvements to sidewalks and streets between Evergreen Cemetery and Brittania Street along Cesar Chavez Avenue this year. The project is part of the Great Streets Initiative launched by former LA Mayor Eric Garcetti.

According to a project update published by the Bureau of Engineering and LADOT in October 2025, the repairs and restoration of walkways along Cesar Chavez Avenue will increase safety, mobility and visibility for pedestrians, bicyclists, particularly at high-volume intersection crossings. Pedestrian lighting and upgraded traffic signals will enhance safety along the corridor.

Bienvenidos, East LA and City Terrace!

Restoration work on four monuments that mark the boundaries of unincorporated East LA is ongoing and will be finished in March.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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If you’ve ever driven to and from East LA on surface streets, you might’ve noticed decorative monuments welcoming drivers to the community on streets like City Terrace Drive or Beverly Boulevard. Those signs have gotten major facelifts since restoration work began in July of 2025.

According to the LA County Department of Public Works, all four monuments that mark the boundaries of unincorporated East LA are slated for completion by March 2026.

The project’s scope includes adding colorful tile mosaics, energy-efficient lighting, as well as landscaping and decking around some of the signs.

The office of LA County District 1 Supervisor Hilda Solis wrote in an email to Boyle Heights Beat that the $2.6 million investment from her office “will preserve cultural identity while creating more engaging public spaces.”

Reopening on the horizon for Benjamin Franklin Library … if all goes to plan

A rendering of a renovated Benjamin Franklin Branch Library.

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Courtesy of the Bureau of Engineering Architectural Division

)

The long-awaited renovation of the Benjamin Franklin Branch Library broke ground in November, launching a project delayed for years by funding and scheduling setbacks.

The $5.5 million renovation is now on track, with city officials projecting completion in early 2027, though Bureau of Engineering documents show construction could finish in late December of 2026. 

Interior upgrades include new carpets, self-lighting bookshelves, study rooms, furniture and self-checkout counters, along with ADA-compliant restrooms and energy-efficient LED lighting. The exterior will see parking resurfacing, bike and EV charging stations, new landscaping and a demonstration garden.