The Brief

Kris Edwards waited at home with friends for his wife, Erika “Tilly” Edwards, to go out to dinner, but she never made it back to the house they had purchased only four days earlier. Around 9 p.m. on June 29, a hit-and-run driver killed Tilly as she walked to her car after a fundraiser performance in Hollywood.

“I’ve just got to figure out how to keep living. And the hard part with that is not knowing why,” Edwards said of his wife’s death.

Despite local, state, and federal safety campaigns, such as the global Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic fatalities, such deaths are up 20% in the U.S. from a decade ago, from 32,744 in 2014 to an estimated 39,345 in 2024, according to data from the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Although traffic deaths have declined since peaking at 43,230 in 2021, the number of deaths remains higher than a decade ago.

Since the covid-19 pandemic, the Pew Research Center found, Americans’ driving habits have worsened across multiple measures, from reckless driving to drunken driving, which road safety advocates call a public health failure. They say technology could dramatically reduce traffic deaths, but proposals often run up against industry resistance, and the Trump administration is focusing on driverless cars to both innovate and improve public safety.

“Every day, 20 people go out for a walk, and they don’t return home,” said Adam Snider, a spokesperson for the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state road safety offices.

American roads have become more dangerous than violent crimes in some cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston are among the major cities that now report more traffic fatalities than homicides. In 2024, the Los Angeles Police Department reported an estimated 268 homicides and 302 traffic deaths, the second consecutive year that the number of people killed in collisions exceeded the number of homicide victims, according to Crosstown LA, a nonprofit community news outlet.

Kris Edwards and his cat, Rex, in the garden of the home he bought with his wife, Erika “Tilly” Edwards, only four days before her death.

(

Chaseedaw Giles

/

KFF Health News)

)

San Francisco reported more than 40 traffic deaths and 35 homicides in 2024. In Houston, approximately 345 people died in crashes and 322 from homicide.

“Simply put, the United States is in the middle of a road safety emergency,” David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, testified during a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing this summer. Out of 29 high-income countries, America ranks at the bottom in road safety, Harkey said. “This spike is not — I repeat, is not — a global trend. The U.S. is an outlier.”

In January 2017, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti joined 13 other L.A. city leaders in pledging to implement the Vision Zero action plan and eliminate traffic deaths in the city by 2025.

Instead, deaths have increased.

An audit released in April that was commissioned by the city’s administrative officer found that the level of enthusiasm for the program at City Hall has diminished and that it suffered because of “the pandemic, conflicts of personality, lack of total buy-in for implementation, disagreements over how the program should be administered, and scaling issues.” The report also cited competing interests among city departments and inconsistent investment in the city’s most dangerous traffic corridors.

Mayor Karen Bass’ office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A hit-and-run driver killed Tilly Edwards as she walked to her car after a fundraiser performance in Los Angeles’ Hollywood neighborhood in June.

(

Chaseedaw Giles

/

KFF Health News

)

Last year, California state Sen. Scott Wiener proposed a bill that would have required new cars sold in the state to include “intelligent speed assistance,” software that could prevent vehicles from exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 mph. But the bill was watered down following pushback from the auto industry and opposition from some legislators who called it government overreach. It was ultimately vetoed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said a state mandate would disrupt ongoing federal safety assessments.

Meanwhile, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an influential automotive lobby, this year sued the federal government over an automatic emergency braking rule adopted during the Biden administration. The lawsuit is pending in federal court while the Department of Transportation completes a review. Even before Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term, the alliance appealed to the president-elect in a letter to support consumer choice.

Under Trump, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is prioritizing the development of autonomous vehicles by proposing sweeping regulatory changes to test and deploy driverless cars. “Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards were written for vehicles with human drivers and need to be updated for autonomous vehicles,” NHTSA Chief Counsel Peter Simshauser said in September in announcing the modernization effort, which includes repealing some safety rules. “Removing these requirements will reduce costs and enhance safety.”

Some Democratic lawmakers, however, have criticized the administration’s repeal of safety rules as misguided since new rules can be implemented without undoing existing safeguards. NHTSA officials did not respond to requests for comment about Democrats’ concerns.

Advocates worry that without continued adoption of road safety regulations for conventional vehicles, factors such as excessive speed and human error will continue to drive fatalities despite the push for driverless cars.

“We need to continue to have strong collaboration from the federal, state, local sectors, public sector, private sector, the everyday public,” Snider, of the Governors Highway Safety Association, said. “We need everyday drivers to get involved.”

Kris Edwards points to photos of his wife, Tilly. Traffic deaths across the U.S. are higher than they were a decade ago.

(

Chaseedaw Giles

/

KFF Health News

)

It took nearly a month for police to track down the driver of a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen allegedly involved in Tilly’s death. Authorities have charged Davontay Robins with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, felony hit-and-run driving, and driving with a suspended license due to a previous DUI. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is out on bail.

Kris Edwards now tends to the couple’s backyard garden by himself. Since his wife’s death, he has experienced sleep deprivation, fatigue, and trouble eating, and he relies on a cane to walk. His doctors attribute his ailments to the brain’s response to grief.

“I’m not alone,” he said. “But I am lonely, in this big, empty house without my partner.”

Edwards hopes for justice for his wife, though he said he’s unsure if prosecutors will get a conviction. He wants her death to mean something: safer streets, slower driving, and for pedestrians to be cautious when getting in and out of cars parked on busy streets.

“I want my wife’s death to be a warning to others who get too comfortable and let their guard down even for a moment,” he said. “That moment is all it takes.”

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.Subscribe to KFF Health News' free Morning Briefing.

This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

A day after gunmen killed three people outside a mosque in San Diego, Muslim leaders in Los Angeles said the attack was fueled by a growing climate of Islamophobia in America.

Local officials pledged increased security around places of worship as the investigation continues into the mass shooting.

The shooters, ages 17 and 18, opened fire outside the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday morning in what authorities are investigating as a hate crime. Federal investigators said the two met online and shared writings expressing hatred toward Muslims, Jews and other minority groups. Authorities also recovered anti-Islamic writings and messages carved into their weapons, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Both gunmen were later found dead of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

In Los Angeles, Muslim community leaders on Tuesday condemned what they described as the normalization of anti-Muslim rhetoric nationwide.

Omar Ricci, spokesperson for the Islamic Center of Southern California, said the attack did not happen in isolation.

“Even the perpetrators of the crime were victims,” he said, “of what we call and is well-known to us in the Muslim community, the industry of Islamophobia. 
An industry that deliberately creates fear and division.”

“This is not a mysterious situation,” Ricci said. “The Islamophobic industry that seeks to create fear of Muslims and tell the rest of America that Islam and Muslims are incompatible with the society in which we live — it has grown in the past year.”

Other Muslim leaders said the shooting reflects a broader national climate in which Muslims and other minority groups are increasingly portrayed as threats.

Khalid Hudson of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in L.A. said the attack should not be viewed as an isolated act carried out by two young men.

“We have to address the root cause: publicly acceptable anti-Islam and anti-Muslim rhetoric,” he said at a Tuesday press conference at the Islamic Center of Southern California in Koreatown,

Local officials said law enforcement agencies across Los Angeles County have increased patrols around mosques and other places of worship following the shooting.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the attack “grossly unacceptable” and noted that it came as Muslims enter a sacred period of prayer and reflection during the month of Dhul Hijjah.

“I’ve been in close coordination with LAPD to enhance security specifically around mosques,” Bass said. “And across Los Angeles, we will do everything to keep you safe.”

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna urged residents to report warning signs of extremist violence before attacks occur.

“If you hear something, if you see something, and in this day and age, if you read something, you have to share it with us,” Luna said. “This could literally save dozens of people’s lives.”

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said the shooting could have been much worse. The Islamic Center includes both a mosque and a school for students ages 5 and up, according to the Associated Press. 

Authorities commended the actions of Amin Abdullah, a security guard who defended the center before he was fatally shot during a shootout with the gunmen. Abdullah also radioed staff members to place the center on lockdown, according to officials.

Authorities identified the other two victims as Nader Awad and Mansour Kaziha, who were shot outside the mosque.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman praised Abdullah’s bravery.

“We need to speak the name of Amin Abdullah, while never speaking the names of his killers,” Hochman said.

“We cannot wait until the bullets are fired to take hatred seriously,” he added. “I want every resident in Los Angeles County to know that this office, in connection with this community and law enforcement, will continue to aggressively prosecute hate crimes wherever and whenever they occur.”

Salam Al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, also criticized recent federal policies placing political conditions on security grants for mosques. The Department of Homeland Security pulled federal funding from places of worship “with alleged affiliations to terrorist activities” according to reporting from Fox News.

“I just want to give one message to those that are trying to marginalize, deport, stigmatize, expel Muslims from America,” Al-Marayati said at Tuesday’s news conference. “America is our home. We are not going anywhere.”

President Donald Trump got more wins in Republican primaries on Tuesday, most notably in Kentucky.

There, Rep. Thomas Massie lost to a Trump-backed candidate after the president and his allies blitzed Massie with tens of millions in ads.

In fact, this was the most expensive House primary in history with $33 million total spent on TV ads and a lot of it aimed at Massie, according to NPR ad-tracking partner AdImpact.

While Trump continues to rack up victories on his vengeance tour, general election opponents are waiting in swing districts and swing states, and Trump is a double-edged sword — popular with the base but unpopular with more than half the country.

Can front-line Republican candidates navigate these choppy waters? And what comes next?

Here are four takeaways from Tuesday night's elections:

1. Trump flexes muscle (again) in Republican primaries 

Trump made it clear again that he's the alpha dog in Republican Party politics.

Massie became the latest, high-profile political casualty Tuesday night. Trump said all he needed was a "warm body" to pluck the thorn-in-Trump's-side that Massie had become.

And in Ed Gallrein, who served in the Navy as a SEAL officer, Trump said he got that warm body — with "a big, beautiful brain." In the end, it wasn't a very close race, a 10-point margin.

Following Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy's primary loss in Louisiana on Saturday, this week has been a punctuation mark on Trump's strength with the party. In addition to Massie and Cassidy losing, another Trump foe, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, also did not advance to a runoff for Georgia governor Tuesday night.

Raffensperger was at the center of the 2020 presidential election controversy in the state when Trump pressured him to overturn the election results there that saw Democrat Joe Biden narrowly win the state. Raffensperger refused to go along and now joins a list of Republicans whose political careers were shortened because GOP voters punished them after their opposition to Trump.

2. Primaries aren't general elections, though. Georgia, in particular, is a good reminder of that

The Senate primaries in Georgia and Alabama were also all about candidates trying to out-MAGA each other. They hugged Trump as closely as possible to get through those contests.

Trump certainly showed his strength in these Republican primaries, but primaries aren't general elections, and Alabama and Georgia, while neighbors, have become very different states. They both have conservative primary electorates, but Alabama is a much more conservative general election state. Georgia is much more purple and has two Democratic senators. One of them, Jon Ossoff, is a top GOP target this fall.

It's worth remembering that, as the Republican primary heads to a runoff between the top two vote-getters on June 16, Trump may be popular with rank-and-file conservative voters, but he's equally, if not more, unpopular with swing voters, according to polls, focus groups and reports. His approval ratings are among the lowest of either of his terms as president, especially on the economy — the top issue for voters. This has been the Trump quandary for Republicans for as long as he's been the leader of the party. Republicans need him to turn out the base, but he's toxic with independents and now with lots of crossover voting groups, who cast ballots for him in 2024, like Latinos, according to polls.

In a general election in a place like Georgia, Republicans have to be careful not to look too extreme, if they want to have a chance of unseating Ossoff in November.

3. Pay attention to the economic messaging by GOP candidates in swing districts

One way to do that is to focus on kitchen-table issues. The economy and prices in particular continue to be voters' top concerns. Let's zoom in on a place where that economic swing-district messaging is going to be tested, one that always seems to be full of bellwethers — Pennsylvania.

There are three congressional races here, in fact, that the Cook Political Report rates as toss-ups. That includes the 7th Congressional District in the Lehigh Valley. It features freshman Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, who will now face off against Democrat Bob Brooks, the state firefighters union president.

Mackenzie's focus has been on the economy — and how he believes he's helped working-class voters. In an ad with about $225,000 behind it, according to AdImpact, Mackenzie stresses that he "voted for working family tax cuts that mean higher wages and lower taxes for working families, no tax on tips and no tax on overtime." He mentions wanting to expand health savings accounts, as well, and keeps a hard line on immigration.

Is that a winning message? It will be tested, as Republicans in these kinds of districts are trudging uphill right now given the national political environment and as Democrats look to flip this district Trump won by 3 points in 2024 and narrowly lost four years earlier. Trump's economic approval ratings are in the 30s, and people are blaming him for higher prices, according to the polls.

Democrats, meanwhile, are promoting Brooks as "one of us" — "a firefighter, snowplow driver, and union leader" who will "stand up to corporate greed and a corrupt political system." It's a left-wing, working-class populist message that will also be tested — as will Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro's political strength in this key presidential state, as he eyes a potential run for higher office in 2028.

4. Trump looks to keep riding high in the saddle — in Texas

Trump looks to finish off a May sweep in the Lone Star State. On Tuesday, Trump made the surprise move of endorsing Ken Paxton, the controversial state attorney general, in the Republican primary runoff against Republican Sen. John Cornyn. Trump had pledged to endorse after Cornyn failed to reach the 50%-plus threshold to win the primary outright.

The smart money was on Trump to endorse Cornyn to avoid a messy, drawn-out primary — and to safely keep this Senate seat in Republican hands. Operatives close to Trump were working for Cornyn, and that seemed to be the way things were headed. But then Paxton came out strongly in support of the SAVE America Act, the voting law that Trump has championed that would require not just voter ID, but birth certificates or passports to register to vote.

That seemed to put a pause on Trump's endorsement of anyone — until Tuesday when Trump flipped the script and went with the uber-MAGA Paxton. Make no mistake: this puts Texas on the map. Texas was seen as a likely much easier win for Republicans in November with Cornyn as the GOP nominee than if it's Paxton.

Paxton will still likely be the slight favorite over the Democratic nominee, state Rep. James Talarico. This is Texas, after all, and no Democrat has won statewide since 1994. But Republicans now are going to have to back up the money truck to try to save this seat — and it will be super expensive. Look for Trump's political action committee, MAGA Inc., with its deep war chest and now Trump's endorsement, to play heavily to try to keep this seat red.
Copyright 2026 NPR

The rate of high school seniors completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid has hit an all-time high with the class of 2026, according to data from the National College Attainment Network.

But among U.S. citizens in mixed-status families — those where at least one parent is an undocumented immigrant — FAFSA completion in California has dropped. So has their completion of the California Dream Act Application, which provides access to state-based financial aid.

That difference is even more pronounced because California is otherwise a leader in how many students complete FAFSA, which gives them access to federal student loans, work study programs and grants.

According to the California Student Aid Commission, FAFSA completion among first-time applicants from mixed-status families dropped by over 3,000 students this past year. CADAA completion by students in mixed-status families fell by 910.

“That is not a small fluctuation,” said Nicole Kangas, a CSAC spokesperson, at a recent media roundtable. “That is a sharp and significant withdrawal from financial aid and higher education systems. Each one of these numbers represents a student who is a U.S. citizen and is eligible for federal aid, as well as state aid. And we should be concerned by any signs of application declines among this vulnerable group.”

How does financial aid work?

The U.S. Department of Education uses FAFSA data to provide federal financial aid. Colleges also use this information to calculate how much students will pay to go to their campus. Schools then make offers to prospective students, which can be composed of grants, loans, scholarships and work-study. For many students, these packages determine where—and even if—students will go to college.

Traditionally, undocumented students, DACA recipients, U Visa holders and students with Temporary Protected Status have completed the California Dream Act Application to access state-based financial aid. In 2024, the California Student Aid Commission began encouraging U.S. citizens in mixed-status families to consider CADAA as an option after learning that these students were encountering glitches and delays when trying to complete FAFSA.

CADAA completion among undocumented students and students with temporary immigration relief picked up a bit last year. But, generally, completion rates for this group are on a downward trend, which immigrant advocates tie to the wind-down of DACA in 2017, during President Trump's first term.

“ California has spent years telling students that college is the pathway to opportunity. But for many immigrant students and [U.S. citizens in] mixed-status families, that message now collides with another reality: fear,” Kangas said. “Fear that applying for aid could expose a loved one to harm, and fear that the systems designed to support them may not be able to protect them. That fear is reshaping college-going behavior in California in real time, and if we do not respond with urgency, we risk losing an entire generation of students.”

What’s driving the decline?

“What we're hearing consistently is that students aren't opting out because they don't value college,” said Justin Hurst, government relations and advocacy manager at CSAC. “They're opting out because they're worried that applying could expose them or a loved one to immigration enforcement, or that their information could then be accessed or misused.”

For students who fear completing the FAFSA for the first time, CSAC has instructed counselors across the state to underscore that state-based aid through CADAA is still an option — and that the latter includes legal protections to safeguard student data under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, SB 54 and AB 21.

“Even when strong privacy protections do exist, confusion will often spread faster than any reassurance that can be provided, especially through social media, peer networks, rumors. So not applying often feels like the safest choice,” Hurst said.

Marcos Montes, policy director at SoCal CAN, a coalition made up of over 120 educational nonprofits, provided an example: Recently, he heard about a U.S. citizen who was inaccurately advised that if she submitted the CADAA, she would be considered for federal aid. The student, he added, was later confused about why her financial aid package didn’t include a federal Pell Grant, which provides up to $7,395 a year for low-income families.

What about demographic changes?

Montes also noted that some college access advocates have wondered if CADAA completion declines among undocumented students are due to California’s population plateau. “But the best estimates available demonstrate that, every year, about 10,000 undocumented students graduate from California's high schools,” he said. Last year, 4,570 undocumented students completed the application, down from 8,833 in 2019.

“ The fact that we are also living in a post-DACA environment complicates things,” Montes added. “All of the students graduating from high school today are not eligible for DACA, and many wonder if pursuing higher education is even worth it if they would have very limited work opportunities during and after college.”

DACA, or the Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals program, grants work permits for undocumented people who were brought to the U.S. as children. It’s also meant to provide temporary deportation relief. But, under the second Trump administration, at least 270 DACA recipients have been arrested — including one Californian who was detained and deported within 24 hours.

What might change?

The role of advocates, Montes said, is to “empower students and families to make the best choice for them.” If students have older siblings who are in college, or if they’re renewing their financial aid applications, the federal government likely already has their family’s information, he said — this is also true for undocumented parents who pay federal taxes.

For some, completing a FAFSA might make the most sense. But “for a student who's just really afraid” of how the federal government might use their data, he said sticking to the state-based CADAA might be the best fit.

State senator Sasha Renée Pérez has introduced a bill to formally establish CADAA as an alternative to FAFSA.

According CSAC's Hurst, the bill is “ currently parked in appropriations." And “in the absence of any information on it being able to advance in its current form,” he added, the commission is advocating to have similar language included in a trailer bill to be passed as part of the state's budgeting process.