What Horvath says:Horvath’s motion says the settlement with CEO Fesia Davenport “was only disclosed in response” to LAist’s public records request, and that otherwise “it is not at all clear how the public generally would have any idea that a settlement was reached.” The county supervisors “can do more to make the public aware of how the Board conducts business and how public funds are being spent,” she added.
Read on... more details about what the transparency proposal would do.
L.A. County residents could soon be getting more transparency about payouts to county executives after LAist revealed a secretive $2 million settlement with the county’s CEO.
Horvath’s motion says the settlement with CEO Fesia Davenport “was only disclosed in response” to LAist’s public records request, and that otherwise “it is not at all clear how the public generally would have any idea that a settlement was reached.”
The county supervisors “can do more to make the public aware of how the Board conducts business and how public funds are being spent,” she added.
The backstory
Last month, LAist brought to light that the county had quietly paid a $2 million settlement in August to Davenport. The settlement had been kept under wraps from the public and county workers.
The settlement was in response to her claims that the supervisors harmed her reputation and caused her distress by putting a measure before voters — which was approved — that will create an elected county executive position. It’s among multiple reforms to restructure county government under last year’s voter-approved proposition, known as Measure G.
What Horvarth is proposing
Among other things, her motion would order county officials to report back in 60 days “on pathways to improve transparency for settlements with County executives” — including creating a public online dashboard showing “as much settlement-related information” as allowed by law.
That would include details like the executive’s name, the dollar amount and when it was approved.
Multiple executive payouts
Davenport was one of several county executives who’ve gotten sizable settlement payouts over the past few years.
A legal document filed on behalf of California State University was riddled with faulty quotes and other telltale signs of being AI generated, an administrative law judge said this week, prompting Cal State to acknowledge that artificial intelligence had been used to help create the document.
More details: Administrative Law Judge Bernhard Rohrbacher ordered that a CSU legal filing featuring “phantom quotations” from a 1981 court decision be struck from the record of a case pending before the California Public Employment Relations Board.
Why now: The order filed Monday is part of a proceeding pitting the nation’s largest public four-year university system against the CSU Employees Union, which is seeking to represent an estimated 1,400 students serving as resident assistants in college housing around the state.
Read on... for more about the case filing and what the judge said.
A legal document filed on behalf of California State University was riddled with faulty quotes and other telltale signs of being AI generated, an administrative law judge said this week, prompting Cal State to acknowledge that artificial intelligence had been used to help create the document.
Administrative Law Judge Bernhard Rohrbacher ordered that a CSU legal filing featuring “phantom quotations” from a 1981 court decision be struck from the record of a case pending before the California Public Employment Relations Board.
The order filed Monday is part of a proceeding pitting the nation’s largest public four-year university system against the CSU Employees Union, which is seeking to represent an estimated 1,400 students serving as resident assistants in college housing around the state.
Rohrbacher wrote that while “there is no proof that AI was, in fact the author” of a Cal State brief, the document “bears all the hallmarks of the hallucinations associated with AI-generated texts” and contains a series of misquotes Cal State failed to explain.
A Nov. 10 case filing by Cal State said that the mistakes were due to a “failure to double-check correct page numbering” and “erroneously included quotation marks around paraphrasing statements.” But in a written statement on Wednesday, a university system spokesperson acknowledged the brief had been written with AI assistance.
“The CSU is aware that a staff member used artificial intelligence, without conducting due diligence, to assist with creating a brief that resulted in errors undermining the integrity of their work,” said CSU spokesperson Jason Maymon. “This action does not align with the CSU’s ethical and responsible use of AI, and we are taking appropriate steps to address this matter.”
The order comes as Cal State aims to become a leader in integrating generative artificial intelligence into higher education. It could also have implications for the bid to unionize CSU’s resident assistants, who typically receive benefits like free housing and a campus meal plan but no salary in exchange for helping manage more than 67,000 dorm beds at Cal State campuses.
The CSU Employees Union in March moved to absorb resident assistants — whose wide-ranging responsibilities can span everything from organizing dorm socials to responding to student emergencies — into an existing unit of more than 17,000 student workers. Cal State has opposed the effort, saying resident assistants are not employees but “live-in student leaders.”
“If students submit assignments with AI-generated half-truths and fabrications, they face consequences. And yet the CSU is doing exactly what we tell students not to do,” said Catherine Hutchinson, president of the CSU Employees Union, in a written statement. “Resident assistants provide valuable services to their campus communities, so it is shameful that the CSU would waste the time and resources of California’s Public Employment Relations Board in an attempt to quash their right of union representation.”
Maymon said Cal State “is proud to lead the adoption of AI in higher education. But just like every institution that has embraced navigating this new terrain, challenges will surface. This presents an opportunity for the CSU to fine-tune our AI trainings so that our students, faculty, and staff receive the information and professional development to fully leverage the benefits of this new technology.”
Judge called misquote ‘a stretch’
A Nov. 3 brief from Cal State repeatedly quoted from a single federal appellate court decision to support its argument that resident assistants, typically called RAs for short, should not be considered employees. But Rohrbacher, the administrative law judge, said he could not find a series of quotes and page citations in the original decision, which stems from a decades-old lawsuit involving Regis, a private college in Denver.
For example, in passages that purported to quote the court’s decision, the Cal State brief said that the relationship between RAs and their college is “primarily educational rather than economic in nature” and that RAs, therefore, are not employees.
But that statement and several others do not appear in the appellate court decision CSU cited, Marshall v. Regis Educational Corporation. Rohrbacher said the misquote “is certainly a stretch” and undermines Cal State’s argument for citing the Marshall case. California law in 2018 dropped language defining certain students as employees “only if the services they provide are unrelated to their educational objectives” or if educational goals are secondary to such services, Rohrbacher noted.
“It is therefore curious that the University interprets Marshall to imply such a requirement, making that case inapplicable here,” Rohrbacher wrote. “That assumes, of course, that generative AI was not the author.”
In striking the Cal State brief, Rohrbacher stopped short of direct accusations. But the administrative law judge said Cal State had failed to explain its mistakes, writing that regardless of whether AI wrote the brief, “these are not the kind of ‘errors’ or acts indicating a run-of-the-mill ‘lack of diligence’ … that could be ignored.”
Rohrbacher did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment for this story. He previously served as general counsel for the California Faculty Association, according to his LinkedIn profile, the union representing CSU employees, including professors, librarians and coaches.
Vying to be the ‘first and largest AI-empowered university’
Cal State in February announced a $16.9 million deal with OpenAI to purchase enterprise access to ChatGPT, part of a strategy to become “the first and largest AI-empowered university system.” It has also launched a new CSU board that includes state officials and industry representatives from companies like Anthropic and Nvidia. Campuses around the system have recently moved to add a cluster of AI-related degree programs.
While some within CSU have embraced those steps, they have also provoked worries about how the technology will impact the way students learn and professors teach. Critics have also raised concerns about protecting student and faculty data privacy, and the cost of CSU’s investments in artificial intelligence at a time of difficult budget cuts and job losses.
As part of its work on AI, CSU has published guidelines about the ethical use of the technology. Rohrbacher quoted a section in a footnote of the order striking CSU’s brief.
“Content generated by AI can sometimes be inaccurate, deceptive, or completely fabricated, also known as ‘hallucinations,’ and might inadvertently include copyrighted material,” the guidelines read. “It is your responsibility to vet any AI-generated content before dissemination.”
Jason Wells
manages the daily news product that you hear and read every day — and sometimes helps write it.
Published November 20, 2025 12:43 PM
Storm clouds pass over the downtown Los Angeles skyline.
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Genaro Molina
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
Another storm system is expected to bring rain to an already soaked Southern California for two days starting Thursday afternoon. This cold weather will also bring snow to local mountains, forecasters say.
What to expect: In most of the Southern California region, the heaviest rainfall will occur overnight Thursday into Friday, with the potential for heavy showers and thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service. Most of the region will see between a half an inch and 1 inch of rain, with slightly more in foothill and mountain areas. Despite periods of potentially heavy rain and thunderstorms, the NWS said Thursday it does not expect to issue any flood watches.
Why it matters: The storm comes just days after rainfall records were broken by the a days-long rain system that dropped between 2 and 13 inches across Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties. While that rainfall exceeded debris-flow thresholds, no major landslides were reported in recently burned areas. But with the ground already saturated, the risk remains as the new storm moves in. Be sure you're signed up for emergency messaging from official sources.
What about potential snow? The system is expected to bring 3 to 6 inches of snow to elevations above 6,000 feet, so likely skipping the 5 Freeway through the Grapevine.
Possible effects: The NWS warned that the rainfall and snow could be enough to cancel outdoor events, cause isolated power outages and down trees.
Longer term forecast: High pressure is expected to push unseasonably cool temperatures back to normal and bring clear conditions for the Thanksgiving holiday week.
Spread throughout the roughly 23,000 documents released by the House Oversight Committee last week, emails and texts show Epstein courted prominent politicos from both sides of the aisle, impressed academics and used his connections to push back on negative stories about his alleged crimes.
Who did Epstein correspond with?: Epstein's career as a wealthy financier who gave money to universities and other causes put him in many elite circles. Among them is linguist Noam Chomsky, who called Epstein a "highly valued friend." Chomsky recalled how Epstein connected him with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak — another frequent Epstein correspondent. Also, Kathryn Ruemmler, former White House counsel in the Obama administration and current chief legal officer for Goldman Sachs, messaged with Epstein before and during President Donald Trump's first term.
Mentions of Trump: President Trump is a frequent subject of emails and text messages in the latest file tranche — well over a thousand different mentions — though mainly the subject of Epstein's near-obsession with his presidency, as the latter positioned himself as a Trump whisperer of sorts to his powerful associates.
What's next: Within 30 days of Trump signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the attorney general is supposed to make "all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials" available in a searchable and downloadable format.
New releases from Jeffrey Epstein's estate shine additional light on the array of powerful figures who kept ties to the disgraced financier after his criminal charges came to light.
Spread throughout the roughly 23,000 documents released by the House Oversight Committee last week, emails and texts show Epstein courted prominent politicos from both sides of the aisle, impressed academics and used his connections to push back on negative stories about his alleged crimes.
Epstein's career as a wealthy financier who gave money to universities and other causes put him in many elite circles.
Those circles did not entirely close to him after he pleaded guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution and of solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18 in 2008.
Reading through the text messages and emails released, the people who consulted with Epstein rarely acknowledged the severity of the crimes that required him to register as a sex offender, though simply corresponding with Epstein does not implicate individuals in his criminal activities, convicted or accused.
There's an apparent letter of recommendation for Epstein from linguist Noam Chomsky, calling him a "highly valued friend," that recalled how Epstein connected him with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak — another frequent Epstein correspondent.
"Jeffrey constantly raises searching questions and puts forth provocative ideas, which have repeatedly led me to rethink crucial issues," the letter reads.
There's advice Epstein gave to Steve Bannon, Trump's former strategist, about ways to build a far-right political movement overseas.
"If you are going to play here, you'll have to spend time, [E]urope by remote doesn't work," Epstein wrote in 2018. "Lots and lots of face time and hand holding. Europe can be a wife not a mistress."
Former Harvard University president and onetime Treasury Secretary Larry Summers is documented numerous times having intimate personal chats with Epstein, including asking for romantic advice and joking about women's intelligence.
"I yipped about inclusion," wrote Summers in 2017. "I observed that half the IQ [in the] world was possessed by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of population...."
Summers resigned as Harvard's president in 2006 after arguing that women may be innately less capable in math and science.
In the week since the latest Epstein emails release, he has resigned from the board of OpenAI and abruptly left his teaching role at Harvard, as the university announced a probe of "information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted."
Summers isn't the only high-profile Democrat who found themself in varying degrees of Epstein's orbit. Kathryn Ruemmler, former White House counsel in the Obama administration and current chief legal officer for Goldman Sachs, messaged with Epstein before and during Trump's first term.
"Trump is living proof of the adage that it is better to be lucky than smart," she wrote in August 2015.
A protester holds a sign related to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein case files outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Nov.12. President Trump signed the congressional legislation that directs the Department of Justice to release the files late Wednesday evening.
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Saul Loeb
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AFP via Getty Images
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Trump promised to release the Epstein files on the campaign trail but largely stonewalled the effort this year since he returned to office, frequently calling the push for more transparency around the Epstein case a "hoax" perpetrated by Democrats.
In a Wednesday Truth Social post announcing the signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Trump said Democrats were using the issue to distract from what he says are victories for his administration.
"Perhaps the truth about these Democrats, and their associations with Jeffrey Epstein, will soon be revealed, because I HAVE JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!" he posted.
The president has the authority to release the files without congressional action.
Trump is a frequent subject of emails and text messages in the latest file tranche — well over a thousand different mentions — though mainly the subject of Epstein's near-obsession with his presidency, as the latter positioned himself as a Trump whisperer of sorts to his powerful associates.
This week, after an abrupt reversal that led to the near-unanimous approval of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the president has now called for Democrats mentioned in Epstein's communications to be investigated by the Justice Department.
"I will be asking A.G. Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Other Republicans are going on the offensive too — highlighting revelations that Epstein was texting Democratic Del. Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands during a House Oversight Committee hearing with Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen in 2019.
Comparing the newly released messages with the video of the hearing, minutes after Epstein suggested Plaskett ask Cohen things about the Trump Organization, Plaskett posed similar questions.
An effort to censure Plaskett in the House failed Tuesday. In a floor speech, Plaskett defended her actions as receiving information from a constituent and said it was "not public knowledge at that time that he was under federal investigation."
Amid the partisan finger-pointing around the Epstein files, some of Epstein's accusers are imploring the president not to make things partisan and focus on the other powerful people that they say haven't faced scrutiny — regardless of political party.
What's next for the government's Epstein files?
Within 30 days of Trump signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the attorney general is supposed to make "all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials" available in a searchable and downloadable format.
That includes information that relates to Epstein, his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell and "individuals named or referenced in connection with Epstein's criminal activities."
There's also a focus on information regarding plea deals and decisions not to charge Epstein for other alleged crimes, as well as documents pertaining to his 2019 death by suicide in federal custody.
Over the summer, the FBI put out a memo that said their files include "a significant amount of material, including more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence."
Some of that includes photos and videos of Epstein's accusers, including minors, and disturbing material that will not be made public. The bill from Congress also says anything "that would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution" can be withheld or redacted, too.
With Trump's ordering of the investigation into Democrats and financial institutions mentioned in the Epstein correspondence, it is unclear how much of the Justice Department's files will be released, to what extent they will be redacted and when they ultimately will be made public.
A nonprofit children's safety organization, Fairplay, is urging gift givers to avoid buying AI toys for children this holiday season, according to an advisory issued on Thursday.
Why it matters: Fairplay's advisory, headlined "AI Toys are NOT safe for kids," says these toys prey on children's trust and disrupt human relationships, among other harms. The advisory was endorsed by more than 150 experts and groups including MIT professor and author Sherry Turkle, pediatrician and researcher Jenny Radesky, Social Media Victims Law Center, and International Play Association USA.
Others share concerns: The consumer rights nonprofit's 40th annual "Trouble in Toyland" report says some AI toys enable in-depth talk about sexually explicit topics, have few parental controls, and collect a mountain of data about their underage owners.
Read on... for more what groups are saying about AI toys.
A nonprofit children's safety organization, Fairplay, is urging gift givers to avoid buying AI toys for children this holiday season, according to an advisory issued on Thursday.
Fairplay, along with other child and consumer advocacy groups, say these toys – playthings like plushies, dolls, action figures, and kids' robots embedded with chatbots and other artificial intelligence technologies – can be dangerous.
Designed to mimic human behaviors and interact with kids as if they were friends, the toys offer novelty at a time when AI is starting to infiltrate many corners of peoples' lives.
Fairplay's advisory, headlined "AI Toys are NOT safe for kids," says these toys prey on children's trust and disrupt human relationships, among other harms. The advisory was endorsed by more than 150 experts and groups including MIT professor and author Sherry Turkle, pediatrician and researcher Jenny Radesky, Social Media Victims Law Center, and International Play Association USA.
"It's ridiculous to expect young children to avoid potential harm here," said Rachel Franz, a Fairplay program director, in a statement to NPR. "Young children are especially susceptible to the potential harms of these toys, such as invading their privacy, collecting data, engendering false trust and friendship, and displacing what they need to thrive, like human-to-human interactions and time to play with all their senses. These can have long and short-term impacts on development."
Others share concerns
The advisory follows similar recent warnings from the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). The consumer rights nonprofit's 40th annual "Trouble in Toyland" report says some AI toys enable in-depth talk about sexually explicit topics, have few parental controls, and collect a mountain of data about their underage owners.
"All of them are collecting your child's voices, potentially. They're collecting their names, their dates of birth. All kinds of information – the kid's likes, dislikes, favorite toys, favorite friends," said Teresa Murray, co-author of the PIRG report and director of its consumer watchdog program, in an interview with NPR. "Because they're connected to the internet, so anything is available, who knows what those toys might start talking to your children about with their friends or their friends' parents or your neighborhood? I mean, it's terrifying."
Toy industry and AI players highlight safety and privacy
The toy industry and AI companies are responding to such fears by highlighting their focus on safety and privacy.
OpenAI said it suspended the maker of the AI-powered teddy bear Kumma earlier this week, after PIRG reported the toy was sharing questionable advice with minors, such as providing details about how to find and ignite matches. When prompted by researchers, it also talked in-depth about sexual matters. "We suspended this developer [the Singapore-based toymaker FoloToy] for violating our policies," OpenAI spokesperson Gaby Raila said in an email to NPR. "Our usage policies prohibit any use of our services to exploit, endanger, or sexualize anyone under 18 years old. These rules apply to every developer using our API, and we monitor and enforce them to ensure our services are not used to harm minors."
The company's technologies are also embedded in other AI toys including the AI robot pet Loona, and it entered into a strategic partnership with Mattel earlier this year "to support AI-powered products and experiences based on Mattel's brands." No products have yet been announced. But the company said the initial set of Mattel products and experiences will focus on families and older customers, not users under 13.
Fairplay singled out several AI toys to demonstrate the potential risks of data collection and the impact on a child's understanding of trust. Among them are Miko, a cute plastic robot that comes with educational games and the tagline "Built to be your new best friend," Loona Petbot, a small, plastic robot companion that moves around on wheels and has a screen and ear-like, and Gabbo, a cube-shaped robot plushy with big anime-style eyes. It has no screen, but can be connected to wifi and do voice chat. NPR has reached out to the makers of these products for comment.
"Children's safety is our top priority," said Curio, the company behind Gabbo and other AI playthings, in a statement to NPR. "Our guardrails are meticulously designed to protect kids, and we encourage parents to monitor conversations, track insights, and choose the controls that work best for their family on the Curio: Interactive Toys app."
"Facial recognition on Miko 3 is entirely optional and exists solely to help families enjoy a more personalized and interactive experience," said Ritvik Sharma, a senior vice president at Miko.ai, in an email to NPR. "Importantly, all visual data is processed locally on the device. It is never sent to the cloud or shared externally. To offer families greater confidence and control, every Miko robot includes a physical camera shutter that allows parents to completely block the camera whenever they choose."
In an email to NPR, The Toy Association, which represents toy manufacturers, said toys sold by responsible manufacturers and retailers must adhere to more than 100 strict federal safety standards and tests, including the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which governs children's privacy and data security online and is overseen by the Federal Trade Commission. "The Toy Association urges parents and caregivers to shop only from reputable toymakers, brands, and retailers who prioritize children's safety above all else," the statement said, adding that it offers safety tips for A.I. and other connected products to better inform peoples' buying decisions.
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