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| Southern California’s foreign immigration cut in half in past year – Daily News | | Amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, Southern California’s foreign immigration saw its numbers cut in half in the past year compared with the previous four years.
My trusty spreadsheet reviewed new U.S. Census Bureau data tracking five years of population flows for the nation’s metropolitan areas, including immigration moves, from April 2020 through July 2025. The data looked at swings in net foreign immigration patterns – that’s arrivals vs. departures – counting residents no matter their legal status.
Results for the year ending July 2025 were compared to the annualized pace of foreign immigration from April 2020 through July 2024. In three Southern California metro areas spanning five counties, last year’s immigration count of 46,700 was a decline of 53,700 from the 2020-24 inflow pace, or a 53% tumble.
Fewer immigrants also helped dent Southern California’s overall population. The five-county region lost 209,300 residents over five years, a 1% decline, to 20.9 million residents.
The decline reflects only the first few months of the Trump administration’s efforts to limit the nation’s immigrant population dramatically. Donald Trump’s second term as president began in January 2025. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-03-30 | | | | How the landmark verdict against Meta and YouTube could hit their businesses - Los Angeles Times | | A Los Angeles jury dealt a blow to social media giants Meta and YouTube this week when it found that the platforms were negligent for designing addictive features that harmed the mental health of a California woman.
Both companies plan to appeal, but the ruling has ignited uncertainty around the tech companies’ future and sparked questions about the potential fallout.
The seven-week trial kicked off in February, featuring testimony from Meta and YouTube executives.
Kaley G.M., a 20-year-old Chico, Calif., woman, sued the platforms in 2023, alleging that using social media at a young age led to her mental health problems such as body dysmorphia and depression. She also sued TikTok and Santa Monica-based Snap and those companies settled ahead of the trial. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-03-30 | | | | Slauson Connect project breaks ground next to Rail to Rail corridor | Urbanize LA | | At a ceremony on March 28, Los Angeles officials commenced work on a new pocket park and recreation center at a site next to the Rail to Rail active transportation pathway. [Article] | | by , . 2026-03-30 | | | | DTLA is hurting. But Mr. Downtown believes it will rise again - Los Angeles Times | | He wore a dark suit with a crisp white shirt and a burgundy necktie, and as he made his way toward me through the late-morning patrons at Grand Central Market, he paused, eyes at his feet.
He bent down, picked up a straw wrapper and disposed of it in the nearest trash can, then kept walking.
“I kind of think of myself as the butler of downtown,” said Hal Bastian, 65, who has lived in the neighborhood for three decades and is known to many as “Mr. Downtown L.A.” [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-03-30 | | | | Santa Monica Crime Down 12.5%, Police Fully Staffed | | ajor crime in Santa Monica fell 12.5% last year, the city's police department reached full staffing for the first time in more than 20 years, and the prosecution rate on criminal cases climbed to nearly 90% — results that city officials on Tuesday held up as evidence that the sweeping Realignment Plan adopted in October 2025 is fundamentally changing how public safety is delivered in the city. [Article] | | by , . 2026-03-30 | | | | Wildfire prevention work begins on Skyway in Butte County | News | actionnewsnow.com | | BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - Butte County is taking steps to reduce wildfire risk along one of its most critical evacuation routes. Crews are starting on the Skyway Roadside Fuels Reduction Project.
Butte County Public Works crews will soon start to clear brush, small trees and other flammable vegetation along approximately 12 miles of the Skyway between Magalia and Stirling City—a move Butte County leaders say will slow wildfires and protect evacuation routes. [Article] | | by , . 2026-03-30 | | | | California farmers were already struggling. Then came the Iran war - Los Angeles Times | | Shortly after the Iran war started four weeks ago, farming executive Bikram Hundal was beside himself.
The vice president of operations at Sequoia Nut Co. had shipped 15 containers of almonds, walnuts and pistachios from the Port of Long Beach, and he wasn’t exactly sure where they were on the high seas.
Their destination was Dubai’s Port of Jebel Ali, a major trading hub, but the jets, missiles and rockets crisscrossing Middle Eastern skies had diverted one ship to the Netherlands and another to Algeria.
Finally, the remainder of the 300 tons of California nuts worth $1.7 million was offloaded at the Port of Fujairah, also in the United Arab Emirates but on the Gulf of Oman, a bit farther from the fighting.
Now, shipping costs to the region have tripled to $7,500 per container, and Hundal is uncertain when the Tulare County company will get its money.
“They will be slow in paying for those goods, and they told us whatever goods were sold already to them [that] have not shipped, please do not ship those,” he said. “That will impact our cash flow. We have to pay the growers for them.” [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-03-30 | | | | Here are the budget priorities for LA County state lawmakers – Daily News | | Wildfire recovery, preparations for the World Cup and Olympic and Paralympic Games and investments in health care, affordable housing and homelessness services top the list of budget priorities for state legislators from Los Angeles County in the upcoming fiscal year.
And they’ve requested over $2 billion in the 2026-27 state budget to fund these priorities, as outlined in a series of letters to legislative budget leaders this month. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-03-30 | | | | Preserving the best parts of César Chávez's legacy - Los Angeles Times | | One summer day in 1988, before the sun rose, my parents packed my three younger sisters and me into our beige Chevy station wagon. We drove from Oxnard to Delano, Calif., to stand in support of what would become César Chávez’s final fast. I remember the brutal heat, the crowded tent, the feeling we were part of something larger.
Chávez never came out to speak that day, He was too weak after 29 days of fasting. But we stayed. More than 3,000 of us waited there, believing in his campaign to draw attention to pesticide use in the fields where farmworkers labored with little protection from chemicals that he understood caused cancer among workers and birth defects in their children.
To learn now of the suffering Chávez caused — the sexual and emotional violence against young women, and against Dolores Huerta — is heartbreaking. It is infuriating. It forces a reckoning. Not only with who he was, but with the danger of turning people into symbols, placing them so high that their actions go unquestioned, and harm can happen in the shadow of that reverence.
There is no justification for his actions. It must be named clearly.
And still, the work that so many people fought for: the protections for farmworkers, the awareness of pesticides, the dignity of labor — that work remains. It never belonged to one person.
As a young bilingual teacher and community organizer in Oxnard — an agricultural town that smells of strawberries, celery and, at times, fertilizer — I founded the first César Chávez March and Celebration in 1998. The celebration included a district-wide speech contest for fourth- through sixth-grade students. The march and the speech contest have continued long after I stepped away. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-03-30 | | | | As fourth man dies at Adelanto ICE detention center, Mexican officials call for investigation - Los Angeles Times | | A Southern California immigration detention center faces renewed scrutiny after federal officials confirmed the death of a detainee last week, marking the fourth fatality since September and contributing to what is becoming one of the deadliest years on record for people in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
Jose Guadalupe Ramos-Solano, 52, who was being held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, died on March 25. He and the other three people who died were Mexican nationals, prompting the Mexican government to demand an immediate review of the facility, pointing to “serious omissions and evident deficiencies” in medical care.
Mexican officials said during a news conference Monday afternoon that they plan to take legal action and expressed unfettered support for the families of the Mexican citizens who have died in ICE custody.
Sitting in front of news cameras and reporters, Ramos-Solano’s wife, son and daughter sat quietly, occasionally wiping at their eyes or reaching for one another as Mexican officials offered their condolences.
Antonia Tovar said her husband had emigrated from Guanajuato to the U.S more than 28 years ago and worked at an industrial laundromat.
“My husband was a good person, dedicated to his kids and to his wife,” she said. “I just want justice and to fight for the people who are there. I want my husband’s case to be the last one.”
Tovar said she talked to her husband about four hours before he was rushed to the hospital where he died. She said he told her he was fine and didn’t say he felt unwell.
Her daughter, Gloria Ramos, said the family wants answers.
“I think my family and I deserve to know the truth of what happened to my dad. I want justice for my dad.” [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-03-30 | | | | They lost homes in the Eaton Fire. Will they also lose their Altadena sports field? | LAist | | It’s been more than a year now since the Eaton Fire devastated Altadena, destroying more than 9,000 structures and killing 19 people.
A group of about a dozen fire survivors said they were excited to get back to something they’d been doing together for years: a weekly informal pickup soccer game at Loma Alta Park.
But what they found was a ballfield battle they weren’t expecting. [Article] | | by , . 2026-03-30 | | | | The Least-Bad Option: A County Sales Tax to Save California Health Clinics | | There are valid reasons to dread another sales tax hike in Los Angeles County, and Mitesh Popat has heard most of them.
But Popat, CEO of the Venice Family Clinic, also understands the stakes better than most. His organization, and others like it that form the foundation of the safety-net health system in greater Los Angeles, are bracing for the kind of financial storm — from both state and federal health care funding cuts — that hasn’t been seen in recent memory.
Absent a new revenue source, and quickly, the fallout could be catastrophic at the county level: a severe reduction in these clinics’ ability to provide care for the hundreds of thousands of patients, mostly low income or indigent, who come through their doors every year. [Article] | | by , . 2026-03-30 | | | | California Latinos remain underpaid despite education gains - Los Angeles Times | | A new study by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute released Thursday found that despite Latinos being highly employable, they remained highly underpaid. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-03-30 | | | | L.A. social media addiction verdict to unleash lawsuits — and changes - Los Angeles Times | | Two of America’s largest tech companies suffered stunning defeats in court this week, sustaining early jolts in what could prove to be a seismic shift in how social media operates amid a new landscape of legal risk.
Meta and Google both vowed to appeal verdicts that were handed down by civil juries in Los Angeles County and Santa Fe, N.M., brushing off the losses as a bit of bad luck. But attorney Mark Lanier framed the surprise victory in L.A. for his client — who alleged Instagram and YouTube were designed to be addictive for young users — as nothing short of a cosmic triumph.
“You’ve seen the photographs of Atlas with the world on his shoulders — it’s like that weight’s been set aside,” Lanier said. “This is a righteous moment.” [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-03-30 | | | | Hearing from Rideshare workers and drivers at large as gas prices near $6 a gallon | LAist | | As the war in Iran pushes U.S. gas prices toward $4 a gallon nationally, some lawmakers are pushing to suspend the federal gasoline tax, the latest attempt to control surging energy costs. Asked about the gas tax at a Cabinet meeting Thursday, President Donald Trump said he has “thought about” suspending it but suggested states should consider suspending their fuel taxes. Similar proposals have been floated on the state level as well, as California continues to experience the highest gas prices in the nation — $5.87 a gallon as of today, according to AAA. As legislators work out how to best handle gas prices, a lot of drivers continue looking for solutions, particularly those who drive for a living. In the case of rideshare workers, companies like Lyft, Uber, and DoorDash are offering limited cash incentive programs to help drivers through different avenues. Today on AirTalk, we want to hear from rideshare workers and drivers at large about how they’re handling gas prices. [Article] | | by , . 2026-03-30 | | | | LA Heat Wave Hits Low-Income Communities Hardest - UCLA | | s a rare early-season heat wave sends temperatures soaring across Southern California, new research from UCLA reveals a troubling reality: extreme heat does not threaten all communities equally. [Article] | | by , . 2026-03-30 | | | | Glendale homeowner swapped his lawn for California native plants - Los Angeles Times | | When Christopher Smee welcomes visitors to his Glendale garden, he enjoys giving what his friends jokingly call “the botanical tour.”
“Would you like to walk through the native chaparral?” he asks, pointing out the California native plants in his front yard: a multi-trunk toyon, bright orange California poppies (Eschscholzia californica), lantern-shaped Bladderpod (Cleomella arborea) with yellow flowers that bloom most of the year, purple Arroyo lupines (Lupinus succulentus), fragrant Allen Chickering Sage (Salvia ‘Allen Chickering’), and tall, silvery white sage (Salvia apiana) at the center.
“I love the majesty and structure of the white sage,” he says, pointing out the dried branches he leaves for the birds. “I love the color, and when I learned about its importance to the Indigenous community, I felt it should be at the center of the garden.” [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-03-30 | | | | Today Is First-Ever Farmworkers Day, Public Schools and County Offices Are Closed – Pasadena Now | | Pasadena residents face a split holiday week as the newly-named March 31 Farmworkers Day triggers two separate rounds of closures: Los Angeles County offices and public schools shut down Monday, March 30, while California state offices, courts, and the Department of Motor Vehicles close Tuesday, March 31. [Article] | | by , . 2026-03-30 | | | | They lost homes in the Eaton Fire. Will they also lose their Altadena sports field? | LAist | | It’s been more than a year now since the Eaton Fire devastated Altadena, destroying more than 9,000 structures and killing 19 people.
A group of about a dozen fire survivors said they were excited to get back to something they’d been doing together for years: a weekly informal pickup soccer game at Loma Alta Park.
But what they found was a ballfield battle they weren’t expecting. [Article] | | by , . 2026-03-30 | | | | City Puts Country Club Project on Hold - Valley News Group | | The City of Los Angeles has found the Woodland Hills Country Club development application for 223 apartments and 175 single-family homes “incomplete, inconsistent, and non-compliant” and put it on hold. [Article] | | by , . 2026-03-30 | | |
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