| California’s energy diet is missing the basics – Daily News |
| Energy grids, like a balanced diet, need a healthy mix of ingredients to function properly. You would not feed your kids only lettuce and expect them to thrive. Yet California is doing just that with its energy system, cutting out petroleum, natural gas, and nuclear power without a reliable plan to meet consumer demand. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2025-10-28 |
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| Santa Monica eyes bold turnaround plan amid financial troubles - Los Angeles Times |
| It’s been a rough few years for Santa Monica.
Businesses have abandoned its once-thriving downtown. Its retail and office vacancy rates are among the highest in Los Angeles County. The crowds that previously packed the area surrounding the city’s famous pier have dwindled.
Homelessness has risen. City officials acknowledge crime incidents had become more visible and volatile.
The breadth and depth of the issues became apparent just last month when the city was forced to declare itself in fiscal distress after paying $229 million in settlements related to alleged sexual abuse by Eric Uller, a former city dispatcher.
Now, Santa Monica is trying to plot a new path forward. A significant first step could come Tuesday.
That’s when the City Council is set to consider a plan to reverse its fortunes. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-10-28 |
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| Professors react to new law, potential impact on LA housing, transport - Daily Bruin |
| UCLA professors said a new state law allowing higher-density housing near major transit stops – including in Westwood – could make housing more affordable overall. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-10-28 |
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| L.A. County asks court to block release of thousands of deputy photos - Los Angeles Times |
| Los Angeles County is attempting to block a journalist from obtaining the photographs of about 8,500 deputies and other sworn personnel employed by the Sheriff’s Department.
The legal dispute centers on a public records request filed in April 2023 by journalist Cerise Castle. Castle asked county officials to release the names and official headshots of all deputies not working undercover, then sued last summer after her request was denied, alleging a violation of California’s open records law.
Castle has argued that releasing the images would boost transparency and improve the public’s knowledge of law enforcement activity.
The department released the deputy names to Castle but has maintained in court filings that the images are not public records and that they “do not substantially relate to the conduct of the public’s business.”
L.A. County Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant rejected the county’s position, writing in a July decision that its lawyers are “confusing the public’s general lack of access … with whether official photographs are a public record.”
The county has also claimed that deputies’ personal privacy, “personal safety and effectiveness in their roles” could be harmed by the release of the images.
Castle’s battle with the Sheriff’s Department echoes a similar case involving photos of Los Angeles Police Department officers. In 2022, journalist Ben Camacho and the activist group Stop LAPD Spying Coalition posted departmental photos and other information about LAPD officers, which they posted online in a searchable database dubbed Watch the Watchers. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-10-28 |
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| ‘We’re the Resistance’ |
| Rossana Pérez was arrested by a death squad and imprisoned in her native El Salvador for months before arriving as a refugee to Los Angeles more than 40 years ago. Now, the Los Angeles professor, writer and activist supports others who, like her, have overcome unthinkable trauma in their home countries to continue their lives in the United States.
But for Pérez, as painful as the ongoing immigration raids in Los Angeles have been, Latinos and other immigrant communities need only look to history to find hope, examples and guidance for how to survive this tumultuous time. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-10-28 |
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| Food banks seeing increased demand as CalFresh and SNAP benefits set to be delayed starting November 1st | News | actionnewsnow.com |
| The ongoing federal government shutdown in Washington D.C. has entered its fourth week, causing significant delays in CalFresh and SNAP benefits for millions of Californians. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-10-28 |
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| California continues hydrogen push after federal funding cuts |
| The Scattergood Generating Station in Los Angeles is an oceanfront natural-gas-burning relic that sits on the uncertain brink of a clean-energy showdown. [Article] |
| by , CalMatters. 2025-10-28 |
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| LA County bolsters food banks as Trump Administration declines use of funds for food program during shutdown – Daily News |
| Los Angeles County is bracing for a food emergency created by the protracted federal government shutdown that turns off the spigot on food aid to 1.5 million eligible county residents beginning Saturday, Nov. 1. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2025-10-28 |
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| Federal healthcare cuts will hit millions of Californians, state officials say - Los Angeles Times |
| SACRAMENTO — The state does not have the fiscal capacity to make up for the massive, oncoming federal cuts to healthcare programs used by millions of vulnerable Californians, a stark reality that will force state lawmakers to consider reducing benefits and eligibility and swell the number of residents without medical insurance.
That blunt assessment, released by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, comes at a time when the state faces ongoing budget deficits — with a $17-billion shortfall estimated for the next fiscal year — and imminent cuts to food support programs, such as SNAP, caused by the government shutdown.
On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the combined fallout from the shutdown and the Republican-backed “Big, Beautiful Bill” has left states in the lurch.
We’re looking at “the largest cuts to Medicaid in American history,” Newsom said at a news conference. “They supported the largest cuts to food stamps and SNAP in American history — $186 billion over the next ten years — before this manufactured crisis, this decision they are making not to provide the contingency funds to mitigate the impacts.”
The governor said he’s working with state legislators to identify additional resources to help offset the cuts, but there’s only so much states can do.
Top California health officials on Monday also warned that the federal cuts will deliver a devastating blow to public health and affect all Californians, including those with private health insurance, as the state struggles to mitigate the damage.
“These changes will impact our emergency departments, rural hospitals, private and public hospitals, community health centers, ambulance providers and the broader health care system that serves every community,” said Michelle Baass, director of the California Department of Health Care Services.
Baass was among several experts who spoke at a briefing about the effects of HR 1, a massive tax and spending bill passed by the Republican-led Congress and signed by President Trump that shifts federal funding away from safety-net programs for the vulnerable and toward tax cuts and immigration enforcement. She said the legislation makes sweeping changes to Medi-Cal, as Medicaid is known in California.
It “will cause widespread harm by making massive reductions in federal funding and potentially cripple the health care safety net,” Baass said. “These changes put tens of billions of dollars of federal funding at risk for California and could result in a loss of coverage for millions of Californians.” [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-10-28 |
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| Chamber’s CEQA measure strikes while iron is hot – Daily News |
| Anyone with $2,000 to burn can file an initiative with California’s secretary of state, but most measures never get off the ground given the costs of gathering signatures. But when we saw reports about the “Building an Affordable California Act,” we took notice. It’s sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce, which doesn’t mess around. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2025-10-28 |
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| After court forces release of Trump's billion-dollar settlement demands, UC opposition groups turn to next goals | LAist |
| After losing a public records lawsuit last week, the University of California has released the 27-page settlement proposal it received from the Trump administration’s Justice Department. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-10-28 |
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| LA County officials approve $828 million abuse claims settlement |
| The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved an $828 million settlement with 414 plaintiffs who claim they were the victims of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of county workers. [Article] |
| by , KNBC Los Angeles. 2025-10-28 |
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| Hunger looms as millions stand to lose food aid amid shutdown - Los Angeles Times |
| Michaela Thompson, an unemployed mother in the San Fernando Valley, relies on federal assistance to afford the specialized baby formula her 15-month-old daughter needs because of a feeding disorder. At $47 for a five-day supply, it’s out of her reach otherwise.
But with the federal shutdown blocking upcoming disbursements of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits — previously known as food stamps — Thompson said she doesn’t know how she’s going to fill her daughter’s bottles.
“It feels like the world is kind of crumbling right now,” she said. “I’m terrified for my family and my daughter.”
Millions of low-income families who rely on SNAP benefits to put food on the table in California and across the country — about 1 in 8 Americans — are confronting similar fears this week, as federal and state officials warn that November funds will not be issued without a resolution to the ongoing federal shutdown and Congress shows no sign of a breakthrough.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Tuesday that California is joining other Democrat-led states in suing the Trump administration to force SNAP payments through the use of contingency funds, but the litigation — even if successful — won’t prevent all the disruptions. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-10-28 |
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| Staffing issues trigger temporary ground stop at LAX - Los Angeles Times |
| Nearly four weeks into the federal government shutdown, a staffing shortage at Los Angeles International Airport prompted a temporary ground stop Sunday morning affecting flights at the West Coast’s largest and busiest airport.
The restriction began around 8:45 a.m., affecting departing flights for Oakland, and was lifted at 10:30 a.m., according to an FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center advisory.
The stoppage affected most of Southern California, leaving passengers experiencing flight delays of around 49 minutes, with some waiting up to 87 minutes, according to KTLA.
Even after the resumption of flights, travelers were instructed to check the status of their flights.
Since the federal shutdown began Oct. 1, the Federal Aviation Administration has warned of disruption at airports due to staff shortages. Air traffic controllers are required to work unpaid when the federal government shuts down and do not obtain retroactive pay until Congress comes to an agreement on a budget.
Less than a week into the shutdown, dozens of flights were delayed and 12 flights were canceled as Hollywood Burbank Airport’s air traffic control tower was temporarily unstaffed due to shortages. Outgoing flights were delayed an average of two hours and 31 minutes. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-10-28 |
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| LA County approves another $828 million to settle sex abuse claims | LAist |
| The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved another large settlement for hundreds of people who alleged they were abused as children while in the county’s care. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-10-28 |
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| Chi’s plan to save the city unanimously approved by Council - Santa Monica Daily Press |
| The Santa Monica City Council unanimously approved a comprehensive realignment plan Tuesday aimed at restoring public safety, revitalizing the downtown core and achieving fiscal stability by 2028, marking what officials called a pivotal moment for the coastal city's recovery from years of pandemic-era decline. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-10-28 |
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| Concerns loom as L.A. County finalizes $828-million sex abuse payout - Los Angeles Times |
| L.A. County supervisors have unanimously approved an $828-million settlement for alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse, finalizing the deal while questions mount over the legitimacy of some claims in a separate multibillion-dollar payout that they agreed to this spring.
The settlement approved Tuesday brings the county’s spending on sex abuse litigation this year to nearly $5 billion, with the bulk of that total coming from a $4-billion deal made in April to resolve thousands of claims filed by people who said they were abused decades ago in county-run juvenile detention centers and foster homes.
The latest settlement involves similar claims brought by 414 clients of three law firms who opted to negotiate separately from the rest. The $4-billion settlement initially covered roughly 6,800 claims, but has ballooned to more than 11,000.
The larger settlement has come under scrutiny after The Times found nine people who said they were paid to sue. Four said they were told to fabricate the claims. All had lawsuits filed by Downtown LA Law Group, which represents more than 2,700 clients in the first settlement. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-10-28 |
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| Exxon files lawsuit against California over climate disclosure laws, alleges free speech violations |
| ExxonMobil has filed a lawsuit against California, claiming that two state laws requiring corporate climate disclosures violate the company’s First Amendment rights.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, challenges the California Climate Accountability Package, which was passed in 2023. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-10-28 |
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| LA to double recycled water capacity at Van Nuys wastewater plant | LAist |
| The board of the L.A. Department of Water and Power voted Tuesday to nearly double the amount of water it recycles for drinking at the Donald C. Tillman Wastewater Treatment Plant in Van Nuys. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-10-28 |
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| City Rejects Sears Site Development, Defies Legal Warnings | Glendale News Press | outlooknewspapers.com |
| Despite warnings that it might face legal action and a slew of other penalties, the Glendale City Council in a 3-1 vote denied a design review application for a demolition project at the former Sears department store site at a meeting on Tuesday, Oct 21. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-10-28 |
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