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| Judge expresses concern about City of L.A.’s delay in addressing homelessness – Daily News | | A federal court judge expressed concern on Wednesday about what the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights contends is the city of Los Angeles’ apparent delay in meeting its obligations under a settlement agreement in a lawsuit concerning the homelessness crisis in the region.
In an order filed in June by U.S. District Judge David Carter, he wrote that the city has shown “a consistent lack of cooperation and responsiveness — an unwillingness to provide documentation unless compelled by court order or media scrutiny.”
During a hearing Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court, the judge heard plaintiffs’ complaints about administrative issues, including attorney’s fees, that appear to have stymied progress in the long-running case. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2025-11-12 | | | | Developer plans to add a hotel and hundreds of residences to L.A. Live - Los Angeles Times | | The owners of Crypto.com Arena and L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles have filed plans with the city to potentially add another tower to their multibillion-dollar sports and entertainment complex.
AEG last week proposed a 49-story high-rise that would hold a hotel, residences, bars and restaurants.
The tower would rise across Olympic Boulevard from L.A. Live on a corner lot on Georgia Street now used by AEG for parking.
Many planned residential and other commercial projects in Los Angeles have stalled prior to construction in recent years as developers face economic headwinds, including unfavorable interest rates and rising costs of materials and labor.
AEG, too, will not be breaking ground on this project in the near future, a company representative said.
The company’s recent land-use application, which outlined the plans, is just a “first step for a potential development” on the company’s property at 917 W. Olympic Blvd., spokesman Michael Roth said. “AEG remains optimistic about downtown’s long-term prospects and is positioning the site for future development when conditions improve.”
The application calls for a large-scale development with 364 dwelling units and 334 hotel rooms.
The 783,427-square-foot building would also include bars and restaurants on levels 1, 5 and 6, along with a restaurant/nightclub on the eighth floor.
Residents and hotel guests would share an amenity deck with a restaurant, bar, pool, spa, club room, fitness area and a dining terrace. The complex would have 666 parking spaces.
In September, the City Council approved a $2.6-billion expansion of the Convention Center despite warnings from its advisors that the project would draw taxpayer funds away from essential city services for decades to come. Mayor Karen Bass and a majority of the council believe that the project will create thousands of jobs and boost tourism and business activity, making the city more competitive on the national stage. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-11-12 | | | | City Reactivates “WeHo Responds” to Support Food Programs During Federal SNAP Shutdown - WEHOonline.com | | West Hollywood is stepping up again.
With the federal government still withholding SNAP benefits during what’s now the longest shutdown in our nation’s history, the City is reactivating WeHo Responds, a community program built for moments exactly like this. It’s in times like these, when the people we elect to keep things running — and at the very least protect systems that feed our most vulnerable neighbors — fall short, that we have to step in for each other. [Article] | | by , . 2025-11-12 | | | | Federal defense lawyers 'face financial ruin' after months without pay, memo says - Los Angeles Times | | California defense attorneys facing the threat of eviction. Some paying for case-related expenses out of pocket. Others forced to stop taking federal court appointed cases to ensure financial survival.
Defense attorneys laid out the dire circumstances in a Tuesday memo to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, noting that court-appointed private attorneys who represent indigent federal criminal defendants have been working without pay since funds ran out in July.
They urged the court to reject a memo federal prosecutors sent last month to the court, which said judges could compel attorneys to represent defendants without compensation amid concerns that defendants would not have counsel for initial appearances and detention hearings.
Lawyers on what’s known as the Criminal Justice Act panel — who step in when federal public defenders have conflicts — are paid from funds appropriated by Congress to the Judicial Branch’s Defender Services program. The program ran out of money on July 3 and the government shutdown has only drawn out the unprecedented funding lapse playing out across the country.
As a result of the lack of funding, defense attorneys have filed motions to dismiss cases and — in some cases around the country — judges have stayed criminal proceedings. In New Mexico, lawyers stopped accepting new court-appointed defense work because of the funding crisis.
“Attorneys have long been appointed to serve without compensation, and doing so presents no constitutional problem,” prosecutors wrote in their Oct. 27 memo, which also referenced the possibility of imprisonment for contempt in cases of refusal to serve. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-11-12 | | | | LA reforms rent control for first time in 40 years, lowering rent hikes for most tenants | LAist | | After more than two years of discussion and debate, the Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to significantly lower annual rent increases in most of the city’s apartments.
L.A.’s current rent control rules guarantee landlords the right to raise rents at least 3% every year. Increases can be as high as 10% in some apartments during periods of high inflation. [Article] | | by , . 2025-11-12 | | | | Coast Central Credit Union awards $150,000 in community grants across 3 counties | | Coast Central Credit Union has awarded $150,000 in community investment grants to 25 local organizations across Humboldt, Del Norte and Trinity counties as part of its Fall 2025 Community Grants Program. [Article] | | by , . 2025-11-12 | | | | L.A. City Council votes to urge Metro to halt Dodgers gondola project - Los Angeles Times | | Frank McCourt’s proposed gondola from Union Station to Dodger Stadium hit what appears to be its most significant roadblock yet on Wednesday, when the Los Angeles City Council voted to urge Metro to kill the project.
The resolution, approved by an 12-1 vote, is not in itself any kind of formal decision. It would not take effect unless Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass concurs, and Bass previously voted in favor of the project as a member of the Metro board.
But it makes clear that a City Council vote to approve the project, which is expected next year, could be an increasingly challenging hurdle for McCourt and his allies to overcome.
“This resolution tells Metro that the city of Los Angeles refuses to be bought by shiny renderings and empty promises,” councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, whose district includes Dodger Stadium, told her colleagues in Wednesday’s council meeting.
No councilmember spoke in support of the gondola.
The project requires approvals from the council, the state parks agency and Metro, which approved an environmental impact report for the project last year. A court demanded fixes to two defects in the report, and Metro is scheduled to vote next month on whether to approve the revised report.
The resolution approved Wednesday urges Metro to reject the revised report and “deny reapproval of the project.”
McCourt, the former Dodgers owner and still half-owner of the Dodger Stadium parking lots, first pitched the gondola in 2018 and later said fans would ride free. The projected construction cost is about $500 million; none of the promised private funding has been publicly identified.
“This project is an insult to our communities, and the process has been an insult to our collective intelligence,” Hernandez said. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-11-12 | | | | Human error the likely cause of South Pasadena emergency alert inadvertently sent across LA County, city official says – Daily News | | A South Pasadena test alert mistakenly sent this week to residents across the region was likely the result of human error, a city spokesperson said Wednesday. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2025-11-12 | | | | Trump wants oil drilling off the coast of California. No one else does - Los Angeles Times | | The Trump administration reportedly has plans to open the waters off California’s coast to new oil and gas drilling for the first time in four decades, drawing swift condemnation from Gov. Gavin Newsom, lawmakers and environmental groups who say it would be disastrous for the state’s environment, economy and clean energy targets.
Whether energy companies will be interested in the opportunity is another question. Experts say the resources are limited and oil producers may not clamor for leases that could ensnare them in the Golden State’s stringent environmental rules.
Oil companies have expressed interest in new offshore leases. The American Petroleum Institute and other leading oil and gas trade groups encouraged the Trump administration in a June letter to evaluate and consider all areas of the Outer Continental Shelf for oil and gas drilling, noting that “continuous exploration and drilling will be needed” to ensure long-term energy security and meet U.S. energy demands into 2050.
Southern California is of particular interest, the letter says, but “political resistance to further production has had a chilling effect on industry interest in the area.”
Officials with the Independent Petroleum Assn. of America said similarly that all areas of the Outer Continental Shelf should be evaluated through the federal government’s oil and gas leasing program.
“No area should be taken off the table before it is given full consideration,” IPAA’s chief operating officer and executive vice president Dan Naatz said in a statement. Asked whether the Pacific is an attractive prospect for oil companies, Naatz said decisions about specific areas will be made as the process proceeds.
Trump has focused heavily on increasing fossil fuel production in the United States, yet some say offering the opportunity to drill in the Pacific is more likely a political move from an administration that has repeatedly targeted California’s green ambitions.
Details of the administration’s plan are still emerging, but maps from the Bureau of Ocean Energy identify four West Coast areas, three off the coast of California and one off Oregon and Washington. The administration is planning to propose up to six offshore lease sales between 2027 and 2030, according to internal documents first reported by the Washington Post.
Officials with the U.S. Interior Department declined to comment, citing the government shutdown. Last month, the administration also announced plans to open the 1.5-million-acre coastal plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas leasing, which Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said would create jobs and strengthen U.S. energy independence. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-11-12 | | | | Employees documented abuse and filth at LA tiny home villages. Officials did next to nothing | | New evidence shows public officials and nonprofit operators have largely ignored complaints of filth, violence and drug use at publicly-funded tiny home villages in Los Angeles. [Article] | | by , . 2025-11-12 | | | | Elderly were abandoned at senior facilities during Eaton fire. Regulators slam operators - Los Angeles Times | | Forgotten amid the frantic evacuation of two senior care facilities, according to state investigators, the elderly women were left in immediate danger as the smoke and flames of the Eaton fire drew closer.
In two reports published recently by the California Department of Social Services, investigators describe the harrowing circumstances of three women who were left behind in the assisted living facilities during the deadly Jan. 7 fire.
While the women were ultimately rescued, state investigators cited both facilities for troubling lapses in care and ordered the homes to increase their emergency planning and training. Both senior care facilities have appealed the findings.
The investigations — which were triggered partly by reporting from The Times — have raised further questions about how officials prepared for and responded to the deadly firestorm, particularly with respect to elderly and disabled evacuees. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-11-12 | | | | CA Supreme Court strikes down warning on LAPD complaint forms- CalMatters | | A warning that people see before filing complaints against Los Angeles police officers creates a barrier to free speech, the California Supreme Court ruled today in a long-running lawsuit over the language.
The high court ruled 6-1 in favor of the city of Los Angeles and against the union that represents its police officers in finding that the admonishment describing penalties for filing false reports has the potential to deter “citizens from filing truthful (or at least not knowingly false) complaints of police misconduct”. [Article] | | by , CalMatters. 2025-11-12 | | | | At Brazilian climate summit, Newsom positions California as a stand-in for the U.S. - Los Angeles Times | | BELÉM, Brazil — The expansive halls of the Amazon’s newly built climate summit hub echoed with the hum of air conditioners and the footsteps of delegates from around the world — scientists, diplomats, Indigenous leaders and energy executives, all converging for two frenetic weeks of negotiations.
Then Gov. Gavin Newsom rounded the corner, flanked by staff and security. They moved in tandem through the corridors on Tuesday as media swarmed and cellphone cameras rose into the air.
“Hero!” one woman shouted. “Stay safe — we need you,” another attendee said. Others didn’t hide their confusion at who the man with slicked-back graying hair causing such a commotion was.
“I’m here because I don’t want the United States of America to be a footnote at this conference,” Newsom said when he reached a packed news conference on his first day at the United Nations climate policy summit known as COP30.
In less than a year, the United States has shifted from rallying nations on combating climate change to rejecting the science altogether under President Trump.
Newsom has engineered his own evolution when coping with Trump — moving from sharp but reasoned criticism to name-calling and theatrical attacks on the president and his Republican allies. Newsom’s approach adds fire to America’s political spectacle — part governance, part made-for-TV drama.
On Wednesday, Newsom’s trip collided with unwelcome headlines at home after his former chief of staff was arrested on federal charges alleging she siphoned $225,000 from a dormant campaign account and claimed business tax write-offs for $1 million in luxury handbags and private jet travel. Newsom had left COP30 before the indictment was revealed, which kept the focus during his whirlwind trip to Belém on his climate policies.
California’s carbon market and zero-emission mandates have given the state outsize influence at summits such as COP30, where its policies are seen as both durable and exportable. The state has invested billions in renewables, battery storage and electrifying buildings and vehicles and has cut greenhouse gas emissions by 21% since 2000 — even as its economy grew 81%.
“Absolutely,” he said when asked whether the state is in effect standing in for the United States at climate talks. “And I think the world sees us in that light, as a stable partner, a historic partner … in the absence of American leadership. And not just absence of leadership, the doubling down of stupid in terms of global leadership on clean energy.” [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-11-12 | | | | Immigrant detainees allege sexual assault by guard who got promoted - Los Angeles Times | | WASHINGTON — For more than a year, detainees at a California immigrant detention center said, they were summoned from their dorms to a lieutenant’s office late at night. Hours frequently passed, they said, before they were sent back to their dorms.
What they allege happened in the office became the subject of federal complaints, which accuse Lt. Quin, then an administrative manager, of harassing, threatening and coercing immigrants into sexual acts at the Golden State Annex in McFarland. A person with that name worked in a higher-ranking post, as chief of security, at the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana until August — the same month The Times sent questions to the company that operates the facilities.
The Department of Homeland Security said it could not substantiate the allegations. According to an attorney for one of the detainees, the California attorney general’s office opened an investigation into the matter.
Immigrant advocates point to the case as one of many allegations of abuse in U.S. immigration facilities, within a system which they say fails to properly investigate.
In three complaints reviewed by The Times that were filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), to a watchdog agency and with DHS, detainees accused Quin of sexual assault, harassment and other misconduct. The complainants initially knew the lieutenant only as “Lt. Quinn,” and he is referred to as such in the federal complaints, though the correct spelling is “Quin.”
The complaints also allege other facility staff knew about and facilitated abuse, perpetuating a culture of impunity. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-11-12 | | | | In historic vote, L.A. caps rent increases for rent-stabilized apartments at 4% - Los Angeles Times | | Los Angeles strengthened its rent stabilization law for the first time in 40 years Wednesday, setting a 4% ceiling on annual rent increases for a massive portion of the city’s housing stock.
The historic vote by the L.A. City Council will help set rents for decades to come for tenants who live in units built before 1978 — nearly half of the city’s residents. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-11-12 | | | | LA pushes policy to make it easier to remove RVs from city streets | LAist | | Los Angeles is pushing a policy change to clear RVs the city considers a problem — ones that people are living in — from city streets. The proposal is in line with a new state law allowing RVs worth less than $4,000 to be destroyed, rather than stored and sold at auction.
The change: Current California law requires cities to store any impounded vehicle worth more than $500 that someone has been living in and to sell it later at public auction. The proposed change would allow the city to impound and immediately destroy RVs worth less than $4,000, which authorities say will cut storage costs and prevent the vehicles from ending up back on the streets. [Article] | | by , . 2025-11-12 | | | | 'Herd immunity': Pushing a coastal community to become fireproof after the Palisades fire - Los Angeles Times | | Sunset Mesa, the scenic neighborhood tucked on a bluff between Malibu and Pacific Palisades, might never be the same in the wake of the Palisades fire.
But resident Karen Martinez sees one potential change as a good thing.
The January fire torched about 80% of the community’s 500 homes — almost all of them wood-framed. Now, as residents begin the long process of rebuilding, Martinez is pushing her neighbors to chuck the lumber and build with noncombustible materials instead.
The goal? The housing equivalent of herd immunity, where enough homes are fireproof that the entire community can be protected against future fires. Your home is far safer if your next-door neighbors’ houses aren’t burning down and sending fiery debris and showers of embers into the air.
The benefits of herd immunity stretch beyond fire defense; some insurance companies have signaled that they’re open to insuring more homes — at cheaper rates — in neighborhoods that feature higher percentages of fireproof homes.
For the last year, Martinez, 62, has become an evangelist for insulated composite concrete forms (ICCF), a building material made from concrete and expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam). She’s been holding Zoom meetings for neighbors, proselytizing just this month when she hosted a community potluck where 70 people watched her lay the first few Perfect Blocks of her fireproof home.
“I want people to know they have options,” Martinez said. “We don’t have to rebuild with something that’s going to burn again.” [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-11-12 | | | | Why some homeowners rebuilding from the Palisades Fire are choosing concrete | LAist | | As rebuilding from the Palisades and Eaton fires gets under way, some homeowners are choosing to build differently. Instead of the usual wood framing, they’re working with a material typically associated with freeways and skyscrapers: concrete. [Article] | | by , . 2025-11-12 | | | | South Pasadena accidentally sends emergency alert test across L.A. - Los Angeles Times | | Shortly before 6 p.m. Tuesday, phones across Los Angeles County lighted up with an emergency alert test, the latest example of challenges that government officials are experiencing with wireless emergency alert systems.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many people received the errant alert from South Pasadena, which read, “This is a test of the South Pasadena WEA system. There is no emergency.” South Pasadena officials said the test was supposed to remain in the city’s internal system but was mistakenly transmitted to the public. L.A. Times employees in Long Beach, downtown L.A. and Redondo Beach reported receiving the test. [Article] | | by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-11-12 | | | | Los Angeles County Sustainability Plan: A Roadmap for Action | | The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adopted the 2025 OurCounty Sustainability Plan on Tuesday, establishing what officials call the nation's most ambitious regional roadmap for environmental action with 179 action items designed to enhance community well-being and resilience. [Article] | | by , . 2025-11-12 | | |
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