Details about the dark money network in Los Angeles were first shared by Rob Quan, including images of the mailers and billboards 

Mike followed up and dives much deeper for a piece in Think Forward

CalMatters wrote about the emergence of “Govern for California” as a political force back in 2022

Nielsen Werkasamer, the law firm at the hub of the dark money network, played a key role in ousting progressive officials in San Francisco like DA Chesa Boudin, and flipping control of SF City Hall

The law firm also played a key role in passage and defense of Proposition 22, the 2020 ballot measure that stripped workers rights for Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash drivers

The local arms of the dark money network are Vibrant LA and Neighbors First, which have websites that tell you zilch about who they are

In the 2024 Los Angeles elections, a local network called Thrive LA emerged to try to knock out progressive candidates. (They’re still around.) A piece in The Nation co-authored by Mike covered the story in depth

LA’s Housing Department is proposing an allocation of $360 million in Measure ULA money to fund 80 projects, construction of 1,528 new units and repairs to more than 2,500 affordable units

Anti-tax groups like the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the California Business Roundtable submitted 1.3 million signatures for ballot measure that would require two-thirds vote for local special taxes, cap transfer taxes at 0.11%, and repeal all the transfer taxes that exceed that cap

LA’s City Council formed a new Ad Hoc Committee to consider reforms to Measure ULA, and is studying potential impacts of changes. Critics of ULA say the potential changes do not go far enough

In Long Beach, a coalition of renter advocates and firefighters are pushing a proposal to tax wealthy homeowners to pay for road repairs, new housing, and new fire stations. Advocates call it the ‘fair share’ tax proposal

Listen to this week’s episodes of What’s Next, Los Angeles, featuring interviews with gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer, and Raymond Meza, chair of the LA City Charter Reform Commission. And don’t miss recent interviews with LA mayoral candidates Nithya Raman, Rae Huang, and Adam Miller (Apple Podcasts, Spotify)

This week’s episode was produced by Sophie Bridges.

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Mike Bonin is the executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at CalState LA, and can be found at @mikebonin on Instagram and @mikebonin.bsky.social on Bluesky

Rachel Reyes is an LA native and community organizer. Follow her advocacy and antics at @rchrys on Instagram

Laura Raymond works on housing campaigns and strategic initiatives in Los Angeles at ljraymondstrategies.com

Metro’s approval of the K Line northern extension promises to fill a missing link in the region’s network, connecting Hollywood Bowl, West Hollywood, Cedars-Sinai, and the Grove, different rail lines, as well as major bus lines, by 2040

The project was approved after a dramatic week of negotiations, protests, and public advocacy, with transit advocates warning Bass was trying to delay or kill the project. Bass strongly objected to the characterization but her public statements only exacerbated the fears

Bass tried to calm the residents of Lafayette Square, a historically Black neighborhood worried about the impacts of tunneling, comparing the K Line to the history of nearby Sugar Hill, an affluent Black neighborhood that was devastated by the construction of the 10 Freeway

Although Bass and Supervisor Lindsey Horvath – one of the project’s biggest champions –  reached a kumbaya moment and jointly claimed credit for progress on the project, it felt like yet another chapter in an ongoing feud between the two public officials

LA Material: “Why is everyone so mad about Metro’s K Line extension vote?” 

New polls in the mayor’s race show Bass struggling in her bid to win a second term. A poll from LMU’s Center for the Study of Los Angeles put Nithya Raman in first place by nearly two-to-one, with the mayor only .4% ahead of community organizer Rae Huang. The poll’s methodology was controversial, and many decried it as an outlier

UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs released its own poll, showing Bass with 25%, ahead of Spencer Pratt with 11%, Raman with 9% and Huang and Adam Miller with 3% each. The Luskin poll showed 40% undecided

Jim Newton on the potential Bass-Pratt runoff at CalMatters: “Top-two race in Los Angeles makes strange political bedfellows”

When Controller Kenneth Mejia’s campaign qualified for and received public matching funds, challenger Zack Sokoloff said he was exploiting a loophole in the program’s rules and tried to block Mejia’s access to the funds. Liz Chou of LA Reporter talked to Zokoloff’s campaign consultant

The LA Times published a story about CD 9 candidate Esturado Mazariegos’s 2009 arrest on a gun charge – a story opponent Jose Ugarte had been hinting about on What’s Next, Los Angeles last fall – but Mazariegos shared an emotional story about how the arrest was a turning point in his life and prompted him to turn to activism and public service

As election season heats up, be sure to listen to subscribe to Mike’s podcast What’s Next, Los Angeles to hear interviews with candidates all over LA County

Support What’s Next, Los Angeles and LA Podcast by becoming a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la. We’re already planning our next paid subscribers-only event! 

This week’s episode was produced by Kristen Torres

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Scott Frazier is an original co-host of LA Podcast 

Mike Bonin is the Executive Director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at CalState LA, and can be found at @mikebonin on Instagram or @mikebonin.bsky.social

Godfrey Plata is the Deputy Director of LA Forward and can be found at @godfreyplata on Instagram

LADWP CEO Janisse Quiñones stepped down earlier this month to return to Puerto Rico and work on modernizing the grid

Sammy’s excellent story about Quiñones leaving describes the role as “one of the most important roles in global climate policy” — and she helped push forward that vision

LA Mayor Karen Bass named David Hanson as interim director. He’s worked at DWP two decades, starting as an electrical mechanic

The LADWP board has almost completely turned over under Bass, and, in addition, four out of five of her Fire Commissioners have also stepped down

If you want to catch up on LA’s clean energy goals and all the various colors of hydrogen, listen to the last episode where Sammy joined us

The LA Local: “Bass orders 60,000 streetlights to get solar upgrade in 2-year plan”

Meanwhile, LA’s City Council advanced a plan to raise streetlight assessments, with ballots going out April 17

And Councilmembers Katy Yaroslavsky and Eunisses Hernandez announced their own “solar surge”

A general reminder to read India Mandelkern’s excellent book: Electric Moons: A Social History of Street Lighting in Los Angeles

Watch the first LA mayoral debate sponsored by Streets for All and Housing Action Coalition. It was unusually friendly turf for a candidate — one of the moderators used to work for Nithya and the other helped recruit Nithya to rum for mayor

So far, only Rae Huang has a climate platform

Nithya Raman is talking about parks as a neighborhood-cooling solution — and look at those Griffith Park bike lanes!

Raman was also removed from the AQMD board by Bass just before she declared for mayor, and just after this bizarre vote where an AI-powered campaign bot sent 20,000 emails and helped defeat a motion to phase out gas-powered appliances (Raman voted yes, but it failed)

Watch Sammy’s climate forum with governor candidates and read his take on the governor’s race

Politico: “Tom Steyer’s climate pivot signals new playbook for Dems”

LA Material: “Why USC Really Spiked the Gubernatorial Debate”

Alissa’s quoted in Bill Shaikin’s LA Times story on walking to Dodger Stadium

As election season heats up, be sure to listen to subscribe to Mike’s podcast What’s Next, Los Angeles to hear interviews with candidates all over LA County

And support What’s Next, Los Angeles and LA Podcast by becoming a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la. We’re already planning our next paid subscribers-only event 

This week’s episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

Alissa Walker writes the newsletter Torched

Mike Bonin is the executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at CalState LA

Sammy Roth writes the newsletter Climate-Colored Goggles

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

If you or someone you know is dealing with sexual abuse, please reach out to RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline. Help is available 24/7 by texting HOPE to 64673

The New York Times: “Cesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years”

“I am nearly 96 years old, and for the last 60 years have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for,” Dolores Huerta wrote in her statement

Before the NY Times story dropped, United Farm Workers issued a statement Tuesday canceling all Cesar Chavez Day related activities: “Far more troubling are allegations involving abuse of young women or minors. Allegations that very young women or girls may have been victimized are crushing”

The Los Angeles Times, also published a story before the NY Times story: “’Profoundly shocking' allegations against Cesar Chavez spark soul-searching in movement

Change was swift: Supervisor Janice Hahn was the first to call for a renaming of the March 31 holiday celebrating Chavez’s birthday; California House Speaker Robert Rivas introduced the legislation to change the name to Farmworkers Day that day, and LA Mayor Karen Bass held press conference also calling for a change to Farm Workers Day

“As the UFW looks to move forward, with an understanding of Chavez’s conduct that contradicts his longtime use as a symbol, perhaps they can look to feminism for guidance. Feminists, after all, have learned how to commit to a principle even as one must discard a cult of personality,” Moira Donegan wrote for The Guardian

Meanwhile, UFW held a rally at a federal courthouse in Fresno to protest the Trump administration cutting farmworker pay

Many Boyle Heights residents didn’t want Brooklyn Avenue to be named for Chavez in the first place

Statues boxed, signs covered, murals defaced or repainted: the erasure of Chavez’s name and likeness from public space was just as swift

“Everything should be named for the martyrs of the Farm Workers Movement. Every street should be named after them,” Huerta told Latino USA

LAist: “LAUSD's teacher and staff unions will strike if no deal is reached by mid-April”

“One undisputed example of contracts that went awry is $6 million allotted to AllHere, a tech startup that was hired to design an all-purpose, artificial intelligence chatbot for L.A. Unified. The district spent about $3 million of that contract for a chatbot that was never fully deployed and quickly withdrawn from service when AllHere collapsed financially,” reports the LA Times 

The FBI hasn’t commented on why Superintendent Alberto Carvalho was detained and investigated — and handcuffed outside his home — but sources have said it’s because of the AllHere chatbot contract

One reason LAUSD’s budget is in trouble is due to payouts for sexual misconduct and abuse cases

This week’s episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Our LA Podcast party for paid Think Forward subscribers is coming up this Saturday, March 21! Subscribe today at ThinkForward.la to join us

Alissa, Rachel, and Mike discuss LA city’s six-year journey to end the racist and ineffective practice of pretextual stops by police. For the first time in a decade, the number of homeless people who died in LA County went down, not up; from a high of seven deaths per day to six deaths per day. Then: the Noma pop-up in Silver Lake is protested after allegations of abuse by Danish chef René Redzepi resurface, fueling a reckoning over how restaurants treat workers.

Our LA Podcast party for paid subscribers is coming up this Saturday, March 21! Subscribe now to join us. Here’s a personal plea from Alissa

LAist: “Black and Latino Angelenos are overrepresented in traffic stops used to investigate serious crimes”

The city’s Chief Legislative Analyst office report noted Black people made up one third of all pretextual stops, despite being only 8% of the city’s population. LAPD released its own report, and Catalyst California released a report showing the ineffectiveness of such stops

Meanwhile, traffic enforcement of actually dangerous driving has decreased since 2020

Listen to Mike’s interview with Chauncee Smith of Catalyst California and Leslie Cooper Johnson of the Community Coalition

NACTO’s 2020 statement: “The harassment and injustice that people of color, particularly Black people, experience at the hands of law enforcement on transit and in streets and public spaces is unacceptable and wrong”

During a joint hearing of the transportation and unarmed response committees, Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson testified that he had been stopped four times in a city vehicle, including the previous Wednesday

A new poll shows LA Mayor Karen Bass is polling very poorly for an incumbent, with just 20% support

Read the LA County Department of Public Health report: “Lives Lost : Mortality Trends and Prevention Opportunities For People Experiencing Homelessness in LA County, 2015-2024”

The Guardian: ​​”LA county reports first drop in deaths of unhoused people in a decade”

But as the LA Times reports, “health officials warn that steep cuts to federal and state homeless services threaten to reverse the progress achieved over the last two years”

LA City Council had to overrule City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto to fund $107 million in tenant aid after her office tried to end the Legal Aid Foundation contract

Watch Feldstein Soto’s very disingenuous campaign video claiming she supports renters

The famous Copenhagen restaurant Noma was just about to start an LA pop-up for $1500 a person when new allegations surfaced about chef René Redzepi

Former Noma employee Jason Ignacio White has been collecting allegations of abuse from workers on his Instagram

Protests at Noma LA have been organized with One Fair Wage, which has been fair wages for restaurant workers

Eater LA: “Noma LA Sponsors Exit Amid Abuse Allegations”

Redzepi stepped away from Noma — posting a statement and video — but the protests have continued

LA Times food critic Jenn Harris wrote that she would not review Noma LA. “Normally, an event of this scale would warrant coverage. Instead, I found myself making no plans to attend, and even rethinking how I approach my job”

As Meghan McCarron and Julia Moskin write at the New York Times, local chefs were promised spillover economic impact by Noma coming to town that never really happened. And some of them have joined the protests

This episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

COME PARTY WITH US! Join all the LA Podcast co-hosts and producers on Saturday, March 21! This gathering is exclusively for paid subscribers so sign up today at thinkforward.la to get the invite

Godfrey is quoted in this LAist story by Frank Stoltze: “LA commission recommends expanding City Council power over LAPD”

Meanwhile, even some commissioners are expressing confusion about the significance of the recommendation

The commission originally punted on the issue entirely before facing pushback from the public, advocacy organizations, and Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martinez, who wrote letters proposing specific and significant reforms

The debate over whether the City Council can set policy for the LAPD gained new energy when Chief Jim McDonnell flatly stated he would not enforce a law against immigration agents wearing masks, and a later executive order from Mayor Karen Bass instructing LAPD to enforce the ban and train their body cameras on immigration operations. A recent Police Commission meeting revealed LAPD’s enforcement of the mayor’s orders has been minimal

The subject of police liability — and police immunity — is covered by UCLA’s Joanna Schwartz in her excellent book Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable

The commission has also been looking at ways to rein in LAPD liability costs, which have resulted in massive taxpayer-funded settlements, as often highlighted by the City Controller

City Controller Kenneth Mejia has been marshaling public support on social media to fight back against efforts to limit his power, including the suggestion to add a CFO

Public comment was overwhelmed with over 1,000 pages of written comments supporting Mejia’s agenda after he issued pleas to back his recommendations

Mejia has also been pushing for expanded resources and greater oversight of other elected officials at the same time. Here's more on his vision — including a Capital Infrastructure Plan! — on Spectrum's "Inside the Issues," and his history of LA's budget priorities

You can watch the full March 7 charter commission meeting hearing here

A mixed-status family is a household with members holding different citizenship or immigration statuses, often consisting of U.S. citizen children living with undocumented parents or relatives. A new proposed regulation from the Trump administration to deny these households rent subsidies could have a devastating impact on families living in public housing or using federal housing vouchers. More than one-third of those families are in California

Capital & Main: “Community organizers in Los Angeles are rallying in opposition to a Trump administration rule that they say will displace and fracture immigrant families, increase homelessness and potentially throttle rent collections to the point that local housing authorities might be forced to shutter some of their stock”

LA officials are fighting the policy, warning it could force 1,700 local families into homelessness

Weigh in on the proposed policy by making a public comment or attending one of many virtual teach-ins organized by Keep Families Together, and you can also sign up for email updates

California voters may get a chance to impose a one-time 5% tax on the state’s estimated 200 billionaires in November. The proposal is dividing Democrats, and causing concern the uber rich may flee the state

LA Forward, CHIRLA and dozens of other groups are planning a mass mobilization, LA Strikes Back: A Call to Action, this Saturday, March 14 at 9 a.m. at LA Trade Tech College. Details and registration here

This episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Join all the LA Podcast co-hosts and producers on Saturday, March 21! This gathering is exclusively for paid subscribers so sign up today at thinkforward.la.

Here are the full CADEM endorsement results

CalMatters: “CA Democrats can’t agree on endorsement for governor. Will Republicans benefit?”

Columnists like the Los Angeles Times’ George Skelton are arguing for some Democratic candidates to drop out

Watch Mike’s video which provides the critical analysis that the candidates being urged to drop out are almost all people of color

Meanwhile, the race for insurance commissioner is interesting, but who would want this job?

An early morning FBI raid of LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho’s home and office appears to be tied to an AI chatbot that Carvalho championed

The chatbot, named Ed, was made by the company AllHere which collapsed in 2024 when its CEO was indicted for defrauding investors. Carvalho said he’d set up a task force to investigate the company but never did

After meeting for a total of seven hours, the LAUSD school board placed Carvalho on paid leave and named Chief of School Operations Andres Chait as interim superintendent

SEIU Local 99, which represents educational workers, put out a statement calling for more accountability. SEIU Local 99 and UTLA had previously planned a rally on March 18 to draw attention to proposed layoffs

Harbor Peace Patrols first broke the news of Carvalho’s home being raided. The group which had formed to track immigration raids staging on Terminal Island recently celebrated a win when federal agents packed up their operations

The Graffiti Ghost Towers are being bought by developer Kali P. Chaudhuri — but he doesn’t want to save the graffiti

Artist Sayre Gomez built an astonishing sculpture of the towers

Unfortunately for Alissa’s 2025 predictions, but fortunately for everyone else, the D line extension is finally opening on May 8!

But the even bigger news was that Metro made ‘Ride the D’ shirts and the internet went wild

Alissa wrote about the astonishing demand for ‘Ride the D’ t-shirts

Some LA City charter reform recommendations are moving forward, including expanding the council to 25 members and ranked choice voting starting in 2032

Plus, LA City Council votes to make Unarmed Crisis Response a permanent city program. But $40 million a year is needed to make the program citywide

This episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Coming up on Saturday, March 21 –a fun gathering exclusively for paid subscribers with LA Podcast co-hosts and producers! Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la to join us and to keep this podcast coming out every week

Melrose stores flooded again and business owners are blaming the city’s lack of response. Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky is calling for an investigation: "The response was delayed, inadequate, and local businesses were left dealing with flooding and damage”

Elsewhere: food delivery bots can’t swim, Santa Monica channel in Rustic Canyon lost all its concrete, Trader Joe’s parking lot floods store in Silver Lake

Alissa would like to remind everyone we would have had stormwater gardens to stop the flooding on Melrose if former councilmember Paul Koretz hadn’t killed the Uplift Melrose project

The new DepaveLA study from Accelerate Resilience LA shows that LA County contains 488 square miles of pavement — that’s about the size of the city of LA — and nearly half of it may be unnecessary

Accelerate Resilience LA’s Devon Provo writes about LA County’s sustainability plan, which calls for “the first explicit depaving target from a major U.S. public agency, signaling an emerging shift in how policymakers are rethinking infrastructure” — but it’s only 1,600 acres by 2045

There are incentives for property owners to reduce impermeable surfaces through Measure W, also known as the Safe Clean Water Program

Flooding happens pretty much exactly where we paved over old creeks, which are easy to see thanks to maps from UC Irvine’s Flood Lab that show flood risk. Unsurprisingly, LA’s Black communities would be hit the hardest in a major flood

Last Friday, after dozens of the artists he represents fled his agency due to his ties with sex traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Casey Wasserman announced he was selling his entire company and issued a heartfelt apology to his employees

Yet he will stay on as LA28 chair, because the board voted to keep him. Here’s a really good Guardian story that sums it all up, with some very angry quotes from Councilmember Monica Rodriguez

Alissa wrote about “LA28's big gamble” over at Torched

LA Mayor Karen Bass finally said she thought Wasserman should step down

CNN: LA mayor calls for head of 2028 Olympics to step down over Epstein ties 

West Hollywood had a rally with survivors and Councilmember John Erickson said he was introducing a resolution to call for Wasserman’s resignation

More state representatives have called on Wasserman to resign, including a statement from the LA County delegation (although some said they didn’t know they were signed on)

Sports Illustrated’s Michael Rosenberg puts the emails in context and argues why Wasserman is a liability

NOlympics LA: LA28 Chair Casey Wasserman: A Lifelong Pattern of Abuse 

LAist: “How much housing is LA actually building?”

LA’s planning department has delivered a plan to delay SB79 effectuation (also in StoryMap form), the new state law requiring cities to build more (as in taller and denser) housing around high-quality transit stops

Come learn about SB79 implementation on Thursday evening and why LA Forward, Abundant Housing LA, and others are supporting Option C in the planning department's proposal

Meanwhile, Beverly Hills has a thoughtful plan to reluctantly implement SB79 (which the city only has to do for a ¼-mile area around at the three new D line stations) 

Although Beverly Hills is also forced to approve multiple “builders remedy” projects because the city didn’t build enough housing

This episode was produced by Sophie Bridges (allegedly)

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la to keep this podcast weekly. A fun gathering exclusively for paid subscribers with LA Pod co-hosts and producers is coming up Saturday, March 21!

New York Times: “Rising Progressive Star Shakes Up Race for Los Angeles Mayor”

Here’s Raman’s campaign video and her first TV interview with NBC LA’s Conan Nolan

LA Daily News: “Nithya Raman’s entry tests Karen Bass from the left in Los Angeles mayoral race”

More reaction stories from the Los Angeles Times and Politico

“Now is not the time for distractions from a political opportunist — especially one who backed the Mayor’s re-election campaign just weeks ago,” said Yvonne Wheeler, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO told the LA Times

“As Raman scrambles to build a campaign apparatus before the June election, Bass’ supporters have rallied around the embattled incumbent with fresh energy and barely-veiled fury,” writes Melanie Mason at Politico (includes a quote from Mike!)

LA Times: “The record of Nithya Raman, L.A. mayoral candidate, may surprise you”

Meanwhile, mayoral candidate Rev. Rae Huang got her mic cut at a charter reform meeting about LAPD reform

One of Raman’s key platform planks is addressing the city’s streetlight outages. While some councilmembers might prefer dark skies, the truth is that the city needs to raise the streetlight district assessments not increased the 1990s — and Raman has already been messaging this reality to her constituents

Read Alissa’s story at Torched about the new SAJE report looking at the financial risks of hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games and how the city could turn a bad deal into a less-bad one

And if you need a refresher about who, exactly, is running for mayor, check out Mike’s video about the five front-runners

In response to questioning about the Epstein files from Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Attorney General Pam Bondi went off on a bizarre tangent: “Her district includes Culver City, and she’s not talking about any crime in her districts”

“Kamlager-Dove shrugged off Bondi’s comment, saying Culver City was known for “breakfast burritos — not crime,” reports the LA Times

“The first thing I thought was, ‘What is she talking about?’ said Bryan Fish, the vice mayor of Culver City, whom everyone calls Bubba but doesn’t look like someone whom everyone calls Bubba. ‘The only crime here,’ he added, ‘is like the $18 strawberry at Erewhon,” reports the New York Times

Yes, Culver City actually bought a gun store and they’re turning it into 67 units of affordable housing with a preference for teachers

This episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

At a press conference, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell “described two state laws that were passed by the state legislature in response to the ICE raids — one banning face coverings, the other requiring law enforcement officers to identify themselves — as ‘not a good public policy decision,’” LA Taco reports

Mike writes about how McDonnell is setting the city back: “In his 15 months as chief, McDonnell has consistently shown contempt for civilian authority, tolerance for police violence, hostility toward the press, and a drive to militarize LAPD under the guise of mega-event security. He is rebuilding the old LAPD that had only recently been partially dismantled.”

After deadly shootings, ICE says it will start using body cameras for transparency (where have we heard that before?). Read Copaganda’s Alex Karakatsanis on why body cameras are bad, actually

Attorneys for Keith Porter, Jr.’s family are calling for an investigation of his murder at the hands of an off-duty ICE agent

Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were two of four Black journalists detained after covering a protest in St. Paul. Lemon talked more about his arrest on his YouTube channel. ”We’re having a constitutional crisis,” Fort said on Democracy Now!

LA Mayor Karen Bass was publicly defending Lemon but hasn’t defended journalists arrested by LAPD at protests, including LA Taco reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray who was detained by LAPD at a protest in downtown the same weekend

Adam Rose, deputy director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, was out sounding the alarm about these arrests and had some very harsh words for Bass

Bass delivered her first of two State of the City addresses: here’s the address as delivered and here’s Alissa’s thread from the event

LA28 chair Casey Wasserman is facing calls to resign due to associations with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell revealed in the latest Department of Justice release

Bass declined to call for Wasserman’s resignation, saying instead: “Ultimately, any decision on the LA28 leadership must be made by the LA28 Board. As you know, they are a separate and independent nonprofit organization."

Alissa’s tracking which elected officials, organizations, and clients are calling for Wasserman to step down

Lindsey Horvath and Monica Rodriguez both went on TV calling for Wasserman to step down

And yes, after we recorded, Horvath opted not to run for LA mayor, but, in a huge surprise, Councilmember Nithya Raman did. We’ll talk about that more next week

This episode was produced by Kristen Torres

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la  to keep this podcast weekly! A fun gathering exclusively for paid subscribers is coming up Saturday, March 21!

LA Taco’s Daily Memo for Wednesday, January 28: “There was a time when 25-40 was the total number of incidents I’d report for a whole week; they just did that in one day”

“What we’re seeing now are large numbers of officers to grab anywhere from one to five people, not necessarily questioning them, and then moving out as quickly as possible,” Juan Pablo Orjuela-Parra, an organizer with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, told the Los Angeles Times

TPM: ICE not only looks and acts like a paramilitary — it is one

Gavin, wyd? “California has cooperated with more ICE transfers probably than any other state in the country,” California’s governor told Ben Shapiro

Meanwhile progressive district attorneys — meaning: not LA’s DA — are banding together to prosecute federal agents: “The group launched Wednesday and calls itself Fight Against Federal Overreach, or FAFO”

Highland Park is testing out air raid sirens for ICE raids

There’s another community defense training Saturday, February 7 at 11 a.m.; here’s how to sign up

Kim Kelly on the difference between a general strike and a national shutdown

Yes, ICE is going to the Winter Olympics. Yes, it’s also kind of horribly normal for U.S. law enforcement to be involved in the Olympics — does everyone remember when the LAPD got special permission to carry guns in Paris during the 2024 Summer Olympics? 

“ICE, NO GRAZIE!”

LAist’s Libby Rainey reported on potential plans to clear unhoused people from around sports venues ahead of megaevents

Will LA see a boycott in 2028? Will LA see a boycott this summer?

Alissa’s Torched piece focused on “hospitality houses” in what feels like the least hospitable possible environment — and she also reported on the World Cup fan zones announcement

Speaking of cognitive dissonance, how about that Home Depot World Cup sponsorship deal?

LA Mayor Karen Bass is giving two State of the City addresses; one is Monday, February 2, watch it here

Finally, remembering the Skid Row outreach legend Shirley Raines who died at 58

Tune in Tuesday, February 3 at 7 p.m. for a Measure G teach-in to learn the latest news about LA County’s charter reform initiative

This episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la to keep this podcast weekly! Subscribers-only event is coming soon!

2025 was a pivotal year for housing legislation in California and Los Angeles, with a slew of new laws and rules taking effect this year to spur housing construction — and the coming year might see even more, as KQED reports

Politico’s Liam Dillon reports on LA’s latest strategy to stop/subvert SB 79, the new state law allowing more density in transit-rich areas. Metro also weighed in against SB 79, expressing concern that transit-oriented housing creates opposition to new transit. Reminder to Metro board members that building housing near transit increases transit ridership, which you think would be their goal? 

Metro also voted on this as they approved the Sepulveda subway and potentially stall the C line extension to Torrance. Time to dissolve (or seriously reform) the Metro board?

Liam also reports on the high-stakes staredown between the state and the city trying to kill affordable housing in Venice

Meanwhile, YIMBY Law has filed a lawsuit to overturn Gavin Newsom’s executive order blocking SB 9, which would allow new duplexes, in Pacific Palisades

The fight over Measure ULA has been brewing for months. Affordable housing advocates proclaim success with more than $1 billion raised. Opponents of the measure contend it’s killing development of multifamily housing in Los Angeles.  Conflicting reports — even in the same publication — argue new apartment construction is down and that multifamily investment is on the rebound

Councilmember Nithya Raman, a longtime supporter of Measure ULA, is proposing a ballot measure to exempt multifamily and commercial housing from the transfer tax for 15 years after construction. Raman’s proposal is getting a lot of attention. The council has until February 11 to put something on the June ballot

State lawmakers are mulling a proposal to put a $10 billion affordable housing bond before voters in November

LA’s Charter Reform Commission is weeding through various proposals. If you can’t find anything to binge on Netflix, watch the full 6 hour, 22 minute meeting — the commission is likely to recommend expanding the size of the City Council from 15 to 23 

The commission also seems poised to recommend lowering the voting age for Los Angeles city and LAUSD elections to 16.  There is a national movement to lower the voting age and extend the franchise to 1-6 and 17-year-olds. Liz Chou recently looked at the issue in her LA Reporter newsletter. A ballot measure to lower the threshold to 16 in Culver City failed narrowly last year, getting 49.5% of the vote

Here’s the Charter Reform Commission website. Stay involved with LA Forward’s governance reform and CIP working groups. Topics coming up: police reform; the removal/replacement of elected officials for misconduct; establishment of a 2-year budget cycle, ethics, and neighborhood councils

California wildlife officials are considering listing mountain lions as threatened. Advocates of the protected status point to the hazards encountered by LA’s beloved Hollywood Hills mountain lion, P-22

In 2022, the wealthy Northern California town of Woodside declared its entire jurisdiction a mountain lion habitat to pause all new housing projects under SB 9 — yep, the same duplex bill that’s being exempted in Palisades — but the decision was later reversed

This week’s episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la to keep LA Pod going. Subscribers-only event coming soon! 

“Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King, Jr.

On New Year’s Eve, Keith Porter Jr. was killed by off-duty ICE agent Brian Palacios in Northridge, and vigils were held across the city this past week

There’s just so much to protest! An anti-ICE protester was blinded by a DHS agent in Santa Ana

Meanwhile a new LA City Council motion that advanced would require LAPD to adopt tactics like a “graded response” model

ICE raids seem to be intensifying: 10 people were taken across 8 Echo Park locations in 3 hours. Read Blood in the Machine and 404 Media on how tech companies like Palantir are finding neighborhoods to raid

Sign up for the Community Self Defense Coalition patrols training and share the information on Instagram

Read the Metro ambassador report from UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies

Streetsblog LA: “UCLA Study Finds Metro Transit Ambassador Program Is Benefitting Metro Riders”

And the monorail option for the Sepulveda Pass project MIGHT ACTUALLY BE DEAD but keep your calls coming — Modified Alternative 5 is up for a full Metro board vote this week

Nick Andert’s video shows how they picked a hybrid option that’s pretty cool actually

LA’s city charter reform process held “the purge” last weekend, where certain reforms are starting to be taken off the table. Here’s the Charter Reform Commission website and a way to join the conversation at Rethink LA

Here’s a great policy document with proposed reforms for LA’s Capital Infrastructure Program — a 5 year outlook and 2 year budget, to start!

Stay involved with LA Forward’s governance reform and CIP working groups

Finally: we’re out of drought after 25 years! Check our progress with Cal Matters’ 2026 California Water Tracker 

This week’s episode was produced by Kristen Torres

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Our first subscriber-only event will be held in 2026! Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la and you’ll be the first to know the details

“It wasn’t an act of nature. It wasn’t some ‘storm of the century.’ And it wasn’t climate change, and don’t let anybody try to tell you otherwise.” Yep, that’s Councilmember Traci Park at the "They Let Us Burn" rally on the anniversary of the fires. Recent LA Podcast guest co-host Sammy Roth wrote a whole story about Park’s climate denial

At the same rally, reality TV star Spencer Pratt announced he was running for LA mayor at what ended up being a very MAGA Palisades rally (but Pratt can’t give interviews until February?)

Mike talked to the Los Angeles Times about Pratt: “If you look at the model of who he is as a candidate, it’s similar to Trump: the reality television background; his most visible communication presence is on Twitter, just as Trump’s was. And he’s sort of developing a candidacy around frustration and blowing the system up, just like Trump did.” Mike also said Pratt’s entry into the race could be “perilous” for Bass.

LA Mayor Karen Bass did not go out in public the entire day on January 7

Read Mariel’s piece: “14 ways fire victims were failed by government at all levels”

LAFD Chief Jaime Moore accepted responsibility for the watered-down after-action report but then news broke that Bass’s office might have been trying to make changes? Sorry, refinements

LA Times: “Anger overflows in west Altadena: Where is the accountability for 19 deaths, epic losses?”

Supervisor Lindsey Horvath made it sound even more like she’s running for mayor in an interview with CNN’s Elex Michaelson (here’s the transcript)

Watch Gavin Newsom’s final State of the State address, with coverage from Politico and commentary by CalMatters’ Dan Walters

Why Mariel is excited about a wide-open governor’s race

The New York Post officially announced the California Post is launching at the end of the month

But lots of other new local publications are launching, like Golden State, the LA Local, and LA Reported 

This week’s episode was produced by Kristen Torres

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Our first subscriber-only event will be held in 2026! Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la and you’ll be the first to know the details

Listen to Kate’s Rebuilding LA podcast

Although the death toll for the firestorms is officially 31 — revised up in July when additional remains were found west of Lake Avenue in Altadena — a recent study estimated that up to 440 people died due to the dangers of wildfire smoke

One (1) house has been rebuilt in each burn area, although the completed Palisades home is actually a spec house that was built by a developer with demolition permits that had been approved on the morning of the fires. Additionally, an ADU was completed in November that received the first certificate of occupancy in Altadena

As of mid-December, permits have been issued for 16 percent of the homes destroyed in Altadena and 14 percent of the homes in Pacific Palisades. Even though permitting is starting to pick up survivors are facing challenges like city rebuilding fees 

LAist: “Investors are buying close to half the empty lots in LA burn zones, report says”

Listen to Kate’s conversation with Greenline’s Jasmin Shupper, who is trying to help Black homeowners and business owners hold onto their Altadena properties through land banking and other alternative financing models

Washington Post: “A year later, Altadena fire survivors confront hard choices about housing”

Meanwhile, the Palisades mobile home community is just now getting its debris cleared

The big after-action LAFD report that we talked about last time was described as “watered down,” “highly unprofessional,” and, finally, deemed a “cover up” by fire experts in a bombshell LA Times investigation. And LAFD is also impugned in new text messages that showed questions about the presence of native plants might have impeded the mop up of the Lachman Fire

Listen to Kate’s conversation with Councilmember Traci Park, who told Kate councilmembers are not briefed on deployment: “I certainly don't get a briefing anytime the fire department or LAPD are called into action”

There are allegations that FEMA has been clearing lots sloppily and dumping debris illegally, without enough soil testing. And an absolutely devastating report from the New York Times shows families going back into smoke-damaged homes insurance companies said were fine and finding lead levels 27 times the federal limit 

The LA Times also has an investigation into California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s campaign finance and ethical violations and why the state’s insurance system failed so spectacularly

Kate also looked into where the FireAid concert money ended up

Alissa wrote about the failure to create a Resilient Rebuilding Authority for the Los Angeles Review of Architecture

Kate’s spoke with Cal Poly Pomona professor Nicole Lambrou about social infrastructure. Read Lambrou’s Zocalo piece: “How do you rebuild community after wildfire?”

The annual relighting of Altadena’s Christmas Tree Lane and how the majestic deodar cedars may have saved the houses below

This week’s episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Our first subscriber-only event will be held in 2026! Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la and you’ll be the first to know the details

Check out last year’s end-of-the-year show to see what we got right (and wrong)

LA Mayor Karen Bass started 2025 seemingly invincible and after missteps, reversals, and delays now seems politically vulnerable

Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky had an incredible year challenging the status quo of LA’s fiscal woes. Here’s her final speech of 2025, captured by Unrig LA: “Public safety is about more than police... it's about having enough money to paint our own damn crosswalks and not having rogue volunteers doing it for us”

Local journalism flourished in the face of adversity: LA Taco, The LA Local, Boyle Heights Beat, The LA Reporter, Mar Vista Voice, Golden State, Streetsblog LA, and Alissa’s mega-event newsletter Torched — with more new publications still to come

Six local publications banded together to cover ICE: LA Public Press, Caló News, Capital & Main, Capital B, LA Taco, and Q Voice

Revisiting Emily Baumgaertner Nunn’s New York Times investigationabout the Blade, the 50-block sex-trafficking corridor on LA’s Figueroa Street

City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto is facing a new alleged ethical breach after a declaration in CA superior court accuses her of contacting an expert witness in a case against the city and asking him for a campaign contribution. The lawsuit spurred a major LA Times investigation about reckless LAPD driving. The case was settled for $18 million, “thought to be the most city taxpayers have ever paid to resolve a police collision case”

Feldstein Soto also put another major campaign donor, Mark Adams, in charge of the Skid Row Housing Trust as it was dissolving, only to remove him later

Last year, a city attorney who works for Feldstein Soto filed a declaration saying she prosecuted people based on “personal relationships” or “perceived political gain”

After a judge concluded that Councilmember John Lee violated laws on receiving and reporting gifts, LA’s City Ethics Commission fined Lee a staggering $138,000

Re-live the 2020 Department of Justice filing after the surrender of Mitch Englander, Lee’s former boss, and read Scott’s 2021 assessment of Lee’s role: “A Co-Conspirator on City Council”

There has been at least one call for him to resign, by Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo who represents a big part of CD 12

Councilmember Curren Price pled not guilty to corruption charges filed by the LA District Attorney’s office. Prosecutors filed an amended complaint in September alleging two additional counts of conflict of interest relating to development and land use. Price was arraigned and the DA’s office rejected a motion to dismiss the public corruption charges

Scott called the local charges faced by Price “outlandish and flimsy" but Price was one of three sitting councilmembers being investigated by the FBI in the original search warrant that took down Englander and former councilmember Jose Huizar, along with other Garcetti administration officials including former deputy mayor Ray Chan, who was sentenced to jail last year 

Anyway, this all makes reforming the city’s land-use decisions even more important! You can join a public assembly or become an ambassador for Rewrite LA, the new effort to bring more Angelenos inside the charter reform process. Sign up for updates at rewritela.org/deliberate

Will Rick Caruso announce his (second) campaign for LA mayor on January 7, the anniversary of the fires? Will the announcement happen at his unscathed Palisades mall, which is supposed to reopen in 2026? He’s got a Christmas tree up and ready to go

Will LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath also run for LA mayor? After Bass published an op-ed in the LA Daily News touting her progress on homelessness, Horvath called her track record “indefensible,"  Bass dunk-tweeted Horvath, then Horvath posted a highlight reel of bad headlines. Councilmember Ysabel Jurado offered her own commentary: “I fear the girls are fighting”

Will Bass’s “working people not billionaire class” message actually resonate with voters — especially as she undermines this message by playing an “instrumental” role in delaying the Olympic wage?

Will any gubernatorial ad top Tom Steyer’s Love Actually parody?

Will the D line open on time? And will the LAX people mover *ever* open? Watch Nick Andert’s excellent end-of-the-year Metro recap

Speaking of end-of-the-year recaps, read LA Forward's annual impact report and call-to-action for the new year for all sorts of ways to get organized

This week's episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la

In its final session of the calendar year, LA’s City Council sharply rebuked Bass’s demand that they immediately authorize money to allow LAPD to hire 410 new officers 

While most councilmembers said they support hiring more police officers, they warned that the mayor was ignoring the fiscal crisis and the potential impact on other city services. Council approved an additional LAPD Academy class for January, and promised to revisit the issue in January

Opposition to Bass was led not by the council’s progressive bloc, but by many of its more mainstream liberal bloc, such as Katy Yaroslavsky and Bob Blumenfield. Yaroslavsky was a particularly sharp critic of Bass and Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson: watch her comments here

Bass’s approach was backed by an odd coalition of the council’s conservative members (Traci Park and John Lee), her closest personal allies (Harris-Dawson and Heather Hutt), and two moderates (Adrin Nazarian and Imelda Padilla)

The council vote was the culmination of months of tension over police hiring, stemming from the mayor’s budget proposal last spring that called for potentially laying off 1000 city workers to finance a big increase in LAPD hiring. The council balked at that, cutting the mayor’s LAPD hiring request in half, and sparing layoffs that would have led to cuts in other city services. Despite that council direction, however, LAPD had been hiring and spending more than the council had authorized

The timing of this debate — and the sudden deadline — had left a lot of people, including Alissa, wondering if this has something to do with the city’s stalled negotiations with LA28 over who will foot the bill for Olympic related security expenses. (Speaking of the Olympics, LA28 chair Casey Wasserman continues to cozy up to the Trump administration)

As Jim McDonnell prepares to celebrate the first anniversary of his appointment, Los Angeles Times reporter Libor Jany asks “Who’s running the LAPD? Chief’s style draws mixed reviews in first year”

LA’s Charter Reform Commission is rushing to meet a tight deadline to submit potential ballot proposals to the City Council. The body has launched an interesting experiment — engaging with citizen assemblies to get public input; find out more at Rewrite LA

The LA Reporter: “LAPD is finally getting taken up by the LA Charter Reform panel. What took so long?”

The commission will be discussing the size and composition of the City Council at its January 7 meeting. You can track what the commission is doing on its website (subscribe to the newsletter!), and join LA Forward’s Governance Reform working group. You can also watch some great LA Forward teach-ins on the issues, including police reform and council expansion

Two state senate races we’re closely following: SD26 and SD24

SD26 candidates discussed: Wendy Carrillo, Sara Hernandez, Sarah Rascón, Maebe Pudlo, Juan Camacho

Watch the Santa Monica Dem Club debate for SD24; Assemblymember Rick Zbur endorsed four (?) candidates

SD24 candidates discussed: Dr. Sion Roy, John Erickson, Mike Newhouse, Ellen Evans, Brian Goldsmith, Eric Alegria, Nico Ruderman, Republican candidate Kristina Irwin

Listen to our overview of city races from September

This week’s episode was produced by Kristen Torres

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

We’re moving our first subscriber-only event to 2026! Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la and you’ll be the first to know the details

The Future Is LA: “LA has stopped repaving our streets”

LA has 28 pothole trucks, currently only 12 run daily due to budget cuts

Here are all the HLA appeals and a follow up on “large asphalt repair” by Streetsblog’s Joe Linton

The City is also trying to be ADA compliant (but with this federal administration, who knows)

This was the year traffic fatalities were supposed to be reduced to zero — except people keep dying! For contrast: Vision Zero in London: “Across all 157 schemes on borough roads, there was a 34% decrease in fatal or serious casualties.” Even crosswalks advocates are getting arrested

What will make LA safer when cars kill more people than homicides? Alissa wrote about “Dying to host the Olympics” last year

Traffic fatalities are also a problem at the state level, and advocates recently held a vigil at at Caltrans HQ

LA Times: “Robert Silverstein, who fought City Hall over Hollywood development and won, dies at 57"

Stop the Gondola recently celebrated Silverstein for slowing Metro approvals 

Bernard Luggage was preserved — but is still empty! — and Silverstein also tried to stop a residential tower by preserving a Spaghetti Factory (which is also still empty)

The classic Curbed (RIP) piece about “greenmailing” from 2013 

LA Times: “Frank Gehry dead: Disney Hall architect transformed LA's landscape”

“To look only at the overwrought megaprojects, however, is to miss one of Gehry’s crucial achievements: his ability to turn an existing building, no matter how ordinary, into something humane and delightful,” writes Carolina Miranda in The Atlantic

The Guardian on the “Bilbao effect,” where the Guggenheim “transformed Bilbao’s wider civic fortunes, attracting 1.3 million visitors in its first year and… became shorthand for uplift through cultural tourism predicated on “iconic” architecture”

LA Times: “To a handful of condo owners whose units face the Disney Hall on Hope Street, the view of the Frank Gehry landmark is glorious -- until around noon on a sunny day. Then, the sun hits the stainless steel arches on the hall’s Founders Room and bright light is reflected into their condominiums” (2004)

This week’s episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

We’re moving our first subscriber-only event to 2026! Become a paid subscriber to LA Podcast at thinkforward.la and you’ll be the first to know the details

Angelenos spoke publicly about the trauma and due process violations of the immigration raids at a special hearing November 24 hearing in downtown Los Angeles convened by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. The event was requested by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and led by Long Beach area Rep. Robert Garcia, who announced the creation of a new oversight dashboard documenting “verified incidents of possible misconduct and abuse” during federal immigration enforcement operations

Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, who attended the hearing, referred to it as “living an American nightmare.” The most talked-about testimony of the hearing was that of Andrea Velez, a U.S. citizen who was detained on her way to work and held under harrowing conditions

Six LA newsrooms are collaborating to cover the ICE Raids: LA Public Press, Capital B, CALÓ News, L.A. TACO, Capital & Main, and Q Voice News.

L.A. TACO continues to provide standout coverage, documenting the raids on a daily basis. They recently catalogued every person kidnapped by ICE and Border Patrol in LA since August

Leaders of the local trans community helped lead the recent push to get the County of Los Angeles to declare a state of emergency over the immigration raids.

Residents in LA and Chicago are building multiracial solidarity against ICE. Bystanders are beginning to disrupt immigration raids with nothing more than a whistle or a honking car horn

Family members, immigration advocates, and members of Congress are all demanding answers to the question: Where is Vicente Aguilar? Aguilar was taken into custody October 7, suffered a medical emergency, and has not been heard from since

With immigration raids making some people afraid to leave their homes, LAUSD enrollment is dropping

The LA County Board of Supervisors is gearing up for a legal fight with the Trump administration, passing a law — which the feds have said they ignore — to ban face coverings for law enforcement

International Migrants Day is on Wednesday, December 18, and CHIRLA, DSA and other groups are organizing a big event in downtown Los Angeles

In an 8-4 vote, the Los Angeles City Council reauthorized LAPD’s authority to use tear gas and other military grade equipment on protesters. They did so at the vigorous insistence of LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, who claimed that using tear gas on a crowd is a “de-escalation” tactic

Prior to June 8, the LAPD had not used tear gas in crowd-control settings in almost 50 years, an LAPD spokesperson told L.A. TACO

Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia is famous for his prominent use of his adorable corgis in communications. Former State Senator Isadore, who is challenging Mejia, is trying to use that as the basis of a laughable ethics complaint

Meanwhile, Raul Claros, a challenger to Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, held a self-described “publicity stunt” claiming that he would move into MacArthur Park if elected

Silly season is underway in Santa Monica as well, where councilmembers Caroline Torosis and Jesse Zwick are being attacked for, well, having full-time jobs in public service and public policy. Torosis and Zwick are set to rotate into the posts of mayor and mayor pro tem this week

This week’s episode was produced by Kristen Torres

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

We’re moving our first subscriber-only event to 2026! Become a paid subscriber to LA Podcast at thinkforward.la  and you’ll be the first to know the details

The conversation, which took place on October 16, is part of a new series of fireside chats focused on public leadership hosted by the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs, which Mike runs as his day job

Bass faces reelection in just six months — the primary is June 2! The interview with Bass was recorded a few days before former LAUSD superintendent Austin Beutner officially announced his campaign to unseat her, and a few weeks before progressive organizer Rev. Rae Huang announced a challenge from the left

At CalMatters, Jim Newton of UCLA (and an esteemed former LA Times political reporter) writes that Bass is vulnerable, but still tough to beat

Mike asks about some of the mayor’s controversial moves to undercut the voter-approved Measure ULA. It is a stance that angered many progressives. In recent weeks, Bass has taken another swipe at the voter-approved measure

Bass’s second term could look dramatically different as the Los Angeles City Charter Commission discusses expanding the 15-member City Council. The panel is preparing to discuss three different models of council expansion, each with unique benefits and challenges for Angelenos. This Wednesday, December 3 at 7 p.m. join LA Forward Institute, AAPI Equity Alliance, and LA Voice to explore the three models and consider pros and cons of each model. Organizers will also share how community members can make sure that commissioners hear their voices! RSVP here

This episode was produced by Daniel Huecias and Olive Greenspan. The interview previously aired as part of Mike’s podcast, What’s Next, Los Angeles? (Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts)

We’re moving our first subscriber-only event to 2026! Become a paid subscriber to LA Podcast at thinkforward.la and you’ll be the first to know the details

Los Angeles Times: “Green bins clog L.A. curbs as city’s organic waste program goes into overdrive”

Thanks to The Los Feliz Neighborhood Council for the best video on the Great Green Bin Apocalypse of 2025

One LA resident estimates the botched bin rollout cost $4 million that Sanitation Department doesn’t have

What can you compost in your green bin? Here’s a good guide

Meanwhile, many LA residents are about to pay more for less trash pickup while Sanitation general manager Barbara Romero is departing at the end of the year. Some advocates, like Bruce Reznik of LA Waterkeeper are saying she was pushed out

LA’s stormwater capture for this water year (since October 1) is equivalent to 10 Rose Bowls

Now LADWP is going to double the amount of water it plans to recycle at the Tillman Water Reclamation Plant amidst state orders to take less water from Mono Lake

Over at the Metropolitan Water District (MWD), advocates argue another leader was forced out: Adel Hagekhalil, who the board voted to remove after “an investigation into claims of harassment and a toxic workplace"

Once again, LA Waterkeeper’s Bruce Reznik has strong feelings about who should lead MWD

Yes, LA and California are actually getting off coal: this month!

LADWP plans to also convert one natural gas plant to hydrogen — although those plans are a bit more controversial

Billionaire hedge-fund founder turned environmentalist Tom Steyer announces campaign for governor — what are his climate credentials? He doesn’t mention environmental issues in his launch video

New York Times: “California’s Environmental Past Confronts Economic Worries of the Present”

One way California is starting to backslide: Gavin Newsom seems to be giving up on his 2035 EV mandate

Sammy has been following the calls for the Dodgers to cut ties with fossil fuel companies

After LA’s City Council voted 12-1 to oppose Metro’s environmental review of the gondola, LA Mayor Karen Bass voted to approve the EIR in her Metro board role. She also had a chance to say something — anything! — about the project, and she didn’t

Subscribe to Sammy’s newsletter, Climate-Colored Goggles

This week’s episode was produced by Kristen Torres

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

We’re moving our first subscriber-only event to 2026! Become a paid subscriber to LA Podcast at thinkforward.la and you’ll be the first to know the details

LA’s City Council voted to limit rent increases in rent-controlled units to 1 to 4%, based on an annual formula published by the Los Angeles Housing Department — a big change from the current 3 to 10% cap. It is the first time since 1985 that the formula for rent increases has been changed

Some see the council vote through the lens of the Zohran Mamdani victory in the New York City mayoral election. That misses the five-year arc of progressive victories in LA, which we discussed on last week’s show. Those victories have focused heavily on tenant protections, including the pandemic-era eviction moratorium, the passage of a “just cause” eviction ordinance, and the funding of a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction

On the council floor, the legislation was pushed by the progressive renters bloc of Nithya Raman, Hugo Soto-Martínez, Eunisses Hernandez, and Ysabel Jurado. But it is the undeniable result of years of organizing and hard work from the housing justice activists, like the members of the Keep LA Housed coalition

Housing justice activists had pushed for a 0 to 3% formula, while the landlord lobby wanted the old rules to stay in place. In the end, tenants won a huge chunk of what they wanted, but the landlords still tried to claim a partial victory, saying they defeated a more extreme proposal

The council action was based in large part by a study conducted by the Economic Roundtable, an esteemed nonprofit public benefit research organization that has long been a source of analytical foundations for L.A.’s progressive policies. The organization, which issued the report last fall, shut its doors recently after a 34-year run

LAPD has been all over the headlines lately, for all the wrong reasons. The department is refusing to release crime data, warning it could lead to public panic and bad public policy. (Um, what about Citizen?) 

Experts in public records law scoff at the LAPD assertion that withholding data is in the public interest 

Meanwhile, LAPD spends millions of dollars annually shaping public narrative

LAPD and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto are fighting to preserve the department’s right to use force on journalists at recent protests. They’ve been sharply rebuked by the courts and by a unanimous LA City Council. Despite the legal and political reprimand, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell is still pushing back

LA Daily News: “Los Angeles city attorney to press: drop dead”

The LAPD is also pushing back on spending restrictions in this year’s budget, blowing way past the number of authorized hires and putting the city in further fiscal jeopardy

Mike considers the LAPD’s bucking of civilian oversight to be significant, harkening back to days when the LAPD ran roughshod over LA’s elected officials. If you can find it, Mike recommends Joe Domanick’s excellent 1994 book: “To Protect and To Serve: the LAPD’s Century of War in the City of Dreams”

Did you know current charter reform conversations do not include LAPD reform? Join an LA Forward teach-in on Policing and LA's City Charter on Thursday, November 20 from 6 to 7 p.m. to learn more. Details and RSVP here

The Guardian: ‘Red cup rebellion’: striking Starbucks baristas urge customers to stay away”

Here’s where Starbucks workers are striking around LA

Starbucks Workers United also filed a complaint with the IOC after Starbucks was named official coffee partner of the 2028 Olympics. As the LA Times reports, the complaint says “Starbucks’ treatment of U.S. workers looking to unionize and bargain a contract — as well as allegations of forced labor abroad — conflict with the Olympic Games’ code of ethics”

Catch upcoming interviews with Council District 9 candidates on Mike's show What's Next, Los Angeles?

This episode was produced by Kristen Torres

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

We’re moving our first subscriber-only event to 2026! Become a paid subscriber to LA Podcast at thinkforward.la and you’ll be the first to know the details

Zohran Mamdani wins New York City’s mayoral election: watch his victory speech

New York City saw turnout that was the highest since the 1969 mayoral race. Over 1 million votes were cast for Mamdani, even with fewer eligible voters — the electorate has shrunk to 5.3 million from 5.6 million four years ago

Alissa thought this clip of Jamaal Bowman at Mamdani’s victory party was the exact right sentiment

Contrary to pundit belief, socialism has been a part of New York City’s political fabric over the years, but as Mamdani takes power, the stakes are high. Luckily he has an outstanding all-women transition team

Here in California, Prop 50 passed easily, temporarily redrawing the state’s Congressional districts. Here’s what happens next

Prop 50 turnout is 38.6 percent so far, matching the Gavin Newsom recall election from 2021(another odd-numbered year election)

Yes on Prop 50 leads by 28 points, 64 percent to 36 percent. Kamala Harris won the state in 2024 by only 20 points, writes the New York Times’ Nate Cohn in “Why Democrats Could Win the Redistricting War”

What about LA? Watch and share Mike’s video on our Zohran Mamdani moment

Mayoral candidate Austin Beutner is trying to hit Karen Bass on affordability but he isn’t presenting his own solutions for making the city more affordable. Meanwhile, as we discussed last week, housing justice leader Rae Huang is going to declare her candidacy soon. Still not sure about Rick Caruso, who is going to make a decision about mayor or governor in the next few weeks

85-year old Nancy Pelosi announced she will not seek re-election

“The challenge for Democrats is to wrest control from the gnarled grip of gerontocracy while containing the chaos that will naturally ensue from younger politicians who are mad as hell at their own party,” writes New York Magazine’s Rebecca Traister in “It’s My Party and I’ll Leave When I Want To“

Many young progressives who won aren’t being talked about as much this week, like Michelle Wu, who ran unopposed for her second term as mayor of Boston (maybe she should have been quoted as one of the mayors giving advice to Mamdani)

Progressive prosecutors still notched big wins coast-to-coast

Catch upcoming interviews with Council District 9 candidates on Mike's show What's Next, Los Angeles?

This episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

We’re moving our first subscriber-only event to 2026! Become a paid subscriber to LA Podcast at thinkforward.la and you’ll be the first to know the details

If you’re hearing this on Monday — get your ballot in today or Tuesday!

The LA City Controller’s office published a comprehensive assessment of LAPD’s Mental Evaluation Unit and Systemwide Mental Assessment Response Team (SMART) program

There’s some troubling data: “Only 6% of the incident report narratives describe an attempt to de-escalate by the responding officers and/or SMART; 61% include no description of an attempt to de-escalate, and 33% describe no need for de-escalation”

Interestingly, LAPD would not comment on the report to the Los Angeles Times

“When it comes to LAPD mental health crisis response, LAPD requires an armed-first, police-first, patrol-first response to mental health crisis incidents,” Dinah Manning, who also is the controller’s chief of strategic initiatives, told LAist

Efforts to remove LAPD from some types of traffic stops have also stalled, although there is a set of draft recommendations from 2023

Compare these efforts to the very successful outcomes of LA’s Unarmed Model of Crisis Response, which we discussed in September: “6,700 calls were diverted from 911 dispatch and fewer than 4.1% of calls required police backup”

Karen Bass appointed a new LAFD chief: 30-year department veteran Jaime Moore

LAFD Chief Moore has his first big challenge: reports that firefighters were ordered to leave the still-smoldering Lachman Fire a week before the Palisades Fire may have started in the same place

Unrig LA spotted a big update in the mayoral race: pastor and housing justice advocate Reverend Rae Chen Huang enters the race to Bass’s left

Alissa is losing her mind about spending $1.5 billion on new roadways into the LAX horseshoe

Nick Andert made a great video about why this is such a bad idea

Meanwhile, what is happening with the LAX people mover? It was supposed to open in 2023 and is still at 95% completion

LAWA CEO John Ackerman told the LA Times that the people mover will not be open until June 2026 and may not be open in time for the World Cup

This week’s show is produced by Olive Greenspan

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

We’re hosting a party for all paid subscribers soon! Become a paid subscriber today at thinkforward.la and you’ll get the invite. Your support is critical to enabling us to release new episodes every week. Thank you for bringing more independent voices to California media with your paid subscriptions

LA County CEO Fesia Davenport was “quietly paid a $2 million settlement,” as LAist reported first, “over claims she was harmed” by the passage of Measure G one year ago, the ballot measure that expanded the Board of Supervisors from five members to nine members, and changed her position from an appointed role to an elected role

As Julia Wick reported in her final story for the Los Angeles Times, many think that Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who pushed for Measure G, would run for the County CEO role. “There are people who are never going to be convinced that I created this measure without seeing a seat for myself in it,” she says. “I’m not interested in convincing people of that. I’m interested in doing the work”

“With six months remaining before the commission’s recommendations are due, several commissioners, city officials and good government advocates told LAist they have concerns about transparency and independence,” LAist reports. “Some say they doubt the commission is in a position to accomplish a fraction of what it first set out to do”

More on LA City’s Charter Reform Commission, including upcoming meetings. Sign up for the charter reform newsletter

Read more proposals on planning and infrastructure charter reform platforms from Investing in Place and Streets for All, including dissolving the Board of Public Works. Here are some of the reforms being proposed by the commission, and a set of recommendations from Mayor Karen Bass

LA Forward has both Governance Reform and Capital Infrastructure Program working groups

Liz reports on Councilmember Monica Rodriguez’s appearance at last week’s charter reform meeting and why she accused the commission of having an “agenda”

Subscribe to Liz’s newsletter, The LA Reporter

U.S. Senate investigations subcommittee requested Palisades Fire records from LA Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson including "records referring or relating to the creation or oversight of diversity, equity, and inclusion ('DEI') hiring policies for the LAFD and the LADWP"

As the LA Times notes, the letter mentions the Eaton Fire but no similar request was sent to LA County representatives

LA County passes an emergency declaration against ICE

Remembering river advocate Melanie Winter, who died last week, through this beautiful obituary as well as a 2024 profile, both by Ian James at the LA Times

This week’s show is produced by Olive Greenspan

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

We’re hosting a party for all paid subscribers soon! Become a paid subscriber today at thinkforward.la and you’ll get the invite. Your support is critical to enabling us to release new episodes every week. Thank you for bringing more independent voices to California media with your paid subscriptions

Warning that Los Angeles is “adrift,” Austin Beutner throws his hat in the ring for mayor with a four-minute launch video and coverage from major media outlets like the New York Times and Politico

Beutner was superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District during a turbulent time. The historic six-day 2019 teachers strike happened on his watch, and he oversaw the district's pandemic shift to online learning and food-relief efforts that served over 100 million free meals

Beutner also served as publisher of the Los Angeles Times for a year, pushing the paper to do a series of editorials giving letter grades to elected officials

Mike talked about Beutner’s entry — and a lot more — with Bass during a fireside chat for the Pat Brown Institute. You can listen to the interview in its entirety on this week’s episode of What’s Next, Los Angeles

The state’s Department of Housing & Community Development sent a stern letter to city officials for road-blocking already-approved homeless and affordable housing on a public parking lot in Venice. The letter says LA is now in danger of losing its “pro-housing” designation

The letter came just days after the City Council voted to support a “mobility hub” study on the same parking lot put forth by Councilmember Traci Park, who is trying to kill the housing project

Governor Newsom issued a flurry of bill signings and veto statements last week, weighing in on the hundreds of bills sent to him by the legislature this session. To the delight of housing production advocates, Newsom signed SB 79, which will limit the ability of cities to say no to some additional housing in certain areas near transit hubs

Will SB 79 have any impact in your neighborhood? While people are still debating precisely where it will apply, LAist did its best to understand the impacts

Newsom also signed a bill to raise wages for prisoners who fight wildfires, and a bill making it easier for Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize.The governor vetoed a bill that would make it easier for transgender patients to get a long-term supply to hormone-therapy drugs.

CalMatters has extensive coverage of what Newsom signed and what he vetoed

LA Forward has a full schedule of Prop 50 events leading up to November 4

Next week, Hollywood FWD will host “ULA: 3 Years In” at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre. The October 29 panel will feature: Joe Donlin from United to House LA; Greg Good formerly with the LA Housing Department; Nella McOsker with Central City Association of Los Angeles; Shane Phillips from UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies; and Zerita Jones with ULA Citizens Oversight Committee. Register here

This week’s show is produced by Olive Greenspan

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward We’re hosting a party for all paid subscribers soon! Become a paid subscriber today at thinkforward.la and you’ll get the invite. Your support is critical to enabling us to release new episodes every week. Thank you for bringing more independent voices to California media with your paid subscriptions

Former Palisades resident Jonathan Rinderknecht, also known as Jon Rinder, was arrested on a federal criminal complaint for starting what federal prosecutors allege eventually became the Palisades Fire

Los Angeles Times: “Florida man ‘maliciously’ started Palisades fire, then tried to cover his tracks, authorities allege”

Here’s the video he watched in the days before the fire: “Un Zder, Un The" by French artist Josman

What’s a “holdover” fire? LAist’s Jacob Margolis has a great explainer on how a fire can rekindle a week later

When the fires started, LA was in the “bottom two percent of historical records” for soil moisture readings

LAFD did not use thermal imaging to confirm the fire was out and least one fire expert (anonymously) claimed that cleanup from the Lachman Fire was not done properly. This raises more questions about liability: “This affidavit puts the responsibility on the fire department. There needs to be a commission examining why this rekindled fire was allowed to reignite,” said Ed Nordskog, former leader of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s arson unit. “The arsonist set the first fire, but the fire department proactively has a duty to do certain things”

Here’s LAFD’s after-action report on the Palisades Fire and good analysis by LAist

Alissa is, once again, worried about who is supposed to give warnings in LA County

Meanwhile, Rinderknecht might face the death penalty, and Kate reported at Spectrum that he’ll be back in court later this week

Listen to Kate’s Rebuilding LA podcast

LA Times: “Who is spending money on Prop 50?”

CalMatters has a good look at how Prop 50’s mid-decade redistricting would change representation in other ways

You should probably not mail in your ballot on the last day due to new USPS rules, so be sure to take it to the special ballot boxes. There is also a small mistake on the guide

LA Forward has a full schedule of Prop 50 events leading up to November 4, including a ballot party on Sunday, October 19 at 2 p.m. at the Hermosillo in Highland Park

Check out Mike Bonin's interview with California Environmental Voters ED Mike Young on "What's Next, Los Angeles?" about the good, the bad, and the ugly of this year's environmental legislation in Sacramento (Apple Podcasts, Spotify)

On the next What’s Next, Los Angeles?, Mike will be talking to Loyola Marymount University faculty members whose union was abruptly not recognized by leaders at the school claiming there was a “religious exemption”

This week’s show is produced by Olive Greenspan

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

We’re hosting a party for all paid subscribers soon! Become a paid subscriber today at thinkforward.laand you’ll get the invite. Your support is critical to enabling us to release new episodes every week. Thank you for bringing more independent voices to California media with your paid subscriptions.

“California State University faculty members say they are worried about employee privacy protections and academic free speech after learning that the Trump administration is investigating alleged antisemitism across the 22-campus system,” reports EdSource

AP: “Progressive nonprofits condemn Trump’s targeting of George Soros and his foundations”

ICE is hiring for a social media surveillance team, reports Wired, with a 16-person office in Southern California: “At all times, at least one senior analyst and three researchers would be on duty at the Santa Ana site”

LA County’s after-action review of notification systems and evacuation policies for the Eaton and Palisades Fires

Los Angeles Times: “No 'smoking gun': Why Eaton fire report didn't name names or assign blame” 

Meanwhile, 24-year-old climate scientist Edgar McGregor issued warnings via Facebook that saved hundreds of lives

LAist: “Hours before the Eaton Fire, distribution lines failed and fire started in Altadena”

KNX reporter AB Silverman asked the question on everyone’s mind: why wasn’t there any information about the false evacuation alert that went out to everyone in LA County

Malibu’s rebuilding director resigns and says the mayor should, too

“Confronting Disaster: Curbing Corporate Speculation in Post-Fire Altadena”: A new report from SAJE, Inclusive Action for the City, Morena Strategies, Public Interest Law Project, the UCLA Veterans Legal Clinic, and theworksLA

“22,500 homes lost. Over five years later, only 38% rebuilt”: LA Times journalists reported out a major series on how slowly the state is recovering from previous fires, with a video featuring Liam Dillon that summarizes it all

A broad coalition of LA City Councilmembers is looking into establishing a $32.35 minimum wage for residential projects with 10 or more units that are under 85 feet in height

Will it translate to more homes being built? The LA Times’ Roger Vincent reports: “Los Angeles apartment construction has dropped by close to a third in three years as developers struggle with unprofitable economics and regulatory uncertainty”

This week’s episode is produced by Sophie Bridges

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

We’re hosting a party for all paid subscribers soon! Become a paid subscriber today at thinkforward.la and you’ll get the invite. Your support is critical to enabling us to release new episodes every week. Thank you for bringing more independent voices to California media with your paid subscriptions.

We’re hosting a party for all paid subscribers soon! Become a paid subscriber today at thinkforward.la and you’ll get the invite as soon as it comes out. Your support is critical to enabling us to release new episodes every week. Thank you for bringing more independent voices to California media with your paid subscriptions

LA’s convention center expansion was, indeed, passed 11-2. As the Los Angeles Times notes, we just finished paying off the 1990s expansion, now we have three more decades of debt

Alissa published Katy Yaroslavsky’s remarks in full; you can also watch them here

"There are boondoggles, there are big boondoggles, and then there are public development disasters. Los Angeles has just embarked on a disaster," writes convention center expert Heywood Sanders. Read Alissa’s interview with him for a true LA horror story

Mayor Karen Bass is celebrating averting layoffs — even though the budget committee did most of the actual work — but sadly LA’s service levels will still suck, as Yaroslavsky noted in council

California lawmakers from the local to federal level joined unions on Hollywood Boulevard on Monday to rally for free speech. Jimmy Kimmel Live was reinstated by Disney moments after the press conference ended and returned to the air the following night — except in a handful of cities. Over the weekend, Sinclair brought the show back to the remaining markets

LA Times: “Hollywood writers were already struggling. Now they fear censorship"

This New York Times column by Thomas Edsall is the most comprehensive — and chilling — explanation of the media mergers

Rapid response groups are shifting to new ways to track ICE including setting up their own cameras and operating their own “liberty vans” as part of the Save America Movement

License plate readers continue to collect information all over LA, although LA County is trying to keep the data away from ICE

“For years, little was known about the multibillion-dollar company that handles data for the U.S. immigration enforcement agency. Now, a cache of emails, training documents and reports sheds light on how Palantir helps ICE with investigations and on-the-ground enforcement,” The Guardian reports

There have been many protests at Palantir’s West Hollywood office

Doug Smith of Inclusive Action writes about the Trump administration's illegal use of IRS data to supercharge ICE raids

Olga joined Ed Begley Jr., Adam Conover, and Bill Wolkoff on the Transit and Hollywood panel moderated by Alissa for SoCal Transit Month

In addition to wrapping up SoCal Transit Month, this is the national Week Without Driving. Ride free transit on Wednesday, October 1 for Clean Air Day!

This week’s episode is produced by Olive Greenspan

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Weekly actions from #BoycottDisneyABC after the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live, because comedy isn’t the only thing under attack

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has changed guidelines for federal funds for permanent supportive housing: not only can providers not engage in harm reduction, but money can only go for projects in cities or states that prohibit public camping and cooperate with immigration enforcement 

LA is now looking into how to create its own homelessness agency, and LA’s City Council will need to approve the court-ordered oversight of former LA city controller Ron Galperin and lawyer Daniel Garrie to monitor data and reporting

Measure ULA is about to release a super NOFA (notice of funding availability) for affordable housing projects with $387 million in available funding

The United to House LA coalition also recently released a report by Occidental academics disputing the claims in a recent UCLA Lewis Center report critical of ULA’s structure

Be sure to listen to this week’s What’s Next, Los Angeles? out Wednesday where Mike speaks to United to House LA’s Joe Donlin and Amped Kitchen’s Mott Smith about dueling reports

LAist: “State lawmakers unveil bill that would put new limits on LA’s hotly debated ‘mansion tax’”

…which almost immediately got withdrawn

In other housing news, the transit-oriented development bill SB 79 cleared the state legislature and is heading to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk, where he is expected to sign it despite LA Mayor Karen Bass’s request for a veto

After we recorded the show, LA’s City Council approved the convention center expansion 11-2, despite the budget committee’s vote recommending against it

“This expansion is unrealistic, unaffordable, and fiscally irresponsible. It puts our city at severe risk.” It’s extremely worth watching Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky’s remarks; Alissa published them in their entirety at Torched

A Central City Association report has ideas to turn downtown commercial vacancies into housing - more public subsidies for private redevelopment, anyone?

Alissa wrote about the campaign to save the Olympic Wage

This week’s episode is produced by Olive Greenspan. The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

We’re hosting a party for all paid subscribers soon! Become a paid subscriber today at thinkforward.la and you’ll get the invite as soon as it comes out. Your support is critical to enabling us to release new episodes every week. Thank you for bringing more independent voices to California media with your paid subscriptions.

The Supreme Court reversal of a previous federal ruling means half the population of Southern California now meets ICE’s criteria for reasonable suspicion

There’s not much California leaders can do, especially when ICE no longer requires internal paperwork

Los Angeles Times: ‘I am not the same person.’ Pasadena man recounts 13 days in ICE’s ‘basement’

There was good news for journalists covering protests this week. A federal judge issued preliminary injunctions against the Department of Homeland Security and LAPD for use of force against press; LA Press Club’s Adam Rose is closely tracking those cases

As part of a deal during budget negotiations, LA Mayor Karen Bass finally announced her executive directive to hire more LAPD officers

ICE’s gross new ads are trying to attract law enforcement officers. Deputy Tony Meraz, director for the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, told LA Times columnist Gustavo Arellano he worried it would hurt local recruitment

Los Angeles City races and candidates discussed

Council District 1: Eunisses Hernandez (incumbent), Raul Claros, Lou Calanche, Sylvia Robledo

Council District 3: Tim Gaspar, Barri Worth Girvan, Jon Rawlings

Council District 9: Jose Ugarte, Estuardo Mazariegos, Jorge Nuño, Elmer Roldan

Council District 11: Traci Park (incumbent), Faizah Malik

LA City Attorney: Hydee Feldstein Soto (incumbent), Marissa Roy

All the other races have no announced challengers, including Council District 7, where Monica Rodriguez is the incumbent but has yet to file. Could she be running for something else? She made a video where she visited a Foot Locker and appeared on LA in a Minute

Los Angeles County races and candidates discussed

LA County Board of Supervisors District 1: María Elena Durazo

Termed-out Hilda Solis says she’ll run for the new 38th District created if new maps are approved by voters through Prop 50 — which Californians will be voting on in a special November 4 election

LA County Board of Supervisors District 3: Lindsey Horvath has no announced challengers, and hasn’t launched her reelection campaign. Is it because she’s running for LA mayor?

John Burton, who reshaped California’s progressive politics across six decades, has died at age 92. This LA Times obituary by Dan Morain is excellent: “He was a Democrat who cared about poor people, and he knew how to fight” 

Buy Burton’s biography: I Yell Because I Care: The Passion and Politics of John Burton, California's Liberal Warrior

Support for LA Podcast is provided by LA Forward and by listeners like you. The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. If you want to help us bring more independent voices to California media, start a paid subscription today at thinkforward.la

All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Produced by Olive Greenspan

Memo’s Daily Memo has become a must-watch to keep up with LA’s ongoing siege. Read it at LA Taco or watch it on LA Taco’s Instagram or Memo’s Instagram

LA Taco’s reporting on the ICE raids has been featured on MSNBC, NPR, KQED, Huff Post, and the Washington Post

And be sure to check out stories and photography by LA Taco’s staff investigative reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray

As Trump threatens to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, a federal judge rules that deploying the National Guard to LA was illegal. The deployment also cost taxpayers $120 million

“Take your orange aprons somewhere else”: Councilmember Ysabel Jurado tries to block Home Depot from opening a new store in Eagle Rock Plaza

ACLU argues that Border Patrol is breaking an existing Central Valley temporary restraining order with a series of Sacramento raids (also at Home Depot)

LAist: “As heat-related deaths rise, LA County will soon require that landlords keep apartments cool”

Now the city is also considering its own maximum indoor temperature ordinance. Watch Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez, Adrin Nazarian, and Bob Blumenfeld present their plan at a press conference

Alissa recommends Sam Bloch’s new book, Shade: The Promise of a Forgotten Natural Resource, to learn about the dangers of extreme heat; watch her conversation with Sam

LA Times: “COVID wave washes over California. Some officials urge residents to mask up”

Wastewater data, which is a pretty reliable way to track COVID infections, does not look good

California, Oregon, Washington, and now Hawaii are joining forces as the West Coast Health Alliance to give “science-based recommendations” as the CDC reverses its vaccination guidance

The latest from Frank McCourt’s gondola, reported by LA Times columnist Bill Shaikin: After a state appeals court rejected Metro’s environmental impact report, State Senator Scott Wiener added gondola-friendly language to the bill SB 71, which would limit legal challenges to some transportation projects to one year. LA’s council passed a resolution against the bill, and, then, that language was removed from the bill entirely

The LA Daily News reports that the anti-gondola protests caused Wiener to amend SB 71

Alissa’s story on how one-third of the Hollywood Bowl audience does not arrive in cars

Produced by Olive Greenspan

Support for LA Podcast is provided by LA Forward and by listeners like you. The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. If you want to help us bring more independent voices to California media, start a paid subscription today at thinkforward.la

All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

LA City’s Unarmed Model of Crisis Response program is assessed in a year in review report which shows that 6,700 calls were diverted from 911 dispatch and fewer than 4.1% of calls required police backup

“This is a cost-saving measure in addition to a life-saving measure. It would be really great to have a system built out by then to be able to absorb the shock of our emergency management systems.” Godfrey in the LA Times about the importance of unarmed crisis for upcoming megaevents

Meanwhile, homicides may be going down, but police shootings are up over last year

The Trump administration is trying to financially punish jurisdictions that have eliminated cash bail

“As he publicly mocks concerns that crime in California is out of control, Gov. Gavin Newsom is also surging law enforcement resources across the state,” CalMatters reports

LA Times: Airbnb pushes ‘Save Our Services’ campaign for more short-term rentals in LA

"They're taking up the fact that we almost had such disastrous layoffs as a cover for this. It's a little bit frustrating, to be totally frank." Roy Samaan, president of Engineers & Architects Association, told LAist

What the city and state should be doing to actually rein in illegal rentals

Why is Airbnb doing this? Here’s one reason: the number of listings are dropping

Alissa writes about the reasonable demands of the Fair Games coalition, including asking the IOC and FIFA to drop Airbnb as a global sponsor

Pod Save America: “The Abundance Debate Hits California,” an SB 79 debate between State Senator Scott Wiener (YIMBY) and Councilmember Imelda Padilla (NIMBY),

The face host Jon Lovett made when Padilla said she made a 100% affordable project slash the number of housing units

Max Dubler on how Padilla "accidentally told the truth” about LA housing policy: “In reality, city councilors try to keep the zoning as restrictive as possible, so that it’s basically impossible to actually build anything viable while following all of the rules”

After we recorded, Padilla defended her remarks at Friday’s council meeting

Listen to last week’s episode for more on SB 79

Come see Alissa on a panel with Fair Games coalition members at LAANE’s Medaling in Justice event Sunday, September 7 at 4:30 p.m., RSVP for details

Listen to a re-broadcast episode of Mike’s What’s Next, Los Angeles featuring Kent Wong of the UCLA Labor Center

This week’s episode is produced by Olive Greenspan (also a Virgo)

Support for LA Podcast is provided by LA Forward and by listeners like you. The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. If you want to help us bring more independent voices to California media, start a paid subscription today at thinkforward.la!

All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

“Kristin Crowley and her lawyers accuse Bass of ousting her, and repeatedly defaming Crowley as Bass sought to shift blame for the way the city handled the catastrophic Palisades fire ‘while concealing the extent to which she undermined public safety’ with cuts to the fire department’s budget,” reports the Los Angeles Times

Read Crowley’s full claim

Will she sue the city? As LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia reminds us, LA’s liability suit problem is getting worse

“Trump’s claim of fighting antisemitism at UCLA is a dangerous charade,” argue David N. Myers, Aaron Greenberg, and Kate Pynoos in a Los Angeles Times op-ed

New York Times: “How Universities Became So Dependent on the Federal Government”

“What worries me the most is the country is highly dependent on using these training programs as sources of highly skilled individuals, and that seems to be shrinking massively,” one researcher told LAist

Some of the new Jewish groups mentioned by David that are pushing back against weaponization of antisemitism allegations include Diaspora Alliance, Nexus Project, and Jewish Partnership for Los Angeles

LA’s City Council voted 8-5 to oppose SB 79, the new transit-upzoning bill authored by State Senator Scott Wiener

“If I thought that this body was acting in good faith to address our housing crisis, I would support this resolution.” Watch Councilmember Nithya Raman’s comments on the council floor

A large statewide equity coalition, including ACT-LA, is calling for SB 79 amendments to reduce displacement and create more affordability.

Speaking of housing production, LA County’s new housing authority, LACAHSA, is making some foundational decisions, reports Ryan Fonseca for Think Forward

Over 200 environmental organizations are calling for Gavin Newsom to “immediately fix major problems” SB 131, the new law that exempts advanced manufacturing projects from CEQA review

Here’s the letter urging cleanup on SB 131

The last day to give public comment on the Sepulveda Transit Corridor project is August 30! Share Godfrey’s video, made by Alex Michel. Check out LA Forward Institute’s action toolkit for everything you need to make a comment.

This week’s episode is produced by Olive Greenspan

Support for LA Podcast is provided by LA Forward and by listeners like you. The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. If you want to help us bring more independent voices to California media, start a paid subscription today at thinkforward.la!

All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

The first day of school included training teachers and volunteers on how to patrol campuses 

A 15-year-old disabled LAUSD student was detained outside Arleta High School by ICE at gunpoint and, thanks to the intervention of the principal, later released

LA Daily News: “Amid ICE raids, LAUSD implementing new safety measures aimed at ‘safe passage’ for students”

“Wake up, America,” Gavin Newsom warns the rest of the country at his redistricting press conference as ICE swarms outside — listen to last week’s episode for more on Newsom’s redistricting plan

The statement from the Japanese American National Museum is, of course, iconic

An astonishing photo by LA Taco’s Lexis Olivier-Ray shows Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino standing before Barbara Kruger’s mural in Little Tokyo that reads “Who is beyond the law?”

Washington Post: “Pentagon plan would create military ‘reaction force’ for civil unrest”

“A senior administration official, as well as other officials, told Rolling Stone that it is a priority of Trump that these kinds of military deployments -- in times of relative calm -- become normalized in American political culture, according to Rolling Stone

“Some fear that when Los Angeles hosts the Olympics in 2028, Trump will put homeless people in detention camps,” the LA Times writes

Streetsblog LA on the Stoner Park DIY crosswalk battles:  “So, if you want to get a crosswalk installed in your neighborhood, the city's fast-track process seems to be: get your neighbors to paint it unofficially (with the help of the LA Crosswalks Collective), then the city will scrape it away and install it officially.”

In 2001, artist Richard Ankrom changed a confusing sign on the 110 freeway and no one noticed for nearly a year. When Caltrans eventually updated the sign, his change was incorporated into the new sign. Watch Ankrom’s documentary Guerrilla Public Service

Streetsblog LA on the new traffic circle construction to start next year at the Koreatown intersection where 9-year-old Nadir Gavarette was killed: “For more than a decade, safe streets advocates have pushed the city to calm traffic to make Fourth Street safer for people who walk and bike.”

Here are the latest renderings for the Sepulveda Transit Corridor project, this Reddit post is really helpful for understanding all the options, and Nick Andert made an excellent video about the difference between subway and monorail

Meet Fred Rosen: “Rosen, who expects his calls and emails to be returned, preferably pronto, decided to make it clear, 'I will not go gently into that good night.' He sent lengthy, hostile missives to Wiggins, with top local officials as well as his moneyed neighbors cc’d: a mix of finance titans, real estate moguls, and plenty of Hollywood heavyweights, including former MGM CEO Harry Sloan, former Disney Media Networks co-chair Anne Sweeney, Mandalay Entertainment chair Peter Guber, and writer-producer Darren Star.”

The 90-day comment period will end on August 30, here’s where you can comment. The last in-person meeting for the Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project will be Monday, August 18, at the Sherman Oaks East Valley Adult Center at 6 p.m. Check out LA Forward Institute’s action toolkit for everything you need to make a comment.

This week’s episode is produced by Olive Greenspan

Support for LA Podcast is provided by LA Forward and by listeners like you. The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la so we can keep doing this show every week. 

All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the individual co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Federal agents continued their reign of terror, using a Penske rental truck as a “Trojan Horse” to target day laborers and raid a Home Depot near MacArthur Park. An embedded Fox News reporter accompanied the agents. Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli insisted the raids will continue, despite a federal court order that halted indiscriminate apprehensions in LA 

Kate interviewed Essayli, who said that running from ICE agents is sufficient reason for them to stop someone

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced she was removing age limits for ICE recruits to boost recruiting for the massive expansion of the agency. One of those new recruits is former Superman actor Dean Cain

The Wall Street Journal details how detainees are often shuffled from site to site, vanishing into an opaque ICE detention system

Trump established the LA28 White House task force, and announced that he would be the chair. At a press conference, he bashed LA Mayor Karen Bass as “not very competent,” praised a ban on trans athletes competing in the games, and received a collection of 1984 Olympic medals from LA28’s chair, Casey Wasserman

Bass shared her reaction with Fox 11’s Elex Michaelson, essentially saying “nothing to see here”

LA Times columnist Gustavo Arellano had a more pointed reaction —  as he describes Wasserman: “I haven’t seen such a suck-up since the last time I vacuumed my dad’s pool” — and calls for LA to withdraw from hosting the games

NOlympics LA released the findings of a new poll showing support for hosting the games among Angelenos is waning

At Torched, Alissa talks with civil rights attorney Connie Rice, who recently wrote a letter to city officials warning that hosting the games will have potentially dire fiscal consequences

With Texas Republicans attempting to redraw congressional district maps before the 2026 midterm elections, Gavin Newsom is pushing to redraw California’s map to add Democratic seats. Top Democrats are embracing the plan, while former GOP governor Arnold Schwarzenegger opposes it.  Leading anti-gerrymandering group Common Cause is internally split and searching for a path forward

Newsom’s proposal has an uncertain path, requiring quick legislative action and approval from voters in a special election

Kate’s podcast for LA Times Studios, Rebuilding LA, tracks local fire recovery efforts. On the latest episode, Kate talks with LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath

Join LA Forward’s Monthly Meeting on Tuesday, August 19 from 7 to 8 p.m. on Zoom

This week’s episode is produced by Olive Greenspan

Support for LA Podcast is provided by LA Forward and by listeners like you. The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. If you want to help us bring more independent voices to California media, you can subscribe at thinkforward.la

All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the individual co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

LA Councilmember Traci Park has filed a motion to assess evacuation routes after last week’s tsunami advisory that seems to take aim at denser housing (no one tell her that scientists now recommend “vertical evacuation” where you go to higher floors of a building, as Alissa wrote in 2018)

Gita O’Neill is the new interim LAHSA CEO and some people are not happy about that choice; LA CAN put out a series of blistering statements opposing her appointment 

A new Trump executive order on homelessness is very alarming because federal grants will now only go to cities that ban urban camping — and a Trump appointee specifically told LA County their funding was at risk

Celebrating the order is Joe Lonsdale, the Palantir cofounder on Rick Caruso’s Steadfast LA board who shops anti-camping ballot measures around to states; here’s his thread praising the decision 

Meanwhile, ICE is using LAPD databases to track immigrants

LA’s charter reform commission got off to a contentious start with a leadership battle, before pivoting to a deep dive on questions of infrastructure, planning, and power

Alissa wrote about Investing in Place’s 16 recommendations for public space including a five-year Capital Infrastructure Program, two-year budget, and possibly dissolving the Board of Public Works? Read Investing in Place’s report

Join LA Forward’s Capital Infrastructure Program working group with a special meeting on Monday, August 4 from 8 to 9 p.m. on Zoom with Investing in Place

Fair Rep LA has a schedule of all the upcoming charter commission meetings

Kamala Harris announces she will not run for California’s governor

Politico: “The governor’s race truly begins”

Gavin Newsom wants to force a special election to redistrict the state to favor Democrats, although it’s politically risky

Listen to Mike’s upcoming episode of What’s Next, Los Angeles? featuring journalist Karen Ocamb on philanthropist Wallis Annenberg’s legacy

Support for LA Podcast is provided by LA Forward and by listeners like you. The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. If you want to help us bring more independent voices to California media, you can subscribe at thinkforward.la

All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

This week’s episode is produced by Olive Greenspan

Cleanup was astonishingly fast, but as this LA Times summary of progress notes, only 800 rebuilding permits have been filed so far across both burn zones 

One reason: there are a lot of concerns about what people are returning to, both when it comes to the toxicity of their homes and the future of their communities

The UCLA Blue Ribbon Commission Climate Action and Fire-Safe Recovery that was convened by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath released its six-month fire recovery report with one topline recommendation: create a special Resilient Rebuilding Authority at the state level. Here are some extremely good explainers from UCLA’s Emmett School of Law on what a rebuilding authority could do and how it would have aided Woolsey Fire recovery

That effort, SB 549, has now stalled, in part due to conspiracy theories amplified by reality star Spencer Pratt, and State Senator Ben Allen talked to KCRW’s Madeleine Brand about what’s next

Meanwhile, Altadena’s land is being gobbled up by outside developers and lots are losing value for those who want to sell and efforts to rebuild smarter and to have families collaborate and source materials more sustainably are largely left up to homeowners

And while there haven’t been any significant charges for rent gougers, LA City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto is going after Airbnb for price gouging

Listen to Kate Cagle’s podcast, “Rebuilding LA”

Six months after the fires, the LA Times reached out to nearly a dozen city, county and state agencies involved with evacuation planning. “All either did not respond to requests for comment, could not point to an evacuation analysis in line with the state’s guidelines for AB 747 or indicated the responsibility for doing the work lies with other agencies”

Many big name philanthropists have gone missing but Department of Angels, Evan Spiegel’s partnership with California Community Foundation, seems to be carrying out important work

The block captain model is powerful and Altatogether is coordinating it in Altadena

Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong went on The Daily Show to announce that he’s taking the LA Times public

Status: “Jon Stewart torched media executives for bowing to Trump — then handed Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, one of the worst offenders, an unchallenging interview minutes later”

This week’s episode is produced by Sophie Bridges and Olive Greenspan

Support for LA Podcast is provided by LA Forward and by listeners like you. The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. If you want to help us bring more independent voices to California media, you can subscribe at thinkforward.la

All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Trump orders 2000 National Guard troops to leave LA — but 2000 National Guard troops and about 700 Marines still remain

The New York Times talked to a some Marines and National Guardsmen who said morale is so low that soldiers are shitting in hummers; while the Los Angeles Times reports on the widespread boredom of those deployed to the “Los Angeles mission”

A federal temporary restraining order says ICE needs probable cause to retain someone and cannot rely on other discriminatory factors “including apparent race or ethnicity; speaking Spanish or English with an accent; presence in a particular location like a bus stop, car wash, or agricultural site; or the work the person does.” LA Taco’s Lexis-Olivier Ray reports that a similar temporary restraining order in Kern County is working

Economic analysis on the ICE raids by CalMatters: California saw a 3.1% drop in private-sector employment in June, a decline that the state hasn’t seen since the pandemic or the 2008 recession. 

“As a campus we recognize the significant harm that has resulted from these events and reaffirm our commitment to supporting our students, faculty, and staff and prioritizing your safety and well-being”: Cal State LA allows students to switch to online learning 

LASD is now handing over prisoners to ICE, claiming sanctuary laws apply but there are “exceptions for cases that involve criminal offenses”

LA Public Press: “LA bus operators vow to shut doors on ICE to keep immigrant riders safe”

Children’s Hospital LA’s Center for Transyouth Health and Development will close on July 22 due to Trump administration threats

The history of CHLA providing gender-affirming care is astonishing — they’ve been doing this for 30 years, serving many low-income families 

LA County is trying to scramble money for a 988 hotline for trans youth after Trump ended funding for the national one in July

Politico: “Four hours inside Newsom’s head”

Trump’s Department of Transportation is trying to claw back $4 billion in high-speed rail funding, even though Newsom says revoking the money is illegal. The state is now suing to stop them

Alissa’s thoughts on the fake high-speed rail train from LA to NYC

How Caltrain’s electrification and faster, more frequent service boosted ridership 53 percent year over year

This week’s episode is produced by Sophie Bridges

Support for LA Podcast is provided by LA Forward, and listeners like you. The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week.. If you want to help us bring more independent voices to California media, you can subscribe at thinkforward.la

All opinions expressed on the show are those of co-hosts alone and do not necessarily represent the views of LA Forward.

The Guardian: “The troops were deployed to a mostly empty MacArthur Park in the neighborhood of the same name for about an hour, some on horseback and others in armored military vehicles. Agents were also operating an armored vehicle with a mounted rifle”

Capital and Main: “When ICE came up empty”

Alissa’s story on how traumatizing kids at a rec center summer camp has made LA parents even more uneasy

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez: “What you see happening in MacArthur Park is coming to you”

Ken Klippenstein published alleged leaked documents detailing the goal of “Operation Excalibur”

Vets About Face created an important video explaining why the U.S. military does these “shows of presence” in occupied regions

CalMatters, Bellingcat, and Evident Media analyzed 100 ICE raids in Southern California and highlighted some troubling (and unconstitutional) tactics

The City of LA, LA County, Pasadena, Montebello, Monterey Park, Santa Monica, Culver City, Pico Rivera, and West Hollywood joined the ACLU’s lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security. After we recorded, a ruling siding with ACLU from Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong “temporarily blocked the Trump administration from using racial profiling to carry out indiscriminate immigration arrests.” Read the order here

Day labor advocates were arrested for allegedly planting tire spikes (they’ve been released); an astonishing 12-hour standoff with Ventura County farmworkers ended with over 200 people kidnapped and one farmworker, Jaime Alanis, dead. Here’s how to support the families

Wired: New DHS guidance “urges officers to consider a range of nonviolent behavior and common protest gear — like masks, flashlights, and cameras — as potential precursors to violence” 

New Gallup polling shows Trump’s immigration policy is becoming very, very unpopular

Julia Wick’s reporting on how Stephen Miller was radicalized in Santa Monica is a must-read in the Times

LA just recorded its lowest homicide numbers in 60 years; this chart is truly incredible

Homicides are down nationwide post 2020 largely due to an outpouring of funding for social services. Directing more spending towards parks, local nonprofits, community centers, and violence interrupters has been attributed to a historic drop in homicides in cities like Baltimore as well — but what happens in a city that slashes that funding?

LA Times: “LA County’s charter reform accidentally repealed anti-incarceration ballot measure”

LA Daily News: “Two members say the measure, approved by voters, contains a clause that ends a 2020 measure that requires county funds be spent on incarceration alternatives”

Watch last week’s LA County’s Governance Reform Task Force meeting for the reveal of the error. Discussion begins 43 minutes in

On Monday, July 14 at 12:45 p.m., Isaac Bryan and Eunisses Hernandez are hosting a conversation on why J matters and what happens next. LA County Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Janice Hahn are proposing a fix on Tuesday

Where are our elected leaders in the resistance to attacks on our communities? LA Forward is hosting its monthly meeting to answer these questions in partnership with Local Progress. Tuesday, July 15 at 7 p.m. on Zoom, RSVP here

Produced by Sophie Bridges

Support for LA Podcast is provided by LA Forward, and listeners like you. The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week.. If you want to help us bring more independent voices to California media, you can subscribe at thinkforward.la. 

All opinions expressed on the show are those of co-hosts alone and do not necessarily represent the views of LA Forward.

The Trump administration sues LA for obstructing immigration laws: “Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. Here’s the flimsy case

ACLU SoCal, Public Counsel, CHIRLA and other groups sue the Department of Homeland Security alleging that ICE has “unconstitutionally arrested and detained people in order to meet arbitrary arrest quotas set by the Trump administration.” Watch the press conference and read the full complaint

Rep. Laura Friedman held a press conference for the No Masks for ICE Act, and new city motions from Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez are also demanding federal agents show ID and not mask

Alejandro Orellana, a 29-year-old member of the Boyle Heights-based community organization Centro CSO, was indicted for handing out face shields during protests

How the private prison company CoreCivic wants to expand its California City facility for ICE detainees

LA Taco’s Daily Memo featuring Memo Torres is a must-watch. Also check out this Washington Post feature about LA Taco

Cal Matters: “Taken: What happens after an immigration raid”

Judge David O. Carter’s ruling says there is a “glaring lack of accountability for how the city spends money on homeless services and housing.” Here’s all 62 pages of the ruling

LAist keeps reporting on inconsistencies with the homeless count

An ongoing Rand study says homelessness declined in Hollywood and Venice, but not Skid Row

The New York Times on the biggest CEQA rollback we’ve ever seen: “One of the bills signed on Monday will exempt from CEQA high-density projects as long as they are not on environmentally sensitive or hazardous sites. The other bill will create sweeping changes that are aimed at accelerating legal review and that will exempt numerous types of development projects, from farmworker housing to child care centers. The legislation will also make it easier to rezone areas to allow for more housing in some cities”

Many environmental groups are not pleased; here’s a letter signed by 100 groups opposing the reform

Should we give Abundance credit? Ezra Klein was even name-checked by the governor in his speech. Mike asks what books should be on Gavin’s nightstand instead? He recommends Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News by Alec Karakatsanis and Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond

Speaking of reform: some good housing production legislation proposed by LA Councilmember Nithya Raman

Listen to Mike’s exit interview with Rick Cole as he leaves the LA City Controller’s office

Every day at La Placita: Summer of Resistance activities

On the six-month anniversary of the LA firestorm, revisit Think Forward’s opinion essays on recovery and reconstruction and become a paid subscriber to LA Podcast at thinkforward.la

Produced by Sophie Bridges

LA Podcast is a production of LA Podcast LLC, which is owned by LA Forward. LA Forward provides support and editorial guidance for the podcast, but all opinions expressed on the show are those of co-hosts alone. The opinions expressed on LA Podcast by the co-hosts do not represent the organizational position of LA Forward.

ICE says 1,600 detained in Southern California, with data showing the majority are men with no criminal records, randomly taken off the street

In an LA Taco video it certainly looked like LAPD was protecting ICE in downtown LA Tuesday

The statement from LAPD only seemed to confirm this: “At one point, a partially handcuffed woman approached and stood near a LAPD officer. After several minutes, a Federal agent approached and assumed control of the woman. LAPD was not involved in her detention or arrest”

As Ron Gochez of Union del Barrio told LA Taco during a ride-along: “They’re not going to call the police to defend them, they’re going to call us”

A motion put forth by LA Councilmembers is asking for more clarity on: “to ensure the safety of City personnel and to prevent unlawful entry by Federal entities”

Meanwhile, the Mayor of Huntington Park, Arturo Flores, formally directed the Huntington Park Police Department to enforce rules about federal agents self-identification, including unmarked vehicles: “We cannot allow Wild West-style bounty hunter tactics to unfold unchecked on our streets… Our residents deserve to know who is operating in their neighborhoods and under what authority”

The hotelworkers union filed a state complaint about misleading signature gathering for the anti-Olympic Wage referendum — here’s the complaint letter and the state leaders they’ve gotten to sign onto it

Now the union is trying to gather signatures for its own ballot measure which basically uses the misleading talking points in proposing to raise the minimum wage for all workers

Zohran Mamdani won a convincing victory against the establishment, as a result of an unusual confluence of reasons, writes Josh Marshall

Mamdani masterfully grabbed public attention, as Ezra Klein and Chris Hayes discuss.

Ranked choice voting helped in the context of the partisan primaries, which we don’t have in California

NYC Comptroller Brad Lander’s cross-endorsement with Mamdani was especially powerful

Watch Anand Giridharada’s interview with Brad Lander about the election results and where things go from here (featuring strategist Waleed Shahid and messaging guru Anat Shenker-Osorio too)

NYC is the most Jewish city in the country and Mamdani’s ability to win many Jewish New Yorkers’ votes despite massive spending by AIPAC-aligned funders has to be understood in the context of extensive, locally-rooted Jewish-Muslim coalition building, as Peter Beinart, Arielle Angel, Mari Cohen, and Alex Kane discuss.

Listen to Mike Bonin speak with Ami Fields-Meyer about “Being a dissident in the United States” on the latest What’s Next, Los Angeles?

On July 1, Reclaim the Streets marches against ICE are taking place all over the city: Eastside, SELA, Crenshaw, South LA

Become a paid subscriber to LA Podcast at thinkforward.la

Produced by Sophie Bridges

The June 14 No Kings rallies may have been the largest single-day nationwide protest in US history, according to The Guardian, but when all the individual actions are counted up since Trump has taken office the second time, there is “dramatically more protest activity” in the U.S. now than his first term

Los Angeles Times: “How the LAPD’s protest response once again triggered outrage, injuries and lawsuits”

“I saw no evidence of violence on the part of protestors (the many thousands of them) before that moment.” Watch Matt Gutman and Jacob Soboroff reporting live on national TV when local law enforcement began to escalate their attacks on protesters (with a special shout out to Gutman for keeping his cool)

Three different lawsuits — LAPD, LASD, DHS — have been filed on behalf of journalists and legal observers who have been injured in protests. A slideshow of injuries has been compiled by Press Rights Chair at Los Angeles Press Club Adam Rose: “In 2021, I made a slideshow based on 50+ incidents of police misconduct toward journalists. It covered all California over a 12 month period. The legislature responded with new laws to protect press. I just made a new one. It's bigger. It's worse. And it's just one week in Los Angeles”

Brittny Mejia and Rachel Uranga put together an incredible account at the LA Times of the Hollywood Home Depot raid and what happened when a U.S. citizen was detained, including ICE agents bragging about the number of “bodies” apprehended — his phone recorded the whole thing

De Los columnist Fidel Martinez: “What the Dodgers can learn from Angel City about community”

“The population of the Adelanto Processing Center went from 350 to 1,200 in a matter of 10 days in June”: Members of Congress went to Adelanto with CHIRLA to see “inhumane” detention facilities

So many representatives have tried to get access that DHS has now changed the rules -- in violation of federal law

How the Home Depot in Westlake has become a resistance center

On Friday, LA’s City Council introduced a series of motions related to the raids, including laying the groundwork for suing the Trump administration — we’ll get into these in more depth next week

CalMatters: “Trump can keep troops in LA for now, appeals court rules”

CHIRLA’s know-your-rights resources

A group of faith leaders are holding a weekly prayer vigil on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. starting at La Placita, follow LA Voice for details

Donate to the street vendor fundraiser organized by Community Power Collective, East LA Community Corporation, Inclusive Action for the City, and Public Counsel

Join the Summer of Resistance: 30 days of actions at La Placita

Ensure we can keep releasing new LA Podcast episodes every week -- become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la.

Produced by Sophie Bridges

The Guardian: “‘Kidnapped’: families and lawyers desperate to contact LA workers arrested in Ice raids”

LA Times: “What really happened outside the Paramount Home Depot?”

"What happened to me is not about me; This is about something much bigger.” SEIU California president David Huerta was freed from federal detainment after thousands rallied for his release in Grand Park

This is a must-watch: In her remarks to LA’s City Council, Angelica Salas, CHIRLA’s executive director, provides more details of the raids, describes how the rapid response network is activated, and explains how difficult it has been to track detainees

“You’re asking me to warn you about an enforcement action being taken by another agency before it happens? We can’t do that,” said LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell as he disagreed with councilmembers on LAPD’s role in cooperating with federal agents

“If we know someone is coming here to do warrantless abductions of the residents of this city, those people are not our partners.” Watch this statement from LA City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson

Tech reporter Brian Merchant on the weaponization of Waymo at his newsletter Blood in the Machine

Watch California Governor Gavin Newsom address the ICE raids: “Democracy is under assault”

Senator Alex Padilla explains how he was tackled and removed from a press conference in the Westwood federal building

Watch an angry LA Mayor Karen Bass and dozens of local leaders proclaim “This is Los Angeles”

The Dodgers and many other sports institutions remained silent about the raids

Alissa wrote about how the raids are impacting upcoming megaevents, including a Club World Cup tournament happening at the Rose Bowl right now

Even former chief Michel Moore agreed that the feds should not bring in the troops

How outrage about Glendale holding ICE detainees in its jail led to the termination of the contract by the city

State Senator Sasha Renée Pérez on how direct actions are forcing ICE out of hotels in smaller LA County cities

Read LA Taco’s on-the-ground reporting

After we recorded, the No Kings rallies that took place on Saturday drew tens of thousands of protesters to dozens of LA-area locations and may have been be the biggest protests in U.S. history (yet)

Save CHIRLA’s rapid response line to your phone contacts (1-888-624-4752), donate to Ktown for All’s vendor buyouts, volunteer for Polo’s Pantry food distributions, join the LA Tenants Union’s defense centers at Home Depots, get resources and information for your workplace from Day Laborer Network

Coming up this week: Mike’s interview with Ami Fields-Meyer on What’s Next, Los Angeles?

Become a paid subscriber and keep LA Podcast publishing weekly at thinkforward.la

Produced by Sophie Bridges

Note: This episode was recorded before LA saw ICE raids and detainments, countywide protests, and deployment of the National Guard. We’re watching developments closely and will get into all of that next week

Mayor Karen Bass finally made her charter commission appointments for the city

At the county, the Measure G task force meetings are underway

“That person will absolutely become the most powerful person”: Politico on the new County CEO role, featuring quotes from Mike

Los Angeles Times: “Businesses seek to overturn hotel and airport wage hikes by forcing a citywide election”

What the story doesn’t mention: Delta Airlines, which is bankrolling the referendum, is an LA28 partner!

If you see this referendum trying to gather signatures, don’t sign it!

Report signature gatherers and get more information at defendthewage.la

Meanwhile, a new Living Wage for All movement launched last week 

Ground movement in Palos Verdes started moving again after two wet winters — this was a KNOWN problem and the city was warned not to build there. LAist has a great backgrounder

In late 2024, homeowners were offered buyouts from the state and the feds; now 23 homeowners are taking the buyouts

The architectural treasure Wayfarers Chapel was rapidly disassembled as it was about to slide off the cliff, and may have found a new home

Meanwhile the city of Rancho Palos Verdes is going bankrupt trying to slow the ground movement

Take action to save city worker jobs and build affordable housing in Venice

Listen to the Bitchuation Room’s live show podcast featuring Rachel

Be sure to catch upcoming episodes of Mike’s show What’s Next, Los Angeles?

Become a paid subscriber to support LA Podcast at thinkforward.la

Produced by Sophie Bridges

We’re producing new LA Podcast episodes every week only thanks to your financial support! Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la

For the past several years, the City and the County of Los Angeles have been embroiled in a federal lawsuit over their handling of homelessness. Here’s a great backgrounder by LAist on the case and its unpredictable judge, David O. Carter

Now Councilmembers and other city officials, including Mayor Karen Bass, may end up being subpoenaed to testify

Meanwhile at City Hall, councilmembers are growing frustrated with Bass’s handling of homelessness and are discussing curbing her emergency powers so they can have more oversight of programs and spending 

Listen to the LA Podcast episode 247, All Is Not LAHSA, for our previous discussion about Judge Carter’s courtroom, including his threat to put the City of Los Angeles into receivership

One area where Bass has *not* been using her emergency powers is advancing previously approved homelessness housing in Venice. LA Forward Institute's Housing Justice Working Group has a special meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. on the City’s efforts to block the Venice Dell project. RSVP here

With concern deepening over a loss of entertainment jobs in California, both Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom are taking steps to revive an industry that is central to the LA economy and public identity

Even game shows like “The Floor” are fleeing: “Fox flies the show’s host, Rob Lowe, and 100 American contestants thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean to answer trivia questions about dogs, divas and Disney characters at a studio in Dublin. It makes more financial sense than filming in California”

Bass issued an executive directive to make filming easier in LA

Newsom is offering a series of state tax incentives which he called Make America Film Again (and got ratioed on Bluesky for calling it that)

Wired: “Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Make Hollywood Great Again, but There’s a Plan That Can”

The industry might be struggling, but the development of new soundstages in LA is booming, as Hayes wrote earlier this year on Big City Heat

Former LA Times reporter Maya Lau filed a federal lawsuit against Los Angeles County and former sheriff Alex Villanueva, alleging that a criminal investigation into her activities as a journalist violated her First Amendment rights

A reminder that Villanueva’s tenure was marked by aggressive efforts targeting the press, including the arrest of LAist journalist Josie Huang and threatened investigation of LA Times reporter Alene Tchekmedyian

Produced by Sophie Bridges

We’re producing new LA Podcast episodes every week with your help! Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la

Los Angeles Times: “LA City Council approves $14-billion budget, scaling back Bass’ public safety plans”

LAist’s Frank Stolze on the ongoing union discussions to prevent even more layoffs

Madeleine Brand interviews LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell about helicopters on KCRW’s Press Play

Sammy Roth’s LA Times column: “Climate change is cooking Los Angeles. Does Karen Bass care?”

“This budget is far from ideal, but this is the beginning of a longer process to set our city on a path to long term fiscal solvency and economic sustainability. There are still investments I want to see restored, and we’ll keep pushing for them, especially if our labor partners are willing to negotiate.” A message from Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who served as budget chair

LA’s Olympic and Paralympic Wage means that tourism workers in the city will make $22.50/hour by July with an escalator to $30/hour by 2028, plus a healthcare credit starting next year

“As LA pushes a $30 minimum wage for hotel workers, eight hotels are withdrawing from the LA28 Olympic room block, citing financial strain,” according to the Daily Breeze. Although, as the story notes, some of the hotels threatening to withdraw made deals with the city to receive a share of room tax revenue as an incentive to build hotels in LA… for the Olympics

Mark Beccaria of Hotel Angeleno told KTLA: “Common sense says you cannot raise wages over 30% in less than a year when revenue is flat. If this increase in labor costs passes, we will be forced by the City to consider converting this hotel in the heart of residential Brentwood into a homeless shelter”

In 2024, Long Beach passed Measure RW, which raised its tourism minimum wage to the highest in the country at $23/hour

Interestingly, Long Beach isn’t seeing a tourism slump and has been outpacing the rest of LA County: Visit Long Beach CEO Steve Goodling told SFGATE that 33,000 hotel rooms were booked in March for conventions alone: “We’re up 9.6% in revenue per available room over last year”

Alissa’s story on the Olympic and Paralympic Wage from over a year ago

U.S. Attorney’s Office: “Former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Agrees to Plead Guilty to Threatening to Bomb LA City Hall Last Year”

Brian Williams pleaded guilty to calling in the bomb threat himself. As The New York Times reports: “According to the plea agreement, Mr. Williams, while participating in a virtual morning meeting, used a voice application on his personal cellphone to call his city phone. He then called the Los Angeles Police Department to say that an unknown man had just threatened to bomb City Hall.”

Watch Alissa talk transit on the May 21 episode of Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney over at Netflix

Rachel will be a guest at The Bitchuation Room live show this Friday, May 30 at the Elysian Theater

Produced by Sophie Bridges

"There are no more excuses." Gavin Newsom wants homeless people to go away but isn’t necessarily offering permanent housing 

"Tough Talk, Bad Policy": Mike’s story on Newsom’s ongoing attempts to criminalize encampments

Under Karen Bass’s leadership, the Mayor’s Fund pivoted to homelessness prevention, and, according to a new LMU study of 30,000 program participants, is keeping people housed: "Nearly 75% of survey participants reported improved housing stability after seeking help from We Are LA"

LAist reported that auditors in Judge David Carter’s court couldn’t verify 1,400 new shelter beds. LAHSA issued a statement claiming the funding data about the shelter beds has been shared

Whistleblowers at LAHSA claimed that outgoing director Va Lecia Adams Kellum "withheld accurate data about Mayor Karen Bass’ signature homelessness program, Inside Safe, 'because [Adams] Kellum did not want Mayor Bass to look bad'"

LACAHSA, the LA County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, is LA’s regional housing agency that’s funded by one-third of Measure A dollars. You can find upcoming meeting information here

"We are setting up the infrastructure where we can actually create more affordable housing." Read Alissa’s Report Forward interview with LA County Supervisor and inaugural LACAHSA board chair Holly Mitchell: "What is LACAHSA and how can it prevent homelessness?"

The United to House LA city dashboard includes all sorts of information about what Measure ULA dollars are doing

UCLA Lewis Center’s report: "The Unintended Consequences of Measure ULA"

See the United to House LA coalition’s letter of opposition to state legislation AB 698

"Compounding Disaster: A Spatial Analysis of Housing Risk and Speculation in Post-Fire Altadena": a new report by SAJE

"As developers swoop in post LA fires, one nonprofit offers an alternative to Altadena sellers," writes Josie Huang in LAist 

State Senator Sasha Renée Pérez introduced SB 658, which would create a Community Opportunity to Purchase Program

Alissa’s Report Forward on social housing models in Vienna

Community ownership and land banking are the topline recommendations of a preliminary report from the UCLA Blue Ribbon Commission on Climate Action and Fire-Safe Recovery. A LA Times story about the preliminary report includes commentary from Mike

"In Altadena, the fire’s embers have been extinguished, but a new threat is spreading. In order to stave off an impending land grab and community displacement, state and local leaders must act quickly to establish a community land banking strategy." Doug Smith’s essay for Think Forward

"The right kind of government action can peel back layers of inequality and redirect our region towards a more just, environmentally resilient future." Alfonso Directo’s essay for Think Forward

Produced by Sophie Bridges

Support LA Podcast -- become a paid subscriber today at thinkforward.la

It is almost certain that LAPD will be reduced to its lowest numbers since 1995, despite LA Mayor Karen Bass’s goal to hire more officers

A JPL study on the "effectiveness" of LAPD helicopter patrols was conducted in the 1960s. The authors later said the study was flawed and the study findings — which include statements like: "The citizens of Los Angeles accept helicopter patrols as a necessary part of the City’s police system and strongly favor their continuation" — are still presented as facts on the LAPD website

UCLA researchers at the Carceral Ecologies Lab have determined that police helicopter surveillance disturbs physical and mental health

City Controller Kenneth Mejia’s 2023 helicopter report showed that LAPD’s program costs nearly $50 million annually while most of the flight time is not devoted to high-priority events

LA City fire union leaders including Freddy Escobar were suspended after an International Association of Fire Fighters audit showed over $800,000 expenditures without receipts

Bill Scott is Metro’s new police chief and he wants to hire 700 officers

Meanwhile Metro is testing new fare gates and weapons screening at some stations now

"Instead of privatizing good union jobs, those dollars should be staying in-house:" Striking LA County workers list of demands

LA County approves $4 billion sexual abuse settlement, the largest in history, and now survivors are being blamed for costly settlements

"I cannot forget that for weeks survivors were told that seeking justice for our abuse will bankrupt the state. How is that our problem? Why do survivors need to be reigned in?" Rachel’s piece about efforts to roll back AB 218

On Friday, May 30, Rachel will join Francesca Fiorentini for The Bitchuation Room Live in Los Angeles at the Elysian Theater — get tickets here

Congratulations to LA Podcast producer Sophie Bridges for being named a 2025 Pulitzer Prize finalist in audio reporting!

The mayor’s budget summary FINALLY DROPPED 12 days later. On page 47, a letter notes that “there has been confusion” over animal services funding, and the budget hearings confirmed that $5 million had been restored to keep shelters open

Alissa’s story about 24 percent of positions in the transportation department being eliminated, with city staffers describing “DOGE-like” cuts

Meanwhile Bass and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto went to Sacramento to ask for a budget bailout (but didn’t manage to meet with Governor Newsom)

“Clearly the request — which must have originated in City Hall — uses the fires as a smokescreen to rationalize a bailout for a deficit that is fundamentally the result of years-long fiscal malpractice,” writes Dan Walters at CalMatters: 

A big Los Angeles Times investigation found that Freddy Escobar, president of the fire union UFLAC, made over $424,000 in overtime benefits as he claimed LAFD was underfunded

Karen Bass and Rick Caruso made nice to announce the rebuilding plan for the Palisades Recreation Center. Caruso also announced his mall would reopen in 2026

“They haven’t asked me to do anything in a month and a half, nothing, zero,” said LA’s recovery officer Steve Soboroff in his exit interview with Julia Wick at the LA Times

The city and state are claiming the fire recovery is the fastest in U.S. history

New York Times: “How do you rebuild a place like the Palisades?”

Former LA County sheriff Alex Villanueva sued the county last year because he was placed on “do not hire” list after publicly harassing several county supervisors

As part of that suit, the LA Times’ Keri Blakinger reported a psychiatric evaluation that concludes Villanueva has "many attributes of a 'white collar' psychopath"

Become a paid subscriber and help us continue to make LA Podcast episodes weekly at thinkforward.la

Produced by Sophie Bridges

Join CHIRLA and other immigrant rights advocates at May Day 2025 on Thursday, May 1, International Workers Day, starting at 9 a.m. at Olympic Blvd and Figueroa Street downtown: Instagram, Facebook

"Humanity flows in the streets on May Day within us and among us. We embrace it to create a deep sense of solidarity and interconnectedness with one another.” Victor Narro, CHIRLA’s former workers rights project director, reflects on the history of May Day in LA

If you see immigration enforcement, call CHIRLA's rapid response number: 1-888-624-4752

Mike’s episode of "What’s Next, Los Angeles" on the Fighting Oligarchy rally which includes Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez speaking about the city’s budget priorities (AHEM)

Los Angeles Times: "What is stopping Trump from exiling you to a foreign prison?”

There’s been efforts at the federal level to create a registry to track immigrants and share immigrant taxpayer data with the IRS. Local nonprofits are fighting back. CHIRLA joined a lawsuit to protect LA’s sanctuary city status and Inclusive Action for the City joined a lawsuit to stop the IRS from disclosing information

"Under Real ID, an international criminal with a valid passport can automatically travel around our country as he or she wishes. But your neighbor who can’t find her certified birth certificate can’t fly Southwest to Phoenix to watch spring training baseball,” writes Joe Mathews at Zocalo

If you learn one thing from this show: YOU CAN STILL USE A PASSPORT TO BOARD A PLANE

Trump is threatening to require Real ID for voting and the Republican House passed the SAVE Act which would require a passport or other proof of citizenship to vote. Meanwhile, Huntington Beach is trying to require voter ID right here in LA County

The LAX/Metro Transit Center opens June 6, although as Metro’s video points out, the people mover into the airport won’t open until 2026

The new website for the bus-focused Inglewood Transit Connector, which formerly included a people mover, and Alissa’s thread breaking all the changes down

The Inglewood people mover began to lose steam after Rep. Maxine Waters pulled her support last summer, citing Eno Transit analysis  showing costs of $470,000 per rider by 2040

Mike will introduce author Alec Karakatsanis before he reads from his new book “Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News” at Occidental College on Thursday May 1 from 7 to 9 p.m.,details here

Get your tickets to LA Forward's Spring Into Action garden party fundraiser on Saturday, May 3 and hang out with your favorite LA Podcast co-hosts!

Better yet, become a paid subscriber to support the podcast at thinkforward.la! All "Patron" level subscribers will get two free tickets to the Spring Into Action event on May 3.

Produced by Sophie Bridges

Check out Bass’s proposed budget :cao.lacity.gov/budget

Watch the State of the City address: mayor.lacity.gov/SOTC2025

The New York Times: "Los Angeles is rebuilding, but new crises are mounting and Mayor Karen Bass has been haunted by her absence when the fires started. This week, she is trying to reset"

Shine LA is Bass’s new volunteer effort for "cleaning, greening, and preparing our city for the world stage," starting this weekend

The city’s unarmed response pilot programs are funded in the budget (so far). Join LA Forward’s Unarmed Crisis Response working group to protect them

LAist’s look at how liability payments have tripled in recent years

A scathing audit of Vision Zero, the city’s plan to end traffic deaths by 2025 (which obviously did not happen) points to major failures in leadership and funding priorities

Alissa’s story about the city’s capital infrastructure plan, or CIP, and how the first one will be focused around making improvements for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games

"Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday proposed laying off 1,647 workers and closing some city departments in the fiscal year that starts July 1. It's the most austere budget since the city was wracked by the 2008 recession," writes LAist

Meanwhile LA residents are likely facing higher trash fees and an increase in streetlight fees

A new UCLA survey shows Bass's unfavorability ratings soaring after years of being the most favorably ranked local elected official, leading many to question her political future as she faces a recall effort

Give public comment at upcoming Budget & Finance Committee meetings on April 25 at 1 pm at Van Nuys City Hall and on April 28, 4 - 8 pm, at City Hall

CD5 (Yaroslavsky) is hosting a series of budget conversations, so is CD14 (Jurado), and CD1 (Hernandez) is asking for videos from constituents about their priorities

Join your LA Podcast co-hosts at LA Forward's Spring Into Action garden party fundraiser on Saturday, May 3

And support the podcast directly by becoming a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la, the new home on the web for LA Podcast episodes! All "Patron" level subscribers will get two free tickets to the Spring Into Action event on May 3.

LA Times: "As a center of global trade, L.A. could be in for a bumpy ride after Trump tariffs"

“Expensive cars, expensive trains, expensive bikes, expensive everything,” writes Streetsblog

Rebuilding after the fires is also going to get more expensive

At least 600 student visas have been revoked, with at least 83 California campuses, and the federal government seems to be targeting Muslim students

The Guardian: "Gaza protesters sue UCLA for civil rights violations after ‘brutal attack’ in 2024"

A House investigation requested information on USC’s 5,993 Chinese national students, saying the students posed a "direct threat to our national security”

USC also removed DEI from its list of values and replaced the phrase with “community”

But some institutions refuse to back down: “Our community is based on diversity, equity is guaranteed to us in the Constitution, and inclusion is what we believe in,” said Japanese American National Museum board chairman Bill Fujioka

More on the JANM’s program that lost its funding and how you can support the museum

LA Times: "Federal agents sought access to students at two Los Angeles elementary schools this week and were denied access”

Spectrum’s Kate Cagle reported that Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said the federal agents claimed they had permission to question the students -- which was a lie

Alissa’s coverage of LA28 venue battles including beach volleyball in Santa Monica and sailing in Long Beach (and since we recorded, Galway Downs in Temecula suddenly learned it was no longer the equestrian venue) 

LA Daily News: "$2.2 billion LA Convention Center expansion moves forward as council votes to keep project alive”

Listen to Mike’s most recent episode of "What’s Next Los Angeles” on LAHSA funding with guests LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and LA City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield

And join LA Forward for a city/state budget-focused zoom with Kenneth Mejia on April 15 and a community happy hour on Monday, April 21 for a first look at the Mayor's budget proposal

Produced by Sophie Bridges

LA County votes to move $300 million out of LAHSA and start new homeless agency

"We are making forward movement. We must keep building on this and confronting our challenges, together.” Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman urged the Board of Supervisors not to defund LAHSA

Preliminary reports from LAHSA show unsheltered homelessness went down 5-10% again

After we recorded, Va Lecia Adams Kellum resigned as LAHSA director

Judge Carter discusses naming a receiver as LA’s “homelessness czar"

LA Public Press: "Unhoused LA residents react to LAHSA’s unraveling"

Patt Morrison asks why LA can’t accomplish big things

Carla's last opinion piece: "To understand homelessness, listen to homeless people. Here’s what I learned"

And Carla’s last piece as editorial board member: "Stop finding ways to kill the Venice Dell homeless housing project and get it built instead"

Nieman Lab: "The LA Times adds AI counterpoints to its opinion pieces and guess what, there are problems”

48 more journalists take buyouts at the LA Times: “Tremendous amount of institutional knowledge lost”

"Notably, these buyouts will further hollow out the Times’ Editorial Board, which, starting in April, will have no writers left,” writes Laura Nelson at the Guild Eagle, the publication of the LA Times union

And yes, LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong went on Tucker Carlson

Produced by Sophie Bridges

Check out this episode and all future ones on our new website, www.thinkforward.la

LA Times: "LA City Council seeks crackdown on the N-word and C-word at meetings”

In 2014 Michael Hunt was paid a $215,000 settlement after wearing a KKK hood to a city council meeting

Adam Smith’s original songs have elevated public comment to an art form

The LA Times asked Mayor Karen Bass for her text messages during the fire, then two months later the city said she had deleted them, then a few weeks later she found the messages after all, but the LA Times is still suing the city for unlawfully withholding the messages and other public records

Coverage of Vermont Avenue’s bus rapid transit project from LAist and Streetsblog LA

Metro’s letter to LA City saying it won’t include HLA improvements for Metro projects on city streets

Data from Metro shows that new bike lanes increase bus ridership

Alissa’s story on how the city’s first capital improvement plan will be focused on Olympics infrastructure

The Dodgers are going to Trump’s White House to celebrate their world championship

Produced by Sophie Bridges

Supporters held a rally for the Menendez brothers after a resentencing hearing was delayed by LA District Attorney Nathan Hochman

ABC: "DA says he would reconsider resentencing only if Menendez brothers admit to 'lies'"

Mike’s interview with former LA County DA George Gasçon on why he reopened the case 

Separately, Gavin Newsom ordered a risk assessment as part of a clemency review, something he talked about on his new podcast

Yes, Gavin Newsom has a new podcast: This is Gavin Newsom

CalMatters: "Gavin Newsom’s MAGA-curious podcast mystifies listeners — and sets Democratic lawmakers on edge”

Politico: "Gavin Newsom is getting in Republicans’ heads”

Paul Mitchell’s polling on how much Newsom is tanking his approval ratings

Former Republican strategist Dan Schnur told Spectrum’s Kate Cagle that says Newsom is trying to position himself as a moderate — and get in with young men — ahead of a potential presidential run 

Brokers have been calling for a suspension of ULA ever since the fires happened, with realtor-influencers like Ben Belack making the case on Instagram

Breitbart directed the question to LA Mayor Karen Bass, who said she was looking into suspending ULA “maybe temporarily.” But can she? (No)

The city’s ULA dashboard shows nearly $600 million in revenue, with the majority coming from single-family home transactions

LA is looking for new revenue streams to fill its $1 billion budget shortfall

Produced by Sophie Bridges

Listen to the March 16, 2020 episode of LA Podcast: “SoCal Distancing”

Coverage of the court-ordered audit of LA’s homelessness programs in the Daily News, LAist, and LA Times, plus the audit report ordered by Judge David O. Carter

Leaders at the county and city are calling for new oversight, with LA County leaders voting on whether to pull funding from LAHSA

Statement from LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and statement from LA City Councilmember Nithya Raman

Meanwhile, the number of homeless people who die in LA County has reached seven deaths per day

On "LA In a Minute” Evan Lovett said 911 didn’t pick up for an hour, then followed up with a correction, then talked about what happened next. The day before he asked what’s happening to the spirit of LA

The LA Times updated its story on Lovett clarifying 911 picked up after 78 seconds, but most local news outlets did not

One way to improve emergency response rates is by dispatching unarmed responders. LA’s pilot program is at risk of being zeroed out in the new budget. LA Forward is holding a teach-in on unarmed crisis response on March 25 at 7 p.m. RSVP here

Operation Dirty Pond: 11 Huntington Park locations were searched in an LA County District Attorney corruption probe

Huntington Park is reeling from the fallout with four former city employees suing for retaliation and constituents screaming at officials at a recent city council meeting

Produced by Sophie Bridges

Crowley lost her appeal to overturn her dismissal by LA Mayor Karen Bass; now she’ll take a new job as assistant chief of the Valley Bureau

LA Times: “Bass aides were warned of growing fire danger before she flew to Ghana”

And a follow up by the LA Times, published after we recorded: “Why is Mayor Karen Bass deleting her text messages?”

Meanwhile, as a reminder of where to place blame, LA County sued SoCal Edison for allegedly starting the Eaton Fire

Now Bass faces a right-wing recall with a bonkers campaign ad

LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia writes a dire revenue forecast: “Eight months into the current fiscal year, our best estimate is that revenue will fall approximately $140 million short of the adopted budget.” Also of note: “Our short-term focus on year-to-year balance neglects the need for a multi-year transition to service models that allow the City to live within its means”

LA is 88th out of 100 U.S. cities in the Trust for Public Land’s annual rankings for park equity and access 

An LA City parks needs assessment is currently being conducted, you can join meetings at parks and online 

Alissa’s story on LA’s park funding crisis for Torched

LA County’s Measure A, which voters approved in 2016, just secured 623 new acres of green space

The council is also considering CEQA exemptions for temporary and permanent projects related to the Olympics (which was supposed to be a “no-build” Olympics)

Compare LA’s lack of plans to the city of Long Beach’s Elevate ’28, a capital infrastructure plan timed to make citywide improvements by 2028

And as an update to a previous discussion, Bass now says she’s committed to getting charter reform on the November 2026 ballot and is looking for people to join the charter reform commission, you can apply here

Produced by Sophie Bridges

Mayor Karen Bass fired LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley, then Crowley appealed her dismissal

Crowley’s appeal vote, originally scheduled for last Friday, has been changed to Tuesday, March 4

Libby Denkmann's deep dive into sexism, harassment and retaliation in LAFD in 2021 is important context for the events that led to the appointment of Crowley in 2022

Listen to the LA Podcast episode from 2021 detailing the allegations 

The Keep LA Housed coalition organized to win tenant protections in LA County and is gearing up to change the formula landlords use to hike rents

Community Coalition’s Alberto Retana shared his thoughts about the attacks on Bass, and called on Angelenos to focus on the real villains who are exploiting the crisis: billionaires.

Four LAPD officers are being investigated for "allegedly making racist and sexist remarks while working with new officer recruits,” according to the LA Times

Putting on his professor hat, Mike recommends commentaries and op-eds about racism in the LAPD by civil rights lawyer Connie Rice, and abolitionist essays in the New York Times and The Atlantic

Thanks to everyone who filled out our listener survey! Follow us on Instagram, share clips from your favorite episodes, and be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts

Produced by Sophie Bridges

Please fill out the LA Podcast listener survey to let us know what we're doing well and how we can improve!

Join Big City Heat and LA Forward for LA Power Hour, a live comedy show where we fix all of LA’s problems forever. Saturday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m at the Elysian Theater in Echo Park. Tickets are $15, buy them here before they sell out.

South Coast AQMD’s air toxics testing results: “When levels of air toxic metals were above typical levels, the AQI was “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” or worse 98% of the time.”

LA County Public Health’s most recent town hall and all local public health testing results for air, water, soil, and beach sand

How to get your soil tested as part of research by the Community Action Project LA

Alissa’s air quality story for Torched back in January

Protests against Elon Musk’s takeover are being organized locally by the Federal Unionists Network and at Tesla stores, including the Americana at Brand

Musk’s business partner Rick Caruso has brought on Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia to donate modular homes to his rebuilding nonprofit. And Gebbia is also taking a role in Elon Musk’s White House

“It’s no secret that the owner of The Times, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, has been voicing his political opinions and, at times, misrepresenting our journalism — a stark change from when he saved the paper in 2018.” Read more from the Los Angeles Times Guild

The Wrap: ”LA Times Owner’s Comments About Reporter on Dr. Drew Show Could Stoke Further Harassment, Guild Says”
 

Produced by Sophie Bridges

UCLA’s new Blue Ribbon Commission "to promote a safe, resilient recovery” announced by LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath

The Science Moms Super Bowl ad that benefitted California Community Foundation’s wildfire recovery fund

LAT: “Palisades checkpoints to remain, Bass says, reversing course hours before reopening”

LAT: After critics blast move to pay L.A. wildfire recovery czar $500,000, he’ll do it for free"

“Lawmakers shouldn’t use the fires as an excuse to slow down on clean energy,” writes Los Angeles Times columnist Sammy Roth

The FAIR plan, California’s insurer of last resort has run out of money

California insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara confirmed that the state’s insurance customers will see temporary fee increases to cover the FAIR plan

Remembrances of legendary parking reform advocate Donald Shoup from UCLA, the Los Angeles Times, Henry Grabar, and Alissa’s piece at Torched

The High Cost of Free Parking video by Vox

Produced by Sophie Bridges

De Los: "Why LA students walked out of school and protested mass deportations"

Boyle Heights Beat on how LAUSD is working to protect immigrant families

Here’s how you can order red cards or print your own

LA Times: "Who’s in charge of Palisades fire recovery? The answer has gotten complicated"

New rebuilding initiatives: Rick Caruso’s Steadfast LA and the Department of Angels, led by Snap’s Evan Spiegel and California Community Foundation’s Miguel Santana

Rick Caruso on the Joe Rogan Experience

Joe Mathews: “Why Didn’t L.A. Plan for This?”

Designing the Future of LA City: A Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for LA, an LA Forward Institute teach-in

Produced by Sophie Bridges

Hayes’s Big City Heat story: “The question no one is going on TV about”

"24 hours that changed Los Angeles” by the Los Angeles Times’ Laura Nelson

UCLA study: "Altadena’s Black residents disproportionately hit by Eaton fire”

How Steve Soboroff, the city’s rebuilding czar, is going to help the Palisades

Alissa on Gavin Newsom’s LA Rises announcement at Torche

The Rent Brigade is a group of volunteers fighting price gouging 

LAist: "New fire eviction protections sent back to committee"

Produced by Sophie Bridges

The Guardian on LA’s “perfect storm” 

NPR: What LA did right before the fires — and why it wasn't enough

Julia Wick on LA Mayor Karen Bass’s fire response: "Only time will reveal the severity of the political fallout."

“Recovering Together:” Mike’s most recent newsletter includes a long list of resources

Alissa’s newsletter includes a story about the fires and questions about hosting the Olympics

Eater LA’s Mona Holmes wants you to eat at restaurants

Also on Eater: “Customers Are Not Coming In”: LA Restaurants Reach a Breaking Point Due to the 2025 Wildfire

De Los (LAT): "Advocates gather to demand equitable fire recovery for long-time Altadena residents, immigrants and others”

NYT: Shattered in the Fire: A Historic Black Haven

Hayes has a story about searching for the real arsonist and an pre-fire story about building housing in safer areas

Public Counsel’s comprehensive fire recovery resources

77 tenant groups are demanding emergency renter protections with Keep LA Housed

Mike Davis's provocative essay, The Case for Letting Malibu Burn, with a new postscript written after the Woolsey Fire 

Produced by Sophie Bridges

Take Mike’s local media survey! Mike will be interviewing journalists on his podcast, What’s Next, Los Angeles?

The Guardian: “LA Times owner asks editorial board to ‘take a break’ from writing about Trump - report"

California Democrats shifted right due to the state’s cost of living: "A recent report from the Legislature’s fiscal advisor, the Legislative Analyst’s Office, says that living costs have risen nearly 20% since January 2020, driven by a 41.5% jump in housing and utility costs."

LAT columnist Mark Barabak on "how organized labor boosted California Democrats"

The Wrap: "Billie Eilish Dumps Casey Wasserman After Scandal Over Extramarital Affairs” & “Casey Wasserman Says He Won’t Step Down as LA Olympics Chair"

Alissa’s Torched story on Executive Directive 9

Investing in Place on LA’s "Comprehensive, Multi-Year Capital Infrastructure Plan”

Produced by Sophie Bridges

LA County election results

California State election results

The AP VoteCast data on the Latino vote nationally and @Vanessid’s thread on the disaggregated data

LA Times: “This election showed LA voters are fed up with City Hall corruption and scandal”

The Rachel Maddow Show: “Ballot measures deliver big wins for progressive policy priorities”

Hayes wrote about getting "off the feeds and into the streets”

Rachel recommends broadening coalitions and fighting back against Trump’s Games with NOlympics LA

Mike wrote about looking for silver linings and interviewed Assemblymember Isaac Bryan for the next What’s Next, Los Angeles?

Alissa recommends volunteering at your local LAUSD school and organizing with Angelenos for Green Schools, Trust for Public Land, and the LA Living Schoolyards Coalition

David invites everyone to join LA Forward’s Election Debrief & Processing event on Tuesday, November 12 from 7-8:30 p.m. on Zoom and getting involved with future in-person events all over the county — just find a group and plug in!

Produced by Sophie Bridges

LA Forward Voter Guide

"What is LACAHSA and how can it prevent homelessness?" Alissa’s Report Forward piece on the new housing authority funded by Measure A

The "more powerful offspring of Measure H”: read Hayes Davenport on Measure A (bonus: audio discussion with Scott!)

Join us for the LA Forward & LA Podcast Ballot Party in Grand Park on Sunday, November 3, 2-4PM.

Alissa’s new newsletter about LA and mega-events, Torched

What’s Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin featuring interviews with George Gascon and Ysabel Jurado

"Now is the time to keep talking about policing in Los Angeles" from Mike’s newsletter

Let us know what you want to hear on the show! Follow and DM us at @thelapod and @laforward

And be sure to vote by Tuesday, November 5!

Produced by Sophie Bridges.

“The secret to reducing car trips in LA is often much simpler than what well-connected consultants might want you to believe.” Alissa’s gondola story from 2020

Supervisor Hilda Solis’s motion with 31 requirements for the gondola developer

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez’s motion requesting a Dodger Stadium traffic study

NOlympics LA’s 2021 report on community benefit agreements

Join one of LA Forward’s ballot-filling parties: February 29 in DTLA, March 4 on Zoom

“At the Beverly Hills fundraiser, the political consultant Jimmy Blackman told the crowd that unseating Raman would set the stage to go after other progressives in 2026.” Mike Bonin and Peter Dreier’s story in The Nation

Adam Conover's thread on Republican money in the CD 4 race

Rebecca Traister on California’s senate race

Voter guides from LA Forward, Initiate Justice, Knock LA

"I can still hear Nury’s poisonous slurs and cruel laugh, and Kevin’s conspiratorial whisper and malicious tone." Former Councilmember Mike Bonin reflects on what he hears one year later

Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo file lawsuits that claim they said nothing wrong on the recording but yet somehow it also ruined their reputations

Tavis Smiley hosted an excellent 2-hour special which aired after we recorded (Part 1, Part 2)

The third episode of LAist's "Nury & the Secret Tapes" podcast airs this week 

Alissa's Report Forward piece on the state of governance reform, including independent redistricting and council expansion

From 2021, Scott on the case against John Lee, "a co-conspirator on City Council"

"Fault Lines," Seyward Darby's story for The Atavist on systemic abuse at Cleveland High School

Seyward Darby discussing her story on 818s and Heartbreak

Resources from RAINN, the U.S.'s largest anti-sexual violence organization

The law firm representing all Jane Does from Cleveland High School

"Why 1 in 5 jobs in LA City government are vacant," from CD 13's newsletter

Gustavo Arellano on the solidarity between unions during LA's hot labor summer

Tuesday, August 22 is a national day of labor solidarity, find a picket near you

Scott Frazier on why "the alleged crimes of Curren Price are extremely confusing"

Jon Peltz with the full criminal complaint against Price

Cat Garcia's in-depth report on which right-wing extremists were at the Dodgers' Pride Night

Mike Bonin talks to Joey Scott and Sean Beckner-Carmitchel about who's behind local anti-Pride rallies

LA on the Record on how Price's charges might have affected the CD 6 race

WGA's 2023 demands and Week 4 picket schedule

George R.R. Martin on how "mini rooms" are affecting writers

SAJE and ACT-LA's fare-free transit report

LADOT’s first-of-its-kind gender equity transportation study

Watch Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez's remarks on the budget vote

Our own Scott Frazier on how Mayor Bass's climate agenda doesn't meet the moment

• Listen to Eunisses Hernandez on LA Podcast 141: Sans Sheriff
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Have a question about the upcoming election you'd like us to answer? Leave us a voicemail by calling: 323-250-2106

And, if you really want to see it, here is Mayor Garcetti's 2022 State of the City address. 

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Below you can find links to some subjects discussed on LA Podcast #221.

Headlines:

• Read Peter Kalmus' Op-Ed in The Guardian on his protest
  • Read his book called "Being the Change."
• Mike Feuer is in big trouble.
  • See Justin Kloczko's write-up.
  • Listen to Justin's appearance on LA Podcast.
• Watch Cerise Castle and Knock-LA's Sheriff's candidate forum.
• Read more about the court order to make Sheriff V testify under oath.
• And, read more about the latest LASD cover-up.

Support us on Patreon!

Subscribe to the LA Newsletter! 

Read Edition 33 in your browser here.

Subscribe to Thirty Mile Zone, LA Podcast's sister podcast about LA Movies.

Below you can find links to some subjects discussed on LA Podcast #220

Headlines:

• UFCW 770 has authorized a strike for grocery store workers.
• Celebrities crossed picket line at the Chateau Marmont to attend Jay-Z's Oscar afterparty.
• The LA Alliance Case has partially settled. Just the City of LA, and not the county.
  • Read the settlement document for yourself.
  • Read the LA Community Action Network's response.
• Eric Garcetti is even more toast now than ever before.
  • An op-ed we liked about how much of a joy it is to watch Garcetti implode.

Also mentioned:

RSVP for Cerise Castle and Knock LA's sheriff's candidate forum on Tuesday.
Watch the Black Lives Matter LA candidate forum from late March.
Read Elijah Chiland's story on the slowness of state rent relief to tenants in rent debt.

Support us on Patreon!

Subscribe to the LA Newsletter! 

Read Edition 32 in your browser here.

Subscribe to Thirty Mile Zone, LA Podcast's sister podcast about LA Movies.

Below you can find links to some subjects discussed on LA Podcast #219

Headlines:

• Read the UCLA report on where people displaced by the Echo Park Lake closure are one year later
  • See Sam Levin's reporting in The Guardian on the same.
• Read Lisa Kwon's reporting in L.A. TACO about a sweep last week in Little Tokyo.
• Listen to LA Podcast's special episode on the no-longer-confidential report about sexual harassment in the LA Mayor's office.

Plus: Yasmine Pomeroy's February announcement that she's suspending her campaign.

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Subscribe to the LA Newsletter! 

Read Alissa's New York Magazine Story on accusations of sexual harassment in the Mayor's office.

Subscribe to the LA Newsletter! 

Read Edition 31 in your browser here.

Subscribe to Thirty Mile Zone, LA Podcast's sister podcast about LA Movies.

Below you can find links to some subjects discussed on LA Podcast #218

Headlines:

• Herb Wesson is (probably?) back.
  • Read more from about "quo warranto" claims from the state attorney general's office.
• Read Alissa's story about pedestrian access to the LA River. 
• Read the LA Times Story about another former Mayor's office staffer who says she was harassed by Rick Jacobs.

Subscribe to the LA Newsletter! 

Read Edition 30 in your browser here.

Subscribe to Thirty Mile Zone, LA Podcast's sister podcast about LA Movies.

Below you can find links to some subjects discussed on LA Podcast #217

Headlines:

• Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has objected to Garcetti's nomination to be Ambassador to India.
  • Click here to learn about accusations that Mayor Garcetti perjured himself in front of the US Senate.
• Learn more about bargaining between grocery workers and their bosses across SoCal.
• Read more about the Provider Alliance mayoral candidate forum on homelessness.
  • Watch it on Facebook video.