Angeles

When William Rath mapped out his post-law school trip to Los Angeles in May, his itinerary included the city’s quintessential landmarks: gazing up at the Hollywood sign from Beachwood Canyon, taking a celebrity homes tour, scanning the Pacific Ocean for whales off the coast of Long Beach. But amid these classic stops, one destination rose above the rest. Erewhon, the luxury grocer, was a nonnegotiable — not for its groceries, but for the clout, the curiosity and the spectacle.

Rath, a freshly minted graduate from the University of Oregon and influencer, made his pilgrimage to the Beverly Hills location, the gleaming wellness emporium nestled just steps from Rodeo Drive, where Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie routinely draws queues 20-people deep. Unable to find a seat outside, he retreated to his rental car in the shade of a nearby parking garage, and filmed a TikTok review.

“TikTok was the main reason I went. It’s always been on my ‘For You’ page,” says 25-year-old Rath. “I always see a lot of influencers going there and trying different things. It’s a big trend, and it hasn’t stopped.”

Once the domain of wellness devotees and Hollywood insiders, Erewhon has transformed into something more universal: for some, it’s their local grocery store, but it’s also now a bucket list tourist destination. Like the Hollywood Walk of Fame or the Getty Museum, the upscale grocer draws out-of-town visitors in search of not just sustenance, but status — a smoothie, a snapshot and social media proof they were there.

Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie ($20) attracts tourists to Erewhon.

(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)

Aspiration defines much of Erewhon’s appeal. In an era when tourists seek experiences as much as landmarks, the store offers something singular: a way to sample a certain kind of shiny L.A. life. It’s wellness as entertainment, grocery shopping as status symbol. Some tourists are just people on vacation there to gawk, while others are influencers there for content.

“It’s a cultural moment,” says Christina Basias, 36, who has checked out Erewhon’s Santa Monica, Venice and Silver Lake locations when traveling from New Jersey with wife Alexis Androulakis, 38. When they go, the beauty product educators and entrepreneurs scope out new product trends and wellness ingredients that haven’t yet hit mass retailers. “At least 40% of what I see at Erewhon, I can’t find anywhere else,” Androulakis adds.

Founded in 1966 by macrobiotic pioneers Michio and Aveline Kushi, Erewhon began as a natural foods stall in a Boston market before opening a location in L.A. in 1969. The pair borrowed the store’s name, an anagram of “nowhere,” from Samuel Butler’s 1872 satirical novel of the same name, which centered on a utopia where illness is considered a crime. After Tony Antoci and his wife Josephine acquired the brand in 2011, the stores became sleeker and more light-filled; valet parking became the norm. Perhaps most significantly, Erewhon began partnering with celebrities on exclusive smoothie collaborations with none more iconic than Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie.

The exterior of Erewhon is seen in Culver City in 2024.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

By mastering the intersection of curated wellness and celebrity cachet, the brand has turned everyday shopping into a kind of luxury theater.

For many first-time visitors, going to the store is driven by seeing the phenomenon for themselves. That was the appeal for Chloe Forero, an influencer from Chicago, who visited L.A. in May. “It was very much a Whole Foods on steroids,” she says. “It just seemed more like a social experiment than a place people shop day to day.”

Forero, 22, walked away with a sushi roll, two juices and a cookie totaling $65. “The cookie was great,” she admits. “But I ate that sushi thinking maybe this will change my life. Perhaps this sushi will be so good it’ll be worth the price tag that comes with it. It was not.”

Some longtime Erewhon shoppers — yes, some of whom are influencers themselves — grumble on social media about the Erewhon tourists. Meredith Lynch, a Los Angeles native, writer and influencer who frequently dissects influencer culture online, says the Beverly Hills location, in particular, has become a stage. “So much about L.A., for better or worse, is about being seen,” she says. “Erewhon is a place where people go, and they get seen.”

Inside the Culver City Erewhon in 2024.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

The performative aspect resonates with young out-of-towners. Kiara Dewrance, a chef from Cape Town, South Africa, had hoped to try the Bieber smoothie when she visited L.A. last September. But after seeing the price ($20), she opted for two less expensive drinks and still walked away thrilled.

“It kind of feels like when you’re watching a movie. It kind of felt like a movie moment seeing it in real life,” says Dewrance, 27.

Gibson Ardoline, a 19-year-old influencer and business administration major at the University of Florida, spent $91 on lunch when he first toured L.A. last November, which included sushi, juice and one of the store’s hot bar meals. He offset the costs by filming two TikTok reels chronicling his experience, which received more than 1 million views combined and earned him more than what he spent at Erewhon thanks to payments from TikTok as part of the platform’s Creator Rewards Program.

“It was worth going one time, just to have the laugh and say I spent $90 on lunch,” he says, although he wouldn’t disclose how much he made. “It might not be a laugh for everybody, but to me, it was profitable.”

Not everyone leaves ambivalent. Patrick Oatman, a model and economics major at the University of Connecticut, was genuinely impressed when he dropped by Erewhon last June.

“It seemed to be miles away from a regular grocery store, so it was entertaining in that perspective. It felt like this out-of-reach L.A. thing,” says Oatman, 21.

Erewhon carries several branded wellness products, like this Neptune Blue Sea Moss gel.

(Juno Carmel / Los Angeles Times)

For Rath, who hopes to move to L.A. and practice entertainment law one day, his $100 tab was less a trip expense than a rite of passage.

“This couldn’t be my weekly place for groceries, but If I had a job in L.A., maybe I would go, although it would have to be like once every two weeks,” he explains.

When asked to rank Erewhon among the other iconic spots he visited, he didn’t skip a beat.

“Honestly?” he says. “In-N-Out was fine, but I preferred Erewhon.”

The amount of money that the city of Los Angeles pays annually for police misconduct, trip and falls, and other lawsuits has ballooned, rising from $64 million a decade ago to $254 million last year and $289 million this fiscal year.

The reasons are complicated, ranging from aging sidewalks to juries’ tendency to award larger judgments to possible shifts in legal strategy at the city attorney’s office to an increase in the sheer number of lawsuits against the city.

The biggest chunk of payouts over the past five years were for “dangerous conditions” — lawsuits singling out faulty city infrastructure, such as broken elevators — at 32%, followed by civil rights violations and unlawful uses of force at 18%, and traffic collisions involving city vehicles also at 18%.

City officials have cited the legal payouts as a significant factor in a nearly $1-billion budget shortfall for fiscal year 2025-26 that was closed with layoffs and other spending cuts.

City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, who took office in December 2022, heads the office that defends the city against lawsuits.

In an interview with The Times and public appearances throughout the city, Feldstein Soto cited a backlog of cases from the COVID-19 pandemic, when courts were barely moving, that were settled or went to trial in recent years.

“Structured settlements” negotiated by her predecessor, Mike Feuer, which are paid out annually rather than in one lump sum, have also contributed to the tab, she said.

Feldstein Soto also said she believes juries are increasingly antagonistic to city governments, resulting in larger verdicts.

Feuer said in an interview that the city was entering into structured settlements before he took office, and he does not believe he increased their use.

To explain the rise in legal liability payouts during his tenure — from about $40 million in 2013 to about $91 million in 2022 — Feuer cited a lack of investment in city infrastructure like streets and sidewalks during the 2008 financial crisis.

In public appearances, Feldstein Soto has sometimes blamed plaintiffs for trying to get financial compensation for what she characterized as risky behavior or interpersonal disputes.

Speaking to the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association earlier this year, she said that two types of lawsuits — “dangerous conditions” lawsuits and those brought by city employees over working conditions — are ripe for abuse. Some employees who sue the city simply don’t like their bosses, Feldstein Soto said, citing a lawsuit by an LAPD captain, Stacey Vince, who alleged that higher-ups retaliated against her after she complained about her boss. Vince was awarded $10.1 million by a jury, and the city subsequently settled the case for just under $6 million.

Feldstein Soto also described one man who sued the city as an “idiot.” The man was riding his electric scooter without a helmet, Feldstein Soto said, when he crashed on an uneven sidewalk and into a nearby tree, suffering a traumatic brain injury.

According to Feldstein Soto, taxpayers ultimately pay the price for these lawsuits.

“Please understand that every dollar you award is your money,” she said.

The number of lawsuits filed against the city has risen each year since the pandemic, from 1,131 in 2021 to 1,560 in 2024.

At the same time, the average amount the city pays per case has increased dramatically, from under $50,000 in 2022 to $132,180 in 2024. A contributing factor is the increase in payouts of least $1 million, with 17 such cases in 2022 and 39 in 2024. (The city counts settlements or jury verdicts in the fiscal year they are paid out, not when the dollar amount is decided.)

From July 2024 to March 2025, the city paid $1 million or more in 51 lawsuits.

Feldstein Soto said these “nuclear verdicts” cut deep into the city budget and could raise payouts for similar cases in the future.

Total annual payouts in police misconduct cases jumped from $15 million in 2020 to $50 million in 2024. Dangerous conditions cases rose from around $41 million in 2020 to about $84 million in 2024.

Earlier this year, the city paid $21 million to plaintiffs in a series of lawsuits related to a botched LAPD bomb squad fireworks detonation that injured more than 20 people and displaced many residents.

Also this year, the city paid out a $17.7-million verdict to the family of a man with mental health issues killed by an off-duty LAPD officer.

This coming fiscal year, the city increased its allocation for liability payouts from about $87 million to $187 million — far less than what it has been paying in recent years — out of a $14-billion budget.

City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who chairs the council’s public works committee, said the rising payouts stem in part from the city’s long-term lack of investment in infrastructure. The city spent about 10% of its overall budget on streets and other public works last year — substantially less than it spent on police, said Hernandez, who favors a smaller LAPD.

“As a city, we don’t invest in the maintenance of our city,” she said. “I have felt like I’ve been screaming into the void about some of these things.”

In one lawsuit paid out this year, the city agreed to give $3 million to a man who tripped over a slightly uneven sidewalk and suffered a traumatic brain injury.

Last April, the city reached a $21-million settlement with a man whose skull was broken by a street lamp part that fell on him. The city had gone to trial, with a jury awarding the man $22 million, but the parties eventually settled for the slightly lower amount.

“I believe the driving force is the delays and lack of maintenance of the city that has caused an increase in such incidents,” said Arash Zabetian, a lawyer for the man hit by the streetlight.

Some plaintiffs’ attorneys say that Feldstein Soto’s legal strategies are contributing to the rising liability costs. They assert that she is taking more cases to trial, resulting in larger verdicts than if she had settled.

Matthew McNicholas, an attorney who often sues the city on behalf of police officers, said he recently went to trial in five cases and won all of them, for a total payout of more than $40 million.

He would have been happy to settle all five cases for a total of less than $10 million, he said.

One of the lawsuits, which ended with a $13-million verdict, was filed by two male officers accused of drawing a penis on a suspect’s abdomen. The officers alleged that higher-ups did not cast the same suspicion on their female colleagues.

In another of the lawsuits, a whistleblower alleged that he was punished for highlighting problems in the LAPD Bomb Detection K-9 Section. A jury also awarded him $13 million.

“It’s not a tactic to say we’re going to play hardball. It’s just stupid,” McNicholas said. “I am frustrated because she goes and blames my clients and runaway juries for her problems.”

Greg Smith, another plaintiffs’ attorney, said he has also noticed a tendency at Feldstein Soto’s office to push cases to trial.

“Everything is a fight,” Smith said. “I have been suing the city for 30 years, and this has been the worst administration with respect to trying to settle cases.”

Feldstein Soto said her office settles “every case we can.”

“It’s in nobody’s interest to go to trial. It’s a waste of resources,” she said. “But we will not settle cases where we don’t think we’re liable or where the demand is unreasonable.”

To stem the flood of large payouts, Feldstein Soto is looking to Sacramento for help, proposing a bill that would cap lawsuits against California cities at $1 million or three times the economic losses caused by an incident, whichever is greater. Caps on damages exist already in 38 states, according to Feldstein Soto’s office.

She has yet to find a state legislator to sponsor the bill.

Vice President JD Vance on Friday castigated Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, arguing that the elected leaders are endangering the lives of law enforcement officers because of their opposition to federal immigration raids in Los Angeles and surrounding communities.

Vance, while meeting with federal, state and local officials in Los Angeles Friday afternoon, justified President Trump’s decision to seize control of California National Guard troops from Newsom and deploy them in Los Angeles, a decision that triggered a legal battle between state and federal officials.

“What happened here was a tragedy,” Vance told reporters. “You had people who were doing the simple job of enforcing the law, and you had rioters, egged on by the governor and the mayor, making it harder for them to do their job.”

Although Newsom and Bass have criticized the immigration raids, which led to protests and sporadic violent attacks against law enforcement officials, both have repeatedly urged demonstrators to remain peaceful.

Bass, who did not meet with Vance, dismissed his description of what has unfolded in Los Angeles over the last two weeks.

“Unfortunately, the vice president did not take time to learn about our city and understand that our city is a city of immigrants from every country and continent on the planet,” Bass said at a news conference Friday evening. “But then again, he did need to justify the hundreds of millions of wasted taxpayer dollars that were wasted in the performance of a stunt.

“How dare you say that city officials encourage violence,” Bass said. “We kept the peace.”

Newsom weighed in repeatedly on the social media platform X, notably about Vance calling Sen. Alex Padilla “Jose” during his remarks.

Padilla was dragged to the ground by federal law enforcement officers and briefly detained when he attempted to ask U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question during a press conference earlier this week.

“I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question, but unfortunately I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t a theater, and that’s all it is,” Vance said.

A spokesperson for Padilla responded that Vance, as a former colleague of Padilla in the U.S. Senate, “knows better.”

“He should be more focused on demilitarizing our city than taking cheap shots,” spokesperson Tess Oswald posted on X. “Another unserious comment from an unserious administration.”

Vance’s visit to Los Angeles was unexpected but is reportedly coinciding with a political fundraiser at the Republican National Committee’s annual summer retreat taking place in Beverly Hills. Tickets cost up to $445,000, according to NOTUS, a nonprofit news group.

Vance landed at LAX around 1:35 p.m. and toured the Federal Building Command Center, an FBI Mobile Command Center that is currently being used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was briefed by officials from the Department of Defense, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol.

Reporters traveling with the vice president were told they not allowed to cover Vance’s meetings with officials there because the facility contained classified information. Vance was also scheduled to meet with Marines during his visit.

During his visit with federal officials, Vance called Newsom and Bass’ actions during the protests “disgraceful,” referred to the actions as “riots” and said that was why Trump decided to deploy troops from the California National Guard.

“We have to remember that the day that the riots started, before there was ever a single national guardsman, before the president of the United States had sent in additional resources, you had law enforcement officers that were being captured and beaten by a violent mob, egged on by Gavin Newsom and other officials,” Vance said. “It was necessary to send in the National Guard to stop that process to bring some order back to this great city.”

Newsom criticized the federal raids, saying they violated Trump’s vow to target violent, criminal immigrants, but also urged Californians protesting the actions to do so peacefully and said those who engaged in lawlessness would be arrested.

During protests in downtown Los Angeles, federal agents stood guard around federal buildings that were the focus of protesters. Los Angeles police officers, as well as officers from other local police agencies and the California Highway Patrol, responded in large numbers and repeatedly moved demonstrators away from National Guard troops, pushing the crowds to undulate across downtown’s civic center.

Standing next to U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, Bill A. Essayli, and FBI Assistant Director Akil Davis, Vance defended the deployment of Marines and National Guard troops in Los Angeles.

“That’s why we’re here, that’s why these guys are standing beside me,” Vance said. “That’s why we have close to 5,000 soldiers and Marines from the Department of Defense. It’s because we’ve got to enforce the law.”

The visit comes as California and federal officials battle in court over control of the California National Guard. Trump federalized the troops over the objections of Newsom and sent them to L.A. after immigration raids sparked protests.

On Thursday, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals kept control of the troops in Trump’s hands while the issue is litigated in federal court. On Friday, a federal judge in San Francisco asked attorneys for the federal and state governments to submit briefs by noon on Monday about the Posse Comitatus Act, which largely prohibits the use of federal military forces in civilian law enforcement, and the length of time the California National Guard is under control of the federal government.

Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has vowed to continue fighting the Trump administration over the decision.

The clash has left Newsom and officials in the Trump administration trading barbs in interviews and social media. Vance appears unlikely to meet with the highest elected official of the country’s most populous state.

“We’re always open to working together — which makes it all the more disappointing that the White House chose not to engage with us directly ahead of the visit,” a statement from the governor’s office read. “We’ve yet to receive any official notice of the Vice President’s trip — which, from what we understand, is focused on a high-dollar fundraiser.”

Newsom later released a video on X, addressing Vance directly and urging the vice president to meet with victims of the Palisades and Altadena fires.

“It’s been months now since some of the most devastating wildfires in U.S. history occurred — tens of thousands of lives completely torn asunder,” Newsom said in the video. “I hope you have an opportunity to spend some quality time with some of the victims of the families in the Palisades and also spend some time in Altadena, which is incredibly important.”

Newsom also urged Vance to speak with Trump about comments the president made earlier this week, suggesting he would cut disaster relief for the fires because of the ongoing feud with Newsom.

“It’s honestly important as well, and I honestly mean this, that you sit down with the president of the United States, who just a couple of days ago suggested that these American citizens may not get the support that other citizens get all across this country in terms of disaster relief,” Newsom said. “I hope we get that back on track. We’re counting on you, Mr. Vice President.”

Times staff writer Julia Wick and Dave Zahniser contributed to this report.

Ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids have sent shock waves across the Southern California region, with many people sheltering indoors out of fear of being targeted by anti-immigration efforts.

With Latinos and immigrants representing the majority of the food and agricultural work forces, these raids have had an immediate impact on local restaurants and food businesses. Restaurant owners and managers are scrambling to keep their staff safe, even offering transportation and grocery deliveries to those who fear navigating public spaces.

But L.A.’s restaurant industry is coming up with innovative ways for patrons to support workers, including the launch of limited menu items, the collection of shelf-stable foods for distribution and fundraising events that span an Independence Day block party, all with at least a portion of proceeds going to local organizations aimed at protecting immigrant rights. Keep reading for ideas on how to get involved:

Amid the Dodgers’ silence about federal immigration raids in Southern California, a familiar voice that has comforted immigrants for years emerged.

Jaime Jarrín, the former Spanish-language voice of the Dodgers who captivated thousands of fans for decades and served as Fernando Valenzuela’s translator during Fernandomania, posted a message on his Instagram account about the raids and protests in a city he adopted as his own in 1958.

“As an immigrant who came to this country 70 years ago, I know firsthand the hope, courage and determination it takes to build a new life in a new land,” Jarrín posted Tuesday. “I have always believed that immigration is not just part of the American story; it is the American story.”

“Los Angeles is my home,” Jarrín added in his Instagram post. “This city is my family. And it breaks my heart to see the growing division in our community and across the country. We all deserve to be treated with dignity, respect and humanity.”

Former Dodgers Spanish language broadcaster Jaime Jarrín posted a message in support of immigrants and protestors following to weeks of ICE raids.

(Fernando Llano / Associated Press)

The message from the Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and Dodgers ambassador was celebrated while critics grew more vocal opposing the team’s silence following ICE raids and protests in the Los Angeles area the past two weeks. A Dodgers spokesman said the team would announce plans to aid immigrants on Thursday, but it delayed the announcement after turning away federal agents who tried to use the team parking lot after conducting raids at the Hollywood Home Depot and surrounding areas.

Jarrín is originally from Quito, Ecuador, and his first job in this country was in a factory in East Los Angeles. Over time, Jarrín became the sports director for KWKW and a Dodgers broadcaster for more than six decades. Jarrín worked alongside Valenzuela when he was a rookie in Major League Baseball in 1981, serving as his translator during Fernandomania in the 1980s. They later shared microphones in the radio booth broadcasting Dodger games in Spanish.

“In the face of the injustices and suffering we have witnessed, I am deeply proud of the thousands who have peacefully taken to the streets; raising their voices, refusing to be silenced. Their courage matters. Your presence matters. Do not be afraid. Stand strong. Stay present. Let your voice be heard,” added Jarrín.

President Donald Trump’s massive deportation orders have affected the professional sports atmosphere in Los Angeles. The games typically draw Latinos and immigrants from a wide range of countries. Tournaments such as the Gold Cup and the Club World Cup lost fans as some stayed away from stadiums because they feared potential raids or preferred to show solidarity with the demonstrations.

Of Los Angeles’ 12 professional sports teams, as of Friday morning, only two have issued public statements about the raids. Angel City FC and LAFC have shown their support for the community since the protests began, while the Dodgers and Galaxy, with a heavily Latino and immigrant fan bases, have remained silent.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has responded to some questions from reporters, but he has limited his remarks to saying he understood that the community is “heartbroken” and said the situation was somewhat “unsettling for everyone.”

Fan favorite Kiké Hernández took to his social networks to say he was “sad and enraged” at how immigrants were treated, noting the city of Los Angeles had opened its arms to him.

The Puerto Rican player, who helped the Dodgers win the World Series last season, wrote: “Maybe I wasn’t born and raised here, but this city adopted me as if I was one of them. I am too sad and infuriated with everything that is going on in the country and in our city. Los Angeles and Dodger fans have opened their arms to me, supported me and shown me a lot of kindness and most of all a lot of LOVE! This is my second home,” posted Hernandez, who was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and is in his second stint with the Dodgers after playing in L.A. from 2015-20 and returning from 2023 to the present.

“I cannot tolerate watching our community continue to be violated, attacked, abused and separated. ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and their human rights. I stand with you!!! #CiudadDeImigrantes,” the Dodger wrote on Sunday, using a hashtag referring to L.A. as a city of immigrants in Spanish.

Meanwhile, Maria Valenzuela, the daughter of legendary pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, spoke out against the ICE raids.

“I am a proud daughter of immigrant parents. They came to this country with dreams bigger than borders. My mother followed her heart, and my father not only pitched for the Dodgers, but for all immigrants who believed they belonged in this country,” Maria Valenzuela posted on Instagram. “He helped shape a city and inspired generations of Mexicans to dream big. Behind the fame was the same immigrant story: sacrifice, struggle and endless work for a better future.”

This article first appeared in Spanish via L.A. Times en Español.

June 20 (UPI) — A federal appeals court ruled late Thursday that President Donald Trump may maintain control of thousands of National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles, a blow to the state’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, who is fighting to keep the soldiers off his streets.

The three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals was unanimous, ruling that Trump’s order federalizing members of the California National Guard was likely legal.

The court though disagreed with the Trump administration’s argument that the president’s decision to federalize the troops was insulated from judicial review but acknowledged that they must be “highly deferential” to it.

“Affording the President that deference, we conclude that it is likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority,” the court said in its 38-page ruling, though it added “nothing in our decision addresses the nature of the activities in which the federalized National Guard may engage.”

The panel included two Trump-appointed judges, Mark Bennett and Eric Miller, and President Joe Biden appointee Jennifer Sung.

The ruling stays a lower court’s order that had directed the Trump administration to remove the troops deployed to Los Angeles streets.

Trump celebrated the ruling as a “BIG WIN” on his Truth Social media platform.

“The Judges obviously realized that Gavin Newscum is incompetent and ill prepared, but this is much bigger than Gavin, because all over the United States ,if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable , for whatever reason to get the job done,” Trump said in the post, referring to the California governor by an insulting moniker he invented.

Trump — who campaigned on mass deportations while using incendiary and derogatory rhetoric as well as misinformation about immigrants — has been leading a crackdown on immigration since returning to the White House.

On June 6, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents began conducting raids in Los Angeles, prompting mass protests in the city.

In response, Trump deployed some 2,000 California National Guardsmen to Los Angeles to quell the demonstrations and to protect ICE agents performing immigration arrests. The number of troops deployed has since increased to 4,000, despite protests having abated.

The deployment was met with staunch opposition, criticism of Trump for continuing an extreme right-wing slide into authoritarianism and a lawsuit from Newsom, who was initially awarded a stay ordering the troops to be removed from the Los Angeles streets.

However, an appeals court hours later issued a preliminary injunction, which late Thursday was made a stay.

Newsom, in a statement, expressed disappointment over the ruling while highlighting the court’s rejection of Trump’s argument that his decision to deploy the troops is beyond judicial review.

“The President is not a king and is not above the law,” Newsom said, vowing to continue to fight the deployment in court.

“We will press forward with our challenge to President Trump’s authoritarian use of U.S. military soldiers against citizens.”

The deployment by Trump is the first by a president without a governor’s permission since 1965.

A general rule of Persian cuisine in Los Angeles: The khoresht, or complex stew, is the fundament of Iranian home cooking, with infinite individual, regional and seasonal variations. (Local author Naz Deravian’s book “Bottom of the Pot” is one portal into the glories of khoresht.) Out in the world, families and groups tend to go out for kebabs, and restaurant dishes are designed for widespread appeal. Chef and owner Saghar Fanisalek’s six-table dining room may be hidden among the thicket of other Persian cafes and markets in Westwood, but Taste of Tehran stands out as the best of the kebab houses. Fanisalek cooks a reassuring mix of dishes — marinated meats singed over flames and served with snow banks of rice, yogurt and eggplant dips as tart as they are rich — all with uncommon finesse. Just the right amount of grated onion stings the beef koobideh, shaped in undulating patterns on the skewer, and the chicken kabob has fully absorbed its lemony marinade. Tahdig, that bottom-of-the-pot rice, cracks like crystal; order it with chicken fesenjoon spooned over and let its pomegranate-tinged gravy soften the grains for a few moments. On a warm day, try to claim one of the restaurant’s few tables along the well-trafficked sidewalk. You’ll be people-watching while passersby observe back, appraising your meal with ravenous glances.

The majority stake of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball franchise is being sold in what will mark the most expensive sale of a US sports team in history, according to a source familiar with the deal.

The Buss family has owned the team – one of the most iconic in sports globally – since 1979 and now has made a deal with TWG Global CEO Mark Walter, the source said.

The sale is reportedly worth an estimated $10 billion (£7.45bn) – though it could increase once finalised.

Mr Walter also has a controlling stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers, the professional US baseball team that won the World Series last year.

The BBC has contacted the Lakers for comment.

A spokesperson for Mr Walter’s company confirmed the billionaire financier was in the midst of a deal with the Lakers.

“Mark Walter is entering into an agreement to acquire additional interests in the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, of which he has been a stakeholder since 2021,” the spokesperson said.

In 2021, Mr Walter became a co-owner of the team with a 20% stake. He has investments with various sports teams globally, including the Chelsea Football Club and the Cadillac Formula 1 Team, which is set to enter racing in 2026.

The deal comes after the March sale of the Boston Celtics basketball team to Bill Chisholm for $6.1 billion – which at that time was dubbed the priciest sale of a US sports franchise. It had surpassed the 2023 sale of the Washington Commanders American football team for $6.05 billion.

US media reported Wednesday that the National Basketball Association team’s valuation is at least $10 billion. Its sale will surpass those record-breaking deals by about $4 billion.

Jerry Buss bought the team in a $67.5 million deal in 1979 that included the Los Angeles Kings hockey team and a Los Angeles arena, known as the Kia Forum.

Since that time, the Lakers have won more championship titles than any other NBA team. They’ve appeared at the NBA Finals 17 times under the Buss family ownership and won the championship 11 times.

The team – currently led by superstar LeBron James – made it to the playoffs the last three seasons but was eliminated.

After Mr Buss died in 2013, ownership was passed to his six children in a trust. The family owns a 66% stake in the franchise.

Jeanie Buss has served as the Lakers’ governor since that time – a position she’s reportedly going to keep under the terms of the sale to Mr Walter.

The Los Angeles Times reports the trust required the majority of the six children to agree on any sale of the team.

Lakers legend Magic Johnson, who previously owned a stake in the team, said fans should be ecstatic about the sale and that Mr Walter will carry on the team’s legacy – noting his ownership of the Dodgers led to a World Series win.

“I just talked to my sister Jeanie Buss to tell her congratulations, and that I’m so happy for her and family,” Mr Johnson said on X.

“She’s witnessed him build a winning team with the Dodgers and knows that Mark will do right by the Lakers team, organization, and fans!” he said in another post. “Both are extremely intelligent, visionaries, great leaders, and have positively impacted the greater Los Angeles community!”

Assemblyman Jack Scott lost a son when a host accidentally shot him in the head during a dinner party. Ken LaCorte lost a sister when a robber shot her and her boyfriend.

Senseless tragedies by any measure, but what sets Scott and LaCorte apart are the roles the killings have played in each man’s life.

For Scott the Democrat, the 1993 slaying of his son Adam, a 27-year-old attorney, has transformed him into one of the Legislature’s most ardent gun-control 0advocates. For LaCorte the Republican, the murder of his sister Cathy in 1973 and his fight to keep her killer behind bars has led him to campaign publicly to abolish parole and probation for violent offenders.

Each impassioned by tragedy, Scott and LaCorte are now vying for the 44th Assembly District seat, which stretches from the northeast San Fernando Valley to La Canada Flintridge and Pasadena.

A key Republican strategist said his party is in the process of evaluating whether to target the race, noting that results from recent GOP polls show it shaping up to be more competitive than predicted.

“It’s Jack Scott 35% and Ken LaCorte 27%, which for a perceived popular incumbent is nowhere near where it should be,” the strategist said. “I don’t think this is going to be a cakewalk for Jack Scott.”

Scott said his own polls show him leading by 21 points. Scott said he is confident that if the Republicans decide to dump money into LaCorte’s campaign, the Democrats will be there to help him out as well.

“You can count on me to run hard until election day,” Scott said. “I always run hard. I don’t let up.”

Though traditionally a Republican seat, the 44th Assembly District was claimed by Democrats when Scott wrested it away in 1996 from incumbent Bill Hoge. Recent voter records show that Democrats outnumber Republicans 45% to 39%.

As a result, Dick Rosengarten, publisher of the political newsletter Calpeek, predicts Scott will win the seat, not only because Democrats have an edge, but because of the prominent role Scott has played in the fight to impose stricter controls on guns.

“The Republicans are going to have to wait for Scott to get termed out,” Rosengarten said. “The one caveat is if Democrats don’t turn out on election day.”

Republicans are hoping the presidential scandal will keep Democratic voters home.

Getting Republican voters out in the area is also important for freshman Rep. James E. Rogan (R-Glendale), a member of the House Judiciary Committee and a key player in the impeachment debate, who is waging a tough campaign for reelection.

“It benefits the Republicans to get involved in one of the Assembly races out there,” said Allan Hoffenblum, a Republican consultant and publisher of the nonpartisan California Target Book. “They need a strong Assembly race to get out the Republican vote. To not get involved could hurt Jim Rogan.”

LaCorte and Scott are running on platforms that differ on education reform, guns and abortion. Scott is an abortion rights advocate, while LaCorte opposes abortion except in cases of incest, rape or threat to the life of the mother.

Scott was disappointed by Gov. Pete Wilson’s decision last month to veto legislation aimed at strengthening California’s ban on military-style assault weapons.

LaCorte, who says he favors outlawing all forms of automatic weapons, said he believed the legislation went too far and supported Wilson’s veto. LaCorte said he supports reasonable restrictions on guns and a crackdown on felons with handguns. He is a member of the National Rifle Assn., which has taken out newspaper ads against Scott.

“I keep a firearm to protect my children . . . locked in a steel box under my bed,” LaCorte said. “A lot of legislation is aimed at people like me.”

Scott has sponsored legislation aimed at tightening security at plants that manufacture the inexpensive Saturday night specials, many of which are concentrated in Southern California.

“More people die from gunfire in California than automobile crashes,” Scott said. “We can’t eliminate [gun-related deaths], but we can reduce them.”

Besides contrasting stands on key issues, the two men also possess distinct personal styles. LaCorte is a 33-year-old father of two young sons; Scott is a 65-year-old grandfather of eight.

A former Pasadena City College president, Scott has gained a reputation in the Legislature for being lucid, organized and having a flair for oratory colored by his Southern accent. In his first term, Scott pushed through 25 pieces of legislation, including increasing highway patrols in the Sunland/Tujunga area and upgrading the Altadena sheriff’s substation.

As chair of the committee that handles education funding, Scott is quick to point out his support for measures to reduce class sizes and lengthen the school year. He also sponsored a bill making it easier to fire community college teachers by changing the standard for dismissal from “incompetence” to “unsatisfactory performance.”

If reelected, Scott, who has raised slightly more than $317,000, said he will continue to push for school funding and to devise ways to hold low-performing schools accountable.

LaCorte has proposed that report cards be issued on individual schools, covering classroom sizes, teachers’ pay, standard test scores and how much money is spent in classrooms. If elected, he said he will work to reduce taxes on small businesses and expand to nonsexual offenders Megan’s Law, which allows police to alert neighbors to molesters in their midst.

A medical supply dealer who has previously worked for a political consulting firm, LaCorte has raised nearly $126,000 and lists the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Assn. and Susan Carpenter McMillan, a television commentator and spokeswoman for the Woman’s Coalition, as endorsements.

LaCorte made headlines earlier this year for posting the names of dozens of Los Angeles County’s most dangerous sex offenders, a list he culled from the Megan’s Law CD-ROM and posted on the Internet. Last month he also began distributing a booklet listing the names of hundreds of registered sex offenders in the San Gabriel Valley and parts of the northeast San Fernando Valley.

LaCorte, who has described Scott as an extreme liberal, alleged in a campaign brochure that his opponent’s voting record has been soft on crime and anti-business. Scott brushes such charges aside.

“If he’s trying to paint me as soft on crime, he’s going to have a hard time doing it,” said Scott, who has received endorsements from every major law enforcement agency in the state.

As Mayela got off the bus, she saw Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers raiding the pupusería she worked at in Los Angeles. The undocumented transgender Salvadoran woman watched from behind a car as her co-workers — including another trans Central American woman — were handcuffed and taken away in broad daylight.

“I had so much hope when I arrived to this country,” Mayela, played by Fernanda Celarie, says in her prayers later on. “Now that I’ve begun to feel comfortable living here, this is a nightmare. Why so much pain and suffering?”

“Trans Los Angeles” director Kase Peña wrote that scene into her feature film well before the ongoing ICE raids and subsequent protests in L.A., but the harsh reality of fear for the many undocumented people of the city was something she knew she needed to include.

“When I wrote it in 2021, ICE was a hot subject, and then it died down,” Peña told said ahead of her film’s premiere at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival on May 30. “My film was always relevant and needed. The fact that who we have in the White House right now makes my film even more relevant, more needed now that he’s brought the ICE thing back. That part [of the movie] is not going to look old. It’s unfortunate, but that’s going on.”

This is what Peña set out to do with her feature-length movie, which is composed of three non-overlapping vignettes sharing a wide-ranging set of experiences that Angelenos face daily.

Born and raised in New York, the Dominican American director moved to L.A. nearly a decade ago and was inspired to make her film after noticing a lack of representation for trans stories that reflected the realities of her community.

“When I started hanging with my trans community here in Los Angeles, my intentions were not to tell those stories,” Peña said. “It was something that I felt like there’s a void here, and I’m the right person to tell it because I’m both a filmmaker and a trans person.”

While the storylines of “Trans Los Angeles” drew inspiration from Peña’s personal experiences and fellow members of the trans community‘s stories, the film’s format was influenced by global cinema.

The director pulled from the seminal Soviet/Cuban political work “Soy Cuba” to land on the vignette structure of her film. She had originally wanted to mirror the 1964 movie’s four episodes but was unable to secure funding — a common dilemma faced by truly independent filmmakers — for her fourth snippet, which centered on a transmasculine character.

“A lot of people ask you questions like, ‘Why don’t the stories intertwine?’ It’s because it makes my life more difficult as an independent filmmaker,” she noted. “If you give me a million dollars, I can make the stories intertwined, but I was only getting enough money to shoot one segment at a time. I didn’t have money to shoot all three segments.”

These restraints forced “Trans Los Angeles” to be filmed over the course of several years. The first vignette, “Period,” was shot in March 2021; “Feliz Cumpleaños” was filmed soon after in June; “Trans Day of Remembrance” had to be pushed due to finances and was eventually recorded in November 2023 on Peña’s iPhone. That last segment was shot using “stolen locations” for exterior scene — the crew showed up to a spot and recorded without having film permits or insurance.

“That’s one reason why I decided to shoot it with my iPhone,” she said of the guerrilla filmmaking strategy. “If somebody would have came to me and said, ‘Hey, what are you guys doing over there?’ [We’d say] we’re just shooting something for Instagram on my iPhone. They’d be like, ‘Oh, OK.’”

The vignette “Period” centers on Vergara, a formerly incarcerated trans Latinx woman played by actor and model Carmen Carrera. The character lands a job as a nanny to a preteen girl while doing sex work on the side.

Carrera says she was drawn to the project because Peña’s script allowed her to portray a three-dimensional character.

“That is valuable because oftentimes us trans people are told that we’re not valuable, or that we’re wrong for existing, or that we shouldn’t be around kids, or we shouldn’t have responsibility or be people who are a contributing factor to society,” Carrera told said. . “It’s a reflection of my own life too. I am an active girlfriend, I am an active daughter, I’m an active sister. The trans experience is just a small part of my life. It’s not the totality of my human experience. I was just happy I felt more related to Vergara because it’s how I have always felt as well. In my own life, people judge me all the time.”

Another aspect of “Period” that connected Carrera to Vergara was the character’s relationship with her mother.

“I think as a first-generation American, you have that extra layer of [thinking], ‘My parents came to this country and sacrificed so much, and if I don’t make them proud it’s gonna be a waste,’ ” she said.

Central to the plot of “Period” was the community that Vergara was able to tap into thanks to the TransLatin@ Coalition, a real-life advocacy group based out of L.A. that seeks to create safe spaces for transgender, gender expansive and intersex immigrant women in the city.

“The reason the TransLatin@ Coalition is in the film is because that came from me,” Peña said. “I in real life have gone to TransLatin@ to seek the services that they provide for trans people of color. Because I’m a writer and I go there, I see this place and I’m like, ‘I can tell the story and include them.’ ”

The second segment of the feature, “Trans Day of Remembrance,” is named after the annual day of observance on Nov. 20 of those whose lives were lost due to transphobia.

The story follows Phoebe (Austria Wang), a Taiwanese American transgender woman, as she maneuvers her romantic life and processes the death of one of her fellow trans friends. For this vignette, Peña intentionally cast transmasculine actor Jordan Gonzalez to play Phoebe’s cis boyfriend, Sam. .

“We’ve had cisgender people play trans roles, and it’s the first time [Gonzalez has played a cisgender role]. It was something that they’ve been wanting to do for a while, but this industry doesn’t see them as that, because they only see them as trans,” Peña said. “It was something that they yearned for and perhaps now, because they’ve done it, other people would consider casting them that way too.”

The final segment, “Feliz Cumpleaños,” portrays an ICE raid on a Salvadoran business while telling the story of Mayela’s hopes and aspirations for her life as she prepares for her baptism at an LGBTQ+ friendly church.

As an outsider to the Salvadoran experience, Peña leaned on actual members of the Central American country to adjust and approve of her script.

“I want to acknowledge that I’m not from El Salvador. As a person of color, as a Dominican filmmaker, as a transgender filmmaker, I have often seen filmmakers from other communities come and tell my story, and they don’t check in,” Peña explained. “They think they can just write it. They don’t get it right sometimes, and then they go win major awards. I didn’t want to disrespect the community like that.”

Peña emphasizes that the movie tells stories that get to the heart of the struggle and beauty of being human in L.A.

But ultimately her film is only a slice of the overall trans experience, she says, a unique series of stories informed by a writer whose ethos can be encapsulated in her own views on her own trans identity.

“For me, being transgender is not about passing. Being transgender is about having the freedom to be who you are,” Peña said. “I’m not trying to look like a woman. This is me. That’s it, whatever that means.”

The Japanese player will pitch for his MLB side for the first time since his signing a $700m contract with them in 2024.

Shohei Ohtani is set to return to the mound as the starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a four-game series against the visiting San Diego Padres, the Major League Baseball (MLB) team has announced.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts originally told reporters on Sunday that Ohtani was set to pitch a simulated game in the coming days, but the team decided to give him the nod against the rival Padres on Monday.

“He’s getting very eager, very excited,” Roberts said. “I think the thought is that given where we’re at right now, anything he can give us is additive, even if it’s an inning or two innings on the front end.”

This will mark Ohtani’s first big league pitching appearance since August 23, 2023, and his first with the Dodgers. The two-way player had Tommy John surgery on his elbow in September 2023, three months before signing a 10-year, $700m contract with the Dodgers.

Ohtani has been ramping up for a return to the mound in June. On Tuesday, the right-hander threw 44 pitches over three simulated innings against minor leaguers from the Dodgers’ Arizona spring complex.

Ohtani’s return could not come at a better time for Los Angeles. Starters Roki Sasaki (right shoulder), Blake Snell (left shoulder) and Tyler Glasnow (right shoulder) are all on the injured list. Sasaki was recently forced to shut down his throwing programme after feeling discomfort this week. There is no timetable for his return this season.

In total, the Dodgers have 14 pitchers on the injured list – the most in the MLB.

Over his career in the majors, Ohtani is 38-19, with a 3.01 ERA in 86 career starts, all with the Los Angeles Angels. In 481 2/3 innings, he has compiled 608 strikeouts and 173 walks.

A three-time MVP, Ohtani is hitting 0.297 with 41 RBIs in 70 games this season, leading the National League with 25 home runs and a 1.035 OPS.

June 15 (UPI) — Mayor Karen Bass said Sunday that Los Angeles does not need National Guard troops to bolster city police amid protests against raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, despite the gatherings turning violent in recent days.

“We don’t want them here,” Bass said on CNN’s State of the Union. “They don’t need to be here. Our local law enforcement have complete control of this situation.”

President Donald Trump deployed thousands of U.S. National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles to assist ICE with immigration raids of locations that were suspected of employing or harboring undocumented migrants.

Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer ruled that Trump must return control of the situation to the Los Angeles Police Department, and that Trump’s deployment of the troops was unconstitutional.

But hours later, a federal appeals court panel lifted Breyer’s order, allowing the soldiers to continue to assist in the immigration raids.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has also been critical of Trump’s troop deployment and said the president overstepped his bounds without first seeking input from state or local officials.

Newsom called Trump a “stone cold liar” in response to the president’s comments that he consulted the California governor before deploying the soldiers.

Immigration raids continue. However, Trump has appeared to be moderating on targeting some workplaces, including some farms, meatpacking plants, hotels and restaurants.

Amid the backdrop of the raids and protests, thousands of people rallied in the streets Saturday to protest Trump’s policies that his critics have called authoritarian. The “No Kings” rallies took place in cities across the country at the same time that the U.S. paraded high0end military equipment through the streets of Washington in an event that was estimated to cost as much as $45 million. Saturday was also Trump’s 79th birthday.

The United States Marines have deployed to Los Angeles following criticism and legal battles over whether President Donald Trump had the authority to use the military to quell civilian protests without state approval.

On Friday, Major General Scott Sherman of the US Army confirmed that 200 Marines were arriving in southern California to protect a federal building. A total of 700 Marines have been authorised for deployment to the region.

“I would like to emphasise that the soldiers will not participate in law enforcement activities,” Sherman said during a briefing.

Later in the day, the news agency Reuters confirmed with the military that the Marines had carried out their first-known detention, restraining a civilian with zip ties. The Trump administration has said the Marines will accompany Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on raids and arrests.

“Any temporary detention ends immediately when the individual can be safely transferred to the custody of appropriate civilian law enforcement personnel,” a military spokesperson told Reuters.

Federal law generally prohibits the military from participating in civilian law enforcement activities, and military officials have been careful to draw a line between temporary detentions and formal arrests — the latter of which they cannot do.

The Marines join National Guard troops already in the Los Angeles area following the eruption of protests on June 6, when residents took to the streets to express their displeasure with President Trump’s immigration raids, some of which targeted local hardware stores and other workplaces.

While many of the demonstrations were mostly peaceful and limited to a small part of the city, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) did experience tense clashes with some protesters, who hurled objects and set driverless Waymo vehicles on fire. Police responded with flashbangs, tear gas and rubber bullets.

Trump, meanwhile, dubbed the protesters “bad people” and “insurrectionists” and announced the deployment of the National Guard on the evening of June 7.

The president cited Title 10 of the US Code, which allows a president to call up the National Guard if there is a “rebellion or danger of rebellion” against the federal government. Trump and his allies framed the demonstrators as part of a migrant “invasion” imperilling the US.

“To the extent that protests or acts of violence directly inhibit the execution of the laws, they constitute a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States,” Trump wrote in a presidential memorandum.

A legal battle

It was the first time since 1965 that a US president had authorised the National Guard’s deployment to a state without the governor’s permission. The last time was to protect civil rights protesters who were marching through segregated Alabama and faced threats of violence.

Presidents have called up the National Guard to address domestic unrest in the years since, but only with the cooperation of local authorities. In 1992, for instance, then-President Bill Clinton answered a request from California’s governor at the time to send National Guard members to address the Rodney King protests in Los Angeles.

Trump’s decision to circumvent the authority of California’s present-day governor, Gavin Newsom, has led to a legal fight over whether he exceeded his powers as president.

Newsom filed a lawsuit to block the use of military troops outside of federal sites, and on Thursday, a pair of court decisions left the future of the recent deployment unclear.

First, on Thursday afternoon, District Court Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco sided with Newsom, calling Trump’s actions “illegal” and a violation of the US Constitution.

In his 36-page decision, Breyer ruled that the Trump administration had failed to show a danger of rebellion in Los Angeles.

“While Defendants have pointed to several instances of violence, they have not identified a violent, armed, organized, open and avowed uprising against the government as a whole,” he wrote. “The definition of rebellion is unmet.”

He added that he was “troubled” by the Trump administration’s argument that a protest against the federal government could be tantamount to rebellion, warning that such logic could violate the First Amendment right to free speech.

“Individuals’ right to protest the government is one of the fundamental rights protected by the First Amendment, and just because some stray bad actors go too far does not wipe out that right for everyone,” Breyer said.

He called for an injunction against Trump’s use of National Guard members, saying “it sets a dangerous precedent for future domestic military activity” and “deprives the state for two months of its own use of thousands of National Guard members”.

Nearly 4,000 members of the California National Guard have been authorised for deployment to Los Angeles under Trump’s command.

But the Trump administration quickly appealed Judge Breyer’s injunction. By late Thursday, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals had temporarily blocked the injunction, allowing Trump to continue using the National Guard until a hearing could be held on the matter next week.

On Friday, Trump celebrated that decision on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“The Appeals Court ruled last night that I can use the National Guard to keep our cities, in this case Los Angeles, safe,” Trump wrote.

“If I didn’t send the Military into Los Angeles, that city would be burning to the ground right now. We saved L.A. Thank you for the Decision!!!”

Newsom, meanwhile, has continued his call for Trump to end what he framed as illegal control of the National Guard. He has also accused the military presence of heightening tensions with protesters, not dissipating them.

“@RealDonaldTrump, you must relinquish your authority of the National Guard back to me and back to California,” Newsom wrote on social media Thursday.

He has called the Republican president’s federalisation of the National Guard an “unmistakable step toward authoritarianism”.

The California governor is seen as a possible Democratic contender for the presidency in the 2028 election cycle.

The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, promises that forces will continue their immigration crackdown in an effort to “liberate” Los Angeles, pushing back at criticism that sending the United States military into the city was unwarranted and illegal.

“We have more assets now, today, than we did yesterday. We had more yesterday than we did the day before, so we are only building momentum,” Noem said during a news conference in the city. “This is only going to continue and be increased until we have peace on the streets of Los Angeles.”

As Noem was speaking, a US Democratic senator from California, Alex Padilla, was forcefully ejected from the room while trying to make himself heard – a removal that was swiftly condemned by other Democrats.

Padilla’s office said that once outside the room, the senator was pushed to the ground and handcuffed. He was later released.

President Donald Trump’s decision to dispatch troops to Los Angeles over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom has prompted a national debate about the use of the military in law enforcement operations on US soil.

Some 700 US Marines will be on the streets of the city by Thursday or Friday, the military has said, to support up to 4,000 National Guard troops in protecting federal property and federal agents, including on immigration raids.

Noem defended the use of National Guard troops and Marines alongside ICE agents and other federal personnel, saying Trump “has the right to utilise every authority that he has”.

The state of California is seeking a federal court order later today that would stop troops from “patrolling the streets of Los Angeles” and limit their role to protecting federal personnel and property. California’s lawsuit ultimately seeks to rescind Trump’s order to deploy the National Guard to the area.

In a court filing on Thursday, California argued that the federal government has already violated the law by having National Guard troops assist ICE agents in immigration raids.

Noem said federal officers have arrested more than 1,500 people and that the department has “tens of thousands of targets” in the region.

She said the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was investigating whether there are financial links between the protests and political advocacy groups, something of which there has been little evidence.

Trump’s parade

On Saturday, Americans likely will see split-screen images of US troops on the streets of two major cities: Los Angeles, where troops are guarding federal buildings, and Washington, where soldiers, accompanied by tanks and other armoured vehicles, will rumble down Constitution Avenue in a rare public display of military might to celebrate the army’s 250th anniversary.

Nearly 2,000 protests against the parade, which is taking place on Trump’s 79th birthday, are planned around the country in one of the biggest demonstrations against Trump since he returned to power in January.

Mostly peaceful street protests so far this week have taken place in multiple cities besides Los Angeles, including New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, and San Antonio, Texas.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Thursday he has ordered the deployment of more than 5,000 Texas National Guard troops, along with more than 2,000 state police, to help local law enforcement manage protests against Trump and the continuing federal immigration raids.

Abbott’s announcement did not detail where the troops were sent, but some were seen at a protest Wednesday night in downtown San Antonio near the Alamo. That protest drew hundreds of demonstrators but did not erupt into violence.

“Peaceful protests are part of the fabric of our nation, but Texas will not tolerate the lawlessness we have seen in Los Angeles in response to President Donald Trump’s enforcement of immigration law,” Abbott said. “Anyone engaging in acts of violence or damaging property will be arrested and held accountable to the full extent of the law.”

Mayors in San Antonio and Austin have said they did not ask for Abbott to mobilise the National Guard to their cities.

Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe on Thursday also activated the state’s National Guard “in response to civil unrest”.

“We respect, and will defend, the right to peacefully protest, but we will not tolerate violence or lawlessness in our state,” Kehoe said in a statement on the governor’s website. “While other states may wait for chaos to ensue, the State of Missouri is taking a proactive approach in the event that assistance is needed to support local law enforcement in protecting our citizens and communities.”

The Los Angeles protests began last Friday in response to a series of immigration raids in the city. Trump, in turn, called in the National Guard on Saturday, then ordered the deployment of Marines on Monday.

“Los Angeles was safe and sound for the last two nights. Our great National Guard, with a little help from the Marines, put the LA Police in a position to effectively do their job,” Trump posted on social media on Thursday.

State and city officials say Trump is exaggerating what is happening in the city and that local police have the situation under control. The protests have been largely orderly but occasionally punctuated by violence, mostly contained to a few blocks.

Police said demonstrators at one location threw commercial-grade fireworks and rocks at officers on Wednesday night.

Another group of nearly 1,000 demonstrators was peacefully marching through downtown when police suddenly opened fire with less lethal munitions in front of City Hall.

Limits sought

Trump is carrying out a campaign promise to deport immigrants, employing forceful tactics consistent with the norm-breaking political style that got him elected twice.

The administration has circulated images showing National Guard troops protecting immigration agents who were arresting suspected undocumented migrants – a permissible function for the troops under federal law.

But the state argues those Guard troops have crossed the line into illegal activity under the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the military from participating in civilian law enforcement.

“For example, photos posted on social media by ICE depict heavily armed members of the National Guard standing alongside ICE agents during arrests,” California said in its latest court filing.

Unless a judge intervenes, the military’s role likely will grow to include “detention, interrogation, and other activities that are practically indistinguishable from urban policing operations”, the filing asserts.

The Trump administration said in a Wednesday court filing that the judge should not restrict the military’s activities in Los Angeles.

“Neither the National Guard nor the Marines are engaged in law enforcement. Rather, they are protecting law enforcement, consistent with longstanding practice and the inherent protective power to provide for the safety of federal property and personnel,” the administration wrote.

US Army Major-General Scott Sherman, who commands the task force of Marines and Guardsmen, told reporters the Marines will not load their rifles with live ammunition, but they will carry live rounds.

Under mounting pressure from the Trump administration, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles will shutter its longstanding healthcare program for trans children and young adults this summer, according to emails reviewed by The Times.

The Center for Transyouth Health and Development began telling its nearly 3,000 patient families of the closure on Thursday, saying there was “no viable alternative” that would allow the safety-net hospital to continue specialized care.

“There is no doubt that this is a painful and significant change to our organization and a challenge to CHLA’s mission, vision, and values,” hospital executives wrote to staff in a Thursday morning email.

The email said the decision to close the center on July 22 “follows a lengthy and thorough assessment of the increasingly severe impacts of federal administrative actions and proposed policies” that have emerged since the hospital briefly paused the initiation of care for some patients this winter.

The note sent shock waves through the tight-knit patient community, members of which had recently breathed a sigh of relief after CHLA reversed its brief ban on some care for new patients in February.

“We’re just disappointed and scared and enraged” said Maxine, the mother of a current patient, who declined to give her last name for fear of attacks on her son. “The challenge is how we break news to this kid who has had such a positive experience with everybody at Children’s.”

In the email, executives said that continuing to operate the center would jeopardize the hospital’s ability to care for “hundreds of thousands” of other children, noting that federal agencies including the Department of Justice, Health and Human Services, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had warned of dire consequences for doctors and hospitals providing care opposed by the administration — including threat of prosecutions for doctors.

“These threats are no longer theoretical,” the note said. “Taken together, the Attorney General memo, HHS review, and the recent solicitation of tips from the FBI to report hospitals and providers of GAC strongly signal this Administration’s intent to take swift and decisive action, both criminal and civil, against any entity it views as being in violation of the executive order.”

The hospital’s Transyouth center is among the oldest and largest programs in the country, and among the only facilities that provides puberty blockers, hormones and surgical procedures for trans youth on public insurance.

But the hospital is also significantly more reliant on public funding than any other pediatric medical center in California — a situation that leaves it particularly exposed to the Trump administration. Roughly 40% of pediatric beds in Los Angeles are at Children’s.

“CHLA has a responsibility to navigate this complex and uncertain regulatory environment in a way that allows us to remain open as much as possible for as many as possible,” executives wrote. “In the end, this painful and difficult decision was driven by the need to safeguard CHLA’s ability to operate amid significant external pressures beyond our control.”

Protests erupted in February after the hospital briefly paused hormone therapy for some patients under 19, in response to President Trump’s executive order.

That move was reversed a few weeks later, amid pressure from patient families, LGBTQ+ civil rights groups and the state Department of Justice.

“Let me be clear: California law has not changed, and hospitals and clinics have a legal obligation to provide equal access to healthcare services,” Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta wrote on Feb. 5, days into the pause.

The California Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Thursday’s internal email from Children’s leadership notes the pressure from the federal government has risen at the same time that support from the state has ebbed.

“Over the past several months, California’s deepening budget crisis, President Trump’s executive orders, proposed federal legislation and rulemaking, and growing economic uncertainty have made the situation even more dire,” the email said.

Activists say the closure sets a dangerous precedent.

“CHLA needs to be a leader in this and stand up to the Trump administration, because other hospitals are taking note of what they’re doing,” said Maebe Pudlow, a trans nonbinary activist and Silverlake Neighborhood Council member who helped lead the protests when care was paused this winter.

“It feels very conveniently timed when everybody’s focus is on ICE raids happening in Los Angeles,” the activist went on. “I think it’s despicable.”

Maxine, the mom, was more measured.

“We’re slowly going underground, underground, underground,” the mother said. “You put one thing in place, and then you have to prepare for when that gets taken away. We’re just trying to stay a couple of steps ahead, sticking together with other parents, knowing who our allies are.”