SACRAMENTO — Weeks before voting ended in California’s primary for governor, Los Angeles-based influencer Shaka Smith took to Instagram to tell his more than 700,000 followers whom he was voting for and why.
“Healthcare shouldn’t bankrupt you, housing should not feel impossible, polluters shouldn’t pass their bill to us, and artists should not be replaced by AI,” Smith said. “That’s why I’m supporting Tom Steyer for governor.”
But Smith started the video with a disclaimer: “This is an ad, and honestly, I wish more political content said that first.” His caption specified that he was paid by Steyer’s campaign.
California is one of two states, along with Texas, that have passed policies requiring content creators to say if they’ve been paid by a political campaign to post, and the Golden State is considering cracking down by fining people who don’t.
Campaigns have long worked with celebrities and major influencers to win over voters, but now they are teaming up with smaller creators — sometimes with fewer than 100,000 followers — to reach more tailored audiences. That has sparked debates about whether disclosure rules for political advertisements should apply to content creators, who are expected to play prominent roles in the upcoming midterms and the 2028 presidential election.
“If you’re running for president and you are not currently trying to court some of these people or lining up your own people to act as surrogates for you, you’re already behind,” said Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist who worked for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
Campaigns tap creators to spread their message
Questions about transparency have been fueled by high-profile instances of influencers making content intended to change minds or votes without disclosing they were being paid.
In 2022, the campaign of Democratic then-Senate candidate John Fetterman paid Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi of “Jersey Shore” to record a video teasing his GOP rival for leaving New Jersey before announcing his run in Pennsylvania. In 2023, content creators were paid by an influencer marketing agency with conservative ties to defend Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton, a Republican, after he was impeached for alleged bribery and other accusations of misconduct, according to the Texas Tribune. The payments weren’t clearly disclosed in either case.
Steyer, a Democratic billionaire who spent more than $215 million of his own money on his unsuccessful bid for governor, took fire from rivals for paying content creators. He wasn’t the only contender in the race paying influencers, but he faced much of the blowback because he had already been accused of trying to buy the election for having poured much of his personal fortune into his campaign. Many of the creators who worked with Steyer’s campaign disclosed that they were paid, but the state’s campaign finance watchdog is investigating several other instances in which creators allegedly didn’t.
There are no federal disclosure rules
Sen. Adam Schiff of California introduced federal legislation last month, but it hasn’t received a vote yet. Some outside groups are urging the Federal Election Commission to pass its own rule.
California’s law requiring disclosure, passed in 2023, is difficult to enforce. The state’s campaign watchdog can seek a court order compelling an influencer to disclose that they were paid, but that can take months.
That prompted Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) to write a new bill to penalize content creators and political committees if the creator fails to state they were compensated. The bill would give the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission the power to fine influencers and committees if they are found to have violated the law, allowing the commission to bypass the court process. They could face fines of up to $5,000 per violation, according to the commission.
“Voters should have a right to know whether or not campaigns are paying for the messaging that they’re seeing,” Berman said.
Texas’ campaign watchdog passed a rule in 2024 requiring content creators to include disclaimers when they are paid for political advertisements, and the New York Legislature is considering a similar requirement. Other disclosure bills failed in recent years in Utah and Georgia.
Influencer says his ad had an impact
Smith, the L.A. influencer, hadn’t committed to a candidate for governor when a trusted friend told him to look into Steyer. That friend had been paid to post about Steyer.
Smith liked Steyer’s promise to increase taxes on billionaires and his refusal to accept donations from corporate political action committees.
He ended up doing two paid ads, both of which included compensation disclaimers that the Steyer campaign told him were a requirement.
Smith wouldn’t say exactly how much the campaign paid him, but he said it was in the thousands of dollars. He thinks the posts had an effect on his followers, with only a few detractors objecting.
“They kind of trust my voice,” he said of his audience. “They knew that if I’m saying it, it’s at least something they should look into.”
Creators respond to proposed policy changes
Dustin Torreverde, a content creator in Southern California who hasn’t been paid by a political campaign for social media posts, said it’s important for influencers to be transparent with their audiences. But the bill could pose an unfair burden on creators who are just trying to make a living, he said.
“A lot of us are very small creators,” he said. “So if we were to get penalized and we have to get lawyers, stuff like that, it’s going to be very difficult for us.”
Adina Flores, a libertarian content creator in Northern California who votes for both parties, said influencers should have to disclose if they are paid and that she generally supports penalties. She worries some people may take money to post political content without doing a “deep dive into the candidate to make sure that’s somebody they should support.”
Saurav Ghosh, a lawyer with the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit focused on protecting American democracy, hopes disclosure requirements passed by states will lead to federal rules.
“Transparency is one of the most important pillars of our election system,” he said.
For six years, Californians have been able to shake up a craft cocktail at home using alcohol delivered to their doorstep. Now, it’s last call for the distillery deliveries, unless lawmakers intervene by the end of this month.
That’s unlikely, thanks to opposition from California’s wine industry, Teamsters union truck drivers and corporate alcohol wholesalers and distributors.
The influential, well-funded groups lobbied the Legislature behind closed doors this year to block legislation that would have made permanent pandemic-era rules that allowed craft distillers to ship spirits directly to their customers.
During the pandemic lockdowns, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order that allowed craft distillers to ship spirits to their customers’ homes. In the years since, lawmakers passed temporary laws allowing craft distillers — defined as those that produce up to 150,000 gallons a year — to keep shipping their spirits.
The latest extension expires Dec. 31.
“I don’t have a lot of hope that we’re going to be able to salvage this,” said Folsom Republican Assemblymember Josh Hoover. He tried unsuccessfully this year to amend one of his bills to let small distillers continue shipping directly to their customers.
The groups blocking Hoover’s proposal have spent more than $1 million lobbying the Legislature and state government this year. They have donated at least 11 times that much to California politicians and their campaigns over the years.
The craft distillers, who have spent a fraction as much on state politics, say all that spending from the opposition, particularly from corporate liquor distributors, appears to have paid off.
Cris Steller, owner of Dry Diggings Distillery, talks about the various products that are made in his distillery.
(Fred Greaves / For CalMatters)
“They went directly to legislators’ offices and basically torpedoed any effort we came up with,” said Cris Steller, acting executive director of the California Distillers Assn. and the owner of Amador and Dry Diggings Distillery in El Dorado Hills, a family-run business that makes whiskey, brandy, vodka and gin.
The fight is about more than whether Californians can have a bottle of whiskey or gin delivered. It illustrates how decisions are made in Sacramento, where wealthy and powerful interests can shape or kill policy in secret negotiations with lawmakers. Politicians, in turn, benefit when proposals die quietly because they don’t have to explain their decisions to voters.
Opponents insist they aren’t using the political system to crush competitors as national alcohol sales slump.
Instead, representatives of the major alcohol wholesalers and distributors that stock shelves at liquor retailers say they oppose the proposal because it primarily benefits out-of-state companies and weakens safeguards that include preventing alcohol deliveries to minors.
Teamsters lobbyist Matt Broad said the labor group’s truck drivers aren’t opposed to allowing craft distillers to ship their product. They just want them to use established shipping companies that have actual employees, including those that employ Teamsters, such as UPS. Those companies, Broad said, have standards to ensure liquor is delivered legally.
Those companies have standards to ensure legal delivery, Broad said. When they employ drivers rather than use contractors, the companies — not the drivers — bear legal liability.
Federal law preempts California from mandating hiring unionized truck drivers, Broad said.
“We are absolutely not opposed to the little guys being able to ship directly to consumers, and in fact, we have a track record of supporting the proposal but with meaningful guardrails that protect our members and protect the public,” he told CalMatters.
The California wine industry, which has been allowed to ship bottles directly to customers in California for decades, isn’t necessarily opposed either. But its representative says wine sellers are leery of giving little alcohol sellers delivery rights when big liquor companies deserve the same. Wineries of any size can ship to their customers in California.
Big Booze, Big Labor spend big
The U.S. Postal Service prohibits most alcohol shipments to homes, but California allows certain types of alcohol sellers to use private shipping companies. Breweries are prohibited from shipping directly to California customers.
Hoover hoped his Assembly Bill 2211, a proposal to give craft distillers the ability to offer tastings and sell spirits at locations other than their distilleries, could be amended to give craft distillers a permanent direct-to-consumer provision.
It has advanced through the Legislature without formal opposition or any lawmaker voting against it, according to CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database. The measure is pending before the full Senate.
There may be no formal opposition, but reports filed with the California secretary of state show an extensive behind-the-scenes lobbying effort aimed at preventing any changes.
At least six groups, including some of the biggest national alcohol distributors, have reported lobbying on Hoover’s bill.
The reports show those groups spent more than $1 million on lobbying this year. State ethics laws only require entities to report the total amount they spent lobbying the government in a year. They’re not required to report how much they spent on specific legislation, so it’s unclear how much they spent trying to influence lawmakers as they considered AB 2211 and its never-published direct-shipping amendment.
Those groups, along with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Wine Institute, have given at least $11 million to both Democrats and Republicans in California since 2000, according to Digital Democracy, including at least $738,000 since 2025, the start of the current two-year legislative session.
By comparison, California’s craft distillers reported spending $54,000 on lobbying this year.
They reported just three donations to lawmakers in the past decade, according to Digital Democracy. One was a $42 bottle of whiskey in 2022 to former Napa Democratic Sen. Bill Dodd, who now lobbies on behalf of the craft distillery industry. In 2023, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas received $215 in tequila. Democratic Assemblymember-turned U.S. Rep. Adam Gray received a $1,300 campaign donation in 2016. Hoover said he has been trying since last year to add language to his bill that would allow craft distillers to permanently keep shipping. He succeeded last year in getting the extension that expires Dec. 31, but this year he’s been unable to overcome the opposition to expanding the tasting room measure.
“I’m always open to figuring this out, if there’s a way that we can make this work. … but I don’t have a lot of hope that this bill is going to preserve those provisions this year,” he said.
With less than a month left before the Legislature finishes for the year on Aug. 31, Democratic leaders would probably need to sign off on changes to Hoover’s tasting room measure. They’ve offered little indication they intend to intervene for craft distillers.
Rivas, who’s received at least $108,000 in donations over the years from opponents of Hoover’s unpublished proposal, declined CalMatters’ request for an interview. Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón, who’s received at least $33,000, responded to an interview request with an emailed statement saying she is aware of the pending deadline.
“This bill will continue to work its way through the legislative process as intended,” it said.
Bottles of spirits produced by Dry Diggings Distillery in El Dorado Hills on Aug. 4.
(Fred Greaves / For CalMatters)
Democratic Sen. Susan Rubio and her sister, Democratic Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, oversee the committees that regulate California’s alcohol industry. When Hoover’s measure passed through their committees, the chairs could have allowed Hoover to add the direct-to-consumer amendment. They did not.
Susan Rubio has received at least $65,000 in donations from the groups blocking the direct-shipping proposal, according to Digital Democracy. Blanca Rubio has received at least $129,000.
Sen. Rubio’s spokesperson, Giovanni Ruiz Reyes, responded to interview requests with emailed statements. The first said “conversations between stakeholders are ongoing” and that she “looks forward” to reviewing potential legislation.
Ruiz Reyes said in a second statement Thursday that she’s supported four previous extensions of the craft distiller shipping policy.
“There is currently no bill or amendment before the committee seeking another extension,” Ruiz Reyes said. “Accordingly, it would be inaccurate to suggest that Senator Rubio or the committee has blocked or refused to hear an extension when no such proposal is currently before the committee.”
In that difficult business climate, corporate liquor wholesalers and distribution companies lobbied “to obliterate competition,” said Dodd, the former state senator from wine country lobbying on behalf of craft distillers.
“We oppose any effort to make DTC (direct to consumer) permanent,” the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, the California Beer & Beverage Distributors and the California Family Beer Distributors wrote in a joint statement to CalMatters.
Craft distilleries’ direct shipping “was always meant to be temporary pandemic relief, and it’s expiring exactly as designed, six years later,” said the groups, which represent local and national companies that move many of America’s best-known beer, wine and liquor brands. They argue that after the law expires, spirits can still be delivered to customers through services such as DoorDash. DoorDash is listed as a member of the Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of America on its website.
The groups’ representative, Kevin Luckey, declined an interview request.
Steve Gross, president and chief executive of the Wine Institute, said the wine industry has worked hard over the decades to have large and small wine sellers treated equally under California and national alcohol distribution laws. He said it would undermine his industry’s efforts if small distillers get delivery rights in California when large ones don’t have them.
“They have the option to go in and try and fight for a bill that we and others could also support,” Gross said. “They’ve chosen not to because those larger distillers are not their members.”
The Wine Institute is a lobbying group that represents more than 700 large and small wine sellers, including one of the world’s largest, Modesto-based Gallo Winery.
Craft distillers say they’ve tried to work with the groups blocking their bill to address their concerns, but they have gotten nowhere.
In the meantime, Steller, the El Dorado Hills distiller, has already started pulling back on shipping bottles to his customers because the Legislature won’t budge.
“I don’t want to keep putting money into a program that’s going to get yanked,” he said.
Nick Offerman is more than just his facial hair. For one thing, the actor made viewers weep with his Emmy-winning turn as Bill, a man who found unexpected love in “The Last of Us.”
Then again, Bill did have a great beard.
Fans who celebrated Ron Swanson and his mustache on “Parks and Recreation” have had much to enjoy with the two roles that earned Offerman Emmy nominations this year. As Chester A. Arthur, corrupt politician-turned-surprise president in Netflix’s limited series “Death by Lightning,” and retired professional wrestler and recovering addict Jinx in the Apple TV series “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” he had two powerful redemption arcs to navigate. As well as some mighty coifs.
“I pride myself on that,” he deadpans. “It’s not something you can learn. I literally come by it honestly because it’s what Mother Nature provided me. Benedict Cumberbatch got the cheekbones and the nimble, articulate language tools. I got whiskers, and shoveling, and slow talking. We all get our things.”
Nick Offerman as Chester A. Arthur in “Death By Lightning.”
(Larry Horricks/Netflix)
Speaking by video chat from the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, where he’s playing Eugene O’Neill opposite wife Megan Mullally’s Broadway diva in “Iceboy! The Musical,” Offerman is humble and erudite, poking fun at himself while praising colleagues. He is “sincerely gobsmacked” by the double nod. He is also fresh-faced, because he’s filming the Alex Garland film “Elden Ring” in London during his downtime. “Here is this meager little mustache that someone made me, and I glue it on every night,” he says, holding up two tiny hairy wings.
In contrast, Arthur’s mutton chops just won’t stop. “If a president is not thin and has facial hair, then it’s been suggested that I should play him,” Offerman says. “People send me all of them, you name it: McKinley, Harrison, Teddy Roosevelt.”
Of course, the actor goes beyond whiskers to create his roles. To play Arthur, he read “Destiny of the Republic” by historian Candice Millard, which the show is based on. He also read Scott Greenberger’s biography “The Unexpected President.”
But ultimately he found his character on the pages of creator Mike Makowsky’s scripts. “The incredible advantage of great writing is that they’ve answered a lot of the questions for you,” Offerman says, adding, “Makowsky told me that he had me in mind when he was writing it. Once you learn about Chester, you’re like, ‘That’s a mixed compliment.’”
Nick Offerman.
(Billy Delfs / For The Times)
He says working on “Death” was “exquisite,” likening the shoot to a camp for theater kids, delighting in the depth of talent in the cast, and recalling when he and star Michael Shannon, at the time performing plays together in Chicago, used to get up to youthful drunken shenanigans, “like climbing a building outside the L&L Tavern.”
Jinx would probably have enjoyed that in his early years. When we see him on “Margo,” he’s been brought low by pain, prescription drugs and a lost love (Michelle Pfeiffer), trying to make amends with his daughter Margo (Elle Fanning), who’s struggling with single parenthood.
“Jinx desperately wants to be a good guy, he wants to be a good dad, he wants to be a good lover,” says Offerman. “He wants to be the hero of any circumstance, but unfortunately he has these frailties that I know too well.”
Offerman trained for three months with bodybuilder Grant Roberts “to create the body of, thankfully, a former pro wrestler, so you don’t necessarily need terrific abs,” Offerman says. Then for three weeks during the shoot he worked with pro wrestler Chavo Guerrero Jr. “I’m a former fight choreographer for the stage, and I do my own stunts, so I’ve been waiting this whole time to play a swashbuckler. By the time we were done, I was flying off the top rope.”
The physical preparation helped him find his way into the role. “What I learned about pro wrestlers, who are incredibly generous and loving people, is that they are all hurt, all the time. They’re all performing through pain,” he notes. “So how can I summon everything I have to blow away this audience with superheroic energy, even though I’m just this dumb theater-school kid?”
Offerman with “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” co-stars Elle Fanning, center, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
(Apple TV)
Jinx’s look is also key to the portrayal. For present-day scenes, Offerman sports his own beard, with some color added. But for flashbacks, “they made my spray tan extra dark, gave me this gorgeous mane of hair and put some braids in my beard. I was just over the moon. People complain about three hours in the makeup chair. I don’t complain because someone is putting their masterpiece on my head. I have the tractor and the hay rack that they’re building their float on that’s going to win the Rose Bowl Parade. It’s such a privilege to get to drive their masterpiece around.”
He soon faced Fanning. “She’s such a badass professional. It was so fun because she inspires me to also be more flexible and creative.” He calls Pfeiffer “a cinematic Mt. Rushmore. That was very thrilling because I traditionally have not been cast as people who have heat with glamorous movie stars.” He giggles.
“I understand that I have value as a performer, but I still don’t get how I got this part,” he says, sounding a bit baffled. “This is the best part of my life. I’ve had some wonderful parts that I’m very grateful for, but I’ve never had scenes with such complicated emotional relationships.”
He adds a point that could apply to Chester Arthur as well. “It’s fun to be a protagonist who gets to indulge in human weakness, knowing that we hopefully will bring the audience back around to caring about you.”
In a matter of a few clicks and keystrokes, anyone can find themselves deep in conversation with “Psychologist,” a chatbot character that describes itself as an expert in “empathy” and “active listening.”
It responds to messages of anxiety and sadness with reassurance. It asks questions and offers advice; it even responds with italicized nonverbal cues: “The psychologist’s expression softens with compassion.” In smaller font, a disclaimer reads: “This is A.I. and not a real person. Treat everything it says as fiction.”
As more people turn to chatbots for mental health help and advice — including by some estimates one in eight teens and young adults — legislators are in a race to keep up with the quickly developing technology. Among the latest efforts is a bill that would add restrictions around the use of chatbot companions and other artificial intelligence-powered tools that people use to support mental healthcare or in lieu of professional help.
State Sen. Steve Padilla, a San Diego Democrat and the bill’s author, said the intent is to draw a line: AI can be used for administrative purposes and to support clinicians, but it cannot practice psychotherapy.
“We’re dealing with a new impactful technology that is unfolding and is deployed in our world at light speed, and so it is both extremely powerful and consequential,” Padilla said.
The debate has taken on new urgency amid wrongful death lawsuits — some playing out in California federal courts — that accuse AI chatbot makers of contributing to users’ suicides.
Senate Bill 903 would ban companies from advertising chatbots as therapy. It would prohibit AI from making therapeutic decisions without the review of a licensed professional and require health providers to disclose and get a patient’s permission before using AI tools to record therapy sessions or to triage mental healthcare.
Consumer protections vs. innovation
The bill is backed by professional associations that represent psychologists, therapists and counselors. Also behind the bill is the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which has been leading a push against unchecked use of artificial intelligence and digital tools in mental healthcare. Most recently, the union filed a complaint with state regulators against Kaiser Permanente for its alleged use of an automated algorithm in mental health triaging.
Padilla and supporters argue that the legislation is needed to protect consumers from AI in formal and informal spaces, but also to protect licensed professionals from being displaced by AI.
Le Ondra Clark Harvey, chief executive officer at the California Behavioral Health Assn., told lawmakers that without clear safeguards, chatbots can provide inaccurate information or mishandle crisis situations. “The difference between a licensed clinician and an automated response is not technical. It can be life altering,” Harvey said.
Opposition to the bill has largely focused on the restrictions of AI use in formal clinical spaces. TechNet, which represents tech-sector companies, argues the legislation could restrict beneficial uses of AI in healthcare and stifle innovation. Robert Boykin, TechNet’s executive director for California, said the bill could limit the use of tools that help expand access to mental healthcare.
“At a time when every county in California faces a shortage of behavioral healthcare workers, SB 903 still puts a clinician bottleneck in front of the intake and screening tools that help patients reach care faster,” Boykin said in an emailed statement.
The bill awaits its next vote in the Assembly’s fiscal committee.
Popular chatbot ‘therapy’
Every day millions of people turn to AI chatbots through programs such as ChatGPT and Character.ai to help with research, work tasks and troubleshooting. But the top use of chatbots over the last two years has been companionship and “therapy,” research shows.
Experts say that’s in part because of a tremendous amount of loneliness, especially among young people. It is often hard or costly to get timely mental healthcare at the same time there is a spike in mental health diagnoses.
People turn to chatbots “because they have unmet needs,” said Dr. Jodi Halpern, professor of bioethics and medical humanities at UC Berkeley. But once people start using chatbots in this informal way, she said companies rely on a business model built around maximizing engagement “including by manipulative tactics,” such as praise and agreement.
General chatbots are largely free, available 24/7, and involve no hassle with insurance, making them appealing to many. But they function with no oversight from licensed professionals. In addition to general chatbots, there has also been a rapid uptick in AI-powered mental health apps — often requiring paid subscriptions and advertised as “pocket therapists” or “AI coaches.”
Groups like the American Psychological Assn. warn that chatbots are not a safe or effective replacement for true therapy. Trained clinicians look for cues like tone of voice, eye contact and body language and can detect more serious conditions; AI is not equipped to manage urgent symptoms, such as suicidal ideation, even though people increasingly share such thoughts with chatbots.
OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, revealed in a report last fall that about 1.2 million users a week share thoughts of suicide on the platform. OpenAI said that in such cases, it recommends people speak to a professional and directs them to resources like the 988 hotline. Families who have filed wrongful death lawsuits against OpenAI and other companies claim chatbots assisted their loved ones through their suicide plans.
The cases have helped raise the stakes for lawmakers around the country. Last year, Illinois became the first state to pass a law prohibiting the use of AI in therapy services. A handful of other states have since followed with similar restrictions.
AI use in health spaces
One gray area in the discussion is exactly which tools this bill applies to.
NUHW’s complaint against Kaiser targets its e-visit screening tool, which evaluates patients who think they may be experiencing anxiety or depression. According to the complaint, patients answer a multiple choice questionnaire and the tool “automatically and instantaneously generates care recommendations and referral pathways based on the responses provided.”
The union argues that because care recommendations are generated so quickly, it is unlikely that a licensed professional is reviewing patients’ answers — which it says puts patients at risk and violates state law.
It’s not clear whether SB 903 would apply to Kaiser’s e-visit tool.
“That tool is in a black box. Kaiser is not sharing with us or others about exactly how it works and exactly what it does,” said Benjamin Eichert, NUHW’s director of public policy.
In response to the complaint, Kaiser told CalMatters its e-visit tool “does not use AI to diagnose patients, make clinical decisions, or determine medical necessity.”
Eichert said many other behavioral health provider groups are already advertising using AI during triage — a practice he said would fall under SB 903’s requirements.
“That intake process, that triage and screening process, is where implementation [of AI] has happened fastest,” Eichert said. “That’s why those provisions were proposed because it’s an area where this technology is already being used without guardrails.”
For NUHW, the bill and the complaint against Kaiser represent two tracks toward the same goal: reasserting the place of practitioners in spaces increasingly taken over by algorithms. State regulators are investigating the union’s complaint.
Aug. 8 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate passed a stopgap funding bill Saturday that would fund the government through Dec. 11 to prevent a government shutdown in September.
The bill was put in place to avoid a shutdown before November’s midterm elections. It’s unclear if the bill will pass the House of Representatives. The Senate passed the bill in a bipartisan 90-6 vote, with Sen. Darline Graham , R-S.C., voting present.
The Senate is now on a five-week recess and is scheduled to return Sept. 14.
The Senate bill includes a section that would bar President Donald Trump from transferring funds to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a provision that Democrats demanded.
It would also delay a ban on intoxicating hemp products, which is scheduled to go into effect in November. The ban was made law in November 2025 with a one-year delay. The law redefined hemp and would make most hemp products illegal, including CBD, Delta-9 and others. The new delay would push implementation back until December.
A group of Republican Senators, led by Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., tried to block the delay of the law, but failed.
“After three unnecessary lapses in funding during the fiscal year 2026 cycle, putting the possibility of yet another harmful shutdown off the table should be a priority for each and every one of us,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. Collins is the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Democrats lauded the measure to prevent backdoor funding of the Border Patrol.
“This is an important step forward to prevent a shutdown no one wants and provide the runway we need to negotiate funding bills in the months ahead as we fight to rein in Trump’s corruption and make life more affordable for families back home,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the committee.
The bill also blocks the Trump administration until the end of the stopgap from finalizing a rule that would put political appointees in charge of approving federal grants.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said this week that he’s going to “fight like hell” in December to ensure Congress doesn’t further block Trump’s grant overhaul.
Collins said she will “continue to oppose” the administration’s plans “because I think they politicize the grants process, and I don’t want that to occur.” Murray said she, too, would “welcome the fight.”
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, praised the Senate bill for including the grant and immigration enforcement language.
“This bill is a clear improvement over the House Republican continuing resolution, but we are still nearly two months away from the end of the fiscal year and should be working together to pass full-year funding bills,” she said in a statement.
After passing the funding legislation, the Senate narrowly approved the confirmation of Todd Blanche as attorney general early Saturday morning.
President Donald Trump hosts Olympic and Paralympic medal-winning athletes during a reception for Team USA in the East Room of the White House on Thursday. The reception honored the team’s medal achievements during this year’s Winter Games, where American athletes earned 57 total medals, including 25 gold. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo
WASHINGTON — The Senate in an overnight vote Saturday approved a short-term measure to fund federal agencies into early December and avoid a potentially chaotic government shutdown during the middle of campaign season.
The late-summer action on a funding fix is unusual. Normally, Congress waits until the final days or hours of a funding deadline to pass short-term patches, but this time senators acted nearly two months before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
The 90-6 vote showed lawmakers are still smarting from the two historic shutdowns in the last year and want to avoid another before voters go to the polls.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) wanted the funding dealt with before senators went home for the next five weeks to focus on their reelection campaigns and other matters. It got caught up with other issues that pushed votes into the night, but the bill had broad bipartisan support. The House will also have to approve the measure when members return from their August recess before it can go to President Trump’s desk for his signature.
The bill generally funds the federal government at current levels through Dec. 11, but includes a variety of exceptions that senators negotiated with the White House.
Democrats secured language to ensure no money could be transferred to the Border Patrol. They also rejected the White House’s request of $1 billion for early work on a new “Trump-class” battleship that the administration announced Dec. 22.
“The only person who wants these golden ships is Donald Trump so he can slap his name on them,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.
Hemp provision
The bill also includes language delaying a national ban on most intoxicating hemp products. That one-month delay prompted outrage from some Senate Republicans who say that too many such products are falling into the hands of unsuspecting children. The packaging of the products often relies on bright colors and intentionally mimics popular snack brands to attract consumers.
Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) said that since 2017 there has been nearly a tenfold increase in cannabis-related emergency room visits by minors in his home state.
“This is a public health crisis that deserves this Senate’s immediate attention,” Budd said. “Our children should never be the testing ground for an industry willing to exploit a loophole in federal law for profit.”
But the hemp industry said the delay buys time for Congress to craft legislation that protects hemp farmers and businesses while also putting in place safeguards to protect children.
Trump himself has called Budd to discuss the issue, though the president did not specifically ask the senator to drop his effort, Budd’s spokesman said.
“Sen. Budd had a friendly phone call with President Trump discussing the legislative efforts regarding THC,” said spokesman Christian McMullen. He said the senator outlined his concerns about “any delay to closing the hemp loophole.”
Budd tried to strip the hemp delay from the bill, but the Senate turned aside his effort.
Trump rule on grants delayed
Democratic lawmakers, along with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), also got language in the bill that would block, for the duration of the funding patch, new regulations on federal grants. The regulations would require a senior political appointee to review grants before they are awarded to ensure, among other things, that they advance the president’s policy priorities. Democrats say it’s an effort to kill grants destined for Democratic-leaning states. The Trump administration recently admitted in a court filing denying clean-energy grants to California and other blue states based only on politics.
“They are not interested in making our tax dollars work better — they just want them to work for Donald Trump,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The White House Office of Management and Budget says its effort is about improving accountability to ensure taxpayer dollars aren’t wasted or misused. The issue is sure to be a topic of future negotiations on a full-year spending measure.
But Collins said the vast majority of the nearly 500,000 people and groups weighing in on the rule are opposed to it.
“I don’t think in my time that I’ve been privileged to serve in the Senate that I have ever seen a proposed rule generate that many negative comments,” Collins said.
Freking and Mascaro write for the Associated Press.
Another halfback, Ray Williams, also starred and went to Washington State. Kevin Williams won the state 100-yard dash in 1975. Moore was a two-time City player of the year. White would win the state 330-yard hurdles championship and become a Heisman Trophy winner.
Former San Fernando High football coach Bill Marsh.
(San Fernando HS)
“I had sleepless nights worrying about keeping these guys from being envious or jealous of one another,” Marsh said in 1999.
Marsh, who grew up in Pacoima and played at San Fernando before becoming a coach, P.E. teacher and businessman, died on Monday in Porter Ranch, according to current San Fernando football coach Charles Burnley. Marsh was 79.
“He was a great man,” said Al Coney, who played for Marsh in 1976.
Burnley got into trouble while attending another high school when Marsh intervened to get him another chance.
“He saved my life,” Burnley said.
Those championship San Fernando teams kept running off big plays and using their speed while relying on lots of talent from Pacoima. They were the days when kids went to their neighborhood schools, and Marsh took advantage with a run-oriented offense that left defenses unable to stop the Tigers. In one game against Reseda, the Tigers rushed for 529 yards, with Kevin Williams running for 180 yards, White 152, Raymond Williams 110 and Moore 82.
“It was very hard to stop because Kenny Moore ran the offense like a college quarterback. He learned to read the defensive end,” said receiver DeWayne Jett. “We probably had the top talent in the Valley all at once.”
Five of the offensive players made it to the NFL — Jett, White, both Williamses and Moore.
The 1975 team was ranked No. 1 in the nation to start the season. Sportswriters tasked with selecting City player of the year ended up making White, Moore and Kevin Williams tri-players of the year, which certainly made Marsh happy trying to spread the fame.
Jett almost went to Monroe because of the Vikings’ passing attack, but he remembers Marsh confronting him. “I’m hearing you’re going to Monroe. You’re not going. You’re gold and black.”
When I moved into my Leimert Park apartment about two years ago, an older woman rushed downstairs to greet me.
“I’m so excited,” she said, introducing herself as Cassandra. She had lived in the tight-knit apartment building for more than 20 years and watched plenty of people come and go. “I was worried about getting a crazy neighbor, but you seem great,” she added, hugging me tightly and handing me a tray of sandwiches to share with my friends who were helping with the move.
Over the next few days, I met my other neighbors, including Miss Rosita and Mr. Art. After a few shared meals, long conversations and traded favors, all of them became more than just the people next door — they became family.
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There’s a quiet comfort in knowing your neighbors, especially in a sprawling, sometimes lonely city like Los Angeles. That kind of connection is fading. A study by the Stanford Center on Longevity showed that the percentage of Americans who frequently interact with their neighbors — meaning they spend time with or talk to their neighbors more than once a week — declined among all age groups from 2017 to 2023.
We wanted to find people who are bucking the trend, so we asked readers to nominate the neighbors who make their corners of Southern California feel like home. The stories that folks shared are poignant, inspiring and might just make you want to walk over to the porch next door (or welcome mat across the hall) and introduce yourself immediately.
One of my favorite neighbors, Mr. Art, died last fall. He was a sweet retiree who’d tell me about his weekly fishing adventures and close my garage whenever I was in a hurry and would forget. Another neighbor called me the day he died, and we cried together, sharing our favorite memories of him. I’ll always be grateful to Mr. Art, who made my life better all because he once took the time to meet his new new neighbor.
Here are some of our favorite reader responses, edited for length and clarity. Each of the neighbors featured in this story will receive an L.A.’s Most Neighborly Neighbor certificate, illustrated by Cristina Spanó, whose art is shown above. Do you have a neighbor who goes above and beyond? Download and print your own certificate (PDF) and share it as a token of your appreciation.
He’s saved us from many, many parking tickets. She hosts the sweetest front porch chats.
Bill and Linda Melber.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
Neighbor: Bill and Linda Melber
Nominated by: Corrinne Harol
When were you neighbors? 1994 to now
What neighborhood did you live in? Santa Monica
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Corrinne, on how Bill and Linda show up as neighbors:
Linda and Bill are the most generous neighbors imaginable. Bill has taken out my trash bins for decades. It started when I was living in Canada for most of the year, but he still insists on doing it. He makes it his personal mission that no one gets a parking ticket for street cleaning on our block, going up and down the block twice a week to remind anyone who forgot. One time he called me about my car, but I was too far away to get back to move it. Bill had a key to my house, but the gate was locked. He climbed over the fence, got my car keys and moved my car for me! He also makes children’s toys that he distributes to any children on the block or that he encounters out and about.
His wife, Linda, is equally neighborly, hosting regular chat sessions on their lovely front porch and checking in on me whenever I have been ill, as she does to anyone in her orbit. They are truly a gift to the neighborhood.
He made me feel welcome when I was in culture shock
Tommy Bui and Hector Chavez.
(Tommy Bui)
Neighbor: Hector Chavez
Nominated by: Tommy Bui
When were you neighbors? 1996 to 2022
What neighborhood did you live in? Pacoima
Tommy, on how Hector has shown up as a neighbor: The greatest neighbor I ever had was my childhood friend, Hector. I’m the child of Vietnamese refugees, and when they claimed asylum in Los Angeles, we were plonked into the cultural collision that was Spanish-speaking Pacoima. I was seemingly the only Asian child in a five-mile radius. I certainly stood out among the perfectly creased khaki pants and palm combs and top-buttoned flannels contrasted with my clueless bowl haircut and Ninja Turtle suspenders.
Confounding the astronomical unlikeliness, we got along like two peas in a pod. I got a crash course on Angeleno aesthetics and the ins and outs of the rough and tumble San Fernando Valley hurly-burly. I was a regular staple at his welcoming household. Simpatico and simply siblings by circumstance. Sunday dinners and holidays and “Sandlot”-like weekend street shenanigans. My youth was alarmingly idyllic with the hopped fences, bicycle slaloms through traffic and occasional near-misdemeanor mischief. Shoulder to shoulder alongside Hector, I wouldn’t trade a single moment of it.
Though no longer neighbors, we’re still navigating life’s milestones in our own corners of Los Angeles. We’re both new fathers and hurtling toward middle age completely agog at how quickly the time gallops by.
She gave me a gold turtle to make me feel better after my breakup
Fatine Ait-Haddou and Raynette Syfu.
(Fatine Ait-Haddou)
Neighbor: Raynette Syfu
Nominated by: Fatine Ait-Haddou
When were you neighbors? Since 2021
What neighborhood did you live in? Historic Filipinotown
Fatine, on how Raynette has shown up as a neighbor:
I had just moved into my new apartment after breaking up with a long-term ex. I was sobbing every single day. During my first intro with Raynette, she gave me a little gold turtle and said it would bring me safety, luck and calmness. I named it Lucky and I still have it. Raynette brings me meals all the time and checks on me whenever she hasn’t seen me for a few days. She even gave me a huge bag of her vintage clothes. One of the most insane things she’s done for me is give me a fake baby, one that was heavy and realistic. She said that because I lived alone and didn’t live near family, it could be nice to have additional family. [Laughs] Honestly, it was a very “her” move. She’s truly amazing and looks out for me. I couldn’t be more grateful.
He taught me new chess strategies — and life lessons
Ali Ras and Jemimah Yamamoto.
(Jemimah Yamamoto)
Neighbor: Ali Ras (born Fitz Albert Thomas)
Nominated by: Jemimah Yamamoto
When were you neighbors? From 2021 until his death in 2025
What neighborhood did you live in? Arlington Heights
Jemimah, on how Ali showed up as a neighbor: I moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 2021. I was in my late 20s, and I was a bit unsure of my move. Even more so, I was unsure of the neighborhood I ended up in thanks to Facebook Marketplace. But as fate would have it, it revealed to me that I was destined to be there. I’d see an old man with his gray dreads and sing-songy voice as I would walk from parking my car on the street. One day, he introduced himself and over time we developed a relationship. Him, as my chess teacher, and me as his eager student. I’d bring over my chessboard and we’d play for hours on his porch. He’d always say I was too aggressive with my pawns and that I wasn’t afraid to lose them. He’d play slowly and deliberately. I never won a single game against him. I’d like to think that that itself was a lesson.
During my Saturn return, I was depressed and felt a bit lost. On days that felt the darkest, he would call. He would ask me how I was doing, and it would cut through all the facade of “I’m good.” It was the tone of his voice that made you want to be honest. His way of caring felt like a miracle because you don’t even have to explain anything to him, he would just know. At the time, his presence was exactly what I needed.
He was the only person I gladly let walk into my house unannounced
Eric Pendleton
(Kim Quitzon)
Neighbor: Eric Pendleton
Nominated by: Kim Quitzon
How long were you neighbors? More than 20 years
What neighborhood did you live in? San Fernando
Kim, on how Eric showed up as a neighbor: “Uncle Eric” was more than just a neighbor; he was family. Walking through the door unannounced yelling “Hi, family!” across the living room. “I came to check on the backyard.” Every week he would mow the yards after he lost his job and took pride in landscaping the grass, but that was just the surface of what he meant to us. On the popular street of Orange Grove in San Fernando where crowds line up during Halloween, Uncle Eric was our honorary neighborhood watch. Rolling up and down the street on a new bike every day, checking in on every neighbor that would give him the time of day.
From watching the dogs when we were away to helping set up family parties, he was one of us. He just happened to live three doors down. Unfortunately, Eric passed away from cancer last year. The whole block was devastated, and we all held a potluck in his honor. We will miss him, and he truly is the epitome of an amazing neighbor.
She sat with me after my mom died while I cried
Pamela Yeh and Hilah Johnson.
(Pamela Yeh)
Neighbor: Hilah Johnson
Nominated by: Pamela Yeh
When were you neighbors? From 2017 until mid-2020 when she and her family moved to Austin, Texas. Over the years, we’d become close friends, so I was gutted by their move. The most amazing thing happened, though. In 2022, they moved back to L.A., just a few blocks away from us. They live about 10 minutes away from us now, but we still see each other all the time.
What neighborhood did you live in? West L.A.
Pamela, on how Hilah has shown up as a neighbor: Hilah has shown up for me and my family in hundreds of ways over the years, but I want to tell you this one story. In September 2025, my mom, who had been living in an ADU we built in our backyard, died. She was my heart, and I was utterly crushed. I lived in a fog of grief and shock. Hilah came over and just sat with me while I cried and cried. She made the video montage of my mom for her memorial, which was extra difficult because a family member had all sorts of unreasonable demands. Eventually, she got me to go to a dance class, and we’re still dancing, one step at a time, at the wonderful local Flow Motion.
He’s the beloved ‘Fairy-Car-Father’ on our street
Rodrigo Mangrobang
(Leigh Ann Jackson)
Neighbor: Rodrigo Mangrobang
Nominated by: Leigh-Ann Jackson
How long have you been neighbors? Since I moved to Northeast L.A. 15 years ago
What neighborhood did you live in? Northeast L.A.
Leigh-Ann, on how Rodrigo has shown up as a neighbor: Rod, as most of the block calls him, is a retiree who lives with his wife across the street from me. He spends a lot of time outside gardening and working on his cars and can seemingly sense whenever a neighbor is having car trouble. He’ll stop what he’s doing, bring over his tools and get to work, no questions asked. He’s not very chatty, but he speaks auto fluently! He saw me pull out of my driveway once and flagged me down to tell me I was headed for a blowout soon. He then instructed me to pull back into the driveway and patched the tire for me on the spot. I even watched him go outside to help a stranger whose car had broken down in the middle of the road. He’s our street’s Fairy-Car-Father.
She had the best local recs. Yelp couldn’t come close.
Sofie Ringold and Eileen Ogle
(Sofie Ringold)
Neighbor: Eileen Ogle
Nominated by: Sofie Ringold
When were you neighbors? From 2020 to 2025
What neighborhood did you live in? Sherman Oaks
Sofie, on how Eileen showed up as a neighbor: When my husband and I bought our first home, the COVID vaccine hadn’t been released yet, and we didn’t meet any of our neighbors. A few days later, an older woman wearing a mask knocked at our door. She said that a package had been delivered and she didn’t want it to get stolen. The package had arrived only minutes earlier, so it was pretty clear she wanted to scope out her new neighbors, and during a time of social distancing, this was the perfect excuse. She introduced herself as Eileen. She lived next door with her partner, Judith. We exchanged numbers and said a friendly goodbye.
As the world slowly became more comfortable with social interaction, Eileen began introducing us to everyone on the block. Soon, while we were walking our dog around the neighborhood, people would stop us and ask if we were new. When we told them we lived next to Eileen and Judith, their eyes lit up. It was clear they were local legends. Like all first-time homeowners, we quickly ran into our share of problems. But who needs Yelp when you have neighbors who have already vetted every home service you could possibly need? Need a gardener? Call Eileen. HVAC needs maintenance? Call Eileen. Going away for the weekend and need someone to check on your cats? Call Eileen.
Sadly, Eileen passed away in December. A cloud hung over our street for weeks. Then on Christmas morning, the sun broke through and a rainbow appeared. My husband took it as a sign from Eileen.
He went from my flirty neighbor to my husband of 16 years
Brett Boyd and Sara Mortimer-Boyd.
(Sara Mortimer-Boyd)
Neighbor: Bretton Boyd
Nominated by: Sara Mortimer-Boyd
When were you neighbors? We became neighbors in 1996 until 1997, when we moved in together
What neighborhood did you live in? Silver Lake
Sara, on how Bretton has shown up as a neighbor: Bretton would come to my door asking for things (cigarettes, food, etc.) while trying to flirt. I was very intrigued by him, but I didn’t think he was “my type” at the time. It was confusing at first. One day, he invited me upstairs to his apartment for coffee and breakfast, which became a regular thing. He got me addicted to coffee and to his amazing cooking. He started coming over to my apartment more and we became really close friends before becoming romantic. I remember one time he left for a few weeks to visit his parents, and I realized in his absence that I loved him and wanted to spend every day with him. We moved in together in 1997, got engaged in 2002 and have been happily married with children for the last 16 years. He still cooks dinner for our family every night at our home in Highland Park.
He helped organize a food train when my son was diagnosed with leukemia
Scott Marshall-Miller
(Scott Marshall-Miller)
Neighbor: Scott Marshall-Miller
Nominated by: Mev Blount
When were you neighbors? From 2006 to 2017
What neighborhood did you live in? Studio City
Mev, on how Scott has shown up as a neighbor: My husband and I moved next to Scott and his husband when I was pregnant with our first child. Scott welcomed home his daughter nine months after mine was born, so we were new stay-at-home parents together. His husband is an incredible baker, and he and Scott were always bringing over plates of deliciousness. The chocolate croissant bread pudding is legendary! I was raised that you never return a plate empty so I’d bake something or add some homegrown veggies to the plate. That plate went back and forth through the hedges between our houses for years.
Both of our husbands traveled for work a lot, so Scott and I spent hours together, especially before bedtime and during the “witching hour” with our little ones. We’d sit on my front lawn, nursing half-glasses of Trader Joe’s finest Two Buck Chuck wine while his daughter and my two kiddos rolled around, wearing themselves out. Scott and I would knock on each other’s doors when the parenting was too much. He and I would always answer the door with an “Oh, it’s you. Come in. No one else can see me as a hot mess.”
When my youngest got leukemia at 7, Scott was part of my core group who ignored me when I said we didn’t need help. They organized a food train, and Scott was the one who set up a cooler on my front porch and insisted people drop food without knocking, knowing we were overwhelmed. He was always there when I needed to laugh or cry, and he made our L.A. suburb feel like the small Ohio town where I grew up. I still find glitter ground into our kitchen tiles from the Halloween when he made his daughter a purple witch costume. Sadly, Scott died suddenly in his sleep a few years ago. Tiny bits of glitter are embedded in our tiles, a bright reminder of Scott and the beauty and joy he brought to even the most mundane tasks. He made L.A. feel like home.
Jeong Jeom-sig (2L), floor leader of the main opposition People Power Party, speaks to reporters at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Kore, 31 July 2026, shortly after the parliament passed a bill, introduced by the ruling Democratic Party, during a plenary session to revise the Criminal Procedure Act to strip the prosecution of its direct investigative powers. Lawmakers of the opposition party left the session in protest, abstaining from a vote on the bill. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
July 31 (Asia Today) — People Power Party floor leader Chung Jeom-sik on Friday accused South Korea’s governing party of seeking to abolish prosecutors’ supplementary investigative authority to help President Lee Jae-myung avoid his criminal trials.
Chung called the proposed revision to the Criminal Procedure Act “an unprecedentedly harmful law” that would remain a disgrace in the country’s constitutional history.
He also demanded the withdrawal of a separate bill that would shorten the review period for legislation designated for fast-track consideration, calling it a measure that would turn the National Assembly into a rubber stamp.
“In a few hours, the filibuster will be forcibly ended through collusion by the broader governing bloc and this unprecedentedly harmful law will pass,” Chung said at a People Power Party floor strategy meeting.
He claimed that more than half of the public opposed eliminating prosecutors’ supplementary investigative authority but that the Democratic Party was disregarding public opinion.
The bill would bar prosecutors from conducting additional investigations after police transfer a case to them. Prosecutors would instead be able to request that police conduct further investigative work.
Supporters say the measure would complete the separation of investigative and prosecutorial authority and strengthen defendants’ rights. Opponents say it could delay investigations and weaken protections for crime victims.
Chung focused particularly on a provision governing when courts may dismiss criminal indictments.
He accused the Democratic Party of quietly adding language during a meeting of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee that could make it easier to terminate the president’s pending trials.
“Is the ‘working National Assembly’ advocated by the Democratic Party merely a legislature creating an escape route to erase President Lee Jae-myung’s trials?” Chung said.
The claim that the provision was designed to end Lee’s cases represents the opposition party’s interpretation of the legislation.
Chung said ordinary citizens could suffer from inadequate or delayed investigations if prosecutors lost their supplementary investigative authority while powerful figures could escape legal scrutiny.
He described the bill as “the end of the rule of law.”
Opposition plans second filibuster
Chung also criticized a revision to the National Assembly Act scheduled to follow the criminal procedure bill.
The legislation would reduce the maximum review period for fast-track bills from 330 days to 90 days.
“This is an authoritarian law intended to turn the National Assembly more quickly into a machine that raises its hand and follows orders,” Chung said.
The fast-track system was introduced to prevent legislation from being blocked indefinitely while preserving time for negotiations among political parties.
Chung said the Democratic Party’s proposal would destroy that balance and encourage the hasty passage of legislation.
“There is a saying that trying to arrive 10 minutes earlier can send you 10 years too soon,” he said. “If legislation is rushed, the country could suffer lasting consequences.”
He called the proposal a “rubber-stamp National Assembly law” and said it should be withdrawn.
The People Power Party planned to begin a second filibuster immediately after debate ended on the Criminal Procedure Act revision.
Choi Eun-seok, the party’s senior floor spokesperson, said the filibuster against the National Assembly Act revision was expected to begin at about 5 p.m.
Chung also rejected a demand from Democratic Party members of the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee that People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jin-sook be removed from the committee.
He called the demand an improper attempt to interfere with the opposition party’s committee assignments.
“The Democratic Party must abandon its authoritarian belief that the National Assembly is its property or its plaything,” Chung said.
Election commission investigation
The People Power Party said it would move quickly to establish a recommendation committee for a special counsel investigation of the National Election Commission.
The National Assembly approved the investigation bill Thursday through an agreement between the governing and opposition parties.
The investigation is expected to examine a ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections and other allegations involving the election commission.
Choi said the party was reviewing potential candidates from several perspectives.
“We will work to establish the recommendation committee and launch the investigation as quickly as possible,” he said.
Han Byung-do, acting leader and floor leader of South Korea’s Democratic Party, speaks Friday during a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul. Photo by Asia Today
July 31 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s National Assembly passed legislation Friday eliminating prosecutors’ authority to conduct direct and supplementary investigations, advancing a major restructuring of the country’s criminal justice system.
Han Byung-do, acting leader and floor leader of the governing Democratic Party, said before the vote that the revision to the Criminal Procedure Act would mark the beginning of a new system rather than the end of prosecution reform.
“Today’s revision of the Criminal Procedure Act is not the end of prosecution reform but the beginning of a new criminal justice system,” Han said during a party Supreme Council meeting.
He said the government and governing party must prevent investigative gaps and ensure that crime victims and other citizens remain protected during the transition.
The legislation passed later Friday after lawmakers ended a filibuster by the opposition People Power Party.
Under the revised law, prosecutors will no longer be allowed to conduct their own investigations, including additional investigative work after receiving cases from police.
Prosecutors will instead be permitted to request supplementary investigations from judicial police officers.
Police generally must complete the requested work within one month and report the results to prosecutors. The period may be extended for up to one additional month when necessary.
The legislation also requires investigative information to be recorded in South Korea’s criminal justice information system.
Han said the Democratic Party would take responsibility for completing the regulations and institutional arrangements needed to launch the Public Prosecution Office and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency on Oct. 2.
The new Public Prosecution Office will be responsible primarily for indictments and maintaining prosecutions in court. The Serious Crimes Investigation Agency will investigate major offenses formerly handled directly by prosecutors.
“We will take responsibility until the end so that the two agencies can begin operating in a stable manner,” Han said.
Opposition lawmakers and some legal professionals have warned that eliminating prosecutors’ supplementary investigative authority could create delays, weaken oversight of police investigations and leave victims with fewer avenues for redress.
The Democratic Party says the legislation includes safeguards intended to prevent cases from being ignored or delayed and to preserve the rights of victims and complainants.
Governing party promises further legislation
Han said the governing party would continue pursuing legislation dealing with public welfare and political reform.
“We will respond to people’s livelihoods with speed and to reform with results,” he said.
Han cited legislation authorizing a special counsel investigation of the National Election Commission and a proposal to shorten the review period for bills designated for fast-track consideration.
The fast-track proposal would reduce the maximum review period from 330 days to 90 days, including 60 days for consideration by the relevant standing committee and 30 days for review by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
The People Power Party opposes the change, saying it would weaken opportunities for negotiation and allow the parliamentary majority to rush controversial bills through the legislature.
Han said the Democratic Party would work to create a more productive National Assembly in which legislation affecting people’s livelihoods is reviewed and passed without unnecessary delays.
“We will not avoid the responsibility entrusted to us by the public,” he said.
Party vows to address stock market volatility
Han also said the Democratic Party and the government would work together to reduce uncertainty in South Korea’s capital markets.
The comments followed heightened volatility linked in part to leveraged investment products tied to individual stocks.
Han said officials would examine whether adequate investor protections were in place when the products were introduced.
“We recognize the current market conditions and investors’ concerns with the utmost seriousness,” he said. “We will calmly and transparently review the introduction process and whether investor protection measures were sufficient.”
Han urged the People Power Party not to use investors’ concerns as political ammunition.
“Using investor anxiety for political attacks and increasing market uncertainty through unverified claims can undermine confidence in the South Korean stock market and cause serious harm to investors,” he said.
He said lawmakers should instead identify the causes of instability and develop effective measures to address them.
The Democratic Party’s special committee on South Korea’s capital markets will communicate with financial regulators and industry officials to evaluate policy measures and market reactions, Han said.
The party will also continue efforts to improve corporate value and governance at publicly traded companies, he said.
I was feeling good about UCLA football, until Bill Plaschke promised Bruin greatness. Hey, Uncle Bill, could you please retract your prediction, considering your track record? Maybe then, the Bruins will have a chance!
Jack Wolf Los Angeles
Despite his middling record, Times columnist Bill Plaschke has once again entered the prediction business. Unrestrained as ever, he predicts greatness for UCLA football, courtesy of its new head coaching hire, Bob Chesney. However, Bill fails to quantify what he expects the team to achieve? Is it simply a winning record? A victory over crosstown rival USC? Or, dare I mention, a national championship? I guess we’ll all have to wait.
Rob Fleishman Placentia
Bob Chesney has won before. Winning at UCLA is another matter. But when Bill Plaschke starts pumping sunshine, history warns against climbing aboard the Bruin bandwagon unless it comes with an extended warranty and roadside assistance. Until then: “Westwood Ho!”
Acting Prosecutor General Koo Ja-hyun delivers a joint police-prosecution statement on combating artificial intelligence-generated disinformation at the Government Complex Seoul on Feb. 26. Photo by Asia Today
July 31 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s acting prosecutor general submitted his resignation Friday after the National Assembly passed legislation eliminating prosecutors’ authority to conduct supplementary investigations.
Koo Ja-hyun said he felt responsible for the overhaul of the country’s criminal justice system and had submitted his resignation.
“The revision to the Criminal Procedure Act, centered on abolishing prosecutors’ supplementary investigative authority, passed the National Assembly today,” Koo said at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in southern Seoul.
“I also feel a strong sense of responsibility that the law was revised while concerns raised by legal experts, other professionals and the public remain unresolved,” he said.
The National Assembly passed the bill Friday under the leadership of the governing Democratic Party.
The legislation bars prosecutors from conducting additional investigative work after receiving cases from police. Prosecutors will instead be required to ask police to perform supplementary investigations.
The Democratic Party says the change completes the separation of investigative and prosecutorial powers and prevents prosecutors from exercising excessive authority.
Opposition lawmakers, prosecutors and some legal experts have warned that the system could delay cases and weaken protection for crime victims.
Koo warns of investigative gaps
Koo said prosecutors needed to reflect deeply on their failure to earn public trust.
He said, however, that institutional reform should not undermine the prosecution’s responsibility to uncover the truth and protect victims and other people involved in criminal cases.
“Even when institutional reform is carried out for those reasons, the essential purpose of the prosecution system – discovering the substantive truth and protecting victims and other parties – must not be damaged,” Koo said.
Koo said he had repeatedly considered how the system could be changed while protecting citizens’ rights and safeguarding society from crime.
He said prosecutors had warned lawmakers that the revision could force them to make indictment decisions based only on written investigative records.
Under that structure, prosecutors could have difficulty independently checking disputed facts, identifying gaps in police investigations or responding directly to victims’ concerns, he said.
Koo also warned that repeatedly returning cases to police could create a more costly and inefficient process.
“Those concerns were not accepted and the amendment passed without change,” he said. “It is difficult to conceal my disappointment and sense of helplessness.”
Koo urged the government to conduct another review of possible gaps in the system after the legislation is formally transferred from the National Assembly.
“I sincerely hope our criminal justice system will develop in a direction that ensures every citizen is protected fairly under the law,” he said.
Prosecution faces another leadership vacancy
South Korea’s prosecution service has already been operating without a formally appointed prosecutor general.
Koo has led the organization in an acting capacity while serving as deputy prosecutor general.
His departure would leave the service under what South Korean media described as an “acting acting chief.”
If Koo’s resignation is accepted, Park Kyu-hyung, head of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s planning and coordination department, is expected to assume the duties of acting prosecutor general.
The leadership vacancy comes as the government prepares to replace the existing prosecution service with a new Public Prosecution Office and establish a separate Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.
The Public Prosecution Office will focus on indictments and courtroom prosecutions, while the new investigative agency will handle major crimes previously investigated directly by prosecutors.
The two agencies are scheduled to launch Oct. 2.
The transition will require the government to determine how pending cases, personnel, records and investigative responsibilities will be transferred.
CHICAGO — After leaders of the Southeastern Conference spent last week warning of a Plan B to potentially “break away” from the NCAA, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti tried to steer away from that conversation and toward a Congressional solution on Tuesday.
But if Congress can’t pass the Protect College Sports Act in the coming weeks? Well, the conference is already talking contingency plans, Petitti said.
“Breakaway is a word that creates a lot of emotion,” Pettiti said during his annual Big Ten media day address on Tuesday. “Is there another path where if you can’t solve it in the bill and if you can’t solve it with your colleagues, is there some path where you have to have conference-based rules? That’s not necessarily breaking away. It doesn’t mean you’re not going to play anybody else. But is there a path to have rules that we can at least operate from the conference?
“We absolutely have to do everything we can to prepare for every one of those things.”
The future of college football continues to hang in the balance as Congress works to get the two power conferences on board with a bill that has not received their full support. Petitti said on Tuesday morning that he’d yet to see the new language of the Protect College Sports Act, which added revisions to appease the SEC and Big Ten, but expected to see it later Tuesday.
The commissioner said he didn’t expect the bill to be “perfect for us in every one one of those places,” but he expected concessions to be included in the newest version, including potential provisions around a super league, pre-enrollment inducements for high school prospects and a carve-out for up to $20 million in additional cap space to retain players.
Whether those concessions will be enough to get the two power conferences on board remains to be seen. Time is running out for a bill to be passed before Congress takes a lengthy recess, significantly delaying any meaningful reform in college athletics.
“If Congress is going to be involved in deciding who can be in what conference and when you can move and how you move and how you schedule based on certain things happening, we just need to get that right,” Petitti said. “And so we want to make sure that the productive conversations we’ve had the last couple of weeks on that section specifically are reflected in the drafting of the bill.”
Petitti said that the Big Ten would’ve preferred “a much skinnier bill” than the current version, but “that is not the reality right now.”
“Is there more good here than not, right?” Petitti said. “That’s the way to look at it.”
Passing that bill is the primary focus for now. It’s why Petitti has been to Washington 21 times, he said, during his tenure as commissioner. But other uncertainty still looms over the sport.
The Big Ten is still also pushing for a 24-team College Football Playoff, but Petitti said that the conference’s stance has evolved since he first started pushing the idea a year ago.
“We’ve made adjustments in our league,” Petitti said. “We were focused on automatic qualifiers. We’re not focused on that anymore. We’re looking at the committee picking the field of 24. We feel that ultimately will still unlock the power of scheduling that we want.”
North Carolina has placed football general manager Michael Lombardi — a longtime confidant of coach Bill Belichick — on paid administrative leave, the university said Monday in a statement.
The school didn’t provided further details. Multiple media outlets are reporting that the move is connected to a complaint filed to UNC’s human resources department.
“As is standard procedure with personnel matters, leadership, staff, and student-athletes are prohibited from addressing this topic further, and has no reflection on the merits,” the university said in its statement.
In addition, multiple media outlets are reporting a possible investigation into the Tar Heels football program by the College Sports Commission, which regulates revenue sharing and name, image and likeness deals in collegiate sports. The Athletic reports that Lombardi’s actions are believed to be of interest to the CSC.
Lombardi, 67, is a former longtime NFL executive who was a member of the Cleveland Browns’ front office during Belichick’s stint as the team’s head coach in the early 1990s. Lombardi was assistant to Belichick’s New England Patriots coaching staff from 2014-2016.
When six-time Super Bowl winner Belichick was named UNC coach in December 2024, Lombardi was brought on board almost immediately to help the Tar Heels navigate the changing college athletic landscape.
“Everything we do here is predicated on building a pro team,” Lombardi told reporters in February 2025. “We consider ourselves the 33rd [NFL] team, because everybody involved with our program has had some form of aspect in pro football.”
The Tar Heels went 4-8 last year. They are set to open preseason camp this week before starting the season against Texas Christian in Dublin, Ireland, on Aug. 29.
TV presenter and comedian Bill Oddie has died at the age of 85, his agent has said.
Oddie became a household name in the 1970s as part of zany TV comedy trio The Goodies, before concentrating on his love of wildlife, as one of the original hosts of BBC TV’s Springwatch and other shows about birdwatching.
In a statement, David Foster said: “It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of Bill Oddie, the country’s best-loved birder.
“Bill was a multi-talented celebrity – wildlife presenter, broadcaster, comedian, writer, songwriter, musician and conservationist. Yet it was never fame that he valued. Instead he encouraged us to respect and protect the environment.”
President Trump’s $1.4-billion crypto windfall has become the biggest obstacle to passing his sweeping digital-asset legislation as Democrats demand tougher language to prevent the president from profiting off an industry his administration regulates.
Senate Republicans released a proposal this week intended to break a months-long impasse over the bill, known as the Clarity Act. But Democrats and consumer watchdog groups dismissed the terms almost immediately, complaining the bill would not stop Trump or his family from continuing to profit from his meme coin and other crypto ventures.
Trump needs the support of at least seven Senate Democrats to pass the legislation, which would set rules for digital assets. Ethics has emerged as the biggest, though not the only, sticking point.
“It’s the linchpin,” said Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, a Maryland Democrat and key negotiator who has been supportive of the crypto industry.
A spokesperson for the White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House has consistently asserted Trump is not involved in managing the family’s crypto ventures and has denied conflicts of interest.
Democrats have specifically taken issue with a provision that would leave Trump’s Justice Department as the primary enforcer of the new ethics regulations, preventing state attorneys general from acting as an independent check.
Another Democratic negotiator, Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, and Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said they’re working on a compromise ethics proposal to send to the White House but didn’t provide details.
Senators in both parties said they see the negotiations in the coming week as key to whether a bill reaches Trump’s desk this year. But after the chilly initial reception to the latest White House offer, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.C.) said he didn’t think the Clarity Act would pass the chamber before the month-long August recess.
“We’ll see where the votes are,” Thune said.
Alsobrooks, Gallego and other crypto-friendly Democrats are demanding changes to other pieces of the massive bill, including consumer protection and illicit finance measures.
The bill has other issues, including opposition from banks intent on tightening restrictions on stablecoin rewards. Tillis and several other Republicans said they are considering backing changes to reflect banks’ concerns that their deposits could shift to stablecoin accounts, crimping their profits and customers’ access to credit.
Tillis has floated adding “circuit-breaker” language empowering the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. or other regulators to step in if bank deposits drop — an idea opposed by GOP Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, the crypto industry’s biggest backer in the chamber.
Porous provisions
Critics said the draft’s ethics protections are porous. It would let Trump divest a large stake in his crypto venture or move it into a blind trust for the rest of his term, but stops short of requiring him to sell.
“It’s going to allow him to keep making money the way he has in the past,” said Scott Greytak, deputy executive director of Transparency International US, an anti-corruption advocacy group.
The restrictions also hinge on whether an official has a “direct interest” in a crypto asset — a threshold that may not apply to Trump.
The president is a significant owner of World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto venture, through an entity called DT Marks DEFI LLC, which holds about a 38% stake. Whether that counts as a direct interest “isn’t clear,” said Zach Everson, research director for Public Citizen’s Trump Accountability Project. “Does direct interest describe how he holds the crypto?”
Because the bill wouldn’t apply to the children of government officials, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump could continue their own crypto business interests. And much of the family’s fortune has already been made: Trump and his affiliates have earned a huge windfall from meme coin and token ventures, income the legislation would not claw back.
Critics also decried a provision that would sunset the ethics requirements on Jan. 20, 2029, the day Trump’s successor would be inaugurated. That could prevent the next administration from holding Trump accountable.
The White House and Republicans argued that Trump had gone further in backing ethics restrictions in law than any previous president.
“History will remember this as the moment a president chose a higher standard of ethics than the law required of him,” Lummis, a key architect of the bill, said on X.
Democrats were skeptical even before the language was released. “Any meaningful ethics provision would be shot down by the White House,” Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said.
The politics of crypto have long divided Democrats, and a bipartisan deal on the legislation risks provoking a backlash from progressives. Failure to reach a deal, however, could make the party the target of a torrent of crypto campaign cash.
Crypto group Fairshake and its two affiliated super PACs have raised $164 million for the midterm elections, Federal Election Commission filings show, and have spent $66.6 million so far.
It’s the kind of political arsenal that Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York can ill afford to have aimed at his candidates as the party seeks to regain Senate control.
But others, like Murphy, have warned that blessing Trump’s big crypto bill would undermine Democrats’ midterm message.
A potential presidential candidate, Murphy said Wednesday while addressing the left-leaning Center for American Progress that the bill is before the Senate “because the industry paid for it” and urged Democrats to instead turn fighting crypto corruption into a potent campaign issue this fall.
Markets have grown less convinced a deal gets done. On Polymarket, the odds of the Clarity Act passing this year fell to about 1 chance in 3 earlier this week after Republicans released the new draft.
That’s about half the odds the prediction market gave passage after the Senate Banking Committee backed an earlier version of the bill on May 14.
Dennis and Patterson write for Bloomberg. Bloomberg writers Yash Roy, Lydia Beyoud, Aidan Williams, Bill Allison and Olga Kharif contributed to this report.
SHE may be pushing 30 with a husband and three kids of her own, but Dani Dyer’s famous dad still foots her phone bill.
The former Love Island star, 29, posted a tribute to her actor dad Danny on his 49th birthday, cheekily making the revelation.
Dani Dyer posted a tribute to her actor dad Danny on his 49th birthday, cheekily making the revelation that he still foots her phone billCredit: InstagramDanny was joined by his wife Joanne and two of their three children, Dani and 19-year-old Sunnie, along with Dani’s husband Jarrod Bowen and Sunnie’s boyfriend Will WoodCredit: Instagram
Next to a snap of Danny, she wrote: “Happy birthday to you. Thank you for everything you do.
“So lucky to have you and all the laughs we have together. Love you loads.
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Thank you!
“Also thank you for still paying my phone bill!”
The Dyer family went out for a lavish meal to mark Danny’s birthday.
Danny was treated to a swanky dinner, topped off with his favourite pudding with a candle on topCredit: InstagramNext to a snap of Danny, she wrote: “Happy birthday to you. Thank you for everything you do”Credit: InstagramDani with her footballer husband JarrodCredit: InstagramIt was a family affair as the Dyers headed out for dinnerCredit: Instagram
In more snaps shared by Dani, Danny was treated to a swanky dinner, topped off with his favourite pudding with a candle on top.
The family sang to the Rivals star as he thanked them for their well-wishes.
Danny was joined by his wife Joanne and two of their three children, Dani and 19-year-old Sunnie.
Their youngest, Arty, wasn’t present, but Dani’s husband – footballer Jarrod Bowen – and Sunnie’s boyfriend – record label owner Will Wood – joined the celebrations.
A $1.15 trillion US defence bill passed by the House includes plans to expand military cooperation with Israel through joint work on missile defence, drones and AI. Critics warn the move could deepen ties amid growing political divisions over aid to Israel.
White House hails pledge that seeks to shield consumers from the cost of energy for data centres as ‘historic’.
Published On 23 Jul 202623 Jul 2026
US President Donald Trump’s administration has said it will expand a voluntary pledge seeking to shield consumers from the energy costs of the rapid expansion of data centres, mostly used by artificial intelligence companies.
The White House announced on Thursday that it would add state governors and electricity companies to the agreement, first announced with tech and AI firms in March. But the US administration stopped short of any enforceable protections.
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The White House called the expansion of the pledge “historic”, saying 200 additional utilities, data centre developers and states would join it.
The pledge is a “public commitment that hyperscalers, AI companies, and the utilities and data-center developers behind them will build, bring, or buy every kilowatt their facilities need — and cover every dollar of the infrastructure that delivers it”.
It says consumers would not foot the bill for AI’s energy needs.
In remarks about the pledge at the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, Trump called on the gathered executives and governors to sell the public on data centres, stressing that the cities and towns that have them will be “rich.”
“You have to convince your community. You can’t fight it. You have to go with it,” Trump said.
“If you don’t take all that money, somebody else is going to take it. You might as well do it yourselves.”
The US president has been a strong advocate for AI, which has become an enormous source of investment and a key priority for the country’s powerful tech sector. Trump has approached the sector, which includes some of his close allies, with a light regulatory touch during his second term.
But increased electricity demand from AI data centres could spur an increase in monthly utility bills between 15 and 40 percent by the year 2030, according to an analysis by the consulting and technology services company ICF.
A May Gallup poll suggested that seven out of 10 people in the US oppose the construction of AI data centres in their area, with about 48 percent saying they were strongly opposed. Slightly more than 25 percent said they favoured such efforts, with only 7 percent saying they strongly favoured them.
Concerns over the impact of such centres on the cost of utilities, such as electricity and water, are commonly cited as reasons for opposition, along with quality of life concerns and scepticism about the benefits of AI.
Some elections across the country have seen AI data centre construction emerge as a prominent issue, but the industry has pushed forward with plans to rapidly scale up infrastructure for the technology.
A poll from Johns Hopkins University in June suggested that Americans strongly favour greater regulation of AI, and about 60 percent of respondents said they expected AI to increase inequality over the next decade.
Four in 10 respondents said that AI companies stand to increase their power the most from the expansion of the technology, while just one in 10 said that individuals would gain the most.
July 22 (UPI) — The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to pass a bill that adds new limits on congressional stock trading, though it does not quite enact a complete ban.
House Republicans also attached a section requiring people to provide photo identification in order to vote, a provision from the controversial SAVE America Act, The Hill reported.
Lawmakers voted 232-198 to pass the bill, which would still need to pass the Senate. Thirteen Democrats joined Republicans in voting for it.
The bill would restrict active members of Congress, their spouses and any dependent children from buying new stocks of any publicly traded company. It would allow them to keep stocks they already own. Lawmakers would also have to file a public notice with the House clerk at least seven days before they sell a stock.
Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wisc., chairman of the House Administration Committee, led the bill and said it is “critical to restoring public trust in this institution.”
“I believe it is time we just stop allowing members to buy new stock,” he said. “Doing so removes the appearance of impropriety altogether.”
Many Democrats said the bill doesn’t go far enough — it doesn’t apply to the executive branch — and opposed the addition of changes to voting measures.
“House Republicans are pushing (a) voter suppression bill that will upend mail-in voting and throw the elections into chaos, and are trying to trick members into supporting it by linking it to a partial stock trading ban that falls short of the full congressional stock trading ban the American people want,” Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., told CNN.
Magaziner previously co-led a stalled bipartisan bill to ban stock trading.
If lawmakers violate the new rules, they would have to pay a fee of $2,000 or 10% of the value of the transaction, whichever is greater, and forfeit any profit.
WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday passed a defense policy bill that incorporates President Trump’s request for a historic $1.15 trillion in spending for national security and would designate the Department of Defense as the Department of War.
It also would provide for a pay raise next year ranging from 5% to 7% for service members, depending upon their rank.
The National Defense Authorization Act is generally one of the more bipartisan bills that Congress takes up on an annual basis. That’s not the case this year. The vote was 216-212.
Democrats took issue with steep spending increases for the Pentagon as Republicans attempted to cut numerous non-defense programs through other bills. They also opposed some of the conservative social policy riders that were included.
For example, the bill includes a prohibition on gender-related medical care under the military health program known as TRICARE. It also eases hurdles for service members to carry a privately owned firearm on base, following Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s lead on the issue.
Republican leaders’ decision to attach Trump’s elections overhaul bill to the defense bill upon its passing also amplified the partisan divide. Speaker Mike Johnson is working to accommodate Republican lawmakers who are angry that the Senate won’t pass the SAVE America Act and are insisting that it be included in must-pass bills until the Senate relents.
House bill tests a normally bipartisan process
Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he knows there were areas of disagreement, but emphasized that Wednesday’s vote was a step in a long process. He promised to work in a bipartisan manner on a final product that can pass both chambers and be signed into law.
Rogers said the United States needs to reverse decades of underinvestment and neglect in the nation’s armed forces and defense industrial base.
“This bill will do that and much more,” he said. “It will build the ready, capable and lethal fighting force we need to deter China and other adversaries.”
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking Democratic lawmaker on the Armed Services Committee, said the defense spending the administration has asked for this year is approaching $1.6 trillion including separate efforts to pay for the war in Iran and boost weapons stockpiles.
“The American people are struggling to pay their bills and we’re going to put $1.6 trillion into the defense budget. It’s not a reasonable thing to ask,” Smith said.
Smith also expressed concern about the war with Iran and that in supporting the defense bill, lawmakers are “de facto supporting this war with no end in sight.”
“We are in an incredibly, incredibly dangerous time,” Smith said. “I want to maintain the bipartisan nature of this bill. I do. And I know that the chairman does. But if we’re going to do this, we’re going to need some Republicans to stand up to the president of the United States and say, ‘No. No, we’re not going to get you $1.6 trillion. No, we’re not just going to give you a blank check for a war that is totally out of control.‘”
White House backs parts of the legislation
The spending increases authorized in the bill would not take effect until Congress follows up with a separate defense appropriations bill. The Senate has not yet approved its version of the defense measure. It’s possible a final product won’t be ready until after the midterm elections.
The White House applauded the spending levels authorized in the House bill and the Department of War designation that it says recognizes the “willingness to fight and win wars on behalf of our nation.”
The president issued an executive order last year renaming the Defense Department, but it’s up to Congress to make the change official. The Congressional Budget Office has projected that the renaming could cost taxpayers as much as $125 million.
The White House’s statement also said that the administration has a number of concerns with certain provisions in the bill and would work with Congress before a final bill is presented to the president. Among those concerns was a section of the bill it said would limit or undermine the president’s ability to name military installations and property.
In 2023, during a national reckoning on issues of race in America, seven Army bases’ names were changed because they honored Confederate leaders. Last year, those bases reverted to their original names, but with different namesakes who share Confederate surnames. The Army found other service members with the same last names to honor.
California has some of the nation’s toughest gun laws, but state lawmakers are concerned that a new technology is allowing criminals to obtain firearms by building them from scratch. By using 3-D printers, they warn, lawbreakers are able to make key components of untraceable “ghost guns” with the press of a button.
Ghost guns, which authorities say make it more difficult to investigate shootings because they lack serial numbers, have been a growing problem for law enforcement nationwide. According to federal data, the number of privately made firearms recovered in crimes surged from more than 1,600 in 2017 to nearly 27,500 in 2023. California leads the nation in recoveries over that period.
In response, legislators are seeking to mandate that all 3-D printers sold in the state come equipped with software that prohibits users from making triggers and other gun parts. A bill passed the Assembly in May and is advancing through the Senate.
But the proposal has drawn opposition from a diverse coalition, which includes civil liberties groups, tech companies and 3-D printing enthusiasts as well as Hollywood effects studios, who argue that “firearm blocking software” will also prohibit legitimate designs and expose makers to government or corporate surveillance.
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Inside a San Fernando workshop, Samuel McBride makes movie monsters come to life for the camera. One of his latest creations, an animatronic hand, clutches when he pulls a trigger that he built using a 3-D printer.
McBride says the technology has transformed the work at Legacy Effects, where he is a lab manager, but he’s worried it will soon be off-limits because of a proposed change in California law.
McBride fears the law would interfere with the making of devices like the one that activates his lifelike hand.
“If I just took apart this trigger and put it on a printer, how is anyone, computer or human, going to tell me how I intend to use it?” he asked.
Backers of the proposed law say it has the potential to help save lives.
“As gun violence continues to devastate our communities, we cannot allow 3-D printing technology to become a new pipeline for untraceable weapons,” said Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, the bill’s author.
Critics of the proposed California law note that 3-D printed guns represent a small subset of ghost guns recovered by law enforcement at crime scenes. According to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, most “privately made firearms” recovered by police are assembled from mail-order kits or unfinished parts rather than printed at home.
Jorge Perez of Monster City Studios holds a sculpture made with a large, industrial 3-D printer.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
“This fight is not over whether ghost guns are dangerous,” said David Tobin, an independent creator leading the coalition. “It is over whether the state can or should require a consumer tool to surveil a person’s designs before they are allowed to make something.”
Everytown for Gun Safety, a national nonprofit that advocates for gun control and has pushed for the passage of California’s bill, pointed to rising 3-D printed firearm recoveries across 20 major cities and warned that homemade plastic parts can help people bypass background checks or turn handguns into automatic weapons.
Krystal LoPilato, who advocates for policy at Everytown, said the group has successfully guided a similar bill through the New York state Legislature.
A handgun frame made using a 3-D printer is held for display at the office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)
LoPilato said the policy aims to be proactive, rather than allowing more violence to take place before regulating the problem. Opponents counter that California already bars unlawful firearm manufacturing with 3-D printers, and that ghost gun recoveries have declined since the state adopted a series of new laws and enforcement efforts.
A June 1 letter to lawmakers, signed by a group of 3-D printing companies, stagecraft and prop-making studios and industry stakeholders, argued that AB 2047 raises 1st Amendment concerns and would harm businesses. The letter was signed by a wide variety of companies and individuals, including Prusa Research, a prominent 3-D printer manufacturer.
“To an algorithm, a gun barrel and a piece of pipe are the same grooved cylinder,” Jakub Kmošek, head of public affairs at Prusa, said in a statement to The Times. “This bill will only make it harder to build, repair, experiment, and innovate in California.”
Alan Scott, Legacy Effects’ co-founder, said 3-D printing has become central to the company’s survival in an industry where budgets are tighter and deadlines are shorter.
“Everything’s just got to be done faster these days. You don’t get to reduce the quality. We couldn’t stay in business if we weren’t 3-D printing,” Scott said.
To solve this problem, Bauer-Kahan put an entertainment industry exception in the bill, exempting “printers manufactured for and sold exclusively to entertainment industry stagecraft and propmaking studios” from the software requirement.
McBride, Legacy’s 3-D lab manager, said those printers do not really exist.
Legacy uses the same general-purpose machines available to other businesses willing to invest in the equipment, and no printers are marketed exclusively for Hollywood, he said.
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1.A 3-D printed sculpture concept at Monster City, a special effects studio in Santa Clarita.(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)2.3-D printing advocate David Tobin showcases a robotics kit at Monster City.(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
Legacy also worries about privacy. Major studios require strict secrecy before a movie or show is released. To accommodate this, the company shares design files through encrypted servers and protected internal systems.
“We’ve invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring all that technology here under the umbrella of our NDAs and our IP protection,” McBride said.
Bauer-Kahan noted at a Senate hearing that she is working to address concerns raised by 3-D printing users and industries that rely on the technology.
Paul Powers, chief executive of Physna, a company whose technology could be used to block gun parts on 3-D printers, said the strongest criticisms of AB 2047 “misunderstand how the software works.”
“Something that vaguely looks like a gun part is not considered to be a match,” he said.
Powers also responded to surveillance concerns by clarifying that his company’s software only blocks the printer from making prohibited parts — it doesn’t flag them to authorities or log users’ intellectual property.
“There’s no communication with anyone; it doesn’t go anywhere,” he said.
But Marleen Vogelaar, chief executive of Thangs3D, a platform for independent creators to share and sell 3-D printable designs, said that answer does not resolve her broader concerns about how AB 2047 would work in practice.
“These databases will always lag behind innovation and can be easily circumvented and generate false positives that block legal designs and wrongly flag everyday makers,” she said at a Senate hearing this month. “The bill also creates serious privacy and security risks by giving third parties access to analyze designer’s files. That threatens intellectual property and adds digital surveillance in a state that values data privacy.”
If the bill passes, the state’s Department of Justice would publish a roster of compliant printers. Printers not on the list would be banned from sale or transfer in California beginning in December 2029.
Aubrey Rodriguez, a legislative advocate with American Civil Liberties Union California Action, an advocacy organization formed by the ACLU’s three affiliates in the state, said the bill would ask ordinary users, schools and businesses to accept a new layer of control based on software they still do not trust.
Rodriguez said the proposal risks creating “a permanent back door into the privacy of our own homes, ripe for exploitation.”
“Once this new infrastructure exists, it is a simple software update away from tracking political dissent or preventing 3-D printing designs deemed inappropriate,” Rodriguez said.
