A SPOT that has previously been mocked as the worst place to live in the UK could be getting a sparkling new lido.
Hull has previously had a bad reputation, including being named the worst town in the book Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places to Live in the UK in 2003.
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Hull has previously been named one of the worst places to live but National Geographic recently named it one of the best places to visit this yearCredit: Alamy
Though over the past few years it has had a bit of a resurgence with National Geographic naming it one of the “best places in the world to travel to in 2026”.
And soon, there could be even more of a reason to visit the city as it could reopen a historic outdoor lido.
East Park Lido in a park of the same name opened back in 1964 as an unheated swimming pool.
Though, in 1985 it closed and was demolished three years later.
Councillors are now exploring whether the lido could reopen and how much it would cost to do this.
If plans went ahead at the former site, it would mean redeveloping the free splash pad with 43 jets and animal enclosures that are currently there.
Many people have taken to social media to share their thoughts on the news.
One person said: “Should never have gotten rid of the lido.”
East Park Lido opened in the 60s before closing in the 80sCredit: MEN Media
Another added: “About time get the lido open again on a new site.”
Now councillors are looking at the possibility of reopening the lidoCredit: Alamy
East Park itself is Grade II listed and already has some other attractions including a Grade II listed water ride that was built in 1929 called The Splash Boat.
Riders head down a 30.5metre drop into the boating lake below.
The ride is only open at weekends, bank holidays and during school holidays with each ride costing £2.
There are also swan pedalos at the park which cost £2 per person.
Hull currently has only one outdoor lido, which is Albert Avenue Pools and Fitness Lido.
The lido reopened in 2023 after an extensive £10.5million refurbishment.
The pool is heated to 28C throughout the summer season.
While in the city, make sure to head to Hull Minster – the largest parish church in England.
The church is over 700-years-old and is known to have some of the finest medieval brickwork in the country.
You can also climb up 180 steps in the church to see panoramic views of the city.
Hull has also been a backdrop more recently for big blockbuster films and TV series’ including The Crown, Victoria and Enola Holmes 2.
And thanks to lots of money being pumped into the city over the past decade, many of its former warehouses are now thriving restaurants, bars and cafes.
It was a traumatic moment for much of Southern California, as federal immigration agents snatched undocumented workers from car washes, garment factories and Home Depot parking lots.
Angelica Salas, who heads one of Los Angeles’ most influential immigrant rights groups, met regularly last summer with City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez — himself the son of Mexican immigrants — as they formulated a response. The two kept circling back to a singular issue: the lack of political power wielded by noncitizens.
“A lot of this is happening because immigrants don’t have the right to vote,” said Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights.
Those conversations helped fuel Soto-Martínez’s decision in late April to push for a ballot proposal aimed at giving noncitizens the right to vote in city and school district elections. The proposal quickly gained momentum, with two-thirds of the council voting in mid-June to draft a measure for the Nov. 3 ballot.
Los Angeles City Council member Hugo Soto-Martínez attends a City Council meeting following elections at City Hall June 3.
(Etienne Laurent / For the Times)
But the effort collapsed on Tuesday, with the council reversing course and sending the proposal to a committee for more study. Before the vote, Soto-Martínez acknowledged that he had not performed sufficient outreach, particularly to the city’s Black community leaders.
By then, critics were accusing the council of failing to do its homework, leaving voters to fill in the blanks on such questions as whether undocumented immigrants would be covered by the expanded franchise. Some worried the proposal would endanger the very people it was designed to help, making them a fresh target for the Trump administration.
Even community leaders who have worked on civil rights issues were urging the council to slow down.
Mobilizing Preachers and Communities, a national nonprofit that represents clergy and civil rights advocates, asked for a delay, citing concerns about President Trump. Rev. K.W. Tulloss, the group’s western regional director, said he was also hearing concerns from Black residents and their religious leaders about the potential for weakening Black voting representation.
That, in turn, could reduce the overall number of Black elected officials in Los Angeles, he said.
“That’s a major concern among our community,” Tulloss said. “And we can’t be afraid to have that dialogue.”
In L.A., Black residents make up about 8% of registered voters, according to the Sacramento-based firm Political Data, Inc. That figure has been gradually declining over the past few decades. An influx of noncitizen voters — Latinos, Asians and others — could cause it to shrink even more.
At the end of the year, L.A.’s 15-member City Council will have two Black representatives, down from three, all in South L.A.-based districts. Two Latinos are running in this year’s election to replace Councilmember Curren Price, who is Black and retiring after serving the maximum three terms.
The county’s five-member Board of Supervisors has one Black member. Voters have given the go-ahead to add four more members, which some fear could leave the board with one Black member out of nine.
Tulloss said his organization supports creating a pathway to citizenship for the city’s undocumented immigrants. At the same time, he worried that Soto-Martínez’s proposal could in the short term divide Black and brown residents, who share a common struggle on a wide range of issues.
“At the end of the day, we don’t want any type of deal that will be divisive in the community,” he said.
Soto-Martínez, who represents an Echo Park-to-Hollywood district, said in an interview Wednesday that noncitizen voting was part of his platform when he first ran for City Council in 2022. He said he first thought about the issue seriously a decade ago, when San Francisco voters passed a measure allowing noncitizen parents to cast ballots in school board elections.
Since its formation, the United States has repeatedly redefined the right to vote, broadening it to include women, Black people and other groups, he said.
“To me, it just seemed very natural to expand it,” he said. “It’s part of our history.”
The idea of noncitizen voting has been circulating in L.A. for years. School board member Kelly Gonez persuaded her colleagues to begin exploring it in 2019. But the effort was set aside after the onset of COVID-19, which caused massive disruptions across the Los Angeles Unified School District, said Michael Trujillo, a political strategist for Gonez.
Last summer, as the Trump administration was launching immigration raids across Southern California, the city was convening a 13-member citizens commission to come up with proposals for rewriting the City Charter, L.A.’s governing document.
The commission took up noncitizen voting in March, narrowly rejecting it. Several commissioners said they were worried about unintended consequences, like the Trump administration taking aim at newly registered voters, said Raymond Meza, who served as the commission’s chair.
“I thought those concerns were not fully addressed,” Meza said, “so I actually switched my vote” and opposed the proposal.
A month later, with the deadline for placing items on the Nov. 3 ballot fast approaching, Soto-Martínez introduced a motion calling for a two-step process for expanding voting rights. First, voters would be asked to give the City Council the authority to grant noncitizens the right to vote.
The council would then examine the details surrounding the change before passing an ordinance expanding those voting rights.
Soto-Martínez said his motion was based on a simple idea: Those who live in the city, raise their families there and pay taxes “deserve to have a voice” in local decision-making. He did not offer many specifics, saying those would be worked out at a later date.
Critics, and even some supporters, said Soto-Martínez was making his move at the wrong time. Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who voted against the proposal in mid-June, voiced fears that the list of noncitizen voters would immediately be seized by federal immigration authorities.
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he opposes noncitizen voting in city elections. He does favor it for L.A. Unified — but only for parents of children attending those schools.
Villaraigosa, who led the city from 2005-13 and recently ran for governor, argued that this is not the right time to make even that change.
“With Trump ferreting through every record he can find looking for undocumented people, I just think it’s the wrong time,” he said. “I think these people would be exposing themselves to deportation, and the well-intentioned would be exposing them as well.”
Soto-Martínez portrayed such arguments as “fear mongering,” saying undocumented immigrants take risks every day in their quest to create a better future for their families.
Salas, the head of CHIRLA, echoed that idea.
“At end of day, we are already targets,” she said. “This is not going to make it worse. Don’t tell me voting against this was for the protection of immigrants.”
The Trump threat was not the only reason council members hesitated.
Rodriguez, who has expressed some interest in the proposal, said city leaders had not determined how county election officials would issue separate ballots for voters who would be barred from state and national contests. They also had not determined the cost of such a service, she said.
Twenty-two local jurisdictions across the country have approved and implemented noncitizen voting, according to Megan Dias, who is co-author of “Immigrant Voting and the Movement for Inclusion in San Francisco,” a report examining that city’s push to allow immigrants to vote in school board elections.
Dias said that backers of noncitizen voting need to build a broad coalition — grassroots organizations, election officials, lawyers for the city — before taking the proposal to voters.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said he is confident that noncitizen voting will get a much more extensive review in the coming months, and make the ballot in 2028. First, he said, the council will need to provide voters with specifics on how the changes would work.
Harris-Dawson said he heard from people who wanted more time to understand the proposal, to “make sure that it was done in a way that protected Black voting districts in particular.”
During the deliberations on the proposal, it also was not clear whether the change would apply to green card holders, recipients of Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals or other categories of noncitizens.
“When something goes to the ballot, we need the details to be figured out — like how much something is going to cost, exactly how it’s going to work, and what the parameters are,” Harris-Dawson said. “All of that needs to be defined.”
Russian forces have claimed capture of Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region after roughly a nine-month battle. The city sits within Ukraine’s “fortress belt,” a defensive network of cities forming Donbas’s main defensive line. Ukrainian officials denied the city fell.
OUR Spotlight On column takes an indepth look at the best things to see and do in popular holiday destinations, as well as shining a light on the lesser-known spots.
This week, we look at the historic Hertfordshire city of St Alban’s, home to more pubs per square mile than any other UK destination.
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We’re talking all things St AlbansCredit: Alamy
The Sun’s Assistant Travel Editor Sophie Swietochowski is a local, and knows all the best spots.
She said: “Despite being an action-packed city, just a 20-minute train ride from the UK’s capital, St Albans has managed to maintain a village-y feel with cosy cafes run by locals and tiny boutiques selling hand-painted homeware.
“It’s absolutely crawling with fascinating history and claims to be home to the oldest pub in Britain, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks – a local rumour claims that a set of old tunnels, dug by monks, lurk beneath the pub leading all the way up the hill to the cathedral.
“Every Saturday and Wednesday, the streets are full of traders flogging from tiny market stalls.
Here are some other top tips including where to stay.
MUST SEE/DO
Hertfordshire’s only city has a fascinating history dating back more than 2,000 years.
St Albans was a huge hub in the Roman era and you can still see the remains of an ancient wall when you stroll around the 100-acre Verulamium Park.
The striking cathedral is one of the city’s main attractions, and daily tours are free.
Be sure to swing by the cafe there for some seriously tasty sausage rolls.
Ye Olde Fighting Cocks claims to be one of the UK’s oldest pubsCredit: Alamy
HIDDEN GEM
Not many people know that you can watch a play in an actual Roman theatre. Upcoming plays at the Roman Theatre include Sherlock Holmes, The Importance Of Being Earnest and Twelfth Night.
The venue is entirely outdoors so bring your own blanket, or you can rent one on site. There’s also a bar. BEST VIEW: The Clock Tower, dating back to 1405, stands in pride of place at the foot of the city’s cobbled high street.
It opens to the public every weekend and bank holiday from 10.30am until 5pm and visitors can climb to the top for great views of the town and surrounding countryside.
An action-packed market runs every Saturday from behind the tower, so you can use the Clock Tower as a vantage point from which to plot out which stalls you want to visit.
RATED RESTAURANT
The Silver Palate, a local deli just behind the Clock Tower, serves knock-out sandwiches and smoothies.
For something a little fancier, French restaurant Hazels puts some of London’s classiest dining spots to shame with its cracking sharing menu that changes weekly.
Expect dishes like smoked ham hock and Parmesan croquettes, as well as spiced lamb-ragu hummus.
Also drop into Glaze bakery for a pastry or dessert. You may recognise owner Oli from his witty videos on social media.
It even has some of the most pubs per square mileCredit: Alamy
BEST BAR
The Boot, housed in a dinky Grade II-listed building, is slap-bang in the city centre.
But if the sun is shining, head to Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, which has an excellent pub garden that borders the park.
For something a little classier, Suckerpunch does sophisticated cocktails.
HOTEL PICK
McFly‘s Tom Fletcher and singer Rochelle Humes are among the stars who have stayed at swanky 5H hotel Sopwell House and enjoyed its lush spa.
Rooms there start from a hefty £329 per night, but for something a little less eyewatering, head to the Samuel Ryder Hotel.
This centrally located joint is part of the Hilton brand and has rooms from £149 per night. See hilton.com.
Maiara Niehues extended her scoring streak to three games, and Sveindís Jónsdóttir scored in her return from injury to give Angel City FC a 2-0 win over the Orlando Pride on Friday night at BMO Stadium.
Niehues fired home the rebound for the opening goal in the 36th minute. Jónsdóttir forced a turnover in the 56th minute, dribbled and scored from a tight angle to double the lead for Angel City (5-6-1).
Jónsdóttir returned to the starting lineup after missing the last four games because of a foot injury.
Goalkeeper Angelina Anderson recorded one save for her third shutout of the season.
Interim head coach Leif Gunnar Smerud led Angel City in the first match since the firing of Alex Straus.
NWSL Golden Boot leader Barbra Banda was unavailable for Orlando (5-6-2) because of a thigh injury.
WASHINGTON — As America’s 250th birthday arrives this weekend, President Trump’s mark is clearly visible on Washington.
Visitors to the nation’s capital are being met with cranes hanging over the White House and construction at the site of the demolished East Wing. Fences crisscrossing the National Mall to hem in the Great American State Fair have blocked the famed sightline from the U.S. Capitol to the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial.
Some fountains newly sparkle as a result of Trump’s renovations. National Guardsmen patrol the sidewalks. The partisan flavor of the Trump-aligned Freedom 250 organization’s events is on display, and the fireworks show Saturday will feature a rally-style speech from Trump, with fireworks reportedly pushed back to 11 p.m.
President Trump examines the maintenance work Wednesday on the exterior of the White House.
(Alex Wong / Getty Images)
The memorial’s Reflecting Pool, where fireworks will be set off Saturday, was barricaded from the public earlier than usual after onlookers flocked last week to see the algae and peeling paint that followed Trump’s renovation, and Trump accused vandals of tampering with it.
“You don’t have a sense of ‘land of the free’ here,” said Melissa McFarlane, 61, standing along the fencing on the Mall. She said she was born in Silver Spring, Md., and she grew up watching July 4 fireworks on the Mall with her parents.
She recalled the nation’s 200th anniversary celebrations as “open and inviting” but said this year’s “heavy-duty fencing” and the presence of National Guardsmen made it feel different.
“It’s majorly disorganized, which is weird for our country,” McFarlane added.
A sign outside Lafayette Park near the White House.
(Julia Demaree Nikhinson / Associated Press)
Trump has fixated on making changes to the nation’s capital in his second term, declaring in an early executive order that his administration would make the district “safe and beautiful.” Some of the renovations have been successful; fountains are running anew, including the long-dormant cascading water feature at the city’s popular Meridian Hill Park.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Sunday on “Fox & Friends” that more than 50 parks and circles have been restored and 22 fountains, along with repairs to lights on the National Mall.
“President Trump should be thanked for all he is doing to leave things better than he found them for the good of our great nation,” an Interior Department spokesperson said in a statement. “D.C. residents and visitors are experiencing working fountains, clean parks and safe streets across the district for the first time in decades, all thanks to President Donald J. Trump.”
On Sunday, the president took a tour of some of his construction sites, walking through Lafayette Park with Burgum before traveling to the East Potomac golf club he plans to renovate, which sits on federal land. Trump walked part of the property and inspected blueprints in view of reporters; he was then driven by the site where he wants to erect a marble arch.
Over the weekend, he posted on Truth Social about his improvements to the city in a post about D.C. mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, casting it as a “Safe and Prestigious Community” that is now at risk of being “destroyed” by Lewis George.
“I have worked too hard to make Washington, D.C., the Envy of the World, with almost No Crime, and a Beautification process that has been second to none,” Trump wrote.
Construction crews build scaffolding outside the Kennedy Center on June 13 before removing President Trump’s name from the venue’s exterior.
(Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images)
Involvement by presidents in the city’s plan goes back to George Washington, said Matthew J. Bell, an architecture professor at the University of Maryland. That is not unusual, nor is it strange for cities, including Washington, to change over time, he said.
“It’s probably more a matter of timing in terms of inconvenience for people coming for the Fourth,” Bell said of the ongoing construction. “If there had been a more coordinated plan for some of these things … it probably could’ve been managed better.”
At the National Mall, the fencing design for the state fair drew head shakes and confusion from some tourists. Visitors are corralled into a walkway by the Freedom 250-branded fencing on one side and low metal barriers on the other.
It’s normal for fencing to be used to control foot traffic for events on the mall, said Charles A. Birnbaum, chief executive of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, but he perceived the problem as slapdash placement, including of the Ferris wheel, which was put on the mall’s axis.
“Things are being plopped down,” said Birnbaum, whose organization sued the administration over the repainting of the Reflecting Pool. “It speaks to what Trump is doing at the ballroom, what he’s proposed [with] the arch — he’s just plopping these things down in major view sheds that have major historical and cultural significance.”
People walk past the Ferris wheel at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall.
(Jen Golbeck / Associated Press)
The fountains in Lafayette Park are running again near the White House on June 23.
On Monday, McFarlane and two friends were outside the fencing, leaning against the metal barriers in front of the Department of Agriculture, which faces the National Mall.
“It’s a little too secure,” said one of them, John, 60, who was visiting from Burbank and declined to give his last name.
He gestured over the barrier to a manicured plot with shady benches. “Here’s the People’s Garden,” he said, reading its sign, “and we can’t go in.”
A construction crane works on the White House ballroom on Monday.
(Julia Demaree Nikhinson / Associated Press)
Visitors take photos Tuesday of a model of President Trump’s proposed marble arch at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall.
(Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press)
Early-morning joggers observer the refilling of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 5.
(John McDonnell / Associated Press)
The anniversary celebrations also come on the heels of the reflecting pool controversy. Last week, after chunks of paint were spotted in the water, Trump blamed vandals for tampering with the pool and said people had been arrested at the site. Two dead ducks were found in a pond about 250 feet away from the pool.
The area last week was surrounded by surveillance cameras and patrolled by National Guardsmen as lifelong resident John Cates strolled the area.
“It’s kind of creepy,” Cates said about the security cameras mounted around the pool. “It is unnecessary that we have to have this pond deemed a high security risk. That is weird.”
The area was fenced off at the end of last week. Fencing normally occurs in preparation for the July 4 fireworks show, but it went up “a couple days early to protect the pool,” Burgum said in the Fox News interview. He said seven people had been arrested in connection with the pool.
Tom Ayers, 34, was disappointed to find the fences already up on Monday. He traveled with his father from Wisconsin for the 250th, but they were finding it difficult to get around the Mall and they were upset to see the East Wing gone.
When they reached Lafayette Park, where the fencing had yet to be removed, they were again disappointed by the obscured view of the White House. Ayers’ father recalled a different scene in 1976, when he visited as a child for the nation’s bicentennial.
“I was kind of hoping for a summer similar to that,” Ayers said, “but overall, it seems nowhere close.”
Times staff writer Ana Ceballos in Washington contributed to this report.
Mexican soccer fans react during the Round of 32 match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup between Mexico and Ecuador in Mexico City, Mexico, Tuesday. Three people died by asphyxiation during the celebration. Photo by Sashenka Gutierrez/EPA
July 1 (UPI) — Three people died of asphyxiation in Mexico City as about a million people flooded the streets to celebrate Mexico’s 2-0 World Cup win over Ecuador in the first knockout round.
A 19-year-old woman, a 48-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man were found unresponsive in the crowd Tuesday night. They were each given emergency resuscitation and taken to a hospital where they died.
The celebrations mostly happened around the Angel of Independence monument in downtown Mexico City. The game ended in the first knockout round win for Mexico since 1986.
Mexico City’s health department confirmed that emergency responders treated the three people at different locations around Paseo de la Reforma before taking them to the hospital.
“After performing first aid and CPR techniques on the patients, they were transferred to a hospital for specialized medical care,” the city’s health authority said.
The hospital confirmed they all had died of suffocation.
Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada offered her “most sincere condolences” to the victims’ families.
In a post on X, Brugada said: “With my heart in my hand, I send a hug and my most sincere condolences to their loved ones. We reiterate the call to always celebrate with responsibility, care, and empathy.”
Mexico City’s metropolitan area is one of the most densely populated places on Earth. More than 20 million people live there.
Mexico players throw goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa in the air after defeating Czechia 3-0 in their FIFA World Cup match at Mexico City Stadium in Mexico City on June 24, 2026. Photo by Christian Brunskill/UPI | License Photo
Health officials say three people died during massive celebrations in Mexico City after Mexico’s 2-0 World Cup win over Ecuador. The victims — a 19-year-old woman, a 48-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man — died of asphyxiation. Thousands had crowded into the streets to celebrate Mexico’s first World Cup knockout-round win since 1986.
Summer has just begun, but there’s a certain magic in the air in Los Angeles right now. On the heels of Juneteenth and Pride Month, the city is fully immersed in World Cup, which continues through July 19, with some of the matches being played at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium. There are plenty of places to eat and drink near the stadium if you’re heading there for a game and plenty of watch parties at local restaurants and bars for those looking to cheer alongside other soccer fans.
If you’re staying close to home this summer, keep your taste buds entertained with Food’s guide to the 50 essential dining experiences that define living here, from an East L.A. taco truck crawl to pastries in Chinatown and Iranian cafes in Westwood’s Persian Square. There are also plenty of new bars to explore, including rooftop destinations with sparkling views of the city.
FOR less than a visit to the British seaside, one man flew thousands of miles away for a day trip.
Aleksander Sikora, from Surrey, took a 24-hour break to Kosovo for just £88 – including his return flights.
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Aleksander Sikora took a six-hour return day trip to KosovoCredit: SWNS
Taking a day off from his job, Aleksander took a six-hour round trip to the lesser visited capital city of Pristina in Kosovo.
He started his day at 7.25am and was back at the airport for his return flight at 11.55pm.
Aleksander said: “I decided to go to Kosovo because I’ve never been there before and it’s something a bit different to just going to Spain or Portugal.
“It’s cheaper than a seaside day out, a train from London to Brighton could be around £40, and with food and drinks it could be over £100.”
Aleksander managed to get Wizz Air return flights to Kosovo for just £42.
On top of that, his parking at Luton Airport cost £20.
A return bus journey into the city centre was £6, an eSIM was £10, and he spent just £10 on food and drink.
All in all, the one day trip cost him £88.
As for what to do in the city, Aleksander saw the Cathedral of Mother Teresa and the National Library of Kosovo, which has been dubbed the “ugliest building in the world”.
He added: “The library was my favourite part because it’s so unusual.”
Aleksander took a trip to the lesser-visited country for £88Credit: SWNSFlights to Kosovo from the UK takes three hoursCredit: SWNS
Aleksander also went to see the Newborn monument, which represents Kosovo becoming an independent nation.
There’s also a statue of Bill Clinton, which was put up in 2009 to honour the part the former president had in Kosovo achieving independence.
When it was time to eat, Aleksander bought jam pastries for 80p and a sandwich for €3 (£2.58).
He said: “I would absolutely recommend Kosovo as a day trip.
“I know the flight is three hours, but it’s a completely different way of life, and I made some great memories.”
Just 16 miles north of the California border, enchanting Ashland, Ore., has drawn theater fans for more than 90 years. The city owes its modern tourism economy in large part to William Shakespeare.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival runs from spring to fall annually, attracting many of the 350,000 annual visitors to the city of 21,000 residents. Locals and travelers gather to watch live productions in venues like the Allen Elizabethan Theatre — modeled after a 1599 London playhouse, with a three-story Tudor facade — where for one magical evening, they’re transported to Shakespeare’s heyday.
While it’s hard to escape the Bard’s reach in the downtown core, Ashland and environs offer much more than theater. Its outdoor wonderland especially is well worth exploring. Or as Shakespeare once put it: “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”
Within a short drive await wineries, hiking, cycling and white-water rafting on the magnificent Rogue River. Crater Lake National Park is about a two-hour drive, and the destruction of dams on the Klamath River reopened scenic rafting there last year for the first time in more than a century. As a designated Tree City USA community, Ashland is steeped in greenery. Parks abound. Lovely Ashland Creek meanders through the town.
Founded as a farm town in the 1850s, Ashland incorporated as a city in 1885 after rapid growth fueled by the railroad’s arrival. Many buildings in the downtown historic district date to the turn of the 20th century. Today, Ashland is home to a variety of shops — a couple of favorites include Bloomsbury Books with its ecology rack right out front and Mountain Provisions for high-quality outdoor gear. And with more than 100 restaurants, Ashland’s food and beverage scene runs the gamut from casual (try the porkstrami at Sammich) to inventive (check out the unique Alsatian menu at Nous).
These days, a cautious optimism prevails throughout Ashland, which had been hit hard by the pandemic and simultaneous wildfires. At downtown’s Village Baker, the scent of baking bread hints at the 1,400 loaves produced daily. They start at 4 a.m. and deliver for miles around. That broad reach, co-owner Gerardo Gutierrez says, has helped them weather challenging times.
The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to pull a measure from the Nov. 3 ballot that would have created a pathway to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.
The council, on a unanimous vote, sent the draft ballot language to a committee for additional study after several councilmembers said it had not been properly vetted.
Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez acknowledged that he had not done enough outreach on the proposal, and had received letters from members of the Black community voicing concerns.
“I grew up in South Central Los Angeles. The Black and Brown solidarity is deep to me, and means something to me, and I don’t want this to be something that gets pushed through that is seen as a negative, something negative for the city of Los Angeles,” he said.
Soto-Martínez said he would keep pursuing the proposal in a future election so that when it passes, the city can have a “big celebration.”
The noncitizen voting proposal was not the only one dropped by the council at the 11th hour.
In a separate vote, the council scrapped plans for a Nov. 3 ballot measure that would have given council members power over policy at the Los Angeles Police Department. The Board of Los Angeles Police Commissioners, whose members are appointed by the mayor, currently have that responsibility.
The council voted 8-6 to further study the ballot proposal after the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing rank-and-file members, threatened to sue the city, saying labor negotiators failed to meet and confer with them over the proposal.
The plan for expanding voting rights for noncitizens was unveiled by Soto-Martínez two months ago, It would have authorized the City Council to pass an ordinance allowing noncitizens to cast ballots in L.A. city and school board elections.
But many of the details had not yet been worked out, such as which groups would receive the franchise and whether Los Angeles County election officials would be capable of adopting such a system.
These questions were raised again Tuesday by Councilmember Traci Park, who voted “yes” on the proposal two weeks ago, but said this time that too much is still unknown about how it would work. She voiced fears about the city’s ability to protect noncitizen voters if federal immigration agents show up at polling places.
“My concern here is that if this goes to the ballot, the voters won’t really know what they’re voting for, because we don’t really know either,” she said. “These are things that should be figured out well in advance before we put anything in the charter at all.”
Councilmember John Lee held up a print-out of a warning on the San Francisco elections website. San Francisco allows noncitizens to vote in school board elections, and the website includes a notice stating: “Any information you provide to the Department of Elections, including your name and address, may be obtained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies, organizations, and individuals.”
“Given the experience of the only California city that currently allows noncitizen voting, it is not fear mongering to raise these concerns,” he said. “They are real issues that must be addressed before Los Angeles asks voters to approve a similar system.
Soto-Martínez said he viewed the warnings from Lee and Park as fear mongering, noting that immigrant rights groups were ready to move forward with his proposal.
“This country was created by people taking courage and pushing so that everyone can have the right to vote,” he said.
For nearly a century, Sparkletts bottled its water in a vast building on Lincoln Avenue designed to look like a Moorish palace, or maybe an industrial oasis.
Now Sparkletts has moved out, the owners aren’t talking and L.A. city officials, hoping to save the building, have named the site a historic-cultural monument.
“We’ve always had an eye on the building because it’s such an icon in the community,” said Frank Parrello, Landmarks and Advocacy chair for the Eagle Rock Valley Historical Society. “We want to make sure that whatever happens in the future, the building is considered.”
The plant, which drew water from subterranean springs and bottled it for distribution through Southern California, went up in 1929 on E. Lincoln Avenue along the Eagle Rock-Highland Park border, filling the block between N. Avenue 45 and N. Avenue 46. Designed by architect Richard D. King, its main building features arches, towers and domes, a white-washed brick exterior and wrought-iron lanterns.
The L.A. Conservancy calls it a bold example of Moorish Revival industrial style and a prime illustration of “the industrialization of drinking water in Los Angeles.”
Neighbors call it “the Taj Mahal,” resident Anthony Carmona says.
The Sparkletts building, built in 1929, was designed in a Moorish Revival style. The building, idle since 2025, has been added to the L.A. City Historical-Cultural Monument list.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Questions about the building’s future began to multiply in 2025, when Sparkletts ceased operations on the site. A 4.4-acre portion of the property was listed for sale, then for lease. The L.A. Conservancy warned that the building was “at risk of redevelopment.”
The Instagram site Save Iconic Architecture also sounded an alarm, saying the Sparkletts building “tells the story of Los Angeles’ innovation, design, and relationship with its most precious resource: water.”
Meanwhile, the Eagle Rock Valley Historical Society nominated the building as a historic-cultural monument, which led to a site visit and votes by the city of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission and City Council.
On June 24, the council voted to protect the building as a monument. The designation “does not guarantee that the building cannot be demolished,” but it does allow city officials to delay demolition for up to 360 days “to allow for time to preserve the monument.”
The city Planning Department staff report on the historic monument nomination lists the owners as Sparkletts Drinking Water Corporation and Foremost Water Corporation. Neither commented to the city on the monument nomination and Primo Brands (Sparkletts’ parent company) did not respond to requests for information Monday.
The city’s staff report on the site says the architect may have been influenced by a Moorish design trend in the 1920s that included the film “The Thief of Bagdad” (1924). The El Capitan Theater on Hollywood Boulevard and Shrine Auditorium near USC, both completed in 1926, are also known for their Moorish features.
Architectural historians David Gebhard and Robert Winter included the Sparkletts building in their “Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles,” noting its mosque-like presence and saying “the best remaining element” is the tiled mosaic oasis scene over the entrance.
The building has seen some changes. As the Eagle Rock Valley Historical Society nomination notes, the building’s largest Sparkletts sign was removed in July 2025. City records show that decades ago, in the course of repairs after the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, at least one minaret was removed.
The entrance, however, remains largely intact, featuring three arches and a set of steps framed by a pair of tall palm trees. Just above the front door and beneath a surviving Sparkletts sign hangs the tilework that Gebhard and Winter enjoyed.
Moreover, “it’s very impressive inside,” Parrello said. “It’s a big open industrial floor plan, which could be used for a lot of things.”
The Sparkletts building, idle since 2025, has been added to the L.A. City Historical-Cultural Monument list.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
If public agency or nonprofit is able to play a role in the property’s future, Parrello added, “it could become a housing complex, or a community center for a housing complex.”
A similar answer came from Carmona, 51, a restaurant worker who lives in an RV about a block away from the Sparkletts building. Carmona said he’d love to see it become a gathering place where neighbors can trade products, services, ideas, “lemons, oranges, whatever.” In a perfect world, Carmona said, “there should be free water for everyone, but of course that’s not going to happen.”
The city of L.A. began designated historic-cultural landmarks in 1962 and has given that status to more than 1,000 buildings and other structures.
The closure of the Eagle Rock Sparkletts operation followed a 2024 merger between Sparkletts’ parent company, Primo Water, and another bottled water company, BlueTriton, to from Primo Brands.
While Fuchs’ first senior managerial role saw him win just nine of 31 matches in charge of the Exiles, he got off to a victorious start in cricket whites.
Bowling first, Fuchs returned figures of 2-20 from his 3.2 overs and also contributed to a run out as Grindleford dismissed Riverside Notts for 150.
“His bowling, he was throwing it but it was alright,” Mahmood laughed.
“It was his first game, so it is what it is. We gave him the benefit of the doubt and didn’t say anything to him.”
During the run chase, Fuchs batted at number six, scoring 12 runs off 18 deliveries, including a four and that six as Grindleford triumphed by one wicket.
“When he got out, he was chatting to all of us. He was a very, very nice guy,” added Mahmood.
“It was a surprise to actually see him there because it was so random. It’s a random game on a Sunday and we just see a Premier League winner there.”
Fuchs is not the only former footballer who has swapped between the two sports later on in life.
Former England goalkeeper Nigel Martyn plays for Cornwall’s over-50s side. Ex-Liverpool and Manchester City midfielder Dietmar Hamann once represented Cheshire side Alderley Edge’s second team while still contracted at City.
Current Newcastle United midfielder Sean Longstaff is also spending his summer break playing for Tynemouth in Division 1 of the North East Premier League.
During his football career, Fuchs made more than 650 appearances for club and country that included six seasons at the King Power Stadium.
As well as winning both the Premier League and the FA Cup, Fuchs won 78 caps for Austria and was captain at Euro 2016.
Time Out has named this spot as one of the best places to visit in the UK highlighting its stunning beaches, world-class museums and vibrant food scene
It’s an underrated seaside city with a rich history (Image: Craig Connor/ChronicleLive)
It’s time to look beyond the obvious and consider some of Britain’s finest destinations which may not yet feature on your travel radar — but absolutely should — and one of them is tucked away in the North East.
Time Out has unveiled its list of ‘The 14 best places to visit in the UK in 2026’, and cracking the top 10 is a North East city that is frequently overlooked in favour of its more celebrated neighbour just 10 miles down the road.
Certain spots earned their place on the list for their buzzing nightlife, others for their coastlines, some for their museums, and others still for their exceptional food scenes. Claiming the number 10 spot was Sunderland, carving out a reputation that stretches well beyond its celebrated football club.
Premier League glory aside, Sunderland might not immediately spring to mind for many travellers, yet according to the publication’s experts, there’s a wealth of experiences waiting to be discovered in this seaside city. With a host of exhibitions, sporting fixtures and much more scheduled throughout 2026, there are countless reasons to visit — and even more to make you want to linger.
Beaches
Unlike most thriving cities, Sunderland is fortunate enough to boast a handful of sweeping and stunning beaches, owing to its enviable position along the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea coast. The twin beaches at Roker and Seaburn are the perfect spot to kick back and relax, with many visitors hailing them as “the best in the UK” — some having made the trip since childhood.
Both hold blue flag status, making them a clean and safe destination for the whole family, whether you’re soaking up the golden sands in summer or enjoying a brisk stroll along the shore during the cooler months.
A recent visitor shared on TripAdvisor: “We spent a fine sunny spring morning walking on the seafront. We got there easily by taking the E1 bus from Sunderland city centre.
“Roker and Seaburn are attractive with good beaches with nice cafes with good coffee, which we sampled, and seafront restaurants that we would like to try next time. We only spent three hours here, but it has whetted our appetites and will certainly come again when visiting Sunderland.”
Pier Point at Roker sits right on the beachfront, lined with a variety of cafés and restaurants where you can tuck into classic seaside fare and stop off for a drink or two.
Museums
As highlighted by Time Out when unveiling their rankings, museums play a central role in Sunderland’s appeal as a tourist destination and serve as a brilliant showcase of the city’s rich cultural and historical heritage. It’s worth checking ahead for any upcoming exhibits, but on any given day, these venues are well worth a visit.
Standing out among the city’s attractions is the National Glass Centre, set within a striking glass structure beside the waterfront. The venue is devoted to examining concepts and heritage through the medium of glass, while offering visitors the chance to get hands-on and engage with the educational programmes available.
It’s highly regarded as one of Sunderland’s top attractions, ranking second on TripAdvisor. One visitor remarked: “This place is amazing. The glassblowing demonstration is really good, the cafe is really nice, food delish, staff very good. Nice setting on the water.”
Additional museums include the North East Land, Sea and Air Museum, Ryhope Engines Museum and, perhaps most significantly, Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens. Located in the city centre, Sunderland Museum chronicles the city’s story across four levels, featuring an array of captivating galleries and displays.
One visitor said: “The museum offers free entry and has plenty of exhibits. I first had to see the staple of the museum, which is Wallace the Lion who has been with the museum for over 160 years.
“There was a write-up about how Wallace came to be in the museum which was nice to read about. There were a few other areas which showed off the history of the mines and celebrated the miners’ unions, etc.”
For those seeking somewhere to while away a few hours indoors, whether escaping dreary weather or beating the heat, free entry means there’s every reason to discover what the museum has to offer.
Across the city, a diverse array of thriving independent eateries are serving up some seriously tasty grub, from street food stalls to cosy cafés and beloved seafront staples. Time Out made a point of singling out Propa Pies, a “nostalgia-fuelled pastry pop-up from Hairy Biker Si King”, which offers an impressive selection of inventively flavoured pies alongside timeless classics.
The embattled Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority sued the Trump administration on Monday to stop it from depriving the region of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, saying the effort is unwarranted and violates federal laws.
The authority, better known as LAHSA, said in its Monday filing that cutting off the funds would put more than 11,000 people — 1,900 of them children — at risk of losing housing or other services.
LAHSA, a joint city-county agency overseen by political appointees, is seeking a temporary restraining order to bar the federal Housing and Urban Development Department from suspending the funds.
“The people who will be harmed by this decision are not bureaucrats,” said Gita O’Neill, LAHSA’s interim chief executive officer, in a statement Monday. “They are families, veterans, seniors, and formerly homeless Angelenos who rely on these resources to remain housed.”
The filing in federal court comes nearly three weeks after HUD officials said they were suspending LAHSA from applying for or receiving federal funds, citing financial mismanagement, fraud and a lack of safeguards to prevent conflicts of interest.
In its 46-page lawsuit, LAHSA pushed back on HUD’s allegations, saying they were not supported by the evidence. Lawyers for LAHSA portrayed HUD’s actions as part of a larger political agenda — elimination of the federally approved “Continuum of Care” system, which makes LAHSA the overarching applicant for most federal homelessness funding across Los Angeles County.
The Trump administration “has made clear it wants to scrap the program entirely in favor of a homelessness policy favoring criminal enforcement, drug treatment, institutionalization and civil commitment of the mentally ill,” the lawsuit states.
HUD officials have said they are barring LAHSA from applying for funds on behalf of the Continuum of Care, which covers 85 cities, including Los Angeles. LAHSA secured $220 million in federal funds for various agencies in 2024 and $944 million since 2021, according to the June 11 letter from HUD Deputy Secretary Andrew D. Hughes.
HUD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the letter, Hughes said his agency had received information that LAHSA “may have committed violations of federal law” while carrying out its obligations as part of its HUD grant agreements.
“HUD has evidence that LAHSA’s repeated false statements and its irresponsible actions and failures, including its lack of financial management, internal controls, and safeguards against conflicts of interest, pose a threat to HUD, the public, and those living on the streets of Los Angeles,” he wrote.
In the letter, Hughes said that HUD’s inspector general had opened an investigation. Depending on the outcome, the money could be restored or LAHSA could be permanently barred from receiving funds.
LAHSA, in its lawsuit, said HUD has not provided any investigative findings to show violations of the funding agreements. Instead, agency lawyers said, federal officials relied on “a mash-up of old news articles, comments from public officials taken out of context, and findings from routine public audits that included recommendations that were all appropriately actioned.”
Lawyers for LAHSA contend that HUD’s actions violate the U.S. Constitution and override the dictates of Congress, which established many of the processes for distributing federal homeless funds.
The vast majority of the federal funds secured by LAHSA as a grant applicant goes toward permanent housing, agency officials said.
LAHSA, created in 1993, is overseen by a 10-member commission, half from the city and half from the county. Among those commissioners is L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who has made homelessness a central part of her agenda. Each of the five county supervisors has an appointee.
At stake in the battle between HUD and LAHSA is an array of services affecting some of the region’s most vulnerable residents.
LAHSA oversees the Homeless Management Information System, the federally-mandated software that tracks homeless people across the county. It has 8,000 individual users and is used by more than 300 agencies, according to the lawsuit.
HUD’s plan to suspend the funding would prevent LAHSA from using the system to match Angelenos — those on the street and in shelters — with housing and services, the lawsuit said.
LAHSA also oversees the annual “point in time” homelessness count across the county. Agency officials have pointed to the results from those counts as evidence that they have been making steady headway, with homelessness decreasing 4.3% countywide and 5.5% within Los Angeles between 2023 and 2025.
Unsheltered homelessness, which tallies the people living outside or in their vehicles, fell by a larger margin, declining 14% across the county and 17.5% within L.A. during that period.
Despite those numbers, LAHSA’s reputation has been battered by some highly critical assessments.
Last year, a global consulting firm retained as part of a federal lawsuit over the city of L.A.’s response to homelessness found that homeless services provided by LAHSA and the city lacked adequate financial controls, leaving the system vulnerable to waste and fraud.
Several months earlier, county auditors identified lax accounting procedures that resulted in LAHSA’s failure to pay its contractors on time. Even after that report was issued, nonprofit groups with LAHSA contracts continued to report that payments were behind schedule.
Last year, the county Board of Supervisors reached a breaking point, pulling more than $300 million — the vast majority of its funds — out of LAHSA and creating its own homelessness department. City officials have been weighing a similar move in recent months.
As one of the biggest techno DJs in the world, Charlotte de Witte never has her feet on the ground for long. But she comes back to L.A. as much as she can.
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
“Since I started, L.A. has been one of those very important cities. You really want to hit it as a beginning artist. It’s where everything is centered and everything is happening,” De Witte said during an interview at the Grammy Museum in November. She was here celebrating the release of her self-titled album debut. “L.A. made a difference for me.”
Throughout her years partying and performing in L.A., she’s played clubs such as Sound and Exchange LA. Then she grew to larger spaces like the Shrine and City Market, where she played open-to-close sets.
In the past, when things haven’t been as hectic, De Witte has enjoyed many of L.A.’s unique cultural offerings. Here are a few of her favorite things to do on a Sunday in the city.
9 a.m.: Coffee at Maru downtown
When I’m staying around downtown, I like to go to the Arts District and stop by Maru for a coffee. They also make great matcha and pastries. Whether it’s to-go or you’re just hanging around for a bit, great coffee is the best way to start the day!
11 a.m. Roller skate from Venice to Santa Monica
If we have a little bit more time to enjoy L.A. on tour, we always go to Venice. It’s such a unique place to be, but it’s also a very chill place. You’re in L.A., which is a huge city, but because you’re also next to the ocean it’s more calming for the mind and soul. When I’m on tour, I’m always in big cities, in the middle and the heart of where everything’s happening, and I could miss some peace and quiet, because I live in the countryside at home in Lisbon. Venice is that bright, sweet spot in the middle, where you have the more relaxing presence of the water and the beach, but still connected to Los Angeles.
Noon: Lunch at Gjusta
My manager is a big fan of Gjusta. He goes there all the time, wherever he is staying, so I think it kind of rubbed off on me.
2 p.m.: Facial treatment at Formula Fig in Culver City
A facial treatment is one of my favorite self-care moments when I’m on the road. It helps me relax and keeps me feeling fresh. The area around the Culver City location is also really nice for a walk or to grab a drink or a bite.
4 p.m.: Cruise around L.A. with an old-school Manx Beach Buggy
Manx Beach Buggies are an amazing buzz! I recently had the chance to take one for a spin around the city with my wonderful friends at Race Service, the car culture hub on Venice Boulevard in Mid-City. They had an event at Living Room. People from all over the U.S. drove there with their cars. It was incredibly fun, and it felt very, very L.A.!
6 p.m.: Dinner at Dudley Market
I am kind of into wine, especially natural wines. In Portugal, we are doing a lot with wines. Actually, we are building our own vineyard, so it’s important to us to learn more about natural winemaking. Dudley has amazing food and a great wine selection, and it’s also in Venice, so it’s perfect.
11 p.m.: Night out in a rough and sweaty warehouse like Aurora
As a DJ, I obviously have to end my night on the dance floor. It’s such a primal feeling to go clubbing, to all come together and dance to a beat. To feel this in your chest, it’s an experience that human beings have been doing throughout history. Because of the time that I spent on the dance floor, but also the time that I spent on the other side as a DJ, I would really argue that clubbing is essential in everyone’s life. It’s also self-care. During my last stay in L.A. — the week I released my debut album — I played five shows during a three-day period. I enjoyed all the sets, but to end the day with a deep dive into the night, Aurora Warehouse is a great venue.
A ranking of Europe’s most underrated cities has named a historic spot that many Brits may not have even heard of, and visitors can explore Roman ruins, gothic monasteries, and a doll museum
The riverfront city was once Portugal’s capital(Image: Getty Images)
Portugal has long been a major city break destination for Brits, and while most head to either Porto to explore its colourful, hilly streets, or Lisbon for a lively, cultural atmosphere, there’s one spot that gets overlooked.
For over a hundred years, Coimbra was Portugal’s capital, a thriving walled city that had monasteries, grand cathedrals, and a university that’s still operational today making it one of the world’s oldest. When the King moved the capital to Lisbon, it became a centre of Renaissance art, bringing French and Italian influences to the area and becoming a town where intellectuals flocked, inspired by the peaceful riverfront scenery.
Recently, Which? identified Coimbra as one of Europe’s underrated cities, noting: “It’s a historic, cultural and academic hub, with a Unesco-listed university complete with a gilded baroque library that’s open to the public for visits and tours.
There’s also a winding old town that, unlike Lisbon and Porto, isn’t bottlenecked with tourists in peak season — and you’ll also find plenty of atmospheric tascas for truly Portuguese lunches and dinners.”
Despite its close proximity to Lisbon and Porto, trains take 90 minutes and an hour, respectively.
It’s not a destination visited by many Brits. It’s perfect for a day trip from the Portuguese coast, although you may want to stay longer and soak up the authentic atmosphere among its sun-soaked streets.
Visit the ruins of Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Velha, a Gothic monastery that dates back to the 1300s, which has become a major archaeological site, and explore a museum full of treasures from ancient tombs.
Santa Cruz Church is another must-see in the town. The whitewashed church has incredible blue-tiled mosaic murals that cover entire walls, and a peaceful, if eerie, mausoleum that is the final resting place of Portugal’s first king.
National Museum Machado de Castro has artworks and sculptures from the Renaissance artists who once lived in this town and honed their skills.
Built on a set of Roman tunnels, the museum is housed in a serene 11th-century cloister where you can enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of its cool marble walls.
A short drive outside the city are a number of tiny Schist Villages, traditional mountain settlements that are being restored to capture the country’s heritage. There are 12 villages in the Lousã Mountain, and from Coimbra you can take a guided tour through the winding mountain roads to explore these areas where time stands still.
Popular stops include Cerdeira, once abandoned but now the home of an arts and crafts school, and Talasnal – famous for its rustic stone cottages and incredible views across the pine-covered. mountains. On the way back, visit Arouce Castle, a medieval fortress that overlooks a river beach. There are areas for swimming in the pure mountain waters, and waterfalls that add to the untamed scenery.
Have a story you want to share? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com
Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Noah Goldberg and David Zahniser, with an assist from Melissa Gomez and Connor Sheets, giving you the latest on city and county government.
The city of Los Angeles will shell out $120,000 for outside lawyers to fight a lawsuit filed by a councilmember challenging an ethics fine.
On Wednesday, the City Council voted unanimously to hire the law firm Hecker Fink LLP to represent the city’s Ethics Commission as it defends its decision to fine Councilmember John Lee $138,000 for allegedly violating city gift laws during a notorious 2017 trip to Las Vegas. Lee recused himself from the vote.
The city attorney’s office has said it can’t represent the Ethics Commission in Lee’s lawsuit because of a conflict of interest.
Lee was chief of staff to then-Councilmember Mitchell Englander when the two were plied with meals and alcohol, as well as hotel stays and gambling chips, by people seeking business with the city.
Lee, who represents the northwest San Fernando Valley, has claimed that he made a good faith effort to pay his own way. At a nearly $2,500 dinner that included Kobe beef, Maine lobster, Peking duck and sea bass, the only thing he ate was a spoonful of bird’s nest soup, he said at a hearing in his ethics case.
In 2020, Englander pleaded guilty to a single count of providing false information to the FBI and was sentenced to 14 months in prison. Three years later, he agreed to pay $79,830 to settle an Ethics Commission case focused on his own gift law violations.
The commission levied the fine against Lee in December, finding that he committed two counts of violating the city’s law against accepting gifts above a certain value, three counts of violating a law requiring that such gifts be disclosed to the public and five counts of misusing his city position.
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David Tristan, the Ethics Commission’s executive director, had asked the council to provide at least $120,000 to defend against Lee’s lawsuit.
Lee declined to comment on the vote. In his lawsuit, he claimed that the statute of limitations had expired on the matters that were investigated by the Ethics Commission. He also accused the commission of overvaluing the share of gifts he partook in.
Lee is seeking to get the fine overturned.
More churn in the Karen Bass campaign
Turns out the shakeup in Mayor Karen Bass’ campaign did not end with the departure of Douglas Herman, her top strategist.
Herman told The Times on Wednesday that he stepped down due to “strategic differences” over the Nov. 3 runoff campaign against City Councilmember Nithya Raman. Bass’ team said on the same day that they had replaced him with Julie Chávez Rodriguez, who was campaign manager for the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris presidential campaigns in 2024.
A day later, political consultant Larry Grisolano confirmed that he too is no longer with the Bass reelection effort. His company, Thematic Campaigns, had been providing media and digital strategy.
On Friday, Berkeley-based research consultant Mike Rice told The Times that his firm, VR Research, had also left the Bass campaign, effective Wednesday. He declined to comment further.
Bass campaign spokesperson Alex Stack declined to discuss the departures. Asked if the campaign is in disarray, he said no, adding that Chávez Rodriguez’s hiring “is a really big get for us.”
“We’re getting a lot of positive feedback,” Stack said.
Still waiting on eviction defense contracts
In March, it appeared that a battle between City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto and the nonprofit running L.A.’s eviction defense program was over.
At the time, Feldstein Soto said she had concerns over awarding funds to the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, which has sued the city successfully over homelessness issues on multiple occasions. Feldstein Soto argued that contracts should not be awarded without rigorous reports and invoice review from Legal Aid and other nonprofits.
The City Council awarded the contracts anyway, funding the initial portion of a three-year, $177-million deal for Legal Aid and three other nonprofits to provide eviction defense, short-term rental assistance, tenant outreach and more as part of the city’s Stay Housed L.A. program.
But months later, Feldstein Soto’s office still hasn’t executed the contracts, frustrating tenants rights advocates and the nonprofits, which are struggling to pay their staff without the funds from the city.
“We’ve been really in a state of purgatory for over a year,” said Mike Dennis, senior director of housing justice at the Liberty Hill Foundation, which does tenant outreach as part of the city’s program.
Dennis said the failure to execute the contracts has created planning and operational uncertainty for the community-based organizations that Liberty Hill works with. Soon, some of them may face serious issues.
“We’re quickly approaching a point where the organizations are not going to keep being able to pay staff and absorb those costs,” he said. “The longer this goes on, the more likely we are to see contractions in the work.”
Earlier this month, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado put forward a motion asking the city attorney to explain why the contracts have not been executed. Jurado said the delay has left $17 million in funds unused.
“At the same time, the selected contractors struggle to maintain staffing without this funding, placing services for those at risk of homelessness in jeopardy,” she wrote in the June 2 motion.
Feldstein Soto argued in a June 15 response that Legal Aid has failed to agree to the “accountability and reporting requirements” needed to execute the contracts. She said those requirements were designed to make sure that taxpayer funds are spent properly.
“This office will continue to work with proposed contractors until the concerns are sufficiently addressed,” she said in a statement.
State of play
— UNHAPPY MEMORIES: Bass was out of town when the Boyle Heights warehouse fire erupted, which is giving voters a fresh reminder of her absence at the start of the Palisades fire. The situation could have an impact on her reelection campaign against Raman.
— HEADING TO THE BALLOT: A half-cent sales tax hike that would generate $345 million annually for the Los Angeles Fire Department will go before voters in the Nov. 3 election. The measure has been spearheaded by the city’s firefighter union, which gathered the signatures to qualify it for the ballot.
— D.A. DENIED: A judge has rejected Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman’s request to freeze payments in the $4-billion sex abuse settlement approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The ruling boots Hochman from his brief stint in a civil courtroom as he moves forward with his criminal investigation into lawyers, recruiters and medical practitioners who may have submitted fraudulent claims.
— SOCIALIST SURGE: L.A.’s democratic socialists are looking to expand their power at City Hall yet again, setting their sights on the races for mayor and city attorney. Raman and city attorney hopeful Marissa Roy, both members of the L.A. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, are heading into the runoff after strong showings in the June 2 primary. (DSA-LA endorsed Roy but not Raman in the primary.)
— A BLOWOUT ELECTION: Property owners across the city voted overwhelmingly against increasing the assessment they pay to maintain streetlights. City leaders had hoped to use the funds — an additional $80 million a year — to speed up repairs and upgrade the city’s 225,000 streetlights.
— CLEARING THE LAND: Overgrown lots razed by the Eaton and Palisades fires pose an increasing wildfire threat to surrounding properties. The county Board of Supervisors recently passed a motion calling on county departments to develop a plan to clear vegetation in Altadena and Sunset Mesa.
QUICK HITS
Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program to combat homelessness went to the area around the Wiltern Theatre in Koreatown this week. The area is represented by Councilmember Heather Hutt.
On the docket next week: On Tuesday, the council takes up a package of ballot measures that would rewrite the City Charter. The changes cover topics such as voting rights for noncitizens, expanded park funding and City Council oversight of policies at the Los Angeles Police Department.
Stay in touch
That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.
California Forever, the tech billionaire-backed group that hopes to build a city from scratch on farmland in the outer San Francisco Bay Area, is lobbying state leaders to fast-track a massive shipbuilding deal that would kick-start its development after years of local opposition.
The billionaires behind the project are seeking a deal to expedite environmental reviews of the development and, if necessary, bypass county restrictions on building by being absorbed into Suisun City boundaries. They’ve hired former Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg — Democratic architects of landmark environmental laws — to make their case, and are using the prospect of luring a major shipbuilder to California to accelerate the dealmaking.
California Forever has pursued its project for nearly a decade, though the vision has shifted: At first pitched as a walkable city with cottages, bike lanes and even a water park, the plan then added a major shipbuilding operation and, last summer, a significant manufacturing hub. California Forever’s proponents, led by the state’s powerful building trades union along with Realtors, peace officers and pro-housing groups, argue the latest proposal would boost the state’s economy and bring an estimated half a million jobs to California. And now, a prospective tenant has emerged: Defense company Saronic Technologies Inc., which builds autonomous vessels for use in national security, is deciding between California and Texas for its next factory. The state must fast-track the development or lose the deal, supporters argue.
The developers are seeking the state’s permission to use an 18-year-old environmental impact report for the shipyard development, limit any legal challenges to the project to 270 days, and allow Suisun City to annex their land if needed, according to Steinberg and Hertzberg.
“In short, if legislation is not approved, California will lose billions of dollars in investments and tens of thousands of jobs this summer to Texas and other states,” proponents wrote in a joint letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders this week.
But some locals and lawmakers are skeptical, arguing that details about the project remain scarce. The proposed development would convert vast farmlands into factories and risk harming the surrounding ecosystem, they said, which deserves rigorous environmental review under the landmark California Environmental Quality Act that proponents are seeking to expedite.
State Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento) is shown during a Senate floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Feb. 20, 2025.
(Fred Greaves / CalMatters)
“For a project this scale in this location, it is what the [law] was designed for,” said Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento), who represents the area. “A central question for the people of Solano County is: Is this going to be for the community or is this a conversion project that leaves them behind?”
Opponents also slammed California Forever for pursuing relief behind closed doors with state leaders and circumventing local opposition. Since 2018, the group has secretly bought up agricultural land, shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars to court local residents and spent at least $330,000 lobbying the governor and legislative leaders for favorable legislation.
“I think they know that the only way this actually happens is under cover of darkness, by trying to essentially get the governor to work this plan for them,” said Jordan Grimes, legislative director at Greenbelt Alliance, which has advocated for streamlined environmental reviews for housing projects.
Secretive beginnings foment distrust
For residents of Solano County, an agricultural community on the outskirts of the Bay Area that includes coastal areas next to a deep-water shipping lane, the suspicion around California Forever has been hard to shake.
The group’s subsidiary, Flannery Associates, started buying up farmland in 2018, eventually acquiring 62,000 acres while routinely refusing to answer questions about its backers. Some farmers later alleged the company used strong-arm tactics to get them to sell.
In 2023, Flannery’s backers were unmasked as a group of wealthy venture capitalists, including the founders of LinkedIn and Netscape, all led by former Goldman Sachs trader and real estate developer Jan Sramek. Marc Andreessen, co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, holds investments in both California Forever and Saronic, the defense company eyeing California. Andreessen’s firm did not immediately return a CalMatters inquiry for comment.
Despite rocky beginnings, California Forever needed the majority of Solano County voters on its side due to a 1984 “orderly growth” law that requires voters to approve development on unincorporated land.
In 2024, the company debuted the East Solano Plan to rezone 17,500 acres of agricultural land for a dense, 400,000-person city. The proposal was set to go before voters that year, but its backers pulled it following powerful grassroots opposition, poor polling and a county assessment that found holes in the plan. Sramek acknowledged the group likely moved too fast and said the initiative would go back before voters in 2026.
Instead, the group has pivoted. The East Solano Plan has become the Suisun Expansion Plan and the Solano Shipyard. In January 2025, Suisun City’s city council directed its manager to explore expanding the city’s limits through annexation, which is now underway, although it could take years.
State Route 113 runs through land where California Forever plans to put its new city in Solano County.
(Loren Elliott / CalMatters)
“The annexation and the shipbuilding have been a clear way to work around the need for voter support in Solano County,” said Nate Huntington, a member of the grassroots group Solano Together, which formed in response to the secretive land purchases. Huntington pointed out that California Forever hasn’t even submitted a proposal for a shipbuilding facility to the county.
“All of this has been happening in backrooms of Sacramento, and it’s not been publicly available.”
Seeking state environmental relief
California Forever is now selling the development to the state as a major incentive to lure manufacturers and shipbuilders to California — and the subsequent need for housing to accommodate the promised jobs.
The company wants the governor and state lawmakers to cut red tape for the development and require enough housing for the new jobs. Steinberg and Hertzberg told CalMatters they are contemplating legislation to that end, but only after California Forever signs a lease with a manufacturer or shipbuilder.
Their plan would allow the governor to designate construction on company land as “environmental leadership development projects,” which would effectively require any litigation to be resolved within 270 days. Steinberg authored the state law streamlining that process in 2013.
State law requires government agencies to prepare a report for any project that might have a significant impact on the environment. Instead of assessing the impact of the proposed shipyard, Steinberg and Hertzberg’s proposal would use a 2008 report, which designated the area where the shipyard would go as “water-dependent industrial usage.” Most of California Forever’s 7,500-acre planned footprint does not have that designation.
Steinberg told CalMatters the report is sufficient since the site has changed little.
“The state and county need the ability to say yes now to these numerous opportunities,” he said in a text. A new report, he said, “would require years of additional delay and lost opportunities.”
But the report is outdated, Cabaldon argues.
“This is completely different,” he said. “Just the notion that you would just say, ‘We are not going to do any assessments at all and we’ll just rely on this old one’ — that is not consistent with what the public interest is.”
Steinberg and Hertzberg also want the state to require enough housing in the area, but to allow surrounding cities and Solano County to permit local housing developers to build first.
But if local governments aren’t willing to or cannot build enough housing within the timeline the manufacturer or the shipbuilder wants, Steinberg and Hertzberg’s proposal would allow Suisun City to annex adjacent California Forever-owned county land into its city boundaries — a controversial idea that has drawn fierce local opposition. The move would be a “last resort,” Steinberg and Hertzberg stressed repeatedly.
The annexation would effectively bypass the county’s orderly growth initiative, which requires voters to have a say in development.
“The shipbuilders and manufacturers need certainty on a much faster timeline,” Steinberg said.
Cabaldon said the pitch to build new housing to accommodate theoretical jobs is “fantastical,” noting that Saronic, the proposed shipbuilder, is a leader in automation.
“There’s no indication that this is going to generate on an ongoing basis that many jobs, and certainly not more jobs than we have housing for even today without building a single additional unit,” he said.
Historic union agreement prompts support
In January, California Forever announced it had signed a 40-year deal with the Napa/Solano Building Trades Council and Northern California Carpenters Union to use union labor to build its development. The agreement was an important political alliance for Chief Executive Sramek, bringing more influential advocates to the table.
According to Digital Democracy, both the Building Trades Council and the Carpenters Union have given roughly $10 million in direct donations to legislative candidates since 2000.
Those advocates made themselves heard over the last few weeks, following a Texas county court approving significant tax incentives to lure Saronic to Brownsville. In a statement, Saronic said its nationwide search is still “active and ongoing.”
The California Alliance for Jobs, an alliance of influential construction companies and workers, drafted two letters in quick succession calling for legislative leaders to streamline the California Forever expansion and shipyard.
“We champed at the bit to go all in to get this project moving, and to get legislation through Sacramento this session,” said Joshua Arce, executive director of the alliance.
Suisun City Councilmember Princess Washington, who has consistently been the sole vote on the council against the annexation plan, said she feels organized labor is being used as “political pressure” to win approval.
“Processes are slow, but they’re done that way through government to ensure that it’s being done correctly, that all parties of interest are being treated fairly, and there’s checks and balances,” Washington said.
“It’s unheard of for a project to be done as quickly as they want it to be done.”
In a statement, California Forever spokesperson Jim Wunderman said any shipyard project will comply with all California environmental and land-use laws. He said county supervisors already approved using the 2008 impact report, and that legislation would allow the group to “meet prospective employers’ timelines.”
He said by pursuing expansion within Suisun City, California Forever is following the community’s preferences by channeling new growth into existing cities.
An ongoing presence in the Capitol
Since 2024, California Forever has spent at least $330,000 lobbying the Legislature and governor’s office on bills and other actions, according to campaign finance records.
Steinberg and Hertzberg told CalMatters they were hired in April as “special counsel,” not lobbyists, meaning they are spending less than a third of their time talking with public officials.
Grimes, who said he respects Steinberg for leading landmark environmental land-use reforms in the Legislature, said he’s disappointed in his advocacy for California Forever, “a project that is antithetical to all of this.”
Sheep graze on land where California Forever plans to build its new city in Solano County.
(Loren Elliott / CalMatters)
California Forever reported spending $90,000 lobbying the governor’s office and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, called GO-Biz, last year on “federal shipbuilding activities and California business attraction and retention activities.”
“GO-Biz has discussed relevant state incentive programs with Saronic and explained how they operate,” said GO-Biz spokesperson Willie Rudman. He said the agency does not offer incentive packages to specific companies.
Last fall though, GO-Biz helped organize a bid for Saronic to settle in Solano County. County staff reported during a board meeting that GO-Biz supported a legislative effort to override the county’s “orderly growth” law.
County supervisors rushed through a proposal to change the boundaries of the Solano Shipyard to comply, but with just days remaining before the end of the legislative session, Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson, a Democrat from Suisun City, said there wasn’t time to introduce legislation.
Since then, Wilson said, the proposal has been on the table, but “nothing’s been requested” of her office by California Forever.
The company also urged lawmakers to act fast or risk losing the shipbuilder to Texas last year — a negotiating tactic common in economic development, Cabaldon said.
But Cabaldon argued that Saronic will decide where to place its shipyard based on “defense needs of the United States of America” instead of state incentives.
“We have to negotiate with our eyes open,” he said.
Los Angeles officials have reached a tentative agreement with organizers of the 2028 Olympic Games laying out the process for reimbursing the city for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in public services.
The agreement, which still needs approval from Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council, would require the privately run Olympic organizing committee LA28 to provide the city with funding in advance to cover services that are ineligible for reimbursement from the federal government, such as traffic control and trash pickup.
The two parties would take a somewhat different approach for police protection at high-security venues. Under the proposed arrangement, the city would seek reimbursement from the federal government for security costs at those locations, said City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo, the city’s top negotiator.
If the federal government does not provide full reimbursement for those security costs, the city would seek to tap LA28’s contingency funds to cover the difference, Szabo said.
“This deal ensures the 2028 Games will have the City services needed to be safe and successful, while protecting the taxpayers from footing the bill,” he said in a statement.
Paul Krekorian, executive director for Bass’ Office of Major Events, praised the agreement.
“Mayor Bass’ priority is that the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games be fiscally responsible, protect taxpayers, and benefit Angelenos for decades to come,” he said. “This agreement helps deliver that commitment.”
Negotiations between the city and LA28 have played out behind closed doors over the last year, even as critics have grown increasingly vocal about the potential for taxpayers to be saddled with huge payouts if the Games fail to generate a profit. If organizers experience significant losses, the city would be on the hook for the first $270 million and possibly more after that.
Szabo acknowledged that under that scenario, the city would be far less likely to recoup all of its security costs if the federal government failed to provide full reimbursement.
Under an agreement finalized in 2021, the organizing committee must reimburse the city for any services that go beyond what would be provided on a normal day at a variety of locations, including parts of downtown L.A., Exposition Park, Venice and elsewhere.
President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” included $1 billion for security, planning and other costs associated with the Olympics. Nevertheless, some elected officials have voiced fears that money might not materialize once the Games are over, or that the city’s security expenses could exceed that amount.
The tentative deal, known as an Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement, goes before the council’s ad hoc committee on the Olympic Games on Tuesday, then to the full council.
Even with the agreement, many of the details surrounding taxpayer services during the Olympics and Paralympics will remain unresolved for at least a year.
The two sides still have to finalize agreements spelling out the services that will be provided at each venue by July 2027. They also must agree on the cost of those services by Oct. 31 of the same year.
According to a summary of the agreement released by the city Friday, Los Angeles World Airports, the Port of Los Angeles and the Department of Water and Power would need to enter into their own service agreements with LA28.
LA28 and the city were supposed to have a tentative agreement in place last fall. The negotiations dragged out for an additional nine months, in large part because of the “inherent complexity of the 2028 Games,” Szabo said in a memo he co-wrote with Sharon Tso, the city’s chief legislative analyst.
Under the terms of the 2021 agreement, LA28 must create a $270-million contingency fund that can be distributed as a surplus if the Games make money, or be used to cover any losses in the event of a shortfall.
The proposal unveiled Friday calls for the five-year-old agreement to be amended to ensure that those contingency funds can be used to cover the city’s costs in the event that other revenue is not enough to pay for certain city services provided during the Games.
The money from that contingency fund would be distributed to the city only after LA28 covers its own costs, according to the city’s summary.
If LA28 does make money, it would not be allowed to distribute its surplus funds to any other organization until after it has covered its financial obligations to the city, according to the tentative agreement.
Jacie Prieto Lopez, LA28’s vice president of communications and public affairs, said in a statement that her organization is pleased to forward the agreement to the council for consideration.
“We proudly stand behind this agreement which delivers on our commitment to execute a safe, secure, and fiscally responsible Games that benefits Los Angeles for decades to come,” she said.
