friday

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

City Section

Hollywood 20, Fairfax 6

Los Angeles Wilson 44, Grant 0

South East 18, Maywood CES 2

Southern Section

Antelope Valley 6, Golden Valley 0

Compton Early College 18, Whitney 12

Sage Hill 13, Villa Park 0

Santa Monica 12, North Torrance 6

West Ranch 20, Harvard-Westlake 6

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

City Section

Carson 40, Garfield 0

Franklin 26, Wilmington Banning 20

Narbonne 24, Arleta 0

San Pedro 25, L.A. Marshall 0

Southern Section

Ayala 12, Great Oak 0

Beaumont 27, Corona Santiago 13

Bonita 59, Saddleback 0

Bonita 40, West Covina 0

Chaparral 18, Corona Centennial 12

Crean Lutheran 13, Rosary 0

Desert Hot Springs 35, Nogales 30

Glendora 52, Sierra Vista 6

Great Oak 32, Elsinore 7

La Quinta 25, Redlands 15

Long Beach Wilson 2, Sacred Heart of Jesus 0

Murrieta Mesa 13, Patriot 12

Norco 7, Vista Murrieta 6

Norco 24, Riverside King 6

Riverside King 28, Vista Murrieta 14

Riverside Poly 24, Citrus Valley 7

Riverside Poly 24, San Gorgonio 6

Sage Hill 27, Sunny Hills 0

San Gorgonio 20, Citrus Valley 19

St. Bonaventure 27, Del Sol 0

St. Margaret’s 14, Irvine University 13

Vista Murrieta 18, Murrieta Mesa 12

West Covina 38, Saddleback 0

Intersectional

Bellflower 19, Garfield 0

Carson 33, Bellflower 0

Castaic 12, Panorama 6

Granada Hills Kennedy 12, Valencia 12

Inglewood 19, Los Angeles Marshall 12

Narbonne 7, Torrance

Palos Verdes 33, Franklin 12

Palos Verdes 30, Wilmington Banning 15

San Pedro 32, Inglewood 0

Torrance 18, Arleta 0

“Karen Bass decisively won the debate.”

She was “an assassin,” a “very skilled politician” who “made mincemeat of Nithya throughout the debate, both stylistically and substantively.”

If you think that assessment came from a Bass supporter, think again.

The words come from none other than Spencer Pratt, the erstwhile mayoral candidate, a Republican who routinely referred to Bass as Basura (that’s trash in Spanish) during the primary campaign.

There was no mention of Basura in Pratt’s Substack recap of Wednesday night’s debate before the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. To be sure, his post was titled “Surviving the Dumb and Dumber Debate,” but even so Pratt praised the mayor’s performance against Councilmember Nithya Raman.

Not that he was thrilled by the prospect of four more years with Mayor Bass, however.

“A Karen Bass Mayorship is depressing,” he wrote. “A Nithya Raman Mayorship is terrifying.”

Pratt suggested Bass was borrowing from his own playbook, citing her comments saying street vendors shouldn’t be on the sidewalk outside restaurants and her call for the long-term involuntary hospitalization of people on the street who pose a threat to themselves. Bass herself said that backing involuntary hospitalization was a “controversial thing to say.”

Pratt didn’t respond to a text from The Times about whether he was considering endorsing the mayor in the runoff.

Bass is likely to welcome conservative voters during the Nov. 3 general election as she faces off with Raman, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

And it’s not just Pratt who seems to be leaning toward Bass from the right.

Rick Caruso, who ran against Bass in 2022, referred to her as a “very good partner” when he recently celebrated the reopening of his Palisades Village shopping center. He didn’t respond to a request for comment.

In The Heights

Raman traveled to Boyle Heights Monday to join activists calling for Lineage to leave the neighborhood after the devastating fire at the company’s warehouse in June.

It wasn’t Raman’s first visit to Boyle Heights since the blaze, but it was her first public appearance and news conference.

“Lineage shouldn’t be permitted to open this warehouse again,” Raman said to cheers from the crowd.

Bass followed suit Thursday, after Lineage blew past its own self-imposed deadline for cleanup.

They “do not deserve to rebuild,” Bass said in a statement, while also calling on city lawyers to pursue litigation, a lien and other legal options for cost recovery against Lineage. Bass had already ordered the company’s building permits delayed at the end of July.

Raman was joined at the news conference by Eastside Padres Contra la Privatización and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment — a group that has endorsed her — to call for the closure of the facility.

Raman also called for Lineage to pay for Boyle Heights residents’ healthcare, for environmental testing, cleaning and relocation assistance, lost wages and more.

“Families and taxpayers should not be left with the bill when a corporation runs up the tab,” she said.

Raman’s news conference appeared to draw the ire of at least one council colleague, Ysabel Jurado — who represents Boyle Heights.

Jurado didn’t mention Raman by name, but after winning council support for a motion Wednesday continuing the state of emergency in Boyle Heights, she thanked her colleagues who called and texted before they “did a press conference about the issue.”

Jurado spokesperson Mason Santa Maria declined to say whether the remark was directed at Raman. Raman spokesperson Liz Garcia said Raman was invited to the presser.

Jurado, who has endorsed Bass, did not attend.

No shows at H&H

Raman has been outspoken about her removal from the chairmanship of the council’s housing and homelessness committee, suggesting she is being punished by Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson for challenging Bass.

Harris-Dawson rejects that narrative, saying the committee needed a chair who can focus undivided attention on the crisis.

Raman doesn’t officially lose that post until the end of the month. So on Wednesday, she was still listed as chair of the committee’s 2 p.m. meeting. But she wasn’t there, and neither were two of her colleagues.

Councilmember Bob Blumenfield took the gavel instead, delaying the session until 3 p.m. in the hope that a third member would show up to join him and Councilmember Tim McOsker, giving the committee a quorum.

An hour later, Blumenfield came back.

“This meeting is going to have to be canceled for today,” he told the audience. “So I apologize for making you wait.”

Raman spokesperson Stella Stahl, in an email, said her boss already had other plans, with the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. debate happening later that same day.

“At the time, Nithya was near Sherman Oaks and had pre-planned campaign activities in advance of the mayoral debate,” Stahl said.

Stahl said the committee had a “last-minute cancellation from a council member who was expected to attend,” but didn’t provide a name.

Jurado, who takes over as chair of the newly renamed homelessness and health committee next month, also wasn’t there. Her spokesperson said Raman’s team was told the previous week that Jurado had a personal matter and couldn’t attend.

Devyn Bakewell, a spokesperson for Councilmember Heather Hutt, said her boss let Raman know Wednesday morning that she would not make it to committee due to a family issue.

The committee won’t meet again until next month. Raman will remain on the panel.

State of play

— SHAM SURVEY: The Times broke the story of the faked poll in the Los Angeles mayor’s race that purported to show Bass leading Raman by around 12 percentage points. The poll was faked as a “social experiment,” according to Median Strategies Polling, the group behind the fake survey. The creator of the fake poll revealed himself to the Guardian on Thursday as 21-year-old Rahil Prakash.

— FLIP IT AND REVERSE IT: The Los Angeles City Council has rescinded camping bans on a dozen locations in Hollywood, Echo Park and Silver Lake at the urging of the area’s council member, Hugo Soto-Martínez, who called the bans ineffective in addressing homelessness.

— THE RUMBLE IN THE VALLEY: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman slammed each other Wednesday over their handling of homelessness, public safety and many other issues during the first face-to-face debate of the Nov. 3 election campaign.

— THE BEST LANE PLANS: A long-running dispute between cemeteries and bike-lane and safe streets advocates in the San Fernando Valley has escalated to become a campaign issue in the Los Angeles mayoral race.

— LIGHTS, CAMERA, INACTION: Despite improvements to the state’s tax incentive program, Los Angeles and California continue to struggle to keep movies, television series and even game shows from fleeing elsewhere. Production levels have failed to bounce back since the pandemic and the labor strikes by writers and actors, and they remain at historic lows.

— HEALTH WOES: Hundreds of Boyle Heights residents suffered health problems after a fire at a cold storage facility burned stubbornly for days, including respiratory infections, eye disorders and persistent cough, according to a new study.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? This week the mayor’s signature program was in Eunisses Hernandez’s district in Westlake, where it moved 37 people indoors from Ocean View Avenue and Lake Street.
• On the docket next week: After a Saturday meeting, the Democratic Socialists of America will vote next week on whether to endorse Raman for mayor.

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.

It’s as though Kyle Tucker accidentally became important at work and it ruined his life.

He just so happened to be the best available right fielder on the free agent market at the moment in time that the Dodgers were craving an uptick in right field and another functional bat to further fortify their lineup.

Basically, they wanted just another cog in the machine to help clear a path to a third consecutive World Series championship.

And because money is no object — to the objection of the rest of baseball — instead of offering Tucker a long-term deal with annual pay more in line with his talents, the Dodgers slapped a four-year, $240-million deal on the table.

Dodger Kyle Tucker talks with manager Dave Roberts in the dugout on Aug. 15.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Said, essentially: Hey, guy, how would you like a Major League Baseball record for average annual value — about $57.1 million per year — not to be the man, but to be a guy?

Not to outshine Shohei Ohtani and his starry pals, not to move merch off the field or do huge numbers on it. Just to quietly do what he did the previous season as a Chicago Cub, when he slashed .266/.377/.464 with 22 home runs, 73 RBIs and 25 stolen bases in 136 games.

It must have felt like winning the lottery. All the introverted Tucker had to do was be his normal self with the understanding that no one expected him to live up to that Ohtani-type contract, that Juan Soto-esque dough, that Aaron Judge-level cheddar.

It wasn’t that too much was expected of Tucker, it was that only so much was.

That was a weird place to start. And it obviously didn’t help him find his footing as a Dodger, because he still hasn’t gained traction.

“I mean, it’s been a struggle in the sense that I’d like to help our team win and perform better for the guys in the clubhouse and the fans that come to the games,” Tucker said Friday. “In that aspect, I wish I would’ve done better this year. But like I said, we’ve still got a month and a half left and the playoffs coming up, so it’s not over yet.”

We can’t, of course, say “poor Kyle Tucker” as he strains — less stoically now — to figure it out with the postseason closing in.

But we can wonder if it was a poor decision by the Dodgers, with all of their top-flight minor league outfield prospects, to splurge so steeply?

We can ask whether they should have taken into account the mental makeup of a man who they were asking to carry the weight of a contract so unwieldy he should be embarrassed by it — which is how Tucker looks when he does his inhibited version of the hip-lock, arm wiggle-and-wave dance moves all the Dodgers do when they reach base.

Tucker just hasn’t looked like a true blue Dodger yet; he hasn’t been able to cut loose — especially not here in L.A.

Brandon Gomes, Dodgers executive president and general manager, helps new signee Kyle Tucker put on a Dodgers jersey during a news conference at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 21.

(Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times)

After going 0-for-4 in Friday’s 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, Tucker is hitting .186 with a .552 OPS at Dodger Stadium. He went 0-for-19 in the Dodgers’ last homestand, when even a game off did nothing to unscramble his mind.

Overall, he’s had it rough in the outfield too, where Statcast’s Fielding Run Value (FRV) measuring a player’s overall defensive value has him rated 96th of 97 right fielders this season.

At present, it doesn’t help that Tucker is one of two high-profile Dodger free-agent busts-so-far.

All-Star closer Edwin Díaz has blown four saves while saving just seven games this season in between stints on the injured list — Tucker and Díaz, insult to injury. For the high-high price of a combined $309 million.

Still, the Dodgers are 78-51. They have the second-best record in baseball, with two fewer wins than the Milwaukee Brewers.

And on the road, Tucker has given the Dodgers more of their money’s worth, hitting.272 with a .820 OPS.

So after Wednesday’s two-hit game to close out a sweep in Colorado on Wednesday, Tucker came home and tried the slump-busting tactic of taking batting practice outside on the field Friday for the first as a Dodger.

“Just trying to put up good swings tonight, good at-bats,” he said. “Just trying to move guys over, get guys in, do my part to try to win.”

The crowd participated too Friday, giving Tucker ovations more befitting a hitter on a heater than one on ice each time he stepped to the plate, where he put up a fight all night.

He saw 31 pitches, walked and hit into a 10th-inning fielder’s choice that moved Kiké Hernández to third base before he scored on Tommy Edman’s walk-off single.

Moral victories for $240 million, Alex? That’s not what the Dodgers bargained for.

But they’ll take it.

“I loved his at-bats,” said Roberts after Friday’s victory, picking up where the Dodgers’ crowd left off. “That’s one of the things I’m going to make sure I do, is encourage him.”

Because one magic moment in October will make it all worth it.

Cleveland High football coach Mario Guzman loves the Nigerian connection of Oluwafemi Okelola and Moyosoreoluwa Odebunmi, both running backs.

Spelling their names might be the biggest challenge.

They should be major offensive contributors, joining quarterback Domenik Fuentes to fuel the Cavaliers’ attack.

Last season, Odebunmi rushed for 1,139 yards and 11 touchdowns. Okelola had 111 yards rushing and made 83 tackles and had two interceptions on defense.

The Cavaliers open their season on Friday against Narbonne.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is allowing the White House to continue construction on President Trump’s $400 million ballroom project for now.

Roberts signed a temporary order on Friday allowing work to continue while the court considers an emergency appeal from the Trump administration.

Lower courts had ordered a halt to the project, finding that it must have congressional approval. That ruling was set to take effect on Friday. Roberts signed the order because he oversees appeals of Washington-based cases.

The case comes before the nation’s highest court as Trump, a Republican, exercises unparalleled assertions of presidential power and increasingly seeks to mold the capital in his own image.

The Trump administration has scored a series of victories on the high court’s emergency docket, though the justices have ruled against some of the president’s signature policies after fuller review.

The administration has argued that the president has total authority to renovate the White House and other federal buildings as he sees fit and that the ballroom project must be completed due to national security concerns.

When Trump first announced the plans for a new ballroom, he did not emphasize national security. He said the project would be funded by private donations, including from himself.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation argues that Trump has no unilateral authority to undertake the work, which has included demolishing the East Wing. Lawyers for the preservation group accused the White House of trying to “outrun the courts” by accelerating construction.

The Trump administration says 65% of work has already been completed on the planned 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom, where the East Wing stood before the president ordered its demolition. Crews are working 20 hours a day, seven days a week on the project, where about $200 million in private donations has been spent or committed, Justice Department attorneys said in court documents.

A district court judge ordered a stop to aboveground construction of the planned ballroom in April in a ruling that was suspended before being upheld by an appeals court panel. The order from U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington allows belowground work on bunkers and military installations to continue. Leon was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican.

Two appeals-court judges appointed by Democratic presidents found the project was for Congress to decide and “not a matter for Executive self-help.” A third judge, appointed by Trump, found that the preservationist group that challenged the project had no legal right to sue.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer picked up on that argument, calling the decision halting the work “extraordinary and unlawful.” He said the completion of the project was “vitally required by national security.”

Whitehurst and Kunzelman write for the Associated Press.

Video obtained by The Times shows Royal High football coach Adam Brubaker kicking a football toward a student and hitting him in the groin area, which has resulted in the school beginning an investigation on the eve of the team opening its season on Friday.

Brubaker is no longer coaching the team, with the existing coaching staff taking over and the team still planning to play Monroe on Friday, according to a Simi Valley Unified School District official.

Brubaker, a former Panorama coach, took over as head coach at Royal in the middle of the 2025 season.

THURSDAY’S RESULTS

Southern Section

Agoura 38, Buena 0

Canyon Country Canyon 75, PACS 0

Castaic 19, Burbank Burroughs 0

Channel Islands 26, Rio Mesa 13

Corona Centennial 6, El Dorado 0

Corona Santiago 35, Great Oak 14

Crean Lutheran 7, Capistrano Valley 6

Dos Pueblos 28, Santa Ynez 6

El Toro 26, Dana Hills 0

Fillmore 45, Del Sol 0

Gahr 54, Dominguez 6

Hacienda Heights Wilson 7, Garey 0

Hart 12, Royal 6

Hemet 18, Murrieta Valley 7

Indio 21, Canyon Springs 0

Katella 19, Norwalk 0

Lancaster 32, Rosamond 6

Newport Beach Pacifica Christian 51, Loara 7

Nogales 26, Mountain View 12

Oxnard Pacifica 19, Newbury Park 18

Paramount 14, Fairmont Prep 7

Redondo Union 27, Santa Monica 7

Saddleback 8, Century 6

Santa Barbara 38, Hueneme 12

Saugus 26, St. Bonaventure 0

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 22, Oaks Christian 0

Sonora 14, Portola 12

Thousand Oaks 27, Long Beach Wilson 20

Ventura 27, Santa Paula 0

Westlake 61, Simi Valley 12

Intersectional

Bakersfield Christian 19, Highland 6

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

City Section

Franklin 33, Garfield 13

Hollywood 39, West Adams 0

Los Ángeles Marshall 29, Monroe 0

Los Ángeles Marshall 7, Sotomayor 0

Sotomayor 19, Monroe 0

Southern Section

Agoura 12, Cypress 7

Azusa 20, Northview 19

Beckman 32, Mira Costa 13

Bonita 13, La Serna 6

Cantwell-Sacred Heart 26, Whitney 7

Compton 32, Huntington Park 0

Cypress 13, Warren 12

Dos Pueblos 28, Classical Academy 12

Dos Pueblos 13, Redondo Union 7

Edison 13, Long Beach Poly 0

El Rancho 45, El Monte 0

Fountain Valley 26, Capistrano Valley 6

Highland 50, Rosamond 0

Huntington Beach 7, Classical Academy 0

Huntington Beach 18, Redondo Union 0

JSerra 24, Camarillo 0

JSerra 19, Westlake 6

Lakewood St. Joseph 40, Corona 6

Long Beach Wilson 7, Santa Ana Valley 0

Los Altos 13, San Gabriel 0

Montebello 18, Bell Gardens 0

Newport Harbor 25, Aliso Niguel 0

Newport Harbor 7, Oxnard 0

Northwood 6, Rosary 0

Orange Lutheran 16, Oxnard 6

Orange Lutheran 27, Aliso Niguel 0

Palos Verdes 43, Desert Hot Springs 0

Shadow Hills 25. Cathedral City 0

Sierra Canyon 25, Long Beach Poly 13

St. Margaret’s 13, Agoura 6

St. Margaret’s 21, Warren 20

Ventura 28, Fullerton 0

Villa Park 13, Anaheim Canyon 0

Western Christian 20, Tesoro 6

Woodbridge 40, Wiseburn-Da Vinci 0

Woodbridge 36, Ventura 0

Intersectional

Beckman 21, Narbonne 0

Bonita Vista 20, Sierra Canyon 12

Compton 32, Huntington Park 0

Edison 13, Bonita Vista 0

Esperanza 18, Panorama 13

Mira Costa 13, Mira Mesa 12

Mira Mesa 6, Narbonne 0

Tesoro 13, Panorama 6

Torrey Pines 12, Westlake 7

Torrey Pines 7, Camarillo 6

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

Southern Section

Anaheim Canyon 39, Los Osos 0

Anaheim Canyon 35, South El Monte 7

Baldwin Park 21, Gabrielino 13

Beaumont 38, Long Beach Wilson 0

Beckman 26, Tesoro 24

Bishop Amat 7, La Serna 6

Bonita 34, Don Lugo 0

Bonita 47, Covina 6

Bonita 25, Chino Hills 0

Cerritos 52, Keppel 0

Chaminade 7, San Marcos 0

Chaminade 20, West Ranch 0

Chaparral 20, Newport Beach Pacifica Christian 0

Chino Hills 26, Covina 6

Colony 19, Corona 13

Corona Centennial 40, Kaiser 6

Corona del Mar 13, Trabuco Hills 12

Corona del Mar 19, Bishop Amat 6

Covina 35, Don Lugo 6

Don Lugo 6, Chino Hills 6

Glendora 61, Arroyo 0

Great Oak 26, Newport Beach Pacifica Christian 0

Irvine University 18, Crean Lutheran 0

JSerra 27, Orange Lutheran 6

JSerra 28, Dos Pueblos 0

JSerra 23, Newport Harbor 6

Linfield Christian 32, Temecula Valley 6

La Serna 20, Cajon 6

Los Osos 24, Colton 2

Mira Costa 13, Western Christian 9

Newport Harbor 13, Edison 0

Newport Harbor 14, Huntington Beach 0

Norco 21, Patriot 6

Norco 19, Murrieta Mesa 12

Oxnard 20, Long Beach Poly 7

Oxnard Pacifica 19, West Ranch 6

Oxnard Pacifica 6, Chaminade 0

Quartz Hill 0, Valencia 0

Redlands 31, Banning 0

Riverside King 41, San Jacinto 0

Riverside King 49, Canyon Springs 0

Riverside King 29, Patriot 7

San Marcos 21, Oxnard Pacifica 7

San Marcos 32, West Ranch 0

St. Lucy’s 16, Alhambra 6

Temecula Valley 21, Temecula Prep 0

Tesoro 20, St. Margaret’s 6

Upland 19, El Dorado 12

Upland 12, Hart 0

Ventura 25, St. Margaret’s 15

VIsta Murrieta 62, San Jacinto 0

Vista Murrieta 32, Canyon Springs 0

Warren 19, Esperanza 6

Warren 32, Fullerton 6

Western Christian 12, Agoura 6

Westlake 20, Oxnard 13

Westlake 20, Redondo Union 14

Woodbridge 18, Agoura 8

Intersectional

Bonita Vista 13, Dos Pueblos 6

Downey 44, San Pedro 0

Edison 19, Torrey Pines 0

Esperanza 14, Narbonne 6

Huntington Beach 25, Torrey Pines 7

Mira Mesa 14, Panorama 7

Mira Mesa 20, Cypress 14

Narbonne 12, Fullerton 0

Orange Lutheran 6, Bonita Vista 0

Panorama 27, Wiseburn-Da Vinci 0

Warren 20, Mira Mesa 0

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has refused to block the Trump administration from taking steps to build 62 miles of international border wall along part of a Native American tribe’s reservation without its consent.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington denied the Tohono O’odham Nation’s request for a court-ordered halt to border wall construction on its 2.8-million-acre reservation. Leon ruled Friday that the tribe hasn’t established that a border wall will change its reservation boundaries without congressional authority.

The judge also rejected the tribe’s claim that the planned border wall would illegally trespass on its reservation.

“And in any event, I find that the Government’s interests in securing the border, enforcing immigration laws, and ensuring public safety outweigh any surviving irreparable harms at this juncture,” Leon wrote.

The tribe released a statement late Friday strongly disagreeing with the decision.

“Too many critical issues were not adequately addressed, such as inevitable impacts construction will have on the Nation’s land and the permanent destruction of sacred sites,” Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Verlon M. Jose said. “The Nation will consider all possible options for moving forward, as this issue is simply too important to the O’odham.”

The O’odham reservation in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona abuts 62 miles of the Mexico border. The tribe has more than 37,000 members, including thousands who live in Mexico.

Building the border wall would lead to “significant devastation” on the reservation, including the destruction of mountain peaks that are sacred to the O’odham, tribe attorneys said.

“It would fray the ties between O’odham communities and families on opposite sides of the border, interfere significantly with O’odham religious rituals and practices, and destroy plant and animal resources sacred to the O’odham,” the lawyers wrote.

In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt issued a proclamation reserving a 60-foot strip of public land along the U.S.-Mexico border for a buffer zone dubbed the “Roosevelt Reservation,” which was formed a decade before the reservation’s establishment.

Tribe attorneys say it is “fanciful at best” to suggest that border wall construction can be confined to a 60-foot-wide corridor.

During a July 22 hearing, Leon appeared to be skeptical that U.S. laws tip in favor of the tribe’s bid for a preliminary injunction, calling it an “extraordinary” request. Leon, who was nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush, said he couldn’t find a previous court ruling under comparable circumstances.

“This is a novel case with novel issues,” the judge said.

Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s David Zahniser, with an assist from Noah Goldberg, giving you the latest on city and county government.

It was a move this week that drew immediate blowback: Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson pulled Councilmember Nithya Raman off of her position as chair of the city’s housing and homelessness committee, just as Raman enters the homestretch in her campaign to unseat Mayor Karen Bass.

Raman quickly suggested that she was being punished for challenging Bass, a Harris-Dawson ally. On a video titled “Bass’ Ally Removed Me as Chair,” she portrayed the move as retribution for saying City Controller Kenneth Mejia should audit the mayor’s homeless programs.

“Mayor Bass and her allies are protecting what we all know is a deeply broken status quo, one that is not serving any person here in the city of Los Angeles,” she said.

For months, many at City Hall had expected Raman to make a stink if she was yanked from her post, transforming herself into a martyr. So what exactly was Harris-Dawson thinking?

In an interview Friday, Harris-Dawson said the removal of Raman as committee chair was simply one piece in a larger effort to make the council’s committees work better — and not punishment at all.

“If I were trying to punish her, I would have moved her off [her post] the day after she filed to run for mayor” back in February, he said.

Harris-Dawson said he split Raman’s committee into two — one focused on housing, the other on homelessness — because the two subjects were simply too big for a single committee to handle effectively. He said he and Raman had talked extensively about that idea, disagreeing on whether the two topics should have been combined.

The homelessness committee needs someone who can focus their undivided attention on the ongoing crises surrounding homeless services — including the Trump administration’s effort to strip hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding, Harris-Dawson said.

“We’ve got to be able to move, and move in the most efficient manner possible,” he said.

Councilmember Nithya Raman attends a city council meeting at City Hall in downtown Los Angeles on August 14, 2026.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

As part of the reshuffling, Harris-Dawson picked Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents Skid Row, to lead the now renamed homelessness and health committee. Jurado will also sit on the new three-member housing committee, which will be chaired by Councilmember Imelda Padilla.

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, fresh off his reelection victory, will head up the council’s economic development committee, replacing Councilmember Curren Price, who leaves at the end of the year.

Even Councilmember Monica Rodriguez landed a spot in charge of the committee that deals with parks, a pet issue of hers. Harris-Dawson stripped Rodriguez of her committee seats last year, after she criticized his leadership.

The new assignments could give Harris-Dawson a base of support the next time there’s a vote on his presidency. Harris-Dawson dismissed the idea that there was any connection, calling such speculation “completely inaccurate.”

The committee assignments take effect next month.

Raman will continue serving on the five-member homelessness committee, just not as its chair. She will head the council committee dealing with immigration and civil rights. She even broadened her portfolio in some ways, securing a seat on the public safety committee, which deals with police and fire responses.

“If you’re on a committee, you definitely can get things done, and you don’t have to be the chair,” Harris-Dawson said.

Raman offered a different take, telling reporters on Friday that a committee chair simply has more authority, setting the agenda.

“You also have some more power in trying to get the departments to reply — although even my best efforts to get the departments to reply to report-backs didn’t work,” she said.

Not happy with the homeless count

The hot potato that is homelessness now heads to Jurado, at a critical time for the city and her district.

Jurado’s district, which takes in downtown and parts of the Eastside, saw a 23% increase in unsheltered homelessness, according to this year’s homeless count. On top of that, The Times recently reported that the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which runs the count, failed to tally hundreds of residents at a Skid Row shelter in 2024 and 2025, skewing this year’s citywide numbers.

Jurado voiced frustration over those issues, saying city officials shouldn’t have to spend time and money verifying data that “should have been accurate from the start.”

She isn’t the only one voicing displeasure.

Harris-Dawson questioned the accuracy of the count in his own South L.A. district, where LAHSA reported a 127% increase in unsheltered homelessness.

Harris-Dawson thinks the big increase may stem from a single census tract south of Manchester Avenue between Normandie and Van Ness avenues. In that area, LAHSA said it found 277 unsheltered homeless people.

Last year, the agency counted 19, Harris-Dawson said.

“A jump of this magnitude in a single corridor strongly suggests a data collection or processing error rather than an actual change on the ground,” according to a motion signed this week by Harris-Dawson that calls for an explanation.

LAHSA officials didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Sherman Oaks Smackdown, Part II

It was the most personal of the mayoral debates staged last spring: Bass and Raman going mano a mano in front of an audience at the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn.

During that 90-minute back-and-forth, the two took shots at each other over homelessness, police hiring and their respective leadership styles, among other things.

Now, with the Nov. 3 runoff approaching, Bass and Raman are set for a Valley rematch on Wednesday, which will again feature Fox11’s Phil Shuman, as well as a panel of representatives from Sherman Oaks community groups.

Reservations have been filling up for in-person attendance. The event will also be live streamed on www.soha914.com and aired on LAist 89.3, organizers said.

State of play

— HITTING HUD: In a scathing order, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from taking control of federal funding for homelessness programs across L.A. County. In his preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter said the Department of Housing and Urban Development acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it suspended LAHSA from managing federal funds.

— LOATHING LAHSA: Federal officials also denounced LAHSA as corrupt and incompetent during an appearance at the Dream Center, a faith-based residential treatment center. LAHSA pushed back, saying the federal government has failed to provide evidence of graft or abuse.

— RETURN ENGAGEMENT: The mayor’s Inside Safe homelessness program is spending more and more time going back to the same locations. Data reviewed by The Times showed that, in the fourth quarter of 2025, four out of every five Inside Safe operations were carried out in places already visited by its outreach teams. The repopulation problem has been especially pronounced along the 110 Freeway in South L.A.

— WAREHOUSE WOES: City leaders have accused Lineage, whose warehouse in Boyle Heights was destroyed by fire, of blowing past the city’s 45-day deadline for removing millions of pounds of rotting food from its property. Lineage reported Friday that the task was 94% done. Bass wants the city’s lawyers to take Lineage to court and impose penalties.

— RISKY BUSINESS: A divided City Council finalized an agreement aimed at controlling the city’s costs during the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, amid complaints that the event poses a major financial risk.

— TRAIN IN VAIN: Despite months of test runs, the Automated People Mover train is facing new uncertainty, with a bond rating downgrade and a legal battle between the city and the contractor.

— ZEROING IN: City Controller Kenneth Mejia told The Times he’s planning to use his auditing authority to examine spending by LA28, the privately run committee that is staging the Games.

— BUMMER NUMBERS: Euthanasia rates for cats and kittens are up in a big way in L.A. this year, according to the city’s latest stats.

— LICENSE TO CARRY: The federal government and the county’s Sheriff’s Department have reached a settlement over what prosecutors alleged was a pattern of delaying applications for permits to carry concealed firearms. The Sheriff’s Department has cut its waiting times and now complies with statutory deadlines, officials said.

— END OF THE PARTY: A mansion in Encino, located in the western end of Raman’s district, has become a massive party house, drawing a neighborhood outcry.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature homeless program went to the area around Bessemer Street and Cedros Avenue in Van Nuys, an area represented by Padilla.
• On the docket next week: As we mentioned earlier, Bass and Raman go head to head in Sherman Oaks on Wednesday. Tune in!

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.

During the Los Angeles mayoral primary, Spencer Pratt put out a video saying he was living in a trailer on the burned-out lot where his Pacific Palisades home once stood — a claim that was soon debunked by TMZ, which reported that he was actually staying at the Hotel Bel-Air.

While Pratt’s mayoral bid has come to a close, his campaign’s final spending on luxury hotels — including the Hotel Bel-Air — is now coming to light.

Pratt spent just under $71,000 on hotels for himself, his campaign staff and his fundraising operation, mostly at the Hotel Bel-Air and the Four Seasons Hotel in New York, according to recently released campaign finance filings in the mayoral race.

The former reality TV star has a history of lavish spending on hotels, according to his memoir, “The Guy You Loved to Hate,” where he recounts staying at the Four Seasons in Costa Rica for a month in 2010. He said the hotel stay was “bleeding him dry.”

The tens of thousands of dollars Pratt’s campaign spent on hotels represent just a fraction of the more than $3 million Pratt’s campaign spent overall, including hundreds of thousands to campaign strategy firms and more than $200,000 to the company Black Llama Inc. for billboards. Pratt had AI-designed billboards placed across the city.

Pratt also spent more than $180,000 on private security firm Delta Special Operations Corp., almost entirely in the final month before the June 3 primary.

Delta Special Operations charges $650 per day to provide a single security officer in Los Angeles, but also offers a higher level of “executive protection.” Pratt has said he faced threats during his candidacy.

Pratt placed third in the primary, behind Councilmember Nithya Raman and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who will square off in the Nov. 3 general election. Raman’s campaign reported spending about $1,000 on security, while Bass has security provided by the city.

Building out her support

Raman secured what could be one of her most significant endorsements of the entire election cycle this week, pulling in the support of the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters.

The endorsement from the carpenters union marks a sharp turn for the labor group, which backed Bass in 2022. The union committed more than $2 million to independent expenditure groups supporting Bass’ candidacy in 2022, paying for television ads that ran in advance of the general election.

During the primary, Raman and independent group supporting her focused on ads on social media and streaming platforms, which are cheaper than traditional television ads.

“We will be matching the same energy and we’ll have same type of commitment as when we endorsed Bass. We don’t plan on holding back,” said Pete Rodriguez, the second general vice president of the international union.

Rodriguez said the union would spend significantly to support Raman, though he did not give a figure.

Bass has dominated labor endorsements throughout the campaign. She has secured more than two dozen endorsements from influential labor unions including the Police Protective League, which represents rank and file police officers in the LAPD, and SEIU 721, which represents public sector workers at the airport and in street services, among other departments. She also has the backing of the powerful Los Angeles Federation of Labor, a coalition of unions (Bass calls its leader, Yvonne Wheeler, “The Beyoncé of Labor”).

“Workers are overwhelmingly behind Karen Bass … because she delivers real results,” said the mayor’s campaign spokesperson, Alex Stack. “Results like building more affordable housing immediately to drive down rents, mortgages, and the cost of housing.”

Rodriguez said one major issue that caused the carpenters union to break with Bass was the mayor’s failure to include higher labor standards in the codified version of Executive Directive 1, which fast-tracked some affordable housing applications.

That law was passed by the council and Raman voted in favor of the law that codified the mayor’s directive.

Raman told The Times in a statement that she stood by her vote, but that she appreciated the union’s ability to work with legislators to enact legislation that “combines density with higher labor standards.”

The DSA endorsement …

Raman could get another key and much-discussed endorsement later this month.

The Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America is once again considering endorsing her for mayor. The endorsement would bring doorknockers for Raman and could bring more national attention to the race.

An internal petition shared with The Times is circulating in the group and needs just 50 signatures by Aug. 8 in order for the consideration of Raman to go to a vote. Raman would then need 60% of the vote at an Aug. 22 chapter meeting in order to win the endorsement.

“Nithya Raman is running an insurgent left-wing campaign for the mayor’s office against Karen Bass and L.A.’s unpopular status quo Democratic establishment,” the petition reads. “Will an insurgent Left seize control of our city government to build a Los Angeles for its working class? Or will the establishment fend off this insurgency and deepen its power?”

After jumping into the race on the last possible day in February, Raman was not endorsed by the left-wing organization in the primary. The group instead “recommended” her — a status that means the DSA wouldn’t actively campaign on her behalf but urged voters to cast their ballots for Raman.

Raman was endorsed by the group in both her council campaigns, but her late entry came after DSA had made its endorsements.

The group considered reopening its endorsement process for either Raman or Rae Huang — who like Raman is a member of the DSA — but ultimately decided to focus on other down ballot races in the primary.

DSA-LA declined to say whether the petition had gained the requisite number of signatures for a vote.

State of play

— LINEAGE LEGISLATION: Los Angeles city and county officials unveiled a slate of measures aimed at speeding recovery, increasing corporate accountability and expanding financial assistance for residents and businesses affected by the June fire at the Lineage cold food storage facility.

— PRICED OUT: Councilmember Curren Price’s motion to get his perjury and embezzlement case dropped was denied Friday by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. Price’s lawyers maintain that he did not knowingly vote on city contracts for real estate developers that contracted with his wife. The judge argued there was “ample evidence, albeit circumstantial, that this was a scheme and not just happenstance.” The outgoing council member’s next court date is set for October.

— E-BIKES UNDER FIRE: The council’s Rules Committee passed a motion Tuesday that asks the city’s Department of Transportation to come up with ways to regulate e-bikes, including who can ride them and how. The measure next goes to the ways to regulate e-bikesPublic Safety Committee, then the full City Council.

— A NEW ERA: For the first time since 1963, Council District 9 in South Los Angeles will soon have a non-Black representative in the City Council. Estuardo Mazariegos and Jose Ugarte, who are facing each other in the Nov. 3 election to represent parts of downtown and South Los Angeles, are both immigrants from Latin America who arrived undocumented as children.

— OFF THE RAILS: Homelessness on Metro’s rail and bus system has dropped by 57% since 2024, the agency said this week.

— A ROSE AND A THORN: The Rose Bowl Aquatics Center will close April 1, and not be returned to its regular users until the fall of 2028, after the conclusion of the Olympic Games. The announcement came after The Times reported on the impending shutdown.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program went to the intersection of Alameda Street and E. 223rd Street in City Councilmember Tim McOsker’s district where it brought 22 people indoors.
• On the docket next week: The City Council will vote on whether to execute the Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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.

MIAMI — Mike Trout and Nolan Schanuel hit home runs for the Angels in a 4-3 win over the Marlins on Friday, sending Miami to its fourth consecutive loss.

Trout homered in the first inning to open the scoring. Trout, who turned 35 on Friday, hit a home run on his birthday for the sixth time in his 16 MLB seasons.

Josh Lowe scored when Trout reached on a fielder error by Josh Ekness and Schanuel hit a two-run shot to center field, his second home run in as many games, in the seventh.

Shaun Anderson (2-0) recorded the final out of the sixth and earned the win. He walked one and gave up one hit.

Owen Caissie walked to lead off the fourth, Jakub Marsee singled and Esteury Ruiz walked before Kyle Stowers drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in Caissie.

Stowers added an RBI single in the sixth.

In the ninth inning, with two outs, Leo Jiménez hit an RBI single to center field to score Agustín Ramírez and make it 4-3. Javier Sanoja hit the ball off the glove of third baseman Denzer Guzman and left fielder Jose Siri’s throw home beat Jiménez to end the game. Replay review confirmed the out.

José Fermin pitched the ninth and earned his first career save. He allowed one run and three hits.

Ekness (0-1) pitched 1⅔ innings and allowed three runs.

Up next: RHP Sandy Alcantara (12-6, 3.68 ERA) starts for the Marlins on Saturday against the Angels’ RHP Walbert Urena (7-7, 2.54).

MINNEAPOLIS — A crowd of critics and supporters of Indiana guard Sophie Cunningham’s stance on transgender participation in women’s sports gathered around and inside Target Center on Sunday as the Fever faced the Lynx in Minnesota.

Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve wore a light blue shirt under her jacket that said “Trans kids belong” as she directed her team — the top team in the WNBA — to a 108-100 win over the Fever. There were fans in the stands wearing T-shirts that read, “Trans kids belong in sports.”

It’s the third straight Fever game that drew a rally after Cunningham recently voiced support for barring transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s sports in an ESPN article published last week.

Before the contest, Cunningham and Reeve held a conversation at midcourt. Reeve didn’t want to share the exact nature of their talk.

Lynx guard Olivia Miles shoots over Fever guard Sophie Cunningham Sunday in Minneapolis.

(Abbie Parr / Associated Press)

“Both of us understand that we have platforms and we both talked about wanting to, more than anything, educate,” Reeve said. “There are some things that we have in common, and maybe some things you differ on, just like any issues. I think it’s how you handle things. It was nice to be in person, for sure.”

Cunningham was booed by the crowd on her first touch of the game and throughout.

Outside the arena, dozens of fans gathered near the entrance. A person using a loud speaker repeatedly said, “Protect trans women.” There were signs held up that read, “Love is truth” and “Thank you Sophie.”

Asked how she and the team are navigating the outside conversations, Caitlin Clark said after the game, “I think we’re excellent.

“I think it’s for leagues and governing bodies to work with their athletes to find solutions,” Clark said. “Our focus is on basketball. That’s what we talk about and how we can get wins and obviously we didn’t do that tonight. So we need to find an area to improve in that way.”

Any reaction?

“I just answered,” Clark said.

Cunningham said Friday in Portland that she wasn’t concerned about rallies against transgender participation in women’s sports becoming a distraction for the Fever.

“I think everyone who knows me personally, they know that I’m full of love. I’m bubbly. I love the people around me,” Cunningham said Friday. “I love basketball. I love inspiring the next generation and doing that in a positive light. And so that doesn’t even cross my mind. Doesn’t cross my teammates’ minds.”

Minnesota rookie sensation Olivia Miles spearheaded an efficient offense with 28 points and Courtney Williams added 27 points, helping the Lynx win their 10th straight game despite the controversy surrounding the contest.

People hold signs and point in defense of and opposed to trans athletes in women’s sports before a Lynx-Fever game Sunday.

(Abbie Parr / Associated Press)

Minnesota had a 96-82 lead with 6:41 to play before the Fever, who had scored 100 in a record sixstraight games, pulled within 100-98 with more than 2 1/2 minutes to go. Miles and Williams both came up with big baskets as the Lynx won their 10th straight for the first time since 2016.

The league’s No. 1 offense definitely made life difficult for the league’s No. 2 defense, but the Fever, who played in Portland on Friday night, couldn’t stop the Lynx on the offensive end. Both teams shot 57% with 11 three-pointers and went 11 of 15 from the foul line with a combined 55 assists. The big difference was Indiana had 12 turnovers compared with six for Minnesota, which had an 11-5 advantage in offensive rebounds.

Napheesa Collier had 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Lynx (25-6). Natasha Howard scored 13 points and Kayla McBride had 10.

The Fever (19-11), who had their five-game winning streak halted, were led by Kelsey Mitchell with 37 points, her fifth 30-point game of the season and 14th straight 20-point game, second in league history behind A’ja Wilson’s 15 straight in a single season. Clark added 19 points and 10 assists and Aliyah Boston had 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s David Zahniser, with an assist from Gavin J. Quinton, giving you the latest on city and county government.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Marissa Roy did big numbers in the June 2 primary election, coming in first place in the race for city attorney and knocking City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto out of the running entirely.

Roy secured 43% of the vote in round one. Now that she’s in a head-to-head contest against Deputy Dist. Atty. John McKinney, she’s well ahead in fundraising as well.

Campaign spending reports for the Nov. 3 runoff, filed over the last few days, show that Roy’s campaign collected nearly $74,000 during the fundraising period that ended June 30. By comparison, McKinney collected just $3,000, according to his own contribution report.

“I plan to be a City Attorney for the people, and I’m proud to have a campaign supported by the people. If your campaign isn’t, then I think it’s fair to ask who it is for,” Roy said in a statement.

The race is one of three downballot contests where the candidate who came in first on June 2 is also well ahead in the scramble for campaign contributions. Things were similarly lopsided in council races in South L.A. and the San Fernando Valley.

McKinney, who received nearly 29% of the vote in the primary, said his campaign will have plenty of resources to “educate voters that Marissa Roy is a bad fit for Los Angeles.”

“The recent financial disclosure reflects just one week of activity,” he said in a statement. “Since the June 30th [fundraising] deadline, we’ve raised more than $65,000 from more than 80 individual donors and have nearly 15 fundraising events scheduled.”

Several of the donors who gave to Roy occupy the left end of the political spectrum, such as Loraine Lundquist, who ran for City Council twice in the San Fernando Valley, losing both times to Councilmember John Lee. Roy also picked up a donation from airport commissioner Victor Narro, project director for the UCLA Labor Center.

Roy received $1,800 from attorney Carol Sobel, who has sued the city many times on behalf of various clients over policing and its treatment of the homeless population. Another $1,800 came from Genie Harrison, who is representing former fire chief Kristin Crowley in her lawsuit over her ouster.

McKinney, who works for Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman, is likely to have his own big-money support in the coming weeks. During the primary, an array of well-financed allies, including Airbnb, spent a combined $3.2 million on efforts to elect him.

In South L.A., Ugarte ramps up his fundraising

The fundraising was also lopsided in the race to replace City Councilmember Curren Price, a veteran lawmaker who is stepping down after 13 years in a district stretching from the Convention Center south to 95th Street.

Former Price aide Jose Ugarte collected about $35,000 for the runoff, much of it from other city workers, particularly council aides, records show.

Community organizer Estuardo Mazariegos took in about $5,400, pulling in donations from the progressive L.A. Forward Action Fund and from Lundquist, the former council candidate.

A number of elected officials have lined up behind Ugarte, who garnered 39% of the vote in the primary. He received $1,000 apiece from State Assemblymembers Mark Gonzalez (D-Los Angeles), Mike Fong (D-Alhambra) and José Luis Solache (D-Lynwood), according to his filing. Ugarte also received $1,000 each from former Councilmember David Ryu and from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

Records show that Ugarte received $1,000 from the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file police officers, but then returned the contribution. Ugarte does not accept donations from the police union, his campaign strategist said.

“I support Mayor Bass’s efforts to increase staffing, strengthen community policing, and improve transparency and accountability. I also want to see more officers on foot patrols and bike patrols in our neighborhoods,” Ugarte said in a statement. “Returning this contribution does not change or influence my views on these priorities.”

In the Valley, Gaspar pulls in a big haul

In the race to replace Councilmember Bob Blumenfield in the west San Fernando Valley, businessman Tim Gaspar is proving to be a fundraising powerhouse.

Gaspar reported more than $180,000 in donations to his runoff campaign through June 30, compared with about $31,000 for Barri Worth Girvan, an aide to County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, according to her filing.

“After finishing with the most votes in the primary, our campaign is grateful for the outpouring of support from business owners, neighbors, and friends across the West Valley,” Gaspar said in a statement.

Gaspar received 46% of the vote in the primary, compared with more than 42% for Worth Girvan.

In an interview, Worth Girvan said she’s not troubled by the fundraising gap. During the primary, backers of Gaspar spent about $1.4 million on independent expenditures supporting his election bid.

“We still came within 4 percentage points,” she said. “To me, it’s always been about the voters, so that’s what I’m focused on.”

Worth Girvan picked up donations from longtime Democrats, including Gonzlaez, the state Assembly member, former state Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Ryu, the former City Council member. She told The Times her fundraising picked up significantly after the June 30 fundraising deadline, bringing her total haul to more than $100,000.

Gaspar picked up donations from several public safety unions, including $1,000 from the Police Protective League and $500 from a political action committee set up by the city’s port police. He received $1,000 from real estate developer Rick Caruso, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2022.

State of play

— WINDS OF CHANGE: For the first time since 1963, L.A.’s 9th Council District will not have a Black representative. The race to represent that South L.A. district features two Latino candidates who immigrated to the U.S. as children, both of them undocumented at the time. Ugarte, the former council aide, was born in Oaxaca and is Mazateco, an Indigenous group native to the Mexican state. Mazariegos, a community organizer, was born in Guatemala.

— DISAPPEARING ACT: Records dealing with the activities of the Los Angeles Police Department — emails, text messages, audio recordings — have vanished from a city website devoted to the release of public information. Although the removal of such records does not violate any laws, “it’s certainly not a best practice,” one expert said.

— PERMIT PROBLEMS: A representative of Lineage, whose massive cold storage facility burned down in Boyle Heights two months ago, filed a permit this week to rebuild the company’s 491,000-square-foot warehouse to its original pre-fire condition. Bass called the filing a “slap in the face” to families in Boyle Heights and ordered her department heads to put the application on hold until the site receives extensive study.

— SCHOOLS AND SAFETY: Meanwhile, with less than two weeks left before the start of school, families in Boyle Heights and East L.A. are worried about health and safety at eight campuses located within a mile of the Lineage site, which has been beset with the stench of rotting food, rats and swarms of flies.

— ZOO COUP: Feldstein Soto may have lost her bid for a second term, but she did rack up a key court victory in the city’s battle over money for the Los Angeles Zoo. The city has been trying to claw back about $50 million raised for the facility by the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., the nonprofit that helped run it until recently. GLAZA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June, citing “incessant litigation” from the city. This week, at the city’s request, a judge dismissed the bankruptcy filing.

— TAKING IT TO THE STREETS: L.A. is on track to repeal a city law prohibiting kids from playing baseball, basketball, soccer or other ball games out in the street. The law was passed in 1936 out of a fear that children would be struck by cars. Councilmember Bob Blumenfield says it’s time the ordinance was erased from the books.

— FIXING THEIR MISTAKE: L.A. County’s Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to send voters a charter amendment that would reverse the repeal of Measure J, which was approved six years ago and sets aside money for alternatives to incarceration. Measure J, through a series of errors, was supplanted in 2024 by Measure G, which will increase the number of supervisors. The new measure would restore Measure J to the county charter.

— SPEAKING OF ERRORS: Last week, we mentioned a proposal to reduce the number of required council meetings from three per week down to one, saying that the idea failed to make the ballot. That was wrong! The measure will in fact go before voters in the Nov. 3 election as part of Charter Amendment EE.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program to bring homeless people indoors went to Skid Row, bringing 23 people inside, according to the mayor’s team. The area is represented by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado.
• On the docket next week: After a month off, the City Council resumes its business on Tuesday.

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.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ordered city agencies on Friday to delay the processing of rebuilding permits for the Lineage burned-out cold storage warehouse in Boyle Heights until regulators have found ways to subject the project to strict environmental review.

In an executive order, Bass said the city’s planning and building and safety departments must also determine whether the application to rebuild the Lineage facility — which was destroyed in June, leaving behind an estimated 85 million tons of smelly, rotting food — should be subjected to a lengthy “discretionary review” process.

The mayor also asked the council to approve a moratorium on large cold storage facilities in proximity to residential neighborhoods and sensitive uses, such as parks and schools.

The moratorium, depending on the actions of the City Council, can be kept in place for up to two years, according to the mayor’s team.

Clean-up continues at the Lineage cold storage warehouse on Friday in Boyle Heights.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

“They shouldn’t even think about rebuilding until they’ve cleaned up the mess they’ve created,” Bass said at a Friday news conference. “This is why I am directing city departments to put their plans up on a shelf while a thorough investigation of the property and any future use is conducted.”

Bass stood in front of a display that accused Lineage of refusing to provide sufficient support to help nearby residents relocate to other parts of the city. The display also said the company had refused to address unsanitary conditions, including odors and the spread of flies and rodents into nearby properties.

Bass’ team said 3,800 complaints about Lineage have been lodged with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which has issued 19 violation notices to the company.

The city and county secured $1.6 million for emergency housing relocation through Airbnb and housing nonprofits, sheltering more than 1,300 residents and hundreds of pets. Bass said Lineage provided only $100,000 for those efforts.

“That’s less than 7% of what we’ve provided,” she said Friday.

Silvia Corona joins Boyle Heights residents to voice her frustration during a rally Friday demanding Lineage permanently shut down the facility and leave Boyle Heights.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

In a series of statements posted to Lineage’s website Thursday and Friday, the company said it disagrees with the characterization of its cleanup efforts, and company officials said they submit daily reports to authorities and regulators and post frequent updates online.

“Since gaining full access to the site on the evening of July 6, Lineage has removed more than 60% of food waste and continues to execute the fastest and safest possible cleanup,” the company said. “Lineage has been going door-to-door to the nearly 800 households closest to the warehouse — those designated by the city and county as closest to the site.”

In doing so, the company maintains that it has provided hundreds of air purifiers, air conditioning units, N95 masks, drinking water, grocery vouchers, cash assistance and relocation support to 85% of those households.

Amid this week’s recovery efforts, Lineage representatives filed permits with the city to rebuild the warehouse to its “pre-fire condition” Monday. The move drew swift condemnation from locals and Bass, who decried the application as “a slap in the face” to Boyle Heights families.

Bass said the Friday directive will not be her last executive order mobilizing resources for Boyle Heights following the fire.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said she felt like she “was in a war zone,” after visiting the warehouse site.

Solis said that she was planning to present a motion at a Tuesday Board of Supervisors meeting aimed at increasing consequences for businesses that commit public health violations, and expanding support for affected residents.

The county is also taking steps to expand access to landfills beyond normal operating hours to allow Lineage to remove noxious debris around the clock.

“We know that the money is going to run out in terms of Airbnb and providing assistance,” Solis said. “That has to come in right away.”

A day earlier, city officials announced that cleanup efforts at the Lineage cold-storage warehouse in Boyle Heights were nearing the halfway mark, six weeks after a fire at the depot left millions of pounds of rotting food to pollute the Los Angeles neighborhood.

The city’s focus is shifting from providing immediate relief to removing noxious debris, reducing foul odors and tainted air, and putting affected residents into interim housing, said Jon Brown, assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Emergency Management Department.

Lineage states the fire started during rooftop solar testing by subcontractor Altus Power. Altus has denied responsibility, stating that the cause is undetermined and accusing Lineage of finger-pointing instead of focusing on community relief.

Residents served Lineage a lawsuit seeking medical damages, noting a similar rooftop solar fire occurred at the facility in 2024.

Bass clarified that the investigation into who is responsible for the fire is still underway, but said Lineage needs to answer for what followed. She accused the company of failing to properly disclose that meat products were stored at the site to begin with, and said the company has been too slow to remove the waste.

She remains skeptical that she’ll ever allow the company to operate in Los Angeles in the future.

“It would be very hard for me to imagine the day that we would welcome Lineage back,” Bass told a Times reporter Friday.

Solis and Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado concurred with the mayor’s assessment, with Jurado going as far as to say she definitely” [wants] to stop any rebuilding permit” for Lineage.

As the mayor’s news conference came to an end, Boyle Heights residents rallied outside the Lineage warehouse facility, briefly shutting down a stretch of Olympic Boulevard just north of the disaster site.

Protesters demanded Lineage’s unconditional removal from the community and said that aid from the city, county and local nonprofit organizations has dried up.

“We’re asking for Lineage to leave our community now and forever,” Estuardo Mazariegos, a candidate for City Council District 9, said at the rally.

At the protests, dozens chanted slogans, including “afuera Lineage! (Lineage out)” and toted signs reading “clean water over profits” and “you’re poisoning us.”

Many at the rally called for Lineage to pay every bill that comes out of the crisis, including waste remediation, interim housing costs and lofty medical bills. Emergency room visits for smoke inhalation and throat pain spiked following the first days of the fire, and residents want the company held financially responsible.

Antonia Montes, an area resident, said she was relieved that Bass was stepping up, but more needs to be done.

“I’m glad she’s now saying that she doesn’t want them here, but we’re saying, ‘what’s the plan to make sure they’re not here?’ ” Montes said. “The next step is to stop it right there and not let them renew their permit and make sure they’re gone.”

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Friday that his $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund is “dead” while also continuing to defend it, further complicating his administration’s negotiations with two Republican senators who are blocking his attorney general nominee in protest.

Trump told reporters at Camp David on Friday morning that administration officials had “agreed not to have a fund” that compensates his political allies, yet made clear that he disagrees with that decision.

The comments came hours after an early morning social media post in which Trump said people who had been prosecuted by the Justice Department — many of them for their involvement in the violent Jan. 6, 2001, attack on the Capitol — “are suffering still, many ruined, and I felt that they should be given compensation for what has been done to them.”

Trump’s reluctant declaration that the fund won’t be created came as Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, say they won’t support Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general until they see that promise in writing. They have been working for weeks with the White House and Blanche, who is now the acting attorney general, to produce a document to that effect, but both senators have said they aren’t satisfied so far.

“The President made it clear today that the so-called Anti Weaponization Fund is still alive, which is exactly why we are attempting to formally end it,” Tillis said after Trump’s initial social media post.

Trump said in his post that Blanche should be immediately confirmed and is a “pawn in this whole thing.”

Cornyn, Tillis want promises in writing

Blanche said at a hearing two months ago that the anti-weaponization fund would not move forward after Republican senators revolted and held up an immigration funding bill.

But Tillis, who is retiring when his term ends in January, and Cornyn, who lost reelection this year after Trump endorsed his primary opponent, said they want to ensure that the White House doesn’t reverse course, especially as Trump continues to argue that a fund is needed.

The Justice Department has provided the senators with language that says Blanche’s May 18 order establishing the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is “rescinded and shall have no force or effect,” according to a document reviewed by The Associated Press.

Cornyn and Tillis have said they also want some clarifications on a separate piece of the settlement that would grant Trump and members of his family immunity from tax audits. Cornyn said this week that it was his understanding that the audits could extend to more than 100 different Trump organization subsidiaries into the future.

“Todd Blanche said it was limited to the parties to the litigation — and it was retrospective, not prospective,” Cornyn said. “And all we’re doing is asking them to put that in writing.”

Blanche nomination is delayed in the Senate

The Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on Blanche’s nomination that had been scheduled for Thursday morning after Tillis and Cornyn said they needed more from the administration before they could provide the necessary votes.

After the meeting was delayed, Trump said in a social media post that he might pull Blanche’s nomination and resubmit it after Cornyn and Tillis leave office next year. But the two sides continued to negotiate through Thursday afternoon, when Blanche, Cornyn and Tillis met on Capitol Hill.

On Friday, a person familiar with the negotiations said talks had been positive, but the senators were still awaiting a new offer from the Justice Department. The person requested anonymity to discuss the private negotiations.

The two senators have repeatedly said the Justice Department seemed interested in reaching an agreement, but the White House wouldn’t budge even to aid the confirmation of Trump’s loyal former personal attorney, who has aggressively pursued the administration’s priorities as acting attorney general.

“I think as far as Blanche and the Department of Justice, we were pretty much on the same page,” Cornyn said Thursday. “But then when the president got wind of it, he wasn’t willing to go along with it.”

Tillis said Blanche “has been forthright, thoughtful and patient” but attributed the holdup to an “incompetent personal advisor” to the president, even as Trump himself continued to advocate for the fund.

Behind the scenes, Trump legal adviser Boris Epshteyn is being blamed as an obstacle to an agreement that would let Blanche move forward, according to three people who have direct knowledge of the discussions and requested anonymity to discuss them.

Saying the AP’s “sources are wrong,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said “anyone trying to assign blame to the President or his team has no earthly idea of what is going on and clearly is trying to deflect from the issue at hand — Todd Blanche will be an exceptional Attorney General and he should be confirmed immediately.”

Also on Friday, Trump’s attorneys notified a court it would appeal a judge’s scathing ruling that characterized the settlement of the president’s lawsuit against the IRS as an improper exercise in self-dealing. The judge in her order earlier this month referred one of Trump’s attorneys for potential disciplinary action and criticized Blanche’s involvement in the settlement, given his prior representation of Trump.

Blanche has said he disagrees “with the judge’s insinuations” about him.

Settlement fund could have benefited Jan. 6 rioters

Even as they are usually deferential to Trump, a number of Republican senators have expressed strong objections to the settlement.

“The criminals who assaulted police officers and defiled our nation’s Capitol are not ‘great American patriots’ who are ‘victims of government abuse,’” Tillis said, echoing Trump’s comments about the rioters who could potentially have received payouts. On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people who had been charged in the attack.

Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said Thursday that the majority of Senate Republicans aren’t comfortable with the settlement fund.

“Blanche said it’s dead, and he testified that it’s not coming back,” Kennedy said. “But for whatever reason, somebody didn’t want to put it in writing.”

Jalonick, Kim and Richer write for the Associated Press. AP writers Eric Tucker and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

Paramount Skydance Chairman David Ellison and California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta are clashing again — this time over when the antitrust trial to determine whether Paramount can complete its nearly $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery should begin.

In court documents Friday, Bonta and his coalition of 11 other Democrat attorneys general proposed a two- to three- week trial beginning April 5, 2027.

Ellison’s Paramount pushed back, saying the media company would like to start the courtroom action on Nov. 4.

“Our request for a November trial date is more than sufficient to give both sides the time they need to conduct discovery, gather evidence, and prepare for trial,” Paramount said in a statement that called the state attorneys general request for a springtime trial “nothing more than a stonewalling tactic.”

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, who is overseeing the high-profile case, now must pick the date.

For Paramount, the issue is hugely important.

Ellison wants to wrap up the massive Hollywood deal — bringing CNN, HBO and the Warner Bros. film and television studios under Paramount — as soon as possible. Doing so is crucial to holding together Paramount’s coalition of financiers and controlling its rising expenses, primarily legal fees and escalating obligations to Warner shareholders.

Early this year, Paramount agreed to pay Warner investors a so-called ticking fee of $.25 per share per quarter, beginning Oct. 1. The overture was aimed at winning over investors during a bidding war with Netflix. Paramount agreed to pay Warner shareholders at least $31 a share.

Those ticking fees would increase the cost by $650 million every quarter or $7 million a day. For Paramount, finalizing the transaction by year’s end would eliminate such payments in 2027.

Warner shares gained 3.3% Friday to $26.30 — well below the deal price. Paramount stock is down nearly 40% since early January; it ended the trading week at $7.96.

For the states — which have been joined in the antitrust litigation by the Writers Guild of America — setting the trial for next spring would bring advantages.

They would have more time to prepare their case while also gaining leverage over Paramount, should the two sides seek to resolve the issue out of court.

With the clock ticking, Paramount might be more willing to compromise to reach a settlement, including selling some of its hoped-for assets.

“Plaintiff States propose a fast-paced but realistic schedule that moves this case rapidly to trial while ensuring sufficient time for discovery and pretrial preparation,” the states said in the latest court documents. “A shorter timeline would be artificially compressed and risks depriving this Court of a full record on which to decide this $110 billion case.”

Paramount also faces a potential $7-billion payment to Warner Bros. should the merger collapse by next summer. Paramount is the smallest of the major media companies and acquiring Warner Bros. is key to Ellison’s ambitions to build a new Hollywood colossus.

The state attorneys general, including from Colorado, Oregon, New York, New Jersey and Nevada, have argued that the blockbuster merger — the largest in Hollywood in decades — would violate the Clayton Antitrust Act, which has been on the books for more than a century.

If the deal goes forward, just four companies — a post-merger Paramount-Warner, Disney, NBCUniversal and Sony Pictures — would control 86% of movies that are widely released (in more than 3,000 movie theaters), according to the attorneys general lawsuit.

Paramount-Warner Bros. would also own more than 50 cable channels, including CNN, TBS, HGTV, Animal Planet and Comedy Central, in addition to HBO.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Gov. Gavin Newsom was not eager for a trial to take place.

Newsom has not publicly favored either side. Sources have previously told The Times that both sides have been lobbying the governor to win his support.

A Newsom spokesperson declined to discuss the Journal article, saying: “Our office doesn’t comment on anonymous sources or unverified reporting.”

Bonta — not Newsom — is leading the case.

Both hold statewide office; Bonta is running for reelection this year and Newsom is widely expected to run for president in 2028.

Paramount last week agreed to delay its acquisition amid concerns that it was poised to lose an important motion for a preliminary injunction — which would have rattled investors — and scuttled the deal until a trial could be held.

On Friday, Paramount said further delays “harm the many individuals outside this courtroom who will be denied the expanded content offerings and industry stability that a combined Paramount-WBD promises to bring.”

For his part, Bonta has said he was “eager” to move forward to a trial.

“Our challenge to the unlawful Warner Bros./Paramount merger is a clean-cut antitrust challenge through and through: it’s about protecting the vibrancy of an industry, the pockets of consumers, and the quality of films and television programs that take center stage in many of our lives,” Bonta said in a statement. “This challenge deserves careful and thorough review.”

INDIANAPOLIS — The Republican leader of the Indiana Senate announced Friday that he would give up his position after six GOP incumbents who opposed President Trump on his congressional redistricting push in the state lost their primaries.

Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray drew the ire of Trump in December when he voted against the redistricting plan after saying for weeks that it didn’t have enough support to pass. The rejection came after intense lobbying from Trump, Vice President JD Vance, national conservative groups and others.

Bray, who has held his leadership position since 2018, said in a statement Friday that he would not seek reelection to the post when Senate Republicans choose their leaders in November. His current Senate term runs through 2028 and he will remain in office, albeit not as the Republican Senate leader.

Trump reacted to the news in a social media post by saying Bray had “foolishly led” the state Senate, noting the May primary defeats of those who defied him on the redistricting plan.

Bray did not mention Trump or the redistricting fight in his statement announcing his position to step down from the leadership position. Bray said holding the job “has been among the most significant honors of my life, but it’s time for the Senate to choose another leader.”

Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison isn’t waving a white flag.

After Paramount agreed Friday to delay its proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery to battle a stiffer-than-anticipated antitrust challenge from California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general, Ellison is resetting expectations. In a Monday memo to employees, Ellison wrote that he still believes his mammoth merger will be consummated in the coming months.

Paramount stock has lost about 20% of its value since the beginning of July amid concerns that the company will have to shoulder higher costs to get its $111-billion Warner Bros. acquisition across the finish line. Friday’s agreement with the state attorneys general to delay the merger’s close until after an antitrust trial, which will likely be held in 2027, also was unsettling to shareholders and some employees.

Paramount Skydance shares closed at $8.03, down 2.19% Monday afternoon.

“Let me be clear: we remain highly confident that this transaction does not pose any legal issues, and we will complete it and bring these two companies together,” Ellison wrote in the memo shared with media outlets.

Paramount’s internal teams and Warner Bros. have been diligently working to lay the groundwork for the two rival companies to integrate their operations. The rush had been on because Ellison wanted to close the deal this week — or at least by the end of September — to avoid a higher payout to Warner shareholders.

However, Paramount suspended such ambitions on Friday, agreeing to delay the merger until after a trial to litigate the merits of the antitrust case brought by Bonta and the other Democrats. Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey and New York are among the states joining California in the fight.

The Writers Guild of America separately sued this month, alleging the merger would harm writers. Over the weekend, SAG-AFTRA announced that it supports the state attorneys general as they try to beat back the merger.

“Our members have every right to expect that the government will do thorough regulatory oversight when a deal of this magnitude takes place,” SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin said in a statement.

“The workers in this industry should not have to rely on promises and aspirational statements,” he added. “This isn’t a conversation about shareholder value, it’s about the survival of the entertainment business in America.”

Teamsters already have spoken out against the deal.

Bonta and fellow attorneys general from Democrat-led states have argued the deal would violate the century-old Clayton Antitrust Act in three markets: wide-release theatrical films, potential blockbuster movies and cable television channel concentration.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, who is overseeing the antitrust suit filed by Bonta two weeks ago, wrote in an order last week that the plaintiff states had presented “compelling evidence” that the proposed merger may violate U.S. antitrust law.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta is leading an effort of 12 state attorneys general attempting to block Paramount Skydance’s $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Paramount disputes that. The firm, controlled by the Larry Ellison family, has pointed to regulatory approvals it has already garnered, including from the U.S. Department of Justice, which found its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery would not harm competition.

The deal also won clearances from regulators representing 65 jurisdictions, including Australia, China, the European Commission, Germany, France, Spain and Canada. Paramount has pointed to those approvals as proof that the law is on its side.

In his memo, Ellison said delaying the deal until after a trial before Martínez-Olguín made sense.

“We believe this is the right path because the facts and the law are on our side, and a full hearing will demonstrate why the plaintiffs’ arguments should not prevail,” Ellison wrote.

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Noah Goldberg giving you the latest on city and county government.

There’s no exact way to measure the effectiveness of Los Angeles City Council members.

But we analyzed three basic elements — meeting attendance, committee assignments and amount of legislation drafted — to give readers a sense of what their local electeds are up to.

Meeting attendance

As part of charter reform efforts, the City Council considered reducing the number of council meetings from three per week to just one.

The proposal failed earlier this month after receiving stiff pushback from at least one councilmember, Monica Rodriguez.

“Meeting less for a city of 4 million people I think sends the wrong message. Particularly when you have the best-paid council in the country,” said Rodriguez in an interview on Fox 11 earlier this year (each councilmember makes an annual salary of more than $244,000). “This idea that we would be meeting less I believe runs contrary to what the public is demanding form their council.”

Yet Rodriguez isn’t a stickler for showing up to meetings herself, ranking near the bottom of her colleagues for attendance. Since the start of 2025, Rodriguez has attended about 86% of meetings, missing 25 out of 177 meetings, according to a Times analysis.

Gabriel Avalos, a spokesperson for Rodriguez, implied that other work-related matters kept her from the meetings.

“There’s no distinction for absences related to city business, but she certainly wasn’t absent due to dishes and laundry,” Avalos said.

Only two other councilmembers missed more meetings than Rodriguez — mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, who missed 30 meetings, and Curren Price, who missed 34 while dealing with illnesses.

On the other end of the spectrum, Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who runs the meetings, missed the fewest — just four of the 177 meetings from January 2025 until this month.

Eunisses Hernandez and Ysabel Jurado each attended 169 meetings, or about 96%.

Stella Stahl, a spokesperson for Raman, said that most of the councilmember’s absences were due to her position as the city’s representative on the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The remaining absences, Stahl said in a statement, “were tied to a small number of previously scheduled conferences and speaking engagements relevant to her committee work and district priorities, along with occasional sick days and travel for a funeral.”

Committee assignments

Council members are appointed to committees by the council president. They can sit on additional committees if the president lets them.

These small groups of council members are responsible for reviewing the first drafts of legislation. Committee chairs have the power to move legislation forward — or stall it — by either putting it on the agenda, or not.

The busiest councilmembers are Hugo Soto-Martínez and Adrin Nazarian, who each sit on nine committees, including some temporary “ad-hoc” ones. Councilmember Tim McOsker follows with seven committee assignments.

But the number of committee assignments isn’t necessarily the clearest indication of power. Katy Yaroslavsky serves on only five committees, but she chairs the Budget and Finance Committee, which edits and approves the mayor’s proposed budget before sending it to the full council for one of its most important annual votes.

At the bottom of the list is Price again, who sits on four committees, including as chair of the Committee on Economic Development.

Legislation

Another easy marker is the amount of legislation a council member authors.

At each meeting, dozens of pieces of legislation go before the council — some high-profile, others just to keep the lights on at City Hall (literally).

Rodriguez, despite her relatively low attendance, was at the top of the legislative list over the last year and a half, drafting 199 motions.

A good chunk were motions on whether to support or oppose bills at the state and federal level. Rodriguez also had the most ceremonial street namings of any council member, with 13.

Rodriguez pointed to more significant legislation, like an ordinance banning city workers from taking on additional gigs for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as her proudest achievements.

After Rodriguez, McOsker was the second-most prolific author, with 178 pieces of legislation, followed by Traci Park with 163.

At the bottom were Price with 84 and Harris-Dawson with 90.

State of play

— HOMELESSNESS RISING: Homelessness, including those living in shelters and other temporary facilities, went up by 3.4% across the city compared with 2025. Unsheltered homelessness — those living outdoors or in their vehicles — was up 7.9% after two consecutive years of decreases, dealing a fresh blow to Mayor Karen Bass as she runs for reelection.

— DISAPPEARING ACT: Bass’ press relations office communicates through WhatsApp messages that auto-delete every 24 hours, potentially shielding the messages from public records requests, according to three sources familiar with the office.

— PLAY BALL: In 1936, Los Angeles made it a misdemeanor to play baseball, basketball, soccer or any other ball game on a street or sidewalk. Nearly a century later, when kids spend half as much time outside as their parents did, City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield wants to cut the obscure law from the books.

— THE ICE EFFECT: A new study from the UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute found that businesses within half a mile of nine ICE enforcement sites had 46,000 fewer customer visits and an estimated $3.16 million in accumulated revenue losses during the two weeks after enforcement activity.

— NEW HONCHO: Los Angeles schools Supt. Andrés E. Chait made a calm official entry into his new job Tuesday, emphasizing rising test scores and “a sense of belonging” that binds school communities.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program was at San Pedro Street Elementary School in Ysabel Jurado’s district, bringing 34 people indoors.
• On the docket next week: The Los Angeles City Council remains on recess next week.

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.

WASHINGTON — For the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner on Friday at Washington’s Waldorf Astoria hotel, security will be much tighter, the guest list smaller, the partying pared down, and the dress code more relaxed.

That much, the correspondents’ association can control.

What remains out of its control — and perhaps the biggest question — is what the dinner’s most prominent guest, President Trump, will bring to the table.

Call it White House Dinner 2.0, or Take Two, or, in Trump’s own words, a “HOT ticket.” The big unknown is whether Trump will bring the fighting words (“rather nasty,” he said) against the press that he’d planned to deliver in April — before the event descended into chaos when a gunman stormed a security checkpoint, forcing an evacuation of the room.

“The president looks forward to finishing what he started,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday, confirming Trump’s attendance. “I encourage everyone watching tomorrow night to tune in for what promises to be a very entertaining and memorable evening.”

Trump has been coy about what he might say

As for Trump himself, he indicated last month he wasn’t sure. “I don’t know whether or not I will give the same rather nasty statements, at least as it concerns certain people, but we will soon find out,” the Republican president wrote on his Truth Social platform. “In any event, it will be a ‘HOT’ ticket!”

Besides the pared-down approach, there is another change at Friday’s dinner: two additional awards. One will be presented to Victor Gonzales, the Secret Service agent who was staffing a security checkpoint in April and was struck in his protective vest.

“Officer Gonzales … ran toward danger so that thousands of others could make it home safely,” WHCA President Weijia Jiang said in a statement. “His courage stemmed from a dedication to service, which we are looking forward to honoring this week.”

A second award will be presented to the staff of the Washington Hilton hotel, site of the first dinner.

Other changes: With security in mind, there will be only one entrance at the much smaller venue, with airport-style metal detectors. Guests received individual QR entry codes in advance, and nobody can get in unless recognized. “There is NO red carpet at this dinner,” said a memo Jiang sent to some guests last month, seen by The Associated Press. “There are NO onsite pre-dinner receptions.”

The dress code this time is a looser “black tie optional,” and dinner includes grilled peach and burrata salad, lobster, and beef Wellington. The evening, as at the last dinner, has entertainment by mentalist Oz Pearlman, along with the awards presentations and Trump’s remarks.

Jiang and her fellow board members worked hard to bring about this WHCA dinner 2.0, not wanting to let a violent act — or the image of colleagues hiding under tables — remain the final thought. Announcing the rescheduling, she emphasized the dinner’s stated purpose: “a celebration of a free press and the vital role of journalism in our democracy for over a century.”

“We will not allow an act of violence to have the last word, especially during a year when we are reflecting on the 250th anniversary of America and everything we stand for,” Jiang said.

There’s still lots of criticism of the event

But it’s also clear that some people felt the dinner should not be rescheduled at all.

Many never thought it was much of a good look in the first place, with the sight of journalists in formal wear cozying up to their sources, or the objects of their reporting.

“It undermines the public faith in how the press does its work, and it makes it look like we are pals with the people we cover,” Kelly McBride, an ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank, said when the deliberations were taking place.

The new dinner comes during a time of fast-increasing tension between the media and a president who, in his second term, has tried to exert pressure on media outlets he is unhappy with in a variety of ways. That pressure has ranged from sanctions against members of the White House press corps to regulatory actions through the Federal Communications Commission to outright lawsuits.

Those tensions have only escalated since April, with the latest example reaching a New York courtroom on Thursday. There, criticized by a federal judge for sloppy legal work, the government withdrew subpoenas that would have compelled three New York Times reporters to testify about their sources for articles about Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet.

That escalation was the impetus behind a letter from a coalition of press freedom groups and hundreds of former journalists, urging the WHCA to stand up to Trump forcefully at the dinner.

“We believe it is hypocritical to celebrate the First Amendment in front of the man who relentlessly attacks it,” the letter says. “We urge the WHCA to condemn the administration’s actions from the podium and pledge to fight all attempts by his administration to undermine this core pillar of a functioning democracy.”

Noveck writes for the Associated Press.

Lewis Hamilton led team-mate Charles Leclerc to a Ferrari one-two in Friday practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was 0.148 seconds ahead of Leclerc, with McLaren’s Lando Norris third, 0.499secs off the pace, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fourth.

Fernando Alonso ended the day 19th fastest in the new Aston Martin after what team principal Adrian Newey said was a “promising” first outing for a car that is new apart from its engine, gearbox and front suspension.

Alonso was 2.990secs off the pace, but had a lap nearly 0.4secs faster ruled out for track limits at the final corner.

Although that is still a long way from competitiveness, it is a significant step forward from where Aston Martin have spent most of the season.

Ferrari looked in good shape, as might have been expected on a track that lends itself to the car’s strong cornering performance.

But Mercedes, with George Russell in fifth 0.933secs off the pace and championship leader Kimi Antonelli in 13th, appeared to have some work to do.

Antonelli did not complete a qualifying simulation lap in the second session.

His first had to be abandoned when Franco Colapinto crashed his Alpine at the last corner, and his second came to grief when he made an error going into the chicane.

Antonelli was complaining all session about rear brake locking, but he was on a par with Norris’ time in the first sector on both laps before they were curtailed.

Behind Russell, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar was sixth fastest, ahead of Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10.

BILLINGS, Mont. — The U.S. Interior Department on Friday canceled a rule meant to protect plants and animals that are determined to be threatened with extinction, the latest step by the Trump administration to dismantle key provisions of the landmark Endangered Species Act at the behest of industry.

Instead of receiving automatic protections, imperiled species will need individualized protection plans once they are added to the threatened species list. That’s a potentially lengthy process in which companies could seek exemptions for oil and gas drilling, mining and other development where those species live.

Opponents said it would make it harder to save wildlife awaiting federal protections and in danger of disappearing, such as monarch butterflies and alligator snapping turtles.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement that the Endangered Species Act had been used for too long “to stop almost any new project in America, driving up costs for families, weakening our competitiveness, and undermining our national security.”

“Success should be measured by species recovery and delisting, not by adding more species to the list,” Burgum added.

A second change finalized Friday requires officials to analyze economic effects when deciding whether habitat is critical to a species’ survival. Critics say it gives corporations an opportunity to put their thumb on the scale so officials will allow development in those areas.

“If you’re exempting certain industries that cause habitat destruction, in many instances you’ll be exempting the main threat to those species,” said Noah Greenwald with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity.

Officials made similar changes during Trump’s first term, but they were reversed under the Biden administration.

The rules that gave what some consider “blanket protections” to threatened species were first adopted for wildlife in 1975 and for plants in 1977.

Two groups, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Property and Environment Research Center, sued the Biden administration in 2024 after officials restored the blanket protections rule. They argued the rule unfairly imposed the same restrictions on landowners when a species’ status improves from endangered, which is more dire, to threatened.

That removed incentives for landowners to participate in species recovery, said Jonathan Wood, vice president at the Montana-based research center.

Wood said the Trump administration’s approach allows officials to “better reward progress and encourage proactive conservation.”

There have been no species added to the endangered or threatened lists in Trump’s second term. By comparison, more than 20 species were added in Trump’s first term, and about 60 under President Biden.

About 30 species are currently proposed to be listed as threatened. Besides monarchs and alligator snapping turtles, they include California spotted owls and various snakes, fish, clams and insects.

Changes to government policies for endangered plants and wildlife have come faster and extended further in Trump’s second term than in his first.

The administration in March exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists’ lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran.

A week before the latest rule change, Interior officials sharply narrowed the definition of what constitutes “harm” to a species. The change would allow development in critical wildlife habitat so long as the animals themselves are not immediately killed or injured.

Officials this week sharply reduced the amount of critical habitat in the Rocky Mountains designated for Canada lynx, forest-dwelling wildcats that are threatened by climate change and other pressures.

Also this week, Burgum said in a visit to Montana that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would turn over more management authority for grizzly bears to states where the bruins live. That’s been a long-standing priority for the Republican governors of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

The Endangered Species Act is credited with bringing back animals including the California condor, the bald eagle and the American alligator from the brink of extinction.

Burgum noted Friday that 97% of the species that have been given protections still have them. That’s a frustration for Republican lawmakers who say species should be taken off the endangered and threatened lists more quickly once they’ve recovered.

Brown writes for the Associated Press.