Governments

INDIO, Calif. — A Riverside County criminal grand jury indicted the longtime mayor of Coachella on nine counts, including one felony charge of violating conflict of interest rules related to government contracts and four felony counts of perjury.

Steven Hernandez, 42, who has served on the Coachella City Council for nearly two decades, pleaded not guilty Thursday morning at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.

Hernandez was a rising politician in Riverside County and Coachella, an agricultural city of 42,500 people about 130 miles southeast of Los Angeles. If convicted as charged, Hernandez would be barred from public office for life and face more than seven years in state prison, according to Riverside County Dist. Atty. Mike Hestrin.

Hernandez was raised in Coachella by his grandparents, who were migrant farmworkers. He was first elected to the council in 2006, becoming an integral part of a powerful group of Latino politicians in the valley east of Palm Springs. Under his leadership, the city made major infrastructure investments in its downtown, including an expanded library, a new senior center and a new fire station.

But Hernandez allegedly benefited from some of the votes he cast from the dais, catching the attention of the Riverside County District Attorney’s office.

The indictment, unsealed Thursday, charges Hernandez with several misdemeanors for using his role as a public official to influence governmental decisions in which he had a financial interest. Among those were votes, cast between 2021 and 2023, to use pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act funds to rehabilitate the downtown fire station, as well as votes on a commercial project known as Fountainhead Plaza, an affordable apartment community called the Tripoli Mixed-Use project, and a transit hub near downtown.

It also charges Hernandez with a felony for “willfully and unlawfully” approving a contract in which he had a financial interest when when he voted for an agreement between the city and the Coachella Valley Assn. of Governments’ Housing First program, which serves chronically homeless people.

An Assn. of Governments spokesperson said the organization has fully cooperated with the district attorney’s office and grand jury and “there has never been an implication from investigators that the investigation had anything to do with actions by elected officials serving in their CVAG capacity.”

The perjury charges relate to claims made by Hernandez on his Statement of Economic Interests public disclosure forms, also known as the Form 700, the district attorney said.

The indictment named 13 witnesses who testified before the criminal grand jury, including a city council member, the city’s economic development director, a former council member and a former city manager.

Hernandez will remain mayor of Coachella “until otherwise notified,” according to city spokesperson Risseth Lora.

Along with serving on the city council, Hernandez works as the chief of staff for Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez. He was placed on “indefinite administrative leave” from the county, Perez said in a statement Wednesday, adding: “Although we are still waiting on more details, it’s our understanding that the charges are unrelated to his role in our office.”

Hernandez surrendered to Riverside County Sheriff officials at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on Tuesday and posted $112,500 bail. He appeared before Riverside County Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan on Thursday morning. Wearing a navy suit, he clasped his hands behind his back as his attorney entered the plea.

He donned sunglasses as he left the courtroom.

This article is part of The Times’ equity reporting initiative, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, exploring the challenges facing low-income workers and the efforts being made to address California’s economic divide.

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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is ending the federal government’s annual report on hunger in America, stating that it had become “overly politicized” and “rife with inaccuracies.”

The decision comes 2½ months after President Trump signed legislation sharply reducing food aid to the poor. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the tax and spending cuts bill Republicans adopted in July means 3 million people would not qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, also known as food stamps.

The decision to scrap the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Household Food Security Report was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

In a news release Saturday, the USDA said the 2024 report, to be released Oct. 22, would be the last.

“The questions used to collect the data are entirely subjective and do not present an accurate picture of actual food security,” the USDA said. ”The data is rife with inaccuracies slanted to create a narrative that is not representative of what is actually happening in the countryside as we are currently experiencing lower poverty rates, increasing wages, and job growth under the Trump Administration.’’

The Census Bureau reported earlier this month that the U.S. poverty rate dipped from 11% in 2023 to 10.6% last year, before Trump took office.

Critics accused the administration of deliberately making it harder to measure hunger and assess the impact of its cuts to food stamps.

“Trump is cancelling an annual government survey that measures hunger in America, rather than allow it to show hunger increasing under his tenure,” Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, said on social media. “This follows the playbook of many non-democracies that cancel or manipulate reports that would otherwise show less-than-perfect news.”

Wiseman writes for the Associated Press.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris (pictured in Washington, D.C., in October 2024) called Friday’s agreements between the U.K. and Irish governments a “night and day” improvement over the 2023 Legacy Act, which granted amnesty to British military veterans for killings during The Troubles. File Photo by Ron Sachs/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 19 (UPI) — The U.K. government will replace its controversial Northern Ireland Legacy and Reconciliation Act of 2023 with new laws to address killings that occurred during The Troubles era.

Representatives of the U.K. and Irish governments on Friday reached agreements on several proposals that are intended to address losses suffered by Irish families, the BBC reported.

Among points of contention is the 2023 Legacy Act that was approved by the U.K. government and provides amnesty for British military veterans for killings that occurred during The Troubles era.

A new commission and a dedicated unit within the Irish police force will investigate killings that occurred during The Troubles era in Northern Ireland to resolve decades-old cases.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris called Friday’s agreements a “night and day improvement” over the Legacy Act, The Guardian reported.

Harris is among Irish officials who are to make public the agreements and other proposals to address The Troubles and related killings.

The agreements reached on Friday will not end an active interstate case filed by the Irish government in the wake of the Legacy Act’s approval in 2023.

Some British military leaders criticized the agreements for making elderly veterans vulnerable to potential prosecution.

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said the agreements must be “victim-centered” and comply with human rights law to be accepted, according to the BBC.

The Troubles era refers to centuries-old conflicts in Northern Ireland that culminated in a 30-year conflict from the late 1960s until the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, according to the Imperial War Museums.

The agreement ended fighting that pitted the British military and many Protestants in Northern Ireland against the Irish Republican Army, other paramilitary forces and many Irish Catholics, who wanted to establish an independent Irish state.

The Troubles included many bombings and street fighting that caused the deaths of thousands of Irish civilians until the 1998 cease-fire agreement.

The conflict had its roots in the early 17th century, when Protestants from Scotland and northern England first settled in what would become Northern Ireland.

FAILED asylum seekers and foreign offenders are being left in Britain for up to a year because their governments are dragging their feet over travel papers, a Home Office file reveals.

The official guide, published by the department, shows deportations are crippled by delays from overseas embassies.

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Egypt, Guinea and Burkina Faso are among the worst offenders — taking six to 12 months to issue the documents needed to put its citizens on a plane home.

By contrast, Italy, Belgium and Sri Lanka can turn the paperwork around in less than two weeks, while India averages one month.

But the file also shows no reliable timescale is available at all for dozens of countries — leaving removals at the mercy of slow or unpredictable foreign bureaucracies.

The delays mean some migrants remain in Britain long after their claims have failed, with taxpayers footing the bill for hotel rooms, benefits and legal fees while they wait.

Yesterday, fed-up protesters raised St George’s Cross and Union flags outside some of the 210 hotels being used to house migrants — as PM Sir Keir Starmer announced plans to overhaul the failing asylum system.

Among those targeted was the Castle Bromwich Holiday Inn in Birmingham.

Outside the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf, East London, a group of protesters gathered with one holding a banner that read: “Enough is enough protect our women and girls.”

Another said: “Tower Hamlets council house homeless Brits first.”

There were also protests outside the Holiday Inn in Solihull, West Midlands, and the Manchester South Hotel.

At least 15 people were arrested at protests relating to migrant hotels on Saturday.

Following the release of the Home Office file, Reform UK demanded ministers get tough.

Deputy party leader Richard Tice said: “Foreign countries know Starmer’s Britain is a pushover, so it’s no wonder they are dragging their feet when it comes to accepting deportations.

“Britain needs to start using its diplomatic and economic power.

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“Countries that refuse to take their criminals back should not get off scot-free but instead face serious sanctions.

“Unfortunately, with this meek Labour Government, we will continue to be seen as a meek nation on the global stage.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp also hit out, saying: “Countries that do not fully and promptly co-operate should suffer visa sanctions — where we don’t give visas to citizens of those countries to come here.

‘TOO WEAK’

“Then, they would pretty soon fall into line.

“The legal power exists to do that but this Labour Government is too weak to use it.”

There is currently a 106,000-strong backlog of asylum claim cases, including at least 51,000 appeals.

Last week, official statistics showed a record 111,000 people applied for asylum in the UK during the first year of Labour coming to power.

The Government has said its latest plans would introduce independent panels to hear appeal cases to speed up the process and deport failed asylum seekers quicker.

A new commission will prioritise cases of those living in costly asylum hotels and foreign national offenders.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “We cannot carry on with these completely unacceptable delays in appeals as a result of the system we have inherited, which mean that failed asylum seekers stay in the system for years on end at huge cost to the taxpayer.”

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She added: “Overhauling the appeals system so that it is swift, fair and independent, with high standards in place, is a central part of our Plan for Change.”

But the new scheme could take months to implement and record numbers of people continue to cross the Channel on small boats.

Tory Mr Philp said: “The Government is too weak to do what’s really needed — such as repeal the Human Rights Act for all immigration matters and deport all illegal immigrants immediately upon arrival.”

The Home Office said: “For some countries receiving returnees from the UK, establishing their identities and nationalities can take time.

“Where that is the case, we work with their respective governments closely to drive timings down to the minimum possible.”