mayor

Aug. 30 (UPI) — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Saturday signed an executive order that demands President Donald Trump end “his threats to deploy the National Guard” to his city.

The “Protecting Chicago Initiative” is in response to a “credible threat” that troops will be deployed in a few days, and directs the city to pursue all legal and legislative avenues stop stop the deployment.

“I do not take this executive action lightly,” Johnson said during a signing in the mayor’s ceremonial office, said. “I would’ve preferred to work more collaboratively to pass legislation … but unfortunately we do not have the luxury of time. We have received credible reports that we have days, not weeks, before our city sees some kind of militarized activity by the federal government.”

In addition, the order affirms that Chicago police will remain a locally controlled law enforcement agency. Earlier this month, when Trump deployed troops to Washington, D.C., the Trump administration took over the police department.

“We do not want military checkpoints or armored vehicles on our streets and we do not want to see families ripped apart,” Johnson said. “We will take any action necessary to protect the rights of all Chicagoans.”

Federal law enforcement and U.S. Armed Forces in the order are told to abide by municipal laws, including not concealing their identities, using body cameras when interacting with a member of the public and displaying which agency they are with, including their last name and badge number.

“This executive order makes it emphatically clear this president is not going to come in and deputize our police department,” Johnson said. “We do not want to see tanks in our streets. We do not want families ripped apart. … And I don’t take orders from the federal government.”

The Naval Station Great Lakes, about 40 miles north of downtown Chicago in North Chicago, confirmed that it is preparing to host federal immigration agents. The base, which is the largest military installation in the state, is planning to host more than 200 federal agents from Tuesday to Sept. 30.

Johnson has set Friday as the arrival date.

The Naval base is in Lake County, north of Cook County.

Esiah Campos, the county’s Board Commissioner and Navy corpsman who finished his training at Naval Station Great Lakes in 2020, urged state legislators Friday to ban law enforcement from using masks statewide. Also for Lake County mayors to reaffirm their commitment not to assist ICE.

“It hurts to see the base I drilled out of to house ICE and Homeland Security agents to terrorize our people,” Campos said at a Friday news conference with other legislators and community groups in North Chicago’s Veterans Memorial Park. “This is not a time for platitudes. Now is a time for action.”

Since 1985 Chicago has been a sanctuary city, which limits local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzer has told Trump the federal response is not needed, considering crime has fallen significantly.

On Tuesday, he posted on X: “If Trump wants to get to Chicago, he’s going to have to go through us. And we’re not backing down.”

During a news conference in Chicago on Thursday, he said: “Donald Trump is exactly the kind of person that our founders warned us about. He cozies up to dictators like Putin because he idolizes them. His actions are dangerous and un-American.

Trump has said he would tackle crime next in Chicago after deploying personnel to the nation’s capital, which is a federal jurisdiction.

“We’re going to make our cities very, very safe,” Trump said on Aug. 22. “Chicago’s a mess. You have an incompetent mayor. Grossly incompetent and we’ll straighten that one out probably next. That will be our next one after this. And it won’t even be tough.”

“No, Donald. You can’t do whatever you want,” the governor responded to the president on X.

Through late August, Chicago had 266 homicides in 2025, according to the Chicago Police Department, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The Midwest city is “about 25% below where they were in the first half of 2019,” Ernesto Lopez, a senior research specialist at the Council on Criminal Justice, told the Chicago Sun Times.

In 2024, there were 581 murders in Chicago with 621 in 2023 in a city of 2.7 million people.

The top homicide rate is in Memphis, Tenn., with 409 per 100,000 for a total of 372 in 2023. Chicago wasn’t even in the top 15 with 29.7 per 100,000.

The drop in homicides in Chicago from 2019 to 2025 was significantly larger than the national average.

Chicago’s highest concentrations of crime is in neighborhoods on the South and West sides, and not downtown.

The governor showed off parts of the city this week, including where crime dropped.

Frank McCourt will have to pursue his proposed Dodger Stadium gondola without legislation that would have limited potential legal challenges to the project.

After The Times reported on the legislation, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council publicly opposed it, asking a state Assembly committee to strip the language that would have benefited the gondola project or kill the bill entirely.

On Friday, the committee stripped the language and moved ahead with the remainder of the bill, which is designed to expedite transit projects in California. Under the now-removed language, future legal challenges to certain Los Angeles transit projects would have been limited to 12 months.

The language of the bill did not cite any specific project, but a staff report called the gondola proposal “one project that would benefit.”

A court fight over Metro’s approval of the environmental impact report for the project is at 17 months and counting.

In a letter to state legislators in which she shared the council resolution opposing the language in question, City Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez said the language would amount to “carve outs” from a worthy bill in order to ease challenges to “a billionaire’s private project.”

McCourt, the former Dodgers owner, first proposed a gondola from Union Station to Dodger Stadium in 2018. The project requires approvals from four public agencies, including the City Council, which is expected to consider the gondola after the completion of a city-commissioned Dodger Stadium traffic study next year.

More than two and a half years after she took office, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has fulfilled a nagging campaign promise to film industry advocates.

She is appointing Board of Public Works president Steve Kang to serve as a liaison between city bureaucracy and the film industry, she said Wednesday. The mayor made the announcement while speaking to a private Zoom meeting of her entertainment industry council Wednesday afternoon, according to three attendees.

Kang will be the chief film liaison, assisted by Dan Halden — who serves as acting director of external relations at the city’s Bureau of Street Services (StreetsLA) — and producer Amy Goldberg.

The city’s film liaison role was established under former Mayor Eric Garcetti.

In the past, the liaison has served as the point person for film and TV productions looking to shoot in L.A., helping filmmakers navigate the city’s vast bureaucracy.

“I have full confidence that President Steve Kang will deliver in his role as City Film Liaison by finding solutions that protect our signature industry and ensure that local filming of TV shows, movies and commercials can successfully continue and expand,” Bass said in a statement. “With the successful expansion of the California Film & TV Tax Credit and our ongoing efforts to improve local processes, our work continues to keep production jobs here and support small businesses who rely on the industry.”

Bass’ decision not to prioritize the appointment of a film liaison had long frustrated industry advocates. Those concerns were sharpened at a moment when L.A.’s future as a film capital is in peril.

Amid a broader slump in overall film and TV production, the city has long been bleeding production jobs to states and countries that offer generous tax incentives, cheaper labor and more filming-friendly bureaucracies.

Most of those issues are outside the mayor’s control. But some industry advocates felt that naming a film liaison would be an easy move that could make shooting in L.A. a little less of a headache.

Since Bass took office in December 2022, those advocates have pressed the mayor’s office on the issue, with no clear answers about the delay.

“There’s been a clear sense of need, and frustration that it hasn’t happened,” said one industry advocate, who had been present during the mayor’s office’s regular meetings with representatives from film studios, labor groups and other industry interests.

Garcetti had several film liaisons during his administration.

Members of the industry often point to City Hall veteran Kevin James — who held the role for several years beginning in 2015 — as an ideal model, since he had deep City Hall experience, as well as ties to the industry. James served as film liaison while president of the Board of Public Works. The board governs the city’s Department of Public Works, which is responsible for StreetsLA, as well as the street lighting, sanitation and engineering departments.

The mayor’s office has had to navigate a historically difficult 2025, beginning with a catastrophic firestorm, followed by immigration raids and an unprecedented military presence in the city — all of which have necessitated 24/7 crisis responses from her office. But the frustrations over the lack of a named point person far predate the recent crises.

While signing an executive directive to support local film and TV production in May, Bass was asked about the position and said she planned to appoint someone within the next few days.

More than three months later, she finally did.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell made history — becoming the first New Orleans mayor to be indicted while in office — after federal prosecutors on Friday charged her with multiple counts of wire fraud, obstruction of justice and lying to a grand jury.

The 11 counts specific to Cantrell stem from an investigation into her alleged affair with former New Orleans Police Department Officer Jeffrey Vappie, who worked on Cantrell’s security detail prior to his retirement from the force and has also been federally indicted.

The U.S. attorney’s office alleges, in a 48-page indictment, that Cantrell and Vappie illegally used city funds to travel around the country together, falsely claiming that the expenditures were related to city business, then conspired to cover it up. Federal investigators combed through 15,000 text messages sent between the two — and later deleted by Cantrell, according to the indictment — in which they discussed their relationship and travel plans.

What comes next?

With no political precedent to turn to in order to understand how the following months will play out, legal and governmental experts in New Orleans have relied on the rules set out in New Orleans’ Home Charter and similar incidents from other cities to inform predictions for the future.

“I don’t expect this as a legal matter to have any effect on her ability to be mayor of the city of New Orleans,” said attorney and Loyola College of Law professor Dane Ciolino. “Now, as a practical and political matter, that’s another issue.”

Ciolino added that when Cantrell appears in court for an initial hearing and arraignment — which is now scheduled for Sept. 10 — it is likely there will be restrictions placed on her movement as a condition of release, meaning that she will need to consult with a judge before engaging in any international travel, or perhaps even travel outside of the Eastern District of Louisiana.

“It won’t be any impairment to her doing her job,” he said. “She’ll just have to seek permission, which would be, I suspect, liberally granted to her.”

An in-office conviction would force Cantrell out

Although it may be unlikely that Cantrell will go to trial before her second term as mayor ends in January, she would be forced to step down if she were convicted of a felony.

Under state law, public officials must be removed from office if they are convicted of a federal or state felony. Under the city charter, if Cantrell were to plead guilty or chose not to contest the charges, she would face immediate removal.

If a mayor pleads not guilty and is convicted after a trial, the city charter calls for an automatic, unpaid suspension until the conviction is finalized through the appeals process, at which time she would be removed. If Cantrell were suspended but later made a successful appeal to overturn the conviction, she would receive back pay.

What happens after a mayor is removed from office?

The charter also states that if a mayor is removed or resigns with less than a year left in the term, the City Council must elect one of the two at-large council members to fill the seat, in lieu of a special election. Helena Moreno and JP Morrell are currently the two at-large City Council members, with Morrell currently serving as council president.

Morrell is running for a second term in his seat. Moreno, meanwhile, is actively running her own mayoral campaign and is thus far the front-runner in the race to succeed Cantrell. (The New Orleans municipal election will be held on Oct. 11, with a runoff — should it be necessary — set for Nov. 15.)

Moreno’s office put out a public statement the day that the charges were announced, saying that the mayor is entitled to the presumption of innocence and “a vigorous defense.”

Moreno’s statement mirrored many of her colleagues — neutral on the subject matter involved in the charges, choosing instead to reframe and discuss how to best serve the city. Although Cantrell’s relationship with the City Council has been rocky throughout her second term, there have been no public calls from members of the City Council for her to resign.

“The announcement today reminds us of the need to let the justice system work in a fair, timely fashion and without regard to politics or preference,” Councilmember Oliver Thomas, who is also running for mayor, wrote in a statement. “These are critical times for our city to get back on track and to stay focused on building a city that works and thrives for everyone.”

Councilmember Eugene Green released a statement similar in content, adding that it was a difficult day for New Orleans.

“My focus will continue to be on moving New Orleans forward — ensuring the safety of our citizens, strengthening our neighborhoods, and meeting the needs of my constituents,” Green wrote.

No indication of stepping down

A similar saga unfolded in Nashville, Tenn., in 2018 when then-Mayor Megan Barry — who, like Cantrell, was the city’s first female mayor — had an affair with a city-employed security officer who traveled with her on the city’s dime.

Barry pleaded guilty to a felony and resigned from office immediately after. Her political career was short-lived in the aftermath of the scandal as she mounted an unsuccessful run for Congress then pivoted to write a memoir.

Cantrell has not made any public statements since the indictment was announced by prosecutors. She skipped the launch of Amtrak’s new train service from New Orleans to Mobile, Ala., where she was slated to be a guest speaker on Saturday, but was back to work by Monday.

Cantrell’s communications team did not respond to Verite News requests for comment about whether her governance plans will change in response to the charges. Cantrell’s attorney, Eddie Castaing, declined to comment on the charges. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said in a statement Monday that the mayor is focused on doing her job for the city of New Orleans.

Mediratta writes for Verite News, in partnership with the Associated Press.

NEW YORK — A former top aide to New York City Mayor Eric Adams was hit Thursday with a second wave of bribery charges in a swirling corruption investigation of City Hall, with prosecutors alleging she exchanged political favors for cash, home renovations and a speaking role on a TV show.

Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Adams’ former chief of staff and closest confidant, her son Glenn D. Martin, former state Sen. Jesse Hamilton and two of Adams’ political donors, siblings Tony and Gina Argento, are among those facing new charges.

Lewis-Martin and the other defendants were expected to appear in court on Thursday.

Adams himself has not been charged, but the case will thrust the corruption allegations that have dogged the Democrat back into focus as he seeks to regain voters’ trust ahead of a contested election in November. A spokesperson for Adams did not immediately return a request for comment.

On Thursday, Lewis-Martin was charged with four additional counts of conspiracy and bribe receiving in a series of indictments Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg described as “classic bribery conspiracies that had a deep and wide-ranging impact on city government.”

“As alleged, Lewis-Martin consistently overrode the expertise of public servants so she could line her own pockets. While she allegedly received more than $75,000 in bribes and an appearance on a TV show, every other New Yorker lost out,” Bragg said in a statement.

Lewis-Martin’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, vowed to fight the charges, saying, “This is not justice — it is a distortion of the truth and a troubling example of politically motivated ‘lawfare.’”

She resigned last December ahead of her indictment in a separate case in which she and her son are accused of taking bribes in exchange for speedy approval of construction projects. That case is still pending. She has continued to volunteer for the Adams campaign while awaiting trial.

The fresh round of indictments brought against Adams’ close allies could add to political headwinds already facing the mayor, whose own indictment on federal bribery charges was abandoned by President Trump’s administration earlier this year.

The corruption scandals have opened the door to challengers in the upcoming election, including the Democratic primary winner, Zohran Mamdani, and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Adams is running as an independent, claiming the case brought against him — in which he was accused of accepting bribes and travel perks from foreign interests — had prevented him from campaigning in the Democratic primary. Those charges were dismissed in April following an extraordinary intervention by U.S. Justice Department officials, who said the case was impeding Adams from assisting in Trump’s immigration crackdown.

In the months since, the status of other federal probes linked to Adams’ key allies, including his former police commissioner and several deputy mayors, has remained uncertain. The new charges were brought by Bragg, who prosecuted Trump last year and who is also running for reelection.

Both federal and state investigators seized Lewis-Martin’s phone at Kennedy Airport last September as she returned from a trip to Japan with several colleagues.

Hours later, Lewis-Martin appeared on her attorney’s radio show, denying that she had “done anything illegal to the magnitude or scale that requires the federal government and the DA’s office to investigate us.”

Both she and her son pleaded not guilty to charges of accepting improper gifts worth more than $100,000 in exchange for speeding construction approvals for two real estate investors.

Earlier this week, a spokesperson for Adams’ campaign, Todd Shapiro, said the mayor would stand with Lewis-Martin.

“Ingrid has dedicated her life to the people of New York City,” Shapiro said, “and she deserves the presumption of innocence and the support of those who know her best.”

Last week, federal prosecutors wrapped up their two remaining Adams-related cases.

Mohamed Bahi, who served as the mayor’s chief liaison to the Muslim community, pleaded guilty to soliciting straw donations to Adams’ campaign, and Brooklyn construction magnate Erden Arkan was sentenced to a year of probation for his involvement in a straw donor scheme.

Offenhartz, Sisak and Izaguirre write for the Associated Press.

The former Los Angeles fire chief filed a legal claim against the city Wednesday, alleging that Mayor Karen Bass “orchestrated a campaign of misinformation, defamation, and retaliation” to protect her political image after the most destructive wildfire in city history.

Kristin Crowley and her lawyers accuse Bass of ousting her, and repeatedly defaming Crowley as Bass sought to shift blame for the way the city handled the catastrophic Palisades Fire “while concealing the extent to which she undermined public safety” with cuts to the fire department’s budget.

The legal claim alleges that Bass scapegoated Crowley amid mounting criticism of the mayor’s decision to attend a ceremony in Ghana on Jan. 7, when the fire erupted. Bass left Los Angeles despite her knowing of the potential severe winds and deadly fire danger, the claim alleges.

“As the Fire Chief, for nearly three years, I advocated for the proper funding, staffing and infrastructure upgrades to better support and protect our Firefighters, and by extension, our communities,” Crowley said in a statement to The Times. “The lies, deceit, exaggerations and misrepresentations need to be addressed with the only thing that can refute them — the true facts.”

Bass and the city had yet to respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Crowley’s lawyers say Bass “initially praised the department’s preparedness” and even portrayed the response positively. “But as criticism mounted over her absence, Bass reversed course,” the legal claim said. “She sought to shift blame to Crowley, falsely stating that Bass was not aware of the nationally anticipated weather event, that Crowley sent 1,000 firefighters home who could have fought the blaze, and misrepresenting the department’s budget…”

Bass removed Crowley on Feb. 21, six weeks after the firestorm that consumed Pacific Palisades, killing 12 people and destroying nearly 7,000 homes.

The mayor said she was demoting Crowley for failing to inform her about the dangerous conditions or to activate hundreds of firefighters ahead of the blaze. She also said Crowley rebuffed a request to prepare a report on the fires — a critical part of ongoing investigations into the cause of the fire and the city’s response.

According to her lawyers, Crowley had “repeatedly warned of the LAFD’s worsening resource and staffing crisis,” prior to the fire, and warned that “aging infrastructure, surging emergency calls, and shrinking staff left the city at risk.”

In the 23-page claim, Crowley said Bass cut the department’s operating budget by nearly $18 million that year and “eliminated positions critical to maintaining fire engines, trucks, and ambulances.”

After Crowley complained publicly that the budget cuts had “weakened the department’s readiness, Bass retaliated,” the lawyers allege. On Jan 10, after Crowley told FOX LA, “we are screaming to be properly funded,” Bass called her to the mayor’s office.

“I don’t know why you had to do that; normally we are on the same page, and I don’t know why you had to say stuff to the media,” the lawyers say Bass told the chief, but said she wasn’t fired.

The next day, retired Chief Deputy Ronnie Villanueva began working at the Emergency Operations Center, donning a Mayor’s office badge. Then Feb. 3, 2025, two weeks before Chief Crowley was removed from her position, Villanueva wrote a Report to the Board of Fire Commissioners identifying himself as Interim Fire Chief” — a position he now holds.

Crowley was eventually ousted and put on leave. Her lawyers allege Bass’s public accusation at the time that Crowley refused to participate in an after action report of the Palisades fire after being asked to by the Fire Commission President Genethia Hayes, a Bass appointee — was blatantly false and she was never asked.

A legal claim is a precursor to a civil lawsuit, and is required by California law when suing a government entity. In her claim, Crowley alleges Bass and her subordinates have conducted a “public smear campaign aimed at discrediting Crowley’s character and decades of service,” following her dismissal.

Crowley’s attorneys, Genie Harrison and Mia Munro, allege that Bass and others in her administration defamed Crowley, retaliated against her in violation of California’s labor code and violated Crowley’s First Amendment rights. Crowley is seeking unspecified damages above $25,000.

Harrison, who has represented numerous victims of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, said Crowley’s claim “presents her extensive advocacy efforts to obtain the funding and resources the LAFD needed to fulfill its public safety mission. It also shows Mayor Bass’ repeated refusals to provide those resources.”

Bass made the assertion about the failed deployment after an investigation by The Times found that Fire Department officials could have ordered about 1,000 firefighters to remain on duty as winds were building but opted against it. The move would have doubled the firefighting force on hand when fire broke out.

But Crowley and her lawyers say in the legal claim the “LAFD did not have sufficient operating emergency vehicles to safely and effectively pre-deploy 1,000 (or anywhere near 1,000) additional firefighters on January 7.” In simple terms, the department did not have the money or personnel “to repair and maintain emergency fire engines, fire trucks, and ambulances,” the claim alleges.

The Times investigation found the department had more than 40 engines available to battle wildfires, but fire officials staffed only five of them.

Crowley’s lawyers dispute that in the claim. They say “the LAFD staffed all its front-line fire engines (including all the 40 engines that Bass later falsely stated sat “idle.”

Aug. 16 (UPI) — New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell is facing federal wire fraud and conspiracy charges after being indicted this week along with a former member of her security detail.

Cantrell and retired New Orleans Police Department officer Jeffrey Vappie were both indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and other charges after Vappie was allegedly paid for official duty while the two were engaged in “personal activities,” according to a statement issued by the Justice Department.

Authorities contend the two began a relationship in 2021, during which time Vappie was paid as an on-duty member of Cantrell’s personal security team. Vappie retired in 2004.

“They embarked on a scheme to defraud the City of New Orleans and NOPD by exploiting Vappie’s job and Cantrell’s authority as Mayor to have the City and NOPD pay Vappie’s salary and expenses during times Vappie claimed to be on duty but when the was actually engaged in personal activities, often with Cantrell,” the Justice Department indictment reads.

The allegations contend Vappie and Cantrell’s activities extended to out-of-state trips. Cantrell allegedly shifted policy and started bringing members of her Executive Protection Unit on the out-of-state trips around five months after Vappie joined the EPU.

“Cantrell said she would ‘make it happen’ to have Vappie accompany her on a three-day trip to Washington, D.C., a trip that they both agreed that they ‘needed,'” the Justice Department statement reads.

The City of New Orleans was billed over $70,000 on Vappie’s behalf for the three-day trip.

The couple also allegedly used a city-owned apartment during their relationship.

Cantrell was elected in 2018 after serving as a Member of the New Orleans City Council, making her the first female mayor in the city’s history.

Cantrell has not commented publicly on the allegations.

Police say the pair tried to hide the affair and have recovered thousands of texts and pictures from the What’sApp messaging platform.

Both are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Vappie also faces twelve counts of wire fraud. Cantrell is also named in six of the latter charges.

Additionally, Vappie is charged with making a false statement to the FBI, while Cantrell faces two counts of making a false declaration before a grand jury.

NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was indicted Friday in what prosecutors called a years-long scheme to hide a romantic relationship with her bodyguard, who is accused of being paid as if he was working even when they met alone in apartments and traveled to vineyards for wine tasting.

Cantrell faces charges of conspiracy, fraud and obstruction, less than five months before she leaves office because of term limits. The first female mayor in New Orleans’ 300-year history was elected twice but now becomes the city’s first mayor to be charged while in office.

“Public corruption has crippled us for years and years,” acting U.S. Atty. Michael Simpson said, referring to Louisiana’s notorious history. “And this is extremely significant.”

Cantrell’s bodyguard, Jeffrey Vappie, was facing charges of wire fraud and making false statements. He has pleaded not guilty. A grand jury returned an 18-count indictment Friday that added Cantrell to the case.

They are accused of exchanging encrypted messages through WhatsApp to avoid detection and then deleting the conversations. The mayor and Vappie have said their relationship was strictly professional, but the indictment portrayed it as “personal and intimate.”

The city of New Orleans said in a statement that it was aware of the indictment and that the mayor’s attorney is reviewing it.

“Until his review is complete, the City will not comment further on this matter,” the statement said.

Cantrell hasn’t sent out a message on her official social media feed on X since July 15, when she said the city was experiencing historic declines in crime.

In a WhatsApp exchange, the indictment says, Vappie reminisced about accompanying Cantrell to Scotland in October 2021, saying that was “where it all started.”

Cantrell and Vappie used WhatsApp for more than 15,000 messages, including efforts to harass a citizen, delete evidence, make false statements to FBI agents, “and ultimately to commit perjury before a federal grand jury,” Simpson said.

They met in an apartment while Vappie claimed to be on duty, and she arranged for him to attend 14 trips, Simpson said. The trips, he added, were described by her as times “when they were truly alone.”

New Orleans taxpayers paid more than $70,000 for Vappie’s travel, the prosecutor said.

Authorities cited a September 2022 rendezvous on Martha’s Vineyard, a trip Cantrell took instead of attending a conference in Miami. Vappie’s travel to the island was covered by the city to attend a separate conference, authorities said. “The times when we are truly [traveling] is what spoils me the most,” the mayor wrote to him that month.

Simpson said Cantrell lied in an affidavit that she activated a function on her phone that automatically deleted messages in 2021 though she didn’t activate that feature until December 2022, a month after the media began speculating on the pair’s conduct.

When a private citizen took photos of them dining together and drinking wine, Cantrell filed a police report and sought a restraining order, Simpson said.

Vappie retired from the Police Department in 2024.

Cantrell and her remaining allies have said that she has been unfairly targeted as a Black woman and held to a different standard than male officials, her executive powers at City Hall sabotaged. Simpson denied claims that any of it played a role in the investigation.

“It’s irrelevant that it’s romance or that it’s female,” he told reporters, adding that the allegations were “an incredible betrayal of people’s confidence in their own government.”

Cantrell, a Democrat, has clashed with City Council members during a turbulent second term and survived a recall effort in 2022.

“This is a sad day for the people of New Orleans,” Monet Brignac, a spokesperson for City Council President JP Morrell, said as news of the indictment spread.

In 2014, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was sentenced to 10 years in prison for bribery, money laundering, fraud and tax crimes. The charges stemmed from his two terms as mayor from 2002 to 2010. He was granted supervised release from prison in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As she heads into her final months in office, Cantrell has alienated former confidants and supporters, and her civic profile has receded. Her early achievements were eclipsed by self-inflicted wounds and bitter feuds with a hostile City Council, political observers say. The mayor’s role has weakened since voters approved changes to the city’s charter that were meant to curb mayoral authority.

Earlier this year, Cantrell said she has faced “very disrespectful, insulting, in some cases kind of unimaginable” treatment. Her husband, attorney Jason Cantrell, died in 2023.

Mustian, Brook and Hollingsworth write for the Associated Press. Mustian and Brook reported from New Orleans, Hollingsworth from Mission, Kan. AP writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.

LaToya Cantrell is accused of ‘defrauding’ the city, paying Jeffrey Vappie as if he were on duty while on trips and trysts.

The mayor of New Orleans has been indicted on conspiracy, fraud and obstruction charges by a federal grand jury after a long-running investigation.

The charges released on Friday against LaToya Cantrell were based on accusations that she tried to hide a romantic relationship with bodyguard Jeffrey Vappie, who was paid as if on duty while the pair conducted their affair.

The indictment states that Cantrell and Vappie “developed a personal and intimate relationship” in 2021, defrauding the city as they attempted to “hide their relationship and maximise their time together”.

Acting United States Attorney Michael Simpson said the pair met in an apartment while Vappie claimed to be on duty, and that Cantrell had arranged for Vappie to attend 14 trips.

The trips, which included wine tasting at vineyards, were described by her as times “when they were truly alone”, said Simpson.

He dubbed the affair a “three-year fraud scheme that we allege exploited their public authority and positions”.

Cantrell allegedly lied in an affidavit that she had activated a function on her phone that automatically deleted messages in 2021, when she had not activated the feature until December 2022, one month after the media began speculating on the pair’s conduct.

When a private citizen took photos of the pair dining together and drinking wine, Cantrell filed a police report and sought a restraining order, said Simpson.

The mayor’s office didn’t immediately comment.

“This is a sad day for the people of New Orleans,” said Monet Brignac, a spokesperson for City Council President JP Morrell.

Vappie is accused of hiding a romantic relationship with Cantrell and filing false payroll records claiming he was on duty.

He has pleaded not guilty following his indictment on charges of wire fraud and making false statements.

Cantrell, the city’s first female mayor, is term-limited and will leave office in January.

NEW YORK — A Brooklyn construction magnate was sentenced Friday to a year of probation for working with a Turkish government official to funnel illegal campaign contributions to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, resolving one of two related federal cases after the mayor’s criminal charges were dropped.

Erden Arkan, 76, told Manhattan federal Judge Dale Ho that he regretted his “poor judgments” in engaging in the straw donor scheme, which helped Adams fraudulently obtain public money for his 2021 mayoral bid under the city’s matching funds program.

Ho cited Arkan’s age and otherwise clean record in imposing the sentence, telling the Turkish-born businessman that his immigrant success story “exemplifies the American dream.”

“I hope that you don’t let this one mistake define you,” Ho told Arkan.

Arkan faced up to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, but prosecutors and the federal probation officer agreed that no prison time was warranted. In addition to probation, he must also pay a $9,500 fine and $18,000 in restitution.

Arkan pleaded guilty in January to a conspiracy charge in Manhattan federal court. Weeks later, President Trump’s Justice Department pressured prosecutors to drop their underlying case against Adams, ultimately getting it dismissed.

In court Friday, Arkan’s lawyer Jonathan Rosen blasted the government for continuing to pursue his case after getting Adams’ charges dismissed.

“To put it mildly, this is a very unusual case. In fact, it is unprecedented,” Rosen argued.

In February, Justice Department leadership ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors to drop Adams’ case, arguing that it was hindering the Democratic mayor’s ability to assist the Republican administration’s immigration crackdown.

Ho, who also oversaw the mayor’s case, dismissed his charges in April. In a written opinion, he agreed it was the only practical outcome but also criticized what he said was the government’s “troubling” rationale for wanting the charges thrown out.

While Adams was spared, prosecutors continued to pursue related cases against Arkan and a former aide to the mayor, Mohamed Bahi.

Bahi, who served as City Hall’s chief liaison to the Muslim community, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to soliciting straw donations for Adams’ mayoral campaign from employees of a different Brooklyn construction company at a December 2020 fundraiser.

Arkan acknowledged in his January plea that he knowingly violated the law by reimbursing employees of his construction firm for their donations to Adams’ campaign.

In brief remarks Friday, he apologized to city taxpayers who bankroll the matching funds program, telling Ho: “I love this city. I dedicated my life to making it better. It pains me that I have harmed it.”

According to prosecutors, Adams personally solicited donations from Arkan and a Turkish consular official at an April 2021 dinner. The following month, Arkan held a fundraiser at the headquarters of his construction company, KSK, in which 10 employees donated between $1,200 and $1,500 to the campaign. They were later reimbursed by Arkan, making them illegal straw donations.

Adams then used those funds to fraudulently obtain public money under the city’s matching funds program, which provides a generous match for small-dollar donations, prosecutors allege.

A well-known member of New York’s Turkish community, Arkan’s ties to Adams first emerged in November 2023 after federal investigators searched the businessman’s home, along with the home of Adams’ chief fundraiser and his liaison to the Turkish community.

Adams pleaded not guilty to bribery and other charges after a 2024 indictment accused him of accepting illegal campaign contributions and travel discounts from a Turkish official and others — and returning the favors by, among other things, helping Turkey open a diplomatic building without passing fire inspections.

At a Feb. 19 hearing that precipitated the dismissal of his case, Adams told Ho: “I have not committed a crime.” The first-term mayor, a former police captain, skipped the June Democratic primary and is currently running for reelection as an independent.

Sisak writes for the Associated Press.

NEW YORK — As National Guard troops deploy across her city as part of President Trump’s efforts to clamp down on crime, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is responding with relative restraint.

She’s called Trump’s takeover of the city’s police department and his decision to activate 800 members of the guard “unsettling and unprecedented” and gone as far as to cast his efforts as part of an “authoritarian push.”

But Bowser has so far avoided the kind of biting rhetoric and personal attacks typical of other high-profile Democratic leaders, despite the unprecedented incursion into her city.

“While this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can’t say that, given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we’re totally surprised,” Bowser told reporters at a news conference responding to the efforts. She even suggested the surge in resources might benefit the city and noted that limited home rule allows the federal government “to intrude on our autonomy in many ways.”

“My tenor will be appropriate for what I think is important for the District,” said Bowser, who is in her third term as mayor. “And what’s important for the District is that we can take care of our citizens.”

The approach underscores the reality of Washington’s precarious position under the thumb of the federal government. Trump has repeatedly threatened an outright takeover of the overwhelmingly Democratic city, which is granted autonomy through a limited home rule agreement passed in 1973 that could be repealed by Congress. Republicans, who control both chambers, have already frozen more than $1 billion in local spending, slashing the city’s budget.

That puts her in a very different position from figures such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Democrats whose states depend on the federal government for disaster relief and other funding, but who have nonetheless relentlessly attacked the current administration as they lay the groundwork for potential 2028 presidential runs. Those efforts come amid deep frustrations from Democratic voters that their party has not been nearly aggressive enough in its efforts to counter Trump’s actions.

“Unfortunately she is in a very vulnerable position,” said Democratic strategist Nina Smith. “This is the sort of thing that can happen when you don’t have the powers that come with being a state. So that’s what we’re seeing right now, the mayor trying to navigate a very tough administration. Because this administration has shown no restraint when it comes to any kind of constitutional barriers or norms.”

A change from Trump’s first term

Bowser’s approach marks a departure from Trump’s first term, when she was far more antagonistic toward the president.

Then she routinely clashed with the administration, including having city workers paint giant yellow letters spelling out “Black Lives Matter” on a street near the White House during the George Floyd protests in 2020.

This time around, Bowser took a different tact from the start. She flew to Florida to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago after he won the election and has worked to avoid conflict and downplay points of contention, including tearing up the “Black Lives Matter” letters after he returned to Washington in response to pressure from Republicans in Congress.

The change reflects the new political dynamics at play, with Republicans in control of Congress and an emboldened Trump who has made clear he is willing to exert maximum power and push boundaries in unprecedented ways.

D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson said she understands Bowser’s position, and largely agrees with her conclusion that a legal challenge to Trump’s moves would be a long shot. Trump invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act in his executive order, declaring a “crime emergency” so his administration could take over the city’s police force. The statute limits that control to 30 days unless he gets approval from Congress.

“The challenge would be on the question of ‘Is this actually an emergency?’” said Henderson, a former congressional staffer. “That’s really the only part you could challenge.”

Henderson believes the city would face dim prospects in a court fight, but thinks the D.C. government should challenge anyway, “just on the basis of precedent.”

Trump told reporters Wednesday that he believes he can extend the 30-day deadline by declaring a national emergency, but said “we expect to be before Congress very quickly.”

“We’re gonna be asking for extensions on that, long-term extensions, because you can’t have 30 days,” he said. “We’re gonna do this very quickly. But we’re gonna want extensions. I don’t want to call a national emergency. If I have to, I will.”

Limited legal options

Bowser’s response is a reflection of the reality of the situation, according to a person familiar with her thinking. As mayor of the District of Columbia, Bowser has a very different relationship with the president and federal government than other mayors or governors. The city is home to thousands of federal workers, and the mass layoffs under Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have already had a major impact on the city’s economy.

Her strategy has been to focus on finding areas where she and the new administration can work together on shared priorities.

For now, Bowser appears set to stick with her approach, saying Wednesday that she is focused on “making sure the federal surge is useful to us.”

During a morning interview with Fox 5, she and the city’s police chief argued an influx of federal agents linked to Trump’s takeover would improve public safety, with more officers on patrol.

Police Chief Pamela Smith said the city’s police department is short almost 800 officers, so the extra police presence “is clearly going to impact us in a positive way.”

But Nina Smith, the Democratic strategist, said she believes Bowser needs a course correction.

“How many times is it going to take before she realizes this is not someone who has got the best interests of the city at heart?” she asked. “I think there may need to be time for her to get tough and push back.”

Despite Trump’s rhetoric, statistics published by Washington’s Metropolitan Police show violent crime has dropped in Washington since a post-pandemic peak in 2023. A recent Department of Justice report shows that violent crime is down 35% since 2023, reaching its lowest rate in 30 years.

Colvin writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Ashraf Khalil and Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

Aug. 12 (UPI) — Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said Tuesday her district should become a state as National Guard troops arrived in the capital.

“It’s times like these when America needs to know that DC should be the 51st state,” Bowser said in an X post, which also contained a clip of her being interviewed on the “Breakfast Club” iHeartMedia radio program.

“We think this action kind of plays into his narrative on cities, about using force, about being tough on crime” Bowser said in regard to President Donald Trump‘s reasons for sending the national guard into the capital and placing city police under federal control.

Despite crime being generally down throughout the district, about 800 soldiers have been stationed in the district after being activated by the U.S. Army on Monday to assist with law enforcement, and Bowser has pledged to work “side by side” with the federal government as Trump’s directive rolls out.

Trump put forth a memorandum Monday titled “Restoring Law and Order in the District of Columbia,” in which he stated that “As President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the District of Columbia National Guard, it is my solemn duty to protect law-abiding citizens from the destructive forces of criminal activity.”

He then mentioned recent high-profile crimes as the impetus behind his decision to mobilize the District of Columbia National Guard and order them to “address the epidemic of crime in our Nation’s capital.”

Trump said in the directive that the mobilization will continue until he determines that “conditions of law and order have been restored in the District of Columbia.”

However, despite that open-ended statement, the troops have already been notified their deployment will last until Sept. 25.

According to the district’s Metropolitan Police Department crime statistics, the level of every categorized offense committed there has dropped since last year, except motor vehicle theft which has a flat change rate of 0%.

Aug. 6 (UPI) — New York City’s Campaign Finance Board denied Mayor Eric Adams’ request for more than $3 million in matching campaign funds after concluding his campaign provided “incomplete and misleading information.”

The city’s CFB on Wednesday morning denied Adams’ request for matching public campaign funds due to his campaign not submitting the paperwork required and because board members think Adams broke federal corruption laws.

“The board finds the campaign has provided incomplete and misleading information to the CFB and has impeded CFB staff’s ability to complete its investigation,” board chairman Frederick Schaffer said during the CFB’s Wednesday morning meeting.

“With respect to the second ground, the board’s conclusion is based upon its review of all of the available evidence, including, but not limited to, its own independent investigation,” Schaffer added.

He said the board has an “ongoing” investigation into the Adams campaign but did not explain what made the campaign’s responses unacceptable.

The board has denied Adams’ requests for matching campaign funds since December 2024 because of his federal indictment on corruption charges that since have been dropped.

Adams’ campaign spokesman Todd Shapiro called the board’s decision “vague and unsubstantiated” and said the campaign might seek legal remedies to obtain matching funds, the New York Daily News reported.

“Mayor Adams has always run campaigns with the highest standards of integrity, transparency and adherence to the law, spanning nearly 40 years of public service and political leadership,” Shapiro said,

“At no point has this campaign attempted to mislead, withhold or obstruct the work of the CFB,” Shapiro continued.

“In fact, our team has cooperated fully, responding in good faith to every request and submitted the required documentation in a timely manner,” he added.

Before Wednesday morning’s meeting, Adams’ campaign chairman, Frank Carone, expressed confidence that the board would approve the matching funds, the Daily News reported.

He said the campaign had responded to the board’s requests for documentation and a federal judge in July ruled the federal indictment of Adams no longer qualifies as grounds for denial because the Department of Justice dropped the case.

The indictment accused Adams of campaign finance fraud and accepting illegal contributions from Turkish nationals.

The Trump administration dropped the case, which it said was politically motivated.

Adams seeks re-election as an independent candidate for the crowded New York City mayoral race that includes Democratic Party nominee Zohran Mamdani, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.

Sliwa is the GOP’s nominee, while Cuomo is running as an independent after losing the Democratic Party’s primary election against Mamdani.

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

Several millennia ago during the Trojan War, an army of Greeks built a massive wooden horse, feigned departure and left it as a “gift” outside the walled city of Troy.

The Trojans brought the offering — filled, unbeknownst to them, with Greek soldiers — into their fortified city and unwittingly wrought their own downfall. At least that’s how the legend goes.

So if an attack disguised as a gift is a Trojan horse, what do you call a gift disguised as an attack?

One could argue that the attempted recall of Mayor Karen Bass inadvertently fits the bill.

Back in early March, Silicon Valley philanthropist and former Robert F. Kennedy Jr. running mate Nicole Shanahan launched an effort to recall Bass. At the time, Bass was still on her back foot — an incumbent, first-term mayor who’d become a national target for her initial response to the Palisades fire.

It’s notoriously difficult to gather enough signatures to trigger a recall. But Shanahan’s extremely deep pockets (her ex-husband co-founded Google) made anything possible. With the mayor already wounded and Angelenos feeling angry and frustrated, a well-funded recall effort could have been the spark that torched Bass’ reelection chances.

That did not come to pass.

Proponents didn’t even finish the paperwork necessary to begin gathering signatures, then tweeted in June that a recall would “no longer be our vehicle for change” and that they would instead focus on holding elected officials accountable at the ballot box in 2026. Their spokesperson has not responded to several emails from The Times.

But the short-lived recall effort had one effect its proponents likely did not anticipate. During a tenuous moment for Bass, they may have unintentionally handed her an extremely useful tool: the ability to form an opposition committee unencumbered by limits on the size of the donations she collects.

The threat from Shanahan’s group allowed Bass to form her own anti-recall campaign committee — separate from her general reelection account, which cannot collect more than $1,800 from each donor. Now, she could raise more money from her existing supporters, in far larger amounts.

Flash forward to this week, when the latest tranche of campaign finance numbers were released, revealing how much was raised and spent from the beginning of the year through the end of June. While Bass’ official reelection campaign took in an anemic $179,589, her anti-recall coffers hoovered up more than four times that amount.

The nearly $750,000 collected by the anti-recall campaign included two major donations at the end of March that we previously reported on: $250,000 from the Bass-affiliated Sea Change PAC and $200,000 from former assembly speaker and Actum managing partner Fabian Núñez’s leftover campaign cash.

Along with Núñez and Sea Change, the largest donors were philanthropists Jon Croel and William Resnick ($25,000 each), businessman Baron Farwell ($25,000) and former City Councilmember Cindy Miscikowski ($15,000). Several others gave $10,000 a piece, including pomegranate billionaire and power donor Lynda Resnick.

It’s far easier to rally donations when you’re dealing with an impending threat. (“Save the mayor from a right-wing recall!” is much catchier than asking for reelection dollars when a serious challenger has yet to jump into the race.) And it’s infinitely faster to stockpile cash when you aren’t limited to $1,800 increments.

“After the fires and what had happened, anything was possible, and we had to mobilize, and that’s what the mayor did,” said Bass campaign strategist Doug Herman. “But the people of the city didn’t want to have a recall in the midst of what they thought were more serious problems.”

Shanahan declined to comment.

When the recall effort officially times out on Aug. 4, the Bass camp will no longer be able to raise unlimited sums to fight it (with a few exceptions, such as expenses related to winding down the committee or settling debt). But the anti-recall committee will still have quite the extra arsenal to fire off in her favor.

Sometimes your loudest enemies are really friends in disguise.

State of play

—WHITHER CARUSO? Brentwood resident and former Vice President Kamala Harris announced this week that she would not be running for governor, intensifying questions about whether former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso might jump into the gubernatorial race … or potentially challenge Bass again for mayor. Through a spokesperson, Caruso declined to comment.

— RACE FOR THE 8TH FLOOR: City Attorney candidate Marissa Roy outraised incumbent Hydee Feldstein Soto during the latest fundraising period, delivering a major warning shot about the seriousness of her campaign. For now, Feldstein Soto still has more cash on hand than Roy, who is challenging her from the left.

— COASTAL CASH: In the race for a Westside council district, public interest lawyer Faizah Malik raised a hefty $127,360, but her stash pales in comparison to the $343,020 that incumbent Councilmember Traci Park brought in during the most recent filing period. That’s far more than any other city candidate running in the June 2026 election.

— AHEAD OF THE PACK: Council staffer Jose Ugarte, who’s hoping to succeed his boss, termed out Councilmember Curren Price, in a crowded South L.A. race, raised a whopping $211,206, far outpacing his rivals.

— VIEW FROM THE VALLEY: During this filing cycle, Tim Gaspar and Barri Worth Girvan both brought in real money in the race to succeed outgoing Councilmember Bob Blumenfield in the West Valley. Girvan outraised Gaspar during the past half-year, but Gaspar entered the race earlier and still has substantially more cash on hand.

— WHERE’S MONICA? One incumbent who didn’t report any fundraising is Valley Councilmember Monica Rodriguez. When reached Friday, Rodriguez said she is still planning to run for reelection and was in the process of changing treasurers. She did not answer when asked whether she was also considering a potential mayoral bid, as has been rumored.

— WHAT ABOUT KENNETH? City Controller Kenneth Mejia does not have any campaign finance numbers listed because he qualified his reelection committee after the June 30 fundraising deadline. He’ll be required to share fundraising numbers for the next filing period.

— LOWER LAYOFFS: The number of employee layoffs planned for the 2025-26 fiscal year continued to decline this week, falling to 394, according to a report released Friday by City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo. Bass’ budget had proposed 1,600 earlier this year. Szabo attributed much of the decrease to the transfer of employees to vacant positions that are not targeted for layoff.

— TOKENS OF APPRECIATION: According to her disclosure forms, Bass’ reelection committee spent more than $1,100 on gifts “of appreciation,” including flowers sent to Mayer Brown lawyers Edgar Khalatian, Dario Frommer and Phil Recht; Fabian Núñez; lawyer Byron McLain; longtime supporters Wendy and Barry Meyer; author Gil Robertson; former Amazon exec Latasha Gillespie; L.A. Labor Fed head honcho Yvonne Wheeler; lobbyist Arnie Berghoff; Faye Geyen; and LA Women’s Collective co-founder Hannah Linkenhoker. The most expensive bouquet ($163.17, from Ode à la Rose) went to Lynda Resnick.

— PIZZA INTEL: Bass has not, to my knowledge, publicly shared the names of her reelection finance committee. But her forms list a $198.37 charge at Triple Beam Pizza for food for a “finance committee meeting” with Cathy Unger, Victoria Moran, Ron Stone, Kellie Hawkins, Todd Hawkins, Cookie Parker, Stephanie Graves, Leslie Gilbert-Lurie, George Pla, Wendy Greuel, Byron McLain, Chris Pak, Travis Kiyota, Areva Martin and Kevin Pickett. Bass’ consultant did not immediately respond when asked if that list constituted her finance committee, and if anyone was missing.

— FAMILY-FRIENDLY PROGRAMMING? Speakers at Los Angeles City Council meetings will be banned from using the N-word and the C-word, the council decided Wednesday. But my colleague Noah Goldberg reports that the council’s decision to ban the words could be challenged in court, with some legal scholars saying it could violate speakers’ 1st Amendment free speech rights to curse out their elected officials.

— ZINE O’ THE TIMES: City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield finally named his pick for the city’s Charter Reform Commission: Dennis Zine, who served on the council for 12 years, representing the same West Valley district as Blumenfield. Zine spent more than three decades as an officer with the LAPD while also serving on the board of the Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file officers, and should not be confused with progressive former Santa Monica mayor Denny Zane.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature homelessness program went to an encampment next to the 405 Freeway in Van Nuys, moving an estimated 30 people indoors. The operation drew protests from activists who said the mayor was destroying the belongings of homeless people and forcing them into “jail like conditions.” Bass, who was at the encampment, lashed out at the activists, telling reporters: “How dare they sleep in a comfortable bed at night, come here and advocate for people to stay in these kind of conditions. We’re not going to stand for it.”
• On the docket for next week: The City Council’s personnel committee holds a special meeting Wednesday on the plan for laying off hundreds of city workers.
• A political-ish poem to start your Saturday morning: “The book burnings” by Bertolt Brecht, translated from the German by Tom Kuhn and David Constantine.

Stay in touch

That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to [email protected]. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.

NASHVILLE — The private lives of public figures have increasingly become part of the national scene. Usually, they are caught in the spotlight; they do not turn it on themselves.

Not so in Nashville. Here, Mayor Bill Boner, 45, who is divorcing his third wife, is involved in a most public romance with his fiancee, Traci Peel, a 34-year-old country singer who sports a 2.2-carat engagement ring. Details of their sex life are discussed on radio talk shows, in local newspapers. And the most volatile revelations came from the couple themselves.

Last month the Nashville Banner reported that Peel and Boner, during a telephone interview, giggled and joked about their sexual prowess, saying they had been caught by the reporter “at a bad time.” At one point, Peel said Boner remained amorous as long as seven hours.

“That’s pretty good for a 46-year-old man,” Peel said.

“Forty-five,” Boner corrected, talking on an extension.

Later, Peel said she was just joking.

But that was only the beginning of the uproar here. Nationally, the tabloids, both print and television, have had a ball. The Nashville Scene, a local weekly newspaper, ran a contest to complete this sentence: “You are so Nashville if . . . “

The winner, from Maralee Self: “Your mayor is married and engaged at the same time.”

An oft-repeated joke here, which betrays some disgust with Boner, takes a feminine voice: “If he’d made love to me for seven minutes, it’d seem like seven hours, too.”

Peel complained Tuesday in a surprise telephone call to a radio talk show that the media are making Boner “look like an idiot.” In an interview with The Times, the mayor, looking like a harried man, refused to discuss the matter.

“I don’t want to get into my personal life, other than I can just tell you that we’re doing the job here and working every day,” he said. Boner said he will not seek reelection next year, but rejected calls for his resignation. “Barring some unseen event, no,” he said.

However, as the situation wears on, a lot of people around here are beginning to resent the publicity, even as they revel in the jokes. The shift comes as the bloom fades from Nashville’s economic boom.

“Nashville is really on its butt,” said Bruce Dobie, editor of the Scene. So, while on one level, “The whole thing is really a hoot,” he said, on another level, “people are really getting bitter about it. They feel he is making us look like ‘Hee Haw,’ ” the television show depicting hicks and bumpkins.

Economists say that Nashville seemed headed for super-stardom in the mid-1980s but that overbuilding created a glut of properties, a huge factor in the city’s economic slowdown. Now bankruptcies are up and housing starts are down.

In such a soured economic climate, there is little tolerance for a mayor from whom rejuvenation seems to take on a new meaning.

Boner said he met Peel in May at a golf tournament. He announced in July that he and Peel were engaged, even though he is still married to his third wife, Betty. Boner’s aides say the mayor and his wife had agreed to separate in January, but at the time his engagement was announced, the estranged Boners were living under the same roof with their 4-year-old son.

Peel, a former backup country singer and now an aspiring soloist, sings in Nashville nightclubs and is occasionally joined by Boner, who pulls out a harmonica and accompanies her. She said she and Boner plan to marry in Hawaii once the divorce is final. She sent pineapples to reporters to announce the impending nuptials.

Until the extensive discussion of his sex life in the public print, Boner appeared politically secure in Nashville. He ran for mayor in 1987 while sitting as a U.S. congressman representing Tennessee’s 5th district. He was elected mayor with 53% of the vote. His resignation from Congress ended a House Ethics Committee investigation into a $50,000 salary paid to his wife, Betty, by a defense contractor.

Boner is now routinely pilloried on issues ranging from the city’s need to improve its school system to where it should locate a landfill.

Richard Jackson, general counsel for Meharry Medical College and a recent unsuccessful candidate for the state Senate, said: “The Boner situation is why some people feel Nashville is not moving the way it should. People have to find some reason to explain why we didn’t become the next Atlanta.”

Boner argued that he inherited an extraordinary set of challenges when he assumed office in 1987. “People were living through the economic good times, and a lot of outside investors came in and invested,” he said, adding that the city was “not prepared for this sudden on-rush” of building.

The mayor sounded an optimistic note. “We think we’ve about bottomed out,” he said.

But within days of the story about his sex life, bumper stickers appeared here proclaiming: “Seven Hours for Traci. Three Years for Metro,” referring to Boner’s years as mayor of the 500,000-person metropolis.

Boner’s supporters who had contributed $526,000 to his reelection campaign have begun asking for refunds because the mayor decided not to run again.

And, in an impassioned call for him to resign, Ruth Ann Leach wrote in her column for the Nashville Banner that Boner has become “a national dirty joke.” She recounted wisecracks she encountered during a trip to Dallas, saying that Boner jokes had replaced Dolly Parton jokes.

July 20 (UPI) — The Minneapolis mayor during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests has lost the backing of the Democratic party to a Somali-American after a contested vote by members of the party.

Omar Fateh, 35, a state Senator, won the mayoral endorsement over Jacob Frey, who has held the office since 2018.

Fateh is the first Somali-American to serve in the state legislature since 2018 and received 60% of the delegates at the Minneapolis DFL convention Saturday, despite complaints from the Frey campaign about the election process.

Frey took issue with electronic balloting at the convention, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and said he would appeal the vote.

“This election should be decided by the entire city rather than the small group of people who became delegates, particularly in light of the extremely flawed and irregular conduct of this convention,” Frey’s campaign manager office said in a statement. “Voters will now have a clear choice between the records and leadership of Sen. Fateh and Mayor Frey. We look forward to taking our vision to the voters in November.”

Frey was elected mayor in 2017 and again in 2021, and was in charge of Minneapolis during the 2020 BLM riots after George Floyd died at the hands of a white police officer.

The state of New York has agreed to pay $450,000 to settle a lawsuit from an ex-aide to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo who alleged he sexually harassed and groped her while he was in office.

The former aide, Brittany Commisso, had sued Cuomo and the state, alleging sexual harassment from the then-governor and retaliation against her after reporting the incidents. The allegations were part of a barrage of similar misconduct claims that forced Cuomo to resign as governor in 2021.

Commisso’s lawyers said that the settlement announced Friday “is a complete vindication of her claims” and that she is “glad to be able to move forward with her life.”

The settlement came as Cuomo is in the midst of a so-far bruising political comeback with a run for mayor of New York City. Cuomo lost the Democratic primary to Zohran Mamdani by more than 12 percentage points, and this week he relaunched his campaign to run in the general election as an independent candidate, beginning a potentially uphill battle in a heavily Democratic city where support is coalescing behind Mamdani.

Cuomo, who has denied wrongdoing, has been dogged by the scandal during his campaign for mayor.

“The settlement is not a vindication, it is capitulation to avoid the truth,” Cuomo’s lawyers said Friday in a statement in which they called Commisso’s allegations false.

The attorneys, Rita Glavin and Theresa Trzaskoma, added that they “oppose the dismissal of Ms. Commisso’s lawsuit.”

“Until the truth is revealed, the lawsuit should not be dismissed,” they said in the statement.

Cuomo resigned as governor after a report from the state attorney general determined that he had sexually harassed at least 11 women, with some alleging unwanted kissing and touching, as well as remarks about their appearances and sex lives.

Commisso filed her lawsuit in late 2023, just before the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act, a special law that created a yearlong suspension of the usual time limit to sue over an alleged sexual assault.

She later filed a criminal complaint accusing Cuomo of groping her but a local district attorney declined to prosecute, citing lack of sufficient evidence.

The Associated Press doesn’t identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they decide to tell their stories publicly, as Commisso has done.

Anthony Hogrebe, a spokesperson for current Gov. Kathy Hochul, said Friday that the state “is pleased to have settled this matter in a way that allows us to minimize further costs to taxpayers.”

Izaguirre writes for the Associated Press.

July 17 (UPI) — California Democratic congressional lawmaker Ro Khanna announced on Fox & Friends Thursday morning that he will endorse Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York.

“He spent a lot of time talking about the cost of living in New York, in this country, and how we address it,” Khanna said. He said Mamdani is a “very charismatic, relatable person.”

Host Lawrence B. Jones asked Khanna if he agrees with Mamdani’s views on Israel. Mamdani has said that if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to New York, he’d have him arrested.

He answered that he doesn’t agree with Mamdani on every issue. He argued that the Democratic party should focus more on the working class. It should work to raise wages and have a more economically populist agenda.

Since Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor, he’s been seeking endorsements from higher-ranking progressives. Khanna fits that bill.

The endorsement came after a breakfast meeting in New York hosted by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., where Mamdani met with a variety of Democratic representatives.

Other endorsements Mamdani has gained include: Reps. Jerry Nadler,D-N.Y., and Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y. Espaillat initially endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo on Monday formally announced he is running as an independent for mayor, three weeks after he lost to Mamdani.

Former Mayor Eric Adams announced last month that he will also run as an independent.

Mamdani is expected to meet soon with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., The Hill reported.

Six months to the day that flames ravaged Altadena and Pacific Palisades, Mayor Karen Bass was preparing to mark the occasion alongside Gov. Gavin Newsom and other leaders.

But instead of heading north to the Pasadena news conference last week, the mayor’s black SUV made a detour to MacArthur Park, where a cavalcade of federal agents in tactical gear had descended on the heart of immigrant Los Angeles.

In a seafoam blue suit, Bass muscled her way through the crowds and could be heard on a live news feed pushing the agents to leave.

Ultimately, she sent an underling to join Newsom and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla to discuss fire rebuilding and recovery, as she held an impromptu City Hall news conference decrying the immigration raid.

This is the delicate dance Bass has found herself doing in recent weeks. Recovering from one of the costliest natural disasters in American history remains a daily slog, even as a new and urgent crisis demands her attention.

The federal immigration assault on Los Angeles has granted Bass a second chance at leading her city through civic catastrophe. Her political image was badly bruised in the wake of the fires, but she has compensated amid a string of historically good headlines.

Killings have plummeted, with Los Angeles on pace for the lowest homicide total in nearly 60 years. Bass has also made progress on the seemingly intractable homelessness crisis for the second consecutive year, with a nearly 8% decrease in the number of people sleeping on city streets in 2024.

A “Karen Bass Resign Now” sign on Alma Real Drive on July 9 in Pacific Palisades.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

But there is a widening gulf between Pacific Palisades, where the annihilation remains palpable as far as the eye can see, and the rest of the city, where attention has largely flickered to other issues. Amid her successes, the mayor still faces harsh critics in the wealthy coastal enclave.

“The mayor has been very clear that every day that families can’t return home is a day too long, and she will continue taking action to expedite every aspect of the recovery effort to get them home,” Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl said.

Bass was on a diplomatic trip to Ghana, despite warnings of severe winds, when the conflagration erupted in early January. She floundered upon her return, fumbling questions about her trip, facing public criticism from her fire chief (whom she later ousted) and appearing out of sync with other leaders and her own chief recovery officer.

Those initial days cast a long shadow for the city’s 43rd mayor, but Bass has regained some of her footing in the months since. She has made herself a fixture in the Palisades, even when the community has not always welcomed her with open arms, and has attempted to expedite recovery by pulling the levers of government. Her office also led regular community briefings with detailed Q&A sessions.

Bass issued a swath of executive orders to aid recovery, creating a one-stop rebuilding center, providing tax relief for businesses affected by the fires and expediting permitting. The one-stop center has served more than 3,500 individuals, according to the mayor’s office.

Felipe Ortega raises the California flag at Gladstones Malibu on July 2 in Malibu. After sustaining damage from the fire, Gladstones reopened for business earlier this month.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

A number of restaurants and other amenities have also reopened in the neighborhood. The Starbucks on Palisades Drive is set to return later this month.

Bass frequently touts the Palisades fire recovery as the fastest in modern California history, though recent natural disasters don’t offer an apples-to-apples comparison.

Sue Pascoe, a Palisades resident who lost her home in the Via Bluffs neighborhood and helms a hyperlocal website called Circling the News, said the mayor has made some inroads.

“I think she’s tried very hard to repair relationships. She’s come up there a whole lot,” Pascoe said. “But I’m not sure it’s worked, to be honest with you.”

When Bass visits the Palisades, said Maryam Zar, head of the Palisades Recovery Coalition, residents tell her she has not done enough to hasten rebuilding.

“She always seems truly mind-boggled by that” accusation, Zar said. “She looks at us like, ‘Really? What have I not done?’”

The issue, in Pascoe’s view, is more about the limitations of the office than Bass’ leadership. Residents traumatized by the loss of their homes and infuriated by a broken insurance system and cumbersome rebuilding process would like to see the mayor wave a magic wand, slash red tape on construction and direct the full might of local government to reviving the neighborhood.

But Los Angeles has a relatively weak mayoral system, compared with cities such as New York and Chicago.

The mayor is far from powerless, said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation and a scholar of local government. But he or she shares authority with other entities, such as the 15-member City Council and the five-member L.A. County Board of Supervisors.

“To move things in L.A., you always need mayoral leadership, combined with the cooperation, collaboration — or hopefully not opposition — of a lot of powerful people in other offices,” Sonenshein said. “And yet, the mayor is still the recognized leader. So it’s a matter of matching up people’s expectation of leadership with how you can put the pieces together to get things done.”

Take the issue of waiving permit fees.

Construction workers rebuild a home on July 9 in Pacific Palisades.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

In February, City Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the fire-ravaged area, introduced a proposal to stop levying fees for permits to rebuild Palisades homes.

Pascoe and others cheered in late April when the mayor signed an executive order supporting Park’s plan.

But as Pascoe moved forward with rebuilding her longtime home, she was confused when her architect gave her a form to sign that said she would pay the city back if the City Council doesn’t move forward on the fee waivers.

As it turned out, Bass’ order did not cancel permit fees outright but suspended their collection, contingent on the council ultimately passing its ordinance, since the mayor can’t legally cancel the fees on her own.

Park’s proposal is still wending its way through the council approval process. Officials estimate that waiving the fees will cost around $86 million — a particularly eye-popping sum, given the city’s budget crisis, that may make approval difficult.

Apart from the limitations of her office, Bass has also confused residents and made her own path harder with a seemingly haphazard approach to delegating authority.

Mayor Karen Bass speaks at a discussion with local leaders and residents to mark 100 days since the start of the L.A. wildfires at Will Rogers State Beach on April 17.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

Within a month of the blaze, Bass announced the hiring of Hagerty Consulting as a “world-class disaster recovery firm” that would coordinate “private and public entities.” To many residents, Bass had appeared to give the firm the gargantuan task of restoring the Palisades.

In reality, Hagerty was retained as a consultant to the city’s tiny, underfunded Emergency Management Department, whose general manager, Carol Parks, is designated by city charter as the recovery coordinator. Bass also brought out of retirement another former EMD chief, Jim Featherstone, who has served as de facto recovery chief behind the scenes.

But based on Bass’ public statements, many Angelenos thought the recovery would be led by a familiar face — Steve Soboroff.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and her disaster recovery czar Steve Soboroff, left, talk to media during a news conference at the Palisades Recreation Center on Jan. 27 in Pacific Palisades.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Soboroff, a developer, civic leader and longtime Palisades resident, signed on for a three-month stint as chief recovery officer and was initially tasked with creating a comprehensive strategy for rebuilding. But his role was soon dramatically scaled back. When he left in mid-April, Soboroff said he had been shut out from high-level planning essentially from the start and spoke candidly about his issues with Hagerty.

The city brought in a headhunter before Soboroff left, but the position has now been unfilled for longer than Soboroff’s 90-day tenure. (Seidl said Wednesday that the city is “in the process of interviewing and thoroughly vetting qualified candidates,” though he did not set a timeline.)

In June, Bass shifted course again by tapping AECOM, the global engineering firm, to develop a master recovery plan, including logistics and public-private partnerships.

Yet Bass’ office has said little to clarify how AECOM will work with Hagerty, and at a public meeting last month, leaders of the Emergency Management Department said that they, too, were in the dark about AECOM’s scope of work.

“We don’t know a whole lot about AECOM other than their reputation as a company,” Featherstone said at the City Council’s ad hoc recovery committee.

Seidl said Wednesday that AECOM would be working in “deep coordination” with Featherstone’s department while managing the overall rebuilding process. The firm is responsible for developing an infrastructure reconstruction plan, a logistics planning in coordination with local builders and suppliers and a master traffic plan as rebuilding activity increases, he said.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, left, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and California Gov. Gavin Newsom tour the downtown business district of Pacific Palisades as the Palisades fire continues to burn on Jan. 8 in Los Angeles.

(Eric Thayer / Getty Images)

Hagerty, meanwhile, continues to work with EMD and has charged the city nearly $2 million thus far, Seidl said, most of which is reimbursable by the federal government.

Zar, head of the Palisades Recovery Coalition, said she was told to expect a meeting with AECOM more than a month ago, but that meeting has been delayed “week after week after week, for four or five weeks.”

“That organized recovery structure isn’t there, and that void is really creating space for Palisadians to be fearful, fight against each other, and be divided,” said Zar. “That our leaders and lawmakers have yet to come to the table with a plan is unforgivable.”

The work awarded to Hagerty, AECOM and another firm, IEM, which is assisting in federal reimbursements, prompted City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez to remark in June, “For a broke city, we find a lot of money to give out a lot of contracts.”

Bass’ 2022 mayoral opponent Rick Caruso has been a frequent — and very public — antagonist since the fires, questioning delays and taking other shots at the mayor.

Caruso’s Steadfast L.A., the nonprofit he launched to support fire victims, pushed for an artificial intelligence tool that could swiftly flag code violations in construction plans and trim permit processing times.

Steadfast representatives got buy-in from L.A. County. When they presented the tool to Bass’ team, they said they encountered general support but a plodding pace. Frustrated, Caruso reached out to Newsom, who, according to Caruso, quickly championed the technology, pushing the city to embrace it.

Bass’ spokesperson disputed the suggestion of delays, saying the mayor’s team has discussed technological innovations with Newsom’s office since February.

This week, L.A. County rolled out a pilot program in which fire survivors can use the AI plan-check tool. The city launched beta testing of the tool Wednesday.

The episode exemplified to Caruso why the recovery has moved slowly.

“There’s no decision-making process to get things done with a sense of urgency,” he said.