wednesday

WASHINGTON — U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi repeatedly sparred with lawmakers on Wednesday as she was pressed over the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and faced demands for greater transparency in the high-profile case.

Bondi accused Democrats and at least one Republican on the House Judiciary Committee of engaging in “theatrics” as she fielded questions about redaction errors made by the Justice Department when it released millions of files related to the Epstein case last month.

The attorney general at one point acknowledged that mistakes had been made as the Justice Department tried to comply with a federal law that required it to review, redact and publicize millions of files within a 30-day period. Given the tremendous task at hand, she said the “error rate was very low” and that fixes were made when issues were encountered.

Her testimony on the Epstein files, however, was mostly punctuated by dramatic clashes with lawmakers — exchanges that occurred as eight Epstein survivors attended the hearing.

In one instance, Bondi refused to apologize to Epstein victims in the room, saying she would not “get into the gutter” with partisan requests from Democrats.

In another exchange, Bondi declined to say how many perpetrators tied to the Epstein case are being investigated by the Justice Department. And at one point, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said the Trump administration was engaging in a “cover-up,” prompting Bondi to tell him that he was suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome.”

The episodes underscore the extent to which the Epstein saga has roiled members of Congress. It has long been a political cudgel for Democrats, but after millions of files were released last month, offering the most detail yet of Epstein’s crimes, Republicans once unwilling to criticize Trump administration officials are growing more testy, as was put on full display during Wednesday’s hearing.

Among the details uncovered in the files is information that showed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had closer ties to Epstein than he had initially led on.

Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) asked Bondi if federal prosecutors have talked to Lutnick about Epstein. Bondi said only that he has “addressed those ties himself.”

Lutnick said at a congressional hearing Tuesday that he visited Epstein’s island, an admission that is at odds with previous statements in which he said he had cut off contact with the disgraced financier after initially meeting him in 2005.

“I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation,” Lutnick told a Senate panel about a trip he took to the island in 2012.

As Balint peppered Bondi about senior administration officials’ ties to Epstein, the back and forth between them got increasingly heated as Bondi declined to answer her questions.

“This is not a game, secretary,” Balint told Bondi.

“I’m attorney general,” Bondi responded.

“My apologies,” Balint said. “I couldn’t tell.”

In another testy exchange, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) pressed Bondi on whether the Justice Department has evidence tying Donald Trump to the sex-trafficking crimes of Jeffrey Epstein.

Bondi dismissed the line of questioning as politically motivated and said there was “no evidence” Trump committed a crime.

Lieu then accused her of misleading Congress, citing a witness statement to the FBI alleging that Trump attended Epstein gatherings with underage girls and describing secondhand claims from a limo driver who claimed that Trump sexually assaulted an underage girl who committed suicide shortly after.

He demanded Bondi’s resignation for failing to interview the witness or hold co-conspirators to account. Other Democrats have floated the possibility of impeaching Bondi over the handling of the Epstein files.

Beyond the Epstein files, Democrats raised broad concerns about the Justice Department increasingly investigating and prosecuting the president’s political foes.

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said Bondi has turned the agency into “Trump’s instrument of revenge.”

“Trump orders up prosecutions like pizza and you deliver every time,” Raskin said.

As an example, Raskin pointed to the Justice Department’s failed attempt to indict six Democratic lawmakers who urged service members to not comply with unlawful orders in a video posted in November.

“You tried to get a grand jury to indict six members of Congress who are veterans of our armed forces on charges of seditious conspiracy, simply for exercising their 1st Amendment rights,” he said.

During the hearing, Democrats criticized the Justice Department’s prosecution of journalist Don Lemon, who was arrested by federal agents last month after he covered an anti-immigration enforcement protest at a Minnesota church.

Bondi defended Lemon’s prosecution, and called him a “blogger.”

“They were gearing for a resistance,” Bondi testified. “They met in a parking lot and they caravanned to a church on a Sunday morning when people were worshipping.”

The protest took place after federal immigration agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis.

Six federal prosecutors resigned last month after Bondi directed them to investigate Good’s widow. Bondi later stated on Fox News that she “fired them all” for being part of the “resistance.” Lemon then hired one of those prosecutors, former U.S. Atty. Joe Thompson, to represent him in the case.

Bondi also faced questions about a Justice Department memo that directed the FBI to “compile a list of groups or entities engaged in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism” by Jan. 30, and to establish a “cash reward system” that incentivizes individuals to report on their fellow Americans.

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, (D-Pa.) asked Bondi if the list of groups had been compiled yet.

“I’m not going to answer it yes or no, but I will say, I know that Antifa is part of that,” Bondi said.

Asked by Scanlon if she would share such a list with Congress, Bondi said she “not going to commit anything to you because you won’t let me answer questions.”

Scanlon said she worried that if such a list exists, there is no way for individuals or groups who are included in it to dispute any charge of being a domestic terrorists — and warned Bondi that this was a dangerous move by the federal government.

“Americans have never tolerated political demagogues who use the government to punish people on an enemy’s list,” Scanlon said. “It brought down McCarthy, Nixon and it will bring down this administration as well.”

Four players have been suspended by the NBA in connection with a brawl that broke out during the Detroit Pistons-Charlotte Hornets game Monday night, the league announced Wednesday.

It was the same four players that were ejected during the Pistons’ 110-104 victory at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.

Detroit center Isaiah Stewart was suspended seven games for leaving the bench area, aggressively entering an on-court altercation and fighting. This is Stewart’s fifth suspension in his six-year NBA career. One resulted from an altercation with the Lakers’ LeBron James in 2021 and another from an altercation that spilled into the stands during a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves last year.

“The length of Stewart’s suspension is based in part on his repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts,” the NBA said in a statement.

Charlotte forwards Miles Bridges and Moussa Diabaté were each suspended four games for fighting and escalating the altercation. Detroit center Jalen Duren received a two-game suspension for initiating the altercation and fighting.

The incident took place midway through the third quarter after Duren was fouled by Diabaté while driving toward the basket. Duren approached Diabaté and the two men appeared to bump into each other. Duren then appeared to hit Diabaté in the face with an open hand to ignite a brawl that lasted more than 30 seconds.

Bridges and Duren exchanged punches at one point, and Stewart left the bench and fought with Bridges.

The suspensions begin Wednesday, when the Pistons play the Raptors in Toronto and the Hornets host the Atlanta Hawks.

Soon after the punishments were announced, Diabaté posted an apology to “the Hornets coaches, staff, front office, teammates, and best fans in the NBA” on his Instagram Story.

“As a player, I pride myself on my passion and my commitment to giving everything on the court during every possession,” he wrote. “However, in the heat of a highly competitive and physical matchup, I allowed my emotions to get the better of me, and for that, I am truly sorry.

“I understand the responsibility I carry as a professional athlete and as a role model. I view this as a learning experience and am fully committed to growing from it both as a player and a person. … Thank you for your understanding and continued support.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Billionaire developer Rick Caruso is not running for Los Angeles mayor, in a last-minute twist less than two days before the deadline to enter the race.

Caruso had been reconsidering whether or not to run, citing a Times article, published Wednesday, in which two unnamed sources described Mayor Karen Bass’ involvement in watering down an after-action report on the Palisades fire.

“Rick is incredibly moved by the outpouring of support but reached an earlier decision in a thoughtful process and it stands. He will not be a candidate for mayor,” said Mike Murphy, a political consultant for Caruso.

Caruso’s decision reaffirms the one he made last month, when he announced that he would not run for mayor or governor, ending a long period of speculation among political watchers. Caruso, who ran against Bass in 2022, said at the time that he was “deeply disappointed to step back from an election I believe is so critical to California’s future.”

His decision not to run comes the same day that former Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Austin Beutner bowed out of the race due to the death of his 22-year-old daughter.

L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath was still weighing a decision and said Thursday that she was receiving many calls from labor and business leaders who would support her run. Maryam Zar, founder of the Palisades Recovery Coalition, was also thinking about entering the race.

Bass already faces challenges from reality television star Spencer Pratt, a Republican who lost his home in the Palisades fire; Rae Huang, a community organizer who is a democratic socialist; and Adam Miller, a tech entrepreneur and nonprofit executive.

Candidates have until noon on Saturday to file their paperwork.

Caruso, the developer of popular malls such as the Grove and the Americana at Brand, lost to Bass by 10 percentage points in 2022 despite outspending her 11 to 1 after throwing $100 million of his own fortune into the race.

The 66-year-old served as president of the L.A. Police Commission in the 2000s, helping to hire William Bratton as police chief. He was appointed to the Department of Water and Power board in 1984, at age 26 — the youngest commissioner in city history at the time.

Caruso is a former Republican who registered as a Democrat in 2022 and has faced questions about his past party registration.

The developer has made public safety and quality of life issues his main talking points, along with criticism of Bass over the city’s handling of the Palisades fire.

Caruso — whose son and daughter lost their homes in the Palisades fire — called The Times’ latest reporting on the after-action report an “absolute outrage.”

“Karen Bass actively covered up a report meant to examine the most significant disaster in Los Angeles history,” he said. “This is a complete loss of public trust and an intentional act of covering up the actions that led to people dying.”

Bass’ office said the mayor did not make changes to the report.

“There is absolutely no reason why she would request those details be altered or erased when she herself has been critical of the response to the fire,” the office said in a statement Wednesday after the Times article was published.

One question has bothered Martin Ludlow in his decades as a concert and event promoter in Los Angeles. In a city packed with excellent jazz musicians, and a century of history with the genre, why is there no local equivalent of the massive festivals that cities like Montreal, New Orleans or Montreux, Switzerland, have built? One where the music transforms clubs, restaurants and parks across the city for nights on end?

This summer’s inaugural LA Jazz Festival in August will be the biggest push in a generation to build that here. Ludlow’s event — which melds his passion for jazz with the logistics muscle of his former life as a city councilman and labor leader — hopes to draw 250,000 fans across the city for a month of concerts culminating in a stadium-sized show on Dockweiler Beach. It will be one of the largest such events in the world, and the biggest Black-owned fest of its kind.

“This festival is intended to lift up our ancestors that came to this country in bondage, terrorized, brutalized,” Ludlow said outside City Hall on Wednesday. “It’s also about celebrating the end to those last bastions of Jim Crow racism, the days we were denied access to public drinking fountains, public swimming pools and public beaches. From the beginning of this journey, we’ve been very intentional about telling the narrative of that human rights struggle called Jazz.”

Flanked by Mayor Karen Bass, City Council members Heather Hutt, Traci Park and Tim McOsker, and jazz figures including Ray Charles Jr. and Pete Escovedo, Ludlow promised a galvanizing occasion for L.A.’s local jazz scene and the city’s wobbly tourism economy. That jazz scene has welcomed new investments like Blue Note L.A., and lamented beloved clubs like ETA closing.

This festival, however, hopes to be more on a scale with forthcoming mega-events such as the World Cup and the Olympics. The 25-day event in August will sprawl all over the region, with free park concerts in all 15 council districts, and 150 late-night shows at clubs and restaurants across the city. A Caribbean street fair highlighting the African and Latin roots of jazz will hit El Segundo, along with guided tours of historic Black coastal sites like Bruce’s Beach and Inkwell beach.

The fest culminates in a two-day concert on Dockweiler Beach that hopes to draw 40,000 fans a night. While a lineup is still in progress, the scope of Ludlow’s ambition is formidable — the fest will ban fossil fuels from its footprint, and earned a strong vouch from the California Coastal Commission. For decades, the Playboy Jazz Festival (now the Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival) was the defining event for the music in Los Angeles; this could eclipse it several times over.

“Martin, I’ve been on this 15-year journey with you. Through all of the ups and downs, I’m so excited this is the year,” Mayor Bass said at Wednesday’s event at City Hall debuting the festival. “This is the Los Angeles that will welcome the world. One of the best things we have to offer is all of our culture.”

Ludlow is a colorful figure in Los Angeles politics, a former council member and L.A. County Federation of Labor executive who pleaded guilty to misappropriating funds in 2006. He’s since delved deep into community activism and embarked on a successful third act as a concert and event promoter, throwing socially-conscious events with his firm Bridge Street, which has produced shows for Stevie Wonder, The Revolution, Sheila E and Snoop Dogg along with civic events like the ceremony renaming Obama Boulevard in Los Angeles.

“During this journey, you can only imagine there’s a lot of highs and a lot of lows,” Ludlow said. “When you have those lows, you want a friend that really can lift you up.” He had plenty of them onstage with him Wednesday announcing what could be a new flagship event for jazz in Los Angeles.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS

BOYS
CITY SECTION
AMIT 51, Discovery 26
Angelou 85, West Adams 55
Animo Bunche 56, Aspire Ollin 41
Birmingham 74, Cleveland 66
Bravo 60, Eagle Rock 56
CHAMPS 66, Bert Corona Charter 52
Community Charter 54, Lakeview Charter 37
East Valley 57, Fulton 32
El Camino Real 54, Granada Hills 43
Fairfax 77, LA Hamilton 49
Foshay 87, Larchmont Charter 55
Granada Hills Kennedy 62, Panorama 43
Grant 49, Verdugo Hills 47
Harbor Teacher 59, Port of LA 46
Hawkins 70, Locke 38
Hollywood 90, Belmont 21
Huntington Park 58, South East 44
Jefferson 56, Diego Rivera 42
LA Jordan 70, Dorsey 27
LA Roosevelt 53, Bell 31
LA Wilson 55, LA Marshall 52
Lincoln 73, Franklin 45
MSAR 47, Sun Valley Magnet 43
MSCP 71, New West Charter 53
Palisades 76, Westchester 40
Rancho Dominguez 67, Gardena 53
San Fernando 65, Van Nuys 59
San Pedro 78, Wilmington Banning 35
Simon Tech 66, AHSA 22
Smidt Tech 48, Stern 42
South Gate 53, Legacy 38
Sun Valley Poly 65, Arleta 49
Sylmar 95, Reseda 25
University Prep Value 63, Sotomayor 58
Valor Academy 73, Lake Balboa College Prep 33
Venice 64, LA University 31
View Park 60, Dymally 20

SOUTHERN SECTION
Ambassador Christian 84, Summit View West 44
Anaheim 53, Savanna 52
Arroyo 75, Mountain View 46
Banning 61, Cathedral City 31
Bassett 59, Workman 45
Big Bear 72, Indian Springs 62
Blair 78, Santa Monica Pacifica Christian 71
Buckley 84, North Hollywood 77
California 83, Whittier 50
Canyon Country Canyon 90, Castaic 53
Carpinteria 66, Santa Barbara Providence 43
Charter Oak 70, Covina 33
Colony 56, San Dimas 45
Compton 78, Muir 66
Corona Centennial 59, Corona Santiago 38
Crossroads 64, Murrieta Mesa 55
CSDR 45, Sherman Indian 40
Desert Hot Springs 70, Desert Mirage 35
de Toledo 80, International School of LA 33
Eastvale Roosevelt 72, Riverside King 54
Elsinore 82, Temecula Prep 67
Faith Baptist 55, Grace 50
Gabrielino 57, El Monte 21
Garden Grove 41, Buena Park 39
Gardena Serra 54, Verbum Dei 53
Glendora 80, Walnut 67
Hacienda Heights Wilson 50, Northview 43
Hart 64, West Ranch 53
Heritage 68, San Jacinto Valley Academy 45
Heritage Christian 80, Burbank Providence 44
Hesperia 81, Serrano 52
Highland 63, Palmdale 48
Highland Hall 61, Pilgrim 53
JSerra 87, Mater Dei 66
Keppel 70, Alhambra 49
Knight 68, Eastside 42

Lancaster 57, Antelope Valley 46

La Puente 62, Edgewood 60
Long Beach Wilson 59, Long Beach Cabrillo 51
Mesrobian 72, Le Lycée 70
Montebello 53, San Gabriel 41
Nordhoff 52, Villanova Prep 38
Oak Hills 101, Apple Valley 32
Orange County Pacifica Christian 50, Fairmont Prep 46
Pacific 51, Miller 46
Quartz Hill 53, Littlerock 48
Rancho Mirage 68, Palm Desert 63
Redlands Adventist Academy 67, Packinghouse Christian 50
Ridgecrest Burroughs 58, Sultana 44
Rosemead 53, Pasadena Marshall 44
San Bernardino 96, Entrepreneur 46
San Fernando Valley Academy 89, Campbell Hall 43
San Gabriel Academy 73, Capistrano Valley Christian 40
Santa Clara 80, Del Sol 55
Santa Fe 51, El Rancho 50
Santa Margarita 57, St. John Bosco 56
Schurr 59, Bell Gardens 50
SEED: LA 80, EF Academy 67
Segerstrom 52, Godinez Fundamental 48
Summit Leadership Academy 59, Victor Valley Christian 56
Thousand Oaks Hillcrest Christian 68, Newbury Park Adventist 54
Twentynine Palms 64, Silver Valley 59
United Christian Academy 74, Bethel Christian 51
Valencia 68, Golden Valley 63
Verbum Dei 54, Gardena Serra 53
West Covina 41, Rowland 39
Westmark 64, Summit View 40
Wildwood 60, Lennox Academy 52
Woodcrest Christian 60, Loma Linda Academy 54

INTERSECTIONAL
Buckley 84, North Hollywood 77
South Pasadena 56, Garfield 49

GIRLS
CITY SECTION
AMIT 23, Discovery 8
Arleta 58, Sun Valley Poly 21
Aspire Ollin 28, Animo Bunche 24
Bell 57, LA Roosevelt 13
Birmingham 54, Cleveland 44
Carson 36, Narbonne 23
Crenshaw 62, GALA 57
Diego Rivera 51, Jefferson 20
Gardena 58, Rancho Dominguez 14
Granada Hills 50, El Camino Real 32
Granada Hills Kennedy 61, Panorama 11
Harbor Teacher 80, Port of Los Angeles 21
Lake Balboa College Prep 28, Valor Academy 15
Lakeview Charter 25, Community Charter 21
Larchmont Charter 56, Foshay 29
Mendez 33, Roybal 13
Monroe 41, Chavez 18
MSAR 38, Sun Valley Magnet 29
New West Charter 66, MSCP 15
San Pedro 66, Wilmington Banning 38
South Gate 47, Legacy 41
Stern 32, Smidt Tech 19
Sylmar 58, Reseda 17
Taft 64, Chatsworth 45
Van Nuys 50, San Fernando 37
Vaughn 44, VAAS 25
Verdugo Hills 45, Grant 37
West Adams 43, Angelou 25

SOUTHERN SECTION
AAE 47, Webb 32
Arroyo 52, Mountain View 6
Banning 53, Cathedral City 26
Bethel Christian 37, La Sierra Academy 26
Canyon Country Canyon 65, Castaic 10
Carpinteria 52, Villanova Prep 30
Cate 31, Dunn 22
Charter Oak 58, Covina 31
CSDR 44, Sherman Indian 31
Desert Hot Springs 55, Desert Mirage 27
Eastside 56, Knight 49
Edgewood 40, La Puente 20
EF Academy 45, SEED: LA 33
El Modena 50, Katella 37
Gabrielino 53, El Monte 14
Ganesha 27, Pomona 16
Hacienda Heights Wilson 68, Northview 61
Hart 46, West Ranch 33
Hesperia 59, Serrano 36
International School of LA 44, Mesrobian 32
Keppel 64, Alhambra 23
Lancaster 53, Antelope Valley 23
Laguna Hills 43, Tustin 42
La Sierra 24, Jurupa Valley 17
Lancaster 53, Antelope Valley 23
Le Lycee 37, Archer 29
Loma Linda Academy 50, Woodcrest Christian 40
Lucerne Valley 38, Big Bear 25
Marymount 47, St. Genevieve 35
Miller 28, Pacific 24
Montebello 43, San Gabriel 40
Newbury Park Adventist 69, Thousand Oaks Hillcrest Christian 20
Oak Hills 68, Apple Valley 21
Packinghouse Christian 43, Redlands Adventist Academy 35
Palmdale 42, Highland 21
Palm Desert 73, Rancho Mirage 14
Quartz Hill 60, Littlerock 14
Rancho Christian 68, Fairmont Prep 64
Ridgecrest Burroughs 71, Sultana 16
Rosemead 48, Pasadena Marshall 17
Samueli Academy 30, Southlands Christian 22
San Bernardino 23, Entrepreneur 10
San Dimas 64, Colony 38
Santa Clarita Christian 52, Legacy Christian Academy 26
Santa Fe 55, El Rancho 37
Santa Monica Pacifica Christian 45, Burbank Providence 36
Schurr 33, Bell Gardens 24
Segerstrom 63, San Clemente 61
Sherman Indian 31, CSDR 44
Silver Valley 61, Twentynine Palms 59
Temecula Prep 41, San Jacinto Valley Academy 33
Valencia 82, Golden Valley 21
West Covina 44, Rowland 34
Westridge 27, Santa Clara 25
Whittier 62, California 33
Wildwood 33, Lennox Academy 15
Workman 30, Bassett 20
Yorba Linda 36, Sunny Hills 34

SACRAMENTO — National union leaders, including the head of one of California’s largest labor organizations, on Wednesday urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to protect workers as artificial intelligence threatens to replace or surveil employees — and warned that a failure to do so could hurt his presidential ambitions.

“This is a priority for the entire nation,” Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, said at a news conference near the state Capitol. “He cannot spend his time waiting to be done in California and think he’s not going to get questions about the true issues surrounding AI, Big Tech and the Big Tech billionaires that are trying to buy our government.”

Gonzalez, a former state lawmaker from San Diego, said the federation is sponsoring a package of new bills aimed at reining in the use of AI and protecting the rights of workers, including safeguards against spying in the workplace and restrictions on layoffs.

The package of bills supported by labor organizations includes:

• Senate Bill 947 by Sen. Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton), which would require human oversight if an algorithm is used to justify the discipline or termination of an employee.
• Senate Bill 951, introduced by Sen. Eloise Gomez Reyes (D-Colton), which would require employers to provide a 90-day advance notice to workers and local and state governments before AI-related layoffs. It would apply to cases affecting 25 or more workers or 25% of the workforce, whichever is less. Recent layoffs, including at Amazon, Expedia and Pinterest, have been tied to AI, although some economists argue it’s challenging to determine whether that was the primary factor.
• Assembly Bill 1331, dubbed “No bosses in the bathroom,” would grant workers the right to remove workplace surveillance tools when entering public bathrooms or certain employee-only areas. The bill, authored by Assemblymember Sade Elhawary (D-Los Angeles), would subject employers to a $500 civil penalty for violations.

Gonzalez said labor organizations are often told to “work it out” with businesses but argued this was a dead end.

“We are not going to be able to achieve guardrails by working with bosses who want no guardrails,” she said. “It is time that the governor engages with workers in the workplace. Every AI convening he does, everybody he’s pulled together is [representing] AI and Big Tech lobbyists.”

Gonzalez was joined Wednesday by Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, and other labor leaders from Iowa, Georgia, North Carolina and Nevada.

“This is the most urgent issue that we [as workers] are facing,” Shuler said. “This is a crisis and no one is prepared.”

In a joint letter addressed to Newsom, they implored the governor to act quickly to establish meaningful safeguards around the technology.

“This fight extends beyond devastating job losses and new forms of union busting,” a copy of the letter states. “There is dignity in human work that is the foundation of a healthy, productive democracy. The future of our economy and our society cannot be left to the unchecked whims of profit driven technology corporations and billionaires.”

In an email to The Times, Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said the governor had a strong record of fighting for workers’ rights, including raising the minimum wage and expanding sick leave and other worker protections.

“No Governor has done more than Governor Gavin Newsom to regulate AI in a way that protects workers without killing jobs or innovation,” she wrote. “Under his leadership, California has taken the most comprehensive, worker-centered approach to AI in the country.”

Adults in the United States are growing increasingly concerned about the ramifications of AI, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center. Fifty percent of those surveyed last year said they are “more concerned than excited” about the increased use of AI in daily life, up from 37% in 2021.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price was taken to a hospital by paramedics on Wednesday after fainting during a Black History Month event at City Hall.

Price, 75, was taken by ambulance at Los Angeles General Medical Center, where he was in stable condition, Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said.

Price is “in stable condition, is in recovery and doing well,” Harris-Dawson told the audience at Wednesday’s council meeting. “But out of abundance of caution, he obviously won’t be with us in council today.”

The incident took place on the third floor bridge linking City Hall and City Hall East, which is currently displaying an exhibit of prominent Black women community leaders, according to Price spokesperson Angelina Valencia-Dumarot. Price spoke at a ceremony celebrating the exhibit, which had scores of attendees, before feeling faint and needing to lean on one of his aides for help, she said.

It was not the first such medical incident to involve Price at a public event. Last year, Price fainted while appearing at a groundbreaking for the upgrade of the Los Angeles Convention Center, which is located in his district.

At the time, a Price staffer said he was suffering from dehydration. He missed a month of council meetings after that event.

On Wednesday, Valencia-Dumarot said her boss was getting “the care that he needs” at the hospital.

“His wife is with him, his family is with him, and we’re all just wishing him well and sending our prayers,” she said.

The medical incident comes a roughly week after a judge ruled that a corruption case against Price can proceed to trial. Price has been charged with embezzlement, perjury and having a conflict of interest, by casting votes on real estate projects whose developers had hired his wife.

Price’s lawyer said there is no evidence that the council member was aware of the conflicts. All of the projects were approved with overwhelming support, and Price’s vote made no difference in the final result, the attorney said.

MINNEAPOLIS — The Trump administration is reducing the number of immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota after state and local officials agreed to cooperate by turning over arrested immigrants, border policy advisor Tom Homan said Wednesday.

About 700 of the roughly 3,000 federal officers deployed around Minnesota will be withdrawn, Homan said. The immigration operations have upended the Twin Cities and escalated protests, especially since the killing of protester Alex Pretti, the second fatal shooting by federal officers in Minneapolis.

“Given this increase in unprecedented collaboration, and as a result of the need for less public safety officers to do this work and a safer environment, I am announcing, effective immediately, we’ll draw down 700 people effective today — 700 law enforcement personnel,” Homan said during a news conference.

Homan said last week that federal officials could reduce the number of federal agents in Minnesota, but only if state and local officials cooperate. His comments came after President Donald Trump seemed to signal a willingness to ease tensions in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area.

Homan pushed for jails to alert ICE to inmates who could be deported, saying transferring such inmates to the agency is safer because it means fewer officers have to be out looking for people in the country illegally.

The White House has long blamed problems arresting criminal immigrants on places known as sanctuary jurisdictions, a term generally applied to state and local governments that limit law enforcement cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security.

When questioned, Homan said he thinks the ICE operation in Minnesota has been a success.

“Yeah, I just listed a bunch of people we took off the streets of the Twin Cities, so I think it’s very effective as far as public safety goes,” Homan said. “Was it a perfect operation? No. No. We created one unified chain of command to make sure everybody is on the same page. And make sure we follow the rules. I don’t think anybody, purposely, didn’t do something they should have done.”

Associated Press reporter Corey Williams in Detroit contributed.

Second round of talks to follow negotiations last month that appeared to make little progress on key issue of territory.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says a second round of trilateral talks on ending the war with Russia will take place in Abu Dhabi this week as the fate of a temporary energy ceasefire hangs in the balance.

Zelenskyy, whose country’s energy system has come under relentless attack in one of the coldest winters in years, said envoys from the United States, Russia and Ukraine would meet in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and Thursday.

“Ukraine is ready for a substantive discussion, and we are interested in ensuring that the outcome brings us closer to a real and dignified end to the war,” he said on Sunday amid continuing US pressure to reach a deal with Russia after almost four years of war.

The first round of trilateral negotiations took place in late January but appeared to make little progress on the vital question of territory. Moscow still is demanding Kyiv cede a fifth of the Donetsk region that it still controls, which Zelenskyy’s government is refusing to do. The next round had been scheduled to take place on Sunday but may have been delayed because of the US-Iran crisis.

US President Donald Trump, who has said he wants to be remembered as a “peacemaker”, has repeatedly said a deal to end the Ukraine war is close and on Thursday announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to stop strikes on energy targets for a week due to cold weather.

The terms of his agreement with Putin were not clear, but the Kremlin said on Friday that it had agreed to halt strikes on energy infrastructure until Sunday. Ukraine appeared to believe the suspension was supposed to last until the following Friday.

Medvedev says Russian victory near

Meanwhile, US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Saturday that he held constructive talks with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Florida.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and White House senior adviser Josh Gruenbaum also attended the talks. Witkoff said afterwards that he was “encouraged by this meeting that Russia is working toward securing peace in Ukraine”.

On Sunday, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev praised Trump as a “peacemaker”, telling the Reuters news agency that Russia would “soon” achieve a military victory in the Ukraine war.

“But it is equally important to think about what will happen next. After all, the goal of victory is to prevent new conflicts. This is absolutely obvious,” said the hawkish former president, who now serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council.

Neither Ukraine nor Russia have reported major strikes on their energy infrastructure in recent days although Zelenskyy said Russia was trying “to destroy logistics and connectivity between cities and communities” through air attacks.

In southeastern Ukraine, two people were killed overnight in a drone strike on a residential building in the city of Dnipro, and six people were wounded in an attack on a maternity hospital in Zaporizhzhia, regional officials said.

ATLANTA — It is a goal spreading among anti-tax crusaders — eliminate all property taxes on homeowners.

Rising property values have inflated tax bills in many states, but ending all homeowner taxes would cost billions or even tens of billions in most states. It is unclear whether lawmakers can pull it off without harming schools and local governments that rely on the taxes to provide services.

Officials in North Dakota say they are on their way, using state oil money. Wednesday, Republicans in the Georgia House unveiled a complex effort to phase out homeowner property taxes by 2032. In Florida, GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis says that is his goal, with lawmakers considering phasing out nonschool property taxes on homeowners over 10 years. And in Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott says he wants to eliminate property taxes for schools.

Republicans are echoing those who say taxes, especially when the tax collector can seize a house for nonpayment, mean no one truly owns property.

“No one should ever face the loss of their home because they can’t pay rent to the government,” Georgia Republican House Speaker Jon Burns of Newington said Wednesday.

An election-year tax revolt

These audacious election-year efforts could be joined by ballot initiatives in Oklahoma and Ohio to eliminate all property taxes. Such initiatives were defeated in North Dakota in 2024 and failed to make the ballot in Nebraska that year, although organizers there are trying again. Another initiative in Michigan may also fail to make the ballot.

“We’re very much in this property tax revolt era, which is not unique, it’s not new. We’ve seen these revolts in the past,” said Manish Bhatt, vice president of state tax policy at the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C., group that is generally skeptical of new taxes.

Previous backlashes led to laws like California’s Proposition 13, a 1978 initiative that limited property tax rates and how much local governments could increase property valuations for tax purposes.

The efforts are aimed at voters like Tim Hodnett, a 65-year-old retiree in suburban Atlanta’s Lawrenceville. Hodnett’s annual property tax bill rose from $2,000 to $3,000 between 2018 and 2024. He sees those figures starkly because he paid off his mortgage years ago, and he pays his taxes all at once instead of making monthly payments.

Hodnett said he is disabled and living on $30,000 a year. He is about to get a big property tax break, because seniors in Gwinnett County are exempt from school property taxes, about two-thirds of his bill. But he would love not to pay that other $1,000.

“It would be nice to be exempt from property taxes,” Hodnett said.

Will there be replacement revenue?

The question is whether local governments and K-12 schools should be expected to cut spending, or whether they will be allowed to make up revenue from some other source.

“I think the complete elimination of the property tax for homeowners is really going to be very difficult in most states and localities around the country, and undesirable in most places,” said Adam Langley of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a Massachusetts nonprofit that studies land use and taxation.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican, has been touring the state arguing that local governments are overspending, trying to show they don’t need the $19 billion in property taxes they collect from homeowners for whom the property is their primary residence. Local governments have been disputing those figures.

North Dakota is using earnings from the state’s $13.4-billion oil tax savings account to gradually wipe out homeowner property taxes. Last year, North Dakota’s Republican-controlled Legislature expanded its primary residence tax credit from $500 to $1,600 a year. Officials in December said the tax credit wiped out property taxes for 50,000 households last year and reduced bills for nearly 100,000 more. That cost $400 million in state subsidies for the 2025 and 2026 tax years.

“It works, and we know we can build on it to provide even more relief and get property taxes to zero for the vast majority of North Dakota homeowners,” Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong said.

The situation is murkier in Texas, which has been using state surplus funds to finance property tax reductions, and under the Georgia proposal, which calls for shifting taxes around.

A shift from property to sales taxes

Burns wants Georgia to wipe out $5.2 billion in homeowner property taxes — more than a quarter of the $19.9 billion in property taxes collected in 2024 — telling cities, counties and school districts to fall back on current or new sales taxes.

Not only will Burns’ plan need the Republican-led Senate to agree, but it will require Democratic support to meet the two-thirds hurdle for a state constitutional amendment and then voter approval in November.

While most property taxes go to schools, the majority of sales taxes don’t in some communities. It is unclear whether localities would redivide sales taxes. Also, local governments and schools would remain limited to a combined 5% sales tax rate, atop the state’s 4% rate. Some schools and governments might not be able to raise sales taxes enough to recover lost revenue.

Georgia would go from currently shielding $5,000 in home value from taxation to $150,000 in 2031 before abolishing most homeowner property taxes in 2032. The plan would limit yearly property tax revenue growth to 3% on other kinds of property.

Local governments would able to send homeowners a yearly bill for specified services such as garbage pickup, street lighting, stormwater control and fire protection, but lawmakers aren’t calling that a tax. Voters could also approve assessments for government or school improvements. Authors said they haven’t decided whether property owners could lose homes for unpaid assessments.

Burns also wants to spend about $1 billion to cut property tax bills in 2026, but it is unclear whether Republican Gov. Brian Kemp will agree. A spokesperson declined to comment.

Georgia previously tried to limit how much home values could rise for tax purposes, one common approach nationwide. But a majority of school districts and many other local governments have opted out. Georgia’s senators are still pursuing that approach, with a Senate committee on Wednesday voting to make the limit mandatory.

Amy writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Jack Dura in Bismarck, N.D., contributed to this report.

The schism between Democratic environmental ideals and California voters’ anxiety about affordability, notably gas prices, were on full display during an environmental policy forum among some of the state’s top Democratic candidates for governor on Wednesday.

The Democrats questioned the economic impact Californians could face because of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s goal to have the state transition to zero-emission vehicles, a policy that would ban the sale of new gas-powered cars and trucks by 2035. The Trump administration has attempted to negate the policy by canceling federal tax credits for the purchase of such vehicles along with invalidating California’s strict emission standards.

“It’s absolutely true that it’s not affordable today for many people to choose” an electric vehicle, said former Rep. Katie Porter of Irvine. “It’s the fact that, particularly with expiring federal subsidies and the cuts that [President] Trump has made, an electric vehicle often costs $8,000 or $10,000 more. If we want people to choose EVs, we have to close that gap.”

Both Porter and rival Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra, who served as Health and Human Services secretary under former President Biden, said that as governor they would focus on making low-emission vehicles more affordable and practical. Porter said the cost of buying a zero-emission car needs to be comparable with those that run on gas, and Becerra said California needs to have enough charging stations so drivers “don’t have to worry can they get to their destination.”

“We know our future is in clean energy and in making our environment as clean as possible,” Becerra said. “We’ve got to make it affordable for families.”

Porter and Becerra joined two other Democrats in the 2026 California governor’s race — former hedge fund founder turned environmental advocate Tom Steyer and Rep. Eric Swalwell of Dublin — at the Pasadena event hosted by California Environmental Voters, UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, the Climate Center Action Fund and the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund. The Democrats largely agreed about issues such as combating climate change, accelerating the transition to clean energy and protecting California’s water resources.

The coalition invited the six candidates with greatest support in recent public opinion polls. Republicans Chad Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, and Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator, did not respond to an invitation to participate in the forum, which was moderated by Sammy Roth, the writer of Climate-Colored Goggles on Substack, and Louise Bedsworth, executive director of the UC Berkeley center.

Newsom, who has acknowledged that he is considering a run for president in 2028, is serving the final year of his second term as governor and is barred from running again.

The state’s high cost of living, including high gas prices, continues to be a political vulnerability for Democrats who support California’s progressive environmental agenda.

In another controversial issue facing the state, most of the Democratic candidates on Wednesday distanced themselves from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta tunnel, a massive and controversial proposal to move water to Southern California and the Central Valley. Though it has seen various iterations, the concept dates back to Gov. Jerry Brown’s first foray as California governor more than four decades ago.

Despite Newsom’s efforts to fast-track the project, it has been stalled by environmental reviews and lawsuits. It hit another legal hurdle this month when a state appeals court rejected the state’s plan to finance the 45-mile tunnel.

Swalwell, Porter and Steyer argued that there are faster and less expensive ways to collect and deliver water to thirsty parts of California.

“We have to move much faster than the Delta tunnel could ever move in terms of solving our water problems,” Steyer said, adding that data and technology could be deployed to more efficiently deliver water to farms.

Swalwell said he does not support the project “as it’s designed now” and proposed covering “400 miles of aqueducts” with solar panels.

During Wednesday’s forum, Becerra also committed a gaffe as he discussed rooftop solar programs for Californians with a word that some consider a slur about Jewish people.

“We need to go after the shysters,” Becerra said. “We know that there are people who go out there to swindle families as they talk about rooftop solar, so we have to make sure that that doesn’t happen so they get the benefit of solar.”

The term is not viewed as derogatory as other antisemitic slurs and was routinely used in past decades, a spokesperson for the Becerra campaign noted after the event.

“Secretary Becerra never knew this word to be offensive and certainly he meant no disrespect to anyone,” said a campaign spokesperson. “He was talking about protecting the hardest-working and lowest-paid Californians who are often taken advantage of by unscrupulous actors.”

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS

BOYS
CITY SECTION
AMIT 39, MSAR 28
Angelou 76, Jefferson 65
Bernstein 89, Belmont 35
Birmingham 72, Taft 48
Central City Value 58, USC-MAE 46
CHAMPS 54, Lakeview Charter 21
Cleveland 79, Granada Hills 57
Community Charter 54, Valley Oaks CES 41
East Valley 64, Vaughn 48
El Camino Real 66, Chatsworth 58
Foshay 76, Stella Charter 23
Fulton 51, VAAS 39
Garfield 53, Huntington Park 45
Gertz-Ressler 68, Alliance Ouchi 27
Grant 77, Chavez 35
Hawkins 60, Harbor Teacher 42
Los Angeles 76, West Adams 49
LA Hamilton 61, LA University 55
LA Marshall 68, Bravo 45
LA Roosevelt 56, South Gate 30
LA Wilson 83, Franklin 45
Lincoln 43, Eagle Rock 39
Marquez 89, Torres 29
Maywood Academy 45, Maywood CES 41
MSCP 68, Middle College 30
Orthopaedic 46, Animo Bunche 25
Palisades 91, LACES 63
Panorama 64, Reseda 47
Port of Los Angeles 79, Dymally 27
RFK Community 58, Hollywood 56
San Fernando 82, Canoga Park 51
San Pedro 81, Gardena 60
Santee 65, Diego Rivera 45
Simon Tech 66, TEACH Tech Charter 34
Sotomayor 67, Elizabeth 48
South East 71, Legacy 58
Sun Valley Magnet 78, Lake Balboa College 59
Sun Valley Poly 59, North Hollywood 56
Sylmar 86, Van Nuys 55
Triumph Charter 72, Bert Corona 20
USC Hybrid 77, Esperanza College Prep 22
Valor Academy 51, Discovery 25
View Park 60, Locke 36
Washington Prep d. Fremont, forfeit

SOUTHERN SECTION
Aliso Niguel 65, Trabuco Hills 43
Arroyo 74, Pasadena Marshall 41
Ayala 71, Diamond Bar 63
Azusa 73, Baldwin Park 55
Bassett 66, Pomona 34
Bishop Amat 76, Gardena Serra 38
Blair 58, Temple City 51
Bonita 60, Walnut 55
Burbank Providence 66, Milken 55
California 75, El Rancho 36
Chaparral 73, Vista Murrieta 58
Charter Oak 56, Hacienda Heights Wilson 55
Citrus Hill 72, Canyon Springs 37
Covina 42, Rowland 39
CSDR 62, La Sierra Academy 46
Desert Christian Academy 41, California Military Institute 32
Desert Hot Springs 68, Banning 56
Eastvale Roosevelt 94, Norco 51
Edgewood 59, Workman 24
El Dorado 68, Troy 47
Gahr 43, Dominguez 36
Glendora 62, Claremont 47
Hemet 66, Arlington 32
Heritage 68, Lakeside 61
Hesperia 99, Apple Valley 60
Indian Springs 57, Pacific 49
Indio 70, Twentynine Palms 66
JSerra 89, Servite 47
La Canada 76, South Pasadena 45
La Mirada 81, Mayfair 65
La Serna 60, Santa Fe 24
Loara 57, Magnolia 45
Los Alamitos 71, Fountain Valley 52
Los Amigos 72, Anaheim 55
Mission Viejo 75, Dana Hills 56
Moreno Valley 66, Riverside North 44
Murrieta Mesa 71, Great Oak 63
Nogales 56, Garey 43
Norte Vista 86, Rubidoux 44
Norwalk 42, Lynwood 33
Orange Lutheran 72, St. John Bosco 68
Oxnard Pacifica 59, Buena 54
Paloma Valley 56, Vista del Lago 49
Pasadena Poly 47, Flintridge Prep 42
Patriot 56, la Sierra 29
Pilibos 89, Le Lycée 40
Public Safety Academy 74, River Springs Charter 28
Ramona 73, Jurupa Valley 40
Riverside King 69, Corona 61
Riverside Poly 54, Hillcrest 47
Rosemead 46, South El Monte 29
RSCSM 62, River Springs 52
San Bernardino 95, Miller 58
San Clemente 64, Capistrano Valley 37
San Marcos 61, Dos Pueblos 51
San Marino 77, Monrovia 40
Santa Barbara Providence 72, Oak Grove 16
Santa Margarita 74, Mater Dei 73
Sierra Vista 68, Duarte 61
St. Bonaventure 52, Thacher 47
St. Monica 89, St. Paul 53
Tesoro 74, San Juan Hills 39
Valley View 78, Perris 65
Villanova Prep 57, Laguna Blanca 42
Vista Meridian 58, Eastside Christian 34
Westminster La Quinta 48, Orange 46

GIRLS
CITY SECTION
AMIT 27, MSAR 20
Angelou 51, Jefferson 22
Animo Bunche 33, Orthopaedic 24
Arleta 67, Monroe 7
Aspire Ollin 53, Downtown Magnets 9
Bernstein 52, Belmont 4
Birmingham 76, Taft 29
Carson 92, Rancho Dominguez 3
Contreras 28, Roybal 19
Discovery 35, Valor Academy 24
Eagle Rock d. Lincoln, forfeit
King/Drew 85, Crenshaw 20
LA Hamilton 88, LA University 16
Garfield 63, Huntington Park 30
Granada Hills 56, Cleveland 45
Marquez 33, Torres 28
MSCP 53, Middle College 15
Palisades 56, LACES 35
Panorama 54, Reseda 12
San Pedro 42, Gardena 24
USC-MAE 31, Central City Value 28
Washington Prep 79, Fremont 7
West Adams 55, Los Angeles 20
Westchester 83, Venice 44

SOUTHERN SECTION
Arlington 32, Citrus Hill 15
Arroyo 24, Pasadena Marshall 16
Baldwin Park 48, Azusa 39
Bassett 23, Pomona 8
Bolsa Grande 42, Estancia 31
Bonita 34, Walnut 30
Brentwood 59, Windward 57
Buena Park 73, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 10
Cantwell-Sacred Heart 52, St. Mary’s Academy 25
Carpinteria 44, Del Sol 24
Chaparral 52, Vista Murrieta 50
Coachella Valley 54, Yucca Valley 44
Crossroads 45, Archer 12
Desert Christian Academy 47, California Military Institute 30
Desert Hot Springs 49, Banning 42
Desert Mirage 31, Cathedral City 24
Eastvale Roosevelt 58, Corona Santiago 38
Edgewood 49, Workman 22
El Rancho 60, California 47
Excelsior Charter 48, PAL Academy 4
Fillmore 53, Nordhoff 43
Flintridge Prep 58, Mayfield 14
Fullerton 56, Laguna Hills 32
Garden Grove 52, Katella 39
Glendora 55, Claremont 38
Godinez 75, Placentia Valencia 60
Hacienda Heights Wilson 59, Charter Oak 26
Harvard-Westlake 58, Louisville 29
Hemet 45, Canyon Springs 39
Hesperia 59, Apple Valley 21
Hillcrest 58, Riverside Poly 46
Indian Springs 59, Pacific 26
La Canada 54, South Pasadena 39
La Palma Kennedy 30, Santa Ana 7
La Puente 38, Ganesha 30
Liberty 44, Vista del Lago 18
Loara 28, Westminster La Quinta 19
Long Beach Jordan 66, Long Beach Cabrillo 0
Nogales 62, Garey 23
Norte Vista 31, Rubidoux 12
Northview 38, West Covina 36
Northwood 46, Irvine University 26
Norwalk 56, Bellflower 37
Oak Hills 71, Ridgecrest Burroughs 35
Orange 57, Magnolia 13
Orange County Pacifica Christian 69, San Gabriel Academy 18
Packinghouse Christian Academy 47, Bethel Christian 10
Paramount 84, La Mirada 15
Pasadena Poly 56, Oakwood 37
Patriot 42, La Sierra 34
Pilibos 55, Le Lycée 10
Quartz Hill 53, Rosamond 37
Ramona 64, Jurupa Valley 38
Riverside North 36, Lakeside 31
River Springs Charter Magnolia d. Hemet River Springs, forfeit
Rolling Hills Prep 91, Leuzinger 67
Rosemead 51, South El Monte 24
Saddleback 27, Century 22
Sage Hill 65, Rosary Academy 50
San Bernardino 56, Miller 19
San Marino 40, Monrovia 13
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 59, Chaminade 50
Sierra Vista 44, Duarte 42
St. Margaret’s 36, Portola 32
Warren 74, Mayfair 15
Western 52, Garden Grove Santiago 8
Woodbridge 44, Irvine 27

A Los Angeles County judge ruled Wednesday that a corruption case against L.A. City Councilman Curren Price can move forward to trial, ensuring the misconduct scandal will hang over the veteran politician’s final year in office.

L.A. County Superior Court Judge Shelly Torrealba determined that prosecutors had provided enough evidence to move forward on four counts of voting on matters in which Price had a conflict of interest, four counts of embezzlement and four counts of perjury.

Price, who is set to leave the City Council after reaching his term limit at the end of the year, declined to comment after the hearing.

The councilman, who has represented South L.A. for more than a decade, was charged in June 2023. Prosecutors allege Price repeatedly voted to approve sales of land to developers or funding for agencies who had done business with his wife, Del Richardson, and her consulting company. Some of the votes involved funding and grants for the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the city housing authority.

Price, 75, is also accused of perjury for failing to include Richardson’s income on disclosure forms and embezzlement for including her on his city health insurance plan before they were legally married. He is due back in court in March, Torrealba said.

Richardson was named as a “suspect” in the district attorney’s office’s initial investigation in 2022, according to documents made public last year, but she was never charged with a crime. She has been among a group of Price’s supporters who have been in court for the past week. The two wore matching burgundy suits during Wednesday’s hearing.

Much of the weeklong proceeding centered around whether Price knew of potential conflicts of interest before casting votes, or intended to hide his financial stakes in them from the public. Delphi Smith, a former staffer for the councilman, and Price’s deputy chief of staff Maritza Alcaraz took the stand to explain the process they used to flag problematic council votes for Price and insisted they made their best efforts to highlight agenda items linked to vendors or agencies who had worked with Richardson.

“If the Councilman voted on something that was a potential conflict, he did so without knowing,” Alcaraz testified Wednesday.

L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Casey Higgins, however, said Price is ultimately responsible for disclosing conflicts of interest and argued blaming his subordinates was not a defense to corruption charges.

“It’s not only hiding. It’s trying to create a wall around himself, to create this plausible deniability,” Higgins said. “It’s this ostrich with his head in the sand approach.”

Higgins said Alcaraz and Smith were “trying to jump in front of the bus” and that it was impossible to believe that Price had no knowledge of the conflicts. The dealings allegedly took place between 2019 and 2021 — after a 2019 Times investigation revealed he voted on decisions involving at least 10 companies in the same years they were listed as providing at least $10,000 in income to Richardson’s firm.

Price’s defense attorney, Michael Schafler, has argued there is no evidence that Price knew of the conflicts, and claimed payments to Richardson had no influence on Price’s voting decisions. All of the votes referenced in the criminal complaint passed with overwhelming support, and Price’s vote made no difference in the final result.

“There’s been no evidence presented that Mr. Price acted with any wrongful intent. No testimony from any witness … who said Mr. Price acted with willful intent,” Schafler said Wednesday. “I’ve never seen a public corruption case like that in my life.”

There were enormous sums of money on the line in each vote referenced in the criminal complaint. Richardson took in more than a half-million from October 2019 to June 2020 from the city housing authority before Price voted in favor of millions in grant funding for the agency, according to an amended complaint filed against Price last year.

Prosecutors also alleged Price wrote a motion to give $30 million to the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority during a time frame when Richardson was paid upward of $200,000 by the agency.

After Torrealba’s ruling, Schafler said he was “disappointed” but thought the evidence presented over the past week revealed that “the prosecution’s case has a lot of gaps, a lot of holes, it’s based largely on speculation.”

Some of Price’s City Council colleagues have said Price’s alleged crimes were tantamount to paperwork errors, and should have been handled by the city’s Ethics Commission.

While questioning former employees of Price and Richardson, Higgins sought to paint a more nefarious picture. He repeatedly scrutinized the way that Price’s staff and a former employee of Del Richardson & Associates compiled a list of the firm’s projects that could represent conflicts and communicated about them.

Much of the conflict information was placed on a flash drive and given to Smith in person by Martisa Garcia, an employee of Richardson, Higgins said. Updates to the file were then made over the phone, and not discussed via e-mail, according to Higgins. When Smith and Alcaraz discussed votes in which Price might have to recuse himself, they did so on personal phones rather than city-issued devices, according to evidence Higgins put forth.

Higgins suggested Price’s staff was trying to hide the conflicts of interest.

“Was the thumb drive used to avoid public records requests?” Higgins asked Alcaraz, who curtly replied “No.”

Generally speaking, California Public Records Act requests for an elected official’s communications will only capture what is contained on government devices, not personal phones or e-mails. A spokeswoman for Price, Angelina Valenica, said there was no “intent to avoid PRA requirements” on the part of Price’s staff.

“The Councilmember was not involved in the handling, transport or storage of this information,” she said. “He relied on and trusted his staff to handle the matter appropriately and to seek guidance as necessary.”

While it’s unlikely Price will stand trial before his term runs out, the case could loom large over the race to replace him. A field of seven candidates is running for his council seat, including Price’s deputy chief of staff, Jose Ugarte, who has faced allegations that he failed to disclose consulting income that are similar to the basis of the perjury charges against his boss.

Chris Martin, a candidate and civil rights attorney with Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, said Wednesday that if the allegations are true, Price and his staff need to step down.

“It’s a serious breach of public trust. It’s important that we have leaders in the 9th District who will walk with integrity,” Martin said. “It also seems like he’s got a major issue with his staff enabling him. They should all resign.”