| Newsom launches task force to clear homeless encampments in LA, other cities – Daily News |
| Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced a new statewide task force that will prioritize clearing homeless encampments and expanding services in California’s 10 largest cities, including Los Angeles. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2025-08-29 |
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| Two stairways are required in L.A. apartments. What does that have to do with the housing crisis? - Los Angeles Times |
| Architect Simon Ha was trying to squeeze an apartment building onto a 6,400-square foot lot in Hollywood.
The city of Los Angeles requires two stairways for such buildings, which limited the configurations Ha could use. After racking his brain, he finally came up with a solution.
“It was like designing a Swiss watch,” he said of the 2023 project.
Now, the L.A. City Council is on the brink of allowing just one stairway for buildings up to six stories, making it easier and cheaper to build on smaller lots — but raising concerns about escape routes in a fire or earthquake.
Councilmember Nithya Raman, who introduced the single stairway proposal with Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, said she wants to speed up development to address the city’s housing crisis and to encourage the construction of apartments big enough for families. And she believes safety needn’t be sacrificed.
“We’re trying to say, ‘How can we build more safely — and build more overall?’” Raman said in an interview.
Until recently, New York, Seattle and Honolulu were among the few American cities that allowed single stairways in buildings of up to six stories. Since 2022, amid a nationwide affordable housing crunch, at least 16 cities and states have proposed or enacted single stairway regulations, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts study released in February.
The double stairway rule, in place in California since 1981, makes it harder to build apartments with more than two bedrooms, urban planners and architects said.
Apartments typically have to be laid out along a long hallway, with windows on only one side of each unit, resulting in less light and ventilation, said Stephen Smith, who is executive director of the Center for Building in North America and one of the single stairway’s biggest advocates.
“For small lots in particular, the second stairway can eat up a huge amount of the building’s footprint,” he said. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-08-29 |
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| Trump administration cuts funding for US offshore wind industry | AP News |
| The Transportation Department on Friday canceled $679 million in federal funding for a dozen offshore wind projects, the latest attack by the Trump administration on the reeling U.S. offshore wind industry.
Funding for projects in 11 states was rescinded, including $435 million for a floating wind farm in Northern California and $47 million to boost an offshore wind project in Maryland that the Interior Department has pledged to cancel. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-08-29 |
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| The Trump administration wants to build more roads through national forests | LAist |
| The Trump administration wants to build more roads in the country's national forests by rescinding a decades-old rule that protects nearly 60 million acres of forested lands.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is expected to formally start the process of undoing the 2001 Roadless Rule — a move that it argues will help the country's firefighters.
"For nearly 25 years, the Roadless Rule has frustrated land managers and served as a barrier to action — prohibiting road construction, which has limited wildfire suppression and active forest management," U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said in a press statement Wednesday. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-08-29 |
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| Some Koreatown apartments replace parking with ADUs – NBC Los Angeles |
| A battle is brewing between tenants and their landlord over several parking spots in Koreatown, one of the most dense LA neighborhoods notorious for the lack of street parking.
For people who live in an apartment complex on 5th Street and Kingsley Drive, finding parking will soon become one of their daily struggles: their landlord is turning all parking in the complex into Accessory Dwelling Units or ADUs. [Article] |
| by , KNBC Los Angeles. 2025-08-29 |
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| Sheriff Corpus’ allies defend her in high-stakes San Mateo County removal hearing – The Mercury News |
| Thursday’s testimony featured members of Corpus’ executive team and community supporters who remain within her circle even after the release of the Cordell report [Article] |
| by , San Jose Mercury News. 2025-08-29 |
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| Turf's up! Metropolitan Water District doubles rebate for non-residential properties to replace grass | LAist |
| The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is more than doubling its rebate for businesses, schools and other institutions who want to replace their grass lawn with more sustainable landscaping.
What’s new: The rebate for the agency’s turf replacement program will increase from $3 per square foot to $7 starting Sept. 1. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-08-29 |
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| Pasadena Rental Housing Board sets rental increase for rent stabilized units – Daily News |
| The Pasadena Rental Housing Board this month approved the annual general adjustment for the next rent increase cycle at 2.25%. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2025-08-29 |
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| ICE is hiring 10,000 agents. Some unexpected people want to join the Trump crackdown |
| ARLINGTON, Texas — They came from all across America to join President Trump’s deportation machine.
A Border Patrol agent, his firefighter wife and their 3-year-old daughter who drove nearly eight hours for jobs that could bring them closer to home. A man from Tennessee who wanted to apply because of “the way things have become with the illegal immigration and the strain it’s been on our economy.”
And a young Latino who was already catching flak for trying to work for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A friend texted: “Oh hell no Ricardo I thought you was joking. I will not speak to you ever again if you become and ice agent ... You have a dad who was deported dude.”
They showed up Tuesday in Arlington, Texas, drawn by the Department of Homeland Security, which has mounted a campaign reminiscent of a wartime recruitment drive. Its images of Uncle Sam — wearing a baseball cap with the letters ICE or with an eagle behind him — tell people “AMERICA NEEDS YOU.”
“America has been invaded by criminals and predators,” the recruitment posts on social media read. “We need YOU to get them out.”
This week’s two-day career expo marked the first major hiring event staged by ICE since the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which earmarked about $170 billion for border and immigration enforcement, including tens of billions of dollars for hiring deportation agents and other personnel. ICE officials say it’s the first of several hiring events planned around the country. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-08-29 |
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| California governor, state lawmakers and rideshare giants reach deal for drivers' rights | AP News |
| California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers have struck a deal with rideshare companies Uber and Lyft to allow drivers to join a union and bargain collectively for better wages and benefits.
The agreement includes a bill for collective bargaining backed by the Service Employees International Union along with a measure sponsored by Uber and Lyft that would significantly reduce the companies’ insurance requirements for accidents caused by underinsured drivers, would ultimately reduce costs for passengers. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-08-29 |
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| LA County supervisors take up relief for renters after fires and ICE raids | LAist |
| The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a proposed $10 million program to provide rental assistance to tenants affected by January’s destructive fires, as well as recent Trump administration immigration enforcement efforts. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-08-29 |
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| Police are issuing far fewer speeding tickets than in years past, and more people are dying in crashes • Long Beach Post News |
| Long Beach police are handing out a lot fewer speeding tickets than they used to — and it’s not because people have suddenly slowed down.
According to police data analyzed by the Long Beach Post, officers last year wrote 1,659 speeding tickets, less than half of the 3,431 speed citations they issued five years earlier in 2019. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-08-29 |
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| L.A. has enough rental subsidies to end veteran homelessness. Why aren't they being used? |
| Over the last decade, Los Angeles County housing authorities have received nearly 4,500 rental vouchers to get homeless veterans into permanent housing.
If all of those vouchers had been put to use, veteran homelessness would be a thing of the past.
“There are certainly enough available vouchers to eliminate veteran homelessness in Los Angeles County,” said Emilio Salas, executive director of the county housing authority.
Instead, chronic failures in a complicated system of referral, leasing and support services have left those housing authorities treading water. About 4,000 vouchers are gathering dust while an estimated 3,400 veterans remain on the county’s streets or in its shelters.
The county’s 11 housing agencies that receive vouchers through the federal HUD-VASH program have obtained leases for only 59% of them, a rate 20 percentage points below the national average.
Salas and other housing authority officials say they could do much better if the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs would send them more applicants. In a segmented system, the housing authorities manage the leasing but the VA is responsible for identifying qualified veterans and helping them find a home.
“Getting them through that process to me to issue the voucher is where the problem lies,” Salas said.
The chief executive of L.A. city’s housing authority, Lourdes Castro Ramirez, said the agency would need 25 referrals a week, three times what it has historically received, to use its vouchers effectively.
But a Times review of records from the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Development Authority, the two agencies that hold 87% of the vouchers in the county, shows a much more complicated picture. Nearly half the veterans referred to them since 2020 dropped out without obtaining a lease, and the leases secured were offset by almost as many terminations.
“The process is ridiculous,” said Rob Reynolds, an Iraq war veteran who has spent years assisting veterans at the Department of Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles campus, which is the starting point for many veterans seeking housing.
Reynolds, who helps up to 10 veterans at a time navigate the system, said he sees them fall through the cracks at every step along the way. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2025-08-29 |
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| Airbnb wants LA to allow more short-term rentals to 'protect jobs,' but unions are split | LAist |
| When Airbnb recently launched its campaign to drum up support for more short-term rentals in Los Angeles, it said the effort would produce taxes that would help solve the city's budget crisis and save city employees' jobs.
But labor organizations are split on the effort that's being pushed by the so-called "Save Our Services" coalition, which is touted as being community-based but whose spokesperson is an Airbnb representative. The coalition proposes loosening an L.A. law to allow a limited number of people to rent out second homes as vacation rentals. Currently, the city limits short-term rentals to primary residences. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-08-29 |
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| California bill would help keep street vendors’ sensitive data from ICE |
| Long a part of the food ecosystem and culture of Southern California, street vendors waged a long fight to become part of the formal economy. In 2018, the City of Los Angeles dropped criminal penalties for street vending from its municipal code, and in 2019, the state followed, essentially decriminalizing the business of street vending. Since then, cities across California have developed permitting, health codes, and registration processes for street vendors that are meant to protect the small business owners and consumers. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-08-29 |
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| California bullet train crews could lay track next year |
| The California High-Speed Rail Authority on Thursday announced a plan to accelerate the process of laying the first tracks on the state’s beleaguered infrastructure project. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-08-29 |
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| California lawmakers slam Cal/OSHA over audit showing weak worker protections | LAist |
| California lawmakers put top state officials tasked with protecting worker health and safety under intense fire Wednesday for falling short of their mission, as highlighted by a recent state audit.
The hearing in Sacramento exposed deficiencies hampering Cal/OSHA’s ability to prevent job-related deaths and injuries. The agency failed to conduct some on-site inspections and levy appropriate fines, even when doing so would have better protected workers, the report published July 17 said. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-08-29 |
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| Minneapolis shooting prompts new calls for gun restrictions | AP News |
| A shooting at a Catholic church full of schoolchildren in Minnesota has prompted calls for gun safety legislation. But translating action into policy may be difficult in a state that mirrors the nation’s partisan divisions and split opinions on how best to prevent mass shootings.
A day after the deadly shootings, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Thursday called for a statewide and federal ban on certain semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines. If others don’t act, Frey suggested, the city may act on its own.
“I think we’d be happy to ban assault rifles here in Minneapolis,” Frey said. “I know we’d be happy to prevent a next mass shooting from taking place.” [Article] |
| by , . 2025-08-29 |
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| This good boy comforted first responders at the January fires. Now he's up for an award | LAist |
| Chatsworth resident Steven Zonis was on the fence about getting another dog after his poodle Misha died.
"I was very broken-hearted about it and told my wife, 'That's it. No more,'" Zonis said.
But the now-retired engineer changed his mind after his wife said she dreamed about a black-and-white puppy. That set the couple off in search of a new standard poodle with the intention this time around to train it as a therapy dog. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-08-29 |
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| Hawaii's new tax on cruise industry faces legal challenge | AP News |
| A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Hawaii imposing a tourist tax to deal with consequences of climate change seeks to stop officials from enforcing the new law on cruise ship passengers.
In the nation’s first such levy to help cope with a warming planet, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green signed legislation in May that raises tax revenue to deal with eroding shorelines, wildfires and other climate problems. Officials estimate the tax will generate nearly $100 million annually. [Article] |
| by , . 2025-08-29 |
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