The Trump administration plans to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Saturday.Related video above: “Full force, if necessary:” Why President Trump is sending troops to Portland, OregonPritzker said the guard received word from the Pentagon in the morning that the troops would be called up. He did not specify when or where they would be deployed, but President Donald Trump has long threatened to send troops to Chicago.“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said in a statement. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for additional details. The White House and the Pentagon did not respond to questions about Pritzker’s statement.The escalation of federal law enforcement in Illinois follows similar deployments in other parts of the country. Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and as part of his law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile Tennessee National Guard troops are expected to help Memphis police.California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued to stop the deployment in Los Angeles and won a temporary block in federal court. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling that the use of the guard was illegal, and a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has indicated that it believes the government is likely to prevail.Pritzker called Trump’s move in Illinois a “manufactured performance” that would pull the state’s National Guard troops away from their families and regular jobs.“For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control,” said the governor, who also noted that state, county and local law enforcement have been coordinating to ensure the safety of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview facility on the outskirts of Chicago.Federal officials reported the arrests of 13 people protesting Friday near the facility, which has been frequently targeted during the administration’s surge of immigration enforcement this fall.Trump also said last month that he was sending federal troops to Portland, Oregon, calling the city war-ravaged. But local officials have suggested that many of his claims and social media posts appear to rely on images from 2020, when demonstrations and unrest gripped the city following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.City and state officials sued to stop the deployment the next day. U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut heard arguments Friday, and a ruling is expected over the weekend.Trump has federalized 200 National Guard troops in Oregon, but so far it does not appear that they have moved into Portland. They have been seen training on the coast in anticipation of a deployment. Associated Press reporter Rebecca Boone contributed.
The Trump administration plans to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Saturday.
Related video above: “Full force, if necessary:” Why President Trump is sending troops to Portland, Oregon
Pritzker said the guard received word from the Pentagon in the morning that the troops would be called up. He did not specify when or where they would be deployed, but President Donald Trump has long threatened to send troops to Chicago.
“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said in a statement. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for additional details. The White House and the Pentagon did not respond to questions about Pritzker’s statement.
The escalation of federal law enforcement in Illinois follows similar deployments in other parts of the country. Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and as part of his law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile Tennessee National Guard troops are expected to help Memphis police.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued to stop the deployment in Los Angeles and won a temporary block in federal court. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling that the use of the guard was illegal, and a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has indicated that it believes the government is likely to prevail.
Pritzker called Trump’s move in Illinois a “manufactured performance” that would pull the state’s National Guard troops away from their families and regular jobs.
“For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control,” said the governor, who also noted that state, county and local law enforcement have been coordinating to ensure the safety of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview facility on the outskirts of Chicago.
Trump also said last month that he was sending federal troops to Portland, Oregon, calling the city war-ravaged. But local officials have suggested that many of his claims and social media posts appear to rely on images from 2020, when demonstrations and unrest gripped the city following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
City and state officials sued to stop the deployment the next day. U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut heard arguments Friday, and a ruling is expected over the weekend.
Trump has federalized 200 National Guard troops in Oregon, but so far it does not appear that they have moved into Portland. They have been seen training on the coast in anticipation of a deployment.
WELCOME BACK. I’M DEL RODGERS. AFTER LAST NIGHT’S HOME VICTORY, THE SACRAMENTO REPUBLIC FC SECURED THEIR 11TH PLAYOFF BERTH IN 12 SEASONS AND ARE ONLY THREE POINTS AWAY FROM FIRST PLACE IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS. KCRA 3 MICHELLE DAPPER SHOWS US HOW SACRAMENTO IS ALSO PLAYING FOR THE FIRST PLACE TROPHY IN THE USL. JAGERMEISTER CUP FINAL. IT’S A BIG OCCASION. YOU HAVE TO MAKE THE MOST OF IT BECAUSE THEY DON’T COME AROUND OFTEN. THE REPUBLIC FC, SET TO PLAY IN THEIR THIRD FINAL MATCH IN OVER A DECADE. AS A CLUB, THAT’S WHAT YOU PLAY FOR AS PLAYERS. THAT’S WHAT WE LIVE FOR, YOU KNOW WE WANT TO PLAY AND WIN AND AND LIFT TROPHIES. FROM THE INAUGURAL USL CHAMPIONSHIP IN 2014, WITH FINALS MVP RODRIGO LOPEZ TO WITNESS ANOTHER FINAL AT HOME. IT’S GOING TO BE TRULY SPECIAL TO THE U.S. OPEN CUP FINAL IN 2022 AGAINST ORLANDO. I THINK YOU HAVE TO PUT IT RIGHT UP THERE WITH THE OPEN CUP FINAL BECAUSE IT’S AT HOME AND IT’S GOING TO BE SUCH A BIG OCCASION FOR THE CITY. SACRAMENTO NOW LOOKS TO ADD SOME SILVERWARE IN THE USL JAGERMEISTER CUP CHAMPIONSHIP. IT’S EVERYTHING WE COULD HAVE WISHED FOR AT THE START OF THE SEASON. IF YOU SAID, YOU KNOW, WE’LL PLAY IN THE FINAL AT HOME, WE’D HAVE SNAPPED YOUR HAND OFF IN GROUP PLAY. SACRAMENTO FINISHED THREE OF FOUR WITH GOALKEEPER JARED MAZZOLA ALLOWING JUST ONE GOAL. TOURNAMENTS ALLOW PLAYERS TO COME IN AND PLAY, YOU KNOW AND AND HE’S BEEN ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE. THEY THEN SURVIVED TWO PENALTY SHOOTOUTS IN THE KNOCKOUT ROUNDS. I THINK WHAT SETS THIS GROUP APART IS THAT EVERYONE YOU KNOW IS ROWING TOWARDS THE SAME DIRECTION. ONE COMMON GOAL CLAIMING THEIR SECOND CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY. YOU’VE GOT HARTFORD FIRST TIME PLAYING FOR A TROPHY. YOU GOT SACRAMENTO. LAST TIME THEY PLAYED FOR ONE WAS IN THE OPEN CUP, BUT THIS IS AT HOME RIGHT. IT’S GOING TO BE ENTERTAINING. IT’S GOING TO BE AMAZING. AND I KNOW IT’S GOING TO BE ELECTRIC. IN SACRAMENTO. MICHELLE DAPPER KCRA THREE NEWS. THANK YOU MICHELLE. SO THIS SATURDAY AT HEART HEALTH PARK INSIDE OF CAL EXPO WITH THE JAGERMEISTER CUP FINAL BETWEEN VISITING HARTFORD, ATLANTIC AND YOUR HOME TEAM, THE SACRAMENTO REPUBLIC FC. KI
Sacramento Republic FC prepares for USL Jägermeister Cup final at home
Sacramento Republic FC is set to play in the USL Jägermeister Cup Championship final at home, marking their third final match in over a decade and aiming to secure their second championship trophy.”It’s a big occasion. You have to make the most of it because they don’t come around often,” said Republic FC defender, Lee Desmond.Rodrigo Lopez, the finals MVP from the inaugural USL Championship in 2014, expressed the significance of playing for trophies. “As a club, that’s what you play for as players. That’s what we live for. You know, we want to play and win and, and lift trophies,” Lopez said.Witnessing another final at home is expected to be truly special for the team and the city. Sacramento previously reached the U.S. Open Cup final in 2022 against Orlando, and this upcoming match is anticipated to be just as significant. “I think you have to put it right up there with the Open Cup final because it’s our home and it’s going to be such a big occasion for the city,” said Desmond.Sacramento Republic FC aims to add more silverware to their collection in the USL Jägermeister Cup Championship. The team finished third in group play, with goalkeeper Jared Mazzola allowing just one goal, and survived two penalty shootouts in the knockout rounds. “This tournament allows players to come in and play, you know, and he’s been absolutely unbelievable,” said Republic defender, jack Gurr about Mazzola’s performance.The team is united in their pursuit of claiming their second championship trophy. “I think what sets this group apart is that everyone, you know, is running towards the same direction,” said Lopez.The match promises to be entertaining and electric, with Sacramento playing at home for a trophy, a scenario last seen in the Open Cup. “It’s going to be entertaining. It’s going to be amazing. And I know it’s going to be electric,” said Lopez.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
Sacramento Republic FC is set to play in the USL Jägermeister Cup Championship final at home, marking their third final match in over a decade and aiming to secure their second championship trophy.
“It’s a big occasion. You have to make the most of it because they don’t come around often,” said Republic FC defender, Lee Desmond.
Rodrigo Lopez, the finals MVP from the inaugural USL Championship in 2014, expressed the significance of playing for trophies. “As a club, that’s what you play for as players. That’s what we live for. You know, we want to play and win and, and lift trophies,” Lopez said.
Witnessing another final at home is expected to be truly special for the team and the city. Sacramento previously reached the U.S. Open Cup final in 2022 against Orlando, and this upcoming match is anticipated to be just as significant.
“I think you have to put it right up there with the Open Cup final because it’s our home and it’s going to be such a big occasion for the city,” said Desmond.
Sacramento Republic FC aims to add more silverware to their collection in the USL Jägermeister Cup Championship. The team finished third in group play, with goalkeeper Jared Mazzola allowing just one goal, and survived two penalty shootouts in the knockout rounds.
“This tournament allows players to come in and play, you know, and he’s been absolutely unbelievable,” said Republic defender, jack Gurr about Mazzola’s performance.
The team is united in their pursuit of claiming their second championship trophy. “I think what sets this group apart is that everyone, you know, is running towards the same direction,” said Lopez.
The match promises to be entertaining and electric, with Sacramento playing at home for a trophy, a scenario last seen in the Open Cup.
“It’s going to be entertaining. It’s going to be amazing. And I know it’s going to be electric,” said Lopez.
548. SEE YOU GUYS THEN. SEE YOU THEN. TONY. ALL RIGHT. THE STATE DOSE TEAM CONTINUES TO TARGET WHAT THEY CALL WASTEFUL SPENDING BY CITIES AND COUNTIES. ORLANDO IS TAKING THE LATEST HIT FROM REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP. BUT AS WESH TWO NEWS POLITICAL REPORTER GREG FOX EXPLAINS, THE STATE IS LEAVING OUT KEY INFORMATION. ROSES ARE RED, VIOLETS ARE BLUE. OUR PROPERTY TAXES ARE HIGH BECAUSE OF YOU. USING RHYME AND METER, REPUBLICAN CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER BLAISE INGOGLIA BLASTED SPENDING IN THE CITY OF ORLANDO DURING THE PAST TWO MONTHS, THE CFO AND STATE DOSAGE TEAM HAVE BEEN REVIEWING SPENDING IN THE CITY AND IN ORANGE COUNTY. THEY FLAGGED SEVERAL PROGRAMS, INCLUDING $460,000 SPENT COUNTING TREES, $150,000 SPENT ON ASSISTANCE FOR UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS, $67,500 OVER FIVE YEARS FOR HOT YOGA CLASSES, AND $6,000 ANNUALLY FOR A POET LAUREATE. THE PEOPLE KEEP ASKING, WHERE DOES IT GO? THE COFFERS RUN EMPTY, YET TAXES STILL GROW IN THE HALLS OF THE CITY. ONE LESSON IS CLEAR WASTEFUL SPENDING ECHOES YEAR AFTER YEAR. I CAUGHT UP WITH MAYOR BUDDY DYER AND HE SAYS THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER MAY HAVE WANTED TO DO A LITTLE MORE HOMEWORK BEFORE MAKING HIS REMARKS. IT’S ALL POLITICS. IT SHOULD BE BENEATH THEM. MAYOR DYER EXPLAINED THAT THE YOGA PROGRAM IS PART OF EMPLOYEE HEALTH AND WELLNESS, AND THE ASSERTION THAT THE CITY IS WASTING TAXPAYER MONEY. COUNTING TREES DOESN’T HOLD WATER. ACCORDING TO THE MAYOR, BECAUSE THE PROGRAM OF ENSURING THE HEALTH OF THE CITY’S TREE CANOPY ISN’T FUNDED WITH LOCAL TAX DOLLARS, STATE AND FEDERAL FUNDING. AND WE HAVE A TREE TRUST FUND WHERE IF YOU TAKE DOWN A TREE, YOU’VE GOT TO PAY INTO IT. SO NO GENERAL FUND RELATED TO THAT. SO THEY DIDN’T DIG VERY DEEP IN TERMS OF THEIR ANALYSIS AND CRITICIZING MONEY SPENT ON THE CITY’S POET LAUREATE. SEAN, WELCOME. DURING THE PAST FOUR YEARS, THE MAYOR POINTS OUT IT WAS MODELED AFTER THE STATE’S POET LAUREATE PROGRAM THAT’S BEEN AROUND FOR NEARLY A CENTURY, AND MONEY THAT GOES TO THE ORLANDO CENTER FOR JUSTICE TO ASSIST THOSE WITH IMMIGRATION CASES IS NOT FROM THE GENERAL FUND, BUT THROUGH GRANTS. RESPONDING TO CONTINUED CRITICISM FROM THE CFO ABOUT ORANGE COUNTY SPENDING, MAYOR JERRY DEMINGS RELEASED A STATEMENT SAYING ORANGE COUNTY TAKES ITS RESPONSIBILITY TO TAXPAYERS SERIOUSLY, AND WE STAND BY THE INVESTMENTS WE MAKE IN OUR COMMUNITY COVERING ORANGE COUNTY. GREG FOX, WESH TWO NEWS. THE STATE HAS GIVEN NO TIMETABLE ON WHEN THEY
Orlando, Orange County push back on DOGE wasteful spending accusations
“Roses are red, violets are blue. Our property taxes are high because of you,” Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia said during a Jacksonville news conference. The Republican used rhyme and meter to blast spending in the city of Orlando and Orange County, spending on programs that conservative leadership in Tallahassee considers wasteful and unnecessary. During the past two months, the CFO and state DOGE team have been reviewing spending in the city and county. Ingoglia flagged several programs in Orlando, including $460,000 spent “counting” trees, $150,000 spent on assistance for undocumented immigrants, $67,500 over five years for hot yoga classes and $6,000 annually for a poet laureate. Focusing on the poet laureate, Ingoglia said, “The people keep asking, where does it go? The coffers run empty, yet taxes still grow. In the halls of the city, one lesson is clear: wasteful spending echoes year after year.” WESH 2 News talked with Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who said the CFO may not have done all the homework he should have before making his remarks, with Dyer adding, “It’s all politics. It should be beneath them.”Dyer explained that the yoga program is part of employee health and wellness, which is encouraged in cities and counties across the country. The assertion that the city is wasting taxpayer money counting trees doesn’t hold water, according to the mayor, because the program of ensuring the health of the city’s tree canopy isn’t funded with tax dollars, with Dyer adding, “That’s funded with state and federal grants. It is a State Department of Agriculture program that we’re doing, and we have a tree trust fund that, when you take down a tree, you have to pay into it. So there is no general fund in that. So they didn’t dig very deep in terms of their analysis.” Addressing the money spent on the city’s poet laureate, who has been Shawn Welcome during the past four years, the mayor points out that it was modeled after the state’s poet laureate program, that’s been around since 1927.It’s worth noting that the state does not pay a stipend to the poet laureate. Orlando had been paying less annually, but for the new poet laureate named this month, the annual stipend will amount to $6,000, up from $4,000 annually for Welcome. And money that goes to the Orlando Center for Justice, to assist those with immigration cases, is not from the general fund, but through grants. Responding to continued criticism from the CFO about Orange County spending, Mayor Jerry Demings released a statement saying, “Orange County takes its responsibility to taxpayers seriously, and we stand by the investments we make in our community.”
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. —
“Roses are red, violets are blue. Our property taxes are high because of you,” Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia said during a Jacksonville news conference.
The Republican used rhyme and meter to blast spending in the city of Orlando and Orange County, spending on programs that conservative leadership in Tallahassee considers wasteful and unnecessary.
During the past two months, the CFO and state DOGE team have been reviewing spending in the city and county.
Ingoglia flagged several programs in Orlando, including $460,000 spent “counting” trees, $150,000 spent on assistance for undocumented immigrants, $67,500 over five years for hot yoga classes and $6,000 annually for a poet laureate.
Focusing on the poet laureate, Ingoglia said, “The people keep asking, where does it go? The coffers run empty, yet taxes still grow. In the halls of the city, one lesson is clear: wasteful spending echoes year after year.”
WESH 2 News talked with Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who said the CFO may not have done all the homework he should have before making his remarks, with Dyer adding, “It’s all politics. It should be beneath them.”
Dyer explained that the yoga program is part of employee health and wellness, which is encouraged in cities and counties across the country.
The assertion that the city is wasting taxpayer money counting trees doesn’t hold water, according to the mayor, because the program of ensuring the health of the city’s tree canopy isn’t funded with tax dollars, with Dyer adding, “That’s funded with state and federal grants. It is a State Department of Agriculture program that we’re doing, and we have a tree trust fund that, when you take down a tree, you have to pay into it. So there is no general fund in that. So they didn’t dig very deep in terms of their analysis.”
Addressing the money spent on the city’s poet laureate, who has been Shawn Welcome during the past four years, the mayor points out that it was modeled after the state’s poet laureate program, that’s been around since 1927.
It’s worth noting that the state does not pay a stipend to the poet laureate. Orlando had been paying less annually, but for the new poet laureate named this month, the annual stipend will amount to $6,000, up from $4,000 annually for Welcome.
And money that goes to the Orlando Center for Justice, to assist those with immigration cases, is not from the general fund, but through grants.
Responding to continued criticism from the CFO about Orange County spending, Mayor Jerry Demings released a statement saying, “Orange County takes its responsibility to taxpayers seriously, and we stand by the investments we make in our community.”
PORTLAND, Ore. — There is a rhetorical battle raging here in this heavily Democratic city, known for its delicious coffee, plethora of fancy restaurants, bespoke doughnuts and also for its small faction of black-clad activists.
It started Saturday when President Trump suddenly announced that he was sending the National Guard to “war-ravaged” Portland — where a small group of demonstrators have been staging a monthslong protest at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building south of downtown.
Oregon officials have pushed back forcefully, flooding their own social media with images of colorful cafe tables, sun-drenched farmers markets, rose gardens in full bloom and parks bursting with children, families and frolicking dogs. Officials would prefer the city be known for its Portlandia vibe, and are begging residents to stay peaceful and not give the Trump administration a protest spectacle.
A protester waves to Department of Homeland Security officials as they walk to the gates of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility after inspecting an area outside in Portland, Ore.
(Jenny Kane / Associated Press)
“There is no need or legal justification for military troops,” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has said, over and over again, on her Instagram and in texts to President Trump that have been released publicly. Officials have gone to court seeking an order to stop the deployment, with a hearing set for Friday.
But the president seems resolute. In a Tuesday speech before a gathering of generals and admirals, he sketched out a controversial vision of dispatching troops to Democratic cities “as training grounds for our military” to combat an “invasion from within.” He described Portland as “a nightmare” that “looks like a warzone … like World War II.”
“The Radical Left’s reign of terror in Portland ends now,” a White House press release read, “with President Donald J. Trump mobilizing federal resources to stopAntifa-led hellfire in its tracks.”
Trump’s targeting of Portland comes after he deployed troops to Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, and threatened to do so elsewhere. The president says he is delivering on campaign pledges to restore public safety, but detractors say he’s attempting to intimidate and provoke Democratic strongholds, while distracting the nation from his various controversies.
As they wait to see whether and when the National Guard will arrive, city residents this week reacted with a mixture of rage, bafflement and sorrow.
A man rests under a public art sculpture in downtown Portland, Ore.
(Richard Darbonne / For The Times)
Many acknowledged that Portland has problems: Homelessness and open drug abuse are endemic, and encampments crowd some sidewalks. The city’s downtown has never recovered from pandemic closures and rioting that took place during George Floyd protests in 2020.
More recently, Intel — one of Oregon’s largest private employers — announced it was laying off 2,400 employees in a county just west of Portland. Like Los Angeles and many other cities, Portland has seen a big drop in tourism this year, a trend that city leaders say is not helped by Trump’s military interventions.
“We need federal help to renew our infrastructure, and build affordable housing, to help clean our rivers and plant trees,” said Portland Mayor Keith Wilson on his social media. “Instead of help, they’re sending armored vehicles and masked men.”
All across the city this week, residents echoed similar themes.
“Nothing is happening here. This is a gorgeous, peaceful city,” said Hannah O’Malley, who was snacking on french fries at a table with a view of the Willamette River outside the Portland Sports Bar and Grill.
Patrons are reflected in the window at Honey Pearl Cafe PDX in downtown Portland.
(Richard Darbonne / For The Times)
The restaurant was just a few blocks from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building where the ongoing demonstration has become the latest focus of the president’s ire against the city.
A small group of people — a number of them women in their 60s and 70s with gray braids and top-of-the-line rain jackets — have been congregating here for months to protest the federal immigration crackdown.
In June, there were several clashes with law enforcement at the site. Police declared a riot one night, and on another night made several arrests outside the facility, including one person accused of choking a police officer. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that they had arrested “four criminal illegal aliens” who allegedly conducted laser strikes on a Border Patrol helicopter “in an attempt to temporarily blind the pilot.”
But day in and day out, the protests have been largely peaceful and fairly small and nothing the city’s police force can’t handle, according to city officials and the protesters themselves.
On Monday afternoon, a group of about 40 people including grandmothers, parents and their children, and a man in a chicken costume, held flowers and signs. A few yelled abuse through a metal gate at ICE officers standing in the driveway.
People protest outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Sept. 28 in Portland, Ore.
(Jenny Kane / Associated Press)
“We’re so scary,” joked Kat Barnard, 67, a retired accountant for nonprofits who said she began protesting a few months ago, fitting it in between caring for her grandson. She added that she has found a sense of community while standing against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. “I’ve met so many people,” she said. “It’s just beautiful. It makes me happy.”
A few miles away, in the cafe at the city’s famed bookstore, Powell’s Books, a trio of retired friends bemoaned their beloved city’s negative image.
“This is the most peaceful, kind community I’ve ever lived in” said Lynne Avril, 74, who moved to Portland from Phoenix a few years ago. Avril, a retired illustrator who penned the artwork for the young Amelia Bedelia books, said she routinely walks home alone late at night through the city’s darkened streets, and feels perfectly safe doing so.
The president “wants another spectacle,” added Avril’s friend, Signa Schuster, 73, a retired estate manager.
“That’s what we’re afraid of,” answered Avril.
“There’s no problem here,” added Annie Olsen, 72, a retired federal worker. “It’s all performative and stupid.”
Still, the women said, they are keenly aware that their beloved city has a negative reputation nationally. Avril said that when she told friends in Phoenix that she had decided to move to Portland, “People were like: ‘Why would you move here [with] all the violence?’”
Olsen sighed and nodded. “So much misinformation,” she said.
In the front lobby of the famed bookstore, the local bestseller lists provided a window into many residents’ concerns. Two books on authoritarianism and censorship — George Orwell’s “1984” and Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” — were on the shelves. Over in nonfiction, it was the same story, with “How Fascism Works” and “On Tyranny” both making appearances.
The Willamette River runs through downtown Portland, Ore.
(Richard Darbonne / For The Times)
But outside, the sky was blue and bright despite the rain in the forecast and many residents were doing what Portlanders do with an unexpected gift from the weather gods: They were jogging and biking along the Willamette River, and sitting in outdoor cafes sipping their city’s famous coffee and nibbling on buttery pastries.
“Trump is unhinged,” said Shannon O’Connor, 57. She said that Portland has problems for sure — “homelessness, fentanyl, a huge drug problem” — but unrest is not among them.
Sprawled on a sidewalk near a freeway on-ramp, a man calling himself “Rabbit” was panhandling for money accompanied by his two beagle-pit bull mixes, Pooh Bear and Piglet.
Rabbit, 48, said he hadn’t heard of the president’s plan to send in the National Guard, but didn’t think it was necessary. He had come to Portland two years ago “to get away from all the craziness,” he said, and found it to be safe. “I haven’t been threatened yet,” he said, then knocked on wood.
Many residents said they think the president may be confusing what is happening in Portland now with a period in 2020 in which the city was briefly convulsed over Black Live Matter protests.
“We had a lot of trouble then,” said a woman who asked to be referred to only as “Sue” for fear of being doxed. “Nothing like that now.” A lifelong Portlander, she is retired and among those who have been demonstrating at the ICE facility south of downtown.
She and other residents said they have noticed that clips of the riots and other violence from 2020 have recently been recirculating on social media and even some cable news shows.
“Either he is mistaken or it is part of his propaganda,” she said of the president’s portrayal of Portland, adding that it makes her “very sad. I’ve never protested until this go-around. But we have to do something.”
As afternoon turned to evening Tuesday, the blue skies over the city gave way to clouds and drizzle. The parks and outdoor cafes emptied out.
As night fell, the retired women and children who had been protesting outside the ICE facility went home, and more and more younger people began to take their places.
By 10 p.m., law enforcement was massed on the roof of the ICE building in tactical gear. Black-clad protesters — watched over by local television reporters and some independent media — played cat and mouse with the officers, stepping toward the building only to be repelled by rounds of pepper balls.
A 39-year-old man, who asked to be called “Mushu” and who had only his eyes visible amid his black garb, stood on the corner across the street, gesturing to the independent media livestreaming the protests. “They are showing that hell that is Portland,” he said, his voice dripping with irony.
About the same time, Katie Daviscourt, a reporter with the Post Millennial, posted on X that she had been “assaulted by an Antifa agitator.” She also tweeted that “the suspect escaped into the Antifa safe house.”
A few minutes later, a group of officers burst out of a van and appeared to detain one of the protesters. Then the officers dispersed, and the standoff resumed.
Around the corner, a couple with gray hair sporting sleek rain jackets walked their little dog along the street. If they were concerned about the made-for-video drama that was playing out a few yards away, they didn’t show it. They just continued to walk their dog.
On Wednesday morning, the president weighed in again, writing on Truth Social, “Conditions continue to deteriorate into lawless mayhem.”
President Trump warned the country’s top ranking military officials Tuesday that they could be headed to “war” with U.S. citizens, signaling a major escalation in the ongoing legal battle over his authority to deploy soldiers to police American streets.
“What they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles — they’re very unsafe places, and we’re going to straighten them out one-by-one,” Trump said in an address to top brass in Quantico, Va. “That’s a war too. It’s a war from within.”
Commanders should use American cities as “training grounds,” the president said.
Trump’s words provoked instant pushback. Oregon has already filed a legal challenge, and experts expressed concern that what the president described is against the law.
“He is suggesting that they learn how to become warriors in American cities,” said Daniel C. Schwartz, former general counsel at the National Security Agency, who heads the legal team at National Security Leaders for America. “That should scare everybody. It’s also boldly illegal.”
The use of soldiers to assist with federal immigration raids and crowd control at protests and otherwise enforce civilian laws has been a point of contention with big city mayors and blue state governors for months, beginning with the deployment of thousands of federalized National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to Los Angeles in early June.
That deployment was illegal, a federal judge ruled last month. In a scorching 52-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer barred soldiers under Trump’s command from carrying out law enforcement duties across California, warning of a “national police force with the President as its chief.”
Yet hundreds of troops remained on the streets of Los Angeles while the matter was under litigation. With the case still moving through the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, hundreds more are now set to arrive in Portland, Ore., with another hundred reportedly enroute to Chicago — all over the objections of state and local leaders.
“Isolated threats to federal property should not be enough to warrant this kind of response,” said Eric J. Segall, a professor at Georgia State University College of Law. “The threat has to be really serious, and I don’t think the Trump administration has made that case.”
Others agreed.
“I’m tremendously worried,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. “Using the military for domestic law enforcement is something that’s characteristic of authoritarian regimes.”
Oregon’s attorney general filed a lawsuit Monday alleging the president had applied a “baseless, wildly hyperbolic pretext” to send in the troops. Officials in Illinois, where the Trump administration has made Chicago a focal point of immigration enforcement, are also poised to file a challenge.
Although the facts on the ground are different legally, the Oregon suit is a near copy-paste of the California battle making its way through the courts, experts said.
“That’s exactly the model that they’re following,” said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.
Unlike the controversial decision to send National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., in August, the Los Angeles and Portland deployments have relied on an esoteric subsection of the law, which allows the president to federalize troops over the objection of state governments in certain limited cases.
California’s challenge to those justifications has so far floundered in court, with the 9th Circuit finding in June that judges must be “highly deferential” to the president’s interpretation of facts on the ground. That case is under review by a larger panel of judges.
In a memo filed Monday, California Deputy Solicitor General Christopher D. Hu warned that the decision had emboldened the administration to deploy troops elsewhere, citing Portland as an example.
“Defendants apparently believe that the June 7 memorandum — issued in response to events in Los Angeles — indefinitely authorizes the deployment of National Guard troops anywhere in the country, for virtually any reason,” Hu wrote. “It is time to end this unprecedented experiment in militarized law enforcement and conscription of state National Guard troops outside the narrow conditions allowed by Congress.”
Experts warn the obscure 19th century law at the heart of the debate is vague and “full of loopholes,” worrying some who see repeated deployment as a slippery slope to widespread, long-term military occupations.
“That has not been our experience at least since the Civil War,” Schwartz said. “If we become accustomed to seeing armed uniformed service personnel in our cities, we risk not objecting to it, and when we stop objecting to it, it becomes a norm.”
The joint address to military leaders in Virginia on Tuesday further stoked those fears.
“We’re under invasion from within,” the president admonished generals and admirals gathered in the auditorium. “No different from a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms.”
He touted the move in August to create a “quick reaction force” to “quell civil disturbances” — a decree folded into his executive order expanding the D.C. troop deployment.
“George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Grover Cleveland, George Bush and others all used the armed forces to keep domestic order and peace,” Trump said. “Now they like to say, oh, you’re not allowed to use the military.”
Those historic cases have some important differences with 2025, experts say.
When President Cleveland sent troops to break up a railroad strike and tamp down mob violence against Chinese immigrants, he invoked the Insurrection Act. So did 15 other presidents, including Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and George H.W. Bush.
Experts stress that Trump has pointedly not used the act, despite name-checking it often in his first term.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday largely avoided the theme of “enemies within,” instead extolling the “warrior ethos” at the heart of his military reform project. He railed against what he saw as the corrupted culture of the modern military — as well as its aesthetic shortcomings.
“It’s tiring to look out at combat formations and see fat troops,” Hegseth said. “It’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon. It’s a bad look.”
As deployments multiply across the country, experts said they were watching what the appellate division and ultimately the Supreme Court will decide.
“It will be a test for the Supreme Court,” Schwartz said. “Whether they are willing to continue to allow this president to do whatever he wants to do in clear violation of constitutional principles, or whether they will restrain him.”
The city of Kissimmee welcomed a new addition to its fire department Wednesday morning, unveiling its fifth engine during a traditional wet-down and push-back ceremony.The ceremony honors a long-standing tradition dating back to the days of horse-drawn fire equipment, when crews would manually push engines into the station.Fire Chief Jim Walls said the new engine is the first the department has added in more than 15 years and will help meet the demands of the city’s growing population.“It will help our capability to respond out to the community and provide ALS engine support,” Walls said. “It really does enhance our community and helps with the call volume with our trucks here originally, so it reduces the amount of calls they’re running per shift.”Walls also announced that the department will hire 12 new firefighters to staff the engine, with additional personnel expected to join by the end of October.The new engine is expected to improve response times, enhance emergency services and provide additional support across Kissimmee’s expanding neighborhoods.
KISSIMMEE, Fla. —
The city of Kissimmee welcomed a new addition to its fire department Wednesday morning, unveiling its fifth engine during a traditional wet-down and push-back ceremony.
The ceremony honors a long-standing tradition dating back to the days of horse-drawn fire equipment, when crews would manually push engines into the station.
Fire Chief Jim Walls said the new engine is the first the department has added in more than 15 years and will help meet the demands of the city’s growing population.
“It will help our capability to respond out to the community and provide ALS engine support,” Walls said. “It really does enhance our community and helps with the call volume with our trucks here originally, so it reduces the amount of calls they’re running per shift.”
Walls also announced that the department will hire 12 new firefighters to staff the engine, with additional personnel expected to join by the end of October.
The new engine is expected to improve response times, enhance emergency services and provide additional support across Kissimmee’s expanding neighborhoods.
The city of Anaheim faces an annual deficit projected at $64 million, so every little bit helps. And, because of the Angels’ poor play, that is exactly what the city got in ticket revenue from its hometown baseball team this year: just a little bit.
Until Sunday, in fact, the city did not know for certain that it would get even a penny in ticket revenue.
As part of their lease to play in the city-owned stadium, the Angels are required to pay the city $2 for every ticket sold beyond 2.6 million. On Sunday, the final day of the regular season, the last-place Angels topped that threshold by 15,506. The payment to Anaheim: $31,012.
In better times — amid a run of six postseason appearances in eight years — the city received more than $1 million annually in ticket revenue. The high point: $1,613,580 in 2006, when the team sold a record 3,406,790 tickets.
Although major league teams do not disclose their financial data, Forbes estimated the Angels generated $120 million in ticket revenue last year. The Angels sold 2.58 million tickets last year, so the city received none of that revenue.
When the city and the Walt Disney Co. — then the owner of the Angels — agreed on that stadium lease in 1996, the 2.6 million figure was largely aspirational. The Angels sold 1.8 million tickets that year. In the previous 30 seasons playing in the stadium, the Angels’ attendance had topped 2.6 million only four times.
The city first received ticket revenue that year, when the Angels’ attendance shot past 2.6 million and topped 3 million. Under Moreno’s ownership, the Angels won five division championships in the next six years and sold more than 3 million tickets every year from 2003-2019.
The Angels have not made a postseason appearance in 11 years — the longest drought in the major leagues — and have not posted a winning record in 10 years. Attendance dropped sharply after the pandemic, and Anaheim has received a share of the Angels’ ticket revenue only twice in the past six years: this year, and $81,150 in 2023.
The city does receive revenue from parking and other stadium events, but only after certain thresholds have been reached. Under the lease, ticket sales are the primary driver of city revenue.
The Angels pay no rent under their lease, since Disney paid all but $20 million of a $117-million stadium renovation. The city said it would make its money back from development of the parking lots around the stadium, which has not happened in the three decades since the lease took effect.
Moreno twice has agreed to deals in which he would own the stadium and develop the land around it, but the city backed away both times: in 2014, after then-mayor Tom Tait objected to leasing the land to Moreno for $1 per year; and in 2022, after the FBI taped then-mayor Harry Sidhu saying he would ram a deal through and ask the Angels for a million-dollar contribution in return. (Sidhu was sentenced to prison last March, after signing a plea agreement that specified he had leaked confidential negotiating information to the Angels. The government has not alleged the Angels did anything wrong.)
In April, current mayor Ashleigh Aitken invited Moreno for a new round of discussions. He made no commitment, and the city subsequently decided to put any talks on hold until the completion of a property assessment designed to determine how many hundreds of millions of dollars would be needed to keep the 1966 stadium viable for decades to come. That study is expected to be concluded next year.
In January, the Angels exercised an option to extend their stadium lease through 2032. They have two other options to extend the lease if they wish: one through 2035, the other through 2038.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Chief Bob Day did not mince any words when he addressed reporters Monday afternoon on the possibilty of President Trump sending National Guard troops to Portland. He said, the national narrative simply isn’t correct, and the troops aren’t needed.
Chief Day held a press conference to discuss the state of the city and the posture of the PPB. He said they made 2 arrests on Sunday night after a demonstration at the Federal ICE Building along the South Waterfront. And noted that those are the first arrests they’ve made in connection to demonstrations at that location since mid-July.
Day said they have grown a great deal since the riots of 2020 and said that they are far better trained, equipped and supported here in 2025 should something arise where crowd control is needed. He called what’s happening with the President some kind of political move. And said they would continue with their consistent policies and procedures to protect the citizens and prevent crimes including vandalism by arresting offenders and using their training.
In the sweeping Southern California metropolis spanning from Santa Barbara to the Mexico border, Camp Pendleton has long remained the largest undeveloped stretch of the coastline.
The 17 miles of beach and coastal hills has, since World War II, proven critical in preparing soldiers for amphibious missions. The bluffs, canyons and mountainous terrain that comprise the interior of the base has been fertile training ground for those sent to conflicts in the Middle East and beyond.
But change may be on the horizon.
The United States Department of Defense is considering making a portion of the 125,000 acre base in northwestern San Diego County available for development or lease in what, if successful, would be unprecedented for the military installation.
“There’s no place in Southern California like Camp Pendleton when it comes to open space along the coast,” said Bill Fulton, a professor of practice in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego.
Marine recruits rest while the rest of the remaining platoons in their company to catch up at Camp Pendleton in 2020.
(Nelvin C. Cepeda/San Diego Union-Tribune via AP)
In late August, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan conducted an aerial tour of Camp Pendleton and visited with Marines at the base where he had “initial conversations about possible commercial leasing opportunities” by the Department of Defense, Phelan’s spokesperson Courtney Williams told The Times.
“These opportunities are being evaluated to maximize value and taxpayer dollars while maintaining mission readiness and security,” Williams said in a statement. “No decisions have been made and further discussions are needed.”
Details about the sites being considered for commercial lease remain unclear. Officials with Camp Pendleton declined to comment to The Times.
A view of the sign at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Discussions over the 83-year-old base comes at a time when the Trump administration is more aggressively trying to use public lands to raise money for the federal government and rolling back protections on open space.
The administration this month proposed rescinding a Biden-era rule that sought to protect public lands from industrial development and instead prioritizing the use of the land for oil and gas drilling, coal mining, timber production and livestock grazing.
Secretary Doug Burgum has repeatedly emphasized that federal lands are untapped assets worth trillions of dollars.
“We believe that our natural resources are national assets that should be responsibly developed to grow our economy, help balance the Budget, and generate revenue for American taxpayers,” he said in a statement to Congress in May.
A man takes in the view of Camp Pendleton property. Camp Pendleton has long remained the largest undeveloped stretch of the coastline in California.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
While there has been development on Camp Pendleton those projects have solely been for military uses. A large hospital was recently added, and there are various buildings for the base’s more than 42,000 active duty personnel.
Camp Pendleton has won praise for balancing national security needs with environmental preservation.
In 2022, Camp Pendleton was named the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s military conservation partner of the year for its efforts to support the recovery of several species, including the tidewater goby, coastal California gnatcatcher, the arroyo toad and southern California steelhead.
Conservation and management of the least Bell’s vireo, California least tern, and western snowy plover have resulted in significant increases to on-base populations of these species, according to the agency.
A marine walks through the Santa Margarita River running through Camp Pendleton, where the arroyo toad can be found.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
In addition to endangered populations, the base is home to a herd of North American bison, one of only two wild conservation herds of bison in California.
Past efforts to build more on the camp have not been popular with the public.
In the mid-1990s, the U.S. Marine Corps put forth a plan to build 128 homes for officers and their families on a 32-acre bluff at San Mateo Point near Trestles Beach, one of the nation’s most famous surfing spots. The California Coastal Commission ultimately rejected the project.
In 2021, the Department of the Navy issued a request for information to seek feedback on hosting “critical energy and water infrastructure resiliency projects” on a portion of Camp Pendleton.
In the document, the department sought information on long-term partnerships to plan, design, construct and operate facilities that could include energy generation, transmission and storage, microgrid technologies, water desalination, drought mitigation, stormwater management, reuse or alternative use of decommissioned energy infrastructure, high speed fiber communications, data centers or residential, commercial or industrial purposes.
It is not clear whether any potential projects were identified from the request for information.
Motorists travel the 5 Freeway with military housing at San Mateo Point in the background.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
NBC News reported that funds from development on Camp Pendleton could potentially fund Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense project, citing defense sources. But officials have not publicly specified where funds would be allocated.
Absent specifics, it’s challenging for people in the areas immediately around the base to know what to expect and how to prepare, Fulton said.
“Are we talking about little shopping centers or high-rise hotels?” he said. “You would assume that the military has certain constraints that they would want to impose to protect their activities, but we just don’t know.”
Given the base’s coastal location, development on the site could certainly be fruitful for the federal government. Developers have long had their eye on smaller swaths of coastal land in Southern California. Years-long battles between developers and environmentalists were waged in the fight over proposed housing and commercial developments at Bolsa Chica in Huntington Beach and Banning Ranch in Newport Beach. Ultimately, those projects were scrapped.
Camp Pendleton, bordered by San Clemente to the north and Oceanside to the south, opened in 1942 during World War II at a time when the military was looking for large places to train soldiers, particularly for amphibious missions in the Pacific. It became a permanent installation two years later and has trained thousands of service members, sending troops to battle in Operation Desert Storm and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Camp Pendleton has a deeply entwined relationship with its southern neighbor, Oceanside, once a sleepy beachside town turned military city and recreation hub.
In 1940, the city’s population was 4,652. Ten years later, it had swelled to more than 12,800 and grew further as the United States entered the Korean War and more service-connected families moved into the region, according to census data.
Development on the base would certainly have an effect on Oceanside, city leaders say.
Service members and their families frequently travel off the base to surrounding communities to shop and dine out, providing a steady customer supply for local businesses including those that cater heavily to Marines including dry cleaners, tailors, barbershops and military surplus stores. The base’s regional economic impact is more than $6 billion dollars annually, according to the city.
“I think it would be very concerning to see large scale development without collaboration with local municipalities,” said Oceanside Deputy Mayor Eric Joyce. Joyce said the city hasn’t yet been given any insight into the federal government’s plans for the base.
“We have neighborhoods that are literally right up to the gate, who are very impacted when there are changes in traffic or other developments there,” Joyce said, adding that the city has a deep respect for the base and any shifting away from its original mission of training Marines would “be deeply concerning.”
Groves will turn to graves in Woodland Hills, where a developer has plans to redevelop Boething Treeland Nursery into a cemetery.
The 32-acre nursery has grown trees and other plants for the San Fernando Valley for the last seven decades, but it sold last year for $3.96 million to Dignity Memorial, the nation’s largest funeral provider. The company is in the process of submitting plans to the city of L.A. to get approval for a cemetery and funeral home on the property.
Some locals aren’t so ready for the change. The site is sandwiched between a trio of affluent communities — Woodland Hills, Hidden Hills and Calabasas — loaded with famous and outspoken residents.
The region, known for its rolling hills and serene setting, has become a hot spot for rappers, athletes and Kardashians looking for privacy outside the bustle of L.A. Such peace has a price tag — homes there regularly fetch $10 million or more — so when the proposed development became public, residents started petitioning, claiming religious objections, traffic concerns or the fright factor of living next to a cemetery.
More recently, the locals hired a law firm, Raskin Tepper Sloan Law, to push back on the project. On Monday, the firm sent a letter to the L.A. Planning Department urging the city to review the plans before giving it the green light.
“We understand this represents a significant change for the neighborhood,” said Aaron Green, the project’s spokesperson. “We value being a good neighbor and look forward to open conversations as we move forward with our plans.”
The site is sandwiched between a trio of affluent communities — Woodland Hills, Hidden Hills and Calabasas.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Green said the cemetery will have a serene and garden-like aesthetic, complete with fencing and a landscaped privacy wall around the perimeter. Two buildings will be added: a storage facility and a space for celebration of life services. Memorials will take place only during the day.
The developer will get construction and grading permits to make the property more walkable and add places for burials. The land is already zoned for use as a cemetery by right, meaning the process is expedited and doesn’t require any public hearings.
Green noted that Dignity Memorial has already started speaking with local stakeholders, despite plans not yet being submitted.
For some residents, that’s not enough. In response to mounting objections, the city of Hidden Hills released an update last month saying that the property is outside the city’s sphere of influence, and that since no new zoning is necessary, it doesn’t expect any public input in the process.
No lawsuit has been filed, but the letter sent by the law firm claims that the project shouldn’t automatically be granted the zoning rights the developer claims it has. Instead, it argues it should go through a more rigorous approval process with a CEQA review that measures the cemetery’s potential impacts on the environment, traffic and the surrounding neighborhoods.
“Dignity Memorial is attempting to sneak ‘by right’ approvals for their massive 32-acre cemetery without any public process or environmental review. Despite what may be months, if not years, of internal planning, Dignity has not shown a single site plan to nearby residents, businesses or schools,” said Scott J. Tepper, the attorney representing the residents.
Tepper said the locals aren’t NIMBYs; they’re just asking for a more rigorous review process.
In order for a project to receive the expedited timeline granted from zoning by right, it has to meet certain criteria that ensures it doesn’t disrupt the community. Green claims the cemetery plans meet all the criteria.
For example, the city requires that any added buildings be at least 300 feet away from adjacent buildings in the surrounding neighborhoods. Green said the two buildings will be that far away.
The city also requires security fencing around the entire property. Green said the fence and landscaped wall satisfy that requirement.
That hasn’t stopped locals from weighing in.
“Where was the process on this one?” wrote Helene Chemel under a Facebook post from Valley News Group, which has been reporting on the proposed development.
Others are more welcoming.
“The neighbors will be much quieter than the ones that would have been expected if the original plan had gone through,” wrote Alison Kenney, referring to earlier attempts to develop the property.
In 1985, the Boething family proposed a 22-building complex with offices and condos, a 200-room hotel, and parking for 3,630 cars. The project was met with backlash and fizzled out.
Plans ramped up again in 2017, with applications submitted for a 60,000-square-foot elderly care facility, 26 single-family homes and 95 small-lot dwellings for a total of 413,588 square feet of building space. Protests mounted again, and the plans never materialized.
“Our family decided the nursery could not continue indefinitely, and neighbors made clear they did not want a large residential project,” said Bruce Pherson, chief executive of Boething Treeland Farms. “We felt Dignity Memorial was the right buyer and we knew a cemetery would be far less impactful.”
Dignity will submit plans to the city next month. Upon approval, construction will start next year with the goal of opening the cemetery by late 2026 or early 2027.
Green said that while public hearings won’t be necessary, the company will engage with neighbors once plans are submitted.
“A cemetery is one of the least impactful, community-sensitive uses that can be proposed for this property,” he said.
Sacramento police have let go 41 retired officers who were working part-time after a CalPERS audit found compliance issues with their employment conditions.These reserve officers, known as retired annuitants, were often considered extra help and included individuals brought in on an interim basis to fill vacancies or prevent emergencies.The audit found that one officer returned to work only 30 days after retirement, instead of the required 60 days. In another instance, some officers did not submit the required documentation showing they had not received unemployment insurance prior to their return to work.Dustin Smith, the president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association, said the audit marked the end of decades of service for dozens of officers. “For most of them, it’s just heart-wrenching because this is a big part of who you are and what you do in life,” Smith said. “We have 40-year employees that have given their life, their heart and soul to this community, that are all basically with a phone call, were told, ‘I’m sorry, we have to let you go.’”Smith said the reserve officers would generally help with things like cold case investigations, jail intake, and special events. He said losing them will hurt—especially amid a staff shortage.“There’s going to be more police officers pulled off the streets, trapped in a place like jail, doing basic admin work instead of coming back out to handle calls for service. So, call response times and all the things we talk about routinely to help the community are going to go down again,” Smith said. Sacramento Police shared a statement saying in part, “At this time, we are still working with City Human Resources to determine how the work previously performed by retired annuitants will be addressed, and we do not yet have details on what the impact will be to staffing.”Meanwhile, CalPERS released a statement saying, “We are working with the city to resolve the issues and ensure that the retired annuitants they want to utilize are processed correctly. CalPERS did not prohibit the hiring of any officers and ultimately the city is responsible for their hiring decisions.”Smith said this is a big loss for something he called a minor issue.“We really need the people at PERS and the city to get together and sit down and just use common sense. This was a technicality and it was an accident,” Smith said. “There’s a lot more to it than just numbers and response times. We’re losing some really good people.”See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Sacramento police have let go 41 retired officers who were working part-time after a CalPERS audit found compliance issues with their employment conditions.
These reserve officers, known as retired annuitants, were often considered extra help and included individuals brought in on an interim basis to fill vacancies or prevent emergencies.
The audit found that one officer returned to work only 30 days after retirement, instead of the required 60 days. In another instance, some officers did not submit the required documentation showing they had not received unemployment insurance prior to their return to work.
Dustin Smith, the president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association, said the audit marked the end of decades of service for dozens of officers.
“For most of them, it’s just heart-wrenching because this is a big part of who you are and what you do in life,” Smith said. “We have 40-year employees that have given their life, their heart and soul to this community, that are all basically with a phone call, were told, ‘I’m sorry, we have to let you go.’”
Smith said the reserve officers would generally help with things like cold case investigations, jail intake, and special events. He said losing them will hurt—especially amid a staff shortage.
“There’s going to be more police officers pulled off the streets, trapped in a place like jail, doing basic admin work instead of coming back out to handle calls for service. So, call response times and all the things we talk about routinely to help the community are going to go down again,” Smith said.
Sacramento Police shared a statement saying in part, “At this time, we are still working with City Human Resources to determine how the work previously performed by retired annuitants will be addressed, and we do not yet have details on what the impact will be to staffing.”
Meanwhile, CalPERS released a statement saying, “We are working with the city to resolve the issues and ensure that the retired annuitants they want to utilize are processed correctly. CalPERS did not prohibit the hiring of any officers and ultimately the city is responsible for their hiring decisions.”
Smith said this is a big loss for something he called a minor issue.
“We really need the people at PERS and the city to get together and sit down and just use common sense. This was a technicality and it was an accident,” Smith said. “There’s a lot more to it than just numbers and response times. We’re losing some really good people.”
The Secret Service stopped a massive telecom threat near the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Tuesday, just as world leaders gathered for meetings.Agents described the threat as one of the most sweeping communications threats ever found on U.S. soil, involving a hidden network capable of knocking out cell service across the city. Investigators discovered more than 300 SIM servers containing over 100,000 SIM cards within 35 miles of the U.N. headquarters. These servers had the potential to send out millions of fake calls and messages, which could cripple cell towers, jam 911 calls, and flood networks with chaos. An agent compared the potential impact to the blackouts following 9/11 and the Boston Marathon, noting that this system could trigger such a shutdown on demand.Experts warn that the threat extends beyond phones, as banking, emergency services, and even the power grid rely on telecom networks. Matt Pearl from the Center for Strategic and International Studies said, “A lot of this traffic goes over telecom networks, and in some cases, specifically, wireless networks. And so just literally everything in modern life could be hampered or taken down by this.”The investigation is ongoing, with the Secret Service indicating that the operation was highly organized, costing millions, and early signs suggest foreign actors may be involved. Experts say building such a system is not particularly difficult, with the main challenge being financial rather than technical expertise. They are also hard to detect, raising concerns that similar networks could exist in other cities.
WASHINGTON —
The Secret Service stopped a massive telecom threat near the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Tuesday, just as world leaders gathered for meetings.
Agents described the threat as one of the most sweeping communications threats ever found on U.S. soil, involving a hidden network capable of knocking out cell service across the city. Investigators discovered more than 300 SIM servers containing over 100,000 SIM cards within 35 miles of the U.N. headquarters.
These servers had the potential to send out millions of fake calls and messages, which could cripple cell towers, jam 911 calls, and flood networks with chaos. An agent compared the potential impact to the blackouts following 9/11 and the Boston Marathon, noting that this system could trigger such a shutdown on demand.
Experts warn that the threat extends beyond phones, as banking, emergency services, and even the power grid rely on telecom networks.
Matt Pearl from the Center for Strategic and International Studies said, “A lot of this traffic goes over telecom networks, and in some cases, specifically, wireless networks. And so just literally everything in modern life could be hampered or taken down by this.”
The investigation is ongoing, with the Secret Service indicating that the operation was highly organized, costing millions, and early signs suggest foreign actors may be involved.
Experts say building such a system is not particularly difficult, with the main challenge being financial rather than technical expertise. They are also hard to detect, raising concerns that similar networks could exist in other cities.
The office responsible for independent oversight of Denver’s law enforcement agencies is doing too much of its work in secret, a city audit found.
The Office of Independent Monitor, which provides civilian oversight for the Denver Police Department and Denver Sheriff Department, has not publicly reported its recommendations about law enforcement misconduct investigations and disciplinary actions for years, undermining the effectiveness of its oversight, city auditor Tim O’Brien found.
“Because the public doesn’t know what guidance the Monitor’s Office is giving to the police and sheriff departments, the public doesn’t know whether those departments are responding. There is no visible proof of accountability,” he said in a Thursday news release. “The lack of transparency is a disservice to law enforcement oversight.”
The independent monitor’s office is also not publicly reporting its reviews and evaluations of the two agencies’ policies and practices, and isn’t thoroughly tracking its work. The office lacks a formalized strategic plan, the audit found.
Former Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and City Council members created the office in 2004 to provide independent oversight for the police and sheriff’s departments in the wake of two controversial police shootings. The monitor’s office reviews police and sheriff disciplinary cases and makes recommendations to the agencies about those cases that are aimed at improving discipline, policies and practices.
The police and sheriff’s departments do not have to follow the monitor’s recommendations. Because the monitor’s office has not publicly reported its recommendations, it is difficult to tell what sort of changes the office has pursued and whether public safety officials accepted or ignored the monitor’s recommendations, the audit found.
Denver’s ordinances require the Office of Independent Monitor to publicly report on disciplinary investigations and policy changes in its annual report, but also limit the office’s ability to do so because the materials are subject to deliberative process privilege, which allows information to be kept from the public if disclosing it would prevent honest and frank discussion within government.
“We found legal guidance from the City Attorney’s Office is affecting what the Monitor’s Office publicly reports in terms of its oversight of the Police and Sheriff Departments,” the audit states. “A significant portion of what city ordinance tells the Monitor’s Office to publicly report is protected by the deliberative process privilege — according to the City Attorney’s Office’s interpretation.”
The audit called for those conflicting mandates to be rectified and suggested the monitor’s office could hire an outside attorney who does not work for the city. Lisabeth Pérez Castle, the independent monitor, agreed to consider potential changes to the office’s approach to public reporting by the spring of 2026, according to responses she provided the auditor’s office.
The auditors also took issue with the monitor’s practice of sending a draft of its annual report to the city attorney, the mayor’s office and public safety officials for review and feedback before the report is published, finding the practice could undermine the monitor’s independence.
“The Monitor’s Office could greatly improve its functional and perceived independence by working to eliminate or minimize the influence of other city agencies in its public reporting,” the audit reads.
Pérez Castle agreed with all of the auditors’ recommendations — including that the office should create a formalized strategic plan — and committed to making changes over the next year. She did not immediately return a request for comment Monday.
VANCOUVER, Wash. — The City of Vancouver is getting a new flag and is moving closer to choosing it after narrowing down 138 different public submissions to 6 finalists.
The City formed the Vancouver Flag Committee and asked residents to come up with their interpretation of Vancouver’s identity. They chose 4 finalists…then used ideas from the submissions to create two composite flags.
The committee will lean on public comments, but will select the new Vancouver City Flag in late October…then adopt it in November.
A journalist for the website L.A. Taco filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department on Thursday, alleging officers have repeatedly interfered with his constitutional right to document sweeps of homeless encampments throughout the city.
Lexis-Olivier Ray said officers and city sanitation employees have wrongfully threatened him with arrest — and in one instance actually placed him in handcuffs — as he tried to report on encampment sweeps in Skid Row and West L.A. between August and November of last year, according to the complaint.
“I tried to resolve the issue outside of a courtroom. But instead of trying to come to an understanding, LAPD officers responded by arresting me and holding me in the back of a patrol car in handcuffs for nearly an hour, before releasing me without any charges,” Ray said in a statement. “At a time when the First Amendment is being threatened by people in power, and journalists are under attack, it’s more important than ever to reaffirm our rights to film police and government officials in public spaces without threats of arrest.”
In some of the incidents, Ray had crossed yellow crime scene tape. But his attorney, Peter Bibring, argued the tape was put up by sanitation workers rather than police and none of the incidents were active crime scenes.
City workers claimed Ray was interfering with their operations and in a “work zone,” but the suit contends other members of the public were able to walk through the area and he created no disruption.
“LAPD consistently fails to get the basic point that the First Amendment forbids them from closing areas to the press unless its required for a specific and overriding concern,” Bibring said.
Jennifer Forkish, the LAPD’s communications director, said that while she could not comment on pending litigation, the department “fully recognizes the rights of the press to cover public spaces and police activity.”
“Our officers are trained to respect those rights while maintaining public safety,” she said.
The city attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit comes at a time when LAPD’s treatment of the press has come under increasing scrutiny in courtrooms.
Last week, a judge barred police and federal law enforcement from using less-lethal weapons on journalists after a spate of incidents in which reporters were hurt during summer protests against the Trump administration’s immigration raids. The city also recently settled two lawsuits filed by journalists who claimed they were injured or wrongfully arrested during protests.
Ray’s lawsuit claims city workers singled him out.
During one September incident, an officer approached Ray and told him “I know exactly who you are” before demanding he leave the area, according to the complaint. In another, he was observing a clean up behind the yellow tape when a sanitation worker purposefully obstructed his view and ordered him to move back while on a public sidewalk, the suit alleges.
Last October, an LAPD officer handcuffed Ray on suspicion of interfering with a clean-up. Video from the scene that the reporter posted to X shows the clean-up work continuing uninterrupted even as an officer tells Ray they are going to “put him in cuffs.” Ray was never formally arrested or charged with a crime.
This is not the first time the department has faced accusations of retaliation against Ray. In 2020, he was arrested for failure to disperse while covering chaotic celebrations that followed the Dodgers World Series victory. A 2021 Times investigation showed that Ray was the only person, among the hundreds in the streets that night, that the LAPD later sought to have charged with a crime.
Police have made an arrest in the theft of hard drives containing unreleased music by Beyoncé.Atlanta-area police arrested Kelvin Evans for allegedly breaking into an SUV in the city over the summer and stealing hard drives and other items that were connected to the Grammy winner.Evans is now in jail facing a charge of entering an automobile with intent to commit theft.It is not yet known if he has legal representation.Officers responded on July 8 after receiving a call regarding a theft from a vehicle, according to police.”They have my computers, and it’s really, really important information in there,” an unidentified caller is heard on a 911 call obtained by CNN. “I work with someone who’s like, of a high status, and I really need the, um, my computer and everything.”The items were stolen from a car that had been rented by her choreographer during a Cowboy Carter tour stop in the city, according to police.Investigators have not recovered the hard drives or other items that were allegedly taken.
Police have made an arrest in the theft of hard drives containing unreleased music by Beyoncé.
Atlanta-area police arrested Kelvin Evans for allegedly breaking into an SUV in the city over the summer and stealing hard drives and other items that were connected to the Grammy winner.
Evans is now in jail facing a charge of entering an automobile with intent to commit theft.
It is not yet known if he has legal representation.
Officers responded on July 8 after receiving a call regarding a theft from a vehicle, according to police.
“They have my computers, and it’s really, really important information in there,” an unidentified caller is heard on a 911 call obtained by CNN. “I work with someone who’s like, of a high status, and I really need the, um, my computer and everything.”
The items were stolen from a car that had been rented by her choreographer during a Cowboy Carter tour stop in the city, according to police.
Investigators have not recovered the hard drives or other items that were allegedly taken.
The City of Ocoee is moving forward with a pickleball facility a developer pitched to the city over a year ago.Originally pitched in April 2024, Vasant Sports LLC’s pickleball facility was given the thumbs up during Tuesday night’s city commissioners meeting. The preliminary site plan was approved, but it looks different than the original pitch from April 2024.”I think it’s a great idea, it sounds like a beautiful idea that they’ve come up with, and it sounds like they took the residents into consideration big-time,” said Debbie Gulley, an Ocoee resident.”Air conditioned, which makes it even nicer for the players, but I think the fact that the developers did keep in mind the sound and they’re respectful of those around them,” said Ocoee resident Jill Ogletree.The original pitch was for a 44-court complex, with roughly half of that number being outdoor courts. After listening to the city and residents, that number was culled to 25 indoor tournament-style courts and one outside court for championship play. The outside court will be flanked by bleacher-style seating.Sravan Tummala of Vasant Sports LLC said, “It’s going to bring in a lot of money and a lot of players, top pickleball players to play pickleball here in the city.”Alongside the pickleball courts are plans for entertainment, restaurants, and bars.”If you don’t play, it will appeal to you because there’s going to be a couple of great restaurants, a couple of bars, great entertainment,” said Todd Lucas of Lucas Development. Lucas is doing design work for the complex.The facility will be located on a six-acre site on the west side of Jacob Nathan Boulevard, near Matthew Paris Boulevard off West Colonial Drive.
OCOEE, Fla. —
The City of Ocoee is moving forward with a pickleball facility a developer pitched to the city over a year ago.
Originally pitched in April 2024, Vasant Sports LLC’s pickleball facility was given the thumbs up during Tuesday night’s city commissioners meeting. The preliminary site plan was approved, but it looks different than the original pitch from April 2024.
“I think it’s a great idea, it sounds like a beautiful idea that they’ve come up with, and it sounds like they took the residents into consideration big-time,” said Debbie Gulley, an Ocoee resident.
“Air conditioned, which makes it even nicer for the players, but I think the fact that the developers did keep in mind the sound and they’re respectful of those around them,” said Ocoee resident Jill Ogletree.
The original pitch was for a 44-court complex, with roughly half of that number being outdoor courts. After listening to the city and residents, that number was culled to 25 indoor tournament-style courts and one outside court for championship play. The outside court will be flanked by bleacher-style seating.
Sravan Tummala of Vasant Sports LLC said, “It’s going to bring in a lot of money and a lot of players, top pickleball players to play pickleball here in the city.”
Alongside the pickleball courts are plans for entertainment, restaurants, and bars.
“If you don’t play, it will appeal to you because there’s going to be a couple of great restaurants, a couple of bars, great entertainment,” said Todd Lucas of Lucas Development. Lucas is doing design work for the complex.
The facility will be located on a six-acre site on the west side of Jacob Nathan Boulevard, near Matthew Paris Boulevard off West Colonial Drive.
The Trump administration has spent weeks threatening Chicago, trolling the Midwest colossus of 9 million with incendiary online posts. In the gut, even from far away, it has felt like early June in L.A. all over again.
That’s because Chicago is just like us: big, urban, vibrant, and brown. This summer I visited the city where I always feel the flutter of familiarity.
Let it be said: Chicago, like L.A., is Mexican as hell.
Sikil pak at Bar Sótano. A mezcal by Gusto Histórico.(Daniel Hernandez / Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles may have more Mexican residents in total numbers, but in terms of who makes up each city’s Latino population, Chicago is “as Mexican” as Los Angeles. Consider that about a third of Chicago is Hispanic or Latino, and roughly 73% of those people identify as Mexican. In Los Angeles, more than 45% are Latino, and about 71% of that population is Mexican, according to recent census data.
There is a Mexican essence in this tough, labor-leading Midwest town, and it’s transmitted in the foods that local people of all backgrounds revere. Tacos, birria and carnitas are as familiar as deep-dish pizza and pickle-topped Chicago dogs. This was solidified for me after crossing a threshold that some West Coast purists would blanch at breaching — going to a Rick Bayless restaurant.
Contemporary comforts
First, however, I fell for Mi Tocaya Antojería, a funky place with tall windows facing a patio in the dynamic neighborhood of Logan Square. a Chef Diana Dávila, a leader in values-led dining, established this pillar of modern Mexican American comfort cuisine in 2017.
Her well-loved peanut butter lengua, little squares of braised tongue topped with grilled radish and pickled onion, arrived on a plate streaked with spicy peanut sauce. This and more of Dávila’s dishes reminded me of the many confident, innovative female Mexican chefs I’ve admired over the years. Like others in her cohort, she did several stints in high-stakes kitchens and also grew up working at her family’s taquería.
“I think a lot of people don’t know,” said Ximena N. Beltrán Quan Kiu, a Chicago writer and consultant who specializes in Latino and Mexican American topics.
1. Interior view of dining room and kitchen at Mi Tocaya.2. The peanut butter lengua and a skin-contact wine from Azizam at Mi Tocaya in Baja California.(Daniel Hernandez / Los Angeles Times)
“California, Texas and Florida have the highest Latino populations, but Chicago has the highest Mexican population away from any border state,” Beltrán said. “The migration patterns are really huge — from Mexico to Chicago.”
The influence of Mexican Chicago on all of us may run deeper than we realize. At the 1893 World’s Fair, tamale cart vendors sparked a national obsession with tamales, writes Times columnist Gustavo Arellano in his book “Taco USA.” He also credits the early canning of Mexican comfort dishes — including chile con carne and even tortillas — to Chicago‘s canning industry.
Where it feels like home
Crowds at the Mexican Independence Day Parade on Sunday, Sept. 14, in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago.
(Erin Hooley / Associated Press)
In Los Angeles it is Boyle Heights or East L.A. In San Diego it is Barrio Logan or City Heights. In San Francisco it is the Mission District. And in Chicago it is Pilsen and Little Village. These are among the most well-known multiethnic Mexican American neighborhoods in the United States.
Pilsen, first populated by German, Polish and Czech immigrants, has been the central node of the city’s Mexican life going back to the 1910s, according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago.
Local legend Carnitas Uruapan, opened on 18th Street in 1975 by Inocencio Carbajal, has brought perfect Michoacán-style slow-braised pork to five decades of families who line up for carnitas to-go with all the necessary sides.
Recently, the family family added a new dine-in location in Little Village, characterized as the urban port-of-entry for more recent arrivals from Mexico and Latin America.
Owners Marcos Carbajal and his father Inocencio Carbajal inside the new dine-in location of Carnitas Uruapan in Little Village.
(Carnitas Uruapan)
“We haven’t really changed our core menu in 50 years,” Marcos Carbajal, the founder’s son and co-operator, told me, “and if we did, people would revolt.”
Not this, not that
Mexican Chicago is shaped by dining traditions that reflect a range of inter-generational customs, like the lore of the Tamale Lady, a Pilsen street vendor whose tamales are considered a cut above any other in Cook County. Or for Birrieria Zaragoza, open since 2007 in nearby Archer Heights.
Pilsen is also home to Cantón Regio, a Monterrey-style antojería with particularly good refried beans and flour tortillas, and Pochos, an all-day restaurant that sits right next-door to the Carnitas Uruapan original storefront.
In L.A. it is Boyle Heights or East L.A. And in Chicago it is Pilsen and Little Village. Above, participants at the 2025 Pilsen Mexican Independence Day parade on Saturday, Sept. 6.
(Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)
Pochos co-owner Irene Acosta grew up with her parents and siblings on the “Mexican side” of Chicago, part of a first- and second-generation thriving in the local restaurant industry.
“I identify as pocho and there wasn’t a home for us. It was all either the mom-and-pop shops, or places that were way too modern,” Acosta said during a quiet lull one weekday.
The restaurateur began watching Julia Child videos on PBS when she was 5. She and co-founder Miguel Hernandez opened their first Pochos location in 2019. “We’re not really Mexican, we’re not really American,” Acosta said, “we’re somewhere in between.”
We brunched on the restaurant’s chorizo omelet, braised beef empanadas and a towering lemon berry French toast. Paired with mimosas, it was a fun pocho brunch, Pilsen-made.
1. Owner Irene Acosta and servers Olinca Martínez and Alondra Peña inside the Pochos dining room.2. The chorizo omelet at Pochos.(Daniel Hernandez/Los Angeles Times)
The Bayless effect
I had a Rick Bayless torta once. At O’Hare. It’s almost a requirement during stop at that airport. The torta was good.
Bayless, who first opened Frontera Grill with wife Deann Bayless in Chicago’s River North in 1987, helped train American diners to equate Mexican cuisines with high-quality ingredients and complex preparations — just as Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken did when they opened Los Angeles’ Border Grill on Melrose Avenue in 1985. It wasn’t until 2013 that the first Michelin star for a Mexican-born chef went to Carlos Gaytán for his restaurant Mexique, also in Chicago.
The Bayless trajectory meanwhile morphed into a successful empire involving books, a TV show, and four restaurants, all in the same River North building where Frontera Grill first started nearly 40 years ago. In 1989 he added upscale Topolobampo and eventually fast-casual Xoco and his “speakeasy” concept Bar Sótano, whose name means “basement.”
Chef Rick Bayless in 2007 at Frontera Grill, his first of four restaurants in the same building in River North.
(Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press)
I was particularly curious about Bar Sótano because I had seen posts about how it offered a Mango Chamoy drink served in a small plastic bag with a straw tied into it, mimicking a practice deep in tianguis in Mexico, where you can drink a tepache like this for 10 or 15 pesos.
I wanted to see if the Bayless presentation would trigger delight or offense in me. Plus, I needed to see what makes a Bayless restaurant a Bayless restaurant.
I was truly in a neutral mindset. Sadly, the cocktail in the bag was no longer available, our server said. Something about the tariffs.
Otherwise, service was crisp and clean while we sampled sikil pak, a Yucatecan cream or dip that’s trending in Mexican restaurants this year, and a ceviche with too much tomato. Also had two tacos that I could only describe as incoherent.
When I looked up, the room was jammed.
I could see why this kind of dining is considered top-quality and worth its value in this city. Every kind of possible Chicagoan was there on the night I visited, all having a good time. Many of the employees were Latino or Mexican, or maneuvered like veteran hospitality people, flipping tortillas and preparing salsas, or furiously mixing drinks.
Mexican Chicagoans in the food industry usually acknowledge that Bayless restaurants have served as springboards for a veritable tree of future chef ventures, making him critical for the ecosystem of Midwestern Mexican fine dining.
“At a time when we need allies, Rick Bayless is not an enemy,” said Beltrán, the writer.
Bayless “opened a lane for Mexican food to be perceived as gourmet, something that has deep cultural connections,” Carbajal said. “And as a result of that, he’s opened doors for other people.”
I sent multiple emails and messages to Bayless requesting an interview. I especially wanted to know if the chef would like to say anything about the climate in Chicago’s Mexican dining scene under this ominous threat from Washington.
Sure, I would also want to ask about the withering criticism he’s received for his characterization of how we do things in California from writers like Gustavo Arellano and Bill Esparza, or the litany of public spats he’s had with prominent West Coast food voices including the late Jonathan Gold.
Bayless did not respond to any of my requests for comment.
Even so, I can recognize and admire the breadth of his influence on perceptions of Mexican food within the United States. It is similar to the like-it-or-not influence of Diana Kennedy on Mexican home-cooking in this country.
“He employs hundreds of people from the neighborhoods, and he’s had our food for a really long time,” Carbajal said. “There are Rick Bayless alumni all over town.”
1. Diana Becerra wears an indigenous Mexican costume during the Mexican Independence Day Parade, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Little Village.(Erin Hooley / Associated Press)2. Onlookers watch the parade.(Brandon Bell / Getty Images)3. People stop to take pictures of anti-ICE signs posted on windows at a clothing store during the 2025 Pilsen Mexican Independence Day parade.(Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)
Nightmare raids
Considering the context of the ICE raids in the summer of 2025, Bayless is a reminder that in the greater scheme of things, the focus right now should be on how alike we are — all of us Americans, regardless of ethnicity or political lean.
Those of us of who love Mexican American cuisine, in all its manifestations, can take heart in knowing it is still one of the most “American” aspects to whatever is left of the U.S. monoculture. Our nation is obsessed with tacos.
The ICE surge in the Chicago metropolitan has begun, and has already resulted in the first fatal shooting during an ICE-identified detention since the start of the second Trump administration.
Some Mexican Independence Day parties and festivities took place in recent days in Chicago, Los Angeles and other major U.S. cities, while many organizers also canceled events across the country, according to local media reports. Restaurants everywhere are already feeling the pinch of fear take hold in their communities, including Carbajal of Carnitas Uruapan, who said business has dipped.
“The crowds are much smaller this year. Those are just indicators that people are not wanting to go out,” said Serena Maria Daniels, a longtime Midwest food journalist and author of the newsletter Midwest Mexican. Daniels said she’s watched locals activating in anticipation of Trump’s threats. But the chilling effect is already here, she and other sources said.
“This situation really makes you pause and think about how our community has touched so many aspects of society, and how this is really threatening all of these threads that hold up the economy, that make cities function, that make governments function,” Daniels said. “It truly is a nightmare.”
So here we are. In the throes of what now feels like a systematic assault on our way of life in multiethnic American urban centers, not merely targeting the “the worst of the worst” but anyone with brown skin.
The operations also seem to disregard the sense of belonging and pride we all feel living in a wealthy multicultural megacity, fueled by immigrants, regardless of our background — the kind of place embodied by L.A. or Chicago. Our cities remain rich places, warts and all. We hold steadfast to community, to joy, to service, to open-mindedness, and we demonstrate it in our dining habits.
In truth, our cities show the beauty and promise of this idea, where people from all over the world can gather to seek prosperity, share their cultures, and make it work. And we can all also have delicious carnitas tacos while doing it.
Eating in Mexican Chicago
Mi Tocaya 2800 W. Logan Blvd, Chicago, IL 60647 (872) 315-3947 @mitocaya
Carnitas Uruapan (Take-out only) 1725 W. 18th St, Chicago, IL 60608 (312) 226-2654
Carnitas Uruapan (Dine-in) 3801 W. 26th St, Chicago, IL 60623 (773) 940-2770 @carnitasuruapanchi
Birreria Zaragoza Archer Heights location temporarily closed Uptown location: 4800 N. Broadway, Chicago, IL 60640 (773) 334-5650
Cantón Regio 1510 W. 18th St, Chicago, IL 60608 (312) 733-3045 @regiocanton
Pochos 1727 W. 18th St, Chicago, IL 60608 (312) 989-3937 @pochos_chicago
Bar Sótano In the alley behind Frontera Grill 443 N. Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654 (312) 391-5857 @barsotanochi
REPORTER… JOYCE KIM… SHOWS US WHY THIS EVENT… STILL IT’S A CARMEL TRADITION THAT’S BEEN STANDING TALL – AND THEN WASHED AWAY – FOR MORE THAN SIX DECADES. THE 62ND ANNUAL GREAT SANDCASTLE CONTEST RETURNS TO CARMEL BEACH THIS SUNDAY, AND ORGANIZERS SAY IT’S ALL ABOUT CREATIVITY, COMMUNITY, AND FUN. YES.” BUILDERS OF ALL AGES HIT THE SAND AT HELD ON CARMEL BEACH AS EARLY AS 7 IN THE MORNING TO CREATE THEIR ARTWORKS. “IT’S NOT ONLY CREATIVE, BUT IT’S, I GUESS MAYBE THAT’S PART OF CREATIVITY IS THE IT’S A IT’S A VERY FREE A FREE AND EXPERIENCE.” THIS YEAR’S THEME, “CARMEL’S NATURE,” INVITES CONTESTANTS TO DRAW INSPIRATION FROM THE CENTRAL COAST’S LANDSCAPES, WILDLIFE, AND NATURAL BEAUTY. “THE WHOLE FUN OF IT IS THE BUILD.IT’S THE IMAGINATION. WITH SAND, YOU CAN CREATE JUST ABOUT ANYTHING. AND IN THIS PARTICULAR PROJECT THAT WE PUT TOGETHER WHERE WE HAVE THE MOMMY OTTER, LOOKING AT HER BABY OTTER WITH THE WAVE COMING UP, AND THEY’RE JUST PLAYING IN THE SURF AND HAVING A GREAT TIME.” THE CONTEST IS HOSTED BY THE CITY OF CARMEL-BY- THE-SEA AND THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS MONTEREY BAY. WIN OR LOSE, THE TIDE WILL TAKE IT ALL AWAY – BUT T
‘With sand, you can create just about anything’: Town hosts legendary sandcastle contest
The 62nd annual Great Sandcastle Contest returned to Carmel Beach in California, Sunday, inviting builders of all ages to showcase their creativity and enjoy a day of community fun.Builders gathered as early as 7 a.m. to craft their sand artworks.Alfred Seccombe said, “It’s not only creative, but it’s, I guess, maybe that’s part of creativity is the it’s a it’s a free experience.”Builders are drawing inspiration from the landscapes, wildlife, and natural beauty of California.”The whole fun of it is the build. It’s the imagination,” Robert Slawinski, a builder, said. “With sand, you can create just about anything.”Slawinski had a family theme in his sandcastle creation. “And in this particular project that we put together, where we have the mommy otter, looking at her baby otter with the wave coming up, and they’re just playing in the surf and having a great time,” he said. The contest is hosted by the city of Carmel-by-the-Sea and the American Institute of Architects Monterey Bay.Win or lose, the tide will take it all away, but the memories will stick.
CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. —
The 62nd annual Great Sandcastle Contest returned to Carmel Beach in California, Sunday, inviting builders of all ages to showcase their creativity and enjoy a day of community fun.
Builders gathered as early as 7 a.m. to craft their sand artworks.
Alfred Seccombe said, “It’s not only creative, but it’s, I guess, maybe that’s part of creativity is the it’s a it’s a free experience.”
Builders are drawing inspiration from the landscapes, wildlife, and natural beauty of California.
“The whole fun of it is the build. It’s the imagination,” Robert Slawinski, a builder, said. “With sand, you can create just about anything.”
Slawinski had a family theme in his sandcastle creation.
“And in this particular project that we put together, where we have the mommy otter, looking at her baby otter with the wave coming up, and they’re just playing in the surf and having a great time,” he said.
The contest is hosted by the city of Carmel-by-the-Sea and the American Institute of Architects Monterey Bay.
Win or lose, the tide will take it all away, but the memories will stick.
The family of a 13-year-old boy found dead in a roadside ditch earlier this year is suing the city of Los Angeles, claiming parks department officials failed to do a proper background check on the youth soccer coach accused of sexually abusing and murdering the teen.
Oscar Daniel Hernandez and Gladys Bautista Vasquez, the parents of Oscar Omar Rodriguez, filed a notice of claim against the city on Sept. 11, contending the Los Angeles Dept. of Parks & Recreation exposed children to harm by granting Mario Garcia-Aquino a permit to coach youth soccer teams.
“The City of Los Angeles, through its permit application and approval process, knew or should have known that Mario Garcia-Aquino would be using city parks solely to groom and sexually abuse children on a daily or weekly basis under the guise of a boys’ soccer club,” read the notice, typically a precursor to a civil lawsuit.
Gladys Hernandez, mother of Oscar Omar Hernandez, weeps while talking about her son during a news conference outside the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, CA on April 30, 2025.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Oscar played for the Hurricane Valley Boys Soccer Club in the Sylmar area, which Garcia-Aquino coached. The family’s attorney, Michael Carrillo, said the city was negligent by failing to notify parents that he’d twice faced sexual abuse allegations from players in the past.
The boy was found dead in Ventura County in April, days after traveling to Palmdale to Garcia-Aquino’s home where he was supposed to help his coach make soccer jerseys. Prosecutors have since accused Garcia-Aquino of killing the teen after sexually assaulting him. Oscar died of alcohol poisoning, records show.
Garcia-Aquino is now awaiting trial for Oscar’s murder and the prior sex abuse allegations. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
A police booking photo of Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino, 43, accused of killing 13-year-old Oscar Omar Hernandez on March, 28 2025.
(Jessica Foster/Courtesy of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Depertment)
The Los Angeles Police Department investigated an allegation of sex abuse against Garcia-Aquino in late 2022, officials previously told The Times, but a criminal case was never filed because the victim would not cooperate with law enforcement. A second player accused Garcia-Aquino of abuse in 2024, prompting a sheriff’s department investigation.
But the L.A. County district attorney’s office took more than 10 months to file charges, a previous Times investigation showed, raising questions about whether prosecutors missed a chance to arrest the coach before the alleged killing.
Undated handout photo of Oscar Omar Hernandez. The 7th grader was killed March 28 and his body was found five days after he left his Sun Valley home to meet with his coach in Lancaster.
(Courtesy of Hernandez family)
“We would expect for the LAPD to inform the city that they work for that ‘Hey maybe this guy should be on the do not permit list,’” said Michael Carrillo, one of the family’s attorneys. “That would be a very rational reasonable approach. Anything to prevent this man from being around kids.”
Garcia-Aquino is undocumented, and news of his arrest also previously drew a furious response from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which called him a “depraved illegal alien who should have never been in this country,” in a post on X earlier this year. Carrillo, however, said it would be “wrong” to blame the murder on immigration policies and that the family’s frustration lies with city and county officials.
A spokesman for the city attorney’s office said the agency does not comment on pending litigation. Calls and e-mails to the Department of Parks and Recreation were not returned. Carrillo said he did not know when Garcia-Aquino’s coaching permit was last renewed.
