Arrests of undocumented immigrants have dropped significantly across the Los Angeles region two months after the Trump administration launched its aggressive mass deportation operation, according to new figures released Wednesday by Homeland Security.
Federal authorities told The Times on July 8 that federal agents had arrested 2,792 undocumented immigrants in the seven counties in and around L.A. since June 6. Homeland Security updated that number Wednesday, indicating that fewer than 1,400 immigrants have been arrested in the region in the last month.
“Since June 6, 2025, ICE and CBP have made a total of 4,163 arrests in the Los Angeles area,” Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement provided to The Times.
While 1,371 arrests across the L.A. region since July 8 is still a much higher figure than any recent month before June, it represents a notable drop from the 2,792 arrests during the previous month.
The new figures confirm what many immigration experts suspected: The Trump administration’s immigration agenda in L.A. has faltered since federal courts blocked federal agents from arresting people without probable cause to believe they are in the U.S. illegally.
McLaughlin said Wednesday that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s agenda remained the same.
“Secretary Noem unleashed ICE and CBP to arrest criminal illegal aliens including terrorists, gang members, murderers, pedophiles, and sexual predators,” McLaughlin said in a statement Wednesday. “We will continue to enforce the law and remove the worst of the worst.”
Trump administration officials have long maintained they are focused on criminals. But a few days after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller announced in late May he had set a new goal of arresting 3,000 undocumented migrants across the country a day, federal agents fanned out across L.A. to snatch people off the streets and from their workplaces.
White House top border policy advisor Tom Homan suggested federal officials adopted the strategy of raiding streets and workplaces to get around “sanctuary” jurisdictions, such as Los Angeles, that bar municipal resources and personnel from being used for immigration enforcement.
“If we can’t arrest them in jail, we’ll go out to the communities,” Homan told CBS News.
But after local protesters rallied to resist and Trump deployed the National Guard and U.S. Marines to the city, the administration’s ability to ramp up deportations across L.A. was dealt a blow in the federal courts.
On July 11, U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, an appointee of President Biden, issued a temporary restraining order that blocks federal agents in southern and central California from targeting people based on their race, language, vocation or location without reasonable suspicion that they are in the U.S. illegally.
That decision was upheld last Friday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court.
“If, as Defendants suggest, they are not conducting stops that lack reasonable suspicion,” the panel wrote, “they can hardly claim to be irreparably harmed by an injunction aimed at preventing a subset of stops not supported by reasonable suspicion.”
It’s hard to know whether July numbers signal a permanent change in tactics.
On Tuesday, Border Patrol agent carried out a raid at the Home Depot in Westlake, arresting 16 people.
“For those who thought Immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again,” acting U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli posted on X shortly after the raid. “The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said her office was looking into the matter but added: “From the video and from the stills, it looks like the exact same thing that we were seeing before.”
The UCLA baseball team was cleared to resume using its baseball stadium at noon Tuesday after a judge temporarily lifted an order barring the team from the stadium on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ West Los Angeles campus.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter entered an order Monday restoring UCLA’s access to Jackie Robinson Stadium through July 4, allowing the team to complete its coming season. After that, the stadium will face an uncertain fate.
After a four-week trial this summer, Carter ruled the lease to UCLA of 10 acres on which the stadium sits was illegal because it did not predominantly focus on service to veterans. He ordered the stadium cordoned off in late September.
A class-action lawsuit alleged that the VA had failed in its duty to provide adequate housing for disabled veterans and that its leases of portions of the 388-acre campus for other purposes violated the 1888 deed of the land to the U.S. government for the “establishment, construction and permanent maintenance” of a home for disabled soldiers.
In an attempt to regain use of the stadium, UCLA attorney Raymond Cardozo said the university was willing to nearly double its rent to $600,000 and release two acres for housing. Carter initially spurned that offer while working with attorneys in the case to identify parcels where an initial 106 modular units of temporary housing could be placed.
After selecting the stadium’s parking lot and two other parcels during a hearing Friday, Carter abruptly changed direction, asking attorneys for the veterans who sued why they shouldn’t take the $600,000 and allow the baseball team to play at the stadium when the veterans were not using it. He gave them the weekend to confer with their clients.
Returning to court Monday, attorney Roman Silberfeld said they objected to the terms the judge described.
But Carter said he thought it would not make sense to pass up money that could be used for housing now.
He again urged the university and veterans to come up with a “holistic” agreement by July 4, when the grace period expires, and made it clear he still considers the stadium as a potential site for housing. He suggested that one option would be for UCLA to use more than 30 acres it owns in the Palos Verdes Peninsula for a new stadium.
UCLA praised the decision in a statement attributed to athletic director Martin Jarmond.
“We are excited to practice and play in Jackie Robinson Stadium this season,” it said. “Our young men have been working hard and keeping a positive attitude throughout this period of uncertainty, and we are pleased that they will be able to resume their regular training at the stadium.”
Rob Reynolds, a veteran who acts as a spokesman for the plaintiffs, said Carter’s change of heart “caught everybody by surprise.”
Reynolds said the veterans felt insulted that the amount offered was less than the UCLA baseball coach’s salary.
“It’s a travesty for them to see them get them come back for nothing,” he said.
The owners of Machine, a Wicker Park cocktail bar and lounge, are facing an eviction lawsuit. Their landlords filed the lawsuit on July 29, claiming the bar’s owners owe $31,584. The next court date is October 25, according to Cook County records.
Machine’s owners, Chireal Jordan and Brian Galati, confirm via a spokesperson that they permanently closed the bar in July and they failed to negotiate a lease. Online listings only show a temporary closure.
The bar struggled in recent months to attract customers and cut hours. Jordan and Galati are also behind Headquarters Beercade. In June, they opened another cocktail bar, Dearly Beloved, in Pilsen. The rep says the two want to soon open Machine in a different space and hope to settle their eviction dispute with their landlord, Newcastle Retail Management.
Dearly Beloved shares similarities with Machine, which opened in March 2019 at 1846 W. Division Street. While Division Steet isn’t really Chicago’s longest street (sorry, Mr. Terkel), the stretch around Wicker Park does come with complications for restaurant owners — and that was even before 2020 and COVID’s spread. Before Machine’s debut, Jordan and Galati described their upcoming project as a cocktail restaurant. It had gimmicks — interactive elements like a tiny hammer used to break caramelized sugar lids covering cocktails. A burger came topped with foie gras and that angered animal activists. The bar also had a floral display cooler that was regularly stocked. Customers could buy fresh flowers to impress dates and parents or make themselves happy.
However, after the politicians closed bars and dining rooms during the pandemic, Division Street launched into another phase. Wicker Park was once a hub for nightlife with customers routinely crawling through multiple taverns on a weekend night. In the ‘90s, it was more of a hipster vibe, with art and music leading the way. That environment quickly dissipated when sports bars, like the Fifty/50, set up shop in the ‘00s. The co-owner of Club Foot, a Ukrainian Village bar that closed in 2014 and was filled with pop-culture trinkets catering to customers who didn’t care for pop music and football, dubbed the sports bars popping up and threatening her business as “bro-holes.”
But the neighborhood has yet again shifted with more families in the neighborhood — just check out the “stroller parking” sign at Parlor Pizza. Throw in economic challenges including rising labor and food costs, and restaurant owners don’t know which way to pivot. There have been more recent closures along the strip: Fifty/50 and Whadda Jerk are shuttered just west of Damen Avenue. The owners of Takito Kitchen, which has been on Division for more than a decade, have repeatedly warned that they’re close to closing, begging customers on social media to return to help business.
Machine enjoyed a five-year run along Division Street, inside a space whose past lives included Taus Authentic and Prasino. The space now joins a list of growing vacancies between Ashland and Western.
Pizzamania, a beloved pizza restaurant and a staple in Whittier for more than 50 years, burned down Tuesday morning in a blaze that the owner believes might have been intentionally set.
The pizza joint and four other businesses were damaged after a fire was reported at 2:25 a.m. in the one-story strip mall in the 13500 block of Telegraph Road, Los Angeles County fire officials said.
Firefighters arrived to find the five businesses engulfed in flames. The blaze was extinguished by 3:04 a.m.
Patrons and passersby posted images of the fire on social media, and expressed grief over the loss of the restaurant that has been a fixture in the community for decades.
“NOOOOOOO!!!!” one person posted on Instagram, followed by a series of crying emojis.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Fire Department said the cause of the fire is being investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
“Someone came by and torched it,” said Warren Haines, one of the co-owners of the restaurant.
Video cameras from the restaurant were destroyed in the fire, but Haines said video from one of the neighboring businesses showed what looked like someone intentionally setting the fire.
Haines, who started the restaurant in 1973 with his business partner, Jim Barrit, said the person appeared to have targeted Pizzamania.
Investigators were searching the area for more surveillance images, he said.
Officials with the Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to inquiries about the fire.
The fire put about 50 employees at the restaurant out of work, he said.
“I’m pissed off,” he said. “It takes the wind out of your sail.”
Just hours after the fire, Haines said his son, who handles social media for the restaurant, had received more than 700 emails from patrons devastated about the news and wondering how they could help.
He said he was moved by their outreach and understands that Pizzamania was an icon in the community for decades.
“They call, and half of them are in tears,” he said. “It means everything to me.”
Haines said he’s reeling over the fire but intends to keep Pizzamania alive.
“We’re an institution,” he said. “I intend to rebuild.”
(Associated Press) – Earth’s string of 13 straight months with a new average heat record came to an end in July.
That’s according to the European climate agency Copernicus.
The agency said July 2024’s average heat just missed surpassing the July of a year ago.
Both the agency and outside experts warned that the end of the record-breaking streak changes nothing about the threat posed by climate change.
It’s driving extreme weather events that can be seen regularly, ranging from torrential rains and flooding in South Africa to the earliest Category 4 hurricane ever seen, Beryl, which hammered parts of central America and the southern U.S.
Death Valley National Park set another record in July.
The area dubbed the hottest place on Earth saw an average temperature in July of 108.5 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. That broke the previous record of 108.1 degrees in July 2018.
The average high temperature last month in Death Valley was 121.9 degrees, tying the record set in July 1917.
The National Weather Service keeps a temperature sensor in Furnace Creek in Death Valley.
“It’s a pretty hot one out there,” said Morgan Stessman, a meterologist in the National Weather Service’s Las Vegas office.
Farther south, a California town near the border of Arizona also boasted a new record for the hottest monthly average temperature in the country.
Needles averaged 103.2 degrees in July, surpassing Phoenix’s highest average temperature in July 2023 of 102.7 degrees, according to the Arizona State Climate Office.
More punishing temperatures may be on the way. Meteorologist Stessman said that there is a 50% to 60% chance that Death Valley will see above normal temperatures for the month of August.
A long, narrow basin near the border of Nevada, Death Valley is 282 feet below sea level. The mountains trap hot air and circulate the heat like a convection oven.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Death Valley was 134 degrees on July 10, 1913. The average high temperature that month was 116.5 degrees.
In July, a European tourist in Death Valley melted the skin off his feet when he lost his flip-flops in the sand dunes, park officials said. Also in July, a biker in Death Valley died.
The heat hinders rescue efforts. When temperatures exceed 120 degrees, a medical helicopter cannot access the park. Air expands when it is heated, becoming thinner than cold air and helicopters can’t get the lift needed to fly.
Trees and wildlife also are suffering. One 2022 study found that thousands of the trees have died at Telescope Peak, the highest point in Death Valley, since 2013.
Another study from 2019 found that about a third of Death Valley’s bird species have declined in the last 100 years because of heat stress associated with climate change.
A town of 5,200 just inside the California border along Route 66 now boasts a scorching new record — the hottest monthly average temperature in the country.
Needles averaged 103.2 degrees in July, surpassing Phoenix‘s highest average temperature last July of 102.7 degrees, according to the Arizona State Climate Office. In an X post, the department ceded the unfortunate title to Needles.
Phoenix is happy to relinquish the record to Needles, now the hottest monthly U.S. city with 103.2°F (preliminary avg July temp).
Arizona welcomes a few new members to the 100°F+ monthly temp club: Palm Springs (100.0°F) and Blythe (100.7°F). Welcome?
The post also referenced two other cities, Palm Springs and Blythe, and welcomed them to the club of cities with average temperatures of at least three digits for an entire month.
“Welcome?” the post said.
Jan Jernigan, the mayor of Needles, was not surprised by her town’s achievement, saying: “We probably did [beat the record], quite easily.”
The heat is a part of the town’s culture. When the City Council hosts meetings, it offers guests a basket of Red Hots candy with a sign that reads, “Needles is Red Hot,” Jernigan said.
The heat is ingrained in Needles’ culture. City officials offer Red Hots candy at public meetings, with a sign reading “Needles is Red Hot.”
(Courtey of Jan Jernigan)
Needles has learned to hold city events early in the morning to avoid the worst of the heat, Jernigan said. A food distribution event this morning started around 5 a.m. and lasted only until 8 a.m., she said, before temperatures became oppressive.
The town, also known for references in the “Peanuts” comics as the home of Snoopy’s brother Spike, still draws tourists and residents alike to its three beaches on the Colorado River where they can try to beat the summer heat, said City Manager Patrick Martinez. The city has spent $8.4 million in grants to improve infrastructure, including updating parks, he said.
“You’ve [got to] be waist-deep in the Colorado River” to stay cool in Needles, he said.
In late June, the region’s intense heat was partly to blame for an unusual brush fire that broke out near Needles, burning 70 acres and destroying one structure. It crossed into Arizona and burned 143 acres there. Martinez said the infrastructure upgrades included beach cleanups that will help reduce the risk of future wildfires, especially during a wildfire-prone summer. This year’s hot weather has contributed to fires burning 30 times as many acres statewide as last year.
To fight the heat, the town operates a senior center that provides water and a cool place for people to gather. It is equipped with a generator and can be opened during an emergency if power outages put residents in danger of overheating, Martinez said.
Jernigan said the most recent improvements to Needles’ infrastructure aren’t the end of the story. “We still have a long way to go,” she said.
A 21-year-old USC student was found seriously injured Tuesday evening inside her apartment in downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles police say she was the victim of an apparent attack.
The young woman was found at about 10 p.m. in an upscale apartment building in the 1200 block of Hill Street. She was taken to a hospital, where she was in critical condition, according to L.A. police Capt. Kelly Muniz.
The incident is under investigation by the L.A. Police Department. Law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation said the woman’s parents had become concerned after not hearing from her. She was discovered by a family member who had gone to check on her. The sources, who were not allowed to speak publicly about the investigation, described the woman as having a head injury and suffering from trauma.
Investigators are conducting a forensic scrub of the apartment as well as talking to neighbors and checking surrounding video security systems.
Authorities did not say whether there were any signs of forced entry.
The building was described as a well-secured, modern apartment complex where a one-bedroom unit rents for $2,600 a month.
Anyone with information related to the attack is asked to contact detectives at (213) 996-4104 or (213) 996-4150.
Is that Ringer-Verse Recommends music?! Sweet summer recommendation seekers, listen in as the Ringer-Verse and House of R crews close out a jam-packed July with the latest installment of their monthly mini-pod about their fandom favorites from TV, anime, movies, video games, books, comics, and beyond that were released recently but not yet covered in depth on a full-length episode.
Host: Ben Lindbergh Guests: Charles Holmes, Joanna Robinson, Van Lathan, Jomi Adeniran, Arjuna Ramgopal, Steve Ahlman, and Jonathan Kermah Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Social: Jomi Adeniran
In South Pasadena, new police cars are patrolling to reduce crime and cutting emissions at the same times.
The South Pasadena Police Department unveiled Monday what the city says is the first all-electric vehicle police fleet in the country, sporting 10 Tesla Model Ys for patrol and 10 Model 3s for detectives and administration.
The city will pay $1.85 million overall for the electrified fleet, officials said in a release. Over half of the project’s cost are covered by multiple partners that have agreed to build city-managed electric vehicle chargers and contingencies.
“This transition reflects the city’s vision of a sustainable future, based on both sound fiscal management and environmental stewardship,” Mayor Evelyn Zneimer said in the release. “We will have a 21st Century police force that is safe, clean and saves taxpayer dollars.”
The new zero-emissions police force will save the city more than $400,000 in gas and maintenance costs over 10 years, according to the Electrify South Pasadena website.
Fuel costs alone were about $4,355 a year for the department, compared to the estimated cost of $336 per year to charge all of the new cars, according to a September 2022 staff report.
The fluctuating cost of gas could impact the city’s savings, South Pasadena Police Department Sgt. Tony Abdalla said. The $312,282 figure was calculated using September 2022 gas prices, which were $5.27 a gallon in California, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Gas prices have fallen since then, down to $4.47 a gallon this month.
The fuel savings are not the only advantage to the zero-emission vehicles.
The 2022 report presenting the plan to the city council cited “significant maintenance and reliability issues” over the gasoline-powered fleet.
One gas-powered police vehicle overheated during a pursuit. Another was out of service due to a blown head gasket. Yet another had electrical and brake issues. Two had air conditioning problems, one with a note that the vehicle’s AC was “insufficient” for the K9 assigned to it.
South Pasadena police had been considering for years whether to replace the fleet of 22 vehicles, six of which were out of commission. “We were looking for a creative solution,” Abdalla said.
The department looked to the 35 other police departments all over the country that had added electric vehicles to see if going all-electric was possible. No other agency, however, had transitioned the whole force, according to the city.
The new vehicles require a new infrastructure, which lead to the construction of 34 Level 2 electric vehicle chargers at South Pasadena City Hall, funded by the Charge Ready program from Southern California Edison. An additional Level 3 charger, which can fully charge an electric vehicle in about an hour, will also be installed in the police department parking lot.
The city is also expected to benefit from the revenue generated by 14 public-facing EV chargers at City Hall plus Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits from the state’s Air Resources Board, which could translate to thousands of dollars a month.
A backup solar and battery storage system that was provided by the Clean Power Alliance’s Power Ready Program protects the department from running out of power during electricity outages and grid failures.
The project expects to reduce 1,850 metric tons of smog-creating carbon dioxide by 2030, greatly surpassing the city’s current plan for the police department to reduce 23 metric tons by 2030.
The move to the Tesla fleet reduces 10% of the city’s overall emission cuts needed to meet the state’s 2030 climate action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 1990 levels statewide.
City Councilmember Michael Cacciotti may be the strongest advocate for the clean-air alternatives.
The genesis of the plan had its start two decades ago, Cacciotti said, after he read studies about the harm of air pollution and decided to trade in his sports car, asking car dealers, “What’s the cleanest car you have available?”
Cacciotti, who is also the vice chair of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said he bought a Toyota Prius that is still running strong after 20 years and 188,000 miles. It recently needed its very first change of brakes and rotors — a testament to how little maintenance hybrid and electric cars require, he said.
Protecting public health, Cacciotti said, was a driving factor for the change. Police cars idle, while cops write tickets at traffic stops or respond to emergency calls. During that time, gas-powered cars release emissions that impact the health of children and elders and worsen the climate crisis. “We can’t ignore these things,” he said.
Now that the infrastructure for electric city vehicles is in place, Cacciotti said, he is looking into replacing the city’s fire trucks with zero-emission versions in the next few years.
But South Pasadena is not the first to turn to zero-emission vehicles. The city of Irvine recently added a Cybertruck to its fleet, though it won’t be used on patrol, and Anaheim added Teslas in a pilot program in April.
Meanwhile, tune-ups, oil changes and spark plug replacements are now things of the past at the South Pasadena Police Department. Lower long-term maintenance costs are part of the savings plan.
In preparing the project over the last four years, Abdalla said, city officials had to reconsider crashes involving police cars.
The Tesla Model Y and Model 3 are some of the safest vehicles on the market, boasting the highest rating possible from the Insurance Institute of Higher Safety.
“We reached this decision because we wanted the safest and most capable vehicle for the job,” the South Pasadena Police Department wrote in an X post.
The department’s announcement earned a handshake emoji from Tesla’s North American X account.
But Tesla’s safety features, like lane assistance and emergency stopping, might work against patrol officers when they are chasing a suspect and must navigate through traffic at high speeds or perform a maneuver to bump a fleeing car, forcing it to spin out or stop.
For maneuvers that involve bumping fleeing cars, Abdalla said, it’s hard to test because it would require crashing a car. Lane assistance can be turned off in the Tesla’s settings, and the department has run into no issues since testing the first police Tesla last December.
Abdalla said he is optimistic that the experiment will be a success.
“It’s been years of work,” he said, “and it’s exciting to see it come to fruition.”
California health officials are urging people who attended the Kern County music festival Lightning in a Bottle to seek medical care if they are experiencing respiratory symptoms or a fever.
Authorities have identified five patients with valley fever who attended the six-day event, which was held May 22-27 at Buena Vista Lake, near Bakersfield. Three people have been hospitalized.
More than 20,000 people attended the festival.
One attendee, on a Reddit r/LightningInaBottle thread, said a festival companion had been hospitalized for two weeks with “severe” valley fever.
“If you get unexplainable symptoms such as fever, chills, and headaches/neck pain,” the user wrote, “let the doctors know it could be valley fever, even though it’s been several months.”
Valley fever is an infectious disease caused by the coccidioides fungus, which grows in the soil and dirt in some areas of California. It is most commonly found in the San Joaquin Valley and Central Coast of California.
Health officials say that most people exposed to this fungus don’t end up developing the disease, but it can infect the lungs and cause respiratory symptoms in some people, including cough, difficulty breathing, fever and fatigue.
In rare cases, the fungus can spread to other parts of the body and cause severe disease.
Valley fever is not contagious. Past outbreaks have been linked to dust and dirt exposure at outdoor events and job sites where dirt is disturbed — in areas of the state where the fungus is common.
Valley fever is on the rise in California, with particularly high numbers of cases reported in 2023 and 2024. The fungus appears to flourish in wet years.
A 2022 study in the medical journal the Lancet concluded that multiyear cycles of dry conditions followed by wet winters increased transmission, especially in areas that were historically wetter. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and duration of drought throughout the Southwestern United States, potentially increasing the prevalence of valley fever spores and fungus.
Kern County has the highest incidence rate in the state, and it accounts — on average — for about a third of the cases.
State health officials say that people who have visited Kern County in recent months and are experiencing respiratory symptoms that have not improved or are lasting longer than a week should see a healthcare provider and ask about possible valley fever.
They also urge people to mention attendance at the music festival or travel to Kern County.
Attendees can visit the California Department of Public Health’s valley fever survey website for more information and to share details about any illness.
Another Reddit user said they came down with the disease two weeks after returning from the festival to their home in Colorado.
The music fan described a “terrible” cough, headache, body aches, fever and chills. The Reddit user is not sure they’d go again next year.
“Don’t want to miss … but I also don’t want a fungal lung infection again. Yikes.”
The SHOWAbility INCLUSIVE CHORUS opened the rally with renditions of “This Is me” and “Happy” on Friday, July 26, 2024. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
The SHOWAbility INCLUSIVE CHORUS took the stage inside Friendship Baptist Church and followed a brief introduction from the event’s MC, Dr. Yvette Pegues, PhD., a well-known advocate for Americans with disabilities, author, and public speaker, started singing “This is Me,” the popular lead track from “The Showman” soundtrack. The chorus is made up of adults with and without disabilities. The inclusivity that SHOWAbility, a metro Atlanta-based organization that highlights performing arts talents of people with disabilities, works to showcase was on full display that morning.
SHOWAbility founder Myrna Clayton ran around the church working with performers, sound guys, guests, and families. The venue filled quickly and was full of applause when the curtains opened for the opening performance and for the performances that followed.
The 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed into law on July 26, 1990, was commemorated with a celebration of the human spirit on Friday in Atlanta. SHOWAbility held a ADA anniversary celebration at Friendship Baptist Church, which was attended by dozens of supporters and people with disabilities, both young and old, Black and white, male and female. Inclusivity at its purest and most simplest form.
Dr. Yvette Pegues, PhD., a well-known advocate for Americans with disabilities, author, and public speaker, was the events MC. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
“Awareness, understanding, and change,” Pegues, who wore a sequined dress for the occasion, explained when asked why rallies and celebrations like the one that took place on Friday were important. “If you don’t have awareness and understanding you can’t change. My hope and prayer is that our next generations won’t have this fight.”
July is Disability Pride Month and sponsors like the Bobby Dodd Institute and Amazon were involved in helping ShowAbility put on a show and information session that included a panel and tables from inclusive businesses like MARTA and many others.
“We need as many allies as we do adults with disabilities focussing on the fight,” Pegues said.
One of the information tables in the lobby of the church was from Fulton Votes, which was there to both register voters and help people with and without disabilities check their voter status in Georgia’s largest county. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
One of the information tables in the lobby of the church was from Fulton Votes, which was there to both register voters and help people with and without disabilities check their voter status in Georgia’s largest county. Pamphlets with key voting dates were available as well as a sample voting machine for people to practice on if they were unfamiliar.
Norma Stanley (standing) and her daughter Sierra Stanley. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
One of those people excited about punching her first presidential ticket is SHOWAbility Board Chair Norma Stanley. A native of Antigua, Stanley has lived and worked in the United States for decades, but recently filed for and received her citizenship. Not only her but her daughter Sierra, who was born with cerebral palsy 34 years ago, will be voting for the first time this fall. Stanley admitted that she did not know that her daughter, an American citizen, was able to vote, but she does now.
“I had to do it for both of us,” Stanley said of registering to vote. “There couldn’t be a better time than now.”
At the rally, Stanley, who spoke to the crowd at the beginning of the festivities and who also suffers from what can be described as an invisible disability, adult onset epilepsy, said she was happy that it was taking place at Friendship Baptist Church again for a consecutive year. “It’s important because people with disabilities had to fight to get this act passed,” Stanley said. “This is a celebration.”
Georgia State Rep. Kim Schofield (District 63), who suffers from Lupus, another invisible disability that affects millions of Black American women. One in 250 Black women will develop the disease, according to data provided by the Lupus Foundation of America. “It’s about you today, it’s about the celebration today,” Schofield said.
A San Dimas woman has been arrested in the fatal stabbing of her wife with a sword during a fight at their home, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
Weichien Huang, 44, was booked on suspicion of the murder of Chen Chen Fei, 47, on July 18.
Huang attacked Fei with the weapon during an argument in the couple’s home, the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. She also allegedly attacked and injured Fei’s mother, who despite her injuries was able to wrest the sword away from Huang and run into the street for help.
Deputies responding to the couple’s home in the 300 block of South Huntington Avenue first encountered a bloodied woman in the street holding a sword who approached deputies as they drove up in their police cruiser, according to reporting from news station KTLA.
She complied with directions to put down the sword and directed deputies to the residence, where they discovered Fei’s body and a second uninjured woman.
Fei’s mother remains in stable condition at a local hospital.
A fast-moving fire in Butte County was burning rapidly near some mountain communities Wednesday night, forcing evacuations.
The fire started Wednesday afternoon just north of Chico at Bidwell Park. Wind fanned it north, where it has burned more than 6,000 acres, according to Butte County.
Some small mountain areas — including the hamlet of Cohasset — are under threat, and people are attempting to evacuate.
There are no reports of burned structures, Butte County said.
Rick Carhart, public information officer for Cal Fire, told the Chico Enterprise-Record late Wednesday that “a lot of crews” would be battling the fire through the night, with three night-capable helicopters helping battle flames. Carthart said crews “from all over Northern California” were helping in the firefight.
Fullerton police said Monday that a man they killed last month appeared to provoke the incident in an effort to die.
On June 15, police said they responded to a 911 call urging the department to send multiple officers to deal with a man who threatened the caller and others with knives on Imperial Highway.
When officers arrived, they found a man who matched the caller’s description holding what appeared to be two knives, according to police.
Officers told the man — later identified as 27-year-old Lorenzo Roger Hills III of Brea — to drop the weapons, but instead he ran at them with the knives in hand, prompting officers to fatally shoot him.
On Monday, police said they recovered two knives and a cellphone. Upon investigation, police said the phone was registered to Hills and was the same one used to make the initial 911 call.
“It is believed Mr. Hills intentionally provoked a deadly police encounter, commonly referred to as ‘suicide-by-cop,’” the department said.
Police on Monday released body camera video that shows Hills running toward officers, who shoot him before he nears them.
Police also released a recording of the 911 call, in which the caller gives his name as Antonio. After the caller reports a mentally ill man wielding knives, the dispatcher tells the caller she’ll remain on the line with him until officers arrive.
The caller responds that he may have to go, but then doesn’t after the dispatcher tells him he must stay on the phone so officers know exactly where the knife-wielding man is.
Before officers arrive, the caller says, “My phone is cutting …” and the line goes dead.
Suicide prevention and crisis counseling resources
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, seek help from a professional and call 9-8-8. The United States’ first nationwide three-digit mental health crisis hotline 988 will connect callers with trained mental health counselors. Text “HOME” to 741741 in the U.S. and Canada to reach the Crisis Text Line.
When a wildfire started in the mountains of Fresno County late last month, much of California was on the cusp of a heat wave that would go on to smash records both for its intensity and duration. Over the next week and a half, as the Basin fire swelled to more than 14,000 acres and temperatures in the area reached 112 degrees, at least nine firefighters were treated for heat-related illness. Four were taken to local hospitals, three of them airlifted from the fire line.
As the heat wave stretched on, the incident management team overseeing the fire formed a working group to deal with the extreme conditions. They provided firefighters with electrolytes to add to their drinking water and cooling towels to place on their necks.
And on July 5, in what may have been a first in the state, they constructed five generator-powered, air-conditioned yurts — three out on the fire line and two at the incident command post — to be used as emergency cooling stations.
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“I’ve been doing this for over 35 years, and I can tell you that I have never seen this done before,” said Mike Lindbery of the U.S. Forest Service, public information officer on the Basin fire. “The heat has caused this team, which is basically coming in to solve problems, to look at a different aspect of problem solving.”
Much attention has been paid to the ways in which extreme heat ratchets up the risk of wildfire and intensifies its behavior, resulting in longer, more destructive fire seasons. But perhaps just as vexing are the challenges heat poses to the health of firefighters themselves, who already perform backbreaking work saddled with heavy equipment in unforgiving terrain.
On Tuesday, Daniel Foley, 27, a first-year Forest Service firefighter assigned to the Bly Ranger District in Oregon’s Fremont-Winema National Forest, collapsed after completing a fitness test and died at a local hospital. It’s not yet clear whether heat was a factor. The area was under a heat advisory, with afternoon temperatures in the mid-80s to 90s, depending on the elevation, according to the National Weather Service.
“It’s one of the hottest years on record for me so far, that I can remember,” said Mike Noel, assistant director of risk management for the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region. He has been a wildland firefighter for 38 years. “All agencies have had multiple heat-related injuries this year.”
The team overseeing the Basin fire in Fresno County constructed air-conditioned yurts to be used as emergency cooling stations for firefighters earlier this month.
(California Complex Incident Management Team 11)
California has seen an uptick in heat-related illness among firefighters over the last 10 days or so coinciding with the elevated temperatures, he said. Seven firefighters assigned to the Lake fire in Santa Barbara County were treated for such illnesses on Thursday alone, he said.
At least four firefighters suffered from heat-related illness while fighting the Thompson fire in Butte County on July 2, and at least one on the Sharp fire in Ventura County on July 3, according to public information officers for those fires.
“This is extreme heat throughout the West, and it’s possible whole crews are being affected,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, former wildland firefighter and executive director of nonprofit Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology.
Wildland firefighters wear about 50 pounds of personal protective equipment, including a helmet, safety goggles and a personal pack containing water and equipment, said David Acuna, battalion chief of communication for the southern region of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
They may also carry a 25-pound hose pack, as well as hand tools like chain saws or nozzles. And they often must hike to remote locations and then perform physical labor once they get there, which can include digging fire lines, putting in hose lays and taking vegetation down to bare mineral soil to stop the fire spread — all as they breathe in smoke, dust and debris.
“It’s claustrophobic, sometimes, because it seems like you can’t escape from the heat and smoke,” Acuna said.
Cal Fire firefighters typically work 24-hour shifts, followed by 24 hours off in order to rest and refuel, he said. During those 24 hours on, breaks can be elusive. “If we can catch a quick cat nap in the engine, that’s great, but most of the time we stay engaged,” he said.
Breaks were once openly frowned upon — “it’s that tough, macho culture,” said Riva Duncan, former wildland firefighter and vice president of Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, an advocacy group made up of retired and current federal firefighters.
But for many, a wake-up call came in 2011, when Bureau of Land Management firefighter Caleb Hamm, 23, died from exertional heatstroke on a fire in Texas, becoming just the second reported federal wildland firefighter to do so. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report with recommendations for better protecting firefighters was widely distributed.
The incident raised awareness among superintendents, crew leaders and engine captains about early indicators of heat illness, and encouraged firefighters to speak up when they’re not feeling well, Duncan said. Many crews now have EMTs who carry extra electrolytes and cooling blankets and are trained to spot the early warning signs of heat illness, which can include cramps, weakness, nausea and fatigue, she said.
Firefighters walk along a hillside with scorched ground behind them in Mariposa, Calif., on July 5.
(Noah Berger / Associated Press)
Still, climate change has resulted in an ever-shifting baseline for what conditions firefighters can expect, including more intense, longer-lasting heat waves.
“We’re not even at the halfway mark in July,” Duncan said. “These extreme heat situations started early.”
“People need to understand that fires are behaving differently than they used to,” she added. “It’s not easy to put them out because they’re burning under different conditions than 10, 15 years ago.”
In California, as of Friday, 3,630 wildfires had burned 228,756 acres, compared with a five-year average of 3,743 fires and 111,813 acres over the same time frame, Acuna said.
“The fires are much, much more aggressive,” he said, attributing this to the heat and dryness, as well as the abundance of grasses and other fuels, which were stoked by two wet winters and left largely untouched by two mild fire seasons.
Members of the Redding Hotshots, an elite crew of Forest Service firefighters, are used to dealing with sweltering summer heat. But this season has been punishing even by their standards. They recently fought fires in both the Tahoe and Modoc national forests, where temperatures were in the 100s.
“It’s always hot on fires, but it seems like this year so far has definitely been about dealing with temperatures over 100, if not more,” said hotshot superintendent Dan Mallia.
Forest Service fire crews typically work up to 16-hour shifts, followed by eight hours of rest that are often spent sleeping outside. Although Mallia said breaks can be hard to come by, depending on how a fire is behaving, he says he encourages his members to hydrate, eat well and find shade when they can.
He noted that crews acclimate to the heat by training in it, but that it’s difficult to fully prepare for such extreme conditions.
“At the end of the day when you get out on a fire, it’s a little different,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff going on as far as the work, the stress, the smoke, the heat, the fire — all that stuff definitely ramps up.”
Complicating matters, wildland firefighters are often sent to work in unfamiliar areas, which can make them feel the effects of extreme heat more acutely, said Max Alonzo, national business representative for the National Federation of Federal Employees and a former wildland firefighter who worked for the Forest Service for most of his career.
“I have seen people really struggle when they show up to different climates and different topography that they’re not used to, where they’re not used to the elevation, they’re not used to the weather,” he said. “We’re a national resource, so they’re going to go all over the country.”
He said that agencies could do more to proactively protect firefighters from the heat, including erecting cooldown areas on fire lines. Although he applauded the use of cooling yurts on the Basin fire, he said it’s not normal practice. Normal would be, “Hey, make sure you tell people to stay hydrated,” he said.
More could also be done to alternate crews — pulling firefighters off the line and letting them cool down before moving them back in, he said.
Cal Fire has already made changes to its personal protective equipment in response to rising temperatures, including transitioning to single-layer pants and removing colored ink from wildland jackets and undershirts in response to evidence that it increased the heat levels of the firefighters wearing them.
Federal agencies and many state and municipal departments have also begun to use drones to scout ahead of a fire or ignite backfires, lessening the burden on firefighters who would otherwise have to hike in on foot.
And wildland firefighters in hotter climates sometimes work bimodal shifts — toiling in the morning hours, then pulling back during the heat of the day and getting back out as things cool down in the evening, Mallia said.
Still, some say more changes may be necessary as the planet continues to warm. That could include sending more firefighters to an incident so they can distribute the workload more evenly, or placing more emphasis on nighttime operations.
The conditions also illustrate the increasing prudence of managing some backcountry fires for ecological benefit, treating them more like controlled burns rather than trying to immediately suppress them, Duncan said. That benefits the environment, and it protects the physical health of firefighters by permitting them to focus on fires threatening people or structures, she said. The idea remains politically unpopular, she noted.
It will also be increasingly key to set more controlled fires in the spring and fall to reduce the amount of fuel on the ground come summer, Ingalsbee said.
“Big picture, we’re going to have to be proactively managing fire during the cooler period of the year, rather than attacking all fires at the hottest period of the year, when we fail, and we surpass human physical ability for working in these kinds of conditions,” he said.
One thing appears certain: These conditions are unlikely to improve.
“I got a desperate call this morning from one of our members just like, ‘When is this going to end?’ ” he said Wednesday. “The heat is not ending. We’re just going to have to adapt to the new normal, whatever that is.”
OK, my choice to replace President Biden as the Democratic nominee is George Clooney.
Yes, I am semi-serious. No, I don’t expect anyone else to take me seriously — let alone the Oscar-winning actor.
His lifestyle, privacy and pay would suffer immensely — even if a $400,000 salary plus free housing, food and travel would sound very alluring to most people. Even with the hefty workload increase.
Why Clooney?
Most importantly, he’d whip the dangerous Donald Trump easily, probably by a landslide. Clooney’s a better actor. That’s all Trump is, besides a compulsive liar. Clooney is much more.
He has an easy smile that exudes sincerity and is extraordinarily telegenic. Trump pouts and frowns and is a horror show.
Clooney exhibits conviction and is a humanitarian. Trump displays self-centered opportunism and sows hate.
Clooney is relatively young for a presidential candidate these days. He’s an upbeat 63. Trump is a whiny, grouchy 78.
“I love Joe Biden. … In the last four years, he’s won many of the battles he faced. But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can,” Clooney wrote in a New York Times op-ed.
“Our party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just saw…. The [ABC] George Stephanopoulous interview only reinforced what we saw the week before. … Is it fair to point these things out? It has to be. … We are not going to win in November with this president. …
“Top Democrats … need to ask this president to voluntarily step aside. … Would it be messy? Yes. Democracy is messy. But would it enliven our party and wake up voters who, long before the June debate, had already checked out. It sure would.”
Agreed.
Biden has been a good president despite a few screwups, most notably on illegal immigration. But that doesn’t mean he’d be effective in a second term.
And Biden’s candidacy is not sustainable. Support among Democratic members of Congress is cracking.
Much more importantly, voters have been telling pollsters for months that they desire a younger Democratic standard bearer. But the party didn’t listen. Now, Biden is losing more ground to Trump and there’s even speculation about some blue states turning purple.
Patrons watch President Biden debate former President Trump at a watch party on June 27 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Freed from the inane two-minute time limit on answering questions in the TV debate, Biden was able to respond with thoughtful replies. He particularly was impressive when answering a foreign policy question about dealing with China and Russia.
But he awkwardly flubbed the first question. Biden was asked whether he was concerned about Vice President Kamala Harris’ ability to beat Trump if she were the nominee.
“Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president did I think she was not qualified to be president. So, let’s start there,” he replied.
That could be dismissed as a minor slip of the tongue, but the president did a similar name botch an hour earlier. At a Washington ceremony, Biden accidentally introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as the Russian tyrant who invaded Zelensky’s country.
“Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Biden said, before quickly catching himself.
Then there was the July 4 radio interview when Biden said: “I’m proud to be … the first vice president, the first Black woman to serve with a Black president.”
He was scrambling his often-used line about being proud of serving with the first Black president and also choosing the first Black woman as vice president. It was a too-common verbal fumble that accentuates voters’ concern about the president’s decline.
Clooney’s a world-class communicator.
He’s a Kentucky native who conceivably could draw support from Southern border states. Remember that wonderful “O Brother, Where Art Thou” flick when he played a lead bluegrass singer? Sure, he was an escaped convict, but that was just pretend. Trump’s a true-life convicted felon.
Clooney piloted the swordfishing boat Andrea Gail into “The Perfect Storm” and it perished, but I’m confident he wouldn’t sink the ship of state.
Look how he cleverly and deftly upended the corrupt corporate attorney who tried to kill him in “Michael Clayton.”
And showed his environmental creds and family values in “The Descendants.”
Politicians should never underestimate the voters’ desire to be entertained.
Yes, Clooney is just a movie star who has never served in public office. But neither had actors Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger before they were elected California governor.
And Trump, a reality TV star, had never held office either before shockingly being elected president. In his case, it showed.
All right, Clooney is not going to be nominated for president. Democrats haven’t the imagination.
But they should entertain us at their August convention by engaging in a competitive, wide-open contest for the best candidate to stop Trump. And it’s not Biden.
Loose slots will take on a different meaning in the final week of the landmark Mirage Hotel & Casino.
Before the 34-year-old Las Vegas Strip institution permanently shuts its doors on July 17, the casino is obligated to pay out all progressive jackpots, per Nevada Gaming Commission regulations. That’s a total $1.6 million in prizes in a week’s time.
Mirage personnel confirmed they’re doling out $1.2 million in slots and $400,000 in table games “for the last time” with the payouts being made between July 9 and July 16.
Progressive slot jackpot drawings are scheduled to take place every 30 minutes from 3 to 7 p.m., with $200,000 to be given away from July 9-11, $250,000 from July 12-13 and $100,000 on July 16. Progressive jackpot increases each time the game is played until it is won.
Players must be 21 or older and need to use the Mirage’s Unity card, a players rewards program, while gambling.
Progressive table games that will pay out the winnings are Pai Gow, Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em and Three Card Poker, Let it Ride, Blackjack and Baccarat.
The jackpot dispersal marks one of the Mirage’s final acts, with the last bookings clearing out on Sunday.
In May, owner Hard Rock International announced it was closing on July 17 the jungle-fantasy themed hotel perhaps best known for its exploding 54-foot man-made volcano, magicians Siegfried and Roy, and its white tigers and dolphins.
The Mirage is preparing to be redeveloped into the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and Guitar Hotel Las Vegas, with the volcano giving way to a nearly 700-foot guitar-shaped hotel. The project is expected to open in spring 2027. A similar 638-room hotel stands in Hollywood, Fla.
The Mirage’s closure is the second on the Strip this year.
The Tropicana, which opened in 1957, closed its doors in April to make way for a 30,000-seat stadium that is expected to serve as the home of the Oakland A’s.
Sheriff’s deputies shot a fleeing carjacking suspect after a chase Wednesday afternoon in Pico-Union, according to officials and footage of the scene.
Just before 2:30 p.m., deputies from the East L.A. Station started to pursue a suspect in a gray Toyota Camry, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
The chase ended about 20 minutes later at Vermont Avenue and Venice Boulevard, where video showed the Toyota crashing into several cars and a light pole.
The front tires began smoking as the driver apparently tried to accelerate backward into the patrol cruiser that was boxing the suspect in from behind. The driver, still seeming to accelerate, leaned out the window and extended an open hand.
Seconds later, at 2:51 p.m., an unknown number of deputies opened fire, shooting into the rear windshield of the Toyota. Several rounds pierced all the way through the car, leaving five holes in the front windshield along with what appeared to be blood splatter.
After the gunfire ended, deputies using a bulletproof shield approached the vehicle and pulled someone from the passenger side of the vehicle.
Authorities said the suspect was taken to the hospital in unknown condition.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the most influential voices in President Biden’s sphere outside of his family, sent a rare public signal Wednesday morning that suggested she is trying to nudge him to consider dropping out of the election.
“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” she said on MSNBC. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short.”
Pelosi sandwiched her comments between praise for Biden and his record. But Pelosi is notably careful and calculating in her public comments and well aware that Biden has repeatedly and forcefully said he has already made that decision. She spoke on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Biden’s favorite cable news show and the same venue where on Monday he gave one of his most defiant declarations that he would remain in the race.
Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, is no longer in Democratic leadership but remains in the House after one of the most consequential tenures in history. At 84, she is three years older than Biden and served alongside him for most of his political career. She also had the experience of watching close friend Sen. Dianne Feinstein deteriorate before dying in office last year.
Pelosi said Biden would have the “overwhelming support” of House Democrats. “He’s beloved, he is respected, and people want him to make that decision.”
She also suggested that she would not make a more direct call for him to withdraw.
“I’ve said to everyone, let’s just hold off, whatever you’re thinking, either tell somebody privately, but you don’t have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week,” she said.
The comments preceded a high-profile call to withdraw from a different sort of influencer: George Clooney. The actor, who is a major backer for Democrats, headlined a Hollywood mega-fundraiser for Biden last month.
“The one battle he cannot win is the fight against time,” Clooney wrote in an op-ed published Wednesday in the New York Times. “None of us can. It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe ‘big F— deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
