The state of Washington saw intense flooding this week as a powerful atmospheric river brought massive amounts of rain to western portions of the state, dumping the rain over several days and causing rivers to swell to dangerous levels.The severe weather prompted evacuations and dramatic rescues, some of which were caught on camera.In King County, the county sheriff’s office shared video of a deputy using a drone to give a life jacket to a man who was stuck on a car’s roof as Snoqualmie River floodwaters rose.A second video released by the King County Sheriff’s Office shows the eventual rescue of the man via a helicopter from NAS Whidbey Island.King County Sheriff’s Office Communications Manager Brandyn Hull said this was the first time that drone pilots had ever delivered a life jacket to a person, according to CNN.In a Facebook post, the sheriff’s office commended the deputy for using modern technology to save a life.”Another case of a deputy going above and beyond,” the sheriff’s office said in posting the social media post. See video of the drone dropping the life jacket in the player above.__CNN contributed to this report.
(Video: King County Sheriff’s Office via CNN Newsource) —
The state of Washington saw intense flooding this week as a powerful atmospheric river brought massive amounts of rain to western portions of the state, dumping the rain over several days and causing rivers to swell to dangerous levels.
The severe weather prompted evacuations and dramatic rescues, some of which were caught on camera.
In King County, the county sheriff’s office shared video of a deputy using a drone to give a life jacket to a man who was stuck on a car’s roof as Snoqualmie River floodwaters rose.
King County Sheriff’s Office Communications Manager Brandyn Hull said this was the first time that drone pilots had ever delivered a life jacket to a person, according to CNN.
In a Facebook post, the sheriff’s office commended the deputy for using modern technology to save a life.
“Another case of a deputy going above and beyond,” the sheriff’s office said in posting the social media post.
See video of the drone dropping the life jacket in the player above.
Investigators in San Bernardino County are seeking the public’s help in identifying a woman who was found dead on the side of a mountain in Crestline.
Deputies from the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Station responded to a call about a body near the intersection of Highway 138 and Crestline Road on Nov. 18 around 11:42 a.m., according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. They located the woman about 75 feet down a steep embankment.
The stretch of highway is also referred to as the “Rim of the World Scenic Byway” because of its panoramic views along mountain edges.
Officials described the woman as 48 to 60 years old, 5-foot-1 tall and weighing 115 pounds. She was wearing a blue sweatshirt, blue pants and white-and-black New Balance shoes. She has bleached blond hair, brown eyes and no tattoos.
The woman was transported to the county Coroner’s Office where an autopsy found injuries consistent with a fall, the sheriff’s department said.
They are asking anyone with information about the woman’s identity to contact the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coronor Division at (909) 378-2978 and reference case number 702507482. Callers wishing to remain anonymous can contact We-Tip at (800) 78-CRIME (27463) or go to wetip.com.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese married his partner Jodie Haydon in a secretive and intimate ceremony on Saturday at his official residence in the national capital, Canberra.Albanese is the first prime minister to marry while in office in the 124-year history of the Australian federal government.The couple were married by a civil celebrant before around 60 guests, including several cabinet ministers, in an afternoon ceremony on the grounds of The Lodge. There was no media reporting of the event until after it had occurred.“We are absolutely delighted to share our love and commitment to spending our future lives together, in front of our family and closest friends,” the couple said in a statement.The pair wrote their own vows and their dog Toto was the ring bearer. Haydon’s 5-year-old niece, Ella, was the flower girl, the statement said.Albanese, 62, who is divorced with an adult son, proposed to Haydon, 46, at The Lodge on Valentine’s Day last year. They initially planned a larger-scale wedding before the last election was scheduled to be held in May this year. Albanese had told a Sydney radio program he was considering inviting former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he considered a personal friend.But the ruling center-left Labor Party strategists feared a lavish wedding during a cost of living crisis could hurt the government’s chances of being re-elected for a second three-year term.A decision was made to delay the wedding until after the election. Albanese had said the wedding would take place in 2025, but did not reveal a date.The wedding came two days after Parliament ended for the year on Thursday.Haydon, who works in finance, met Albanese at a business dinner in Melbourne in 2020.
MELBOURNE, Australia —
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese married his partner Jodie Haydon in a secretive and intimate ceremony on Saturday at his official residence in the national capital, Canberra.
Albanese is the first prime minister to marry while in office in the 124-year history of the Australian federal government.
The couple were married by a civil celebrant before around 60 guests, including several cabinet ministers, in an afternoon ceremony on the grounds of The Lodge. There was no media reporting of the event until after it had occurred.
“We are absolutely delighted to share our love and commitment to spending our future lives together, in front of our family and closest friends,” the couple said in a statement.
The pair wrote their own vows and their dog Toto was the ring bearer. Haydon’s 5-year-old niece, Ella, was the flower girl, the statement said.
Albanese, 62, who is divorced with an adult son, proposed to Haydon, 46, at The Lodge on Valentine’s Day last year. They initially planned a larger-scale wedding before the last election was scheduled to be held in May this year. Albanese had told a Sydney radio program he was considering inviting former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he considered a personal friend.
But the ruling center-left Labor Party strategists feared a lavish wedding during a cost of living crisis could hurt the government’s chances of being re-elected for a second three-year term.
A decision was made to delay the wedding until after the election. Albanese had said the wedding would take place in 2025, but did not reveal a date.
The wedding came two days after Parliament ended for the year on Thursday.
Haydon, who works in finance, met Albanese at a business dinner in Melbourne in 2020.
At a time when the federal government is dismantling civil rights protections in K-12 schools, California is expanding them — although some wonder how far the state will go to combat discrimination in schools.
A new law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last month, creates an Office of Civil Rights within the California Department of Education. The office will have a staff of at least six, including an antisemitism coordinator, who will educate school districts about the harms of bias and investigate discrimination complaints.
“I think it’s a good idea and the state of California will pull it off. The risks are small and the possibility for good is large,” said Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. “But for it to be successful, it has to have real responsibility and real power.”
The new law stems from a surge in antisemitic incidents in California last year following the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks in Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Authored by Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay), the law is intended to eliminate anti-Jewish and other bias in the classroom and ensure that students of all ethnicities and religions feel protected.
But the road to Newsom’s desk was not smooth. The bill faced tough opposition from the California Teachers Assn. , the state’s largest teachers union, which argued that the law would limit teachers’ right to free speech by curbing their ability to discuss the conflict in Gaza or other topical issues. The union declined to comment for this article.
Zbur, who was among the law’s authors, said the new Office of Civil Rights and the antisemitism coordinator are not intended to punish teachers. The idea, he said, is to help schools stamp out bullying, discrimination and other acts targeting specific groups of students.
“The idea that this law is about policing is hogwash,” Zbur said. “It’s intended to be productive, to provide districts with resources so they can prevent students from being harmed in school.”
Federal layoffs and closures
Discrimination has long been illegal in California schools. Individuals who feel they’ve been discriminated against can file complaints with the state’s Civil Rights Department or with their local school district. But much K-12 anti-discrimination enforcement has fallen on the federal government’s Office of Civil Rights. Created in the mid-1960s, the office investigates complaints about a range of issues, such as school segregation, unfair discipline practices and whether students with disabilities or English learners are receiving the services they’re entitled to.
In March, the Trump administration announced it was laying off nearly half of the U.S. Department of Education workforce and closing numerous branches of the Office of Civil Rights, including the one in California. That’s meant a steep decline in the number of cases and long delays for those the office investigates. In the three months after the Department of Education cuts, for example, the office received nearly 5,000 complaints but investigated only 309.
On Tuesday, the Department of Education went even further, spinning off some of the agency’s largest responsibilities to other federal departments — including much of the administration of elementary and high school funding. Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s conservative vision for the country that so far Trump has followed, calls for the Office of Civil Rights to become part of the Department of Justice and for it to “reject gender ideology and critical race theory.”
The U.S. Department of Education didn’t respond to a request for comment.
‘Cutting off funding, that’s what works’
California’s new Office of Civil Rights will have a director and several coordinators who will oversee anti-discrimination cases based on race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and religion. The director and anti-discrimination coordinators will be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature, likely after Jan. 1.
The office will provide schools with materials about preventing discrimination, and work with districts that have been the subject of complaints from students, families or the public. In serious cases, the office will recommend more intensive assistance to the state Department of Education to correct problems. For districts that persistently flout anti-discrimination laws, “the department may use any means necessary to effect compliance,” according to laws already in place. That may include cutting funding for textbooks or other materials found to be discriminatory.
The office will also submit an annual report to the Legislature on the overall picture of discrimination in schools, including the number of complaints, how they were resolved, and their outcomes.
But to be successful, the office will have to be nonpartisan, transparent and fair, Orfield said. Cases against a school should include strong evidence, and schools should have the opportunity to defend themselves and appeal a verdict if they believe it was wrongly issued.
And the office should not shy away from cutting funds to schools that don’t comply, he said. In the 1960s and ‘70s, the federal Office of Civil Rights cut funds to more than 100 schools in the South that refused to desegregate — a move that may have been the only way to force compliance, Orfield said.
“Cutting off funding, that’s what works,” he said. “Although if you’re going to have sanctions, there must be due process.”
Photo ops and reports?
Mark Rosenbaum, senior special counsel for strategic litigation for the public interest law firm Public Counsel, agreed that enforcement will be the key to whether the new office is effective.
“If the office just issues reports and does photo ops, we don’t need another one of those,” Rosenbaum said. “The issue is whether or not they can enforce these rights across the board.”
He’d also like to see the office take a more proactive approach instead of only responding to individuals’ complaints. Education itself, he said, is a civil right, and too many students are not receiving the high-quality lessons in safe, well-equipped schools that they’re entitled to.
Still, he’s happy to see the office get off the ground, particularly in light of the federal cuts to civil rights enforcement.
“There’s an urgency for California to fill a void,” Rosenbaum said. “It should have happened decades ago, but it’s a good start.”
Sacramento County deputies are searching for an at-risk mother and her 10-day-old baby on Wednesday night. The sheriff’s office said 41-year-old Alexisse Marshall and infant Riley Stella Ruth Hermosillo were last seen earlier Wednesday under “concerning circumstances.”The mother and daughter were reported missing around 5 p.m. after a family member returned home and found that both were gone.The pair was last seen in a white Volvo SUV bearing California license plate 9GBY905. They were spotted around 1:30 p.m. near Elk Grove Boulevard and Highway 99. The sheriff’s office said there are specific concerns for the mother’s well-being that elevate the urgency of the situation. Alexisse Marshall is described as five feet, seven inches tall, weighing around 185 pounds, with brown hair and eyes. She was last seen wearing an army green long-sleeve shirt and green Nike sweatpants. Riley Hermosillo is just 10 days old, weighing six pounds and 14 ounces with black hair and brown eyes. Deputies were actively searching in the area of Gerber and Elk Grove Florin roads around 9 p.m., where the two may have last been seen. Anyone with information about their whereabouts is urged to contact the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office at 916-874-5115.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
VINEYARD, Calif. —
Sacramento County deputies are searching for an at-risk mother and her 10-day-old baby on Wednesday night.
The sheriff’s office said 41-year-old Alexisse Marshall and infant Riley Stella Ruth Hermosillo were last seen earlier Wednesday under “concerning circumstances.”
The mother and daughter were reported missing around 5 p.m. after a family member returned home and found that both were gone.
The pair was last seen in a white Volvo SUV bearing California license plate 9GBY905. They were spotted around 1:30 p.m. near Elk Grove Boulevard and Highway 99.
The sheriff’s office said there are specific concerns for the mother’s well-being that elevate the urgency of the situation.
Alexisse Marshall is described as five feet, seven inches tall, weighing around 185 pounds, with brown hair and eyes. She was last seen wearing an army green long-sleeve shirt and green Nike sweatpants.
Riley Hermosillo is just 10 days old, weighing six pounds and 14 ounces with black hair and brown eyes.
Deputies were actively searching in the area of Gerber and Elk Grove Florin roads around 9 p.m., where the two may have last been seen.
Anyone with information about their whereabouts is urged to contact the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office at 916-874-5115.
In a fiery rebuttal to allegations he’d criminally misrepresented facts in his mortgage documents, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) sued Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte on Tuesday — accusing him of criminally misusing government databases to baselessly target President Trump’s political opponents.
“Pulte has abused his position by scouring databases at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — two government-sponsored enterprises — for the private mortgage records of several prominent Democrats,” attorneys for Swalwell wrote in a federal lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C. “He then used those records to concoct fanciful allegations of mortgage fraud, which he referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution.”
Pulte’s attack, Swalwell’s attorneys wrote, “was not only a gross mischaracterization of reality” but “a gross abuse of power that violated the law,” infringing on Swalwell’s free speech rights to criticize the president without fear of reprisal, and violating the Privacy Act of 1974, which they said bars federal officials from “leveraging their access to citizens’ private information as a tool for harming their political opponents.”
Pulte, the FHFA and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
Pulte has previously defended his work probing mortgage documents of prominent Democrats, saying no one is above the law. His referrals have exclusively targeted Democrats, despite reporting on Republicans taking similar actions on their mortgages.
Swalwell’s lawsuit is the latest counterpunch to Pulte’s campaign, and part of mounting scrutiny over its unprecedented nature and unorthodox methods — not just from targets of his probes but from other investigators, too, according to one witness.
In addition to Swalwell, Pulte has referred mortgage fraud allegations to the Justice Department against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, who have all denied wrongdoing and suggested the allegations amount to little more than political retribution.
James was criminally charged by an inexperienced, loyalist federal prosecutor specially appointed by Trump in Virginia, though a judge has since thrown out that case on the grounds that the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed. The judge also threw out a case against former FBI Director James Comey, another Trump opponent.
Cook’s attorneys slammed Pulte in a letter to the Justice Department, writing that his “decision to use the FHFA to selectively — and publicly — investigate and target the President’s designated political enemies gives rise to the unmistakable impression that he has been improperly coordinating with the White House to manufacture flimsy predicates to launch these probes.”
Schiff also has lambasted Trump and Pulte for their targeting of him and other Democrats, and cheered the tossing of the cases against James and Comey, calling it “a triumph of the rule of law.”
In recent days, federal prosecutors in Maryland — where Schiff’s case is being investigated — have also started asking questions about the actions of Pulte and other Trump officials, according to Christine Bish, a Sacramento-area real estate agent and Republican congressional candidate who was summoned to Maryland to answer questions in the matter last week.
Pulte has alleged that Schiff broke the law by claiming primary residence for mortgages in both Maryland and California. Schiff has said he never broke any law and was always forthcoming with his mortgage lenders.
Bish has been investigating Schiff’s mortgage records since 2020, and had repeatedly submitted documents about Schiff to the federal government — first to the Office of Congressional Ethics, then earlier this year to an FHFA tip line and to the FBI, she told The Times.
When Trump subsequently posted one of Schiff’s mortgage documents to his Truth Social platform, Bish said she believed it was one she had submitted to the FHFA and FBI, because it was highlighted exactly as she had highlighted it. Then, she saw she had missed a call from Pulte, and was later asked by Pulte’s staff to email Pulte “the full file” she had worked up on Schiff.
“They wanted to make sure that I had sent the whole file,” Bish said.
Bish said she was subsequently interviewed via Google Meet on Oct. 22 by someone from the FHFA inspector general’s office and an FBI agent. She then got a subpoena in the mail that she interpreted as requiring her to be in Maryland last week. There, she was interviewed again, for about an hour, by the same official from the inspector general’s office and another FBI agent, she said — and was surprised their questions seemed more focused on her communications with people in the federal government than on Schiff.
“They wanted to know if I had been talking to anybody else,” she said. “You know, what did I communicate? Who did I communicate with?”
Schiff’s office declined to comment. However, Schiff’s attorney has previously told Justice Department officials that there was “ample basis” for them to launch an investigation into Pulte and his campaign targeting Trump’s opponents, calling it a “highly irregular” and “sordid” effort.
The acting FHFA inspector general at the time Bish was first contacted, Joe Allen, has since been fired, which has also raised questions.
On Nov. 19, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) — the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee — wrote a letter to Pulte denouncing his probes as politically motivated, questioning Allen’s dismissal and demanding documentation from Pulte, including any communications he has had with the White House.
Swalwell’s attorneys wrote in Tuesday’s lawsuit that he never claimed primary residence in both California and Washington, D.C., as alleged, and had not broken any laws.
They accused Pulte of orchestrating a coordinated effort to spread the allegations against Swalwell via a vast network of conservative influencers, which they said had “harmed [Swalwell’s] reputation at a critical juncture in his career: the very moment when he had planned to announce his campaign for Governor of California.”
They said the “widespread publication of information about the home where his wife and young children reside” had also “exposed him to heightened security risks and caused him significant anguish and distress.”
Swalwell said in a statement that Pulte has “combed through private records of political opponents” to “silence them,” which shouldn’t be allowed.
“There’s a reason the First Amendment — the freedom of speech — comes before all others,” he said.
A Stanislaus County official confirmed Tuesday that a comedian had threatened him. County deputies have since arrested the comedian in connection with the threat.Anthony Krayenhagen faces a charge of making threats against an elected official, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies took him into custody on Nov. 20.Channce Condit, the District 5 representative for the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors, said Krayenhagen made the threat over the phone. He said the comedian reached out to his office and that he called Krayenhagen back on Nov. 12.Condit said that was when Krayenhagen threatened his life. The county supervisor called the sheriff’s office after the call, prompting an investigation.When asked if he attended one of Krayenhagen’s comedy shows a few months prior, Condit confirmed that he was with a group when someone from that group got into a back-and-forth with Krayenhagen.Condit said he was not part of the argument and that the comedy show is not connected with the threat made.See news happening? Send us your photos or videos if it’s safe to do so at kcra.com/upload.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
MODESTO, Calif. —
A Stanislaus County official confirmed Tuesday that a comedian had threatened him. County deputies have since arrested the comedian in connection with the threat.
Anthony Krayenhagen faces a charge of making threats against an elected official, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies took him into custody on Nov. 20.
Channce Condit, the District 5 representative for the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors, said Krayenhagen made the threat over the phone. He said the comedian reached out to his office and that he called Krayenhagen back on Nov. 12.
Condit said that was when Krayenhagen threatened his life. The county supervisor called the sheriff’s office after the call, prompting an investigation.
When asked if he attended one of Krayenhagen’s comedy shows a few months prior, Condit confirmed that he was with a group when someone from that group got into a back-and-forth with Krayenhagen.
Condit said he was not part of the argument and that the comedy show is not connected with the threat made.
See news happening? Send us your photos or videos if it’s safe to do so at kcra.com/upload.
A 15-year-old girl was found safe late Sunday after she was reported missing hours earlier, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.Deputies are still searching for a teen suspect who they believe kidnapped her.The girl was placed into the temporary custody of Sacramento County Child Protective Services, deputies said.”This is not just a runaway girlfriend with her boyfriend trying to get away,” said Sergeant Amar Gandhi.Citali Itzpapalot Lerma was last seen getting into a dark-colored SUV against her will on Sunday morning in the Rio Linda area, according to a post on the office’s social media. Lerma has long brown hair, brown eyes and was wearing a dark gray hoodie, light blue ripped jeans and black New Balance shoes. “We don’t know if it was her current boyfriend or an ex-boyfriend or some sort of dating relationship,” Gandhi added. “The 17-year-old forced her into the car and drove away.”Deputies are also looking for 17-year-old Jesse Carranza in connection to the case. The sheriff’s office says he may have kidnapped Lerma. Carranza was last seen driving a dark SUV in the Rio Linda area and wearing a gray hoodie and blue jeans. “The 17-year-old has a bit of a criminal history already and has a felony warrant for an unrelated incident,” Gandhi said. “There is also some history with crimes, potentially some exploitation involving our victim.”It’s believed the victim might be used for sex trafficking. “A lot of these victims are manipulated and they are forced into doing things that they don’t necessarily want to do,” Gandhi added.Sunday afternoon, Lerma posted a message on social media saying she didn’t leave against her will. Deputies aren’t so sure.”We don’t know if that video was made under duress,” Gandhi said. “We don’t know the full circumstances. You can’t see her face.””This is something that happens every day across rural, urban, and suburban communities across the United States, and I think it is imperative to see this as a public health crisis,” said Ashlie Bryant.Bryant is CEO of 3 Stands Global, a local organization that helps victims of sex trafficking.”California has the highest rates of human trafficking as well as online exploitation in the country,” Bryant added. “I wish we didn’t have jobs to combat this. I wish it didn’t exist, but the reality is that it does, and our jobs are to prevent it.”The sheriff’s office is asking for the public’s help in locating the suspect. Contact their office at (916) 874-5115 with any information. This story is developing. Stay with KCRA 3 for updates. 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
RIO LINDA, Calif. —
A 15-year-old girl was found safe late Sunday after she was reported missing hours earlier, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.
Deputies are still searching for a teen suspect who they believe kidnapped her.
The girl was placed into the temporary custody of Sacramento County Child Protective Services, deputies said.
“This is not just a runaway girlfriend with her boyfriend trying to get away,” said Sergeant Amar Gandhi.
Citali Itzpapalot Lerma was last seen getting into a dark-colored SUV against her will on Sunday morning in the Rio Linda area, according to a post on the office’s social media. Lerma has long brown hair, brown eyes and was wearing a dark gray hoodie, light blue ripped jeans and black New Balance shoes.
“We don’t know if it was her current boyfriend or an ex-boyfriend or some sort of dating relationship,” Gandhi added. “The 17-year-old forced her into the car and drove away.”
Deputies are also looking for 17-year-old Jesse Carranza in connection to the case. The sheriff’s office says he may have kidnapped Lerma. Carranza was last seen driving a dark SUV in the Rio Linda area and wearing a gray hoodie and blue jeans.
“The 17-year-old has a bit of a criminal history already and has a felony warrant for an unrelated incident,” Gandhi said. “There is also some history with crimes, potentially some exploitation involving our victim.”
It’s believed the victim might be used for sex trafficking.
“A lot of these victims are manipulated and they are forced into doing things that they don’t necessarily want to do,” Gandhi added.
Sunday afternoon, Lerma posted a message on social media saying she didn’t leave against her will. Deputies aren’t so sure.
“We don’t know if that video was made under duress,” Gandhi said. “We don’t know the full circumstances. You can’t see her face.”
“This is something that happens every day across rural, urban, and suburban communities across the United States, and I think it is imperative to see this as a public health crisis,” said Ashlie Bryant.
Bryant is CEO of 3 Stands Global, a local organization that helps victims of sex trafficking.
“California has the highest rates of human trafficking as well as online exploitation in the country,” Bryant added. “I wish we didn’t have jobs to combat this. I wish it didn’t exist, but the reality is that it does, and our jobs are to prevent it.”
The sheriff’s office is asking for the public’s help in locating the suspect. Contact their office at (916) 874-5115 with any information.
This story is developing. Stay with KCRA 3 for updates.
As California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta ponders a run for governor, he faces scrutiny for his ties to people central to a federal corruption investigation in Oakland and payments to private attorneys.
Bonta has not been accused of impropriety, but the questions come at an inopportune time for Democrat, who says he is reassessing a gubernatorial bid after repeatedly dismissing a run earlier this year.
Bonta said the decisions by former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla not to seek the office altered the contours of the race.
“I had two horses in the governor’s race already,” Bonta said in an interview with The Times on Friday. “They decided not to get involved in the end. … The race is fundamentally different today, right?”
Bonta said he has received significant encouragement to join the crowded gubernatorial field and that he expects to make a decision “definitely sooner rather than later.” Political advisors to the 54-year-old Alameda politician have been reaching out to powerful Democrats across the state to gauge his possible support.
Historically, serving as California attorney general has been a launching pad to higher office or a top post in Washington. Harris, elected to two terms as the state attorney general, was later elected to the U.S. Senate and then as vice president. Jerry Brown served in the post before voters elected him for a second go-around as governor in 2010. Earl Warren later became the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
Bonta, the first Filipino American to serve as the state’s top law enforcement official, was appointed in March 2021 by Gov. Gavin Newsom after Xavier Becerra resigned to become U.S. Health and Human Services secretary. Bonta easily won election as attorney general in 2022.
Bonta was a deputy city attorney in San Francisco and vice mayor for the city of Alameda before being elected to the state Assembly in 2012. During his tenure representing the Alameda area, Bonta developed a reputation as a progressive willing to push policies to strengthen tenants’ rights and to reform the criminal justice system.
In his role as the state’s top law enforcement official, Bonta has aggressively fought President Trump’s policies and actions, filing 46 lawsuits against the administration.
Bonta also faced controversy this past week in what Bonta’s advisers say they suspect is an attempt to damage him as he considers a potential run.
“Political hacks understand it’s actually a badge of respect, almost an endorsement. Clearly others fear him,” said veteran Democratic strategist Dan Newman, a Bonta adviser.
On Monday, KCRA reported that Bonta had spent nearly $500,000 in campaign funds last year on personal lawyers to represent him in dealings with federal investigators working on a public corruption probe in Oakland.
On Thursday, the website East Bay Insider reported that as that probe was heating up in spring 2024, Bonta had received a letter from an Oakland businessman warning him that he might soon be subject to blackmail.
The letter writer, Mario Juarez, warned Bonta that another businessman, Andy Duong, possessed “a recording of you in a compromising situation.”
Duong was later indicted, along with his father David Duong and former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, on federal bribery charges. All have pleaded not guilty. An attorney for David Duong this week said that Juarez, who is widely believed to be an informant in the case against the Duongs and Thao, was not credible. Juarez could not be reached for comment.
Bonta said his legal expenditures came about after he began speaking with the U.S. Attorney’s office, who approached him because prosecutors thought he could be a victim of blackmail or extortion. Bonta said the outreach came after he already had turned over the letter he had received from Juarez to law enforcement.
Bonta said he hired lawyers to help him review information in his possession that could be helpful to federal investigators.
“I wanted to get them all the information that they wanted, that they needed, give it to him as fast as as I could, to assist, to help,” Bonta said. “Maybe I had a puzzle piece or two that could assist them in their investigation.”
He said he may have made “an audible gasp” when he saw the legal bill, but that it was necessary to quickly turn over all documents and communications that could be relevant to the federal investigation.
“The billing rate is high or not insignificant at private law firms,” Bonta said. “We were moving quickly to be as responsive as possible, to be as helpful as possible, to assist as as much as possible, and that meant multiple attorneys working a lot of hours.”
Bonta said the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission also has alerted him that it received a complaint against him. Bonta and his advisers believe is about the use of campaign funds to pay the legal expenses and suspect it was filed by the campaign of a current gubernatorial candidate.
“We’re not worried,” Bonta said. “That’s politics.”
Asked whether these news stories could create obstacles to a potential gubernatorial campaign, Bonta pushed back against any assertion that he may have “baggage.” He said he was assisting federal prosecutors with their investigation with the hopes of holding people accountable.
“That’s what I would expect anyone to do, certainly someone who is committed as I am to public safety.,” he said. “That’s my job, to assist, to support, to provide information, to help.”
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office released a video showing a group of people attempting to break into a home in Deltona and then opening fire when they were unable to gain entry.The video, posted on social media, shows four individuals approaching a residence on Wainwright Street, with detectives noting that three of them appear to be carrying guns.The group tried to break into the home, and when they couldn’t, they started shooting, VCSO said.Timothy Haight told WESH 2 he lives a few hundred feet from the road where the shooting happened and heard the whole thing. Saying, “I am a night owl, so I was up at four o’clock, and my desk is right next to the back door. Just heard the gunshots like literally as if they were happening in my backyard.”VCSO said they spotted the group’s car on I-4 and followed it into Orange County before losing it.Investigators collected evidence outside the home, with evidence markers visible on the residence signifying each bullet.Neighbors reported hearing the shots around 3 a.m. Deputies confirmed that no one was hurt during the incident.The Sheriff’s Office said deputies are still pursuing leads in the case.
DELTONA, Fla. —
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office released a video showing a group of people attempting to break into a home in Deltona and then opening fire when they were unable to gain entry.
The video, posted on social media, shows four individuals approaching a residence on Wainwright Street, with detectives noting that three of them appear to be carrying guns.
The group tried to break into the home, and when they couldn’t, they started shooting, VCSO said.
Timothy Haight told WESH 2 he lives a few hundred feet from the road where the shooting happened and heard the whole thing.
Saying, “I am a night owl, so I was up at four o’clock, and my desk is right next to the back door. Just heard the gunshots like literally as if they were happening in my backyard.”
VCSO said they spotted the group’s car on I-4 and followed it into Orange County before losing it.
Investigators collected evidence outside the home, with evidence markers visible on the residence signifying each bullet.
Neighbors reported hearing the shots around 3 a.m. Deputies confirmed that no one was hurt during the incident.
The Sheriff’s Office said deputies are still pursuing leads in the case.
The U.S. Department of Education announced new steps Tuesday in President Donald Trump’s push to downsize the federal agency. Trump signed an executive order in March that called for eliminating the Education Department, but his administration has previously acknowledged that dissolving it entirely would require an act of Congress, which created the agency in 1979. For now, the department is moving forward with plans to shift key services to other parts of the federal government through six new interagency agreements. “The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission.”The announcement is already facing pushback. Critics fear that the Education Department shakeup will disrupt critical services that students rely on.The National Education Association called it an “illegal plan to further abandon students.”Minnetonka Public Schools Superintendent David Law, who serves as president of AASA, The School Superintendents Association, said the reorganization could prove counterproductive. “It talks about streamlining and efficiency, and yet it’s counterintuitive to me that multiple agencies having their hand on something is more efficient,” Law said.Under the plan, the Labor Department will co-manage the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which administers K-12 grant programs and Title 1 funding for low-income schools, as well as the Office of Postsecondary Education, which oversees grants for institutions of higher education.The Department of the Interior will take on a greater role in administering Indian Education programs. The Department of Health and Human Services will co-manage the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program and Foreign Medical Accreditation. The State Department will help oversee international education and foreign language studies programs. In the past, the Trump administration has also talked about moving management of other Education Department services, like the student loan portfolio and civil rights enforcement. The administration is still “exploring options,” according to a senior department official who briefed reporters on Tuesday ahead of the official rollout. Tuesday’s announcement builds on a sweeping downsizing effort that started earlier this year. The Trump administration has already launched an interagency partnership with the Labor Department to manage adult education and career and technical education programs.In July, the Supreme Court paved the way for the Education Department to move forward with roughly 1,400 layoffs.The Education Department said in an email on Tuesday that no additional layoffs are expected at this time as a result of the new interagency agreements.
Trump signed an executive order in March that called for eliminating the Education Department, but his administration has previously acknowledged that dissolving it entirely would require an act of Congress, which created the agency in 1979.
For now, the department is moving forward with plans to shift key services to other parts of the federal government through six new interagency agreements.
“The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission.”
The announcement is already facing pushback. Critics fear that the Education Department shakeup will disrupt critical services that students rely on.
The National Education Association called it an “illegal plan to further abandon students.”
Minnetonka Public Schools Superintendent David Law, who serves as president of AASA, The School Superintendents Association, said the reorganization could prove counterproductive.
“It talks about streamlining and efficiency, and yet it’s counterintuitive to me that multiple agencies having their hand on something is more efficient,” Law said.
Under the plan, the Labor Department will co-manage the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which administers K-12 grant programs and Title 1 funding for low-income schools, as well as the Office of Postsecondary Education, which oversees grants for institutions of higher education.
The Department of the Interior will take on a greater role in administering Indian Education programs. The Department of Health and Human Services will co-manage the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program and Foreign Medical Accreditation. The State Department will help oversee international education and foreign language studies programs.
In the past, the Trump administration has also talked about moving management of other Education Department services, like the student loan portfolio and civil rights enforcement. The administration is still “exploring options,” according to a senior department official who briefed reporters on Tuesday ahead of the official rollout.
Tuesday’s announcement builds on a sweeping downsizing effort that started earlier this year.
The Trump administration has already launched an interagency partnership with the Labor Department to manage adult education and career and technical education programs.
In July, the Supreme Court paved the way for the Education Department to move forward with roughly 1,400 layoffs.
The Education Department said in an email on Tuesday that no additional layoffs are expected at this time as a result of the new interagency agreements.
A 29-year-old Sacramento man has been arrested after an investigation into suspicious activity at schools in east Sacramento County led to the seizure of multiple firearms, law enforcement patches and tactical gear, the sheriff’s office said. The investigation of Dalmin Muran began after he was repeatedly observed engaging in suspicious activity at schools, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. In one case, he allegedly drove his vehicle onto the grounds of Rosemont High School during the evening and was observed wearing military-style clothing and night-vision optics. After a security guard told him to leave, he allegedly said he should be allowed access because the schools are “public grounds.” The sheriff’s office said during other visits he erroneously claimed to have prior military service and expressed interest in joining law enforcement. Deputies executed a search warrant at a home last week in connection with Muran and found “numerous” guns that had been modified, including an unserialized “ghost gun” rifle hidden in an attic, the sheriff’s office said. Hundreds of firearm parts and components for building or altering weapons were also seized, along with multiple smoke grenades, flash bangs and “pepper spray deployable smoke grenades.” Deputies also found multiple law enforcement patches and tactical gear, “including those from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.”Muran was released on bond hours after being booked into custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail, the sheriff’s office said.Muran faces four felony counts related to weapons offenses, according to a criminal complaint filed on Nov. 13. One of the counts alleges that he stole firearm accessories from a gun range. An earlier complaint filed on Dec. 11, 2024, accuses Muran of unlawfully carrying a concealed firearm. He was arraigned on that case in June. He is next due in court in connection with both cases on Jan. 14. The sheriff’s office said it is concerned there may be unreported incidents where Muran represented himself as a law enforcement agent.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. —
A 29-year-old Sacramento man has been arrested after an investigation into suspicious activity at schools in east Sacramento County led to the seizure of multiple firearms, law enforcement patches and tactical gear, the sheriff’s office said.
The investigation of Dalmin Muran began after he was repeatedly observed engaging in suspicious activity at schools, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. In one case, he allegedly drove his vehicle onto the grounds of Rosemont High School during the evening and was observed wearing military-style clothing and night-vision optics. After a security guard told him to leave, he allegedly said he should be allowed access because the schools are “public grounds.”
The sheriff’s office said during other visits he erroneously claimed to have prior military service and expressed interest in joining law enforcement.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office
Deputies executed a search warrant at a home last week in connection with Muran and found “numerous” guns that had been modified, including an unserialized “ghost gun” rifle hidden in an attic, the sheriff’s office said.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office
Hundreds of firearm parts and components for building or altering weapons were also seized, along with multiple smoke grenades, flash bangs and “pepper spray deployable smoke grenades.”
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office
Deputies also found multiple law enforcement patches and tactical gear, “including those from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.”
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office
Muran was released on bond hours after being booked into custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail, the sheriff’s office said.
Muran faces four felony counts related to weapons offenses, according to a criminal complaint filed on Nov. 13. One of the counts alleges that he stole firearm accessories from a gun range.
An earlier complaint filed on Dec. 11, 2024, accuses Muran of unlawfully carrying a concealed firearm. He was arraigned on that case in June.
He is next due in court in connection with both cases on Jan. 14.
The sheriff’s office said it is concerned there may be unreported incidents where Muran represented himself as a law enforcement agent.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday accelerated the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education with a plan to transfer key, legally required functions to other agencies, including oversight of its $18-billion, core anti-poverty program, Title 1.
Critics said the move was politicized and counterproductive and fear future program cuts. California Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said vital services to the state and nation’s most vulnerable students were likely to be disrupted.
The steps move toward fulfilling a Trump campaign promise to eliminate the department, which some conservatives have long derided as wasteful, ineffective and unnecessary.
“The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission.”
President Trump called for the department’s elimination in a March executive order. Both he and McMahon have spoken of a broad goal of sparking innovation through local control.
Even before this effort, states provided about 90% of their own funding for education, but federal investment is still crucial, advocates say. In particular, the federal role has focused on ensuring services are provided for overlooked students and students with higher needs, such as those facing discrimination and poverty, and students with disabilities.
While slashing the Education Department workforce, which Trump officials have characterized as a bloated bureaucracy, the president has adopted an interventionist agenda in education as well. He has threatened pulling federal funding if states and schools don’t follow his directives to combat antisemitism, clamp down on campus protests, end diversity, equity and inclusion programs and oppose expanded rights for transsexual students, among other issues in keeping with his agenda.
The strategy behind the moves
The key strategy announced Tuesday creates partnerships with other federal agencies, which will take on Education Department responsibilities. The department would retain legal authority even as the actual work shifts elsewhere.
These partnerships are meant to sidestep federal rules — under the jurisdiction of Congress — that place programs, including Title I, specifically within the Education Department.
Title I is expected to shift to the Department of Labor, which is likely to absorb an unknown number of education workers with the necessary experience and expertise. The long-term goal is to win buy-in from Congress — and then to eliminate the Education Department entirely, which requires congressional approval.
“As we partner with these agencies to improve federal programs, we will continue to gather best practices in each state,” McMahon said.
She also spoke of working “with Congress to codify these reforms,” an acknowledgment that the Department of Education was created by an act of Congress.
Administration officials insist that their actions to date are legal, citing as precedent earlier agreements between federal agencies, including one example from the Biden administration. The scale of the current effort, however, is a much larger order of magnitude.
Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles) questioned Trump’s authority to take this action. “Not only is dismantling the education department without congressional approval illegal, but they chose today because they knew the Epstein vote would dominate the headlines. They clearly didn’t want the public to see what they were doing to our kids’ futures.”
Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Assn., the nation’s largest teachers union, accused the administration of “taking every chance it can to hack away at the very protections and services our students need.”
How the action affects vulnerable students
The changes will complicate efforts to get money and services where they are needed, Thurmond said.
“This is an unnecessary, disruptive change that is going to harm students, especially the most vulnerable,” Thurmond said. “It is clearly less efficient for state departments of education and local school districts to work with four different federal agencies instead of one.
“Experience also tells us that any time you move expertise and responsibilities, you disrupt services. There is no way to avoid negative impacts on our children and our classrooms with a change of this magnitude.”
But administration officials talked of new efficiencies and synergies, asserting that associating education with workforce development in the Department of Labor would make education more relevant to a student’s employment future.
What happens to other programs?
The Labor Department would oversee almost all grant programs that are now managed by the Education Department’s offices for K-12 and higher education. That includes funding pools for teacher training, English instruction and TRIO, a program that helps steer low-income students to college degrees.
Tuesday’s action leaves in place the Education Department’s $1.6-trillion student loan portfolio and its funding for students with disabilities.
But ultimately moving these programs seems likely if the mission remains to shutter the department.
Another transfer puts Health and Human Services in charge of a grant program for parents who are attending college, along with management of foreign medical school accreditation. The State Department will take on foreign language programs. Interior will oversee programs for Native American education.
Federal officials said states and schools should see no funding disruptions. Liz Huston, White House assistant press secretary, said Tuesday the administration “is fully committed to doing what’s best for American students, which is why it’s critical to shrink this bloated federal education bureaucracy while still ensuring efficient delivery of funds and essential programs.”
The Education Department tested this approach in June, announcing the transfer of adult education programs to the Labor Department. Working out essential details took some five months, officials said Tuesday.
The administration’s plan immediately drew support from Tim Walberg, a Republican who represents a southern Michigan district.
“The past few decades have made one thing clear: The status quo is broken,” Walberg said. “As the bureaucracy swelled, left-wing bureaucrats were emboldened to waste taxpayer dollars on a radical agenda. As a result, our students have been left in the dust. Test scores are plummeting, students can’t read, and college graduates leave school burdened by debt rather than equipped with workforce-ready skills.”
But the Education Department — and its central programs — has bipartisan support.
One Republican expressing concern is Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick.
“The United States Congress created the U.S. Department of Education for very good reason,” Fitzpatrick said. “And for millions of families, particularly those raising children with disabilities or living in low-income communities, the Department’s core offices are not discretionary functions. They are foundational. They safeguard civil rights, expand opportunity, and ensure that every child, in every community, has the chance to learn, grow, and succeed on equal footing.”
Feds say programs’ funding will continue
Department officials said programs will continue to be funded at levels set by Congress. But that doesn’t stop programs from running afoul of another portion of the Trump agenda. For example, the Tuesday announcement notes that a program to help with the education of the children of migrant workers will transfer to the Labor Department.
However, on other fronts the Trump administration is trying to eliminate that program. The administration first tried to hold back funding approved by Congress. The administration relented under pressure. But the administration also cut funding for migrant education from its budget proposal for future years.
Officials said they did not yet have details on whether the changes would bring further job cuts at the Education Department, which has been thinned by waves of layoffs and retirements under pressure.
Blume is a Times staff writer. Binkley writes for the Associated Press. Times staff writers Daniel Miller and Michael Wilner contributed to this report.
Sacramento County deputies located an at-risk 11-year-old boy with autism hours after he was reported missing on Monday.The sheriff’s office said the boy was last seen between 4:30 and 5 p.m. in a south Sacramento neighborhood. Officials for the sheriff’s office said he was located safe just before 7:30 p.m. Officials said search and rescue crews had responded to help with the search. Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to remove identifying details of the child now that he has been found. 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 County deputies located an at-risk 11-year-old boy with autism hours after he was reported missing on Monday.
The sheriff’s office said the boy was last seen between 4:30 and 5 p.m. in a south Sacramento neighborhood.
Officials for the sheriff’s office said he was located safe just before 7:30 p.m.
Officials said search and rescue crews had responded to help with the search.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to remove identifying details of the child now that he has been found.
The Marion County teenager who faked his own kidnapping earlier this year — which led to an Amber Alert being issued — was sentenced to house arrest for the staged kidnapping.The state attorney’s office said the teen, who WESH 2 is not naming because he was not charged as an adult, will spend at least one year under house arrest with an ankle monitor. He is also required to complete 100 hours of community service, a firearms safety course and a counseling program, and he must pay back the Marion County Sheriff’s Office for resources wasted.The teen was sentenced after pleading no contest to his charges stemming from the staged kidnapping. He disappeared in late September after texting his mom that he had been attacked by several men.The teen went so far as to shoot himself in the leg before turning himself in.
MARION COUNTY, Fla. —
The Marion County teenager who faked his own kidnapping earlier this year — which led to an Amber Alert being issued — was sentenced to house arrest for the staged kidnapping.
The state attorney’s office said the teen, who WESH 2 is not naming because he was not charged as an adult, will spend at least one year under house arrest with an ankle monitor.
He is also required to complete 100 hours of community service, a firearms safety course and a counseling program, and he must pay back the Marion County Sheriff’s Office for resources wasted.
The teen was sentenced after pleading no contest to his charges stemming from the staged kidnapping. He disappeared in late September after texting his mom that he had been attacked by several men.
The teen went so far as to shoot himself in the leg before turning himself in.
The Volusia Sheriff’s Office says a man wanted after a video showed him allegedly beating and dragging his girlfriend in Daytona Beach earlier this week is now in custody.That man, 31-year-old Scott Knowlton, was taken into custody outside a residence in Ormond Beach on Saturday. The sheriff’s office released video on Friday that allegedly shows Knowlton beating and then dragging his girlfriend outside a business in Daytona Beach on Thursday. VSO Chief Deputy Brian Henderson witnessed the incident on Thursday and stepped in to interrupt the attack.Detectives received an anonymous tip about Knowlton’s location, and after several hours of surveillance, they spotted him exiting the home. VSO said Knowlton ran back inside after he realized he was spotted, before he then jumped out of a rear window.Knowlton was then arrested in the backyard by deputies who had surrounded the house.This is not Knowlton’s first run-in with law enforcement. In 2023, Knowlton pleaded no contest to drug trafficking and grand theft auto charges stemming from a 2022 arrest.Knowlton is now facing charges including kidnapping, possession of a weapon by an in-state felon, obstructing an officer without violence and tampering with evidence as well as being in violation of his probation.
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. —
The Volusia Sheriff’s Office says a man wanted after a video showed him allegedly beating and dragging his girlfriend in Daytona Beach earlier this week is now in custody.
That man, 31-year-old Scott Knowlton, was taken into custody outside a residence in Ormond Beach on Saturday.
The sheriff’s office released video on Friday that allegedly shows Knowlton beating and then dragging his girlfriend outside a business in Daytona Beach on Thursday.
VSO Chief Deputy Brian Henderson witnessed the incident on Thursday and stepped in to interrupt the attack.
Detectives received an anonymous tip about Knowlton’s location, and after several hours of surveillance, they spotted him exiting the home.
VSO said Knowlton ran back inside after he realized he was spotted, before he then jumped out of a rear window.
Knowlton was then arrested in the backyard by deputies who had surrounded the house.
This is not Knowlton’s first run-in with law enforcement. In 2023, Knowlton pleaded no contest to drug trafficking and grand theft auto charges stemming from a 2022 arrest.
Knowlton is now facing charges including kidnapping, possession of a weapon by an in-state felon, obstructing an officer without violence and tampering with evidence as well as being in violation of his probation.
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office says a suspect is in custody following a shooting investigation in Port St. John on Sunday.BCSO said the incident appears to be isolated, but there is still a heavy law enforcement presence in the area of Curtis Boulevard and Carlowe Avenue in Port St. John. The sheriff’s office did not say whether anyone was injured in the incident. >> This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
PORT SAINT JOHN, Fla. —
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office says a suspect is in custody following a shooting investigation in Port St. John on Sunday.
BCSO said the incident appears to be isolated, but there is still a heavy law enforcement presence in the area of Curtis Boulevard and Carlowe Avenue in Port St. John.
The sheriff’s office did not say whether anyone was injured in the incident.
>> This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
WASHINGTON — For more than a year, detainees at a California immigrant detention center said, they were summoned from their dorms to a lieutenant’s office late at night. Hours frequently passed, they said, before they were sent back to their dorms.
What they allege happened in the office became the subject of federal complaints, which accuse Lt. Quin, then an administrative manager, of harassing, threatening and coercing immigrants into sexual acts at the Golden State Annex in McFarland. A person with that name worked in a higher-ranking post, as chief of security, at the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana until August — the same month The Times sent questions to the company that operates the facilities.
The Department of Homeland Security said it could not substantiate the allegations. According to an attorney for one of the detainees, the California attorney general’s office opened an investigation into the matter.
Immigrant advocates point to the case as one of many allegations of abuse in U.S. immigration facilities, within a system which they say fails to properly investigate.
In three complaints reviewed by The Times that were filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), to a watchdog agency and with DHS, detainees accused Quin of sexual assault, harassment and other misconduct. The complainants initially knew the lieutenant only as “Lt. Quinn,” and he is referred to as such in the federal complaints, though the correct spelling is “Quin.”
The complaints also allege other facility staff knew about and facilitated abuse, perpetuating a culture of impunity.
The Golden State Annex, a U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement detention facility, in McFarland last year.
The California and Louisiana facilities are both operated by the Florida-based private prison giant, the GEO Group.
A Dec. 10, 2024, post on Instagram Threads appears to allude to issues Quin faced in California. The post pictures him standing in front of a GEO Group flag and states: “Permit me to reintroduce myself … You will respect my authority. They tried to hinder me, but God intervened.”
Asked about the accusations, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant Homeland Security public affairs secretary, said in a statement that allegations of misconduct by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees or contractors are treated seriously and investigated thoroughly.
“These complaints were filed in 2024 — well before current DHS leadership and the necessary reforms they implemented,” McLaughlin wrote. “The investigation into this matter has concluded, and ICE — through its own investigation reviewed by [the DHS office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties] — could not substantiate any complaint of sexual assault or rape.”
The GEO Group did not respond to requests for comment.
Advocates for the detainees say they are undeterred and will continue to seek justice for people they say have been wronged.
Advocates also say the potential for abuse at detention facilities will grow as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown brings such facilities to record population levels. The population of detained immigrants surpassed a high of 61,000 in August, according to TRAC, a nonpartisan research organization.
The allegations against Quin by a 28-year-old detainee are detailed in his FTCA complaint, a precursor to a lawsuit, filed in January with DHS. The complaint seeks $10 million for physical and emotional damages.
The Times generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual abuse and is referring to him by his middle initial, E.
McLaughlin’s response did not address the FTCA complaint that details E’s sexual assault allegations.
Reached by phone, Quin told The Times, “I don’t speak with the media,” and referred a reporter to the Golden State Annex. After being read the allegations against him and asked to respond, he hung up.
E alleged abuse in interviews with The Times, and in a recorded interview with an attorney, which formed the basis for the FTCA complaint.
In the complaint, he said that beginning in May 2023, Quin would call him into a room, where no cameras or staff were present, to say he had been given a citation or that guards had complained about him.
One day, the complaint alleges, Quin rubbed his own genitals over his pants and began making sexual comments. E told Quin he felt uncomfortable and wanted to go back to his dorm. But Quin smirked, dragged his chair closer and grabbed E in the crotch, the complaint says.
After E pushed Quin away and threatened to defend himself physically, the complaint alleges, Quin made his own threat: to call a “code black” — an emergency — that would summon guards and leave E facing charges of assaulting a federal officer.
Instead, E said, Quin called for an escort to take him back to his dorm.
After that, the late-night summons — sometimes at midnight or 2 a.m. — increased, E said in his complaint. Each time, Quin continued to rub his genitals over his clothes, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges Quin repeatedly offered to help with E’s immigration case in exchange for sexual favors. Then Quin found out E is bisexual and E alleged Quin threatened to tell his family during a visit. Afraid of his family finding out about his sexuality, E said in the complaint, he finally acquiesced to letting Quin touch his genitals and perform oral sex on him.
“I just, I ended up doing it,” E said in a recorded interview with his attorney.
Afterward, the complaint says, Quin told E that he would make sure to help him, and that no one would find out.
The complaint alleges that Quin brought E contraband gifts, including a phone, and, around Christmas, a water bottle full of alcohol.
“I feel dirty,” E said in the recorded interview. “I feel ashamed of myself, you know? I feel like my dignity was just nowhere.”
E said in his complaint that a staff member told him in December 2023 that a guard had reported Quin to the warden after noticing E had been out of his dorm for a long time; the guard had reviewed security cameras showing Quin giving E the bottle of alcohol.
E said the staffer told him that Quin was temporarily suspended from interacting with detainees, and the late-night summons stopped for a while.
Lee Ann Felder-Heim, staff attorney with the Asian Law Caucus, which filed a complaint with the federal government alleging mistreatment of detainees at the Golden State Annex in McFarland.
(Maria del Rio / For The Times)
A second, earlier complaint alleging mistreatment at the McFarland facility was filed on E’s behalf in August 2024 by the Asian Law Caucus with the DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL).
That complaint alleges that other GEO Group staff targeted him with sexually harassing and degrading comments. It does not address E’s sexual assault allegations, because E said he was initially too afraid to talk about them.
Once, when E was lying on his stomach in his cell, a guard commented loudly to other staff that he was waiting for a visit from Quin; the guard made a motion of putting her finger through a hole, insinuating that E sought to engage in sexual intercourse, the complaint states.
The broader issue isn’t one person, “but rather a system of impunity and abuse,” said Lee Ann Felder-Heim, a staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus. “The reports make it clear that other staff were aware of what was going on and actually were assisting in making it happen.”
In addition to detailing E’s own experiences, the complaint also details abuse and harassment of five other detainees. One detainee is transgender, a fact that would play a role in how federal officials investigated the complaint.
In February and March, CRCL sent Felder-Heim letters saying it had closed the investigations into all but one case of alleged sexual abuse and harassment — including those regarding Quin — citing, as justification, Trump’s First-Day executive order concerning “gender ideology extremism.” The order prohibits using federal funds to “promote gender ideology,” so Felder-Heim said it appears the investigations were shut down because one of the complainants is transgender. The other case was closed earlier on the merits.
She called the investigation process flawed and “wholly inadequate.”
E filed a third complaint with another oversight body, the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman. To his knowledge, no investigation was initiated.
In March, the Trump administration shut down three internal oversight bodies: CRCL, OIDO and the Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) Ombudsman. Civil rights groups sued the following month, prompting the agency to resurrect the offices.
But staffing at the offices was decimated, according to sworn court declarations by DHS officials. CRCL has gone from having 147 positions to 22; OIDO from about 118 to about 10; and the CIS Ombudsman from 46 to about 10.
“All legally required functions of CRCL continue to be performed, but in an efficient and cost-effective manner and without hindering the Department’s mission of securing the homeland,” said McLaughlin, the DHS spokeswoman.
Michelle Brané, who was the immigrant detention ombudsman under the Biden administration, said the civil rights office generally had first dibs on complaints about sexual assault. She recalled the complaint about Quin but said her office didn’t investigate it because the civil rights office already was.
Brané said the decrease in oversight amid increased detention will inevitably exacerbate issues such as allegations of sexual assault. Worse conditions also make it harder to hire quality staff, she said.
Around the same time that E was held at Golden State Annex, a gay couple from Colombia reported in April 2024 to the OIDO that Quin had sexually harassed them.
D.T., 26, and C.B., 25, were separated upon arrival at Golden State Annex. D.T. began to experience severe anxiety attacks, they said in the Asian Law Caucus complaint and in an interview with The Times. The couple asked to be placed in the same dormitory.
Before granting their request, Quin asked what they would give him in return, the couple recounted in the complaint. Afterward, the complaint alleges, he frequently invited them to his office, saying they owed him.
“We never accepted going to his office, because we knew what it was for,” C.B. told the Times.
In their complaint, they allege that Quin asked D.T. if he wanted to have sex and told C.B., “You belong to me.”
The couple became aware that Quin had also harassed other detainees and gave preferential treatment to those who they believed accepted his requests for sexual favors, according to the complaint; one detainee told them that he had grabbed Quin’s hand and placed it on his penis to avoid being taken to solitary confinement for starting a fight.
D.T. said in an interview with The Times that he believes “below him are many people who never said anything.”
In a Dec. 2, 2024, internal facility grievance from Golden State Annex reviewed by The Times, another detainee alleges that Quin retaliated against him for speaking out against misconduct.
In the grievance and in an interview with The Times, the detainee said he spoke up after, on several occasions, watching another man walk to Quin’s office late at night and come back to the dorm hours later. He also said in the grievance that Quin brought in marijuana, cellphones and other contraband.
Another witness, Gustavo Flores, 33, said Quin recognized him as a former Golden State Annex detainee when he was briefly transferred to the Alexandria facility, just before his deportation to El Salvador in May.
Quin pulled Flores aside and offered to uncuff him and get him lunch in exchange for cleaning the lobby; after he finished, Quin brought him into his office, where he peppered Flores with questions about Golden State Annex, Flores said.
Flores said he asked about certain staffers and detainees. He told Flores people wanted to sue him, calling them “crybabies.”
“He’s telling me everything, like, ‘Oh yeah, I know what goes on over there,’” Flores said.
When E tried to end the sexual encounters, his complaint says, Quin threatened to have him sent to a detention facility in Texas or have his deportation expedited.
In October 2024, E was transferred to the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield.
Heliodoro Moreno, E’s attorney, said the California Attorney General’s Office confirmed to him in February that it was investigating. An investigator interviewed E in April and again in May, he said, and the investigation remains open.
California Department of Justice spokesperson Nina Sheridan declined to comment on a potential investigation. But in a statement she said the office remains vigilant of “ongoing, troubling conditions” at detention facilities throughout California.
“We are especially concerned that conditions at these facilities are only set to worsen as the Trump Administration continues to ramp up its inhumane campaign of mass deportation,” she wrote.
E, who had a pending claim for a special status known as withholding of removal, dropped his case in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Moreno said his client wished to no longer be detained.
“It’s very unfortunate that he’s in these circumstances,” Moreno said. His client was forced to forgo his appellate rights and leave “without really getting a conclusion to receiving justice for what happened to him.”
Former President Joe Biden spoke to Nebraska Democrats on Friday evening.His appearance at the annual Ben Nelson Gala comes just days after nationwide elections. And, it was one of a handful of times we’ve heard from the former president since he left office and was undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer.On Friday, he addressed a crowd of several hundred in downtown Omaha with a message of momentum for the state of Nebraska.“Did you see the results Tuesday?” he asked, igniting another round of cheers as he listed Democratic victories from governorships in New Jersey and Virginia to the mayoral seat in New York to a redistricting decision in California, according to the Associated Press.It was a joyful return to the political stage for the former president, whose party’s effort to remain in the White House was rejected just over a year ago. Biden called for a political comeback, though not for himself, but to an audience hungry for a fight.”You have an election soon, an open seat right here in Omaha,” Biden said. “We can’t be afraid to dream big.”“You know what it feels like to be outnumbered,” he told Democrats in Nebraska, where Republicans have carried the state in every presidential election since 1968. “But every election, you put up the yard signs and you make your voices heard. The country needs you badly.”It was the kind of pep talk that sells in a place where Democrats lose statewide but have staged winning races for the Omaha area’s 2nd District electoral vote, elected a Democratic mayor for the first time since 2009 and feel energized about capturing the 2nd District seat in 2026.Biden’s speech centered around his time in office and the changes he said now hit American families during President Donald Trump’s term.He brought up the ongoing pause of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and the demolition of the East Wing.The major point from the former president centered around the future of his party.”The Democratic Party is back,” Biden said. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal. We’ve never lived up to it, but we’ve never walked away from it. And folks, we’re not going to walk away from it now. Tuesday night was a good start.”Biden was honored at the gala by four Native Nebraska tribes, draping a blanket quilt over his shoulders, which was then followed by a performance dedicated to the former president.Several other Democrats were at the gala, including Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Omaha Mayor John Ewing Jr.__The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Former President Joe Biden spoke to Nebraska Democrats on Friday evening.
His appearance at the annual Ben Nelson Gala comes just days after nationwide elections. And, it was one of a handful of times we’ve heard from the former president since he left office and was undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer.
On Friday, he addressed a crowd of several hundred in downtown Omaha with a message of momentum for the state of Nebraska.
“Did you see the results Tuesday?” he asked, igniting another round of cheers as he listed Democratic victories from governorships in New Jersey and Virginia to the mayoral seat in New York to a redistricting decision in California, according to the Associated Press.
It was a joyful return to the political stage for the former president, whose party’s effort to remain in the White House was rejected just over a year ago. Biden called for a political comeback, though not for himself, but to an audience hungry for a fight.
“You have an election soon, an open seat right here in Omaha,” Biden said. “We can’t be afraid to dream big.”
“You know what it feels like to be outnumbered,” he told Democrats in Nebraska, where Republicans have carried the state in every presidential election since 1968. “But every election, you put up the yard signs and you make your voices heard. The country needs you badly.”
It was the kind of pep talk that sells in a place where Democrats lose statewide but have staged winning races for the Omaha area’s 2nd District electoral vote, elected a Democratic mayor for the first time since 2009 and feel energized about capturing the 2nd District seat in 2026.
Biden’s speech centered around his time in office and the changes he said now hit American families during President Donald Trump’s term.
The major point from the former president centered around the future of his party.
“The Democratic Party is back,” Biden said. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal. We’ve never lived up to it, but we’ve never walked away from it. And folks, we’re not going to walk away from it now. Tuesday night was a good start.”
Biden was honored at the gala by four Native Nebraska tribes, draping a blanket quilt over his shoulders, which was then followed by a performance dedicated to the former president.
Several other Democrats were at the gala, including Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Omaha Mayor John Ewing Jr.
__ The Associated Press contributed to this report.
SAN FRANCISCO — Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a trailblazing San Francisco Democrat who leveraged decades of power in the U.S. House to become one of the most influential political leaders of her generation, will not run for reelection in 2026, she said Thursday.
The former House speaker, 85, who has been in Congress since 1987 and oversaw both of President Trump’s first-term impeachments, had been pushing off her 2026 decision until after Tuesday’s vote on Proposition 50, a ballot measure she backed and helped bankroll to redraw California’s congressional maps in her party’s favor.
With the measure’s resounding passage, Pelosi said it was time to start clearing the path for another Democrat to represent San Francisco — one of the nation’s most liberal bastions — in Congress, as some are already vying to do.
“With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative,” Pelosi said in a nearly six-minute video she posted online Thursday morning, in which she also recounted major achievements from her long career.
Pelosi did not immediately endorse a would-be successor, but challenged her constituents to stay engaged.
“As we go forward, my message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power,” she said. “We have made history, we have made progress, we have always led the way — and now we must continue to do so by remaining full participants in our democracy, and fighting for the American ideals we hold dear.”
Pelosi’s announcement drew immediate reaction across the political world, with Democrats lauding her dedication and accomplishments and President Trump, a frequent target and critic of hers, ridiculing her as a “highly overrated politician.”
Pelosi has not faced a serious challenge for her seat since President Reagan was in office, and has won recent elections by wide margins. Just a year ago, she won reelection with 81% of the vote.
However, Pelosi was facing two hard-to-ignore challengers from her own party in next year’s Democratic primary: state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), 55, a prolific and ambitious lawmaker with a strong base of support in the city, and Saikat Chakrabarti, 39, a Democratic political operative and tech millionaire who is infusing his campaign with personal cash.
Their challenges come amid a shifting tide against gerontocracy in Democratic politics more broadly, as many in the party’s base have increasingly questioned the ability of its longtime leaders — especially those in their 70s and 80s — to sustain an energetic and effective resistance to President Trump and his MAGA agenda.
In announcing his candidacy for Pelosi’s seat last month after years of deferring to her, Wiener said he simply couldn’t wait any longer. “The world is changing, the Democratic Party is changing, and it’s time,” he said.
Chakrabarti — who helped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) topple another older Democratic incumbent with a message of generational change in 2018 — said voters in San Francisco “need a whole different approach” to governing after years of longtime party leaders failing to deliver.
In an interview Thursday, Wiener called Pelosi an “icon” who delivered for San Francisco in more ways than most people can comprehend, with whom he shared a “deep love” for the city. He also recounted, in particular, Pelosi’s early advocacy for AIDS treatment and care in the 1980s, and the impact it had on him personally.
“I remember vividly what it felt like as a closeted gay teenager, having a sense that the country had abandoned people like me, and that the country didn’t care if people like me died. I was 17, and that was my perception of my place in the world,” Wiener said. “Nancy Pelosi showed that that wasn’t true, that there were people in positions of power who gave a damn about gay men and LGBTQ people and people living with HIV and those of us at risk for HIV — and that was really powerful.”
While anticipated by many, Pelosi’s decision nonetheless reverberated through political circles, including as yet another major sign that a new political era is dawning for the political left — as also evidenced by the stunning rise of Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist elected Tuesday as New York City’s next mayor.
Known as a relentless and savvy party tactician, Pelosi had fought off concerns about her age in the past, including when she chose to run again last year. The first woman ever elected speaker in 2007, Pelosi has long cultivated and maintained a spry image belying her age by walking the halls of Congress in signature four-inch stilettos, and by keeping up a rigorous schedule of flying between work in Washington and constituent events in her home district.
However, that veneer has worn down in recent years, including when she broke her hip during a fall in Europe in December.
That occurred just after fellow octogenarian President Biden sparked intense speculation about his age and cognitive abilities with his disastrous debate performance against Trump in June of last year. The performance led to Biden being pushed to drop out of the race — in part by Pelosi — and to Vice President Kamala Harris moving to the top of the ticket and losing badly to Trump in November.
Democrats have also watched other older liberal leaders age and die in power in recent years, including the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, another San Francisco power player in Washington. When Ginsburg died in office at 87, it handed Trump a third Supreme Court appointment. When Feinstein died in office ill at 90, it was amid swirling questions about her competency to serve.
By bowing out of the 2026 race, Pelosi — who stepped down from party leadership in 2022 — diminished her own potential for an ungraceful last chapter in office. But she did not concede that her current effectiveness has diminished one bit.
Pelosi was one of the most vocal and early proponents of Proposition 50, which amends the state constitution to give state Democrats the power through 2030 to redraw California’s congressional districts in their favor.
The measure was in response to Republicans in red states such as Texas redrawing maps in their favor, at Trump’s direction. Pelosi championed it as critical to preserving Democrats’ chances of winning back the House next year and checking Trump through the second half of his second term, something she and others suggested will be vital for the survival of American democracy.
On Tuesday, California voters resoundingly approved Proposition 50.
In her video, Pelosi noted a litany of accomplishments during her time in office, crediting them not to herself but to her constituents, to labor groups, to nonprofits and private entrepreneurs, to the city’s vibrant diversity and flair for innovation.
She noted bringing federal resources to the city to recover after the Loma Prieta earthquake, and San Francisco’s leading role in tackling the devastating HIV/AIDS crisis through partnerships with University of California San Francisco and San Francisco General, which “pioneered comprehensive community based care, prevention and research” still used today.
She mentioned passing the Ryan White CARE Act and the Affordable Care Act, building out various San Francisco and California public transportation systems, building affordable housing and protecting the environment — all using federal dollars her position helped her to secure.
“It seems prophetic now that the slogan of my very first campaign in 1987 was, ‘A voice that will be heard,’ and it was you who made those words come true. It was the faith that you had placed in me, and the latitude that you have given me, that enabled me to shatter the marble ceiling and be the first woman Speaker of the House, whose voice would certainly be heard,” Pelosi said. “It was an historic moment for our country, and it was momentous for our community — empowering me to bring home billions of dollars for our city and our state.”
After her announcement, Trump ridiculed her, telling Fox News that her decision not to seek reelection was “a great thing for America” and calling her “evil, corrupt, and only focused on bad things for our country.”
“She was rapidly losing control of her party and it was never coming back,” Trump told the outlet, according to a segment shared by the White House. “I’m very honored she impeached me twice, and failed miserably twice.”
The House succeeded in impeaching Trump twice, but the Senate acquitted him both times.
Pelosi’s fellow Democrats, by contrast, heaped praise on her as a one-of-a-kind force in U.S. politics — a savvy tactician, a prolific legislator and a mentor to an entire generation of fellow Democrats.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a longtime Pelosi ally who helped her impeach Trump, called Pelosi “the greatest Speaker in American history” as a result of “her tenacity, intellect, strategic acumen and fierce advocacy.”
“She has been an indelible part of every major progressive accomplishment in the 21st Century — her work in Congress delivered affordable health care to millions, created countless jobs, raised families out of poverty, cleaned up pollution, brought LGBTQ+ rights into the mainstream, and pulled our economy back from the brink of destruction not once, but twice,” Schiff said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Pelosi “has inspired generations,” that her “courage and conviction to San Francisco, California, and our nation has set the standard for what public service should be,” and that her impact on the country was “unmatched.”
“Wishing you the best in this new chapter — you’ve more than earned it,” Newsom wrote above Pelosi’s online video.
