Category Archives: West Coast

Trump ally Ric Grenell says he’d ‘look at’ California bid if Kamala Harris runs

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Kennedy Center interim director says he would have consider running for California governor if Harris opts in

Donald Trump loyalist Ric Grenell says he would “have to” strongly consider running for California governor in 2026 if former vice-president Kamala Harris signs up to campaign for the position.

Grenell – a foreign policy adviser to the president and the interim director of Washington DC’s John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts – made the remark during an interview airing Sunday on the Politico podcast The Conversation with Dasha Burns.

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Judge seems skeptical Trump can call in national guard and will rule ‘very soon’

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California governor Gavin Newsom filed suit challenging US president calling up troops to suppress protests against Ice

A federal judge expressed skepticism on Thursday with the Trump administration’s arguments that the president has the power to federalize national guard troops and deploy them to suppress protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles.

The US district judge, Charles Breyer, said he intends to rule on California’s request for an injunction halting the deployment “very soon”, and that he was hopeful his ruling would come by the end of the day. He said he would also decide on whether the justice department could stay the order pending appeal.

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LA protests: LAPD says it has made ‘mass arrests’ after mayor issued curfew for downtown – live

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Mayor Karen Bass issues curfew for one square mile area in downtown, beginning at 8pm local time on Tuesday until 6am local time on Wednesday

Governor Greg Abbott has pledged to deploy National Guard troops across his state of Texas, becoming the first governor to do so as protests against Trump’s immigration raids spread throughout the United States.

Abbott said on X that the Texas National Guard will “use every tool & strategy to help law enforcement maintain order”.

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LA police announce ‘mass arrests’ as Newsom intensifies criticism of Trump | First Thing

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Protesters defy overnight curfew as California governor issues searing rebuke of administration. Plus, who is behind the hedonistic party palaces of New York’s Fire Island?

Good morning.

Los Angeles police have announced they are making “mass arrests” in the city’s downtown area, as people gathered in defiance of an overnight curfew imposed after days of protests against Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and military deployment.

What has Newsom said? Trump’s decision to deploy the national guard in LA was “a brazen abuse of power”, that has “inflamed a combustible situation”, Newsom said in a searing rebuke of the administration.

What about Trump? In an address to troops at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina yesterday, Trump spread conspiracy theories, maligned California’s Democratic leaders and misleadingly portrayed protesters as part of a “foreign invasion”.

Were they really armed by Israel? Yes. Israeli defence officials acknowledged last week that they had been arming the group, with the aim of undermining Hamas. Aid workers said the group had a long history of looting from UN trucks.

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LA public schools will protect students and families at graduations from Ice

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‘Perimeters of safety around graduation sites’ aim to prevent any immigration enforcement action

Public schools in Los Angeles have announced a new security plan to keep immigration officers away from any potentially undocumented students and their families who are attending this week’s school graduations.

“Every single graduation site is a protected site,” said Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the country’s second largest school district, at a Monday press conference, having previously said he was “dismayed by recent immigration enforcement activity occurring near our schools”.

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Misinformation about LA Ice protests swirls online: ‘Catnip for rightwing agitators’

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Many posts spread the idea that mayhem overtook LA while police confrontations were limited to a small part of the city

Since protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles began, false and misleading claims about the ongoing demonstrations have spread on text-based social networks. Outright lies posted directly to social media mixed with misinformation spread through established channels by the White House as Donald Trump dramatically escalated federal intervention. The stream of undifferentiated real and fake information has painted a picture of the city that forks from reality.

Parts of Los Angeles have seen major protests over the past four days against intensified immigration raids by the US president’s administration. On Saturday, dramatic photos from downtown Los Angeles showed cars set aflame amid confrontations with law enforcement. Many posts promoted the perception that mayhem and violence had overtaken the entirety of Los Angeles, even though confrontations with law enforcement and vandalism remained confined to a small part of the sprawling city. Trump has deployed 2,000 members of the national guard to the city without requesting consent from California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, which provoked the state to sue for an alleged violation of sovereignty. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has also ordered the US military to deploy approximately 700 marines to the city.

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Doechii blasts Trump administration’s ‘ruthless attacks’ in LA amid Ice raids

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Rapper turns BET awards speech into call for justice after White House deployed military forces on demonstrators

The rapper Doechii turned her acceptance speech at the BET awards on Monday night into a powerful call for justice as she criticized the Trump administration’s deployment of military forces on protesters in Los Angeles.

The Grammy winner used the stage to highlight the immigration raids and protest crackdowns happening just miles from where the ceremony took place in Los Angeles.

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LA cleans up and protests some more after weekend of defiance against Trump

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Cleaners remove graffiti and burned cars after mostly peaceful protests that saw some vandalism and violence

Outside the federal courthouse complex in downtown Los Angeles on Monday morning, two cleaners carrying bins on wheels looked uncertainly at the daunting task in front of them – long walls in several directions covered in spray-painted graffiti after a weekend of vigorous street protest.

They donned black plastic gloves and reached for spray bottles and rolls of paper towels, but these seemed hardly adequate even for the black marble plinth bearing the name “Edward R Roybal Center and Federal Building” where they began. Indeed, the rest of the official writing on the plinth was illegible, defaced by three separate graffiti reading “Fuck Ice” and another saying “Dead Cops”.

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Glendale ends ‘divisive’ Ice detention contract amid California protests

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Decision comes as federal action to enforce US immigration laws inspired three days of protests in the LA area

The California city of Glendale has terminated a contract to house federal immigration detainees, with local officials saying the arrangement had become increasingly “divisive” within the community.

The decision by the Los Angeles county municipality to sever ties with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) comes after three days of protests in other parts of the LA area. That included Sunday near the Metropolitan Detention Center, about nine miles from Glendale, where cars were set alight as anti-Ice protesters clashed with law enforcement officers, including the national guard.

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Newsom is warned of ‘criminal tax evasion’ if he withholds federal taxes

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California governor made threat amid reports Trump is weighing huge federal funding cuts targeting state

The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has warned California governor Gavin Newsom that he would be guilty of “criminal tax evasion” if he withholds his state’s tax payments to the federal government amid threats of a funding cut by Donald Trump.

Newsom had threatened to cut tax payments to the federal government two days ago after reports that Trump was preparing huge federal funding cuts targeting Democrat-dominated California, including its state university system.

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How can Trump use the national guard on US soil?

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The US president says he’s deploying 2,000 troops to Los Angeles amid immigration protests. Here’s what to know

Donald Trump said on Saturday he’s deploying 2,000 California national guard troops to Los Angeles to respond to immigration protests, over the objections of the California governor, Gavin Newsom.

Here are some things to know about when and how the president can deploy troops on US soil.

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California leaders condemn Ice raids in LA: ‘We will not stand for this’

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City mayor Karen Bass joins governor Gavin Newsom and others in denouncing arrests of at least 45 people

The Department of Homeland Security conducted raids on multiple locations across Los Angeles on Friday, clashing with the crowds of people who gathered to protest and prompting widespread criticism from California leaders.

Masked agents were recorded pulling several people out of two LA-area Home Depot stores and the clothing manufacturer Ambient Apparel’s headquarters in LA’s Fashion District. Immigration advocates said the raids also included four other locations, including a doughnut shop.

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Yoga classes resume at San Diego beach as court says they are ‘protected speech’

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Instructors Steven Hubbard and Amy Baack had sued after a city ordinance restricted such activities on the beach

Yoga classes are back on at San Diego beaches this week after a federal appeals court ruled that a city ordinance restricting such activities was unconstitutional and that teaching yoga was “protected speech”.

The three-judge panel of the US ninth circuit court of appeals on Wednesday overruled a San Diego judge and decided in favor of two instructors who had sued over a law that San Diego passed in 2024 banning yoga classes of four or more people at shoreline parks and beaches.

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Man linked to fatal bombing of Palm Springs fertility clinic arrested

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FBI detains 32-year-old from Washington state over links to blast in which authorities believe bomber died

The FBI arrested a man in connection with last month’s bombing of a facility clinic in Palm Springs, California, US authorities said on Wednesday.

Daniel Park, a 32-year-old US citizen who lives in Kent, Washington, was taken into custody at John F Kennedy airport in New York on Tuesday after he was deported from Poland, said Bill Essayli, a US attorney for California, at a press conference. Park allegedly provided materials for explosives to the person who carried out the bombing, which officials have described as the largest incident of its kind in southern California. Authorities believe the bomber died in the blast.

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Walt Disney’s granddaughter denounces animatronic portrayal of animation legend

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Joanna Miller said her grandpa would hate the mechanical replica to be debuted in July, calling it an ‘imposter’

Walt Disney’s granddaughter has condemned the entertainment giant he founded for re-creating the late entrepreneur as a soulless “robotic grampa” for the 70th anniversary celebration of California’s Disneyland theme park in July.

Disney, who died in 1966, will appear as an animatronic figure in a new attraction called Walt Disney – A Magical Life in the park’s Main Street Opera House that commemorates the resort’s 17 July 1955 opening.

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Oregon zoo owner arrested after raid finds drugs, guns and $1.6m

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Police also find widespread animal mistreatment, relocating 310 of the 450 animals and euthanizing three

Oregon police have arrested a zoo owner on drug charges following a police raid at the facility earlier this month that found drugs and widespread animal mistreatment.

The Coos county sheriff’s office said that Brian Tenney, the owner of West Coast Game Park Safari, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of methamphetamine possession, manufacturing and attempted distribution. He was later released as the district attorney’s office awaited more information, a staff member at the Coos county jail said when reached by the Associated Press.

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California changes high school sports rule after Trump post over trans athlete

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State’s interscholastic federation said it was extending access for more ‘biological females’ at track and field meet

The governing board for California high school sports is changing its competition rules at this weekend’s state track and field championships to allow more girls to take part amid controversy over the participation of a trans student-athlete.

The California Interscholastic Federation said it was extending access for more “biological female” athletes to participate in the championship meet. The group announced the change Tuesday after Donald Trump posted on his social media site about the participation of a trans athlete in the competition.

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Hush over Hollywood: why has it become so hard to make films in Los Angeles?

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The drop in productions is causing alarm – can Tinseltown halt the exodus and reclaim its spot as the home of movie-making?

When Adam Scott was working on the hit TV show Parks and Recreation in the early 2010s, the Los Angeles studio where the show was filmed was packed – “every stage was filled and working”.

These days, he told his former co-star Rob Lowe in a much-discussed recent podcast conversation, “it’s quiet over there” – in part because “it’s just too expensive to shoot here”.

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Ex-deputy in California repays $3,500 in cash he stole from homeless man

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Felony charges dismissed but John Sanzone banned from serving as peace officer in state after covering up theft

A former sheriff’s deputy who stole $3,500 from a homeless man he arrested in California has been permanently banned from serving as a peace officer in the state, while felony theft charges against him were dropped, authorities said.

John Sanzone, a former deputy with the Glenn county sheriff’s office, arrested a homeless man who had been carrying $3,500 – money the man had been saving for urgent dental work.

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Suspect identified in ‘intentional’ explosion at Palm Springs fertility clinic

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Man, 25, who died after car bombing, reportedly wrote he was against bringing people into world against their will

FBI investigators have identified the person suspected of detonating a car bomb outside a Palm Springs, California, fertility clinic on Saturday – and dying in the process – as 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus.

A bureau official said agents had determined Bartkus held “nihilistic views” before Saturday’s blast outside an American Reproductive Centers clinic, which also injured four other people.

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