Free Republic

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Monday the city faces a $800 million deficit, plans on laying off 1,647 staff, is seeking a state bailout and has “identified new revenue.” Bass blamed the Trump administration and the economy for falling revenue. “Cities like ours are going through challenging economic times across the nation,” said Bass. “Turmoil and uncertainty from Washington and a slowing economy are causing lower revenue projections.” With 61,455 employees, 1,647 layoffs equate to a workforce reduction of 2.7%. With just over $8.3 billion paid out in payroll last year, the city pays its employees an average of...

A glamorous city known for sprawling mansions, boutique shops and glamor is at risk of becoming 'the next Detroit,' according to experts. Los Angeles is being rocked by an exodus of big budget TV and film production companies — long considered the backbone of the local economy. Detroit was once the center of America's auto production, but fell into decline when factories began to shut, triggering a major housing crisis. Now, some fear LA faces a similar threat. FilmLA reports that on-location production in the city fell by 22.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same...

San Francisco’s most divine drag-and-debauchery tradition returned in full technicolor this Easter Sunday as the Hunky Jesus Contest took over Mission Dolores Park, drawing hundreds to bask in sun, sequins and sacrilege.

This is a constitutional crisis and Donald Trump must release Kilmer now.

On April 15, 2025, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) appeared at a rally in the Dignity Health Arena in Bakersfield, Calif. This was one of a series of rallies in their nationwide “Fighting Oligarchy” campaign. Trump supporters, Republicans and patriots showed up in front of the auditorium to give them a warm welcome.

San Francisco Democrats — who have produced some of the most left-wing politicians in America, and some of the most astonishing examples of poor “progressive” governance — want to move the party to the center. That, at least, is the claim made by some local party activists in the pages of Politico on Monday: Leaders of the local party argue the famously liberal city has, in recent years, exported one bad political idea after another, leading Democrats astray and ceding power in Washington to Donald Trump and the GOP. They cite “defund the police,” symbolic resolutions about foreign conflicts like...

A Southern California mayor is under fire for wanting to eliminate his city’s homeless population by giving them “all the fentanyl they want” — a shocking remark he reinforced by calling for a federal “purge.” Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris shared his controversial views during a Feb. 25 city council meeting when a resident took issue with the city’s attempt to address the homeless crisis by “enclosing” the unhoused at an abandoned golf course near a residential neighborhood. “What I want to do is give them free fentanyl,” Parris said as he interrupted the woman’s comments, according to footage of...

L.A.'s fragile urban canopy was dealt a vicious blow this weekend when a chainsaw-wielding vandal cut down a number of shade trees along South Grand Avenue and other areas of downtown, according to media posts and photos uploaded to Reddit and Instagram. The Los Angeles Police Department told The Times it had no information about the tree destruction, and an email and phone call to the city's Urban Forestry Division went unanswered Sunday.

(The Center Square)—A new California bill would prioritize illegal immigrants for taxpayer-funded disaster aid, warned California Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego. AB 262, authored by Assemblymember Jessica Caloza, D-Los Angeles, would require California to “prioritize local agencies that are not eligible under [federal law] due to their inability to meet the minimum damages threshold” of $1 million to unlock federal disaster funds. “You are carving out the authority for state funding to go to illegal immigrants,” said DeMaio. “The bill would allow the director of emergency services to prioritize funds for people who not here legally.” Caloza responded by saying...

California has been losing population for the last two years due to high taxes and regulations. Up until now, most of the people leaving the state are just average people seeking greener pastures.Now the entertainment industry is starting to flee the state for many of the same reasons. What happens to Los Angeles when there is no more Hollywood? It’s a huge part of the city’s identity. (snip) None of this is going to change if they keep electing the same kind of leaders. Why do none of them understand this?

Valero says by April 2026, its Benicia refinery will be shut down.

For years, the bright green turf of Whitsett Fields Park has served as a joyous hub for Los Angeles youth soccer — particularly for thousands of immigrant families in the San Fernando Valley. On most weekends, the sprawling North Hollywood complex echoes with the shouts of hundreds of boys and girls, as vendors hawk aguas frescas, balloons and candy along the sidelines. But recently, immense grief and worry have settled over this close, Latin American community. Just last week, a well-known coach and Salvadoran national was charged with murder in the killing of 13-year-old soccer player Oscar Omar Hernandez during...

In a humiliating moment for the left, the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue is facing a possible investigation under suspicion that the massive source of funding for blue candidates has provided financial support to terror-linked organizations. For context, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) wrote a letter to the U.S. Treasury Department on March 10, 2025, in which he addressed Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, asking him to investigate ActBlue, alleging that the online progressive platform, which is already under scrutiny for alleged money laundering, had knowingly facilitated payments that may have contributed to the enabling of terrorism. In his letter to...

A teenager allegedly behind hundreds of swatting incidents pleaded guilty on Wednesday to four counts of making interstate threats. Prosecutors claimed that 18-year-old Alan Filion of Lancaster, California, made more than 375 swatting and threatening calls from 2022 through January 2024. Some of the calls included claims that he placed bombs at religious institutions, schools, and government buildings. He also threatened to detonate the bombs or carry out mass shootings, the Justice Department reported. The teenager was mostly underage at the time of the calls, but he faces up to five years for each of the four charges. “This prosecution...

A new poll out of deep-blue California is sending a clear message: voters want their state to work with President Donald Trump, not against him. Despite Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and his Democrat allies waging constant political war with the Trump administration, the public appears exhausted over the partisan grandstanding. Instead, many Californians are signaling they’d rather see cooperation than endless resistance, even if it means setting aside the left’s obsession with opposing Trump at every turn. According to a poll conducted by the University of California, Berkeley professor Jack Citrin, together with Politico, Californians are more interested in fighting...

Officials at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) are facing scrutiny for refusing to release public records related to allegations of significant wrongdoing that led to $800,000 in taxpayer-funded settlements. LAist, a local news outlet, has been denied access to documents detailing wrongful termination and whistleblower retaliation claims filed by two former executives who departed the agency in 2024. The two executives are Kristina Dixon, former chief financial and administration officer, and Emily Vaughn Henry, former data and IT director. Their terminations occurred during Va Lecia Adams Kellum’s first year as LAHSA’s chief executive. LAist initiated its request for...

Grammy-nominated musician and former OneRepublic bassist Tim Myers is making the leap from the stage to the political arena with a high-profile challenge to long-serving Republican Rep. Ken Calvert in California’s 41st Congressional District. Myers, a Corona native turned music industry entrepreneur, announced his candidacy Thursday in a video posted on Instagram, setting the stage for one of the most closely watched House races in the 2026 election cycle. “Ken Calvert has been in Washington for 30 years, and all he’s done is make himself millions,” Myers says in the campaign video, filmed in a recording studio. “The status quo...

Subtitle: Community colleges have been dealing with an unprecedented phenomenon: fake students bent on stealing financial aid funds. While it has caused chaos at many colleges, some Southwestern faculty feel their leaders haven’t done enough to curb the crisis. When the spring semester began, Southwestern College professor Elizabeth Smith felt good. Two of her online classes were completely full, boasting 32 students each. Even the classes’ waitlists, which fit 20 students, were maxed out. That had never happened before. “Teachers get excited when there’s a lot of interest in their class. I felt like, ‘Great, I’m going to have a...

Rep. Kevin Kiley is under fire again as constituents from his conservative-leaning district are becoming increasingly fed up. Kiley was under the microscope Tuesday at the most recent rally held by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders in Folsom. The Sacramento County event was the 10th stop on Sanders’ Fighting Oligarchy tour, which he’s been co-headling with Ocasio-Cortez in cities across the West. Tuesday’s event, despite taking place within Kiley’s heavily red district, drew about 30,000 supporters and had a 3-mile line extending beyond the entrance. “I heard that they were, that someone started flying a plane with a...

With Valero announcing the pending closure of one of its two remaining California refineries, the state will lose at least 18% of its current refining capacity by the end of 2026. Because California is an “energy island,” meeting demand for California and the parts of Nevada and Arizona that rely on its refineries will require costly imports of volatile fuel by emissions-heavy tanker ships. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has long blamed rising gas prices on refiners’ “price gouging,” but even though his own administration has said that it has no found no evidence of such, he called a special legislative...