Free Republic

LOS ANGELES – Twelve members and associates of 18th Street – Los Angeles’s largest street gang – were arrested today on criminal charges, including the murder of a drug trafficker who failed to pay the gang’s extortionate “taxes,” and further alleging that the gang controlled the city’s MacArthur Park as an open-air drug marketplace, using tents to blend in with the homeless population and avoid detection by law enforcement. Five of the defendants arrested today are expected to make their initial appearances and be arraigned this afternoon in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. During this investigation, federal...

The federal investigation into the Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent, whose home and school office were raided Wednesday, may be tied to a failed multimillion-dollar AI school contract involving a potential conflict of interest. Alberto Carvalho previously awarded a $6 million contract, paying $3 million up front, to education technology company AllHere. A former salesperson employed by the firm also had her Miami property raided the same day as Carvalho, according to public records cited by the Los Angeles Times. The woman, Debra Kerr, reportedly had close ties to Carvalho during his tenure leading Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Spokesperson...

Federal officers are searching the home of Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, The California Post confirmed. The searches are being conducted at Carvalho’s San Pedro home, his office at LAUSD in downtown Los Angeles and another location in Miami tied to the investigation, according to a law enforcement source. An affidavit filed concerning the search was under seal, officials said. Carvalho is the LAUSD’s chief employee and has led one of the nation’s largest school systems since 2022. It’s unclear why authorities are searching Carvalho’s home and office. The progressive LA schools boss has voiced his opposition...

Los Angeles City Hall looked less like the nerve center of America’s second-largest city Friday — and more like an abandoned office complex after a zombie apocalypse. Entire hallways with deserted offices. Corridors eerily silent. Parking garage empty besides the city hall guards. When the California Post visited City Hall Friday, the Office of Finance, a council liaison office, and the Los Angeles Housing Department were closed for business. Over the course of the day, about 50 Angelenos oblivious to the closure turned up to pay their bills or seek financial advice, only to find no staff to help them....

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has been epically trolled as she cruised through Chinatown in a convertible during Lunar New Year celebrations. The LA Mayor was perched atop the vehicle Saturday, smiling and waving while wishing spectators a happy New Year. “Today is the day we all contribute and show our support for Chinatown,” Bass says in one video. But the tone quickly turned sour. A man filming the mayor — who appeared to identify himself as a journalist — pressed her about city budget cuts and crumbling roads, accusing her of “defunding our city.” “Make sure you vote against...

A powerful committee chaired by socialist wannabe LA mayor Nithya Raman has voted to hand over $6.6 million to a radical activist group that’s previously sued the City. Los Angeles City Council’s Housing and Homeless Committee greenlit more than $177 million in homeless spending contracts – including the fresh multi-million-dollar payday for Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, better known as SAJE. They want the LAPD abolished, the 2028 Olympics to be cancelled and to freeze rent. The $6.6 million in funding given to the SAJE comes despite the group having sued the City of Los Angeles over approvals for...

At least three people are dead and several others injured after a car crashed Thursday into a grocery store in the Westwood area of Los Angeles, authorities said. The crash was reported around 12:11 p.m. local time along Westwood Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD). fficials confirmed that three people died at the scene. At a news briefing, a LAFD spokesperson confirmed that nine people were involved in the incident, prompting calls for additional ambulances and emergency resources. "This is becoming more of a static incident, and it's being investigated so far as an accidental traffic collision,"...

Jane, who? Aging lefty actress Jane Fonda struggled to draw a crowd as she railed against the arrest of Don Lemon Friday outside a Los Angeles courthouse. The 88-year-old gathered with only a handful of sign-waving supporters for her full-throated defense of Lemon, who was charged for storming of a Minnesota church with a group of agitators. “They’ll make up all kinds of defamatory things to say about him. That’s what they’re doing. This is how autocrats act. We can’t fall for it,” Fonda said.

Who could have guessed that prices have anything to do with supply and demand? Not me. I used to think so, but after I got into an argument with a liberal friend of mine after I suggested that the housing crisis was related to the surge in illegal immigration, and he exploded at me, I changed my mind. His emotional response was very convincing. Well, it turns out that reality really doesn't respond as one would expect to emotional outbursts, and when demand drops due to fewer people seeking limited resources, prices really do fall. Los Angeles is one of...

Jennifer Mnookin, the chancellor of UW-Madison, has been selected as the newest leader of Columbia University. The university made the announcement on Sunday. Mnookin will leave UW-Madison at the end of the academic school year. Mnookin, a legal scholar, has served as chancellor since 2022 after serving as the dean of the University of California, Los Angeles Law School. "During her leadership tenure, the university has risen in important national rankings, improved student outcomes, achieved record fundraising success and helped make a UW–Madison education affordable and accessible for more Wisconsin students," the university said in its announcement. “It has been...

Attorneys General Forum held at the 2026 SHOT Show The Attorneys General Forum was held at the 2026 SHOT Show on January 21, 2026. Eight Attorneys General were present. From left to right, they were: Montana AG Austin Knudsen (wearing cowboy hat); Missouri AG Catherine L. Hanaway; Iowa AG Brenna Bird; West Virginia AG John B. McCuskey; Kansas AG Kris Kobach; Louisiana AG Liz Murrill; Arkansas AG Tim Griffin; and Florida AG James Uthmeier.The discussion started with a question about the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, the PLCAA.Montana’s AG, Austin Knudsen, answered: Yes, the Supreme Court had made...

A U-Haul truck drove into a crowd of demonstrators during an anti-Iranian regime rally in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon, injuring at least three people as the city’s Iranian-American community gathered to support freedom protesters facing a deadly government crackdown overseas.The Los Angeles Fire Department said two patients were evaluated at the scene, but both declined treatment and transport. Firefighter-paramedics also responded to reports of a third person injured in the general area, though officials have not released that individual’s condition.Iranian-American communities across the United States have organized demonstrations supporting protesters in Iran who are facing violent suppression from security...

11 Los Angeles County employees charged in over $700,000 pandemic unemployment fraud scheme Eleven more Los Angeles County employees have been charged with felony grand theft for allegedly stealing unemployment benefits while working full-time during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. The new charges, announced by the office, follow an earlier round of filings in October against 13 county employees accused of similar conduct. In total, prosecutors say 24 employees fraudulently collected a combined $741,518 in unemployment benefits between 2020 and 2023. District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said his office intends to pursue the...

As the traditional entertainment industry continues to contract, Hollywood’s allure to visitors clearly loses its appeal — and that has massive implications for L.A., which for decades has counted on Hollywood to bring in billions in tourism dollars. According to the Hollywood Partnership, a nonprofit dedicated to the beautification and economic vitality of the neighborhood, foot traffic around the entertainment district has dropped about 50 percent the past year and has never fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels. And it’s clear why: The area is neglected, dirty, uncomfortable to be in. Plus, what is there really to see or do in...

Erratic Dodgers fans took over the streets of Los Angeles to celebrate the team’s second straight World Series title early Sunday morning while police officers were struck by “industrial-sized fireworks and bottles.” Thousands of Angelenos converged around the city after the Dodgers clinched their thrilling extra innings 5-4 win in Game 7 over the Toronto Blue Jays. Police, however, were forced to deploy tear gas and less-than-lethal weapons once the rowdy revelers escalated their celebrations, the Los Angeles Police Department said. A “Dispersal Order” was declared in Downtown LA around 12:30 a.m. when police said their officers were being hit...

The son of longtime LA Crips leader and music mogul lauded as the “godfather” of rap was gunned down outside a smoke shop Friday night. Jabari “Baby Uiie” Henley, whose father Eugene Henley Jr. is the former head of the Rollin’ 60’s Neighborhood Crips, was on the corner of 69th Street and Figueroa Street in South Los Angeles around 11 p.m. when a gunman opened fire, according to TMZ. Henley, 34, walked up to a car on the street when the suspect or suspects shot him, the Los Angeles Police Department told TMZ and KTLA. The unidentified suspect fled the...

An ABC News joint investigation with its owned television stations sheds new light on the likely flow of the coronavirus from global hotspots into the U.S. and provides a glimpse the toll the virus has taken on some of the first Americans to interact with international travelers: airport workers. From December 2019 through March 2020, as severe outbreaks cropped up in China and then Italy and Spain, among others, thousands of flights from the hard-hit nations poured into U.S. cities, according to an ABC News analysis of more than 20 million flight records obtained from the tracking service Flightradar-24. While...

"The scariest thing about living in LA. right now, doesn't matter nice area or poor area...a lot of businesses are just out." Store after store is just vacant. "So scary to see so many businesses go out. Feel like the city is dying."

Los Angeles, California — On July 13, 2025, around 9:10 a.m., Central Patrol Division uniformed officers responded to a radio call of an ADW suspect in the area of South Figueroa Street and West Olympic Boulevard. The comments of the call indicated that a male suspect stopped his vehicle in the middle of the intersection, exited, and was swinging a sword at pedestrians. Upon arrival, officers observed the suspect, later identified as 36-year-old Gurpreet Singh, standing in the intersection holding a machete. Officers gave multiple commands for Singh to drop the weapon; however, he failed to comply. Singh then returned...

Drudge is giving this banner treatment but I’m not sure why. Of course Al Qaeda is on the brink of a dirty bomb. Their comrades-in-arms in the Taliban are the jihadist proxy of one of the world’s biggest nuclear proliferators, aren’t they? If the filthbags in Pakistani intelligence want Al Qaeda to have nuclear material, they’ll find a way to smuggle some out of the state supply, I’m sure. In fact, according to a new piece in the NYT, Pakistan’s practically swimming in fissile material these days. Never mind the dirty bombs; how long before AQ or Lashkar e-Taiba or...