Tag: los angeles

We visited “ground zero” for hospice fraud: Los Angeles, California

At age 69, Lynn Ianni is a pickleball whiz, zipping from dinks to drives energetically. When she suffered an injury on the court two years ago, she sought physical therapy, and was surprised to learn her Medicare insurance wouldn’t cover it.

She was, according to Medicare records, dying and in hospice.

“They said, ‘you’re in hospice.’ And I said, ‘what? What are you talking about?” Ianni said. “‘Are you kidding me? Do I look like I’m in hospice?’”

Ianni’s Medicare number had been stolen, and used by a company to fraudulently enroll her in hospice – specialized, compassionate care for terminal patients nearing the end of their lives. It was another example of fraud in the hospice industry, long a nationwide problem. But her case arose well after officials had promised to stamp it out in California, where the problem has been especially acute.

Medicare is federally administered, and hospices must be certified for reimbursements. But the state issues the licenses for hospices to operate.

Three years ago, California’s state auditor sounded the alarm that Los Angeles County had seen a 1,500% increase in hospice companies since 2010 – more than six times the national average relative to its elderly population.

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LA schools superintendent raided by FBI illegally overstayed visa before gaining legal status

As attention has turned to Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent Albert Carvalho in the wake of an FBI raid at his residence and the school district’s headquarters, a clip has resurfaced showing Carvalho admitting that he was an “undocumented migrant” in the United States.

In April 2025, Carvalho said in a speech, “I would be a hypocrite if I did not fight for those who today are facing conditions that over 40 years I faced as an undocumented migrant to this country.”

He later added that he came to the US at the age of 17, saying, “Education made me and saved me. I became a teacher, a principal, a superintendent leading the nation’s largest districts, four times selected as national superintendent of the year. Do not underestimate the power of the immigrant child who may very well become an adult who does well and good by America.”

Per the New York Times, Carvalho grew up in Portugal, and described growing up in a “poor environment,” being raised alongside his five siblings, two of whom died young, by parents with education that did not extend past the third grade.

After graduating from high school in the country, Carvalho came to the US on a visitor visa, which he overstayed and became illegally present in the country. He first worked as a dishwasher in Manhattan and eventually ended up in Miami, where he worked at restaurants, farms, and construction sites.

“Back in the mid-’80s, it was not difficult to find a job without documents,” Carvalho said. “They worked you more hours for less pay.”

He spent two years in the country illegally but eventually secured a student visa. He also obtained a Social Security number and legal work authorization. Per Governing, he eventually became a US citizen.

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Accused Killer of Astrophysicist Arrested for Trespassing on Scientist’s Property With Loaded Rifle Two Months Before Killing — Newsom-Appointed Judge Dropped Charges

New details have emerged regarding the accused killer of Caltech astrophysicist Carl Grillmair.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, astrophysicist Carl Grillmair, 67, was shot in his torso by a gunman who approached him on his porch on February 16.

Authorities have since arrested Freddy Snyder, 29, who has been charged with Grillmair’s murder and is being held on a $3 million bail.

New details obtained by the Los Angeles Times have revealed that Snyder was previously arrested two months earlier for trespassing on Grillmair’s property with a loaded, unregistered rifle.

Per The Los Angeles Times:

On Dec. 20, Lt. Michael Modica of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said, the scientist spotted someone possibly trespassing on his property and called law enforcement.

When deputies arrived and found Snyder in the area, Modica said, he was carrying a rifle and explained that he was on his way to the post office.

Grillmair’s home and the local post office are in opposite directions from Snyder’s home, property records show.

According to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, Snyder told deputies he was carrying the rifle just in case he ran into wild animals. But deputies noted that the rifle was loaded and not registered to Snyder, so they took him into custody.

In addition to one felony count of carrying a loaded firearm, the criminal complaint against Snyder charged him with trying to escape from the Palmdale station jail the day after he was arrested.

The New York Post further reported that Judge Osman Abbasi, appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom, dismissed Snyder’s felony gun charges.

Exclusive | Newsom-appointed judge gave suspect in Caltech genius’s slaying a slap on the wrist weeks before bloodbath https://t.co/WoJPp0m7ug pic.twitter.com/IJtk4VU0zR

— California Post (@californiapost) February 24, 2026

After dropping the felony gun charge, Judge Abbasi ordered Snyder to complete a gun safety course, and he was released from jail shortly thereafter.

Snyder was scheduled to appear in court again on February 5 regarding his case, but he did not show up for the hearing.

Despite not appearing, Snyder’s charges were dismissed under California Penal Code 1385, and just 11 days later, he allegedly murdered Grillmair.

Grillmair’s murder has rocked the astrophysicists’ community, considering he was a renowned researcher in the studies of Dark matter, Galactic structure, stellar populations, and exoplanets.

Grillmair was also notable in the community for finding water on a distant planet orbiting a star.

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DEVELOPING: FBI Raids Home of Far-Left Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent

The FBI executed a search warrant at the home of far-left Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.

FBI agents also raided the school district headquarters.

“FBI LA confirms they are currently executing search warrants at two addresses, which a separate federal law enforcement source tells @FoxNews are the home and office of Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. LAUSD is the 2nd biggest school district in the country,” Fox News reporter Bill Melugin said.

“We are told the underlying affidavit in support of the search warrant is under seal, so it’s unclear what potential wrongdoing Carvalho may be suspected of,” Melugin said.

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LA city council set to write $177 million in checks to activist nonprofits — including groups that sued the city

Los Angeles City Council members are poised to vote Tuesday on roughly $177 million in fast-tracked contracts, funneling taxpayer cash to a tight circle of powerful tenant-advocacy nonprofits — including groups that have repeatedly sued the city.

The package, championed by lefty mayoral hopeful Councilmember Nithya Raman, would lock in three-year deals financed largely by Measure ULA’s mansion-tax revenue. The money will primarily be used to run tenant eviction defense and homelessness-prevention programs.

Earlier this month, Raman’s Housing and Homelessness Committee signed off on the plan, clearing the way for final council approval of contracts with four dominant players in LA’s tenant-advocacy ecosystem: the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE), Liberty Hill Foundation and the Southern California Housing Rights Center.

Together, the organizations form the backbone of the city’s “Stay Housed LA” network — a powerful alliance that provides legal defense, rental assistance and tenant organizing across Los Angeles while wielding significant influence at City Hall.

The same groups are also widely known for their aggressive street activism, organizing protests, demonstrations and rent strikes, and for filing high-profile lawsuits against the city over homelessness sweeps, policing and housing policies.

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Palisades Fire victims ‘insulted’ by new brush clearance bill

Fire victims in Pacific Palisades say they are frustrated and confused after receiving brush clearance bills from the City of Los Angeles for properties where their homes once stood.

What we know:

Nearly 14 months after last year’s deadly fire destroyed thousands of homes across the community, some residents say they were mailed $31 notices citing alleged noncompliance with brush clearance rules — even though their lots remain empty and covered mostly in dirt.

“This is one final blow. After everything that happened, they’re still trying to take money,” said resident Christine Martinez, whose home was destroyed in the fire.

Others echoed the same disbelief.

“I was a little astonished because there’s no house and no brush,” said Carol Sanborn, who lost the home she lived in for more than 40 years.

Sanborn says several neighbors have also received the notices, adding to the frustration among fire survivors still working to rebuild.

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Inside Dem Socialists’ extreme plan for Los Angeles — seizing property, replacing cops and closing jails

A radical left-wing group in Los Angeles has published a shocking 40-page roadmap to transform the nation’s second-largest city into a bizarre socialist experiment.

The Democratic Socialists of America’s LA chapter wants to straight-up seize private property through a “creative use of eminent domain,” take control of your neighborhood grocery store, and replace cops with unarmed social workers while shutting down jails.

Their Communist fever dream wishlist includes banning Airbnbs, grabbing golf courses for public housing, allowing noncitizen immigrants to vote in local elections, enforce a school curriculum that supports social justice, and eliminating all fossil fuel use by 2035.

The 3,500 member group has already helped elect several candidates to local office, and previously backed Nithya Raman, a DSA-member now running for mayor. They openly trash the Democratic Party establishment as capitalist sellouts and want to build “working class power” through what they call a “socialist mass organization.”

The manifesto, published in 2025 is more than 9,000-words long and gives an insight into the policies that a potential Mayor Raman has signed up to as a DSA member and could try to implement in LA. It targets the “status quo coalition” of elected officials, real estate developers, billionaires, nonprofits, and even some union leaders who’ve supposedly sold out workers.

They think they can actually pull this off in six to eight years through local elections and organizing.

“We are on the burning edge of the economic, climate, and moral crises that define this generation,” the manifesto warns, adding ominously: “The choice remains socialism or barbarism.”

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Communist LA Council Member Launches Mayoral Challenge Against Deranged Karen Bass

Over the weekend, Los Angeles City Council Member Nithya Raman launched what may be the most revealing mayoral campaign in the country. A member of both the Democrat Party and the Democrat Socialists of America, Raman is now running for mayor in 2026, positioning herself as the “accountable” alternative to Mayor Karen Bass. 

In reality, her candidacy exposes a deeper truth: the Democrat Party is no longer drifting toward socialism—it has embraced it.

Raman’s announcement was wrapped in familiar Democrat rhetoric—talk of accountability, urgency, affordability, and compassion. She positioned herself as ideologically aligned with Zohran Mamdani, the socialist who won the New York City mayoral race. Beneath the polished language, however, was a worldview that has failed everywhere it has been tried.

Raman is not just a progressive Democrat; she is an open socialist, part of an organization that explicitly advocates for government control over housing, energy, and large segments of the economy.

Democrats often insist that “democratic socialism” is different from socialism, and socialism is different from communism. History tells a different story. 

Every communist state in the world began as a socialist project. The Soviet Union. Mao’s China. Castro’s Cuba. Venezuela. Each promised fairness, equity, and government “accountability.” 

Each delivered shortages, corruption, repression, and economic collapse. The labels changed. The outcomes did not.

Raman’s own remarks highlight the contradiction. She criticizes City Hall for fiscal mismanagement while supporting the same tax-and-spend ideology that created Los Angeles’ budget crisis in the first place. 

She acknowledges that voters approved higher taxes for homelessness and housing, yet admits the city has failed to deliver results. That failure is the inevitable product of socialist governance—high spending, low accountability, and no consequences for failure.

Los Angeles already serves as a warning sign. Streetlights can take a year to fix. Homeless encampments persist despite billions spent. Housing costs continue to soar. Public trust has collapsed. 

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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Accused of Altering LAFD Report on Wildfires to Lessen City’s Liability

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is accused of making changes to a report by the LAFD following last year’s wildfires because she allegedly wanted to lessen the city’s liability over their response to the disaster.

Bass and Governor Newsom have been widely criticized for how they handled the fires and for the lack of rebuilding a year after the blaze.

Naturally, Bass denies that she altered the LAFD report in any way.

FOX News reports:

Mayor Bass facing blowback over explosive report that she altered wildfire report to downplay city’s role

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is under fire this week after a Los Angeles Times report claiming she successfully altered in her favor a critical after-action report on the devastating southern California wildfires that killed 31 people.

While Bass has repeatedly denied that she interfered with the report, the Los Angeles Times reports, citing two sources, that Bass was concerned that the city could be exposed to legal liability for its lack of preparedness and removed or softened language implicating the city.

One of the key changes, according to the Los Angeles Times, was altering details about failures to fully staff and deploy resources leading up to the fire, an issue that has drawn intense scrutiny over the past year.

The report cites a “Bass confidant” who said “the mayor didn’t tell the truth when she said she had nothing to do with changing the report.”

Bass, who has also drawn criticism for flying to Africa for an event days before the fire broke out despite hazardous conditions in the forecast and warnings about fire risks, has denied the accuracy of the reporting.

In the video below, Bass claims this is all made up.

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Native American tribe that owns land under Billie Eilish’s LA mansion has message for virtue-signaling singer

The Native American tribe that owns the land under Billie Eilish’s multimillion-dollar Los Angeles mansion said celebrities should “explicitly” reference the tribes if they want to use them to virtue-signal.

The Tongva tribe confirmed the “Bad Guy” singer’s $3 million home does sit on its “ancestral land,” after the 24-year-old used her Grammys acceptance speech to rail against ICE and insist that “no one is illegal on stolen land.”

The indigenous inhabitants of the Los Angeles Basin, known as the “First Angelenos,” said they appreciate Eilish’s sentiment, however, they noted that the performer hasn’t contacted them directly — and insisted that next time she explicitly reference them.

“Eilish has not contacted our tribe directly regarding her property, we do value the instance when public figures provide visibility to the true history of this country,” a Tongva spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

“It is our hope that in future discussions, the tribe can explicitly be referenced to ensure the public understands that the greater Los Angeles Basin remains Gabrieleno Tongva territory,” the spokesperson added.

Eilish was widely mocked for her comments on Sunday, as she yelled, “F–k ICE” from the stage while denouncing the US as stolen land.

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