Tag: los angeles

Questions Surround $100 Million in ‘Fire Aid’ for Los Angeles

Questions are being raised about how the roughly $100 million raised by “Fire Aid” concerts in the aftermath of the Los Angeles fires earlier this year is being spent — with some claiming victims are receiving nothing.

The star-studded bill for the benefit concert, held on two separate stages, raised a massive sum. But many residents of the Pacific Palisades and Malibu (Palisades Fire), and of Altadena and Pasadena (Eaton Fire), say they have not benefited.

There have been two significant local investigations by local news outlets, each of which came to different — though not necessarily contradictory — conclusions about Fire Aid’s money.

The first, by ABC affiliate KABC-7, concluded that the money was being well-spent — on organizations:

Roughly 120 organizations split $50 million when the first round of FireAid funds was released in February. 7 On Your Side tried reaching out to every single one of them, and heard back from more than 50 to find out how the money is being used.

…

The Pasadena Humane Society used $250,000 from FireAid to treat and house pets burned and left homeless by the flames.

Heal the Bay received $100,000 and used it to test for contaminants along our coast.

However, Circling the News, as highlighted by local Fox affiliate KTTV,  found that few victims had benefited.

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Explosion at Sheriff Training Facility in Los Angeles Leaves Three Dead

There was a deadly explosion at a Sheriff training facility in East Los Angeles on Friday morning.

At least three Sheriff’s Deputies were killed, according to Fox News.

No other details about the explosion were immediately available.

BREAKING: Our LA @FoxNews producer @AlexandriaHrndz is told by multiple law enforcement sources that three people are dead after an explosion at a LA County Sheriff Department’s training facility in East LA this morning. Happened at the Biscailuz training center.

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) July 18, 2025

The FBI is on scene. The explosion appears to be an accident.

The three deaths are confirmed to be LA County Sheriff’s Deputies. The FBI Los Angeles office tells us they are now responding to the scene. Initial indications we are being told is this appears to be a terrible accident.

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) July 18, 2025

Federal law enforcement officers are at the scene working to learn more, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said.

I just spoke to @USAttyEssayli about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles.

Our federal agents are at the scene and we are working to learn more. Please pray for the families of the sheriff’s…

— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) July 18, 2025

KABC reported:

Authorities are investigating an apparent explosion at an LASD facility in Monterey Park where at least three people were killed.

The incident was reported just before 7:30 a.m. Friday at what looked to be LASD’s SEB compound, which houses the sheriff’s department’s special enforcement units and bomb squad.

It appears something may have exploded near a law enforcement vehicle, according to AIR7 footage.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to the scene. It’s unclear if there were any other injuries.

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LA Mayor Karen Bass to Give Cash and Food to Help Illegal Aliens Hide From ICE to “Protect People From the Federal Government”

A day after protesters threw rocks and a gunman fired on ICE agents during a raid on a marijuana farm in Ventura County, California where exploited illegal alien children were found to be working, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D-Cuba) announced the city will be arranging cash and food assistance to illegal aliens who are hiding from the federal government.

Bass expressed concern that illegal aliens are not able to work to pay the rent and feed their families because of the ongoing immigration enforcement actions in Southern California by the Trump administration.

Bass also said she was worried about two-income illegal immigration families who have lost one income because a member has been detained for deportation.

Mayor Bass: “…In terms of uh, the first part of the question that you asked, what are the resources? Well, in our community development programs, there’s resources there in our family resource centers. But we also are going to have uh, reinstitution of the Angelino card, something that Mayor Garcetti started during COVID that will actually provide cash assistance to people because, you know, you have people who don’t want to leave their homes uh, who are not going to work and uh, and they are in need of cash. You know, I, I have met with family members who they needed two incomes in order to make the rent. Well, one income was lost in a raid when someone was detained. And this woman with her children now is concerned that she might face being evicted and being homeless. And so, it’s that type of emergency assistance. And we’re fortunate that there’s a lot of philanthropic partners who have uh, contributed and many more uh, I hope that will um join in and contribute. We’re organizing uh food deliveries. I mean there’s all sorts of things that we are having to do now to protect people from the federal government…” (Corrected transcript excerpt via YouTube.)

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AND THERE IT IS: California Governor Gavin Newsom Announces Funding for New ‘Multifamily Rental Housing’ After LA Wildfires

This week, we learned that less than 100 building permits have been issued in Los Angeles, six months after the destructive wildfires that destroyed entire neighborhoods like the Pacific Palisades.

Now California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced $101 million in funding for new ‘multifamily rental housing’ as a solution for housing displaced residents in the area. It almost seems like this was the goal all along.

Who could have predicted such a thing?

From the governor’s website:

Governor Newsom commits $101 million to jumpstart critical rebuilding efforts after LA Fires

Los Angeles, California – Six months after the LA Fires, Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) announced the release of $101 million to help rapidly rebuild critically needed, affordable multifamily rental housing in the fire-devastated Los Angeles region. Thousands of families are still displaced by the wildfires that raged through the Greater Los Angeles Region in January 2025, placing an incredible strain on an already tight rental market.

Tomiquia Moss, Secretary of the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency: “The State’s special Multifamily Finance Super NOFA will galvanize the collective public-private response to the wildfires in Los Angeles County, expediting and expanding opportunities to build affordable housing for low-income residents. By prioritizing affordable housing projects that are ready to go, these funds will accelerate household stability, climate and health outcomes in communities.”

No one seems very surprised by this.

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LA seeks to join lawsuit against ‘unconstitutional reckless raids’ by ICE

The city of Los Angeles and nearby cities filed a request to intervene in a class action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security that claims detained individuals are targeted based on race and denied due process.

If granted, the request would allow Los Angeles and its partners to become direct participants in the lawsuit, which would allow the city to use its resources to present arguments, provide evidence and advocate for a temporary restraining order.

The petitioners in the case in question, Perdomo v. Noem, claim federal agents are making “suspicionless stops based on racial profiling” and “warrantless arrests without an individualized determination of flight risk.” They also claim detainees are subject to poor conditions, and that the right to counsel was denied by not allowing the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles access to detainees.

CHRLA is a pro-immigration advocacy group that received $35 million in taxpayer funding. CHRLA helped organize events surrounding the recent and ongoing immigration-related Los Angeles protests.

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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Threatens to FREEZE Assets of CCP-Linked Billionaire Neville Singham After He Refuses to Testify on Funding LA Riots

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) announced Tuesday that she is pursuing a formal effort to freeze the U.S. assets of Neville Roy Singham—a tech billionaire linked to the Chinese Communist Party—after he refused to comply with a congressional request to testify regarding his alleged role in funding violent Marxist uprisings across the United States.

The Gateway Pundit reported last month that Rep. Anna Paulina Luna confirmed that the Committee will issue a formal document request to Singham over his alleged financial support of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) — the extremist Marxist group believed to be behind the violent anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles.

“Thanks to the investigative work of Data Republican, House Oversight will issue a formal document request to Neville Singham regarding his funding of a communist group linked to the LA riots and the CCP,” Luna wrote on X.

She continued, “IF HE REFUSES TO APPEAR, HE WILL BE SUBPOENAED, AND IF HE IGNORES THAT HE WILL BE REFERRED TO THE DOJ FOR PROSECUTION.”

According to a bombshell report by @DataRepublican, Neville Singham—a tech multimillionaire who resides in Shanghai, China—has funneled over $20 million into U.S.-based far-left organizations via dark money channels like The People’s Forum and No Cold War, both of which are openly pro-Beijing.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation, a Marxist-Leninist group that advocates the complete dismantling of U.S. capitalism, was not only involved in organizing the LA riots but was reportedly responsible for printing signage, providing trained spokespeople, and coordinating demonstrations in other cities, including San Antonio and Oakland.

Even more disturbing, the same Singham-funded network also financed and coordinated pro-Hamas encampments and student uprisings at Columbia University and other elite campuses earlier this year.

Now, with Singham refusing to answer Congress and allegedly evading subpoena delivery while holed up in communist China, Rep. Luna is calling for more drastic measures.

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Los Angeles is Broke – City Declares Fiscal Emergency

The city of Los Angeles declared a state of fiscal emergency amid a $1 billion deficit. The council approved of the emergency declaration unanimously in a 14-0 vote. This comes after Mayor Karen Bass approved a $14 billion budget for the fiscal year that began on July 1. The city is a prime example of what happens when socialist policies are allowed to run rampant at the expense of the people.

Bass approved of raising the budget from $12.9 billion in FY2024-25 to $14 billion in 2025-26 despite the looming $1 billion deficit. Unsurprisingly, overspending is the main culprit for the deficit, and yet, lawmakers have every intention of spending more. Over 600 public sector workers will be let go as a result of fiscal mismanagement, and although small government is usually applaudable, the city plans to fire 248 LAPD employees, 44 sanitation workers, and 41 firefighters. LA is experiencing a significant uptick in crime, but plans to defund the police to appease the mobs.

California Governor Gavin Newsom boasts of California’s robust economy but fails to acknowledge that it’s a state basically living “paycheck-to-paycheck,” with the payee being the taxpayer. Read the state’s plan to cover its budget deficits – endless taxes. Spending growth from 2025-26 to 2028-29 is 5.8%, above the average of 3.5%. Growth over the same period is just above 4%, “lower than its historical average, largely due to policy choices that end during the forecast window. Taken together, we view it as unlikely that revenue growth will be fast enough to catch up to ongoing spending.” Even residents who choose or are forced to leave the state will incur taxes to cover government thievery. Los Angeles is one of countless examples of how the public sector will virtue signal to rob Peter, not to pay Paul, but to pay themselves, as they are not hiding the corruption.

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Baywatch Pay Watch: Half-Million-Dollar Checks, Six-Figure Overtime For LA lifeguards

If it wasn’t clear that the city and county of Los Angeles are in dire need of spending resets, taxpayers can look no further than the county lifeguards paid to watch over its pools, lakes and ocean.

OpenTheBooks.com reported on outrageous overtime spending on the LA police, fire and particularly overpaid employees in the city’s Department Water & Power amid out-of-control wildfires in January, and the anti-immigration riots in June.

Lifeguards, too, enjoy big overtime payouts and generous benefits. The top-paid lifeguard in LA county was compensated more than $500,000 in 2024; and over the past 5 years, a single lifeguard was able to pull down $702,000 – in overtime alone!

BY THE NUMBERS

We reported that in 2021, the top-paid lifeguards earned up to $510,283 — back then, we found 98 lifeguards earned at least $200,000 including benefits.

Now, out of over 1,500 lifeguards, 134 of them earned at least $200,000 including benefits. Thirty-four of them had $300,000 or more in their compensation package.

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Trump administration sues Los Angeles over sanctuary policies that ‘impede’ ICE operations

The Trump administration is suing the city of Los Angeles, alleging that the policies interfere with federal immigration authorities from doing their jobs.

“Sanctuary policies were the driving cause of the violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News in an exclusive statement.

“Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level – it ends under President Trump,” Bondi added.

The lawsuit says that the city is discriminating against federal authorities by treating ICE differently than other types of law enforcement.

The Department of Justice argues that the Supremacy Clause in the U.S. Constitution prohibits this, so they are asking a judge to block the enforcement of the policies.

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Customs and Border Protection Raid Human Smuggling Hub in Los Angeles Linked to Iranian Terror Suspects

A massive human smuggling ring with Iranian terror ties was busted up by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), raising more concerns about potential terror sleeper cells in America as the Iran-Israel war continues.

The CBP revealed on Friday night that it had executed a federal search warrant at a human smuggling hub in Los Angeles tied to national security threats from Iran.

During the operation, two people were arrested thanks to a combined effort from the CBP’s Special Response Team, Border Patrol tactical units, and Air and Marine Operations.

CBP noted that seven Iranian nationals were arrested at the same address earlier in the week. These included ones on the FBI Terror Watchlist and associates of an Iranian human trafficking network.

The agency also said that the house has been repeatedly used to harbor illegal aliens linked to terrorism.

This news comes as the Trump Administration made a massive nationwide bust just a few days ago, which sent shockwaves across the Internet.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday arrested 11 Iranian nationals found to be living in the country illegally, including individuals with suspected terrorist ties and significant criminal histories.

These individuals were apprehended from eight states, including Minnesota, Mississippi, Alabama, California, New York, Colorado, and Texas.

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