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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass proposed a $12.8 billion budget on Monday that would reduce spending on homelessness initiatives, scale back an effort to hire more police officers and eliminate more than 2,100 vacant positions. The mayor’s team said her proposed budget for 2024-25 would provide about $950 million to address homelessness, down from the nearly $1.3 billion approved for the current fiscal year. Her spending plan includes $185 million for Inside Safe, Bass’ signature program to move unhoused Angelenos into hotels, motels and permanent housing, down from the $250 million approved for this year. Bass has made reducing homelessness her top issue, declaring a state of emergency upon taking office in December 2022. Budget analysts attributed much of the decrease in homelessness spending to the coming end of Proposition HHH, a 10-year program to finance construction of thousands of apartments for homeless residents in L.A. Even though that money will soon run out, a number of affordable housing projects that received HHH funding will open during the upcoming budget year, they said. The mayor’s team said it is now “right sizing” Inside Safe by

A jury awarded a former California State Parks employee nearly $2.3 million after a trial laid bare claims that the agency and a former boss discriminated against him for his Mexican heritage and retaliated when he spoke up while employed in the department’s Malibu region. “It could lay a foundation for other people behind me to have a fair shake,” plaintiff Angel Alba said Monday. He qualified his optimism, though, adding, “There’s still no room for Mexican American people in leadership here in this district.” The jury delivered the verdict in favor of Alba on Friday after deliberating for about four days. Michael Anderson, Alba’s attorney, had asked the jury to award his client nearly $4 million for emotional distress and lost income. “California State Parks is aware of the court’s decision in favor of Mr. Alba,” the agency said in a statement. “The department will need time to fully review the court’s ruling before commenting further or if there will be an appeal on the decision.” Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science. Alba, a former maintenance supervisor and

A man is dead following an altercation with his roommate in Santa Ana. Authorities say the incident took place around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday morning in the 1500 block of S. Lowell Street. When the Santa Ana Police Department responded to an emergency call, they found 26-year-old William Stephen Nared suffering from a stab wound to his chest. The Orange County Fire Authority also assisted with rendering medical aid to the victim and pronounced Nared deceased. The investigation shifted to the suspect, identified as 25-year-old David James Espinosa, who had fled the scene on a bike following the altercation. Authorities located Espinosa a short distance away and arrested him. According to the Santa Ana PD, Espinosa and Nared lived in the same unit. On Sunday morning, the suspect and the victim got into an argument that turned physical, which is when the stabbing occurred. Espinosa has been booked and charged with murder. No further details have been provided by the Santa Ana PD. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call SAPD Homicide Section Detectives at (714) 245-8390 or Orange County Crime Stoppers

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass revealed her proposed budget for the next fiscal year. The total allocated in her proposal is $12.8 billion, which is a 2.3% decrease from the current fiscal year. Bass’ new financial budget would reduce spending by the city on the key issue of homelessness. Bass’ program — Inside Safe — focuses on helping to provide shelter for some of the estimated 46,000 unhoused individuals in L.A. In her newest proposal, Bass earmarked $185 million for the Inside Safe program, down from the $250 million she requested for the current fiscal year. The budget proposal also sets aside $28 million for programs to help unhoused individuals who are part of the Inside Side plan find permanent housing. Bass’ newest plan would also provide more resources to aid local families who may be in danger of losing their homes. For this fiscal year, the budget set aside $3.2 million for Family Source centers, which is a fraction of the $17 million Bass hopes to secure for families that are on the verge of experiencing homelessness in the next fiscal year. Another part

Skygazers, time is running out on the latest celestial show: the Lyrid meteor shower and a full “pink moon” that’s not actually pink. The Lyrids, one of the oldest meteor showers, typically peak during late April, according to NASA. Lyrids don’t leave behind glowing dust trains but can occasionally produce fireballs. The Lyrids are best seen in the Northern Hemisphere after the moon sets and before dawn, according to NASA. The shower was most active Sunday night through Monday morning, but it will still be visible through April 29, according to the American Meteor Society April’s full moon, known as the “pink moon,” will crest at its full phase Tuesday at 4:49 p.m. Pacific, but will appear full through Thursday morning, according to NASA. The moon will not turn pink or even look pink; instead, the moniker comes from a ground-covering plant, moss pink, that’s among the earliest bloomers in the spring. Another meteor shower, the Eta Aquarids, is also active between April 15 and May 27, according to Space.com. The peak will fall on the evening of May 4 and in the predawn hours

In the late 1950s, Charles “Chuck” Dederich started a drug rehabilitation program out of a storefront in Santa Monica. A recovering alcoholic who’d gotten sober through Alcoholics Anonymous, Dederich offered free treatment to self-described “dope fiends” desperate to kick their deadly habit and go cold turkey. Over the next decade and a half, the group, named Synanon, expanded across the country and evolved into a self-help movement with thousands of members, including many who were not addicts but were simply drawn to its idealistic vision — no drugs, alcohol, or violence — and its primary ritual, an intensely confrontational form of group therapy known as “The Game.” Yet by the late 1970s, Synanon had strayed dramatically from its original mission, devolving into a dangerous quasi-religious paramilitary organization whose devotees, beholden to Dederich’s increasingly erratic whims, were willing to undergo forced vasectomies, relinquish control over their own children and even attempt to murder a prominent critic by planting a rattlesnake in his mailbox. The dark saga of Synanon is now the subject of a four-part documentary “The Synanon Fix,” concluding Monday on HBO. Directed and executive

If you are homeless and have nowhere to go — neither a temporary shelter bed nor a permanent home — can you be fined or, worse, jailed for sleeping on a sidewalk? Or is that cruel and unusual punishment? That’s the question that the Supreme Court wrestled with Monday when it heard oral arguments in the case of Grants Pass vs. Johnson regarding the Oregon city’s ordinance allowing police to fine or jail homeless people for sleeping outside. A federal district court ruled that the law violated the 8th Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment and blocked it from being enforced. The 9th Circuit upheld the ruling. The city petitioned the Supreme Court to weigh in and it agreed. Most of the justices seemed troubled by the idea of fining and jailing homeless people as a way to deal with homelessness. How could they not be disturbed by that? Grants Pass even criminalizes using a blanket while sleeping outdoors. Liberal or conservative, under what value system does jailing people for trying to stay warm constitute a crime? “And for a homeless person who has

Authorities continued searching Monday night for a suspect who shot a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy in the back at a stoplight near the 10 Freeway in West Covina. Deputy Samuel Aispuro, 43, was shot once in the back at about 2:45 p.m. while stopped at a red light on a department-issued motorcycle at Barranca Street and East Garvey Avenue, L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a news conference. Aispuro, who was in uniform and wearing a bulletproof vest, was transported to a local hospital and was stable, Luna said. “The bulletproof vest he was wearing absolutely saved his life,” he said. “What kind of person shoots another person in the back? I could think of a lot of names for that…. To me that’s the worst of the worst.” Deputies are continuing to search for the suspect, who they believe was in a white sedan with tinted windows, last seen headed westbound on the 10 Freeway from Barranca. “Right now, there is somebody out there armed with a firearm who shot one of our deputies in the back,” Luna said. “And if he’s

A woman in her 40s or 50s has died following another violent incident involving public transportation in Los Angeles. The latest incident occurred around 5 a.m. Monday morning. The victim was stabbed on the train before exiting at the Universal City B Line Station at 3901 Lankershim Blvd, close to the major tourist attraction, Universal Studios. The Los Angeles Police Department arrested L.A.-native Elliot Tramel Nowden. The 45-year-old has been charged with murder and is being held on $2 million bail. Nowden fled the scene after exiting the train after the victim, but a combination of surveillance cameras and witness descriptions about the suspect and his distinctive clothing helped officers locate and arrest him a short time later near Ventura Boulevard and Vineland Avenue. Authorities say Nowden and the victim did not know each other. “This does appear to be completely unprovoked from what witnesses have told detectives,” LAPD Det. Meghan Aguilar to KTLA 5’s Rachel Menitoff. “There was no altercation prior to this violent attack.” Investigators say they strongly believe that there are additional victims who have been assaulted by Nowden. Train service was

Authorities are searching for a suspect who shot an L.A. motorcycle deputy in the back while the uniformed officer was sitting at a stop light in West Covina on Monday. The incident unfolded at around 2:45 p.m. in the area of Barranca and Garvey avenues, L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said during a press conference later that evening.   The nearly 20-year veteran of the department, who was on his way to training, put out an emergency broadcast after he was shot.  The deputy was rushed to the hospital where he is expected to recover.  “Thank God, the bullet did not penetrate his bullet-proof vest,” Luna said. “Based on the examination of his vest, he was struck once and I’m very grateful to say that he is currently listed in stable condition. ” During the initial manhunt for the suspect, authorities worked to track down a vehicle, described only as a white van with a black roof rack, in the 600 block of Mangate Avenue, along Valinda Avenue in La Puente.  Aerial footage captured by Sky5 showed a heavy presence of several law enforcement agencies