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>Los Angeles city streets will worsen and repairing them will become more expensive unless the city overhauls its approach to maintenance, according to a report from transportation advocacy group Streets For All.

Why: The critical condition that L.A.’s streets could find themselves in is the result of underinvestment, opting for smaller-scale treatments and delaying compliance with long-standing federal accessibility laws, according to the report.

Possible solution: One of the potential solutions the report names is changing the city’s charter to mandate a five-year infrastructure plan, and that’s the solution local leaders have recently angled toward too.

>The Santa Ana City Council unanimously approved an ordinance last night requiring retail stores to staff self-checkout lanes in efforts to improve public safety and address theft.

What we know: The approved ordinance requires that retail stores staff at least one employee to monitor self-checkout lanes. Shoppers will be limited to 15 items or fewer, and they would not be able to purchase items that require I.D., like alcohol. Long Beach and Costa Mesa have adopted similar ordinances.

Officials say: Mayor Valerie Amezcua said the ordinance is an attempt at protecting shoppers and employees, not at driving businesses out of Santa Ana.

“Similar to Costa Mesa and Long Beach, where we look at the employees and what benefits them,” Amezcua said, “I want to make sure our Santa Ana residents go home safely, and they don’t put themselves in danger because, again, the quality of their lives matter to me.”

Pushback from grocers: In several letters addressed to the council, officials representing grocers urged officials to deny the motion.

“Unfortunately, we would be forced to consider passage of this ordinance at this time a dismissal of the importance of grocery and a denial of policy consideration in a fair and open manner,” Tim James, director of local government relations for the California Grocers Association, wrote.

What’s the timeline? The new rules will go into effect next month.

>Following a year-long inquiry into the admissions policies and practices at UCLA’s medical school, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice alleges that school leadership “intentionally selected applicants based on their race,” to the detriment of white and Asian applicants.

How does UCLA admit medical students? In a statement, an unnamed UCLA spokesperson responded that the medical school is complying with all federal and state laws.

“The admissions process at [the] David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA is based on merit and grounded in a rigorous, comprehensive review of each applicant. We are confident in our practices and our mission to maintain access to a high-quality education to all qualified students,” the statement said.

What is the Trump administration looking for?

In a press release, the department noted that “Medical schools use substantial federal financial assistance to train the next generation of doctors,” and that this fuels its “focus on eradicating illegal race politics from admissions at medical schools.”

A history of lawsuits between Trump and UCLA: The Department of Justice has repeatedly gone after the University of California in Trump’s second term. Earlier this year, the department sued the university over allegations that UCLA officials allowed antisemitism on campus, and unsuccessfully demanded a range of concessions to bring UCLA more in line with its ideology, in addition to more than $1 billion in fines. The administration also tried to freeze the university’s research funding, prompting an effort to have the state of California be a backstop.

What's next: The DOJ says it wants to find an agreement with the university “to ensure that admissions practices are brought into legal compliance.” A UCLA spokesperson said the university is reviewing the report, but did not outline next steps.

>The city of Los Angeles will host more than 100 World Cup watch parties for free this summer during the global tournament.

Officials say: L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement that the idea is for all Los Angeles residents to enjoy World Cup festivities.

Background: Los Angeles will host eight FIFA World Cup matches this summer at SoFi Stadium, including the USA’s opening match against Paraguay on June 12. Tickets to the game and others have drawn criticism for sky-high price tags.

>A subcontractor on the LAX Automated People Mover project owes a group of workers unpaid wages and benefits, according to a grievance filed by the union representing the workers. An arbitrator in March sided with the union in its case against the subcontractor, Alstom Transport USA.

What does this mean: The arbitrator’s decision calls on Alstom to pay the workers back wages and benefits. The International Union of Elevator Constructors, Local 18, who brought the grievance forward, said Alstom has “already shown that they don’t intend to comply with the arbitrator’s award.” In that case, the general contractor, LINXS, would be liable to remedy the pay issue, according to a copy of the arbitrator’s decision shared with LAist by the union.

The broader context: Disputes in large-scale capital projects are not uncommon. This is one of many surrounding the Automated People Mover and not the only one to involve subcontractors. Earlier this year, LAist reported about how the main contractor, a group of companies called LINXS, is engaged in legal battles with two of its other subcontractors.

>Huntington Beach suffered another courtroom loss in its culture war battles this week when a judge ordered the city to pay $1 million in legal fees for restricting minors’ access to library books.

The backstory: The City Council passed a resolution in 2023 restricting minors from accessing books deemed to contain sexual content in the public libraries. Critics said the policy amounted to illegal censorship, and that it was actually an excuse to restrict books with LGBTQ characters and themes. In September 2025, Orange County Judge Lindsey Martinez found the policy violated California’s newly passed Freedom to Read Act. The city has appealed.

Huntington Beach ballot initiative: The city had also established a citizen review board with the power to censor children’s books at the library. Voters repealed that review board in a special city election in June 2025.

>Most Orange County residents favor offering undocumented residents a pathway to legal status rather than blanket deportation, according to a new poll from the University of California, Irvine School of Social Ecology. But that’s not true for a majority of Republicans (54%) who favor deportation, the poll found.

Some other major takeaways: 

• The majority of respondents agreed that violent criminals should automatically be deported, and that immigrants who are U.S. veterans should never be deported.
• While 62% of respondents said they disapproved of President Trump’s handling of immigration issues, a smaller margin, 55% disapproved of his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Why it matters: Orange County is considered “purple” because the county’s two million voters are nearly evenly split, with one-third each registered as Republican or Democrat, and another third registered as No Party Preference or with a smaller political party.  

“No matter which party you are, you have to find a way to appeal to independents,” said Jon Gould, dean of the School of Social Ecology.

>Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Draper, who is up for reelection in June, is facing accusations of violating ethics rules. A hearing began Monday with the state commission that oversees judicial complaints.

The judge says some of the allegations are false, while some are true but missing context.

What are the allegations: Among the allegations, Draper is accused of making statements about race in court that weren’t pertinent to the case, and sending inappropriate photos to colleagues.

Why it matters: Superior Court judges oversee courtroom proceedings and trials across L.A. County. These cases cover everything having to do with state and local laws, including family law, such as child custody and divorces, landlord and tenant cases, and small claims.

Why now: Eleven candidates — of which Draper is one — are vying for your vote on June 2.

What's next: It's expected the hearing will continue for at least two weeks, but a decision may not come until after the election.

>Blanket genetic testing will return to the L.A. Olympics in 2028, raising questions about how it will be implemented and who it will keep off the Olympic stage.

Why now: The International Olympic Committee issued a new policy last month, banning transgender women from participating in women's sports starting at the 2028 Summer Games, and requiring all athletes who want to compete in the female category to undergo genetic testing.

Why it matters: The policy represents a significant inflection point in the ongoing political battle over trans women's participation in sports at all levels, including in California. It also marks a return to genetic tests that for decades dictated women's participation in the Olympics, and excluded transgender and many intersex athletes — those whose sex characteristics don't fall into the binary categories of male or female.

Decades of scrutinizing women athletes: Attempts to define the category of woman in athletic competition are nothing new. Suspicion over the identity of women athletes started when they entered Olympic track and field competitions in 1928, according to Jaime Schultz, a kinesiology professor at Penn State who studies the history of women in sports.