Waters joins colleagues demanding fed probe into recent Black hangings
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Watts, Westchester, Playa del Rey, Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lomita, Torrance) is among dozens of House Democrats demanding a federal investigation into a string of hangings of Black people across the country, invoking the legacy of lynching in American history.
Waters signed a letter this week to the Department of Justice and FBI alongside fellow LA-area Reps. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Culver City, Crenshaw, Leimert Park, Baldwin Hills, West Adams, Mid-City), Jimmy Gomez (D-Downtown Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, Eagle Rock, Highland Park, El Sereno, Glassell Park, Chinatown, Koreatown) and Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-San Pedro, Wilmington, Carson, Compton, Lynwood, South Gate, Willowbrook, Watts).
“We are extremely alarmed by reports of Black people found hanging from trees in numerous states throughout our country,” the lawmakers wrote. “The series of deaths raise significant suspicion of foul play given the role of lynching in our nation’s history.”
The letter cites a report documenting more than 70 “modern-day lynchings” in the United States between 2000 and 2025, and points to at least 10 reported hangings of Black people so far in 2026, including victims as young as 18 in Mississippi, Michigan and New York.
“Inaction by the federal government is tantamount to complicity,” the lawmakers wrote. “This is part of the legacy of racial terror in the United States, and this neglect has long-term consequences.”
The letter calls on the DOJ and FBI to open a “thorough, transparent, and comprehensive” investigation into every such death, including independent autopsies with family consent, an audit of local and state law enforcement investigations, and a final report to Congress.
It also invokes the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which Congress passed in 2022. “It is incumbent upon you to do just that,” the lawmakers wrote.
Rubio’s End Child Exploitation Act gets signed into law
State Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park, Azusa, Covina, El Monte, West Covina, Duarte, La Verne, Pomona) saw Gov. Gavin Newsom sign her legislation, the End Child Exploitation Act (SB 1276), into law yesterday.
The law closes a gap that had allowed people to avoid prosecution for viewing the sexual exploitation of children through livestreaming platforms, making clear that knowingly accessing such content is a crime under California law.
“Protecting our children in this digital age is more important than ever,” said Rubio. “Fighting human trafficking and exploitation has long been at the heart of my work, and with the signing of SB 1276, the End Child Exploitation Act, we are strengthening those protections and making clear that there is no corner of the internet where predators can hide.”
Rubio partnered with LA City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto on the bill, continuing a collaboration that produced last year’s SB 680, which closed gaps in the state’s sex offender registration laws.
“I was proud to sponsor SB 1276 because it not only strengthens protections for our most vulnerable victims, it closes loopholes to ensure that California law keeps pace with the evolving technological tactics used by predators,” said Feldstein Soto.
Rubio, a former public school teacher, has made child protection and combating human trafficking and domestic violence a central focus of her legislative record.
Schultz, Bass press Newsom to sign post-production tax credit bill
Assemblymember Nick Schultz (D-Burbank, Glendale, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Valley Village, La Crescenta, Sunland-Tujunga) stood with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass at a North Hollywood post-production studio Wednesday, urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign Schultz’s AB 2319, which would establish a California Post-Production Tax Credit to keep film and TV finishing work in the state.
“California pioneered the work of taking dreams to the big screen, and it’s the collective work of the most experienced and talented workforce in the world that has kept the industry going and pushing the limits of imagination for over a century,” said Schultz. “By signing AB 2319, Governor Newsom will literally save jobs here in Los Angeles and across the state.”
Post-production work — editorial sound, scoring, visual effects and finishing — is increasingly moving to other states and countries offering targeted incentives, even as California remains the center of the global film and TV industry. According to data from CVL Economics, California’s post-production sector employs more than 12,000 workers at over 1,800 firms statewide, but the state lost approximately 1,874 direct post-production jobs between 2005 and 2025.
“Post-production and the jobs it creates is at the core of the entertainment industry, but it doesn’t qualify for our expanded Film and TV Tax Credit — that must change,” said Bass. “Assembly Bill 2319 will support and bolster the work done by California’s film editors, sound engineers, visual effects artists and other talented, skilled workers that bring to life the films and shows we love.”
Sherman presses State Department to ease North Korea travel ban for family reunification
U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks, Encino, Woodland Hills, Northridge, and the San Fernando Valley, including Malibu and Pacific Palisades) is calling on the State Department to revise its decade-long ban on U.S. citizen travel to North Korea, arguing it prevents Korean American families from reuniting with aging relatives before they die.
The issue carries particular weight in LA County, home to the largest concentration of Korean Americans in the country — roughly 225,000 residents, according to Census Bureau estimates, more than any other county nationwide.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio renewed the travel ban on July 2, extending it through Aug. 31, 2027, marking the tenth consecutive year the restriction has been in place since it was first imposed in 2017 following the death of American student Otto Warmbier in North Korean custody.
“To the dismay of many Korean Americans, Secretary Rubio recently renewed the ban on U.S. citizen travel to North Korea for the 10th consecutive year,” said Sherman. “About 100,000 Korean Americans still hope to have family reunification meetings with aging relatives in North Korea, and the ban makes it impossible for them to do so. It is time for the State Department to revise its policy so that Korean Americans can have the opportunity to attend funerals or burials in North Korea and to heal the wounds of years-long separations.”
