Bass on Trump Administration cutting national guard deployment
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass yesterday credited Angelinos for standing up to the Trump Administration, after the Pentagon announced yesterday that 2,000 National Guard soldiers deployed to the area during protests against immigration raids and arrests would be pulled out of the county.
Trump deployed 4,000 California National Guardsmen on June 7 to respond to protests that racked the southern part of the state after he stepped up immigration raids and arrests, targeting farms, restaurants, and hardware stores across the Los Angeles area.
Trump also tasked 700 Marines with guarding federal property in the city.
“This [pullback] happened because the people of Los Angeles stood united and stood strong. We organized peaceful protests, we came together at rallies, we took the Trump administration to court — all of this led to today’s retreat,” said Bass.
“My message today to Angelenos is clear — I will never stop fighting for this city. We will not stop making our voices heard until this ends, not just here in LA, but throughout our country.”
Soto joins lawsuit to protect federal funds
Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto announced yesterday that the City has joined two lawsuits against the Trump Administration to protect federal funds and stop executive overreach.
In King County v. Turner, the City joined a coalition of local governments, led by King County, Washington, to challenge unlawful conditions tied to funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), the Department of Transportation (“DOT”) and the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”).
In San Francisco v. Trump, the lead plaintiffs, the City and County of San Francisco and the County of Santa Clara, petitioned the court for permission to add Los Angeles and a coalition of other cities and counties as new plaintiffs to a pending lawsuit seeking to prevent the Trump administration from enforcing Executive Orders that punish and withhold federal funding to sanctuary cities.
“This administration is unlawfully threatening to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars that fund essential public safety and services. The attempt to cudgel our city by imposing unlawful conditions on essential allocations and grants violates the Constitution and impermissibly interferes with our core functions, sovereignty and local control,” said Soto. “Any loss in funding would have a devastating impact on the City’s budget and overall finances.”
Federal grants play a critical role in funding core City services. During fiscal year 2025-2026 alone, which started July 1, the City expects to receive over $704 million in federal funds, over $374 million of which come in the form of formula grants.
Chu Demands SSA Restore Customer Service Metrics
U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park, Alhambra, San Gabriel, Pasadena) this week led 18 of her Ways & Means Committee colleagues in sending a letter to Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano expressing concern that his agency recently removed a number of customer service performance metrics from its website and urging the restoration of all metrics as soon as possible.
Until June 2025, the Social Security Administration (SSA) published and regularly updated on its website a variety of customer service metrics, including how long it would likely take for SSA to answer calls or process benefit applications. But early last month, SSA abruptly removed that comprehensive menu of data from its website and replaced it with a new page that provides more limited information on the agency’s performance.
For example, it no longer includes the current callback wait time for SSA’s 1-800 number or any information on processing times for benefit claims.
The letter expresses concern that the new, limited menu not only fails to adequately assist beneficiaries as they interact with SSA, but also limits the public’s ability to monitor the agency’s performance—particularly amid the agency’s recent “reorganization,” which will result in about 7,000 staff cuts and even longer delays and wait times at SSA.
“The tens of millions of Americans who paid into and rely on Social Security deserve transparency regarding wait times at SSA and other customer service performance metrics. And taxpayers deserve to know whether you are keeping your promise to improve customer service going forward,” the members wrote.
“We therefore urge you to restore to SSA’s performance webpage all the robust public data that the agency had previously reported prior to June 2025, including historical data, and to regularly update that data.”
Click here to read the letter.
Davitt, La Cañada hosts Clean Power Alliance Town Halls
La Cañada Mayor Michael T. Davitt and the City of La Cañada announced it will host community town halls this summer to help residents and businesses prepare for the upcoming transition to Clean Power Alliance (CPA) as the City’s new electricity provider.
Beginning in October 2025, La Cañada Flintridge customers will automatically receive cleaner, competitively priced electricity through CPA as part of the City’s ongoing partnership with the locally controlled energy provider.
Electricity will continue to be delivered by Southern California Edison (SCE), and customers will still receive a single bill from SCE. The only change will appear in the electricity generation portion of the bill, where CPA’s charges will replace SCE’s generation charges at no additional cost.
“Our partnership with Clean Power Alliance gives our community more control over our local energy choices,” said Davitt. “This is an important step in supporting sustainability and ensuring reliable, affordable electricity for La Cañada Flintridge.”
Both town halls will be held in the City Hall Council Chambers:
- Tuesday, July 22 at 6 p.m. – General overview of Clean Power Alliance and the transition process
- Tuesday, August 26 at 6 p.m. – Detailed discussion of CPA’s program offerings and customer options
For more information about the transition, upcoming town halls and future opportunities to get involved, visit LCF.ca.gov/CleanPowerAlliance.
