News
Federal Agents and Los Angeles Police Arrest 18 in Drug Raid
Federal agents and local police officers conducted several raids at homes and businesses around Los Angeles on Wednesday in a drug enforcement operation that the authorities said was targeting a network of fentanyl and methamphetamine dealers concentrated in the MacArthur Park area near downtown.
The operation resulted in 18 arrests, including two people believed to be the main source of fentanyl and methamphetamine in the park, officials said. Seven other people are being sought. A federal complaint filed Wednesday charges 25 people with possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute and distribution of a controlled substance.
The historic 35-acre park, which includes a lake, was once an idyllic haven amid an urban landscape in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, just west of downtown. But it has been troubled in recent years by homelessness and drug and gang activity even as city officials have taken steps to address the issues.
News and police helicopters whirred overhead during an outdoor news conference next to the park as Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, was joined by Jim McDonnell, the Los Angeles police chief, and Anthony Chrysanthis, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Los Angeles field office, in announcing the monthslong investigation that led to the arrests on Wednesday.
“Today’s operation is only one step taken by a handful of agencies working hard to alleviate anguish and the sense of hopelessness plaguing MacArthur Park,” Mr. Chrysanthis said.
Images captured by news helicopters showed D.E.A. agents in tactical gear raiding stores along a busy commercial corridor across the street from the park. Agents served search warrants at six businesses there, Mr. Chrysanthis said. More than 100 Los Angeles police officers participated in the operation, he added.
In court filings, prosecutors accused Mallaly Moreno-Lopez, 31, and her boyfriend, Jackson Tarfur, 28, of Los Angeles, of hand-delivering drugs to the businesses near the park for stashing and later distribution to street dealers. The authorities began their investigation in March, according to court filings.
If convicted, Ms. Moreno-Lopez and Mr. Tarfur face minimum 10-year prison sentences, officials said.
The authorities also raided the couple’s home in South Los Angeles, and the home of Yolanda Iriarte-Avila, 40, who court filings said had supplied Ms. Moreno-Lopez with methamphetamine. Officials said they had seized 40 pounds of fentanyl at Ms. Iriarte-Avila’s home in Calabasas on Wednesday.
The operation at MacArthur Park highlighted larger tensions between the federal government and California’s political leaders, whom the Trump administration has long accused of fostering lawlessness.
Last summer, the city was the scene of a federal show of force led by Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander-at-large who was subsequently ousted from the agency. In July, Mr. Bovino led heavily armed immigration agents and National Guard troops in a march across the park in an operation that led to a confrontation between Mr. Bovino and Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles.
At the news conference, Mr. Essayli, an ally of President Trump, was joined by Dr. Mehmet Oz, the former talk show host who now runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and has recently embarked on a campaign targeting hospice care fraud in the state.
Both men blamed state and local policies for the conditions at the park. Mr. Essayli opened the news conference by saying, “We’re here today because California policies have failed.”
Mayor Bass and city officials have tried in recent years to clean up the park, exploring the installation of a fence and ramping up the police presence in the area.
“As we work to change MacArthur Park so that it’s safe and clean for families, we have zero tolerance for people who deal deadly drugs and prey on the community,” Mayor Bass said in a statement. “We will continue to aggressively pursue our comprehensive strategy to restore MacArthur Park.”
The mayor, who is running for re-election, also acknowledged the operation when asked about it at a Wednesday evening mayoral debate, and pointed to her plan to hire more police officers.
The museums, designed by conservative nonprofits and Trump appointees, tell the story of early America, from colonization to revolution. The one exhibition looking beyond the early years is the “Wall of American Heroes.” It is a list of 51 people, chosen to illustrate 250 years of American history.
A White House spokesman said they were “individuals who shaped this nation’s history, culture and spirit across generations.”
The people pictured on this national honor roll — and the people left out — help illustrate what this administration sees as the highlights of American history.
Amid the administration’s efforts to reshape the nation’s relationship with its past, Trump appointees heavily weighted the list toward a single era of American history — and a few specific kinds of hero.
The other exhibitions in the Freedom Trucks were crafted by a pair of conservative nonprofits, PragerU and Hillsdale College. But the “Wall of American Heroes” was created by Freedom 250, a nonprofit effort whose leaders were chosen by President Trump and that was created to lead the planning of celebrations of the nation’s 250th birthday, overshadowing a bipartisan congressional commission.
A spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said Mr. Trump was not directly involved in the selection of those featured.
But the list clearly tracks Mr. Trump’s own lifetime and the heroes of the conservative political movement.
The wall’s tilt toward heroes of the baby boomer generation, for instance, extends beyond Hollywood stars and musicians. Of the four religious leaders on the list, two — Archbishop Fulton Sheen and the Rev. Billy Graham — also appeared on TV regularly in the 1950s and 1960s. The only painter on the list is Norman Rockwell, known for his idealized depictions of American life in that period.
By contrast, there is only a handful of figures from the first decades of American independence.
“That’s a disservice, if your intention is to present the last 250 years,” said Sarah Weicksel, the executive director of the American Historical Association. “Because all of the people on this list are building on the work and struggles and progress that was made by the people in the 150 years prior.”
The “Wall of American Heroes” was inspired by a similar display in a traveling museum created by the State of Virginia. But Virginia’s display celebrates little-known historical figures.
Mr. Trump’s, by and large, celebrates people who are already well-known — and, often, people who were famous in their own time. For example, it praises P.T. Barnum, a circus impresario who used hoaxes and freak shows to draw crowds. The wall calls him an “icon of American sensationalism.”
The spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said that many of the names on the wall were drawn from a list of 250 people that Mr. Trump wants to include in a “Garden of American Heroes” in Washington.
The spokeswoman declined to say what criteria were used to narrow down the list.
The only president whose name appears on the wall — not on the list of heroes, but alongside his quotation — is Mr. Trump himself.
Explore the Wall of Heroes
Navigate the display by dragging from side to side.
Washington — Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey will return to Congress on June 30, his spokesperson said, after being away since March in an unexplained absence that has confounded Capitol Hill.
“Congressman Kean is eager to return to in person work on June 30 and resume a full schedule,” Kean’s spokesperson, Harrison Neely, told CBS News on Thursday. The New Jersey Globe first reported on his return date.
Kean’s whereabouts since he last voted on March 5 have not been disclosed. When he first made a statement about the absence in late April, the New Jersey Republican said he was addressing a “personal medical issue.”
Kean said earlier this month that he would return to Washington within a matter of weeks, at which point he would provide more details about his health.
“Right now I am focused on my recovery and under the advice of healthcare professionals, I will transition from virtual work to in person work within a matter of weeks. At that time I will be completely transparent as to the nature of my medical condition,” Kean said in a June 2 statement released by his campaign.
The statement came hours before polls closed in New Jersey’s GOP primary for his seat, in which he ran unopposed.
He has missed more than 130 votes during his absence.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters earlier this month that he had recently spoken with Kean. Johnson said he was aware of the health issue, but would not disclose the details.
“What he’s dealing with is not very common and not a big thing,” Johnson said.
new video loaded: Obama Presidential Center Opens in Chicago
By Shawn Paik
June 18, 2026
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