California
At lyrics trial, Don Henley recounts making Eagles classic
Seated in a New York courtroom witness box, Don Henley opened a large brown envelope Tuesday and paged through the aging yellow sheets of a legal pad.
“Well, it’s got two song titles written on the top,” he explained when asked what it contained. ” ‘After the Thrill is Gone’ and ‘One of These Nights.’”
Then came another envelope and pad, and another, and one more. They bore 1970s drafts of lyrics to two other Eagles hits, “The Long Run” and “The Sad Cafe.” The four pads were in what Henley identified as his handwriting and occasionally that of band co-founder Glenn Frey.
It was the first glimpse in court of some of the physical pages at the heart of a trial involving Henley’s decade-long effort to reclaim handwritten drafts of lyrics to songs, including the megahit “Hotel California.”
After spending Monday telling the New York court about topics ranging from Eagles songwriting to his past personal troubles, the Eagles co-founder underwent further questioning Tuesday from lawyers for three collectibles experts who are on trial.
Henley was asked about the writing of “Hotel California” and how he didn’t notice for decades that the handwritten pages were missing. He was also queried about his past cocaine use – retorting that he was no “drug-filled zombie” – and even about a $96 limousine bill from 1973.
He continued to insist that he never voluntarily parted with handwritten sheets from work, including the Eagles’ 1976 release “Hotel California,” the third-best-selling album ever in the U.S.
“I believed that my property was stolen,” Henley said.
The album produced one of rock’s most enduring hits, the song “Hotel California,” credited to Frey, Henley and guitarist Don Felder. Henley recalled that Felder provided a “very basic” tape with guitar chords and a drum-machine beat. Frey and Henley worked from that to craft the lyrics, and three guitarists – “four, if you count the bass” – contributed to the recording, Henley said.
A prosecutor objected that the questions weren’t relevant, but Judge Curtis Farber let them continue.
“I don’t know the relevance, but it’s interesting,” the judge said to laughter from the courtroom audience. Farber will decide the verdict, as the defendants chose not to have a jury.
In 2016, “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King asked Henley about the meaning of “Hotel California.”
“Well, I always say, it’s a journey from innocence to experience. It’s not really about California; it’s about America,” Henley said. “It’s about the dark underbelly of the American dream. It’s about excess, it’s about narcissism. It’s about the music business. It’s about a lot of different. … It can have a million interpretations.”
“‘Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll’ is not revelatory”
The defendants – Edward Kosinski, Craig Inciardi and Glenn Horowitz – are charged with scheming to conceal the lyrics pages’ disputed ownership and sell them despite knowing that Henley claimed they had no right. The defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy to criminally possess stolen property.
They are not accused of actually stealing the roughly 100 legal-pad sheets. Horowitz bought them in 2005 from writer Ed Sanders, who had worked with the Eagles decades earlier on a band biography that never got published. Horowitz later sold the documents to Inciardi and Kosinski, who then started putting pages up for auction in 2012.
Sanders isn’t charged with any crime. He hasn’t responded to messages about the case.
Henley bought back four pages of “Hotel California” song lyrics from Kosinski and Inciardi in 2012. He also went to authorities then, and again when more pages – some from the hit “Life in the Fast Lane” – turned up for sale in 2014 and 2016.
At the trial, Henley has testified that Sanders was allowed to view the pages, and nothing more.
Henley said Monday that he didn’t give permission for the “very personal, very private” lyrics drafts to be removed from his property in Malibu, California, though he acknowledged that he didn’t recall the entirety of his conversations with the writer in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In a tape of a 1980 phone call that was played in court, Henley said he’d “try to dig through” his lyrics drafts in order to aid Sanders’ book.
But Henley said Tuesday that “there is no tape or document anywhere where I say, ‘Mr. Sanders, you’re free to keep these items in perpetuity, and you’re free to sell them.’”
Sanders’ 1979 book contract with the Eagles said that material they provided him was their property. Defense lawyers have suggested that Henley is making a criminal accusation out of a clause in a contract that they say Kosinski, Inciardi and Horowitz knew nothing about.
“The idea that the items were stolen from your barn was perhaps an overstatement, fair to say?” defense attorney Stacey Richman asked Henley. He replied that he didn’t know.
The defense also has sought to show that the Eagles provided Sanders with copious insider material. Lawyer Jonathan Bach noted that Henley’s property caretaker shipped Henley a box; its contents weren’t listed.
Attorney Scott Edelman pointed to the 1973 car-service receipt, which authorities said they found when searching Sanders’ home. According to testimony, someone typed “Don Henley’s offending limousine bill” on the slip, and Henley filled the margins with hand-written comments that weren’t read aloud in court.
The defense also has questioned how clearly the rock star remembers whatever he told Sanders during the book project, which spanned a tumultuous and fast-living time for Henley.
The Eagles broke up in 1980, and Henley was arrested that year after authorities said they found a 16-year-old girl naked and suffering from a drug overdose in his Los Angeles home. He was sentenced to probation and a $2,500 fine after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
He wrote to a probation officer that “my environment has led me to accept drugs as a part of everyday life” and that cocaine had bolstered his courage “to write songs and put my innermost feelings and emotions on public display,” according to a letter presented in court. In the undated letter, he said he was giving up drugs.
Asked whether he had been using “a significant amount of cocaine” before his arrest, Henley replied: “Significant?”
“You know, ‘sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll’ is not revelatory,” he said in a voice that grew increasingly hoarse as testimony went on. At one point, prosecutors gave him a throat lozenge.
He said he used cocaine “intermittently” throughout the 1970s but he was always lucid when performing or doing business.
“If I was some sort of a drug-filled zombie, I couldn’t have accomplished everything I accomplished before 1980 and after 1980,” Henley said.
In his 2016 interview with Gayle King, Henley said the band was indeed living “life in the fast lane” in the 1970s.
“Yeah… Everybody was doing it. It was the ’70s,” Henley said. “It was what everybody was doing, which doesn’t make it right necessarily. And you know, looking back on it, there’s some regrets about that. We probably could have been more productive … although we were pretty productive, considering.”
Residents in the San Gabriel Valley are contending with a dramatic surge in black flies, a painful little pest known for biting around the eyes and necks of people and pets.
The San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District issued a warning this week advising residents of a spike in black fly activity in foothill communities including Altadena, Azusa, Bradbury, Duarte, Glendora, Monrovia, San Dimas and Sierra Madre. The flies develop quickly in flowing waters, where females will lay 200 to 500 fertilized eggs at a time.
“Black flies are currently very active in the San Gabriel Valley, and many residents are feeling overwhelmed,” the district said in a statement. “Right now, populations are increasing due to favorable conditions, and black flies can travel up to five miles from where they emerge, which is why they’re being seen throughout the community.”
The district is treating river breeding sites to reduce populations, but warns this might take several weeks to take effect.
In the meantime, residents are advised to take protective measures such as wearing long pants and long sleeves and using protective netting over one’s face. People should also consider using DEET-containing repellent on exposed skin and turning off personal water features such as decorative fountains for 24 hours once a week, according to the district.
The bugs, measuring two to three millimeters, are so small they can be hard to see. Still, their bite can pack a painful punch.
Azusa resident Constance Yu described the persistent bugs as “like little demons but tiny,” while she swatted away the critters during an interview with CBS News this week.
Though the flies cause discomfort, they are not known to transmit diseases in L.A. County, according to the vector control district.
Spikes in black fly activity are often caused by scheduled water releases from upstream dams, which are necessary for the region’s water management but also create ideal breeding conditions for the pests.
The district monitors and sprays pesticides at breeding sites — including local rivers, streams and locations such as Morris Dam — and sets traps in foothill communities to track the population size and minimize the effects on residents.
This time last year, surveillance traps had single-digit counts of black flies. Now they are capturing more than 500 flies at a time, district spokesperson Anais Medina Diaz told LAist.
Diaz also said it is usual to see such so much fly activity this time of year, noting that the uptick is probably connected to the recent record-setting heat wave. Southern California is experiencing the hottest March on record, leading to a surge in snow runoff from the mountains.
“We are experiencing them now because of the warmer temperatures we’ve been having,” Diaz said. “And of course, all the water that’s going down through the river, we have a high flow of water that is not typical for this time of year.”
The black flies are not the only troublesome creature acting up during the unseasonably warm weather.
The Southland has also seen more rattlesnakes, with two recent human fatalities, as the early heat draws more serpents onto hiking trails. Toasty ocean temperatures have been linked to a great white shark sighting in Newport Beach that prompted a temporary beach closure Thursday.
Polling shows Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco leading the pack, while eight Democrats split the liberal vote.
Democrats face nightmare scenario in California governor’s race
Polling shows Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco leading the California governor’s race, while eight Democrats split the liberal vote.
Democrats’ 2026 comeback could be spoiled by California electing a Republican governor, as two GOP candidates are leading in recent polls.
Experts forecast a potential “blue wave” in the midterm elections, as Democrats have recently overperformed in special elections, including flipping a state senate seat in President Donald Trump’s own Palm Beach, Florida, district on March 24.
But the party is facing a nightmare scenario in the nation’s most populous state, where polling shows Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco leading the pack in the June 2 nonpartisan primary. The state’s liberal majority is split among eight Democratic contenders.
The Democrats’ dilemma stems from California’s unusual election system, in which the top two finishers, regardless of party, advance to the November general election. A Berkley ISG survey released March 18 of more than 5,000 registered voters showed Hilton, a conservative TV host, receiving 17% of the vote while Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, held 16%.
In third was Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, with 14%, then former Rep. Katie Porter holding 13%, followed by Tom Steyer at 10% and the five other Democratic candidates each getting 5% or less.
Other yardsticks show a similar trend, such as a March 18 survey commissioned by the California Democratic Party showing the two GOP candidates on top with Swalwell, Porter, and Steyer in a three-way tie for third place.
California Democrats enjoy a 2-to-1 voter registration edge over the GOP, but Golden State voters say there is a fog of confusion around the race due to the party’s failure to coalesce around a frontrunner. Olivya Reyes, a graduate student who lives in Oxnard, California, told USA TODAY the party still feels like it is trying to “find its footing” between a more moderate or progressive candidate.
“I feel like as a Democratic voter, what I would want to see from my party is clarity on who we’re supporting and getting behind,” she said.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is prevented from running due to term limits, has one eye on the presidency and hasn’t endorsed a successor or publicly nudged lower-performing candidates out of the race.
That neutrality could come at a cost, some experts say, should the two GOP aspirants prevail.
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‘Nobody has leapt out’: Voters disengaged, largely unenthusiastic
Reyes, 29, a lifelong Democrat, said typically by the end of March she would have a strong idea of which candidate she planned to support. She was planning to back former Vice President Kamala Harris or Sen. Alex Padilla, but both bypassed running, leaving her clueless about who was running or who to support.
She has only learned about Steyer, who has poured millions into the contest, and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
“I’m going to be honest in saying that I have been getting a lot of conflicting messaging, even from my own party, about who I should put my vote behind,” Reyes said. “Right now, it seems that the party is very much trying to find its footing on whether or not we’re going for a progressive candidate or for a more moderate Democrat.”
Experts say voter apathy typically occurs in California because it’s a heavily Democratic-leaning state, and that a majority of voters don’t pay attention until after the usually low-turnout primary.
The Berkeley survey underscored how much inattention is responsible for Democrats’ lack of enthusiasm for a specific candidate. It noted that voters “remain largely disengaged and unenthusiastic,” and about 16% of Californians are undecided.
The poll found that even among the candidates who are generally better known, “significant proportions of likely voters have no opinion” of them.
That might come as a surprise, given that the top three Democrats all ran for major office before. Porter made an unsuccessful bid for Senate in 2024 while Steyer and Swalwell launched uneventful presidential campaigns in 2020.
There are other notable contenders on the Democratic side: Becerra, the former health secretary in the Biden administration who had just 5% in the Berkley poll; former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan who raked in 4%; Tony Thurmond, state Superintendent of Public Instruction and Betty Yee, a former state controller who both shared 1%.
“No one in particular has caught fire with the average Democratic voter,” said Brian Sobel, a veteran political analyst based in San Francisco. “Nobody has leapt out.”
Democrat Rick De Alba, a workers’ compensation rights attorney from Pacifica, California, said he prefers Beccera, but noted he consistently sits in the basement of the race. He doesn’t want his vote going to someone who doesn’t have a shot at winning, and wishes underdog contenders would heed state party leaders’ advice and bow out gracefully.
“I think realistically you need about $30 million to put on an effective campaign in California, and if you can’t raise that, you should step aside,” De Alba said. “California always votes Democrat, no matter what. We just need to know who the candidate is.”
Reyes, the graduate student, said she had hoped to learn more about the other Democrats running through a debate hosted by the University of Southern California, which was originally scheduled to air on March 24. But the university canceled the event at the last minute after an accusation that it purposefully left out candidates of color, casting a shadow over the event for days.
Swalwell, Porter, and Steyer are White, whereas the lower-polling candidates are mostly people of color. Becerra and Villaraigosa are Hispanic; Mahan is White; Thurmond is Black; and Yee is Asian American.
“As a person of color, it did make me take a pause, and it didn’t look good,” Reyes said. “But I feel like this was a chance for all of these Democratic candidates to kind of put their faces in front of California voters.”
GOP shutting out Democrats ‘theoretically possible’ expert says
Conservative-leaning California voters such as Bud Thompson, a 61-year-old state government employee, said they are enjoying the spectacle of the usually dominant California Democrats in disarray. He was surprised to learn that the two leading candidates in this year’s races were the two GOP candidates.
“I think that you can look at California and see what a mess it is. Look at who’s been running it for the last few years,” the Sacramento, California, native said in an interview. “I am going to start seriously looking at the two Republicans. It would be a nice change of pace.”
California, under Newsom, has been one of the larger state governments that have opposed much of the Trump administration’s agenda, so having either Hilton or Bianco, who are both decidedly behind the president, would be a drastic shift.
Bianco made headlines this month when he followed the administration’s lead by seizing roughly 650,000 ballots in Riverside County, based on a tip from a citizen-led group that has been criticized for delving into conspiracy theories by local officials and other voting rights experts. He’s also made support for the president’s controversial SAVE Act voting bill one of the central themes in his campaign.
“Investigations into irregularities must happen so that the public can have full confidence,” Bianco said in a March 22 post on X.
Hilton, a former Fox News host, has also spoken in favor of Trump’s election overhaul, arguing that “(u)niversal mail-in voting must end,” in a March 26 post on X. He has emphasized allegedly fraudulent government spending and slammed Bianco for calling to work with Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020.
Thomas Holyoke, a political science professor at California State University, Fresno, said it’s “theoretically possible” that the two could shut out the Democrats, assuming GOP voters back their own candidates and earn enough votes from some independent voters.
But he said in the next couple of months, there will be a lot more pressure from state Democrats and others to significantly drain the pool of candidates so that the remaining contenders can consolidate support.
“I just got to imagine that pressure is really going to mount and a lot of donors to Democratic candidates may also push heavily for some Democrats to drop out,” Holyoke said.
Asked about the prospect of Republicans keeping Democrats out of the top two spots, national campaign officials who spoke with USA TODAY exuded optimism and spotlighted the party’s history of success in the state.
“We are confident that will not happen, and we are having active conversations with our partners in California about ways that we can ensure that doesn’t happen,” Johanna Warsaw, a spokesperson for the Democratic Governors Association, told USA TODAY in an interview.
She noted the group was heavily engaged in other elections that turned out well for progressives, including the 2025 redistricting ballot initiative known as Proposition 50 and the failed 2021 recall battle against Newsom.
Democrats express confidence as Newsom’s absence scrutinized
As the California election comes into focus, Newsom’s role in picking a successor is also being heavily scrutinized, especially given that he’s a rumored 2028 presidential contender.
Newsom served as lieutenant governor under former Gov. Jerry Brown, a longtime fixture in the state, before taking the reins in 2019. But Newsom’s second-in-command, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, dropped out of the running last August.
“There isn’t a logical heir to the throne this time around,” said Eric Schickler, a political science professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Newsom’s office did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment, but he addressed the lack of a focused message among the Democratic pool when speaking with Politico’s “On the Road” podcast. The governor noted that Harris and Padilla declining to run created “a lot of chill and a lot of delay” in this year’s campaign.
“You have this condensed period of time with a lot of candidates,” Newsom told host Jonathan Martin.
Sobel, the Bay Area political analyst, said Newsom has worked with many of the top candidates in various capacities previously and might want to avoid playing favorites. The 58-year-old governor will need their diverse and wide-ranging networks of support should he formally announce a White House bid.
“He’s going to need them again, sooner than later,” Sobel said.
Many of the low-polling candidates carry significant weight within the party at the local and state level, too, and some have been running for governor as far back as 2023. They are used to fighting ugly political battles, observers say, so they won’t go away easily.
The Yee campaign, for instance, points to the state party chair’s March 3 letter urging candidates to “honestly assess (their) viability” as an example of powerbrokers trying to clear the field for a select few.
“I’m not going to let that happen. Voters are still shopping,” Yee, a former state party vice chair, told USA TODAY in a statement. “Every poll shows the race remains wide open. Californians have a right to see and hear from a range of candidates, not just the billionaire-backed voices. Let the voters decide. Anything less is undemocratic and simply un-American.”
While the race might have some Democrats biting their nails, psychologist Steve Flannes, of Piedmont, California, said he’s pleased that so many people are running for governor. He said it’s a chore examining all the candidates, but he hopes it won’t be too cumbersome in the coming weeks.
“I’m trying to narrow down the options for myself,” Flannes, 75, said. “I’ve still got a couple of months to figure it all out, right?”
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (FOX26) — One week after ongoing efforts to ensure housing compliance statewide, Governor Gavin Newsom, through the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), has issued final warnings to 15 cities and counties that have failed to meet state housing law requirements.
These jurisdictions are more than 60 days away from securing a certified housing element, a mandatory plan that outlines how communities will meet housing needs for residents of all income levels.
The cities and counties have 30 days to respond to the Notices of Violation.
If they fail to act, HCD could take further steps, including referral to the Attorney General.
“I’m disappointed on behalf of the state and the people of California that after years of effort, we still have communities that aren’t meeting the needs of their residents,” Gov. Newsom said. “There’s no carve-out here. No community gets a pass when it comes to addressing homelessness or creating more housing access. We’ll keep pushing forward by enforcing the law, fighting NIMBY actions, and holding local governments accountable, because every Californian deserves a place to call home.”
Under California law, every community must adopt a housing element demonstrating how it will meet regional housing needs for residents at all income levels, and submit that plan to HCD for review.
With guidance and technical assistance, 92 percent of California communities have already achieved compliance in the 6th cycle.
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The 15 jurisdictions receiving Notices of Violation are now part of a final push to bring all communities into compliance.
“These communities remain more than two years behind schedule and lack a clear path to compliance within 60 days,” HCD said. “If any jurisdictions on track fail to meet the requirements within that period, they will also face potential legal action.”
The 15 cities and counties receiving notices are: Atwater, Avenal, California City, Corcoran, Escalon, Half Moon Bay, Hanford, Kings County, Lemoore, Merced County, Montclair, Oakdale, Patterson, Ridgecrest and Turlock.
HCD has previously taken legal action or entered court-enforced agreements with other cities, including Anaheim, Elk Grove, La Canada Flintridge, Norwalk and Huntington Beach.
Since its creation in 2021, Gov. Newsom’s Housing Accountability Unit (HAU) has taken more than 1,200 enforcement actions, including securing 10 stipulated judgments and settlement agreements.
The unit has also “unlocked” 12,486 housing units, including more than 3,644 affordable units, that may have otherwise been stalled in local planning processes.
Governor Newsom has made addressing the housing and homelessness crises a statewide priority.
His efforts include:
- Streamlining housing construction through legal and regulatory reforms, including CEQA updates, to remove barriers to building new housing.
- Creating shelter and support programs for people living in encampments while holding local governments accountable for providing housing solutions.
- Expanding mental health care and supportive housing, including delivering more than 6,900 residential treatment beds and over 27,500 outpatient treatment slots following voter-approved Proposition 1 in 2024.
- Updating conservatorship laws to assist those unable to care for themselves due to severe mental illness or substance use disorders, creating the new CARE court system.
- Removing dangerous encampments on state and local property while connecting residents to shelter and services, with over 20,600 encampments cleared on state right-of-ways since 2021.
Californians can track how their communities are addressing housing, homelessness, and mental health through HCD’s accountability portal.
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