West
Los Angeles in hot water over for spending hundreds of millions on worsening homeless crisis
In the same week that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s council on homelessness blamed local governments for a state audit report that found California has failed to track how billions of dollars have been spent trying to tackle the homelessness crisis, the Los Angeles City Council agreed to pay an outside firm $2.2 million to audit its own programs.
A federal judge in California, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, requested last month an independent audit of Los Angeles’ homelessness programs, accusing the city of failing to do enough to significantly curb the problem in recent years. City and county officials are also demanding that its lead homeless service provider release data about its efforts.
The $2.2 million agreement is roughly half of what the independent firm, selected by Carter, originally requested. It’s unclear why the amount was reduced.
FLORIDA HOUSE PASSES BILL TO PROHIBIT HOMELESS PEOPLE FROM SLEEPING IN PUBLIC
Homeless encampments line the streets in Oakland, California, on Friday, March 15, 2024. The city remains plagued by homelessness as nearby businesses close their doors due to safety concerns. (DWS for Fox News Digital)
The audit comes after a lawsuit filed by the LA Alliance for Human Rights — a coalition of business owners and residents — argued that the city hasn’t honored its 2020 settlement agreement that promised it would build thousands of shelters and sweep out homeless encampments.
The coalition urged Carter to sanction the city and pay up to $6.4 million for not meeting the settlement’s terms.
“At a time when the City and County of Los Angeles are spending record levels of taxpayer dollars to address homelessness, somehow the impacts to individuals and neighborhoods are only getting worse,” a spokesperson for the LA Alliance, Daniel Conway, told Fox News Digital. “We are long past due for a hard look at how these dollars are being spent, and the programs used to do the work.”
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM FACES RECKONING WITH $73B BUDGET DEFICIT LAWMAKERS SAY HE HELPED CREATE
Homelessness in California under Governor Gavin Newsom has increased from 151,00 in 2019 to 181,000 in 2024. (Fox)
Conway said the audit will provide “an unprecedented look into spending and outcomes of homeless services, with implications about how local, state and federal dollars are used.”
“With five unhoused people dying every day on the streets of LA, Angelenos deserve answers,” he said.
According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the city’s main hub for homeless services, more than 75,500 people were considered homeless in 2023, a 9% increase countywide. In the city, about 46,200 were considered homeless, a 10% increase from the previous year.
Last month, city council members also brought forth a motion to develop an evaluation framework for LAHSA that would examine LAHSA’s contracts and expenditures as well as other data points.
NEWSOM’S HOMELESSNESS COUNCIL BLAMES LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FOR FAILING TO TRACK BILLIONS SPENT ON CRISIS
New federal data reveals that despite California spending over $17 billion to fight homelessness in the last few years, its homeless population has grown. (Fox News Digital)
Meanwhile, LAHSA’s 2022-2023 budget totaled around $845.4 million, with $726.2 million going to service providers.
About $662 million was earmarked for housing, according to LAHSA’s financial documents. Just over $40 million went to LAHSA administration.
Despite more taxpayer dollars at work, the homeless population continues to rise in the Golden State. It’s up 6%, compared to last year, and has the highest number of homeless people living outdoors in the country. About 181,000 people were considered homeless in the state’s 2023 count, and most are suffering from drug addiction or mental illnesses.
A senior spokesperson for the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (CICH), which coordinates homeless programs across the state, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the audit’s findings “highlight the significant progress made in recent years to address homelessness at the state level, including the completion of a statewide assessment of homelessness programs.”
The spokesperson added local governments “are primarily responsible for implementing these programs and collecting data on outcomes that the state can use to evaluate program effectiveness.”
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Hector Estevane
OBITUARY
It is with deep sorrow that I announce the passing of Hector F Estevane. Hector was born in Miami, AZ and passed away on March 16, 2026 in Lincoln, NE at the age of 98. Hector was surrounded by family and friends.
In the sacred silence, Hector was released into the light where his spirit will live on…knowing his time on earth was well served and complete.
Hector’s interment will be at Holy Cross Cemetery, 4470 Hilltop Dr., San Diego, CA 92102 on May 1, 2026 at 10:00 am. Rest in Peace Dad. I love you, cre
A few weeks ago, as my friend Forest and I rode our bikes on the vast white sheet of the frozen Yukon River downstream of Galena, the river forced us into a 90-degree hard left. There, the channel suddenly necked down from being almost a mile wide to just a quarter mile.
A 300-foot outcrop known as Bishop Rock sits at this pinch point on the middle Yukon. Its name — bestowed by someone in remembrance of an Oregon missionary who was murdered there in 1885 — comes up at this time every year when people start talking about river breakup and the potential for ice-jam flooding.
Kyle Van Peursem of the Alaska Pacific River Forecast Center mentioned Bishop Rock during a recent presentation on the potential for spring floods in communities along the state’s rivers.
Though the Yukon, Kuskokwim, Koyukuk and other rivers in central and northern Alaska are all very solid and white as of this writing, that will soon change. River breakup happens when the power of the sun melts feet of snow from the landscape and rots the ice of the river that was hard as iron for so dang long.
Predicting when breakup will occur at any of the dozens of villages along river systems is an inexact science. The most important variable is air temperature. Warmer Aprils are good, Van Peursem said, because they allow the snow and ice to melt at a more gradual rate that won’t overwhelm river channels.
The biggest driver of the dynamic breakups that flood villages is a cold April that “compresses the time to get rid of snowmelt,” he said.
Alaska villages on rivers most often flood in springtime due to ice jams. Jams happen when meltwater shoves chunks of recently broken ice sheets together.
“I think of these as like a dam in the river,” Van Peursem said. “The breakup front (a conveyor belt of ice chunks) stops, water has no place to go and piles up behind it.”
Constrictions in rivers like Bishop Rock are common places for ice jams. In 2013, a pileup at Bishop Rock swelled the river upstream like a python and flooded Galena. The same happened in 1945, when U.S. Air Force bomber pilots dropped more than 75 bombs on the ice jam in front of Bishop Rock. They failed to dislodge the mass of ice.
Bishop Rock will soon loom large in windows of a single-engine aircraft in which Van Peursem will fly. He will monitor that portion of the Yukon River on flights from Galena as part of the Riverwatch program.
Van Peursem said the part of the Yukon he is monitoring is trending toward a dynamic breakup due to a cold April — Galena’s low temperature on April 22, 2026, was in the single digits Fahrenheit — but “hopefully we can slowly warm up as we go into May.”
A note to my readers: This, friends, is the second-to-last Alaska Science Forum I will write. After 31 years in the saddle, I am retiring from my science-writer job here at the Geophysical Institute on May 1, 2026. Though I have planned this for a while, the date sure has snuck up. I will sum up the whole adventure in my final column next week.
And — fear not — my boss and other leaders at the Geophysical Institute are committed to continuing the Alaska Science Forum after I leave.
WASHINGTON (AZFamily) — After a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington on Saturday night, reaction poured in from Arizona politicians about what happened.
Rep. Abe Hamadeh, a Republican who was at the dinner, said he and other members of Congress were evacuated from the Washington Hilton following the gunshots.
Hamadeh said the shots rang out not far from where he was sitting.
“They were gunshots. I’m a former military. I’m an Army officer. they were gunshots. As soon as those gunshots rang out you, heard glasses shattering everywhere, people spilled their drinks bolting down to hide underneath the tables,” Hamadeh said.
Hamadeh said he tried to duck under a table but couldn’t fit. He said that’s when his security team called him and he was quickly escorted him out of the room.
“It’s scary we have to live like this. Nobody should have to live like this,” he said.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, a Republican from Indiana, also spoke about the incident in Hamadeh’s video posted on social media.
“It was very scary,” he said. “All of a sudden, 50 to 75 feet over my left shoulder, gunshots go off, and we all jump underneath the table. Stuff was falling over. The drinks were spilling over.”
Officials rushed to safety
Mark Lodato, Dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and former Associate Dean at the Walter Cronkite School of Mass Communication, was sitting feet away from the stage.
He spoke exclusively with Arizona’s Family.
“Everyone immediately jumped below, and got under tables and hid, trying to wait to figure out what was going on,” Lodato said.
He said he watched as Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was quickly whisked out of the room.
A video he captured shows officials moving chairs to rush Secretary of State Marco Rubio to safety.
Bipartisan reaction
Arizona GOP Rep. Andy Biggs, who is running for governor, said in a social media post that he and his wife are relieved no one was hurt and are praying that the violence stops.
“It is deeply concerning and frustrating to have another near instance of tragic and senseless violence at an event featuring President Trump,” Biggs said.
Republican Rep. Paul Gosar also posted on X and praised the response from first responders.
“I’m deeply thankful for the swift response from law enforcement, relieved that the President and First Lady are safe, and am keeping our nation in my prayers,” he posted.
On the Democratic side, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes echoed the quick actions of first responders.
“I am glad that everyone at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is safe and for law enforcement’s fast response. Violence has no place in our political discourse,” Fontes posted on social media.
Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat, posted on social media that he is “I’m thankful that the President and others at the correspondents dinner are safe, and for the quick response from law enforcement.”
Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton offered his thoughts and prayers on social media. “I’m grateful for the swift response from Secret Service after a dangerous and harrowing incident at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Praying for the safety of all in attendance,” he posted.
Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs called the incident “horrifying” on social media and said, “Violence has no place in our politics. I hope President Trump and all others in attendance are safe.”
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