How Gen Z voters helped fuel a blue wave for Democrats
James Talarico speaks on election night in Austin, Texas. Talarico won his race for U.S. Senate by 12 percentage points overall, but when looking at just Gen Z, he won it by 60 points.(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) Democrats have done well in recent elections when they win young voters by a margin of at least 20 points. On Tuesday, they carried Gen Z — those under 30 — by nearly 50 points, according to exit polling. It's a stunning shift from 2024, when the party lost critical ground with young people. Long seen as a part of the Democratic base, voters under 30 shifted right towards Donald Trump, motivated by his pledge to better their economic prospects. But this week, the youngest generation of voters issued a strong rebuke of Republicans, taking another chance on Democrats and their change-focused message at a moment when many of them feel as though the American Dream is out of reach. How young voters powered Democrats to victory Americans ages 18-29 have a history of turning ou
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Democrats plan to widen their probes of fatal ICE shootings
Community members placed "I voted" stickers on a pole next to the memorial for Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents during the federal immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis last January.(Tim Evans / AFP via Getty Images) The morning after Tuesday's midterms was gloomy and rainy in Minneapolis, but people still gathered at the place where Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a VA nurse and U.S. citizen, last January. All week, community members have come here to place their "I Voted" stickers at the memorial. Nicki Adams, who dated Pretti and was his close friend for nearly 17 years, watched quietly as a woman added her sticker to a street lamp completely covered in the red decals. "I wanted to see all the stickers. I just wanted to be here," she says. "It just means a lot to me. I think it would mean a lot to Alex, too." A few blocks away, people left their stickers where an ICE officer killed Renee Good, a mom of three and a U.S. citizen, ju
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Fireworks, whistles, pots and pans: How neighbors came together to push ICE out of Boyle Heights
Protesters rally outside Adventist Health White Memorial in Boyle Heights on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026 as local leaders demand that the hospital not cooperate with federal immigration agents. (Steve Saldivar / The LA Local)Abraham Zavala was born at Adventist White Memorial. So were his kids. So late Friday, when he heard federal immigration agents were at the Boyle Heights hospital, and that local youth were out blowing whistles to warn neighbors, he went. “To me that’s sacred ground,” said Zavala, an organizer with Unión del Barrio.“I’m a dad,” he said. “I wanted to be there to support the youth.”He was among the Boyle Heights residents who converged on the hospital and stayed in a standoff with federal immigration agents into the early hours of Saturday. Agents detained at least two people, according to rapid response groups.Neighbors alerted each other with noisemakers and fireworks. A woman pounded her pots and pans. Teenagers ran across Mariachi Plaza, shouting that ICE was in the a
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Naples Boat Parade canceled as El Niño season threatens dangerously high tides over Christmas week
The homes along the Naples canals are shine bright Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022. The canal homes are a popular holiday destination, with most elaborately decorated for most of December each year. (Cheantay Jensen / Long Beach Post)Expect silent nights in Naples’ channels this holiday season.The Naples Improvement Association announced Saturday that this year’s Naples Island Holiday Boat Parade, a Long Beach tradition since 1946, has been canceled because of expected high tides and heavy surf that organizers said would make the event too unsafe for visitors and participants.It’s the first time in six years — since the onset of the COVID pandemic — that the parade has been canceled. What began as a small procession of decorated barges filled with singing church choirs has grown into an institution in Long Beach with more than 100 entries, from Duffys to dragon boats, and 60,000 spectators.Ben Fisher, the association president, said the decision came after weeks of deliberations and a 600-resp
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Community, LA leaders denounce ICE activity at White Memorial
Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez, left, and Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, center, march to Adventist Health White Memorial on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026 to demand that the hospital not cooperate with federal immigration agents.(Video screenshot courtesy of Boyle Heights Immigrant Rights Network / The LA Local)Crowds gathered at Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights on Saturday for a rally and march to Adventist Health White Memorial after federal immigration agents mounted a blockade at the emergency room entrance and detained at least two people outside the hospital.Community organizers and elected officials on Saturday handed off a letter to the hospital’s administrators, calling for an end to any collaboration between the hospital and federal immigration agents.Sen. Maria Elena Durazo said that it appears the hospital is earning a reputation for being an “ICE-friendly hospital.”“What happened last night was unacceptable,” Durazo told the hospital’s administrators in the same parking lot where the bloc
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ICE detains two US citizens protesting outside White Memorial Hospital, rapid response groups say
Federal immigration agents detained at least two people late Friday outside Adventist White Memorial Hospital in Boyle Heights, where protesters had gathered after reports of immigration enforcement activity, according to rapid response groups. Protesters remained at the hospital into the early hours of Saturday, where immigration agents maintained a large presence.(Video screenshot courtesy of Boyle Heights Immigrant Rights Network)Federal immigration agents detained at least two people late Friday outside Adventist White Memorial Hospital in Boyle Heights, where protesters had gathered after reports of immigration enforcement activity, according to rapid response groups. Protesters remained at the hospital into the early hours of Saturday, where immigration agents maintained a large presence.It appears the incident began after people witnessed someone being detained and taken into the hospital, according to Raquel Roman, executive director of Proyecto Pastoral and member of the Boyle
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How LAUSD’s famed coffee cake became this Valley bride’s wedding cake
LAUSD's beloved coffee cake.(Photo collage by Elina Shatkin / LAist)Micki Boden wanted a wedding cake that checked off a couple of big boxes — personalized and tasty. Instead of a traditional tiered cake, the San Fernando Valley native went with a favorite from her school days.“My favorite cake of all time is the coffee cake that I ate through my entire K-12 education going to LAUSD public school,” Boden said.Boden attended elementary school in Studio City and middle school in Sherman Oaks before graduating from a Reseda high school.Boden and her husband, Matt Stollman, met in 2016 while working on the reality television show Big Brother and eventually started dating. The two got engaged in 2025.With the groom’s family traveling from the East Coast for their wedding in October, the couple wanted to provide a uniquely L.A. experience. Micki Boden and Matt Stollman cut into their LAUSD coffee cake wedding cake.“We wanted something that was gonna be fun, that was gonna be memorable for pe
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Jane Kim declares victory in commissioner race. CA insurance could be in for big changes
From left, insurance commissioner candidates Ben Allen and Jane Kim.(Fred Greaves / CalMatters)Jane Kim declared victory in the California insurance commissioner race on Friday, capping off what she called “the first unabashed and unapologetic populist progressive campaign.”The former San Francisco supervisor is ahead of fellow Democrat state Sen. Ben Allen with 65% of ballots counted as of midday Friday, 53% to 47%.“Everything in this campaign was about the ideas that we were putting forward, and whether you agree with them or not, the point is that we have ideas… and we’re going to explore all of them,” Kim said at a press conference in San Francisco, where she was joined by a fire survivor, labor leaders and others. “We plan to make insurance work for all of us,” she said.A win by Kim, whose proposal to create a public wildfire insurance program resonated with voters around the state despite its many naysayers, would be the latest triumph in the progressive wave that’s sweeping the
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None of Nithya Raman’s council colleagues backed her bid for mayor. Will they work with her?
City Council members from left, Tim McOsker, Eunisses Hernandez, Nithya Raman and Marqueece Harris-Dawson at an L.A. City Council meeting.(Brian van der Brug / Getty Images)Nithya Raman won the race for Los Angeles mayor this week and unseated incumbent Karen Bass without a single endorsement from her colleagues on the City Council.She won without them, but she’ll have to govern with them.Raman, a two-term councilmember and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, entered the race in February just hours before the filing deadline and shortly after endorsing Bass. The move caught some colleagues off guard and angered Bass allies, who noted the mayor had helped Raman win reelection two years ago.After Bass conceded Thursday, nearly every councilmember said they were ready to work with Mayor-elect Raman, who takes office on Dec. 14. In a video message Thursday, she spoke to Angelenos who voted for Bass or skipped the election altogether.“I am going to City Hall to work every single
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At a Boyle Heights hospital, ICE agents call the shots, doctors say
The exterior of Adventist Health White Memorial Medical Center located in Boyle Heights. (Courtesy MVE + Partners / The Los Angeles Local News Initiative)Doctors at Adventist Health White Memorial hospital in Boyle Heights told LAist that hospital administrators are allowing federal immigration agents to interfere in medical decisions and block doctors from properly treating detainees who need emergency care.Administrators at White Memorial have told doctors not to call a detained patient’s family members, even to find out what type of medication they’re on or what conditions they have, doctors told LAist. Hospital leaders also have told doctors to allow immigration agents to remain by a detained patient’s side, even during consultations, inhibiting frank discussions between doctors and their patients and potentially violating patient privacy laws. Doctors say this is not typical protocol for any patients, including those brought in by local police or sheriff’s deputies.These doctors a
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