By Tim Henderson, Stateline.org

Like many moderate-income workers, public school teachers Julia and Scott Whitnall didn’t think they’d become homeowners in their early 30s. Especially in California.

“We never felt homeownership was in our cards. But we did it!” Julia Whitnall said. “We’re extremely happy.”

The couple moved May 16 to a $509,000 two-bedroom house in Ripon, east of San Francisco in the Central Valley region.

It wasn’t easy. Despite a relatively high combined income of $140,000 from their nearby jobs, they had to compromise on size and take on extra work at summer camps to pull it off. Then they had to exercise patience as the sellers struggled to find a new home.

High interest rates and high prices in a still-competitive housing market continue to make it tough for first-time buyers, even those with good but moderate incomes.

On a national level, households making $75,000 to $100,000 — typical of teachers, nurses and skilled trades workers in many states — face a daunting lack of homes they can afford. That’s according to new research by the National Association of Realtors and Realtor.com based on listings in March of this year compared with 2024. However, the numbers showed an encouraging 20% increase in homes for sale, affordable or not.

Despite more houses for sale, those moderate-income buyers — which the report called “middle- and upper-middle-income buyers” — are much more hard-pressed to find an affordable home than they were in 2019, when almost half the homes on the market were affordable to them. This year they can afford only 21.2% of homes on the market — a slight improvement compared with 20.8% in 2024, according to the report.

It also found that a few states are improving in affordability for people in the $75,000-to-$100,000 income range. But many states are not.

The largest affordability gaps are in California, Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts and Montana, where such households can afford fewer than…

A task force created to oversee sweeping changes to Los Angeles County’s governance structure held its inaugural meeting Friday.

The county Governance Reform Task Force was created with voters’ passage in November of Measure G, which called for a series of changes in the way county government operates. Most notably, the measure called for an expansion of the five-member Board of Supervisors to nine members starting in 2032.

Measure G will also make the county CEO an elected position by 2028, and adds the positions of county Legislative Analyst and a director of Budget and Management.

The measure also formalized the establishment of an Ethics Commission — which the county already began to create prior to the November election — and the hiring of a compliance officer by 2026, along with the creation of a Charter Review Commission to meet every 10 years and consider additional potential governmental changes.

The entire process will be overseen by the Governance Reform Task Force, which includes 13 members.

Each of the five county supervisors appointed one member to the task force, and those appointed members in turn selected an additional five members from a pool of applicants, with those at-large selections representing the business sector, municipal government, community organizations and a person with experience in public sector ethics.

The remaining three members of the task force were nominated by labor groups — one by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, one by the Service Employees International Union Local 721 and one by the Coalition of County Unions.

The appointees by the Board of Supervisors are:

— Former West Covina Mayor Brian Calderón Tabatabai, by Supervisor Hilda Solis

— Derek Steele, executive director of the Inglewood-based nonprofit Social Justice Learning Institute, by Supervisor Holly Mitchell

— political science professor Sara Sadhwani, who served on the California Citizens Redistricting Commission in 2021, by…

The Trump administration, through the Department of Homeland Security, is once again attempting to pressure into compliance local governments across the country that oppose efforts to mass deport undocumented immigrants — by publishing a list of “sanctuary jurisdictions.”

DHS, on Friday, May 30, released a list of more than 500 “sanctuary jurisdictions” nationwide, accusing them of violating federal immigration law for refusing to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.

The list includes many Southern California locations, including Los Angeles city, the entirety of L.A. County, Long Beach, Culver City, Pasadena and Baldwin Park, among others.

Though there isn’t one universally agreed upon legal definition for what constitutes a sanctuary jurisdiction or city, it usually refers to law enforcement agencies, states or other government agencies that don’t comply with immigration enforcement.

ICE is the enforcement arm of immigration policies and laws across the country, but the agency often seeks state and local assistance in their operations through information sharing and other tactics.

“Designation of a sanctuary jurisdiction is based on the evaluation of numerous factors,” a DHS spokesperson said in a Friday statement, “including self-identification as a sanctuary jurisdiction, noncompliance with Federal law enforcement in enforcing immigration laws, restrictions on information sharing, and legal protections for illegal aliens.”

Earlier this month, Trump signed new executive orders intended to ramp up restrictions on U.S. immigration, including his mass deportation campaign.

One directive instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to provide the list of states and local cities that “obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration laws” within 30 days.

Trump’s order also threatened to cut federal funds for those states, counties and cities that have declared themselves a…

Why sit home in June because you don’t want to spend any money? Here are things you can do that won’t cost anything at all!

Originally Published: May 30, 2025 at 7:11 AM PDT

When it comes to strokes, every minute counts.

So in an effort to reduce long-term complications and even death, two state-of-the-art Mobile Stroke Units were unveiled on Wednesday, May 28, at Torrance Fire Station No. 1 by Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn and UCLA Health.

“For every minute that a patient waits for treatment, 2 million brain cells die,” Hahn said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “But if doctors can treat someone quickly, they can not only improve that patient’s chance of survival, but can prevent serious brain injury and nerve damage.”

The new Mobile Stroke Units join one that’s been operated by UCLA Heath, in partnership with LA County, since 2017. The original unit “has responded to more than 2,000 calls and treated more than 360 patients,” according to a Wednesday press release from Hahn’s office.

The new units will serve areas of the Westside, South Bay, Long Beach, the Gateway Cities and, beginning in August, the San Fernando Valley.

Dr. May Nour, an interventional and vascular neurologist and medical director of the UCLA Mobile Stroke Unit Program, said the hope is to expand the units to all the fire departments in the county.

“Our vision is to see this available for every stroke survivor in our county,” Nour said. “Our dream and our vision is to have seven to 10 mobile stroke units that become part of the fabric of EMS care.”

The units are “built with a mobile CT scanner, point-of-care lab tests, telehealth connection with a vascular neurologist, and therapies,” a Wednesday press release said, “all designed to deliver proven stroke treatments to patients faster than ever before.

“Physicians on the unit can administer clot-busting drugs to patients in the field,” the release added, “long before they get to an emergency room.”

Hahn is continuing the legacy of her father, the late Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, who started the nation’s first paramedic program, which began by treating…

NEW YORK — Shohei Ohtani does so many things to marvel at that even Dodgers manager Dave Roberts can’t marvel at them all.

“I do marvel quite often,” Roberts said Saturday at Citi Field. “It’s sort of commonplace now. But when I take a step back, it’s pretty astounding.”

A year ago, Ohtani put together the first 50-50 season in baseball history – all while rehabilitating from a second elbow surgery. This year, he is off to an even better start, just months after undergoing a significant surgery on his left shoulder.

Ohtani dislocated that shoulder during the World Series and underwent arthroscopic surgery days later to repair a labrum tear in the joint. The expectation was that the procedure would not affect his hitting as much as surgery on his right shoulder, the front shoulder in the left-handed hitter’s swing, would. But some players have taken time after shoulder surgery to recover their power.

Ohtani, on the contrary, went into Saturday’s game leading the National League in home runs (17), second only to Yankees slugger Aaron Judge (18) in the majors. His .643 slugging percentage is second to teammate Freddie Freeman in the National League.

“It is kind of amazing that this offseason, he had major surgery, to come back and be that productive,” Roberts said. “But he worked really hard this offseason, and he’s having a tremendous season.”

That he would pick up right where he left off last season, despite the shoulder surgery was not immediately evident this spring, Roberts said.

“No, he wasn’t the same Shohei in spring training,” he said. “I think once we got into the season, once we got back to the States after Japan, I thought he kind of really let it go, felt completely strong. I don’t recall one at-bat or anything like that, but I do think that once we came stateside, he took it to another level.”

Ohtani will take his multi-tasking to another level on Sunday when he throws a live batting practice session. It…

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

McDonald’s said Friday that it’s closing down CosMc’s, a new restaurant format it began piloting in the U.S. last year.

But the company said beverages inspired by CosMc’s will soon be tested at U.S. McDonald’s locations. Among the drinks on CosMc’s current menu: a matcha iced latte, a turmeric spiced latte, a prickly pear-flavored slushy with popping candy on top and a frozen sour cherry energy drink.

McDonald’s announced in late 2023 that it wanted to test a small-format store with customizable drinks and treats that would appeal to afternoon snackers – and potentially grab sales from rivals like Starbucks and Dutch Bros. McDonald’s sales often slump in the afternoon between mealtimes and the company wants to change that.

“This is a $100 billion category that’s growing faster than the rest of (casual dining) and with superior margins. And it’s a space that we believe we have the right to win,” McDonald’s Chairman and CEO Chris Kempczinski said at the time.

But Kempczinski said CosMc’s drinks might be too complex to fit in with regular McDonald’s store operations.

McDonald’s wound up opening one CosMc’s location near its headquarters in Chicago and seven in Texas. Five locations remain, but the company plans to shut them all down by the end of June. The company is also shutting down CosMc’s app.

McDonald’s said CosMc’s allowed it to experiment with bold flavors and different technologies, like drive-thru lanes that manage traffic based on the complexity of orders. It was also able to quickly edit the menu based on customer feedback.

Originally Published: May 23, 2025 at 4:15 PM PDT