Scott, Hayes, and Alissa dive into LA City budget fallout: how positions were eliminated, which departments are getting funded, and why LA’s liability payouts are so much higher now. 100 days out from the fires, LA hits major recovery milestones. And former LA County sheriff Alex Villanueva is evaluated for emotional distress.

The mayor’s budget summary FINALLY DROPPED 12 days later. On page 47, a letter notes that “there has been confusion” over animal services funding, and the budget hearings confirmed that $5 million had been restored to keep shelters open

Alissa’s story about 24 percent of positions in the transportation department being eliminated, with city staffers describing “DOGE-like” cuts

Meanwhile Bass and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto went to Sacramento to ask for a budget bailout (but didn’t manage to meet with Governor Newsom)

“Clearly the request — which must have originated in City Hall — uses the fires as a smokescreen to rationalize a bailout for a deficit that is fundamentally the result of years-long fiscal malpractice,” writes Dan Walters at CalMatters: 

A big Los Angeles Times investigation found that Freddy Escobar, president of the fire union UFLAC, made over $424,000 in overtime benefits as he claimed LAFD was underfunded

Karen Bass and Rick Caruso made nice to announce the rebuilding plan for the Palisades Recreation Center. Caruso also announced his mall would reopen in 2026

“They haven’t asked me to do anything in a month and a half, nothing, zero,” said LA’s recovery officer Steve Soboroff in his exit interview with Julia Wick at the LA Times

The city and state are claiming the fire recovery is the fastest in U.S. history

New York Times: “How do you rebuild a place like the Palisades?”

Former LA County sheriff Alex Villanueva sued the county last year because he was placed on “do not hire” list after publicly harassing several county supervisors

As part of that suit, the LA Times’ Keri Blakinger reported a psychiatric evaluation that concludes Villanueva has "many attributes of a 'white collar' psychopath"

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Produced by Sophie Bridges