White House admits it used keywords to kill billions worth of California research grants

July 22, 2026 By Mikhail Zinshteyn Leave a Comment

Federal agencies that terminated more than a thousand research grants at the University of California last year admitted that they used keywords related to diversity, gender, vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 to screen for projects that ran afoul of the Trump administration’s priorities.

It’s an admission that lawyers for the research professors say is proof that the agencies illegally cancelled nearly $2 billion in grants. And that’s a major development in a lawsuit filed by UC researchers against the Trump administration to permanently get their grants back. The researchers’ legal team is now asking the judge in the case to skip a trial and formally declare that the White House repeatedly violated the constitution, including the First Amendment. A court hearing on whether that’ll happen is scheduled for Oct. 20.

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The federal agencies made the admission about the keywords in signed stipulations filed in federal court last week in a case called Thakur v. Trump that’s been ongoing since last spring.

The stipulations in the court filing show the agencies “did not terminate any grants based on alleged noncompliance with the terms of the grant” and instead used “general criteria, rather than grant-specific assessment of each award’s compliance, or performance,” the lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote. Lawyers for the UC professors now contend that the admission proves three wide-ranging constitutional violations:

  • By using keyword searches to review hundreds of grants and terminate them en masse rather than reviewing them individually on their merits, the Trump administration targeted research it found politically disfavorable, which is a First Amendment violation.
  • In terminating 283 Department of Energy grants from states where a majority voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, and leaving untouched hundreds of grants that went to “red” states, the Trump administration wrongly punished researchers for merely living in states the White House politically opposed.
  • And by terminating billions of dollars in grants, and never rerouting that money to other grant opportunities, the Trump administration violated the constitution by not spending money in ways Congress specifically required through laws it passed on how research funds should be used.

CalMatters emailed the U.S. Department of Justice, which acts as the legal defense for the federal agencies, on July 16 to ask whether it agrees that the federal grant-making agency stipulations mean the Trump administration violated the constitutional rights of researchers. A spokesperson for the Justice Department didn’t respond by publication time.

History of lawsuit

The judge in this case, Rita F. Lin, has repeatedly sided with the UC professors and issued several preliminary injunctions forcing the federal agencies to restore the grants while she reviews the full merits of the case. This includes the restoration of hundreds of grants at UCLA that the Trump administration sought to suspend over its allegations that the university tolerated antisemitism and permitted transgender women to compete on women’s sports teams.

Those allegations were also the subject of a demand from the White House for UCLA to pay $1.2 billion or experience an additional cascade of research freezes. However, months before Trump sought that settlement UCLA took steps to address antisemitism on campus, including commissioning a task force to recommend ways to create a more welcoming environment for Jewish students.

Lin, a Biden appointee, faulted the administration for disregarding those efforts by UCLA in a preliminary injunction for a different but related lawsuit. The Trump administration’s justification for terminating the grants did not “mention the remedial steps UCLA had already taken to address the issues described,” Lin wrote.

Click here to read the full article in CalMatters

 

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UCLA fires DEI director over posts on Kirk’s death

February 7, 2026 By Jaweed Kaleem 2 Comments

In the days after Charlie Kirk was fatally shot in September while speaking at a Utah college campus, stunned followers of his conservative movement mourned online, condemning political violence. From his Los Angeles home, Johnathan Perkins, a Black diversity, equity and inclusion director at UCLA, had a different take.

“Good riddance,” he wrote on Bluesky. In another post: “It is OKAY to be happy when someone who hated you and called for your people’s death dies — even if they are murdered.”

Later: “I’m always glad when bigots die.”

Perkins said he was exercising his right to free speech on his own time about a divisive public figure. Screenshots of his posts spread across conservative news sites and social media. He received online death threats. Complaints poured into UCLA inboxes.

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Officials swiftly placed Perkins on paid leave and opened an investigation. UCLA also issued a rare statement about an employee: “Violence of any kind — including the celebration of it — is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

Last week, UCLA fired him, and his last day on the payroll was Friday.

The termination letter, which Perkins allowed The Times to review, cited violations of policies on “workplace violence prevention,” including posts that “referenced or appeared to endorse violence or death” and made “demeaning or generalized remarks about demographic groups.”

“Given the nature of your role as a Director of Race and Equity, the university has determined that this conduct significantly undermined trust in your leadership and adversely affected the office’s effectiveness and credibility,” it said.

Perkins’ story is among more than 100 cases nationwide of college faculty or staff who were disciplined for comments about Kirk. The incidents included dozens in which employees wished Kirk harm, said he deserved to die, or expressed happiness at his death, according to a Times review of social media, news reports and legal cases.

Several disciplined workers have since returned to campus, sued or received settlements, including a Tennessee professor reinstated after a $500,000 payout and a Fresno State lecturer back on the job after suspension, according to local news reports and faculty groups. Other suspensions are still under campus investigation, litigation or settlement talks.

Perkins’ firing, however, appears to be an outlier and has raised concerns among free speech advocates who question whether political considerations contributed to UCLA’s decision at a precarious time for the university as it faces Trump administration pressure to clamp down on diversity measures.

“Discipline for offensive speech that’s nevertheless protected under the law” is worsening as universities face federal pressure to limit DEI, pro-Palestinian protest and the recognition of transgender people,” said Zach Greenberg, director of the Faculty Legal Defense Fund at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

At the time, Vice President JD Vance urged universities to fire employees for speaking out against Kirk after he was killed, warning that campuses that refused could face federal funding cuts — an issue UCLA was already confronting. Weeks before the Kirk shooting, the Trump administration demanded that UCLA pay a $1.2-billion fine to settle federal civil rights investigation findings of it mishandling antisemitism complaints and called for sweeping policy changes in exchange for restoring frozen grant funding.

In a statement, UCLA did not elaborate on the Perkins firing. “This person is no longer an employee at UCLA following the completion of an internal investigation,” it said.

Perkins, who holds a law degree from the University of Virginia, was also given a roughly 250-page set of investigation findings by UCLA that detailed a history of social media controversies. He declined to allow The Times to review the file because he intends to file a lawsuit challenging his dismissal and cite the report in his case.

His social media activity shows a strident, polemical voice on racism and systemic injustice.

He’s out of the $137,000 job he’d held for five years since UCLA recruited him after he worked at Harvard’s legal office. In Westwood, he led DEI programs around campus training, hiring and student access to learning. Perkins has raised about $10,000 on GoFundMe to relocate to his hometown of Philadelphia and fund his suit.

He’s now searching for his next job.

Controversy over Kirk, Turning Point

Kirk and the organization he founded, Turning Point USA, aligned with President Trump and fueled youth conservatism. He was best known for campus visits — like the Utah Valley University stop — where he sparred with students over immigration, gender, abortion and other hot-button issues.

Kirk called himself a free speech advocate. Critics said he stifled it by promoting intolerance. His group — now led by his widow, Erika Kirk — runs Professor Watchlist, which university faculty blame for harassment and doxxing of those the website deems to be “radical professors” tied to feminism, LGBTQ+ studies and diversity.

Representatives for Turning Point USA did not respond to a request for comment about Perkins and other cases of faculty and staff suspensions or firings in response to speech about Kirk. On Professor Watchlist, where Perkins has been featured since 2022, Turning Point calls him “no stranger to racially incendiary remarks.”

Kirk also faced criticism for what some saw as inflammatory statements. In 2022, after a man attacked the husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), Kirk called the incident “awful” while calling for an “amazing patriot” to bail out the attacker. He cited Leviticus 20:13, which suggests that a man who has sex with another man should be put to death, as “God’s perfect law.” In a 2024 podcast, he mocked DEI’s influence on hiring, saying, “If I see a Black pilot, I hope he’s qualified.”

Those were the kinds of comments Perkins said offended him about Kirk, who was a fierce critic of the rise of campus identity politics and its role in scholarship.

Not Perkins’ first time in spotlight

“It boils down to me and other Black people and other brown people … simply not being sad that this man who was so openly hateful was against all of us,” said Perkins, who is the grandson of civil rights activist John M. Perkins of Mississippi.

Perkins remains a prolific social media user. On his Bluesky profile, he calls himself the “foremost” expert on Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s conservative government and cultural blueprint — many of its proposals were adopted by Trump — which calls for DEI’s elimination and mass deportations.

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UCLA race and equity official sounded off after Charlie Kirk’s slaying. Now he’s on leave

September 17, 2025 By Ruben Vives 2 Comments

A UCLA official with its Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office has been placed on leave amid an investigation over remarks made on social media concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk, according to social media reports and university sources.

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Johnathan Perkins, the director of race and equity, appeared to have published the remarks on BlueSky. The posts express satisfaction with as well as indifference to the killing of Kirk, a popular right-wing commentator and activist.

In an emailed statement to The Times, Perkins said the posts were “written in my own hand, in my own voice, in no way the echo of my employer, UCLA.” He said the posts are also protected by the 1st Amendment.

Click here to read the full article in the LA Times

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State rejects order to certify removal of DEI from schools

April 13, 2025 By Howard Blume 4 Comments

California educators defend diversity programs amid Trump administration’s demand, threats to cut funds

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California on Friday defied a Trump administration order to certify that the state’s 1,000 school districts have ended all diversity, equity and inclusion programs despite federal threats to cut billions of dollars in education funding if the state does not comply.

The U.S. Department of Education has given states until April 24 to collect certifications from every school district in the nation — confirming that all DEI efforts have been eliminated, as it contends such programs are a form of race-based discrimination and violate civil rights laws.

In a letter to school district superintendents Friday, the California Department of Education, or CDE, defended the legality of DEI efforts.

“There is nothing in state or federal law … that outlaws the broad concepts of ‘diversity,’ ‘equity,’ or ‘inclusion,’ ” wrote Chief Deputy Supt. David Schapira in the letter to school districts, county education offices and charter schools.

CDE also sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education about the decision not to comply — and said the federal request was vague.

“It is also unclear which specific programs or activities [the federal agency] seeks to regulate by this certification, although the request for certification references ‘certain DEI practices’ or ‘illegal DEI.’ It does not define such ….”

Although federal funding for education is challenging to calculate and arrives through multiple channels, some tallies put the figure at $16.3 billion per year in California — including money for school meals, students with disabilities and early education Head Start programs. L.A. Unified has estimated that it receives about $1.26 billion a year, somewhat less than 10% of its annual budget.

Sixteen states are attempting to comply with the order, including New Hampshire, North Carolina and Texas. Ten others have refused — including New York, Wisconsin and Oregon, according to a state-by-state tracker compiled by the news site Education Week.

California’s decision was foreshadowed by an April 4 letter to school leaders noting that school districts regularly and routinely affirm that they are complying with federal law and “have already submitted such assurances” and compliance is “monitored annually through … multiple accounting mechanisms.”

The U.S. Department of Education did not immediately respond Friday to the decision by California.

However, Education Secretary Linda McMahon on social media praised the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico for complying. She also praised New Hampshire for posting the certifications from individual school districts.

A small number of California school systems are controlled by pro-Trump leadership. These include Chino Valley Unified, which has bypassed state education officials and certified directly to federal officials.

“This was a no-brainer for us,” said school board President Sonja Shaw, who is a Republican candidate for state superintendent of public instruction. “I want to make it absolutely clear: Our focus remains where it belongs — on reading, writing, math and achieving the best outcomes for our students … not in the ideologies and divisiveness that the state of California, [Gov.] Gavin Newsom and his cronies continue to push.”

The federal demand follows a Feb. 14 letter in which the U.S. Department of Education told all K-12 school districts and higher education institutions to end the consideration of race in “admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”

Since then, many colleges and universities in California and throughout the country have eliminated diversity efforts, scrubbing references from their websites.

The certification demand is a next step in the enforcement process, federal officials said.

Click here to read the full article in the LA Times

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Schools have 10 days to comply with Trump anti-DEI policy or face losing federal funds

April 5, 2025 By Howard Blume 2 Comments
  • A new memo from the U.S. Department of Education demands that state and school districts certify that they have complied with an order to end diversity efforts.
  • The Trump administration is taking another step to make good on its threat to end federal funding for school districts and states that don’t comply with his executive orders.

The Trump administration has ratcheted up pressure on K-12 schools in California and across the nation to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion practices by giving districts and states a deadline of 10 days to certify their compliance or risk losing all federal funding.

Although federal funding for education is challenging to calculate and arrives through multiple channels, some tallies put the figure at $16.3 billion per year in California — including money for school meals, students with disabilities and early education Head Start programs. The Los Angeles Unified School District has estimated that it receives about $1.26 billion a year.

Trump and his appointees have repeatedly threatened state and local officials with federal funding cuts if they don’t abide by his executive orders and by his administration’s legal interpretations.

The Thursday memo follows a Feb. 14 letter in which the U.S. Department of Education told all K-12 school districts and higher education institutions to end the consideration of race in “admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”

The February letter laid out a new federal anti-discrimination enforcement policy, threatening to pull federal dollars from schools that do not fall in line. Since then, many colleges and universities in California and throughout the country have eliminated diversity efforts, typically referred to as DEI, scrubbing references from their websites.

The Thursday memo takes the threats to funding one step further: demanding that education leaders sign a document saying they have eliminated DEI programming.

“Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. He said many schools have flouted their legal obligations, “including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another.”

On Thursday morning, various state and local officials said they were assessing the memo. A spokesperson for the California Department of Education provided a preliminary reaction.

“While we are continuing to review this morning’s letter, it appears to be yet another attempt to impose a national ideology on local schools by threatening to withhold vital resources for students,” said Elizabeth Sanders. “Regardless of this or any letter, we hold firm that basic needs of our nation’s children must not become bargaining chips.”

Another comment came from Tanya Ortiz Franklin, an elected board member of the L.A. Unified School District.

“Instead of wasting the time … collecting signatures, the federal government should be focused on maintaining and executing the level of support our most vulnerable students require from the country that will soon depend on their educated leadership,” Franklin said.

Click here to read the full article in the LA Times

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USC scrubs DEI amid crackdown

March 3, 2025 By Jaweed Kaleem 1 Comment

Following a growing pattern, university removes website references to diversity, equity and inclusion.

After the Trump administration told schools to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs or face federal funding cuts, USC has deleted the website for its universitywide Office of Inclusion and Diversity and merged it into another operation, scrubbed several college and department-level DEI statements, renamed faculty positions and, in one case, removed online references to a scholarship for Black and Indigenous students.

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The University of Southern California’s actions — similar to some other universities throughout the country — appear to be aimed at avoiding federal scrutiny, according to USC faculty and staff and reviews of portions of the USC website archives.

References to DEI mission statements, diversity programming or DEI staff positions have been changed or eliminated by the School of Cinematic Arts, School of Dramatic Arts, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, Roski School of Art and Design and the Department of Earth Sciences.

On Friday, USC also announced that the work of its Office of Inclusion and Diversity “will continue through the merging of the full office … with our Culture Team,” said a campuswide email from Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Andrew T. Guzman and Senior Vice President of Human Resources Stacy Giwa.

The office’s website previously touted “USC’s long history of access and opportunity” and support of a “diverse and inclusive community.”

The changes at USC come as universities nationwide navigate warnings from the U.S. Department of Education, which last month released a letter telling schools that using “race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life” violates antidiscrimination law.

The letter, which laid out a new interpretation of how federal officials would enforce existing rules, said the department would “no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination,” singling out white and Asian American students as victims. It said the government would “vigorously enforce the law on equal terms” at all schools that get federal assistance.

The Department of Education has not announced any investigations or specific funding cuts.

Trends taking shape on U.S. campuses

Nationwide, universities have taken different stances. The president of Colorado State University, citing a need for federal funding, said it would remake its race-related programs and avoid a “gamble” in challenging the Trump administration. At the University of Cincinnati, the president said that he had “little choice” but to fall in line. Regents for the University of Alaska voted for DEI to be scrubbed from the system. The University of Iowa will end dorm communities next year for Black, Latino and LGBTQ+ students, according to news reports.

Jerry Kang, a law professor and DEI expert who was UCLA’s first vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion until 2020, said it was not surprising that “universities engage in risk-averse overcompliance.”

“That’s what universities have always done. That’s what corporations have always done. We tend to follow political winds,” he said. But, Kang added, “You cannot just play defense without articulating a muscular conception of what you stand for in this space.”

Leaders of the University of California and California State University said they already follow state antidiscrimination law, including Proposition 209, which nearly three decades ago outlawed the use of race in admissions to state institutions. Stanford announced in January that it would evaluate diversity efforts after President Trump signed a White House executive order banning DEI in federal programs and contracts. The order is temporarily on hold after a lawsuit filed by a Washington, D.C.-based college diversity officers association.

Mitchell Chang, UCLA’s interim vice provost for equity, diversity and inclusion, said at a town hall meeting last week that there were no plans to change the school’s programs, such as racially themed graduation ceremonies, cultural dorm room floors or Black and Latino student clubs or resource centers. He cited recent court challenges, including a federal lawsuit by a teachers union over the DEI directive, that could prevent enforcement of the federal guidance.

“We’re maintaining our regular course. … We’ll adjust as necessary. We have a plan B,” Chang said, adding that “we have to take these challenges to our DEI efforts very seriously and plan for potential dismantling of them.”

As concerns grow, USC takes action

At USC, one of the state’s most diverse and largest universities, the response within several colleges and departments has gained attention. To be sure, vast portions of the university’s diversity program descriptions remain untouched on its website, including dozens of webpage references.

A department chair’s email — sent to linguistics faculty at the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences last week and shared with The Times by three USC employees — made the case in suggesting that faculty change or remove public-facing DEI references.

“… In the light of such very real worries, universities and other institutions dependent on federal funding all over the country are now all removing wording from visible sites that will attract the government AI scrapers looking to identify and route out support for DEI,” said the message from Andrew Simpson, a professor of linguistics. “This is obviously shocking and incredibly distasteful. However, the alternative, to lose all federal grant support would simply be catastrophic.”

“Faculty are not being asked to adjust the content of their teaching,” the memo said, adding later: “Please consider how you may be able to help in this unpleasant exercise, for the purely pragmatic reason of survival.”

In response to requests from The Times, Simpson said he “did not mandate any action” but was passing on a message from his dean to department faculty. “The choice of how to proceed in the current situation is entirely individual, to be made freely by each person, and is/was not mandated/ordered by anyone.”

Moh El-Naggar, the interim dean of Dornsife, replied via email to a Times request, saying, “We’re navigating our response as an academic unit of USC.”

In a statement, a USC spokesman did not respond to a question about whether there have been universitywide instructions to change or remove DEI statements or programs.

The spokesman directed The Times to last week’s campuswide message from President Carol Folt. In it, Folt said, “we will continue to review our programs and practices to ensure both that their direct relationship to our academic mission is clear, and that we comply fully with evolving legal requirements.” The letter linked to an FAQ that said USC was “reviewing its ‘DEI-related’ programs and practices” in order to “ensure alignment with our compliance obligations in light of recent executive orders and agency guidance.”

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Colleges, K-12 schools ordered by Trump administration to abolish DEI or face funding cuts

February 18, 2025 By Jaweed Kaleem Leave a Comment
  • The U.S. Department of Education has told schools and colleges to eliminate DEI programs or risk losing federal funding.
  • The decision covers race-related programs including financial aid, culturally themed dorm floors and graduation ceremonies.
  • Educators are scrambling to interpret the scope of the policy.

The U.S. Department of Education has given colleges and schools with race-specific programs — including financial aid and racially themed dormitory floors and graduation ceremonies — until the end of the month to abolish them or risk losing federal funding as educators scrambled over the holiday weekend to interpret the sweeping scope of new guidelines.

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The “dear colleague” letter from the department’s civil rights division and addressed to K-12-and-higher education leaders lays out a new federal anti-discrimination enforcement policy that extends beyond the use of race in admissions, a practice barred since 2023 by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The guidelines, signed by acting assistant secretary for civil rights Craig Trainor, said schools using “race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life” were in violation of anti-discrimination laws and legal precedent set in the high court’s affirmative action case.

“The department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this nation’s educational institutions,” the letter said. It later adds that federal education authorities will “vigorously enforce the law on equal terms as to all preschool, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational institutions, as well as state educational agencies, that receive financial assistance.”

The letter singles out “white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families,” as victims of discrimination. It did not mention other types of school programming that appeal to non-racial groups, such as women-only residence halls, dorm room floors or programs for LGBTQ+ students or religious communities.

A spokesman for the department did not reply Sunday to a request for comment.

California received about $16.3 billion in total federal funding last year for its 5.8 million K-12 public school students, according to Education Data Initiative, which compiles information from government sources. The figures include education-related spending outside of the education department, such as school meal programs and Head Start for preschoolers. The letter did not say if the decision applies to funding that comes from beyond the department.

Click here to read the full article in the LA Times

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Grimes: Special Envoy Ric Grenell Says No DEI in LA Fire Cleanup: ‘That Bullsh*t Can’t Happen’

February 8, 2025 By Katy Grimes Leave a Comment

EPA Chief Lee Zeldin says agency is working ‘around the clock‘ to clean up L.A. Fires

The Globe was on the ground Thursday in Pacific Palisades. The fire destruction was horrific. The charred smell of homes and their contents is prevalent. Pacific Palisades residents – some who lost their homes completely, and some whose homes were still intact  – were present and determined to get answers. 

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President Trump’s Special Envoy Ric Grenell is the White House representative on the ground in California, making things happen with residents, and representatives from federal, state and local agencies.

Grenell and newly confirmed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin met with residents amid the fire devastation in the Pacific Palisades. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Major General Jason Kelly was there, as was Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regional administrator Bob Fenton, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, as were many colleagues and staffers, talking with residents.

Grenell facilitated discussion between residents, who are living in motels, hotels VRBO and AirBNB rentals, and government officials, to solve residents’ immediate and prepare for long term concerns.

And notably, at one point, Grenell warned federal, state and local officials to cut the bullshit pushing DEI for subcontractors on debris removal. He told them to bring in all contracting teams who want to help.

“That bullshit can’t happen,” Ric Grenell said. He said that he was aware that hiring contractors for debris removal of the Palisades’ burned homes was stymied because they were trying to find “the right mix” of DEI-approved contractors. Grenell advocated for allowing contractors from all over the country to work in LA. “I don’t care about the color of their skin. “I don’t care if they’re in a wheelchair. We want people to be able to do the job and get it done, and not hold up because we have some quota system.”

Breitbart’s Editor at large, Joel Pollak, a Palisades resident, showed the Globe where the fire started at the top of a nearby hill next to Kobe Bryant’s old home. And then it jumped across Palisades Drive and burned most of the Palisades homes, schools and businesses, down the hills to the ocean within 36 hours.

The beautiful high-end mall built by developer Rick Caruso is in tact and looks as if it could open tomorrow. Locals told the Globe that Carusso hired private fire fighters, water tankers, and had hardened his mall for fire, commenting that this is what could and should have been possible for all of the Palisades. 

The Globe asked EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin what his biggest, “macro” concern was.

He said that together with President Donald Trump, they have shortened the EPA timeline from 90-days to 30-days.

And they’ve already done 7,000 home assessments, Zeldin said. The EPA’s role is to is perform the hazardous waste cleanup, which the EPA says is the largest in the history of the agency. “The agency has successfully removed 80 electric vehicles and bulk energy storage systems, which are extremely dangerous to the public and the environment and will continue ramping up such operations.”

The biggest issues for the residents is getting a formal “right of entry” back into the homes still standing, from the county. 

Mayor Bass told residents that groups of neighborhoods could opt-in together as a neighborhood and get more debris removal and clean up done at one time.

Grenell warned that there will be strings and conditions on the federal funds coming to LA because of California’s untenable state and local environmental regulations, and crazy laws.

And Grenell said, “Whether it’s FEMA, whether it’s the Army Corps of Engineers, stop the duplicitous messaging. We need to tell these residents, ‘you cleanup, you start immediately. No one is stopping you. We’re here to help. And I do think that the Army Corps of Engineers has to move a lot faster. You’ve got more people here, more help… I know you’ve got one preferred contractor… bring in three… bring in four. This is massive. This is so hard for us to handle. And it’s my job to bulldoze through this stuff and say, ‘let people start cleaning up.’ The agencies, the government is here to help the people – not the other way around.” Here is Ric Grenell explaining this:

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As federal funding for DEI initiatives is threatened, Supervisor Don Wagner asks what OC has

January 30, 2025 By Destiny Torres 2 Comments

Third District Supervisor Don Wagner asked staff for a report on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs the county has, and suggested possibly considering a pause on such programs in light of the Trump administration’s plans to defund DEI initiatives.

A memo from the White House released Monday evening directed a pause in federal funding assistance pending a review to ensure activities do not conflict with President Donald Trump’s latest executive orders about “financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology and the green new deal.” The freeze was supposed to go into effect Tuesday afternoon, however, a federal judge has delayed implementation until at least Monday.

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Following the memo, county leaders were scrambling to figure out which programs or services could be jeopardized.

“I would like a report from staff about all of our DEI programs,” Wagner said at Tuesday’s board meeting while discussing the county’s mid-year budget review as leaders tackle a $22 million gap in funding for the next fiscal year. “What are they? What are they intended to accomplish? How are they evaluated? Who supervises them? How many employees are staffed by these programs? How are they funded? Whether that funding from the federal government is potentially at risk. And finally, whether, given this funding uncertainty, we ourselves should put a pause on these programs.”

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