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Naming rights have rescued major California businesses before. Now the chief of the often-belittled California High Speed Rail Authority (HSR) thinks they might be at least part of the answer to keeping the half-built bullet train system going long enough to actually carry passengers. Call this Part 2 of HSR’s survival strategy. Just make sure many of the fees are collected in advance and that they’re enough to make a difference. Frequently called a boondoggle, the train has already secured Part 1 of its fiscal survival plan, an absolute must after President Trump cancelled $4 billion in federal grant money…

By FATIMA HUSSEIN, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Social Security Administration’s annual cost-of-living adjustment will go up by 2.8% in 2026, translating to an average increase of more than $56 for retirees every month, agency officials said Friday. The benefits increase for nearly 71 million Social Security recipients will go into effect beginning in January. And increased payments to nearly 7.5 million people receiving Supplemental Security Income will begin on Dec. 31. Friday’s announcement was meant to be made last week but was delayed because of the federal government shutdown. The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for retirees and disabled beneficiaries is financed by payroll…

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The government shutdown likely means there won’t be an inflation report next month for the first time in more than seven decades, the White House said Friday, leaving Wall Street and the Federal Reserve without crucial information about consumer prices. “Because surveyors cannot deploy to the field, the White House has learned there will likely NOT be an inflation release next month for the first time in history,” the Trump administration said in an email. Some of the inflation data is collected electronically, but most is gathered in person by government employees…

The Southern California News Group (SCNG) has a large roster of reporters ready to take you through another exciting night of high school football action. There are previews for the top Week 9 games. Our reporters will be providing live updates from the games to keep you on top of the action. And at the end of the night there will be stories, a complete list of scores, photos and more. And we do that every week. Now, let’s get you ready for kickoff … Who to follow for tonight’s scores, updates Click on the game to see the reporter’s…

President Trump Thursday morning called off a planned deployment of federal immigration agents to San Francisco. He  said in a social media post that he had stopped action in San Francisco “at the request of friends who live in the Bay Area,” The New York Times reports, who vouched for the work of the city’s Democratic mayor, Daniel Lurie. The move came just as the agents were beginning to gather at the Alameda Coast Guard base in the bay. It’s all something of a feint, because earlier this very week, it wasn’t ICE agents the president was threatening to set…

Q: Can a California HOA have a “no rental” policy? Our HOA is small, and an owner recently expressed interest in renting out their unit. In my experience, renters don’t have the same commitment to the community as owners do. — J.R., Redondo Beach A: Civil Code Section 4740, enacted in 2012, provides, among other things, that rental prohibitions could only apply prospectively to owners who bought their HOA property after the prohibition was put in force. This reinforced the notion that HOAs could completely ban rentals, with such bans only applying to subsequent buyers into the HOA. In 2021, the…

By TIM REYNOLDS MIAMI (AP) — As a new NBA season opened this week, coach Rick Carlisle and the Indiana Pacers received their annual briefing on the do’s and don’ts of gambling. Betting in casinos is generally allowed. Betting on other sports, provided it is legal, is also allowed. Betting on NBA basketball is not. For veterans of the sport, it’s the type of training that can seem routine — almost boring, perhaps. But the potential repercussions for breaking the rules are now abundantly clear after Portland coach Chauncey Billups and Miami guard Terry Rozier were among nearly three dozen…

Public service is supposed to be about duty, not luxury. Yet Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem just signed off on the purchase of two Gulfstream G700s, luxury aircraft worth a combined $170 million. The Coast Guard had requested one replacement plane for an aging jet used for official travel. Somewhere along the way, that single, practical request turned into a pair of top-of-the-line aircraft awarded through a no-bid contract, without a clear explanation or a shred of humility. Secretary Noem says the planes are necessary for the mission of the Coast Guard, but that is not what the record shows.…

By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press The ongoing government shutdown continues to disrupt flights at times and put pressure on air traffic controllers who are working without pay. Flights were delayed Thursday at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, New Jersey’s Newark airport and Washington’s Reagan National Airport because of air traffic controller shortages. The number of flight delays for any reason nationwide spiked to 6,158 Thursday after hovering around 4,000 a day earlier in the week, according to FlightAware.com. Many Federal Aviation Administration facilities are so critically short on controllers that just a few absences can cause disruptions, and Transportation Secretary Sean…

With federal immigration agents continuing to roam neighborhoods in California, and multiple instances where U.S. citizens have alleged they were mistakenly or wrongfully detained, some voters say they have apprehension about casting their ballot in person during the special election on redistricting. For Latinos and others whose communities have been targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel in recent months, the fear of running into ICE agents — even if they are in the country legally — is real. According to a poll commissioned by the California-based Latino Community Foundation, 66% of the 1,200 registered Latino voters in California…