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Silicon Valley Congressman Ro Khanna took aim at his own party this week, accusing Democrats in the U.S. Senate of a bumbling failure to secure a majority on the federal board that safeguards workers’ rights to form unions and negotiate collectively for contracts with employers.A procedural “unforced error by Democrats” has cost them a majority on the five-member National Labor Relations Board that would have lasted the first two years of President-elect Donald Trump’s term, Khanna charged.“This is a huge setback for the hundreds of thousands of workers across this country organizing for a better contract,” he said in an…

LOS ANGELES — A day after stunning news the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams’ playoff tilt with the Arizona Cardinals would be moved from SoFi Stadium to Arizona, the wildfires decimating Los Angeles caused another significant schedule shift in LA-area sports on Friday.In a statement, the Big Ten announced that Northwestern women’s basketball had elected not to travel to Los Angeles this upcoming week, for games scheduled against No. 1 UCLA (16-0, 5-0 Big Ten) and No. 4 USC (15-1, 5-0 Big Ten). In a subsequent statement shared with the Southern California News Group, Northwestern clarified the decision to forgo travel…

Another surf industry wipeout is hitting Orange County as Liberated Brands – which held the distribution license for big brands like Billabong, RVCA, Honolua and Volcom – shutters its Costa Mesa corporate offices and lays off nearly 400 employees.Details of the closure and layoffs came from a California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, dated Jan. 8, required by the state when a company issues large-scale layoffs.“As part of a company-wide restructuring, Liberated Brands is closing its corporate offices and laying off all employees who work at those locations.The terminations, which include the company’s chief executive, are anticipated to be permanent,…

If you take Gov. Gavin Newsom at his word, California will have a budget surplus for the first time in several years, and his fellow Democrats who control the legislature won’t need to cut more programs as they try to make the state more livable.In reality, the state’s financial future is murkier.Newsom’s proposal for the 2025-2026 budget, unveiled Friday, has plans to pull $7.1 billion from the state’s rainy day reserve fund. That’s on the heels of a $5.1 billion draw from the fund that the governor agreed to last year, along with sizable cuts to government agencies and programs.…

LOS ANGELES — It was eerily similar to 2018, when the Woolsey fire ripped through Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Rams right tackle Rob Havenstein heard a teammate point out a new cloud of smoke on the horizon, and his heart dropped at the thought of another blaze in the community.Then, as he stared to the west, a new, horrible thought crossed his mind.“You’re like, wait a second, I live over there,” Havenstein said.Such was the state of things at the Rams facility in Woodland Hills Thursday as the Kenneth fire broke out. Head coach Sean McVay called the team…

With thousands of homes destroyed by wildfires across the Los Angeles County this week, homeowners, renters and business owners are likely scrambling to launch their property claims.They’ll need several key documents to get that process started, according to Joel Laucher, a program specialist with United Policyholders, a San Francisco-based nonprofit insurance and consumer rights advocacy group.We asked Laucher to walk us through the preliminary details. His answers have been edited for length and clarity.Q: What is needed to file a claim? A: Whether you were a homeowner, renter or a business owner, a key is to have a copy of your…

By GISELA SALOMON, Associated PressMIAMI (AP) — About 600,000 Venezuelans and more than 200,000 Salvadorans already living in the United States can legally remain another 18 months, the Department of Homeland Security said Friday, barely a week before President-elect Donald Trump takes office with promises of hardline immigration policies.The decisions mark the Biden administration’s latest in support of Temporary Protected Status, which he has sharply expanded to cover about 1 million people. TPS faces an uncertain future under Trump, who tried to sharply curtail its use during his first term as president.The announcement, which came as Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro took office for a…

LOS ANGELES — Lincoln Riley hasn’t bit his tongue, for the better part of a year, on his belief on the modern world of collegiate football. This was a “business,” and had been for a while, USC’s head coach said at a spring event hosted by NIL collective House of Victory. Staff structuring, Riley said in July at the Big Ten Media Days, was moving towards a “professional model.” And in December, Riley referred to a range of USC’s transfer-portal movement as “business decisions.”They were business decisions made, though, without any structure. Collegiate athletes have yet to be legally recognized as employees…

With the new year in full swing, tax season is cut around the corner. Millions of Americans must file their 2024 returns to the IRS by Tuesday, April 15, 2025.When can you start filing 2024 taxes?For taxpayers who had an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $84,000 or less in 2024, the IRS’ Free File Gilded Tax Software becomes available online on Friday, Jan. 10.For taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of more than $84,000, Free File Fillable Forms opens on Monday, Jan. 27.To access IRS Free File, visit IRS.gov/freefile.When does the IRS start processing returns?The IRS has not yet announced…

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and MICHAEL R. BLOODLOS ANGELES — Earlier this week, as hurricane-strength winds blew through bone-dry hillside subdivisions, Los Angeles saw its worst nightmare realized as long-predicted firestorms engulfed wide swaths of the nation’s second-largest city.For Mayor Karen Bass, the horror show was compounded by every chief executive’s worst nightmare. She was halfway around the globe, on a trip to Ghana as part of a presidential delegation.As her city faced its greatest crisis in decades, the first-term mayor confronted a critical test of her leadership two years after taking office. After rushing home to help manage the city’s…